Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 4)

ideasj they hâve not, and never can hâve, any real meaning. If a man in delirium tremens fell into the Hudson River, he might remember the proverb and clutch at an imaginary straw. Words such as “truth” are like that straw. Confusion of thought is concealed, and its impotence denied, by the invention. This paragraph opened with, “We know”: yet, questioned, awe” make haste to deny the possibility of possessing, or even of defining, knowledge. What could be more certain to a parabola-philosopher than that he could be approached in two ways, and two only? It would be indeed little less than the whole body of his knowledge, implied in the theory of his définition of himself, and confirmed by every single expérience. Fie could receive impressions only by meeting A, or being caught up by B. \ et he would be wrong in an infinité number of ways. There are therefore Aleph-Zero possibilities that at any moment a man may find himself totally transformed. And it may be that our présent dazzled bewilderment is due to our récogni¬ tion of the existence of a new dimension of thought, which seems so “inscrutably infinité” and “absurd” and “immoral”, etc. — because we hâve not studied it long enough to appreciate that its laws are identical with our own, though extended to new conceptions. The discovery of radioactivi'ty created a momentary chaos in chemistry and physics; but it soon led to a fuller interprétation of the old ideas. It dispersed many difficultés, harmonized many discords, and — yea, more! It shewed the substance of the Universe as a simplicity of Light and Life, possessed of limitless liberty to enjoy Love by combining its units in various manners to compose atoms, themselves capable of deeper self-realization through fresh complexities and organizations, each with its own peculiar powers and pleasures, each pursuing its path through the world where ail things are possible. It revealed the omniprésence of Hadit identical with Himself, yet fulfilling Himself by dividing his interplay with Nuit into épisodes, each form of his energy isolated with each aspect of Her receptivity, delight developing delight continuous from complex to complex. It was the voice of Nature awakening at the dawn of the Aeon, as Aiwaz uttered the Word of the Law of Thelema. 343