The Equinox (Volume III, Number I)

THE TANK the A.. A.. would do. He has accepted the Law of Thelema. He understands that there is no law beyond “Do what thou wilt.” He states it almost in so many words. And yet his congenital fetter seems to gall. He has not quite got the idea that every man and every woman is a star, and that every one’s will is the will of God; at least, he does not seem settled about it. In some parts of his book he makes statements which certainly imply that this is so, but in others he appears too conscious of dividuality. He does not always make it perfectly clear that evil so-called is part of the game, which he describes as the ‘thought of God.’ We have no doubt that as he progresses, he will attain this clearer conception of the magical doctrine. He has already gone very far. His interpretation, for example, of the statement “God is Love” can hardly be distinguished from our own “Love is the law.” Yet even here there is some taint of a lingering Manichaeanism. He seems to imagine “the All-Loving” as always trying to bring us to a concep- tion of sonship. Yet this ‘All-Loving’ is a metaphysical entity, omnipotent, omnis- cient, omnipresent, and so on. The result is that now and again Mr. Klein’s ex- pression slips back into the language of dualism. However, it is a shame to carp. Mr. Klein’s philosophical and scientific knowledge is profound. It is unified. Better still, it is dynamic and exulting. It is impossible to read a page of his book without feeling the contagion of the joy of his attainment. Too many philos- ophers in the past have drooled on about the Absolute with such piety of dullness, that one has wished the Absolute at the devil. There is nothing of this in this book. We feel that Mr. Klein is enjoying the Light, Life, Love and Liberty which come from the acceptance of the Law of Thelema. But I must still ask him for another volume. The greater part of his difficulty in explanation seems to arise from the fact that he has no conception of a technique of attainment. He says quite rightly that it is all a matter of thinking right instead of wrong, and certainly a study of his pages should do a great deal to clear up intellectual difficulties. But this is only a very small part of the Path. It is all very well to say that reason is full of falsity, and Mr. Klein demonstrates it very much as I have myself done in many places. But how are people to use the eyes of the spirit, unless they are taught? The A.. A... offers a technique of attainment infinitely subtle and varied, so that the need of every man is met by processes of actual practice, scientifically tested and confirmed. It is not enough merely to accept Mr. Klein’s explanation of the universe. That is the Giant’s Robe. You must get your own clothes made to fit you. You cannot persuade yourself to think in any way contrary to your experience. Thought must be the expression of experience. For the average man to adopt Mr. Klein’s ideas would be as futile a formality as subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles. I am sure that Mr. Klein knows all this perfectly well, and I hope, as I said before, that he will very soon let us have a new book, giving his ideas on the technique of attainment. A.C. 305