THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HASHISH
experiment) and without thinking of anything whatever,
killing the thoughts as they rise with a single smack, like a
child killing flies. The difficulty is of course to kill them
without thinking of the killing, which thought is naturally
just as bad as any other thought. I never got any good out
of this method myself. It may, I believe, happen with fair
frequency that in the course of any advanced meditation or
invocation this particular type of spiritual experience may
suddenly arise without apparent cause.
Anyway, let us hope so!
As a matter of practical politics, I think that a judicious
mixture of the methods of East and West is likely to give the
best results.
Let the young Adept, for example, master thoroughly the
groundwork of the Hindu system.
Let him master Asana, posture, so that he can sit motionless
for hours without any message from his body reaching and so
disturbing his brain. Let him include in his accomplish-
ments Pranayama, control of the breath and of the vital
nervous currents which react in sympathy with it.
Let him then exalt to the utmost his soul by the appro-
priate ritual of ceremonial magic; and when by this means he
has most thoroughly identified himself with the Supreme, let
him, as that Supreme One, continue to meditate with intense
force upon Himself, until his sphere is entirely filled with the
single Thought.
Lastly, if this, the male energy, suffice not, let him trans-
form it into a pure and perfect emptiness and passivity, as of
one waiting for the Beloved One, with intense longing rendered
passionless by the certainty that He will come.
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