The Law is for All

Chapter II A Verse 72 145 one stage of its course. It is therefore crowned by death; and, being wholly itself, lives again by attracting its equal and opposite Counterpart, with whom “love under will” is the fulfilment of the Law, in a sublimer sphere. But there are no rules until one finds them: a man leaving Ire­ land for the Sahara does well to discard such “indispensable” and “proper” things as a waterproof and a blackthorn for a turban and a dagger. The “moral” man is living by the no-reason of Laws, and that is stupid and inadequate even when the Laws still hold good; for he is a mere mechanism, resourceless should any danger that is not already provided for in his original design chance to arise. Respect for routine is the mark of the second-rate man. The “immoral” man, defying convention by shouting aloud in church, may indeed be “brawling”; but equally he may be a sensi­ tive who has felt the first tremor of an earthquake. We of Thelema encourage every possible variation; we wel­ come every new “sport”; its success or failure is our sole test of its value. We let the hen’s queer hatching take to water, and laugh at her alarms; and we protect the “ugly duckling,” knowing that Time will tell us whether it be a cygnet. Herbert Spencer,1 inexorably condemning the Unfit to the gal­ lows, only echoed the High Priest who protected Paul from the Pharisees. Sound biology and sound theology are for once at one! 1 [Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), British philosopher, whose works on psychology, biology, sociology and ethics influenced Crowley.] The question of the limits of individual Liberty is fully dis­ cussed in Liber CXI (Aleph), to which we refer the student. The following chapters will give a general idea of the main principles. Ak—DE VI PER DISCIPLINAM COLENDA [37—On Cultivating Strength through Discipline] Consider the Bond of a cold Climate, how it maketh Man a Slave: he must have Shelter and Food with fierce Toil. Yet thereby he becometh strong against the Elements, and his moral Force waxeth, so that he is Master of such Men as live in Lands of Sun where bodily Needs are satisfied without Struggle.