306
THE STAR IN THE WEST
But by a fierce and loathly word
The abomination must
be told .
The holy work must twist
its
spell
From hemp
of
madness
,
grown
in
hell
.!
Others again
do
not possess the stability
of
mind
,
the
natural health and strength
so
necessary
in
this
severe
mental struggle
,
and
as
Ribot says
:
“
It
is
all
confined
to
an
alienation
,
in
the
etymological
sense
,
of
certain states
of
consciousness which the ego does
not consider
as
its
own
,
but which
it
objectivates
,
and finally
,
by
placing
it
outside itself
,
ends
by
attri
buting
an
actual existence independent
of
its own
."
2
Others
attain
but
a
glimpse
.
Maimonides
long
ago
noticed
:
Learn that Prophecy
is
an
emanation from God which
flows
,
through the intermediary
of
the active Intellect
,
upon
the
rational Faculty first
,
and then
upon
the
imaginative
Faculty
;
it
is
the highest degree
of
a
man
,
and the term
of
perfection
to
which
the species
may aspire
;
and this state
is
the highest perfection
of
the
imaginative Faculty
.
.
.
If
the emanation flows into the imaginative
Faculty only
,
and
if
the
rational
Faculty
remains
behind
,
either
on
account
of
original structure
,
or
from disuse
,
then
is
consti
tuted
the class
of
men
called men
of
the State
,
diviners
.
There come
to
men
of
this class
,
even when they are awake
,
wonderful
visions
.
.
.
similar
to
prophetic visions
.
They delight
much
in
them
,
believing they have
acquired
all
sciences without study
.
But
all
those who
really
do
attain
,
attain
,
and
re
main silent
.
The
“
Hindu
practice
,
”
says
Mysticus
in
“
Time
,”
i
Gargoyles
,
vol
.
iii,
p
.
98
.
·
Les Maladies
de
la
Personalité
,
p
.
110
.
3
Guide for the Perplexed
,
chap
.
36
,
37
.