Magick Without Tears

Cara Soror, 27 Structure of Mind Based on That of Body Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Was the sudden cloudburst at the end of my last letter somewhat of a surprise, and more than somewhat of a shock? Cheer up! The worst is yet to come. It is surely the wise course to accept the plain facts; to try to explain them away, or to excuse them, is certain to involve one in a maelstrom of sophistry; and when, despite these laudable efforts, the facts jump up and land a short jab to the point, one is even worse off than before. This has to be said, because Sammasati is assuredly one of the most useful, as well as one of the most trustworthy and most manageable, weapons in the armoury of the Aspirant. You stop me, obviously with a demand for a personal explanation. "How is it," you write, "that you reject with such immitigable scorn the very foundation-stones of Buddhism, and yet refer disciples enthusiastically to the technique of some of its subtlest super-structures?" I laff. It is the old, old story. When the Buddha was making experiments and recording the results, he was on safe ground : when he started to theorize, committing (incidentally) innumerable logical crimes in the process, he is no better a guesser than the Arahat next door, or for the matter of that, the Arahat's Lady Char. It may be no more than a personal fancy, but I think Allan 198