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Page 1 of 61954 · PDF PAGE 228
…his has been put in a sort of text, because the first stumbling-block to study is that one never has any certainty as to what the author means, or thinks he means, or is trying to persuade one that he means. Try something simple: "The soul is a part of God." Now then, when he writes "soul" does he mean Atma, or Buddhi, or the Higher Manas, or Purusha, or Yechidah, or Neschamah, or Nephesch, or Nous, or Psyche, or Phren, or Ba, or Khu, or Ka, or Animus or Anima, or Seele, or what? But even this very plain word "part." Does he mean to
1954 · PDF PAGE 352
…ossess any of hose bourgeois "virtues" which are just so many reactions to lue Funk. Also, ascetiCism is all right when it is the proper means of ttaining some special end. It is when it produces eructations f spiritual pride, and satisfied vanity, that it is poisonous . e Greek word means an athlete; and the training of an thlete is not mortification of the body. Nor is there any rule hich covers all circumstances. When men go "stale" a few ays before the race, they are "taken off training ," and fed ith champagne. But that is part of the trai…
1954 · PDF PAGE 448
… all people!-fire him off at me. I laugh! I wondered when you were going to pull me up, and send me packing to my Skeat about what "Sin" means. O.K. Police routine does beat the gifted amateur. Sin, astonishingly , means real! Curtius tells us "Language regards the guilty man as the man who it was." Then , what is 'guilt'? A.S. gyit , trespass; in our own Thelemic language, "deviation from (especially in the matter of excess, trespasser) the True Will." Please take notice that most of the words which denote misconduct imply wandering, either fr…
1954 · PDF PAGE 311
…his verse in its most obvious and ordinary sense; for instance , the following sentence: "The exposure of innocence is a lie" ; for that means clearly enough Hypocrisy. So "It is a lie, this folly against self" only means "To hell with sentimental altruism , with false modesty , with all those most insidious fiends, the sense of guilt, of shame-in a word, the 'inferiority complex' or something very like it." The whole tenor of The Book of the Law is to this effect. The very test of worth is that one should be aware of it and not afraid to sock …
1954 · PDF PAGE 123
…t's exposition, it is easy to understand. To us, every phenomenon is an Act of Love. Every experience is necessary, is a Sacrament, is a means of Growth. Hence, "existence is pure joy" (AL, II: 9). "A feast every day in your hearts in the joy of my rapture! A feast every night unto Nu, and the pleasure of uttermost delight!" (AL, II: 42, 43)
1954 · PDF PAGE 398
…inal result of any project or investigation; and this; surprisingly often, is not at all what it is possible to discover by any ordinary means. For instance , one might ask oneself "Do I believe in God?" and, after a vast number of affirmative answers of constantly increasing depth and subtlety , discover with a shock that "at the bottom of the bottle" one believed nothing of the sort! Or vice versa. On one occasion the following experiment was carried out . A certain Adept was to make use of the Sacred Vapour , and when the time seemed ripe, t…
1954 · PDF PAGE 5
…ientis All rights reserved. No part of this book, in part or in whole, may be reproduced, transmitted or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical articles, books and reviews. International Standard Book Number: D-941404-17-X Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 82-083310 First Edition, 1973 Second Printing, 1973 Third Printing, Falcon Press, 1…
1954 · PDF PAGE 345
…n to devise dilemmas calculated to stump the Master, or to catch him bending. Then-you ask-am I saying that the End does not justify the means? Hardly that. Wha t I really mean is that these two terms are unconnected. One decides about the "End" in one way: about the "Means" in another. But every proposition in your sorites has got to justify itself; and, having done so, to estimate its exact weight in relation to all the other terms of your problem. "Confusion worse confounded?" I dare say it is; it's the best I can do with such a difficult qu…
1954 · PDF PAGE 476
…tten enough-at least enough to start you thinking on the right lines. And mark well this! The submergence of the individual in his class means the end of all true human relations between men. Socialism means war. When the class moves as a class, there can be no exceptions . This is no original thought of mine ; Stalin and Hitler both saw it crystal-clear ; both , the one adroitly, the other clumsily, but with equally consummate hypocrisy , acted it out. They picked individuals to rule under their autocracy , killed off those that wouldn't fit, …
1954 · PDF PAGE 93
…. They see quite well, as we have done above, that merely to assert Nothing is not to explain the Universe; and they proceed to do so by means of a mathematical equation even simpler than ours, involving as it does no operations beyond simple addition and subtraction. They say "Nothing obviously means Nothing; it h •. .i no qualities nor quantities." (The Advaitists said the same, and then stultified themselves completely by calling it One!) "But," continue the sages of the Middle Kingdom, "it is always possible to reduce any expression to Noth…
1954 · PDF PAGE 67
…no limit to the extent of the relations of any man with the Universe in essence; for as soon as man makes himself one with any idea, the means of measurement cease to exist. But his power to utilize that force is limited by his mental power and capacity, and by the circumstances of his human environment. (Illustration: When a man falls in love, the whole world becomes, to him, nothing but love boundless and immanent; but his mystical state is not contagious; his fellow-men are either amused or annoyed. He can only extend to others the effect wh…
1954 · PDF PAGE 106
…e, annihilation. (Shallow critics of Buddhism have wasted a great deal of stupid ingenuity on trying to make out that Nirvana or Nibbana means something different from what etymology, tradition, and the evidence of the Classics combine to define it. The word means, quite simply, cessation: and it stands to reason that, if everything is sorrow, the only thing which is not sorrow is nothing, and that therefore to escape from sorrow is the attainment of nothingness.) Western philosophy has on occasion approached this \ doctrine. It has at least as…
1954 · PDF PAGE 252
… system completely. (You remember how this happened, and what came of it, in a rather clever short story by H.G. Wells.) For true Magick means "to employ one set of natural forces at a mechanical advantage as against another set" -I quote, as closely as memory serves, Thomas Henry Huxley, when he explains that when he lifts his water-jug-or his elbow-he does not "defy the Law of Gravitation." On the contrary, he uses that Law; its equations form part of the system by which he lifts the jug without spilling the water. To sum up, our system is a …
1954 · PDF PAGE 323
… furniture, to say nothing of the camel. What a fool! No, that does not necessarily follow. If the Gods will the End, They also will the means. I shall do all that is possible to me by buying the house; I shall leave it to Them to do Their share when the time comes. This "Act of Truth" is already a Magical Formula of infallible puissance; the man who is capable of so thinking and acting is far more likely to get what he wanted from the Sacrifice-when at long last the Camel appears on the premises-than he who, having ample means to carry out the…
1954 · PDF PAGE 73
…cience and Art" (let me remind you!) "of causing change to occur in conformity with the Will." Observe that the least slackness or error means that things happen which do not thus conform; when this is so despite our efforts, we are (temporarily) baffled: when it is our own ignorance of what we ought to will, or lack of skill in adapting our means to the right end, then we set up a conflict in our own Nature: our act is suicidal. Such interior struggle is at the base of nearly all neuroses, as Freud recently "discovered" -as if this had not bee…
1954 · PDF PAGE 225
…ask me why, or how, or anything! In the summer of 1910 e.v. I was living at 125 Victoria Street , in a studio converted into a Temple by means of a Circle, an Altar and the rest. West of the Altar was a big fireplace with a fender settee; the East wall was covered with bookshelves. Enter the late Theodor Reuss, O.H.O. and Frater Superior of the O.T.O. He wanted me to join that Order. I recommended him, in politer language, to repeat the Novocastrian Experiment. Undeterred, he insisted: "But you must." (Now we go back, or forward, I know not whi…
1954 · PDF PAGE 47
…given. Thus, you find a camel in the number which refers to the Moon, but the Tarot card "the Moon" refers not to the letter Gimel which means camel, but to the letter Qoph , and the sign Pisces which means fish, while the letter itself refers to the back of the head; and you also find fish has the meaning of the letter Nun. You must not go on from this. and say that the back of your head is like a camel-the connection between them is simply that they all refer to the same thing. In studying the Qabalah you mention six months; I think after tha…
1954 · PDF PAGE 259
…rings no result in months; put it up to 10-20-40, and Dhyana comes instantly . When in doubt, push just a little bit harder. You have no means of finding out what are exactly the right conditions for success in any practice; but all practices are alike in one respect; the desired result is in the nature of orgasm. I guess that's about what I think. Love is the law, love under will. Yours fraternally, 666
1954 · PDF PAGE 158
…eally trying to discuss something totally different; something practical in daily life. Very well, then; you remark that Goetia actually means "howling," that we use officially the Bell, the Tom-Tom, the Incantations, the Mantras, and so on. All quite true, about Magick; but none of it applies to Yoga, for even with the Mantra the practice is to go faster and more quietly as one proceeds, until it becomes "Mental Muttering:" M is the letter that is pronounced with the lips 125
1954 · PDF PAGE 463
72 Education Cara Soror, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Education means "leading out" ; this is not the same as "stuffing in." I refuse to enlarge on this theme ; it is all-important. To extract something, you should first know what is there. Here astrology ought to give useful hints ; its indications give the mind something to work on. Experience makes "confirmation strong as Holy Writ" ; but beware of a priori. Do not be dogmatic; do not insist in the face of disappointment. Astrology in education is useful as geology is to …