The Equinox (Volume III, Number I)

LIBER CAVS knew that the true way to attract the notice of such was to equilibrate the symbols. The temple must be builded before the God can indwell it. 22. Therefore by the order of D.D.S. did P. prepare all things by his arcane science and wisdom, choosing only those symbols which were common to all systems, and rigorously rejecting all names and words which might be supposed to imply any religious or metaphysical theory. To do this utterly was found impossible, since all lan- guage has a history, and the use (for example) of the word “spirit” implies the Scholastic Philosophy and the Hindu and Taoist theories concerning the breath of man. So was it difficult to avoid implication of some undesirable bias by using the words “order,” “circle,” “chapter,” “society,” “brotherhood,” or any other to designate the body of ini- tiates. 23. Deliberately, therefore, did he take refuge in vague- ness. Not to veil the truth to the Neophyte, but to warn him against valuing non-essentials. Should therefore the candidate hear the name of any God, let him not rashly assume that it refers to any known God, save only the God known to himself. Or should the ritual speak in terms (however vague) which seem to imply Egyptian, Taoist, Buddhist, Indian, Persian, Greek, Judaic, Christian, or Moslem philosophy, let him reflect that this is a defect of language; the literary limitation and not the spiritual prejudice of the man P. 24. Especially let him guard against the finding of defi- nite sectarian symbols in the teaching of his master, and the reasoning from the known to the unknown which as- suredly will tempt him. 59