Liber Aleph

LIBER ALEPH VEL CXI 204 Zu De Ratione huius Epistolæ Scribendæ (Of the Reason of Writing this Epistle) EHOLD, I draw unto the End of this Discourse of Wisdom, as a Ship that hath adventured upon Ocean, from whose mast the Watcher espieth in the Dimness of the Horizon a Point of Snow, being the Peak of a great Mountain that is Guardian of the Harbour, the Term of that Voyage. So now do I commit thee wholly unto thyself, for I exist not in thine Universe, save in my Relation with thee, wherefore this Part of me is in Truth thou rather than I. Yet do thou treasure this Letter, for it is mine especial Gift, and hath Radiance of the Light of my Wisdom, and flameth, being the Blood of my Love of thee and of Mankind. Also, it is the Word of my Will, the Charter of the Liberty of my Soul, and thine, and that of every Man, and every Woman; for we are Stars. O my Son, for many Days was I silent, until thou wast fearful lest thou hadst, by Ignorance or by Inadvertance, enkindled the Fire of my Wrath. But I spake not, because I knew in my Wisdom that thou must pass a certain Ordeal of thine Initiation by thine own Virtue. For this Cause I held aloof; but in my Love I made a Beginning of this Letter, beholding thy triumph beforehand; and with Prescience, divining thy next Need, that is to say, this Book of the Words of my Wisdom. b