Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 3)

transcendent Truth of the Beloved to the heart that holds him. The firm répétition of one of these Words ought to enable the Adept to maintain the State of Union for several minutes, even at first. In any case he must rekindle his ardour, esteeming his success rather as an encouragement to more ardent aspiration than as a triumph. He should increase his efforts. Let him beware of the “lust of resuit”, of expecting too much, of losing courage if his first success is followed by a sériés of failures. For success makes success seem so incredible that one is apt to create an inhibition fatal to subséquent attempts. One fears to failj the fear intrudes upon the concentration and so fulfils its own prophecy. We know how too much pleasure in a love affair makes one afraid to disgrâce oneself on the next few occasions; indeed, until familiarity has accustomed one to the idea that one’s lover has never supposed one to be more than human. Confidence returns gradually. Inarticulate ecstasy is replaced by a more sober enjoy- ment of the éléments of the fascination. Just so one’s first dazzled delight in a new landscape turns, as one continues to gaze, to the appréciation of exquisite details of the view. At first they were blurred by the blinding rush of general beauty ; they emerge one by one as the shock subsides, and passionate rapture yields to intelligent interest. In the same way the Adept almost always begins by torrential lyrics panting out mystical extravagances about “ineffable love”, “unimaginable bliss”, “inexpressible infinities of illimitabie utter- ness”. 1 He usually loses his sense of proportion, of humour, of reality, and of Sound judgment. His ego is often inflated to bursting point, till he would be abjectly ridiculous if he were not so pitifully dangerous to himself and others. He also tends to take his new-found “truths of illumination” for the entire body of truth, and insists that they must be as valid and vital for ail men as they happen to be for himself. I. This corresponds to the emotional and metaphysical fog which is characteristic of the emergence of thought from homogeneity. The clear and concise différentiation of ideas marks the adult mind. — 299