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Page 1 of 21996 · PDF PAGE 88
…t possesses the power to know, Nuit that of being known. Nuit is not unconnected with the idea of nibbana, the “Shoreless Sea,” in which Knowledge is Not. Hadit is hidden in Nuit, and knows Her, She being an object of knowledge; but He is not knowable, for He is merely that part of Her which She formulates in order that She may be known. 5. Behold! the rituals of the old time are black. Let the evil ones be cast away; let the good ones be purged by the prophet! Then shall this Knowledge go aright. Commentary: The “old time” is the /Eon of the D…
1996 · PDF PAGE 89
…ng so long as we refrain from pushing the analy sis of any term to its logical elements. For example, “Sugar is sugar” is obviously not knowledge. But no more is this: “Sugar is a sweet white crystalline carbohydrate.” For each of these four terms describes a sensory impression on ourselves; and we define our impressions only in terms of such things as sugar. Thus “sweet” means “the quality ascribed by our taste to honey, sugar, etc.”; “white” is “what champaks, zinc oxide, sugar, etc., report to our eyesight”; and so on. The proposition is ul…
1996 · PDF PAGE 204
…hold! the rituals of the old time are black. Let the evil ones be cast away; let the good ones be purged by the prophet! Then shall this Knowledge go aright. 6. I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet there fore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death. 7. I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a fool ish word: for it is I that go. 8. Who worshipped Heru-pa-kraath have worshipped me; ill, fo…
1996 · PDF PAGE 91
…, mutilation to appease an ex cathedra' morality, fidelity to a priori formulas, etc., teach false and futile methods of acquiring false Knowledge; they must be “cast away” or “purged”. The Schools of Initiation must be reformed. 6. I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death. Commentary: It follows that, as Hadit can never be known, there is no death. The death of the individual is his awakening to the impersonal im…
1996 · PDF PAGE 90
Chapter II * Verse 5 91 reflect respectively Nuit and Hadit from the Ain and Kether. The process is to use each new item of knowledge to correct and increase one’s comprehension of the Subject of the Proposition. Thus arb should tell us: A is (not A, as we supposed, but) A. This facilitates the discovery a,r,c leading to a, is a2; and so on. In practice, everything that we learn about (e.g.) “horse” helps us to understand—to enjoy—the idea. The difference between the scholar and the schoolboy is that the former glows and exults when he is remin…
1996 · PDF PAGE 121
…hat it is intended to do. I may also mention briefly one line of analysis. 1 [Lat., “all things go forth into mystery,” and “the highest knowledge is to know nothing.”] I ask “What is (e.g.) a tree?” The dictionary defines this simple idea by means of many complex ideas; obviously one gets in deeper with every stroke one takes. The same applies to any “Why” that may be posed. The one existing mystery disappears as a consequence of innumerable antecedents, each equally mysterious. To ask questions is thus evidently worse than a waste of time, so…
1996 · PDF PAGE 14
… that I have not included. Sometimes the understanding of the Commentary involves mathematical or philosophical or scientific or magical knowledge such as the gen eral reader cannot be assumed to possess; and this edition of the Commentary on the Book of the Law is for the general reader. It is intended as a Primer; it is for the layman. I am a layman myself, as regards special knowledge of the kind that I have just indi cated, so in one way my task has been simplified. I have gone on the principle of omitting from the Commentary anything tha…
1996 · PDF PAGE 119
…the inductive numbers, is unaltered by adding or subtracting it. There are just as many odd numbers as there are numbers altogether. Our knowledge is confined to statements of the relations between cer tain sets of our own sensory impressions; and we are convinced by our limitations that “a factor infinite &c unknown” must be concealed within the sphere of which we see but one minute part of the surface. As to reason itself, what is more certain than that its laws are only the conscious expression of the limits imposed upon us by our animal na…
1996 · PDF PAGE 12
…d Aiwaz, an intelligence discarnate, who wrote this Book of the Law, using my ears and hand. His mind is certainly superior to my own in knowledge and in power, for He has dominated me and taught me ever since.1 1 [Crowley, Commentary to AL 111:19, p. 161 below.] 2 [Quotations from Liber Legis are cited by chapter and verse in the margins throughout this edition, except when occurring in that section of the Commentary where the verse quoted is the subject.] But the writer from this dictation was not, at the time, in sympathy with this “intellig…
1996 · PDF PAGE 99
…he situation, (b) a correct magical explanation of that explanation, (c) a personal rebuke to which I had no possible reply, involving a knowledge of my own mental state which was superior to my own. These two verses are sufficient in themselves to demonstrate the prasterhuman qualities of the Author of this Book. 14. Now let there be a veiling of this shrine: now let the light devour men and eat them up with blindness! 15. For I am perfect, being Not; and my number is nine by the fools; but with the just I am eight, and one in eight: Which is …
1996 · PDF PAGE 171
…ce of (a) escaping vene real disease, (b) propagating their noble selves. 3. To maintain power over their slaves by their possession of Knowledge. 4. To keep them docile as long as possible by drawing out the debauching of their innocence. A sexually pleased woman is the best of willing helpers; one who is disap pointed or disillusioned a very psychical eczema. 5. In primitive communities, to serve as a guard against surprise and treachery. 6. To cover their secret shame in the matter of sex. Hence the pretence that a woman is “pure,” modest,…
1996 · PDF PAGE 183
…eing; this by itself will suffice to ini tiate him, to dissolve his complexes, to unveil himself to himself; and so shall he attain the Knowledge and Conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel.
1996 · PDF PAGE 185
…raight line is the shortest distance between two points; some savages may not know this consciously, but they base their actions on that knowledge. Now we cannot doubt that consciousness has developed else where than in man; only a blind megalomaniac or a Christian divine could suppose our infinitesimal mote of a planet the sole habitat of Mind, especially as our minds are, at best, totally incompetent to comprehend Nature. It is also unlikely that our Earth’s physical conditions of temperature, atmosphere, density and so on, which some still …
1996 · PDF PAGE 174
…er beauty. Most masterful man, yet most cunning, was not thy supreme stratagem to band the woman’s own sisters against her, to use their knowledge of her psychology and the cruelty of their jeal ousies to avenge thee on thy slave as thou thyself hadst neither wit nor spite to do? And Woman, weak in body, and starved in mind; woman, morally fettered by Her heroic oath to save the race, no care of cost, helpless and hard, endured these things, endured from age to age. Hers was no loud spectacular sacrifice, no cross on a hill-top, with the world…
1996 · PDF PAGE 117
…depth of his apprecia tion thereof as the soul of the structure of the Universe. It is the spine of Science which has vertebrated human Knowledge above the slimy mollusc whose principle was Faith. We must not suppose for an instant that The Book of the Law is opposed to reason. On the contrary, its own claim to authority rests upon reason, and nothing else. It disdains the arts of the ora tor. It makes reason the autocrat of the mind. But that very fact emphasizes that the mind should attend to its own business. It should not transgress its l…
1996 · PDF PAGE 36
…ly alone, and thus assured the possibility of expansion on his own lines to every man. 32. Obey my prophet! follow out the ordeals of my knowledge! seek me only! Then the joys of my love will redeem ye from all pain. This is so: I swear it by the vault of my body; by my sacred heart and tongue; by all I can give, by all I desire of ye all. Commentary: It is proper to obey The Beast, because His Law is pure Freedom, and He will give no command which is other than a Right Interpretation of this Freedom. But it is neces sary for the development o…
1996 · PDF PAGE 160
…d Aiwaz, an intelligence discarnate, who wrote this Book of the Law, using my ears and hand. His mind is certainly superior to my own in knowledge and in power, for He has dominated me and taught me ever since. But that apart, the proof of any discarnate intelligence, even of the lowest order, has never before been established. And lack of that proof is the flaw in all the religions of the past; man could not be certain of the existence of “God,” because though he knew many powers independent of muscle, he knew of no conscious ness independent…
1996 · PDF PAGE 108
…. He must be indifferent to anything but his own integrity in the realization and imagination of himself. 22. I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this. Commentary: Drunkenn…
1996 · PDF PAGE 131
…the Heav ens 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. Beware therefore! Love all, lest perchance is a King concealed! Say you so? Fool! If he be a King, thou canst not hurt him. Commentary: 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 happ…
1996 · PDF PAGE 200
…t all! They feel little; what is, is balanced by weak joys; but ye are my chosen ones. 32. Obey my prophet! follow out the ordeals of my knowledge! seek me only! Then the joys of my love will redeem ye from all pain. This is so: I swear it by the vault of my body; by my sacred heart and tongue; by all I can give, by all I desire of ye all. 33. Then the priest fell into a deep trance or swoon, & said unto the Queen of Heaven; Write unto us the ordeals; write unto us the rituals; write unto us the law! 34. But she said: the ordeals I write not: t…