132
THE STAR IN THE WEST
of
a libidinous
papacy .
Many
witty
and
lascivious
books , which in those times were openly enjoyed , have
been
handed
down
to us .
In
the north
the puritanic
upheaval , still so felt, set in ; and
in
its
first stages
it
probably
was strictly
anti
-
vicious
,
but
in
its
second
merely
a
screen
to
hide vice
from
the
public
gaze
.
This
,
in
its
turn
,
led
to
the good feeling
a
disgust for
the
bad
,
which
in
our age
has
developed
into
an
in
born shame
which condemns open
vice
,
but tolerates
,
even endows
it,
when hidden
.
Open vice
,
unscreened
and esotericised
by
religion
,
would have
in
the sequence
of
events
led
to
an
open feeling
of
disgust
,
for Nature
never
permits
man
to
borrow
without
paying
back
,
the general settlement day will always sooner
or
later
arrive
,
and then
a
new epoch
of
time will
be
heralded
in
.
Secret vice
is
the very worst form
of
vice
;
like
a
hidden
gin we fall betwixt
its
jaws unawares
.
The crass and
studied silence that mothers and fathers maintain over
their children
as
regards
all
subjects
of
sex
is
probably
responsible for fifty
per
cent
:
and more
of
all
the
sexual
crimes
and
sexual
ills
of
the
present day
.
When
mankind
has grasped the fact that
its
organs
of
reproduction
are
no
more
disgusting
than
its
organs
of
respiration
,
it
will
then
have
grasped
a
greater
truth
than
all
philosophies
have
ever
pro
mulgated
,
than all religions have ever revealed
.
"
And
they
were both
naked
,
the
man
and his wife
,
and
were not
ashamed
”
:
THIS IS
VIRTUE
.
"
And
the
eyes
of
them both were opened
,
and they knew that
they were naked
”
:
THIS
IS
VICE
.
Know Thyself
,
Be Thyself
,
Honour Thyself
,
are the
three
greatest commandments we can
follow
.
This
truth
,
universal and
in
its
totality
,
Crowley thunders
forth midst sunshine and
lightning
.
If,
it
is
good
to