220A2-5.ASC This verse brings out what is a fact in psychology, the necessary connection b
220A2-5.ASC
This verse brings out what is a fact in psychology,
the necessary connection between fear, sorrow, and failure.
To will and to dare are closely linked Powers of the Sphinx,
and they are based on -- to know. If one have a right
apprehension of the Universe, if he know himself free,
immortal, boundless, infinite force and fire, then may he
will and dare. Fear, sorrow and failure are but phantoms.
47. Hadit is everywhere; fear, sorrow, and failure are
only `shadows'. It is for this reason that compassion is
absurd. It may be objected that `shadows' exist after all;
the `pink rats' of an alcoholic are not to be exorcised by
`Christian Science' methods. Very true -- they are, in fact,
necessary functions of our idea of the Universe in its
dualistic `shadow-show'. But they do not form any part of
Hadit, who is beneath all conditions. And they are in a sense
less real than their logical contradictories, because they
are patently incompatible with the Changeless and Impersonal.
They have their roots in conceptions involving change and
personality. Strictly speaking, `joy' is no less absurd than
sorrow, with reference to Hadit; but from the standpoint of
the individual, this is not the case. One's fear of death is
removed by the knowledge that there is no such thing in
reality; but one's joy in life is not affected.
48. It is several times shewn in this Book that `falling'
is in truth impossible. `All is ever as it was'. To
sympathize with the illusion is not only absurd, but tends to
perpetuate the false idea. It is a mistake to `spoil' a
child, or humour a malade imaginaire. One must, on the
contrary, chase away the shadows by lighting a fire, which
fire is: Do what thou wilt!
49. We are to conquer the Illusion, to drive it out. The
slaves that perish are better dead. They will be reborn into
a world where Freedom is the Air of Breath. So then, in all
kindness, the Christians to the Lions! The `Babe in the Egg'
is Harpocrates; it is his regular Image. I am not very well
satisfied with the old comment on this verse. It appears
rather as if the Amen should be the beginning of a new
paragraph altogether. Amen is evidently a synthesis of the
four elements, and the invisible fifth is Spirit. But
Harpocrates, the Babe in the Egg, is Virgo in the Zodiac
indeed, but Mercury among the planets. Mercury has the Winged
Helmet and Heels, and the Winged Staff about which Snakes
twine, and it is He that Goeth. Now this letter is whose
numeration is 2, and is 91, which added to 2 makes 93.
Amoun is of course Jupiter in his highest Form. To understand
this note fully one must have studied `The Paris Working';
also one must be an initiate of the O.T.O.
50. There is here suggested the Image of `the Star and the
Snake'.
51. There is a certain suggestion in this `purple' as
connected with `eyesight', which should reveal a certain
identity of Hadit with the Dwarf-Soul to those who possess --
eyesight!
52. Mohammed struck at the root of the insane superstition
of tabu with his word: `Women are your field; go in unto them
as ye will'. He only struck half the blow. I say: go in unto
them as ye will and they will. Two-thirds of modern misery
springs from Woman's sexual dissatisfaction. A dissatisfied
woman is a curse to herself and to everybody in her
neighbourhood. Women must learn to let themselves enjoy
without fear or shame, and both men and woman must be trained
in the technique of sex. Sex- repression leads to neurosis,
and is the cause of social unrest. Ignorance of sexual
technique leads to disappointment, even where passion is free
and unrestrained. Sex is not everything in life, any more
than food is: but until people have got satisfaction of these
natural hungers, it is useless to expect them to think of
other things. This truth is vital to the statesman, now that
women have some direct political power; they will certainly
overthrow the Republic unless they obtain full sexual
satisfaction. Also, women outnumber men; and one man cannot
satisfy a woman unless he be skilful and diligent. The New
Aeon will have a foundation of Happy Women: A Woman under
Tabu is loathsome to Life, detested by her fellows, and
wretched in herself. The student should study in Liber Aleph
and Liber 418, the connection between `modesty' and the
attitude of the `Black Brothers'.
53. Yes! I was frightened when the God of Things as They
Ought to Be told me that They Were to Be. I was born under a
German Queen, and I did not believe in the Revolution that I
willed. And lo! it is upon us, ere the Fifteenth Year of the
New Aeon has dawned. Yes!I am lifted up, the Sun being in
Scorpio in this Fourteenth Year of the Aeon.
54. The second part of the text was in answer to an
unspoken query as to the peculiar phrasing. The first part
is clear enough. There are a number of people of shallow wit
who do not believe in Magick. This is doubtless partly due to
the bad presentation of the subject by previous Masters. I
have identified Magick with the Art of Life. The
transcendental superstructure will not overburden those who
have laid this Right Foundation. There is an elaborate
cryptographic meaning in this verse; the words `folly',
`nought', `it', and `me' indicate the path of research.
55. The attribution in Liber Trigrammation is good
theoretically; but no Qabalah of merit has arisen therefrom.
I am inclined to look further into the question of Sanskrit
Roots, and into the Enochian Records, in order to put this
matter in more polished shape. I append Liber Trigrammaton
with the attribution aforesaid. sub Figura XXVII. THE
BOOK OF THE TRIGRAMS OF THE MUTATIONS OF THE TAO WITH THE YIN
AND YANG.
56. These passages are certainly very difficult. It seems
as if they were given to meet some contingency which has not
yet arisen. For example this verse might be appropriate in
case of the institution of a false -cultus by impostors.
The doctrine is that Hadit is the nucleolus (to borrow a term
from bilogy) of any star-organism. To mock at Hadit is
therefore evidently very much what is meant by the mysterious
phrase in the `New Testament' with regard to the Unpardonable
Sin, the `blasphemy against the Holy Ghost'. A star forsaken
by Hadit would thus be in the condition of real death it is
this state which is characteristic of the `Black Brothers',
as they are described in other parts of this Comment, and
elsewhere in the Holy Books of the A. A. I may here quote
Liber Aleph, De Inferno Servorum and De Fratribut Nigris.
`Now, o my Son, having understood the Heaven that is within
thee, according to thy Will, learn this concerning the Hell
of the Slaves of the Slavegods, that it is true Place of
torment. For they, restricting themselves, and being divided
in Will, are indeed the Servants of Sin, and they suffer,
because, not being united in Love with the whole Universe,
they perceive not Beauty, but Ugliness and Deformity; and,
not being united in Understanding thereof, conceive only of
Darkness and Confusion, beholding Evil therein. Thus at last
they come, as did the Manichaeans, to find, to their Terror,
a Division even in the One, not that Division which we know
for the Craft of Love, but a Division of Hate, And this,
multiplying itself, Conflict upon Conflict, endeth in
Hotchpot, and in the Impotence and Envy of Choronzon, and in
the Abominations of the Abyss. And of such the Lords are the
Black Brothers, who seek by their Sorceries to confirm
themselves in Division. Yet in this even is no true Evil, for
Love conquereth All, and their Corruption and Disintegration
is also the Victory of BABALON'. `O my Son, know this
concerning the Black Brothers, that cry: I am I. This is
Falsity and Delusion, for the Law endureth not Exception. So
then these Brethren are not Apart, as they Think; but are
peculiar Combinations of Nature in Her Variety. Rejoice then
even in the Contemplation of these, for they are proper to
Perfection, and Adornments of Beauty, like a Mole upon the
Cheek of a Woman. Shall I then say that were it of thine own
Nature, even thine, to compose so sinsister a complex, thou
shouldst not strive therewith, destroying it by Love, but
continue in that Way? I deny not this hastily, nor affirm;
for it is in mine won Nature to think that in this Matter the
Sum of Wisdom is Silence. But this I say, and that boldly,
that thou shalt not look upon this Horror with Fear, or with
Hate, but accept this as thou dost all else, as a Phenomenon
of Change, that is, of Love. For in a swift Stream thou mayst
behold a Twig held steady for awhile by the Play of the
Water, and by this Analogue thou mayst understand the Nature
of this Mystery of the Path of Perfection.'
57. This, and the first part of the next verse demonstrate
the inviolability of Hadit our Quintessence. Every Star has
its own Nature, which is `Right' for it. We are not to be
missionaries, with ideal standards of dress and morals, and
such hard-ideas. We are to do what we will, and leave others
to do what they will. We are infinitely tolerant, save of
intolerance. It is not good, however, to try to prevent
Christians from meddling, save by the one cure: The
Christians to the Lions. It is impossible to alter the
ultimate Nature of any Being, however completely we may
succeed in transfiguring its external signs as displayed in
any of its combinations. Thus, the sweetness, whiteness, and
crystalline structure of sugar depend partly on the presence
of Carbon; so do the bitterness, greeness, and resinous
composition of hashish. But the Carbon is inviolably Carbon.
And even when we transmute what seem to be elements, as
Radium to Lead, we merely go a step further; there is still
an immutable substance -- or essence of Energy -- which is
inevitably Itself, the basis of the diversity. This holds
good even should we arrive at demonstrating Material Monism.
It may well be -- I have believed so ever since I was
fourteen years old -- that the elements are all isomers,
differentiated by geometrical structure, electrical charge,
or otherwise in precisely the same way as ozone from oxygen,
red from yellow phosphorous, dextrose from laevulose, and a
paraffin from a benzene of identical empirical formula.
Indeed, every `star' is necessarily derived from the uniform
continuity of Nuith, and resolvable back into Her Body by the
proper analytical methods, as the experience of mysticism
testifies. But each such complexs is none the less uniquely
itself; for the scheme of its construction is part of its
existence, so that this peculiar scheme constitutes the
essence of its individuality. It is impossible to change a
shilling into two sixpences, though the value and the
material may be identical; for part of the essence of the
shilling is the intention to have a single coin. The above
considerations must be thoroughly assimilated by any mind
which wishes to gain a firm intellectual grasp of the truth
which lies behind the paradox of existence.
58. Again we learn the permanence of the Nature of a Star.
We are not to judge by temporary circumstances, but to
penetrate to the True Nature. It has naturally been objected
by economists that our Law, in declaring every man and every
woman to be a star, reduces society to its elements, and
makes hierarchy or even democracy impossible. The view is
superficial. EAch star has a function in its galaxy proper to
its own nature. Much mischief has come from our ignorance in
insisting, on the contrary, that each citizen is fit for any
and every social duty. But also our Law teaches that a star
often veils itself from its nature. Thus the vast bulk of
humanity is obsessed by an abject fear of freedom; the
principal objections hitherto urged against my Law have been
those of people who cannot bear to imagine the horrors which
would result if they were free to do their own sills. The
sense of sin, shame, self-distrust, this is what makes folk
cling to CHristianity-slavery. People believe in a medicine
just in so far as it is nasty; metaphysical root of this idea
is in sexual degeneracy of the masochistic type. Now `the Law
is for all'; but such defectives will refuse it, and serve us
who are free with a fidelity the more dog-like as the
simplicity of our freedom denotes their abjection. Even such
shallow soapsudmongers as Sir Walter Besant and Mr. James
Rice have had an inkling of these ideas. I quote `Ready-
Money Mortiboy', Chapter XXIII: `The big-bearded man stood
towering over the children, with his right arm waving them
out into the world -- where? No matter where: somewhere away:
somewhere into the good places of the world -- not a boy's
heart but was stirred within him: and the brave old English
blood rose in them as he spoke, in his deep bass tones, of
the worth of a single man in those far-off lands; -- and
oration destined to bear fruit in after-days, when the lads,
who talk yet with bated breath of the speech and the speaker,
shall grow to man's estate. `Dangerous, Dick', said Farmer
John. `What should I do without my labourers?' `Don't be
afraid', said Dick. `There are not ten percent have the pluck
to go. Let us help them, and you shall keep the rest.' He
might have added that the employer would be better off
without that percentage of yeast to ferment his infusion of
harmless vegetable human. No one is better aware than I am
that the Labour Problem has to be settled by practical and
not ideal considerations, but in this case the ideal
considerations happen to be extremely practical. The mistake
has been in trying to produce a standard article to supply
the labour market; it is an error from the point of view of
capital and labour alike. Men should not be taught to read
and write unless they exhibit capacity or inclination.
Compulsory education has aided nobody. It has imposed an
unwarrantable constraint on the people it was intended to
benefit; it has been asinine presumption on the part of the
intellectuals to consider a smattering of mental acquirements
of universal benefit. It is a form of sectarian bigotry. We
should recognize the fact that the vast majority of human
beings have no ambition in life beyond mere ease and animal
happiness. We should allow these people to fulfil their
destinies without interference. We should give every
opportunity to the ambitious, and thereby establish a class
of morally and intellectually superior men and women. We
should have no compunction in utilizing the natural qualities
of the bulk of mankind. We do not insist on trying to train
sheep to hunt foxes or lecture on history; we look after
their physical well being, and enjoy their wool and mutton.
In this way we shall have a contented class of slaves who
will accept the conditions of existence as they really are,
and enjoy life with the quiet wisdom of cattle. It is our
duty to see to it that this class of people lack for nothing.
The patriarchal system is better for all classes than any
other; the objections to it come from the abuses of it. But
bad masters have been artificially created by exactly the
same blunder as was responsible for the bad servants. It is
essential to teach the masters that each one must discover
his own will, and do it. There is no reason in nature for
cut-throat competition. All this has been explained
previously in other connections; here it is only necessary to
emphasize the point. It must be cleanly understood that every
man must find his own happiness in a purely personal way. Our
troubles have been caused by the assumption that everybody
wanted the same things, and thereby the supply of those
things has become artificially limited; even those benefits
of which there is an inexhaustible store have been cornered.
For example, fresh air and beautiful scenery. In a world
where everyone did his own will none would lack these things.
In our present society, they have become the luxuries of
wealth and leisure, yet they are still accessible to any one
who possesses sufficient sense to emancipate himself from the
alleged advantages of city life. We have deliberately trained
people to wish for things that they do not really want. It
would be easy to elaborate this theme at great length, but I
prefer to leave it to be worked out by each reader in the
light of his own intelligence, but I wish to call the very
particular attention of capitalists and labour leaders to the
principles here set forth. I conclude by quoting foru
chapters from Liber Aleph which bear on the subject. `j`De
Lege Motus. `Consider, my Son, that word in the Call or Cry
of the Thirty Aethyrs: Behold the Face of your God, the
Beginning of Comfort, whose eyes are the Brightness of the
Heavens, which provided you for the Government of the Earth,
and the Unspeakable Variety! And Again: let there be no
Creature upon her or within her the same. All her Members let
them differ in their Qualities, and let there be no Creature
equal with another. Here also is the voice of true Science,
crying aloud that Variation is the Key of Evolution.
Thereunto Art cometh the third, perceiving Beauty in the
Harmony of the Diverse. Know then, o my Son, that all Laws.,
all Aysterm, all Customs, all Ideals and Standards which tend
to produce uniformity, are in direct opposition to Nature's
Will to change and to develop through Variety, and are
accursed. Do thou with all thy Might of Manhood strive
against these Forces, for they resist Change, which is Life;
and thus they are of Death.' `De Legibus Contra Motum. `Say
not, in thine Haste, that such Stagnations are Unity even as
the last Victory of thy Will is Unity. For thy Will moveth
through free Function, according to its particular Nature, to
that End of Dissolution of all Complexities, and those Ideals
and Standards are Attempts to halt thee on that Way. Although
for thee some certain Ideal be upon thy Path, yet for thy
Neighbour it may not be so. Set all Men a-horseback; thou
speedest the Foot-soldier upon his way, indeed; but what hast
thou done to the Bird-man? Thou must have simple Laws and
Customs to express the general Will, and so prevent the
Tyranny or Violence of a few; but multiply them not! Now then
herewith I will declare unto thee the Limits of the civil Law
upon the Rock of the Law of Thelema'. `De Necessitate
Communi. `Understand first that the Disturbers of the Peace
of Mankind do so by Reason of their Ignorance of their own
True Wills. Therefore, as this Wisdom of mine increaseth
among Mankind, the false Will to Crime must become constantly
more rare. Also, the exercise of our Freedom will cause Men
to be born with less and ever less Affliction from that
Dis-ease of Spirit, which breedeth these false Wills. But, in
the While of waiting for this Perfection, thou must by Law
assure to every Man a Means of satisfying his bodily and his
mental Needs, leaving him free to develop any Super-structure
in accordance with his Will, and protecting him from any that
may seek to deprive him of these vertebral Rights. There
shall be therefore a Standard of Satisfaction, though it must
vary in detail with Race, Climate, and other such Conditions.
And this Standard shall be based upon a large Interpretation
of Facts biological, physiological, and the like'. `De
Fundamentis Civitatis. `Say not, o my Son, that in this
Argument I Have set Limits to individual Freedom. For each
Man in this State which I purpose is fulfilling his own true
Will by his eager Acquiescence in the Order necessary to the
Welfare of all, and therefore of himself also. But see thou
well to it that thou set high the Standard of Satisfaction,
and that to every one be a Surplus of Leisure and of Energy,
so that, his Will of Self- preservation-being fulfilled by
the Performance of his Function in the State, he may devote
the Remainder of his Powers to the Satisfaction of the other
Parts of his Will. And because the People are oft times
unlearned, not understanding Pleasure, let them be instructed
in the Art of Life: to prepare Food palatable and wholesome,
each to his own Taste, to make Clothes according to Fancy,
with variety of Individuality, and to practice the manifold
Crafts of Love. These Things being first secured, thou mayst
afterward lead them into the Heavens of Poesy and Tale, of
Music, Painting, and Sculpture, and into the Lore of the Mind
Itself, with its insatiable Joy of all Knowledge, Thence let
them soar!'
59. We must abolish the shadows by the Radiant Light of
the Sun. Real things are only thrown into brighter glory by
His effulgence. We need have no fear then to throw the
Christians to the Lions. If there be indeed True Men among
them, who happen through defect of education to know no
better, they will reincarnate all right, and no harm done.
This passage may perhaps be interpreted in a sense slightly
different from that assumed in the above paragraph. We should
indeed love all -- is not the Law `love under will'? By this
I mean that we should make proper contact with all, for love
means union; and the proper condition of union is determined
by will. Consider the right attitude to adopt in the matter
of cholera. One should love it, that is, study it intimately;
not otherwise can one be sure of maintaining the right
relation with it, which is, not to allow it to interfere with
one's will to live. (And almost everything that is true of
Cholera is true of Christians.)
60. The Christians to the Lions! An XVII Sol in Libra, I
am reminded of Samuel Butler's observation that the
apotheosis of love is to devour the beloved. Indeed, one
cannot say that one has perfectly attained to love or hate
until the object of that passion is assimilated. The word `
hell' is significant in this connection. One must never be so
careless as to let oneself think that even `the Style of a
letter' (how much less a phrase!) in this Book is casual. The
expression `to hell with them' is not merely an outburst of
colloquial enthusiasm. The word `hell', that and no other,
serves the purpose of the speaker. This would naturally be
suggested to us, in any case, by the reflection that our Law
does not indulge in the frothings of impotent fury, like the
priestly frauds of Moses, the Rishis, and Buddha, in the
weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth of the Galilean
fishwife. Our Law knows nothing of punishment beyond that
imposed by ignorance and awkwardness on their possessor. The
work `hell' must therefore be explained in terms neither of
virile vulgarity, or theological blackmail. I quote Liber
Aleph, Chapters , p.24, p.129, p.130, from which the
peculiar applicability of the expression to the problem of
the text will be evident. `De Nuptiis Mysticis. `O my Son,
how wonderful is the Wisdom of this Law of Love! How vast are
the Oceans of uncharted Joy that lie before the Keel of thy
Ship! Yet know this, that every Opposition is in its Nature
named Sorrow, and the Joy lieth in the Destruction of the
Dyad. Therefore must thou seek ever those Things which are to
thee poisonous, and that in the highest Degree, and make them
thine by Love. That which repels, that which disgusts, must
thou assimilate in this Way of Wholeness. Yet rest not in the
Joy of Destruction of every Complex in thy Nature, but press
on to that ultimate Marriage with the Universe whose
Consummation shall destroy thee utterly, leaving only that
Nothingness which was before the Beginning. So then the Life
of Non-action is not for thee; the Withdrawal from Activity
is not the Way of the Tao; but rather the Intensification and
making universal of every Unity of thine Energy on every
Plane.'
E-Mail Fredric L. Rice / The Skeptic Tank