Book 4 (Part II)

168 material and the spiritual. One may now devote a little attention to the consideration of this " plane," about which a great deal of nonsense has been written. When a man shuts his eyes and begins to look about him, at first there is nothing but darkness. If he continues trying to penetrate the gloom, a new pair of eyes gradually opens. Some people think that these are the " eyes of imagination." Those with more experience understand that this truly represents things seen, although those things are themselves totally false. At first the seer will perceive gray gloom ; in subsequent experiments perhaps figures may appear with whom the seer may converse, and under whose guidance he may travel about. This " plane " being quite as large and varied as the material Universe, one cannot describe it effectively; we must refer the reader to Liber O and to Equinox II, pages 295 to 334. This " Astral Plane " has been described by Homer in the Odyssey. Here are Polyphemus and the Laestrygons, here Calypso and the Sirens. Here, too, are those things which many have imagined to be the " spirits " of the dead. If the student once take any of these things for truth, he must worship it, since all truth is worshipful. In such a case he is lost; the phantom will have power over him; it will obsess him. As long as an idea is being examined you are free from