The Equinox (Volume III, Number I)

CONCERNING THE LAW OF THELEMA its doctrine of the self-sufficiency of Art (“A fine style is an aureole of holiness” is one phrase of his), prophesies of the Messiah in a remarkable passage. It will be seen that our founder, born as he was to the purple, has fulfilled it. Ihave not the volume at my side, living as I am this her- mit life in New Hampshire, but its gist is that Kings and Popes have not power to redeem the world because they sur- round themselves with splendour and dignity. They possess all that other men desire, and therefore their motives are suspect. If any person of position, says Levi, insists upon living a life of hardship and inconvenience when he could do otherwise, then men will trust him, and he will be able to execute his projects for the general good of the common- wealth. But he must naturally be careful not to relax his austerities as his power increases. Make power and splen- dour incompatible, and the social problem is solved. “Who is that ragged old man gnawing a dry crust by yon- der cabin?” “That is the President of the Republic.” Where honour is the only possible good to be gained by the exercise of power, the man in power will strive only for honour. The above is an extreme case; no one need go so far nowa- days; and it is important that the President should have been used to terrapin and bécasse flambé before he went into politics. You will ask how this operated, and how the system in- augurated by him works. Itis simple. Authority and pres- tige in the Order are absolute, but while the lower grades give increase of privilege, the higher give increase of service. Power in the Order depends, therefore, directly on the willingness to aid others. Tolerance also is taught in the higher grades; so that no man can be even an Inspector of 233