Magick Without Tears

.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