THE MOTHER
131
This terrible form of vice , chameleon-like , assumes
many
colours ,
one
of
the
principal
being
that
of
pleasure under the guise of pain .
In such cases utter
satiety of the ordinary forms of pleasure gives birth
to
the desire for the
pain which was once
dreaded , and
the pleasure that the individual
once
experienced
in
himself , and also the pleasure he felt was being ex
perienced by the participator
of
his
actions
,
changes
,
growing
little
by
little from
a
spark
into
a
flaming
volcano
of
scorching
pain
,
which
he
alone seeks
,
find
ing new pleasures
in
the pain
he
himself endures
,
and
fresh pleasures
in
the pain
he
himself inflicts
.
This
is
Lust
.
Peopled with
all
the horrors
of
inversion
,
we pass
from the simple realms
of
prostitution
,
to
the dismal
Kingdoms
of
Sodom
and
Lesbos
.
Paederasts
and
Tribades
flock
round
us
,
yet we
break
away
from
them
only
to
enter the foul jaws
of
the sexual hell
of
shrieking
flagellants
,
who rush upon
us
,
as
obscene
Masochists
grovel
at
our feet
;
far into
its
depths we
sink
,
and there
at
the altar
of
Phallommeda sits
a
foul
vulture
gloating
over
a
corpse
;
and
its
name
is
Necrophilia
.
Into
the
realms
of
sexual
-
neurasthenia
Aleister
Crowley
takes
us
,
and
it
is
necessary that
he
should
.
His religion
,
his philosophy
,
and
his psychology
,
all
point
to
an
ultimate
blending
of
our
extreme per
fections and imperfections
—
vice
and virtue
—
in
one
great
monistic
unity
.
He that would
be
wise must
know
all
things
,
all
things
that his transient life can
enable him
to
grasp
.
In
the
age which
produced
Rabelais and Boccaccio
,
vice was flagrantly open
,
and
the
lust which
the early Christians
had first opposed
and secondly absorbed
,
slowly burnt within the society
of
their days
,
till
it
burst out
in
the lecherous flames