The Equinox (Volume I, Number V)

THE DANGERS OF MYSTICISM alleged copyright; we find another so sensitive that the mention of his name by the present writer induces an attack οί epileptic mania; if such are really “united with " or ”absorbed in ” God, what of God? We are told in Galatians that the fruits of the Spirit are peace, love, joy, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; and somewhere else, “ By their fruits ye shall know them.” Of these evil-doers then we must either think that they are dishonest, and have never attained at all, or that they have united themselves with a devil. Such are “Brethren of the Left Hand Path,“ described so thoroughly in Liber 418 (EgUINox, Νο. ν., Special Supplement, pp. 119 5994). Of these the most characteristic sign is their exclusive— nessi “We are the men.” “ Ours is the only Way.” “All Buddhists are wicked," the insanity of spiritual pride. The Magician is not nearly so liable to fall into this fearful mire of pride as the mystic; he is occupied with things outside himself, and can correct his pride. Indeed, he is constantly being corrected by Nature. He, the Great One, cannot run a mile in four minutes! The mystic is solitary and shut up, lacks wholesome combat. We are all school- boys, and the football field is a perfect prophylactic of swelled head. When the mystic meets an obstacle, he “ makes believe" about it. He says it is “only illusion.” He has the morphine-maniacs feeling of bien-étre, the delusions of the general paralytic. He loses the power of looking any fact in the face; he feeds himself on his own imagination; he Ι55