The Law is for All

Chapter II * Verses 73-74 151 be bold to measure the Morrow, or declare what causes conjoin to bring forth an Effect that no man knoweth? Was not Lao-tzu thrust forth from his city? Did not Buddha go begging in rags? Did not Mohammed flee for his life into exile? Was not Bacchus the scandal and the scorn of men? Than Joseph Smith1 had any man less learning? Yet each of these attained to do his Will; each cried his Word, that all the Earth yet echoes it! And each was able to accomplish this by virtue of that very cir­ cumstance which seems so cruel. Shall I, who am armed with all their weapons at once, complain that I must go into the fight unfurnished? 1 [Joseph Smith (1805-1844), Mormon prophet who produced The Book of Mormon (1830); Crowley admired his accomplishments.] 2 In previous notes. See also the essay “Time”: Crowley, Collected Works, Vol. II, pp. 267-82. 74. The length of thy longing shall be the strength of its glory. He that lives long & desires death much is ever the King among the Kings. Commentary: One'does not need to be constantly popping in and out of Trance. One ought to do both actions with ever- increasing length and strength of swing. Hence one’s life-periods, where time counts, become gradually larger and more vivid, and one’s death-periods, though very short, perhaps, may be unfath- omably intense. The whole question of Time has been thoroughly investigated already.1 2 The present remarks refer only to the conditions of “normal” consciousness, into which we throw ourselves at recur­ ring intervals. The doctrine here stated should be studied in the light of previous remarks; verses 61 to 74 inclusive form a coher­ ent passage: notice the words “death” in verses 63 and 66 and “die” in verse 68. There is evidently an intention to identify the Climax of Love with that of Life. It is then not unnatural for us to ask: Can “Death” have some deeper significance than appears? Scorpio, the Zodiacal Sign of Death, is really the Sexual or Repro­ ductive function of Nature. It is the Earth-transcending Eagle, the