THE EQUINOX
greatest good of some other, just as the hardness of the wood
which wearieth the axeman is the safety of him that ventur-
eth himself upon the sea ina ship built of that wood. And
this is a truth easy to apprehend, being superficial, and
intelligible to the common mind.
All evil is thus relative, or apparent, or illusory: but,
returning to philosophy, I will repeat that its root is always
in duality. Therefore the escape from this apparent evil is to
seek the Unity, which you shall do as I have already shewn
you. But I will now make mention of that which is written
concerning this in the Book of the Law.
The first step being Will, Evil appears as by this defini-
tion, “all that hinders the execution of the Will.” Therefore
is it written: “The word of Sin is Restriction.” It should
also be noted that in the Book of the Thirty 7Athyrs Evil
appears as Choronzon whose number is 333, which in Greek
importeth Impotence and Idleness: and the nature of Cho-
ronzon is Dispersion and Incoherence.
Then in the Way of Love Evil appears as “all that which
tends to prevent the Union of any two things.” Thus the
Book of the Law sayeth, under the figure of the Voice of
Nuit: “take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where
and with whom ye will! But always unto me.” For every
act of Love must be “under Will,” that is, in accordance with
the True Will, which is not to rest content with things par-
tial and transitory, but to proceed firmly to the End. So
also, in the Book of the Thirty #thyrs, the Black Brothers
are those who shut themselves up, unwilling to destroy
themselves by Love.
Thirdly, in the Way of Life Evil appears under a subtler
form as “all that which is not impersonal and universal.”
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