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Page 71 of 781906 · PDF PAGE 285
TIME 279 7@:c¢::¢:a—an infinite process. The final factor is always unknowable—yet it is the one thing known. Afyst. And because it is always present, therefore it is unkenned. Scept. We are now nearer Spencer than appeared. For the fact that it must be there, unchanging in function, while con- sciousness persists, gives the idea of a definite substratum to subserve that function. Myst. I cannot but agree; and I would further observe that when, in Dhyana, it ceases to examine, and apperceives, the ‘‘ relative eternity,’ z.¢., the intense vividn…
1904 · PDF PAGE 5
… but to m ove one step in this direction is to start on a journey whose end cannot be determined. The religion, ceasing to be a tangible thing, an object uniform for all sane eyes, becom es rather that m ist whereon the sun of the soul casts up, like Brocken spectres, certain vast and vague images of the beholder himself, with or without a glory en-compassing them. The function of the facts is then quite passive: it matters little or nothing whether the cloud be the red m ist of Christianity , or the glim - mering silver-white of Celtic Paganis…
1904 · PDF PAGE 119
… he admits as being those of reason. But his statem ent that Idealism is but verbally intelligible is for m y 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 …
1904 · PDF PAGE 107
…ges of true m editation. And iron will-power is a still earlier qualifica- tion. By meditation I do not mean merely “thinking about” any thing, however pro- foundly, but the absolute restraint of the mind to the contemplation of a single object, whether gross, fine, or altogether spiritual. Now true m agical cerem ony is entirely directed to attain this end, and form s a magnificent gymnasium for those who are not already finished mental athletes. By act, word, and thought, both in quantity and quality, the one object of the cerem ony is being …
1929 · PDF PAGE 491
…ing to pay for one's wife's dinner. All he asked was that I should introduce him to a girl who would be his mistress while costing him nothing. I was only too happy to oblige as I happened to know a girl with a fancy for weird adventures. He was anxious to rid himself of even theoretical responsibilities and therefore proposed a divorce. I agreed with a yawn. Details never interest me. Meanwhile, she had made her debut and scored a superb success. This had never occurred to her husband, who, being unable to appreciate her supreme art, hardly to…
1929 · PDF PAGE 79
…e, I would buy it on the spot, even though I knew that I had only to go round the corner to find an honest tradesman. I did this sort of thing on purpose to affirm magically that nothing mattered except the work of the moment. It was "Take not thought for the morrow" carried out in its most literal sense. I made a point of putting God on His honour, so to speak, to supply anything I might need by demonstrating to {147} him that I would not keep back the least imaginable fraction of my resources. I acquired this custom later on, when I had defin…
1929 · PDF PAGE 230
… wholly fact. I was sitting at lunch in the Grand Oriental Hotel at Colombo when a procession filled into the room. I have never seen anything quite like it. It was utterly out of the picture. It was composed of genuine antiques with shaking heads, stooping shoulders, slobbering jaws from which hung long {383} 1. People said: the revenge of a Ceylon Big Bug, whom MacDonald had ordered off the field at some jamboree when he had turned up in mufti. white goatish beards, and bleared red eyes that blinked even in the twilight of the luncheon as if …
1944 · PDF PAGE 182
…, but only in the sense of complete satiety. The fullest satisfaction is merely the matrix of a further putrefac‐ tion; there is no such thing as absolute rest. A cottage in the country with the roses all around it? No, there is nothing permanent in this; there is no rest from the Universe. Change guaran‐ tees stability. Stability guarantees change. The Nine of Swords is called Cruelty. Here the original disruption inherent in Swords is raised to its highest power. The card is ruled by Mars in Gemini; it is agony of mind. The Ruach consumes its…
1906 · PDF PAGE 65
…darker than death or night ; To defy power which seems omnipotent ; To love, and bear ; to hope till hope creates From its own wreck the thing it contem- plates ; Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent : This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be Good, great, and joyous, beautiful, and free: This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Vic- tory,” 3 The last phrase pealed trumpet-wise: he sank back into thought. ‘‘ Yes,” he said slowly, ‘‘ neither to change, nor falter, nor repent.” I moved forward, and he saw me. ‘Who are you?” he asked. . ‘‘T am travel…
1929 · PDF PAGE 462
…indications of genius, and pick out any promising specimens for special training on the lines which their tendencies indicate. The worst thing they can do is what is done in America, to disenchant the man of earth with his destiny; to fill him with the facts and fancies that enthral etiolated and degenerated idealists and unfit him for his evident purpose, that of supplying society with supermen. It is not only impossible to try to make a silk purse our of a sow's ear. It is an idealistic imbecility. The demand for silk purses is extremely limi…
1929 · PDF PAGE 126
…ble to climb it. Somehow or other, the current of our enthusiasm had become exhausted. We had achieved all our real objects and the next thing was to get ready for the Himalayas. Eckenstein returned to England and on the twentieth of April I started for San Francisco, westward bound. My objective was a curious one. Since leaving England, I had thought over the question of the authority of Mathers with ever increasing discomfort. He had outraged every principle of probity and probability; but he was justified, provided that his primary postulate…
1929 · PDF PAGE 378
…at the police would get on his trail, as his victim was an utter stranger, as much to his first wife as to himself! I found this sort of thing added a spice to life. Gnaggs could be relied upon to take one out of the rut every few minutes. Some weeks later I went to spend the weekend with him. I was worn out with worry and work and had caught a bad chill. He was out when I got to the house. Mrs. Gnaggs
1929 · PDF PAGE 138
…s been possible to present this free from confusion, so that people can concentrate from the very beginning of their training on the one thing that matters. Our life was delightfully simple. Allan taught me the principles of Yoga; fundamentally, there is only one. The problem is how to stop thinking; for the theory is that the mind is a mechanism for dealing symbolically with impressions; its construction is such that one is tempted to take these symbols for reality. Conscious thought, therefore, is fundamentally false and prevents one from per…
1906 · PDF PAGE 209
…se classics, to regard them both on the same level, as interesting documents from the standpoint of folk-lore and anthropology, and as nothing more. Even when we learn that the Bible, by a * This essay forms the introduction to an edition of the ‘‘ Goetia” of King Solomon. t ‘‘A Thousand and One Nights,” commonly called ** Arabian Nights.” profound and minute study of the text, may be forced to yield up Qabalistic arcana of cosmic scope and importance, we are too often slow to apply a similar restorative to the com- panion volume, even if we ar…
1907 · PDF PAGE 135
… be a more convincin interpreter if he did not write as a Qabalist, an adept in ceremonial magic, occult Bu dhism, and “all that sort of thing.” His knowledge is weird and remarkable, his ethics unfettered by the shackles of convention, and his style frequently eccentric, sometimes in doubtful taste, and sometimes, like that of his master, rushin onward in a. torrent of bold and magnificent images. Here, for instance, is a piece 0 “fine writing " which, of its kind, is excellent, though its meaning we presume not to fathom: O, Dweller in the Land…
1929 · PDF PAGE 188
…a man of science and for a man of sense and experience. I trusted his information absolutely and I governed myself accordingly. The only thing to do is to lay in a stock of energy, get rid of all your fat at the exact moment when you have a change to climb a mountain, and jump back out of its reach, so to speak, before it can take its revenge. To talk of acclimatization is to adopt the psychology of the man who trained his horse gradually to live on a single straw a day, and would have revolutionized our system of nutrition, if the balky brute …
1929 · PDF PAGE 278
…ust have been denounced descriptively. I remember clearly enough noting with a type of amusement which I must really admit to having something "devilish" in its composition, that the streets through which I passed were filled with wildly excited crowds, all looking for me. "But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way." I am aware that this sounds like a fish story. But as a matter of fact people who lived with me for the last three years or so have noticed that I make myself invisible quite frequently, and that (apparently) when I a…
1929 · PDF PAGE 168
…lternative to athletic mutton and chicken. {287} 35 Knowles and I were kept very busy from the fifth to the twenty-second of April. Everything had to be repacked in kiltas. These are baskets shaped either like wide-mouthed vases or like cabin trunks, and covered with raw hide to protect them from rough usage and bad weather. Our limit weight was fifty-three pounds. As a beast of burden, a mule is less efficient than a man, and a man that an woman. In Kashmir, however, one does not use women as coolies. The people are Mohammedans governed by a r…
1904 · PDF PAGE 68
…se classics, to regard them both on the same level, as interesting documents from the standpoint of folk-lore and anthropology, and as nothing more. Even when we learn that the Bible, by a * This essay forms the introduction an edition of the “Goetia” of King Solomon † “A T housand and One Nights, ” com monly called “Arabian Nights.” profound and minute study of the text, may be forced to yield up Qabalistic arcana of cosmic scope and importance, we are too often slow to apply a similar restorative to the companion volume, even if we are the lu…
1929 · PDF PAGE 91
… career, academic distinction would be a positive disgrace. And with regard to my spiritual life, which I already felt to be the deepest thing in me, the approbation of the faculty was beneath troubling to despise. I have always objected to incurring positive {166} disgrace. I see no sense in violating conventions, still less in breaking laws. To do so only gives one unnecessary trouble. On the other hand, it is impossible to make positive progress by means of institutions which lead to one becoming a lord chancellor, an archbishop, an admiral,…