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Page 88 of 951929 · PDF PAGE 239
… coherent and consistent system. Its scope is so vast that it is impossible even to hint at the universality of its application. But the whole of my work, from the moment of its utterance, illustrates some phase of its potentiality, and the story of my life itself from this time on is no more than a record of my reactions to it. To recapitulate the historical basis of The Book of the Law, let me say that evolution (within human memory) shows three great steps: 1. the worship of the Mother, when the universe was conceived as simple nourishment d…
1944 · PDF PAGE 41
…o any given pool, but more to pools in general; and so on, up to the supreme Lady of Water, who exercised a general supervision over her whole domin‐ ion. She, of course, was subject to the General Ruler of all the Four Elements. It was exactly the same idea as in the case of the police constable, who has his sergeant, inspector, superinten‐ dent, commissioner, always getting more cloudy and remote until you reach the shadowy Home Secretary, who is, himself, the servant of a completely intangible and incalculable phan‐ tom called The Will of th…
1906 · PDF PAGE 149
…r dead who so com- mands alike my personal affection and moral admiration. My desire to find the Truth will be my pardon with him, whose whole life was spent in admiration of Truth, though he never turned its formidable engines against the Citadel of the Almighty. If I be appealed of blasphemy or irreve- rence in my treatment of these subjects,I will take refuge in Browning’s own apology, from the very poem I am attacking: ‘‘T have done: and if any blames me, Thinking that merely to touch in brevity The topics I dwell on were unlawful— Or worse…
1929 · PDF PAGE 87
…erested in puzzles involving material apparatus, one of which seems worth mention. He was in Mysore and a travelling conjurer sold him a whole bundle of more or less ingenious tricks. One of these consisted simply of two pieces of wood; one a board with a hole in it, the other shaped somewhat like a dumb-bell, the ends being much too big to go through the hole. Eckenstein said that he was almost ready to swear that he saw the man take them up separately and rapidly put them together, {160} in which condition he had them and was never able to ta…
1929 · PDF PAGE 282
282 ascribed to an official --- was that native agitators might use this as an argument that British rule in Burma was unjustified. The whole ratiocination is an utter muddle; but men are not governed by reason, either individually or politically. There is, therefore, some excuse for the anxiety of the administration. At the same time, the example of India should have been enough. British prestige in India rested on the real moral superiority of courage, truthfulness, justice an self-control. It has been destroyed by the attempt to replace this…
1929 · PDF PAGE 172
…the pain in a few seconds," and he went on washing out the dirt and snipping away loose pieces of flesh, and ultimately stitching up the whole fourteen inches of wound. The game went on for an hour and a half. But the boy never lost consciousness, and never moaned or so much as murmured. We heard nothing from him except a perfectly calm request, about half way through the job, for a drink of water. I did not content myself with admiring the lad's stoicism. His conduct made me suspect that the Mongolian (the Baltis are Mongols) as a very differe…
1929 · PDF PAGE 135
… No more than Everest ceases to attract when the Alpine Club caps incompetence with manslaughter! We simply dismissed from our minds the whole question of the G.'. D.'. and restated the problem on first principles. In this situation, I had the advantage of wider reading and more varied experience than Allan; he, that of more intensive training, and especially of his recent initiation into Asiatic arcana under the aegis of Shri Parananda, Solicitor-General of Ceylon (as Aramis was a musketeer) per interim, and a yogi cap-ŕ-pied. I had learnt mod…
1944 · PDF PAGE 50
…inary accident, quite contrary to whatever is normal. The slightest sug‐ gestion of anything reasonable in this matter would destroy the whole argument. But as one must obtain some concrete picture, the general solution is to represent the saviour as the Fool. (Attempts to attain this condition appear in the Bible. Note the “coat of many colours” of Joseph and of Jesus; it is the man in motley1 who brings his people out of bondage.) It will be seen later how this idea is linked with that of the mystery of paternity, and also of the iridescence …
1904 · PDF PAGE 102
…athematics, there was not truly absolute 0, for 0 is, as I have shown, de- pendent on the idea of categories. If these existed, then the whole question is m erely thrown back; we m ust reach a state in which this 0 is absolute. Not only must we get rid of all subjects, but of all predi- cates. By 0 (in mathematics) we really mean 0 n, where n is the final term of a natural scale of dimensions, categories, or predicates. Our Cos mic Egg, then, from which the pres ent univers e arose, was Nothingness, extended in no categories, or graphically, 0 …
1904 · PDF PAGE 123
… of those upon a higher plane— the scientific plane. They are (I have little doubt) for those who have attained to them mnemonic keys to whole classes of pheno- mena of the order anciently denominated magical, phenomena which, s ince the h uman mind has had its present constitution, have been translated into language, classified, sought after, alway s above language, but n ot beyond a sane and scientific classification, a rigid and satisfactory method, as I most firmly believe. It is to establish such a method; to record in the language, not of…
1929 · PDF PAGE 5
…t truth is not only stranger than fiction, but more interesting. And I have no motive for deception, because I don't give a damn for the whole human race --- "you're nothing but a pack of cards." {34} 1 Edward Crowley1, the wealthy scion of a race of Quakers, was the father of a son born at 30 Clarendon Square, Leamington, Warwichshire2, on the 12th day of October3 1875 E.V. between eleven and twelve at night. Leo was just rising at the time, as nearly as can be ascertained. The branch of the family of Crowley to which this man belonged has bee…
1929 · PDF PAGE 96
96 proper means, we can induce him to do for us those things which are consonant with his nature and powers. The whole question is, therefore, one of practice; and by this standard we find that there is no particular reason for quarrelling with the conventional nomenclature. At this time I had not worked out any such apology for the theories of transcendentalism. I took everything as it came and submitted it to the test of experience. As it happened, I had no reason at any time to doubt the reality of the magical universe. I began my practical …
1904 · PDF PAGE 111
… adjustment of contending forces, a scene of strife, in which all the com batants fall in turn. What is true of each part is true of the whole. Natural knowledge tends more and more to the conclusion that “ all the choir of heaven and furniture of the earth” are the transitory forms of parcels of cosmic substance wending along the road of evolution, from nebulous potentiality, through endless growths of sun and planet and satellite, through all varieties of matter; through infinite diversities of life and thought, possibly , through mo des of b…
1904 · PDF PAGE 112
…six) notions mentioned, unless we take the last as double. Or we m ay consider the sixth as the contrary of the f ifth, and correct. The whole passage is highly technical, per haps untrustworthy; in any case, this is not the place to discuss it. T he sun of Agnosticism br eaking through the cloud of Anatta is the phenomenon to which I wished to call attention.—A. C. ness; this being the sole condition on which morals, religion, and fees to priests can continue. For the Deist has only to advance his fundamental idea to be forced round in a vicio…
1929 · PDF PAGE 177
…recommend cremation as a remedy for prolonged post- mortum agony. 37 From the hot spring one goes gently along the valley to Askole. The whole march is short, easy and delightful. It only occupied five hours, of which at least three were spent at the rope bridge and in the pool. The entire journey had been extraordinarily favourable. We had had very little bad weather, the coolies had behaved admirably, there had been no accidents and no sickness, except for my own dermatological trouble. At Askole, however, several of the servants were slightl…
1929 · PDF PAGE 383
… work all the time, and the action has been completely compensated by the redistribution of the stresses on every material object in the whole universe, by the shifting of the centre of gravity of the cosmos, as my muscles sway from one state of equilibrium to another, and the flower exerts its energies from the mahogany instead of the carpet. Presumption in Magick is, therefore, sure to be punished --- swiftly and justly. The error is one of the worst because it attracts all these forces which, being themselves weak, are made malignant by pain…
1929 · PDF PAGE 532
… even now --- two hours later and more --- 2:20 p.m. was the time --- as I write concerning it. In a single instant I had the Key to the whole of the Chinese wisdom. In the light --- momentary glimpse as it was --- of this truth, all systems of religion and philosophy became absolutely puerile. Even the Law appears no more than a curious incident. I remain absolutely bewildered, blinded, knowing what blasting image lies in this shrine. It baffles me to understand how my brother Magi, knowing this, ever went on. I had only one foreshadowing of t…
1929 · PDF PAGE 476
476 wooden head and his nightgown of tintacks. But (on the whole) I took few chances of letting the Germans perceive the tongue in my cheek. One day, however, I got genuinely drunk, not with alcohol but with indignation. It was the day of the murder of Edith Cavell. I sat down and wrote an article --- a stained glass window representing von Bissing as Jesus Christ, "that great-hearted, simple-minded, trusting German". He extends his hand to her; and says, with tears in his eyes, "Miss Cavell, I trust you!" Then she acts the part of Judas; and I…
1929 · PDF PAGE 353
… incidents. The Kabbalah Unveiled1 The Life of Paracelsus, The Ritual and Dogma of Transcendental Magic and others had been transcribed, whole pages at a time, with such slight changes as "failed" for "resulted in failure", and occasional additions or omissions. I like Maugham well enough personally, though many people resent a curious trick which he has of saying spiteful things about everybody. I always feel that he, like myself, makes such remarks without malice, for the sake of their cleverness. I was not in the least offended by the attemp…
1929 · PDF PAGE 468
… well no less today, but alas that he cannot be hurt by the hard things I happen to say. Any alteration of my pamphlet would destroy the whole spirit of the spasm, the venomous virulence of my vituperation is the essay. I showed the manuscript to poor Tommy Earp who might have been a poet if he had not been a plutocrat. He said that "The Last Straw" was the limit in its line and my judgment jumps with his. Any considered statement, any documented plea, would lack the note of intensity and genuineness which my careless spontaneity and impulsive …