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