Book 4 (Part II)

52 thin in proportion to its length is Uable to wobble. Very few artists are conscious of their real purpose, and in very many cases we have this in- finiteyearning supported byso frail a constitution that nothing is achieved. The Magician must build all that he has into his pyramid; and if that pyramid is to touch the stars, how broad must be the base ! There is no knowledge and no power which is useless to the Magician. One might almost say there is no scrap of material in the whole Universe with which he can dispense. His ultimate enemy is the great Magician, the Magician who created the whole illusion of the Universe; and to meet him in battle, so that nothing is left either of him or of yourself, you must be exactly equal to him. At the same time let the Magician never forget that every brick must tend to the summit of the pyramid — the sides must be perfectly smooth; there must be no false summits, even in the lowest layers. This is the practical and active form of that obligation of a Master of the Temple in which it is said: " I will interpret every phenomenon as a particular dealing of God with my soul." In Liber CLXXV many practical devices for attaining this one- pointedness are given, and though the subject of that book is devotion to a particular Deity, its instructions may be easily generalized to suit the development of any form of will. This will is then the active form of understanding. The Master of