Liber Aleph

THE BOOK OF WISDOM OR FOLLY 147 Ep De Formula Deorum Occisorum (Of the Formula of the Dying Gods) LAS, my Son! this hath been fatal constantly to many a Man of noble Aspiration, that these Words were hidden from his Understanding. For there is a Balance in all Things and the Body hath Charter to fulfil his Nature, even as the Mind hath. So to repress one Function is to destroy that Proportion which is wholesome, and wherein indeed all Health and Sanity have Consistency. Verily, it is the Art of Life to develop each Organ of Body and Mind, or, as I may say, each Weapon of the Will to its Perfection, neither distorting any Use, nor suffering the Will of one Part to tyrannize over that of another. And this Doctrine (be it accursed!) that Pain and Repression are wholesome and profitable in themselves is a lie born of Sin and of Ignorance, the false Vision of the Universe and of its Laws that is the Basis of the averse Formula of the Slain God. It is true that on Occassion one Limb must be sacrificed to save the whole Body, as when one cutteth away one Hand that is bitten by a Viper, or as when a Man giveth his Life to save his City. But this is a right and natural Subordination of the superficial and particular to the fundamental and general Will, and moreover it is a Case extraordinary, relating to Accident or Extremity, not in any Wise a Rule of Life, or a Virtue in its absolute Nature. a