Book 4 (Part II)

74 And so we find once more that the Ego-idea must be ruthlessly rooted out before Understanding can be attained. There is an apparent contradiction between this attitude and that of the Master of the Temple. What can possibly be more selfish than this interpretation of everything as the dealing of God with the soul? But it is God who is all and not any part; and every "deaHng" must thus be an expansion of the soul, a destruction of its separateness. Every ray of the sun expands the flower. The surface of the water in the Magick Cup is infinite; there is no point different from any other point. ^ Thus, ultimately, as the wand is a binding and a limitation, so is the Cup an expansion —into the Infinite. And this is the danger of the Cup; it must necessarily be open to all, and yet if anything is put into it which is out of proportion, unbalanced, or impure, it takes hurt. And here again we find difficulty with our thoughts. The grossness and stupidity oi simple wipressio7is cloud the water; emotions trouble it; perceptions are still far from the perfect purity of truth; they cause re- ^ " If ye confound the space -marks, saying: They are one, or saying: They are many . . . then expect the direful judgments of Ra Hoor Khuit. . . . This shall regenerate the world, the little world my sister." These are the words of NUIT, Our Lady of the Stars, of whom Binah is but the troubled reflection.