THE NEW WINE
293
To attain this end eight
stages
of perfection
have
to
be accomplished
:
Yama , Niyama, Asana , Prânâ
yâma, Pratyâhâra, Dharanâ, Dhyâna , and
Samâdhi,
the last being that state of super -knowledge in which
Self and
its
shadow become one
,
an
extended
form
of
Kant's
à
priori
.
Existence
is
change
,
and
change
is
sorrow
,
there
fore we must overcome
existence
.
Existence
,
as
we know
it,
spins
A
fatal warp
,
a
woof
of
woe
.
There
is
no place for God
or
soul
.
Works
,
hopes
,
prayers
,
sacrifices
,
sins
Are jokes
.
The cosmos
happened
so
:
Innocent
all
of
guide
or
goal
.
Else
,
what were man's appointed
term
?
To feed God's friend
,
the
coffin
-
worm
!
Crowley further states
in
a
short foreword
to
these
Images
of
Life and Death
”
:
“
To
me life and death
have most often
appeared
in
majesty
and
beauty
,
in
solemnity
and
horror
;
in
emotions
,
to
be
brief
,
so
great that
man
had
no
place therein
.
But there are
moods
,
in
which
the heights are attained
indirectly
,
and
through
man's
struggle
with
the
elemental
powers
."
2
Only
by
energy
and strife
May man attain
the eternal
rest
,
Dissolve
the desperate
lust
of
life
By infinite agony and zest
.
Thus
,
O
my Kali
,I
divine
The golden
secret
of
thy shrine
!
The strife
to
attain
to
this golden secret
we have
already seen depicted
in
so
many
of
Aleister Crowley's
Gargoyles
,
vol
.
iii,
p
.
84
.
2
Ibid
.
3
Ibid
.
vol
.
iii,
p
.
98
.