“Aleister Crowley’s maxim of “Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law” becomes the driving principle of how the world works.”
Isn’t that how the world works?
Nothing is True. Everything is permitted.

TGA – Depends on your definition of “will.” Yes, most folks today take a statement like that and assume it means “do what you want.” However, the whole of Thelema (the occult practice founded by Crowley) revolves around each person finding his or her own true will. (ie. what is your driving principle, what do you want to do with your life).

So “do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law” then becomes an admonishment to know yourself, not carte blanche to do whatever you like.

“his journey in the novel is one I rather enjoyed”

Can you describe what you enjoyed about it?

Presumably, if he’d forgotten and kept his eyes open, the Ark would have melted him along with the Nazis. And what about Kali and the rest of the Hindu pantheon? They’re just as real as Yaweh and Christ, it seems.

Indy knows there are Gods. Plural.

***WARNING: INCOMING RANT***

As to Indy and Marion and “These two just witnessed the power of the Hand of God, and they’re heading off to the nearest bar for a drink?”: What’s wrong with that? I tell you what, if I’d witnessed the Ark do that, having a drink is the first thing I’d do. And the second. And third. And maybe fourth.
But I suppose it’s a fair point that Indy is rather nonchalant about these incredible supernatural discoveries. But that leads me to wonder whether the Indiana Jones movies would be just as compelling (or perhaps more so) if God and Shiva hadn’t intervened in the climactic scenes.
I also have to facepalm at the killjoys who hate hate HATE Kingdome of the Crystal Skulls because it’s aliens in the end. Really? “The Ark of the Covenant is a conduit to God”: fine. “The Shankara stones are how Shiva controls the weather”: no problem. “The Holy Grail will make you immortal if you like living in a cave”: cool beans. But “Aliens helped the Meso-americans build stuff” is right out? REALLY??

I guess it’s better than space-ships firing lasers, though.

Ahh, the ultimate formula has been found – a cover with a leather pants-wearing babe, knife behind her back, on a spaceship firing lasers! I’ll buy that book right now.

Kind of annoys me. I like undefined, grey heroes and baddies. Sounds like CODEX is something I should take a look at.

“Our hero needs to discover how to have faith in himself, because in a world where everything is true (and nothing is permitted, says the Old Man in the Mountain), believing in yourself is the first step toward discovering some real truth.”

That’s a good hook. If the answer to the multiple choice question of universal truth is “all of the above”, that suddenly makes things like religions and superstitions more interesting.