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- 55
- u80ici1.11h21. Without Authority they could not do this, exalted as their
- rank was among adepts. They resolved to prepare all things, great and small,
- against that day when such Authority should be received by them, since they
- knew not where to seek for higher adepts than themselves, but knew that the
- true way to attract the notice of such was to equilibrate the symbols. The
- temple must be builded before the God can indwell it.
-
- 22. Therefore by the order of D.D.S. did P. prepare all things by his arcane
- science and wisdom, choosing only those symbols which were common to all
- systems, and rigorously rejecting all names and words which might be supposed
- to imply any religious or metaphysical theory. To do this utterly was found
- impossible, since all language has a history, and the use (for example) of the
- word << spirit >> implies the Scholastic Philosophy and the Hindu and Taoist
- theories concerning the breath of man. So was it difficult to avoid
- implication of some undesirable bias by using the words << order,>> <<
- circle,>> << chapter,>> << society,>> << brotherhood,>> or any other to
- designate the body of initiates.
-
- 23. Deliberately, therefore, did he take refuge in vagueness. Not to veil
- the truth to the Neophyte, but to warn him against valuing non-essentials.
- Should therefore the candidate hear the name of any God, let him not rashly
- assume that it refers to any known God, save only the God known to himself.
- Or should the ritual speak in terms (however vague) which seem to imply
- Egyptian, Taoist, Buddhist, Indian, Persian, Greek, Judaic, Christian, or
- Moslem philosophy, let him reflect that this is a defect of language; the
- literary limitation and not the spiritual prejudice of the man P.
-
- 24. Especially let him guard against the finding of definite sectarian
- symbols in the teaching of his master, and the reasoning from the known to the
- unknown which assuredly will tempt him.
-
- We labour earnestly, dear brother, that you may never be led away to
- perish upon this point; for thereon have many holy and just men been wrecked.
- By this have all the visible systems lost the essence of wisdom.
-
- We have sought to reveal the Arcanum; we have only profaned it.
-
- 25. Now when P. had thus with bitter toil prepared all things under the
- guidance of D.D.S. (even as the hand writes, while the conscious brain, though
- ignorant of the detailed movements, applauds or disapproves the finished work)
- there was a certain time of repose, as the earth lieth fallow.
-
- 26. Meanwhile these adepts busied themselves intently with the Great Work.
-
- 27. In the fullness of time, even as a blossoming tree that beareth fruit in
- its season, all these pains were ended, and these adepts and their companions
- obtained the reward which they had sought they were to be admitted to the
- Eternal and Invisible Order that hath no name among men.
-
- 28. They therefore who had with smiling faces abandoned their homes, their
- possessions, their wives, their children, in order to perform the Great Work,
- could with steady calm and firm correctness abandon the Great Work itself: for
- this is the last and greatest projection of the alchemist.
-
- 29. Also one V.V.V.V.V. arose, an exalted adept of the rank of Master of the
- Temple (or this much He disclosed to the Exempt Adepts) and His utterance is
- enshrined in the Sacred Writings.
- 30. Such are Liber Legis, Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente, Liber Liberi vel
- Lapidis Lazuli and such others whose existence may one day be divulged unto
- you. Beware lest you interpret them either in the Light or in the darkness,
- for only in L.V.X. may they be understood.
-
- 31. Also He conferred upon D.D.S., O.M., and another, the Authority of the
- Triad, who in turn have delegated it unto others, and they yet again, so that
- the Body of Initiates may be perfect, even from the Crown unto the Kingdom and
- beyond.
-
- 32. For Perfection abideth not in the Pinnacles, or in the Foundations, but
- in the ordered Harmony of one with all.
-