96
The Law is for All
Were the world understood
Ye would know it was good,
A dance to a lyrical measure!1
1 [Crowley, paraphrase of his Orpheus, A Lyrical Legend (1905), bk. 4; 
see Collected Works, vol. Ill, p. 217.]
2 [“The Temple of Solomon the King,” The Equinox 1(7) (1912); this 
account was republished as Chapter 6 of “Genesis Libri AL” in The 
Equinox of the Gods (Book 4, Part ZV).]
3 [Apemantus is the gloomy prophet in Timon of Athens.]
The nature of events must be “pure joy”; for, obviously, 
whatever occurs is the fulfilment of the will of its master. Sorrow 
thus appears as the result of any unsuccessful—therefore, ill- 
judged—struggle. Acquiescence in the order of Nature is the 
ultimate Wisdom.
One must understand the Universe perfectly, and be utterly 
indifferent to its pressure. These are the virtues which constitute a 
Master of the Temple. Yet each man must act What he will; for he 
is energized by his own nature. So long as he works “without lust 
of result” and does his duty for its own sake, he will know that 
“the sorrows are but as shadows”. And he himself is “that which 
remains”; for he can no more be destroyed, or his true Will be 
thwarted, than Matter diminish or Energy disappear. He is a nec­
essary unit of the Universe, equal and opposite to the sum total of 
all the others; and his Will is similarly the final factor which com­
pletes the equilibrium of the dynamical equation. He cannot fail if 
he would; thus, his sorrows are but shadows—he could not see 
them if he kept his gaze fixed on his goal, the Sun.
10. O prophet! thou hast ill will to learn this writing.
Commentary: As related in Equinox 1(7),1 2 I was, at the time 
of this revelation, a rationalistic Buddhist, very convinced of the 
First Noble Truth: “Everything is Sorrow.” I supposed this point 
of view to be an absolute and final truth—as if Apemantus were 
the only character in Shakespeare!3