Konx Om Pax

devours the dead body of his beloved, in terms which do not shock us in English any more than such descriptions usually shock us in French. This is a very exceptional accomplishment, as anyone may realize who has read French novels in English. Here is one of Mr. Crowley’s typical climaxes: The host is lifted up. Behold The vintage spilt, the broken hreadl l feast upon the cruel cold Pale body that was ripe and red. Only her held, her palms, her feet, I kissed all night, and did not eat. "But had it not been for the garter, I might never have seen the star,” Mr. Crowley says. Hence we look from the garter to the more starry part of Mr. Crow ley’s work, for he has learned a good deal about Eastern philoso hy at first hand, which is well worth consideration. Captain Fuller describes “ rowleyanity” as being “ the conscious communion with God on the part of an Atheist, a transcending of reason by sce ticism of the instrument, and the limitation of scepticism by direct consciousness o the Absolute.” He defines God later on as the Relation between man and the Absolute, and he says “it is the search after this relationship—God— that Crowley so frequently and ardently depicts. " He cries in one place: By the sun's heat, that brooks not his eclipse And dissipates the welcome clouds of rain. God I have Thou pity soon on this amazing pain. And in another describes the mystic goal: So shalt thou conquer Space, and lastly climb The \gyalliof 'Iiidme; m m h 0d And tego enpa egreat avetr Reach up to God- ’ He grapples with the problems of human consciousness and has realized the ab soluteness of zero. He perceives that when consciousness, as we know it, is absolutely indrawn, so that it exists in ure isolation, it knows an ecstasy which can only be ex— pressed in the thought, “ I 0 not exist." This last paradox of human manifestation as been perceived by every school of mystics. “ Man’s darkness is a leathern sheath, Myself the sun-bright sword,” is the feeling of the consciousness as it returns to its human state, admirably expressed by Mr. Crowley in “Mysteries” (vol. i, p. 105). Finally he is driven to the utterance of one who has gained final liberation from human illusion: So lifts the agon of the world From this my end that bowed awhile Before the terror sudden! shown. The nameless fear for self, ar hurled By death to dissolution vile, Fades as the royal truth is known : Though change and sorrow range and roll, There is no self—there is no so . The essay on Science and Buddhism (p. 244, vol. ii of The Collected Works) is valuable, proving as it does that Buddhistic philosophy is a logical development from observed facts. Captain Fuller declares that the Agnostic principles of “ Crowley anrty " may be summed up as follows: Believe nothing till you find it out for yourself. Say not “ I have a soul " before you feel that you have a soul. Say not “ There is a God" before you experience that there is a God. You can never understand till you have experienced. You can never experience till you get beyond reason. In a word, his command to his followers is, Know or Doubt; do not believe. We are, he says, “surrounded with an appearance of Truth,” and Reason is our guide. To become part of Wisdom we must leave Reason on one side. No doubt men difl'er II