Book 4 Part II Magick.pdf
Book 4 Part II Magick.pdf Book 4 Part II Magick.pdf
124 Many of the entries in this “ledger” are for the ordinary man necessarily illegible; the method of reading them is given in that important instruction of the A.·.A.·. called “Thisharb,” Liber CMXIII. Now consider that this Karma is all that a man has or is. His ultimate object is to get rid of it completely—when it comes to the point of surrendering 1 the Self to the Beloved; but in the beginning the Magician is not that Self, he is only the heap of refuse from which that Self is to be built up. The Magical instruments must be made before they are destroyed. The idea of Karma has been confused by many who ought to have known better, including the Buddha, with the ideas of poetic justice and of retribution. We have the story of one of the Buddha’s Arahats, who being blind, in walking up and down unwittingly killed a number of insects. [The Buddhist regards the destruction of life as the most shocking crime.] His brother Arahats inquired as to hwo this was, and Buddha spun them a long yarn as to how, in a previous incarnation, he had maliciously deprived a woman of her sight. This is only a fairy tale, a bogey to frighten the children, and probably the worst way of influencing the young yet devised by human stupidity. 1 To surrender all, one must give up not only the bad but the good; not only weakness but strength. How can the mystic surrender all, while he clings to his virtues?
125 Karma does not work in this way at all. In any case moral fables have to be very carefully constructed, or they may prove dangerous to those who use them. You will remember Bunyan’s Passion and Patience: naughty Passion played with all his toys and broke them, good little Patience put them carefully aside. Bunyan forgets to mention that by the time Passion had broken all his toys, he had outgrown them. Karma does not act in this tit-for-tat way. An eye for an eye is a kind of savage justice, and the idea of justice in our human sense is quite foreign to the constitution of the Universe. Karma is the Law of Cause and Effect. There is no propor- tion in its operations. Once an accident occurs it is impossible to say what may happen; and the Universe is a stupendous accident. We go out to tea a thousand times without mishap, and the thousandand-first time we meet some one who changes radically the course of our lives for ever. There is a sort of sense in which every impression that is made upon our minds is the resultant of all the forces of the past; no incident is so trifling that it has not in some way shaped one’s disposition. But there is none of this crude retribution about it. One may kill a hundred thousand lice in one brief hour at the foot of the Baltoro Glacier, as Frater P. once did. It would be stupid to suppose, as the Theosophist
- Page 79 and 80: 73 But even the beginner may attemp
- Page 81 and 82: 75 flections; while the tendencies
- Page 83 and 84: 77 dew all lose their identity. And
- Page 85: AN INTERLUDE
- Page 88 and 89: 82 The cupboard was bare, And so th
- Page 90 and 91: 84 Little Miss Muffett unquestionab
- Page 92 and 93: 86 This is one of the more exoteric
- Page 94 and 95: 88 But one hardly dare comment upon
- Page 96 and 97: 90 dense physical substance which i
- Page 98 and 99: 92 when I looked back the chair was
- Page 101 and 102: T CHAPTER VIII THE SWORD “ HE wor
- Page 103 and 104: 97 Here is another parable. Peter,
- Page 105 and 106: 99 The Magician cannot wield the Sw
- Page 107 and 108: 101 The connection between Breath a
- Page 109 and 110: 103 cian is blasted by the Thunderb
- Page 111 and 112: 105 The perceptions are meaningless
- Page 113 and 114: 107 spilled in the sunlight is perh
- Page 115 and 116: 109 poor little lion who hadn’t g
- Page 117 and 118: 111 ism. But since to admit that it
- Page 119: 113 There is no need to explain to
- Page 122 and 123: 6 n 8 16 o A 10 5 24 G i 1011 15 14
- Page 124 and 125: 118 From North to South. What is th
- Page 126 and 127: 120 The ass hesitated between two t
- Page 128 and 129: 122 If any person were to gain acce
- Page 132 and 133: 126 inclines to suppose, that this
- Page 134 and 135: 128 the ice, and the ice itself mus
- Page 137: CHAPTER X THE LAMP
- Page 140 and 141: have complexity, which have dimensi
- Page 142 and 143: Each practice is itself a demon whi
- Page 145 and 146: T CHAPTER XI THE CROWN HE Crown of
- Page 147: 141 It also represents Hadit, of wh
- Page 151 and 152: T CHAPTER XII THE ROBE HE Robe of t
- Page 153: CHAPTER XIII THE BOOK
- Page 156 and 157: 150 for this is a Magick Book. If y
- Page 159: CHAPTER XIV THE BELL
- Page 162 and 163: 156 these are then fused with tin w
- Page 164 and 165: EXAMPLE OF A DESIGN FOR A LAMEN
- Page 166 and 167: 160 which we wish to evoke is nothi
- Page 169 and 170: CHAPTER XVI THE MAGICK FIRE
- Page 171 and 172: CHAPTER XVI THE MAGICK FIRE; WITH C
- Page 173 and 174: 167 In this smoke illusions arise.
- Page 175 and 176: 169 it. There is no harm in a man
- Page 177: 171 get on very well, thank you. Wh
124<br />
Many of the entries in this “ledger” are for the ordinary man necessarily<br />
illegible; the method of reading them is given in that important<br />
instruction of the A.·.A.·. called “Thisharb,” Liber CMX<strong>II</strong>I.<br />
Now consider that this Karma is all that a man has or is. His ultimate<br />
object is to get rid of it completely—when it comes to the point<br />
of surrendering 1 the Self to the Beloved; but in the beginning the<br />
Magician is not that Self, he is only the heap of refuse from which that<br />
Self is to be built up. The Magical instruments must be made before<br />
they are destroyed.<br />
The idea of Karma has been confused by many who ought to have<br />
known better, including the Buddha, with the ideas of poetic justice<br />
and of retribution.<br />
We have the story of one of the Buddha’s Arahats, who being blind,<br />
in walking up and down unwittingly killed a number of insects. [The<br />
Buddhist regards the destruction of life as the most shocking crime.]<br />
His brother Arahats inquired as to hwo this was, and Buddha spun<br />
them a long yarn as to how, in a previous incarnation, he had maliciously<br />
deprived a woman of her sight. This is only a fairy tale, a bogey to<br />
frighten the children, and probably the worst way of influencing the<br />
young yet devised by human stupidity.<br />
1 To surrender all, one must give up not only the bad but the good; not only weakness<br />
but strength. How can the mystic surrender all, while he clings to his virtues?
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