Magick Without Tears

THE ELASTIC MIND 379 present themselves, be judged as false or true, and rejected or accepted accordingly . The inelastic mind, on the other hand, is tied by training to a rigid sequence, so that it never gets a chance to think for itself. To develop a mind properly it needs (I) "Lehrjahre" (a first-class public school and university education, or the equivalent) when it learns all sides of a question, and is left free to judge for itself and (2) "Wanderjahre," when it sees the world for itself, not by any pre-arranged course (Cooks', Lunns', University Extension, Baedeker) but built up on the results of the Lehrjahre, foot or horseback, and avoid beaten tracks. It is the Rosicrucian injunction to "wear the costume of the country in which you are travelling" ; this is only another way of saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." The object of this is not merely to avoid interference or annoyance, but to teach the mind to think down to the roots of the local customs. You learn also the great lesson of Thelema, that nothing is right or wrong in itself; as we say "Circumstances alter cases." One trains oneself to adapt one's life to the impinging facts: to "cut one's coat according to one's cloth." It leads one to the understanding of that great Principle of Compromise which has kept England's head above water through the tempests of a chiliad. Remember that the slightest sign of inelasticity means that the rubber has already "perished"; and that the test of perfection is that one can "snap back" to the original condition, with no trace of the stress to which it has been subjected. Love is the law, love under will. Yours fraternally , 666