Magick Without Tears

xxii PREFACE closely. But dig deeper and the resemblance falls apart altogether. There is enough data presented in this striking set of letters, apart from anything else the man has written in his long literary life, to thoroughly destroy any such possibility. A bohemian and eccentric he may well have been-a hippy never! Many of the young people of today are turning toward his writing with a view to resolving some of the most serious problems of our time-conflicts which affect them and our society most seriously. In this, I think they are showing some deep wisdom. But in many of their overt attitudes and behavior, it seems as if they are missing the boat entirely. This is why it is imperative that they become familiar with the tenets of these letters, to make them part and parcel of their own mental and spiritual equipment. They may find a variety of answers or suggestions which, if followed, could result in a transformation of their lives and those of succeeding generations. (1) For sloppiness and untidiness, Crowley had absolutely no use. Only when on expeditions of one kind or another, did he ever look grimy or untidy. Otherwise he was fastidious to a degree, and proud of it. Not that he was compulsive or an exponent of conforming to social dictates or the arbitrary whims of current fashion-far from it. He was violently opposed to such conformist attitudes, a true rebel toward that as to almost everything else. (2) Like many of today's generation, he used drugs. He had experimented with many psychedelic agents-with some that are totally unfamiliar to our young folk today. Because of Allan Bennett's asthma, drugs were experimented with to experience relief from the bronchial paroxysms and dyspnoea. An incidental and not anticipated effect at first was the psychedelic effect, the inadvertent experience of mystical states of consciousness. These occurred, I am inclined to believe, not merely because of the pharmacodynamism of the drug but because Allan was mystically inclined, and because he had already undergone