Xander, my Thelemite friend (may I so presume?) ...
Why is your reply no surprise? [

] (As mine is probably likewise to you) For what it's worth to you, my opinion IS the result of almost 20 years of direct investigation and research - I'm not some mindless "fundie xian," as you so lovingly like to say. (Don't quite understand why you can't just say Christian, except that you must have a desire to blot out the name of Christ ... ah, so THAT's what they mean by "anti-Christ!")
I am not ignorant of the basis of magic - in theory and practice - but view what Valentin Tomberg terms "arbitrary personal magic," (Crowley's "thelema," or personal will, in your terms) as far inferior to "divine" magic, where the individual will is aligned with and directed by, through the union of love, the Divine Will, and power and knowledge is excercised in that context.
If you wish to understand my views, Tomberg, in his anonymous magnum opus, "Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism," pretty much sums them up. Of course, you'll have to wade through the 600+ pages ...
True justice is the integration of Mercy with Severity, Love and Law, Force and Form, applied with wisdom and insight. As Eliphas Levi wrote in "The Magic Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum:"
quote:
Liberty, Power, Despotism. Power is correct equilibrium between Despotism and Liberty. This is the solution of the Enigma of the three letters that Cagliostro the Initiate formulated to represent the Kabalah of political and social stability.
You, it seems, would have all Liberty with no constraint of Law.
Laws are necessary in society because their are MANY who would, as you rightly indicate, impose their wills upon others who are vulnerable. Yours, like communism, may be a lovely ideal, were all humans perfectly enlightened (and at this point, our definitions of "enlightened" would surely differ!). But alas, we see the REALITY of how the ideal of communism actually manifests - it degrades into despotism and totalitarianism, because there are always those whose base selfishness, greed and corruption - the "will to power" - leads to that end. In an analogous way, "Love under Will," on a large scale as a philosophy of societal structure, would truly collapse into anarchy.
Thus, society, rightly places Law into place to restrain lawlessness for the protection of its people - kind of a babysitter for those who need it. When individuals are truly enlightened, they have the Law withing themselves, live accordingly and look to the good of others, often sacrificing their own desires and passions for the greater good.
"Will under Love" is, imo, a superior motto.