.C. AND THE MASTERS 
319 
undamentally an Artist; he will certainly not possess any of 
hose bourgeois "virtues" which are just so many reactions to 
lue Funk. 
Also, ascetiCism is all right when it is the proper means of 
ttaining some special end. It is when it produces eructations 
f spiritual pride, and satisfied vanity, that it is poisonous . 
e Greek word means an athlete; and the training of an 
thlete is not mortification of the body. Nor is there any rule 
hich covers all circumstances. When men go "stale" a few 
ays before the race, they are "taken off training ," and fed 
ith champagne. But that is part of the training . Observe, 
00, that all men go "stale" sooner or later; 
bnormal , and must be stopped as soon as its object is 
ttained. Even so, it too often strains vital organs, especially 
he heart and lungs, so that few rowing "Blues" live to be 50. 
ut worst of all is the effect on the temper! 
When it is permanent , and mistaken for a "virtue," it 
poisons the very soil of the soul. The vilest weeds spring up ; 
cruelty , narrowmindedness, arrogance-everything mean and 
horrible 
flowers 
in those who "mortify 
the flesh." 
Incidentally , such ideas spawn the "Black Brother." The 
complete 
lack of humour, 
the egomaniac conceit, 
self-satisfaction, absence of all sympathy for others , the 
craving to pass their miseries on to more sensible people by 
persecuting them: these traits are symptomatic . 
Love is the law, love under will. 
Fraternally, 
666