Magick Without Tears

SELFISHNESS 293 We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit: let them die in their misery. For they feel not. Compassion is the vice of Kings: stamp down the wretched and the weak; this is the law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world. That sets up a standard , with a vengeance! (Note "they feel not," twice repeated. There should be something important to the thesis herein concealed.) The passage becomes exalted , but a verse later resumes the the me, setting forth the philosophical basis of these apparently violent and arrogant remarks. "It is a lie, this folly against self." (AL. II: 22) This is the central doctrine of Thelema in this matter. What are we to understand by it? That this imbecile and nauseating cult of weakness-democracy some call it-is utterly false and vile. Let us look into the matter. (First consult AL. II: 24, 25, 48, 49, 58, 59, and III : 18, 58, 59. It might be confusing to quote these texts in full; but they throw much further light on the subject.) The word "compassion " in its accepted sense- which is bad etymology-implies that you are a fine fellow, and the other so much dirt ; that is, you insult him by pity for his misfortun es. But "Every man and every woman is a star" ; so don't you do it! You should treat everybody as a King of the same order as yourself. Of course, nine people out of ten won't stand for it, not for a minute ; the mere fact of your treating them decently frightens them ; their sense of inferiority is exacerbated and intensified; they insist on grovelling. That places them. They force you to treat them as the mongrel curs they are; and so everybody is happy! The Book of the Law is at pains to indicate the proper attitude of one "King" to another . When you fight him, "As brothers , fight ye!" Here we have the old chivalrous type of warfare, which the introduction of reason into the business has made at the moment impossible. Reason and Emotion;