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Page 1 of 21904 · PDF PAGE 72
…embarks on the always desperate philosophical problem. Time and again, in the history of Science, a period has arrived when, gorged with facts, she has sunk into a lethargy of reflection accompanied by appalling nightmares in the shape of impossible theories. Such a night- mare now rides us ; once again philosophy has said its last word, and arrived at a dead- lock. Aristotle, in reducing to the fundamental contradictions-in-terms which they involve the figments of the Pythagoreans, the Eleatics, the Platonists, the Pyrrhonists ; Kant, in his r…
1904 · PDF PAGE 48
…ion could be cuter Than—Gabriel with a pea-shooter ? In such a conflict I stand neuter. But oh ! mistake not gold for pewter ! The plain fact is : materialise What spiritual fact you choose, And all such turn to folly—lose The subtle splendour, and the wise Love and dear bliss of truth. Beware Lest your lewd laughter set a snare For any ! Thus and only thus Will I admit a difference ’Twixt spirit and the things of sense. What is the quarrel between us ? Why do our thoughts so idly clatter ? I do not care one jot for matter, One jot for spirit, …
1904 · PDF PAGE 73
…d the watchfulness which science would have enjoined, and the result is muck and misery, the wreck of a noble study. But what is the one fact on which all agree? The one fact whose knowledge has been since reliigon began the all-sufficient passport to their doubtfully-desirable company? This: that “I see a cat” is not only an unwarrantable assumption but a lie ; that the duality of consciousness ceases suddenly, once the rate of change has been sufficiently slowed down, so that, even for a few seconds, the rela- tion of subject and object remai…
1904 · PDF PAGE 124
…l its illusory beauty, been seized upon, generalised from, by philo- sophers, and it is to this basis of partial and therefore deceptive fact that we owe the systems of Vedanta and Idealism, with their grotesque assumptions and muddle- headed “reconcilements” all complete. One fact, O Sri Çankaracharya, does not make a theory ; let us rem ember y our fate, and avoid generalising on insufficient evi- dence. W ith this word of warning, I leave the metaphysician to wallow in his m ire, and look toward better times for the great problems of philoso…
1904 · PDF PAGE 117
SCIENCE AND BUDDHISM 110 Of the metaphysical and religious t heories which have been built upon the facts here stated, I have nothing to s ay in this place. The facts are not at the disposition of all; from the nature of the s ubject each man must be his own witness. I was once twitted by som e shallow-pated person with the fact that my position cannot be demon- strated in the laboratory , and that therefore (save the mark!) I m ust be a m ystic, an occultist, a theosophist, a mystery-monger, and what not. I am none of these. The above criticis…
1904 · PDF PAGE 118
…riend of mine, on reading through the MS. of this essay. The reason of my omission to explain is that to m e it had seemed obvious. T he fact had been assim ilated. To meditate on any thing is to per ceive its unr eal nature. Notably this is so in concentrating on parts of the body, such as the nose. On this phenomenon the Hindus have based their famous aphorism, “That which can be thought is not true.”—A. C. fortunately the living in such a state is conditional on sound mental health, and terminable by disease or death at any moment. Were it n…
1904 · PDF PAGE 41
…usha-grass,48 and count my beads, Murmer my mantra,49 till recedes The world of sense and thought—I sink 475 480 485 490 495 500 505 510 Fact replacing folklore, the Christian snig- gers. Let him beware. For I speak subtly. Results of prac- tice. The poet abandons all to find Truth.
1904 · PDF PAGE 22
ASCENSION DAY 15 On just belief or unbelief ; And an involuntary act Make difference infinite in fact Between the right and left-hand thief ? Belief is not an act of will !” I think, Sir, that I have you still, Even allowing (much indeed !) That any will at all is freed, And is not merely the result Of sex, environment, and cult, Habit and climate, health and mind, And twenty thousand other things ! So many a metaphysic sings. (I wish they did indeed : I find Their prose the hardest of hard reading.) “But if,” you cry, “the world’s designed As …
1904 · PDF PAGE 115
…usness of it appears a thousand times more real than that of the things about him; suppose that his whole life is moulded to fit the new facts thus re- vealed to him; that he would cheerfully re- nounce years of normal life to obtain minutes of that dream -life; that his tim e s ense is uprooted as never before, and that these influences are perm anent. Then, you will say, delirium trem ens (and the intoxication of hashish, in respect more particularly of the time sense) afford us a parallel. But the phenomena of delirium tremens do not occur i…
1904 · PDF PAGE 101
…en perm itted to call m y m aster,2 I am bound to express my view that when the Qabalists said Not, they meant Not, and nothing else. In fact, I really claim to have re-discovered the long-lost and central Arcanum of those divine philosophers. I have no serious objection to a finite god, or gods, distinct from men and things. In fact, personally , I believe in them all, and admit them to possess inconceivable though not infinite power. The Buddhists admit the existence of Maha-Brahma, but his power and knowledge are limited; and his agelong day…
1904 · PDF PAGE 119
…purpose the most admirable thing he could have said. He is wrong in say ing that idealists are bewildered by their own terminology ; the fact is that idealis t conclusions are pre- sented directly to consciousness, when that consciousness is Dhyanic. (Cf. Section XI.) Nothing is clearer to m y m ind that that the great difficulty habitually experienced b y the normal mind in the assim ilation of m eta- physics is due to the actual lack of experi- ence in the m ind of the reader of the phenomena discussed. I will go so far as to say that perhaps…
1904 · PDF PAGE 47
…consciousness.59 Miracles follow as a dower ; But ah ! they used that fatal power And lost the Spirit in the act. This may be fancy or a fact ; At least it squares with super-sense Or “spiritual experience.” You do not well to swell the list Of horrid things to me imputed By calling me “materialist.” At least this thought is better suited To Western minds than is embalmed Among the doctrines of Mohammed, The dogma parthenogenetic * As told me by a fat ascetic. He said : “Your worthy friends may lack you late, But learn how Mary was immaculate !…
1904 · PDF PAGE 27
…faith Find it a devil or a wraith, Just as my mood or temper tends ! And thus to-day that “Christ ascends,” I take the symbol, leave the fact Decline to make the smallest pact With your creative Deity, And say : The Christhood-soul in me, Risen of late, is now quite clear Even of the smallest taint of Earth. Supplanting God, the Man has birth (“New Birth” you’ll call the same, I fear,) Transcends the ordinary sphere And flies in the direction “x.” (There lies the fourth dimension.) Vex My soul no more with mistranslations From Genesis to Revela…
1904 · PDF PAGE 25
…ou say, “Wait only till your dying day ! See whether then you kiss the rod, And bow that proud soul down to God !” I perfectly admit the fact ; Quite likely that I so shall act ! Here’s why Creation jumps at prayer. You Christians quote me in a breath This, that, the other atheist’s death;73 How they sought God ! Of course ! Impair By just a touch of fever, chill, My health—where flies my vivid will? My carcase with quinine is crammed; I wish South India were damned ; I wish I had my mother’s nursing, Find precious little use in cursing, 620 62…
1904 · PDF PAGE 26
…’s being torn to pieces By knowledge : nor invoke the shade Of my own boyhood’s agony. Soul, shudder not ! Advance the blade Of fearless fact and probe the scar ! You know my first-class memory ? Well, in my life two years there are Twelve years back—not so very far ! Two years whereof no memory stays. One ageless anguish filled my days So that no item, like a star Sole in the supreme night, above Stands up for hope, or joy, or love. Nay, not one ignis fatuus glides Sole in that marsh, one agony To make the rest look light. Abides The thick sep…
1904 · PDF PAGE 116
…ised up to a cer tain point. At first it is easy to trace back by a connected chain of thoughts fr om the thought which awakes us to the fact that we are wandering to the original thought. Later, and notably as we im prove, this becomes first difficult, then im possible. At first sight this fact suggests that we are injuring our brains by the practice, but the explanation is as follows: Suppose we figur e the central con- sciousness as the Sun, intent on seeing that nothing falls into him . Fir st the near planets are carefully arranged, so th …
1904 · PDF PAGE 32
…eauty ! If after all these years of worship You hail Ra26 his bark or Nuit27 her ship * A flat cake of unleavened bread. As a m atter of fact they do not enjoy and indeed will not eat them, preferring “dok,” a paste of coarse flour and water, wrapped round a hot stone. It cooks gradually , and remains warm all day. 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 Live out thy life ! Charac- ter of Balti. His religious sincerity. Re- lations of poet and the Egyp- tian God of Wisdom. Crowley dis- missed with a jest.
1904 · PDF PAGE 33
…mory’s dim. The corn said “You sluggard !” The mill “You may tug hard,” (or lug hard, or plug hard ; I forgot the exact Rhyme ; that’s a fact “If I want to grind slowly I shall,” A quainter old fable one rarely is able To drag from its haunt in the—smoke room or stable ! You see (vide supra) I’ve brought to the test a ton Of tolerance, broadness. Approve me, friend Chesteron ! So much when philosophy’s lacteal river Turns sour through a trifle of bile on the liver. But now for the sane and the succulent milk Of truth—may it slip down as smoothl…
1904 · PDF PAGE 10
…world I discover. Words—are they weak ones at best ? They shall speak ! 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 Apology of poet. Skeleton of poem. Valuable fact for use of lovers. Invocation. Imperfect scholastic at- tainements of author reme- died by his great spiritual insight. His intention.
1904 · PDF PAGE 50
… features of a Messaline. Clearly so, since but for this concealment even our Shakespearian scholars would have dis- covered so patent a fact. In some plays, too, of course, the poet deals with less dangerous topics. These are truly conventional, no doubt; we may pass them by; they are foreign to our purpose; but we will take that stupendous example of literary subterfuge—King Lear. Let my digress to the history of my own conversion. Syllogistically,—all great men ( e.g. Shaw) are agnostics and subverters of morals. Shake- speare was a great ma…