in qualities,
but
these
differences
and pr
essive
states
have nothing
to do with
the
sudden
awakening
of the faculty
which
ies
beyond
reason—that
faculty
of seeing
clearly
through
the
magical
appearances
surrounding
us and
perceiving
the
cause
beyond
the
falsity of its effects.
Mr. Crowley says, apropo: of this, “ It is no doubt
more difficult
to learn
‘ Paradise Lost’ by heart than
‘ We are Seven ’; but when you
have done it you
are no better
at
figure skating.”
He quotes
as the great guiding
scripture
of his life a Buddhist
Sutta
(ii, 33):
“Therefore, 0 Ananda,
be
ye lamps
unto yourselves.
Be ye a refuge to yourselves.
Betake yourself to no external refuge."
How is this
inward
m
stery revealed?
The answer
is in the East by Yoga, and in
the West by Magic;
in
the
East by an entirely
artificial
and scientific
method,
in the
West
by a stimulation
and sudden outflowing
of the poetic faculty.
The East, we may
take
it,
is
almost entirely
static, whilst the West
is
wholely
dynamic:
Life flees
Down corridors of centuries
Pillar by
illar, and
is
lost.
Life after
ife in wild appeal
Cries
to the master;
he remains
And thinks not.
Bright Sun of Knowledge,
in me rise,
Lead
me to those exalted skin
go
live and love and
understandh!
ayin
no
rice, acce
tin
nou t—
The ngver xind
the G§t
arse
one8
With the Receiver.
Such
are some of the sensations described
by Aleister Crowley in his quest for the
discovery of his Relation with the Absolute.
His power of expression
is
extraordinary;
his kite flies, but
he never fails to jerk
it
back to earth with some touch of ridicule
Ol‘
bathos which makes
it
still an open question
whether
he will
excite
that life-giving
animosity
on the part of Public Opinion which, as we have hinted,
is
only accorded to
the most dangerous thinkers.
MR. ANDERSON
writes: There
is
something
fishy about all this.
I
like it.
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLIS
WHITTINGHAM
AND CO-, TOOKS
COURT,
CHANCERY UNI,
LONDON