236 
MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS 
evidently illogical. What remains? We must not hastily answer 
"Nothing remains." There is some thing inherent in the 
nature of consciousness, reason, perception, sensation, and of 
the universe of which they inform us, which is responsible for 
the fact that we observe these phenomena and not others; 
that we reflect upon them as we do, and not otherwise. But, 
even deeper than this, part of the reality of the inscrutable 
energy which determined 
the form of our experience, 
consists in determining that experience should take place at 
all. It should be clear that this has nothing to do with any of 
the Platonic conceptions of the nature of things. 
The least abject asset in the intellectual bankruptcy of 
European 
thought 
is the Hebrew Qabalah. Properly 
understood, it is a system of symbolism indefinitely elastic, 
assuming no axioms, postulating no principles. asserting no 
theorems, and therefore adaptable, if managed adroitly, to 
describe any conceivable doctrine. It has been my continual 
study since 1898, and I have found it of infinite value in the 
study of The Tao Teh King. By its aid I was able to attribute 
the ideas of Lao-tze to an order with which I was exceedingly 
familiar, and whose practical worth I had repeatedly proved 
by using it as the basis of the analysis and classification of all 
Aryan and Semitic religions and philosophies. Despite the 
essential difficulty of correlating the ideas of Lao-tze with 
any others, the persistent application of the Qabalistic keys 
eventually unlocked his treasure-house. I was able to explain 
to myself his teachings in terms of familiar systems. 
This achievement broke the back of my Sphinx. Having 
once reduced Lao-tze to Qabalistic form, it was easy to 
translate the result into the language of philosophy. I had 
already done much to create a new language based on English 
with the assistance of a few technical terms borrowed from 
Asia, and above all by the use of a novel conception of the 
idea of Number and of algebraic and arithmetical procedure 
to convey the results of spiritual experience to intelligent 
students. 
It is therefore not altogether without confidence that I