The Law is for All

Chapter II a Verses 13—20 101 There is no contradiction here, by the way, with verses 4 and 5. The words “know me” are used loosely as is natural in a stanza; or, more likely, are used (as in the English Bible) to suggest the root Vgn, identity in transcendental ecstasy. Possibly “not” and “me” are once more intended to apply to Nuit. With “know” itself, they may be “Nothing under its three forms”1 of negativity, action, and individuality. 1 [From “Liber Trigrammaton sub figura XXVII,” The Holy Books of Thelema (The Equinox 111(9)) (1983), p. 45.] 18. These are dead, these fellows; they feel not. We are not for the poor and sad: the lords of the earth are our kinsfolk. Commentary: This idea is confirmed. Those who sorrow are not real people at all, not “stars”—for the time being. The fact of their being “poor and sad” proves them to be “shadows,” who “pass & are done.” The “lords of the earth” are those who are doing their Will. It does not necessarily mean people with coro­ nets and automobiles; there are plenty of such people who are the most sorrowful slaves in the world. The sole test of one’s lordship is to know what one’s true Will is, and to do it. 19. Is a God to live in a dog? No! but the highest are of us. They shall rejoice, our chosen: who sorroweth is not of us. Commentary: A god living in a dog would be one who was prevented from fulfilling his function properly. The highest are those who have mastered and transcended accidental environ­ ment. They rejoice, because they do their Will; and if any man sorrow, it is clear evidence of something wrong with him. When machinery creaks and growls, the engineer knows that it is not fulfilling its function, doing its Will, with ease and joy. 20. Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force and fire, are of us. Commentary: As soon as one realizes one’s self as Hadit, one obtains all His qualities. It is all a question of doing one’s Will. A flaming harlot, with red cap and sparkling eyes, her foot on the neck of a dead king, is just as much a star as her predecessor, 11:9