The Star in the West

272 THE STAR IN THE WEST Yet hope , ever hope ; for as a child lisping its alphabet learns how to probe the depths of dark and cryptic books ; so we , we too , have to travel many an arduous league before we can obtain that crown of Wisdom which is stored up for us . Be the God that we can , grasp but the first ring , but grasp it well , and be thankful if it but fit our little finger ; trusting that the flashing gems , fiery in its golden setting , will light our way to the discovery of the next , and the next ! -- and the next ! till we become one with the whirling gems of Eternity . This religion of Scientific - Buddhism , either through the narrow circumference of its founder's opinions , or through that of his followers , becoming rational , became absurd , when drawn out to its logical con clusions , as Crowley himself shows in “ Pansil ”1 and “ The Three Characteristics .” ? In the former he bares the fact that in the “ First Precept " Buddha himself , by speaking this commandment , violated it, and in a note very truly says : “ The argument that the ' animals are our brothers ' is merely intended to mis lead one who has never been in a Buddhist country . The average Buddhist would , of course , kill his brother for five rupees , or less .' 93 The mere fact of breathing breaks the second precept . Buddha , being an habitual adulterer , constantly broke the third ; and the fourth and fifth likewise . 1 Vol . ii, p . 192 . 2 Vol . ii, p . 225 . 3 Vol . ii, p . 192 . 4 It would be easy to argue with Hegel - Huxley that he who thinks of an act commits it ( cf. Jesus also in this connection , though He only knows the creative value of desire ), and that since A and not -A are mutually limiting , therefore interde pendent , therefore identical , he who forbids an act commits it. Vol . ii, p . 193 .