Book 4 (Part I)

86 and more convincing if the meditation is directed to an object which in itself is apparently unimportant. One does not want the mind to be excited in any way, even by adoration. See the three meditative methods in Liber HHH (Equinox VI).1 At the same time, one would not like to deny positively that it is very much easier to take some idea towards which the mind would naturally flow. The Hindus assert that the nature of the object determines the Samadhi; that is, the nature of those lower Samadhis which confer so— called “magic powers.” For example, there are the Yogapravritti. Meditating on the tip of the nose, one obtains what may be called the “ideal smell”; that is, a smell which is not any particular smell, but is the archetypal smell, of which all actual smells are modifications. It is “the smell which is no! a smell.” This is the only reasonable descrip— tion ; for the experience being contrary to reason, it is only reasonable that the words describing it should be contrary to reason too.2 Similarly, concentration on the tip of the tongue gives the “ideal taste ”; on the dorsum of the tongue, “ideal contact.” “ Every atom of 1 These are the complements of the three methods of Enthusiasm (A. '. A. '. instruc- tion not yet issued up to March 1912). 2 Hence the Athanasian Creed. Compare the precise parallel in the Zohar: “ The Head which is above all heads; the Head which is not a Head.’