The Law is for All

Chapter II A Verses 58-60 133 This passage may perhaps be interpreted in a sense slightly dif­ ferent from that assumed in the above paragraph. We should indeed love all—is not the Law “love under will”? By this I mean that we should make proper contact with all, for love means union; and the proper condition of union is determined by will. Consider the right attitude to adopt in the matter of cholera. One should love it, that is, study it intimately; not otherwise can one be sure of maintaining the right relation with it, which is, not to allow it to interfere with one’s will to live. (And almost everything that is true of Cholera is true of Christians.)1 1 [See Crowley’s discussion of verses 59-60 in his commentary to ch. II, v. 24, p. 114.] 2 [Possibly the poem “Marriage” by Samuel Butler (the elder, 1613— 1680).] 60. Therefore strike hard & low, and to hell with them, master! Commentary: The Christians to the Lions! An. xvii, 0 in [Sept.-Oct. 1921 e.v.]. I am reminded of Samuel Butler’s observation that the apotheosis of love is to devour the beloved.1 2 Indeed, one cannot say that one has per­ fectly attained to love or hate until the object of that passion is assimilated. The word “hell” is significant in this connection. One must never be so careless as to let oneself think that even “the style of a letter” (how much less a phrase!) in this Book is casual. The expression “to hell with them” is not merely an outburst of colloquial enthusiasm. The word “hell”, that and no other, serves the purpose of the speaker. This would naturally be suggested to us, in any case, by the reflection that our Law does not indulge in the frothings of impotent fury, like the priestly frauds of Moses, the rishis, and Buddha, in the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth of the Galilean fishwife. Our Law knows nothing of pun­ ishment beyond that imposed by ignorance and awkwardness on their possessor. The word “hell” must therefore be explained in terms neither of virile vulgarity, or theological blackmail. 1:57 1:54