Book 4 (Part II)

This capacity for storing away facts is compatible with actual imbecility. Some imbeciles have been able to store their memories with more knowledge than perhaps any sane man could hope to acquire. This is the great fault of modern education — a child is stuffed with facts, and no attempt is made to explain their connection and bearing. The result is that even the facts themselves are soon forgotten. Any first-rate mind is insulted and irritated by such treatment, and any first-rate memory is in danger of being spoilt by it. No two ideas have any real meaning until they are har- monized in a third, and the operation is only perfect when these ideas are contradictory. This is the essence of the Hegelian logic. The Magick Cup, as was shown above, is also the flower. It is the lotus w^hich opens to the sun, and which collects the dew. This Lotus is in the hand of Isis the great Mother. It is a symbol similar to the Cup in the hand of OUR LADY BABALON. There are also the Lotuses in the human body, according to the Hindu system of Physiology referred to in the chapter on Dharana.^ 1 These Lotuses are all situated in the spinal column, which has three channels, Sushumna in the middle, Ida and Pingala on either side {cf. the Tree of Life). The central channel is compressed at the base by Kundalini, the magical power, a sleeping serpent. Awake her: she darts up the spine, and the Prana flows through the Sushumna. See "Raja- Yoga" for more details.