Michael D. Eschner
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| Michael D. Eschner | |
|---|---|
 Michael D. Eschner.jpg At the summer party of the Thelema Society (August 2003) | |
| Born | 16 February 1949 Berlin, Germany |
| 💀Died | 13 November 2007 (aged 58) Bergen an der Dumme Germany13 November 2007 (aged 58) |
| 💼 Occupation | Founder of the present Thelema Society, Author and occultist |
Michael Eschner (16 February 1949 – 13 November 2007) was a German Thelemit and author. He published several books on magic, personality development, and psychology, including annotated editions of works by Aleister Crowley, as whose reincarnation he saw himself. Eschner founded the Thelemic group "Thelema Order of Argentum Astrum" (now the Thelema Society).
Life and work[edit]
According to his own account, Eschner started playing chess at the age of 5. Later he was a tournament player and also organized chess tournaments in Berlin. Eschner had an education as an electromechanic. He began studying business administration, but dropped out early. At the age of 19, he was the youngest real estate and financial broker in Berlin, and shortly thereafter opened Berlin's first sex store. Later, he worked as an electromechanic, salesman and Beitragsservice von ARD, ZDF und Deutschlandradio employee, among other things. He was attracted to the Protests of 1968 and appeared as a speaker on Marxism and Marxist economic theory.
Eschner saw himself as a self-taught philosopher. In the late 1960s, he became aware of Aleister Crowley's mindset known as Thelema. He founded a Commune in Berlin in 1979, which he registered as an association under the name Thelema-Orden des Argentum Astrum e.V.. Working groups offered courses that included magical topics, philosophy, systems theory, and communication. The first German edition of "Magick," a work by Aleister Crowley, was published, the Liber AL vel Legis and other books by Crowley were translated, and there were also cassettes and correspondence courses on magical topics. Around 1983, accusations from the media and cult counselings increased. The association was dissolved and the so-called "Network Thelema" was established. Part of the Berlin community moved to Bergen in the Wendland.
Eschner expanded in early 1980 the thelemic approach adopted by Crowley, with fragments from the field of neurobiology, cybernetics and sociology. The circuit model of the psyche, originated by Timothy Leary and extended by Eschner, describes the human brain as a computer and the human body as a biorobot. Within the framework of his "Thelema Order of Argentum Astrum" Eschner tried to "reprogram" humans. According to former members, disgust training, meditative Exercises, excessive alcohol consumption and sexual magic Exercises. This should result in the member largely erasing old inhibiting behaviors. In the course of these exercises, sexual assaults are said to have occurred frequently, though dropouts from the group almost never made statements in court.
After that, the Order underwent several transformations in which different structures and methods were tried out. Thus, there was the Live Unlimited Society of Thelema (L.U.S.T.), which focused on self-organized groups, then the Ethos Community Thelema (E.G.T. ) and the concept of reflexive ultimate justification by Wolfgang Kuhlmann, and most recently the Thelema Society, which is concerned with the development of the individual, in the context of the concept of operational constructivism coined by Niklas Luhmann.
Eschner died at his home of heart failure.
Influences[edit]
Thelema, a term coined by Eschner, is a conglomeration of philosophy, sociology, psychology, and spirituality. Thelema, according to Eschner, "offers not truth, but possibilities." If one nevertheless wants to speak of roots and a kind of genealogy of his concept of thelema, one should mention above all Friedrich Nietzsche, Niklas Luhmann, Georg Hegel, Alfred North Whitehead, Charles Sanders Peirce, and Martin Heidegger.
At the beginning of his Thelema career, Eschner claimed to be the pioneer of the Horus Aeon, a new age of humanity, shaping the next higher human being. The concern of the 68er movement, change of the society by plannable change of the human being, was not to be reached for Eschner by reason appeals. He later turned away from this and looked for ways to enable the individual to develop himself. In doing so, he essentially relied on operational constructivism, which was coined by Luhmann.
Criticism[edit]
The media and churches criticize Eschner's methods and his teaching content. Eschner himself, in turn, accused the media of frequently reporting in an undifferentiated and prejudiced manner. It is also typical for churches and the media to be more critical of "dissidents" or to defame them because they are different. Since, in Eschner's opinion, these people were still entrenched in old European thinking, he had understanding for their criticism.
In 1992, Michael Dietmar Eschner was sentenced to six years imprisonment for dangerous bodily harm and rape of a group member. Members were subjected to various forms of Satanic panic.[1] According to Spiegel, "[Thelema's] superiors [...] enforced discipline through oaths of obedience and sleep deprivation, prescribed sexual intercourse and disgust training - from eating feces to self-mutilation."[2][3][4] On the other hand, it was legally disputed whether Eschner was thereby liable to prosecution, because he could refer to a "voluntary acquiescence or compliance" of the members.[5] The court also spoke of "forced sexual intercourse" and "unconditional obedience" to the leadership. [8] These remarks were justified by the fact that the order strives for "the destruction of the previous moral conceptions, reorganization of the socially recognized way of life and solution of the previous social conditioning" and that the persons concerned, sometimes with alcohol, overcome their natural inhibition threshold by disgust training.[6] The accusations of the press and cult counseling against the Thelema Society, especially with regard to violence, are denied by the group.
Bibliography[edit]
Books[edit]
- Aleister Crowley das Grosse Tier 666. Leben und Magick, 1982
- Netzwerk Thelema. Die geheimnisvoll spektakulären Wege aus der Roboter-Einfalt zur Vielfalt der Erleuchteten, 1985 ISBN 978-3894230234 Search this book on
.. - Psychologik. Praktisches Handbuch für den Gebrauch/Entwicklung des menschlichen Nervensystems, Kersken-Canbaz, 1985 ISBN 978-3894230227 Search this book on ..
- Netzwerk Thelema, 1985 ISBN 978-3890940755 Search this book on ..
- Das Henochische Schachspiel von Michael D Eschner und Andreas Baar, Kersken-Canbaz, 1986 ISBN 978-3894230197 Search this book on ..
- Die geheimen Unterweisungen und Rituale des hermetischen Ordens der Goldenen Dämmerung, Bd.2, Stein der Weisen, Johanna Bohmeier & Co. , 1987 ISBN 978-3890940656 Search this book on ..
- Die Henochischen Schlüssel der Magie, Johanna Bohmeier & Co. Verlag, 1985 ISBN 978-3890940724 Search this book on ..
- MatheMagie, Kersken-Canbaz, 1989 ISBN 978-3890941219 Search this book on ..
- Liber Al vel Legis, mit Kommentaren von Aleister Crowley und Michael D. Eschner, Kersken-Canbaz, 1992, ISBN 978-3894230012 Search this book on ..
- Die geheimen Sexualmagischen Unterweisungen des Tieres 666, Kersken-Canbaz, 1993, ISBN 978-3894230203 Search this book on ..
- Die magische Kabbala mit Jürgen Hostrup, Kersken-Canbaz, 1993 ISBN 978-3894230210 Search this book on ..
- Techniken der Bewußtseinserweiterung, Kersken-Canbaz, 1993, ISBN 978-3894230654 Search this book on ..
- Magie, eine Einführung, Kersken-Canbaz, 1993 ISBN 978-3894230906 Search this book on ..
- Götterdämmerung. Aufbruch in das Wassermann Zeitalter oder wie Menschen Götter werden, Kersken-Canbaz, 1993 ISBN 978-3894230791 Search this book on ..
- Die Henochische Magie nach Dr. John Dee. Band 1: Das ursprüngliche System des Dr. John Dee, Kersken-Canbaz, 2006, ISBN 978-3894231309 Search this book on ..
- Die Henochische Magie nach Dr. John Dee: Bd.2, System und Anwendung im Hermetischen Orden des G.D. Kersken-Canbaz, 2006, ISBN 978-3894231316 Search this book on ..
- Tarot – Geheimnis Abenteuer Spiel, MultiWelt Verlag, 2016 ISBN 978-3942736282 Search this book on ..
- Thelema Fibel: Die Wiederverzauberung der Welt, Band 1, Independently published, 2012 ISBN 979-8663304283 Search this book on ..
- Thelema – die frohe Botschaft: Die Wiederverzauberung der Welt, Band 2 MultiWelt Verlag, 2013 ISBN 978-3942736046 Search this book on ..
- Thelema in 100: Die Demokratie ist am Ende, die Philosophie ist am Ende. Thelema ist der Schlüssel zur Zukunft, mit Knut Gierdahl, MultiWelt Verlag, 2015 ISBN 978-3942736060 Search this book on ..
- Leben wie der Phönix: Der Weg zur Unsterblichkeit, 2016 ISBN 978-3942736176 Search this book on ..
- Die Geburt der Magie aus dem Geist der Physik: Entropie, Information und dissipative Strukturen, MultiWelt Verlag, 2017 ISBN 978-3942736244 Search this book on ..
Translation[edit]
- Die geheimen Unterweisungen und Rituale des hermetischen Ordens der Goldenen Dämmerung, Bd.1 from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1987 ISBN 978-3894230159 Search this book on ..
- Die geheimen Unterweisungen und Rituale des hermetischen Ordens der Goldenen Dämmerung, Bd.2 from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1987 ISBN 3-89423-016-9 Search this book on ..
- Liber 777 und andere kabbalistische Schriften, from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1985 ISBN 978-3894230067 Search this book on ..
- Magick Band 2, from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1987 ISBN 978-3894230081 Search this book on ..
- Magick Band 1, from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1988 ISBN 978-3894230074 Search this book on ..
- Das Buch der Lügen, from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1987 ISBN 978-3894230029 Search this book on ..
- Liber Al vel Legis: Das Buch des Gesetzes, from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1988 ISBN 978-3894230005 Search this book on ..
Weblinks[edit]
- Literature by and about Michael Dietmar Eschner in the German National Library catalogue
- Michael D. Eschners private Website
- Sammlung von Interviews mit Michael Eschner (German)
- Eintrag der Evangelischen Informationsstelle "Kirchen, Sekten, Religionen" (German)
References[edit]
- ↑ Rituelle Gewalt in Kinderhändlerringen und destruktiven Kulten., Deutscher Bundestag: Drucksache 13/11275 vom 13. Juli 1998.
- ↑ Oswald Eggenberger: Kirchen Sekten Religionen. Hrsg.: Georg Schmid und Georg Otto Schmid. 7. Auflage. Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 2003, ISBN 978-3-290-17215-2, S. 451.
- ↑ Ingolf Christiansen: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg. Behörde für Inneres – Okkultismus und Satanismus Arbeitsgruppe Scientology. S.68-69. Dezember 2001
- ↑ Biß ins Nagelbett. In: Der Spiegel 20/1985. 13. Mai 1985
- ↑ Martin Teske: Der Teufel feiert Auferstehung (neues deutschland). 3. August 2001
- ↑ Martin Teske: Der Teufel feiert Auferstehung (neues deutschland). 3. August 2001
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