Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Norman Mudd

 

     

 

Marsa Plage

 

 

June 4/23.

 

 

Care Frater,

 

93

 

Yours of May 28.

     

My health is much better all around, tho' I had a bilious attack last night and this morning which upset me considerably. That fact lends additional weight to my general optimism. I am glad to hear you are all doing well.

     

I can understand that you have been very busy and that the first view of your job has been rather appalling. There is really a frightful accumulation and variety. That, my poor friend, is why I am so eager to get anything publishable published; not for the result but as a clean-up. I have always felt this; it annoys me to have even the material for a small book of lyrics in the files. Once a book is published I can forget about it completely. It is therefore urgent to find people to issue all the back work. If this were done it would satisfy my neatness-complex. I should feel that I had my table clear of everything but the work actually in hand, and could go ahead without risk of mixing things up. The feeling is born of illusion; but I can't help that!

     

The Work of the Comment. There is no question of hurry. I don't think you are right to attack such importance to possible bungling on my part. The Aeon is not a Work of my unsupported imagination. The facts of human progress are involved. You have seen yourself evidence of the idea sprouting entirely independent of me.

     

About the shape of The Comment—You are quite right in a way. I wish I could feel justified in distinguishing between two Comments; one in Chap. I - 36, and Chap. III - 40; the other in Chap. III - 39. The former would then refer to official orders issued by me with regard to various cases as they arose, much as Mohammed got a new Chapter of the Q'uran  whenever a situation arose which demanded authoritative settlement. *2A

     

Do not then think of The Law as decaying. The situation is really this: In the course of evolution mankind becomes ripe for new truths or rather for the Communication of a section—[illegible] to it—of external truth. The Equinox of the Gods is a critical moment when such a pass-word is communicated. I am, so to speak the Kerux charged with the official proclamation in Temple of the Word. But, that Word is not arbitrary. It expresses existing conditions. Obviously, lots of people have worked by 93 in all ages. Most of your other remarks about the comment are covered by the above or Liber I or what I will now proceed to say.

     

Since coming here, it has been constantly drummed into me that my real business from now on is in public life. I hate the idea so much that I feel sure it must be correct! Now I can't do anything about this at present beyond getting The Hag [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley] ready. I think it probable that the opening move will be made by the Rich Man from the West. There is also the question of The Scarlet Woman. I don't know whether Alostrael [Leah Hirsig] will succeed in getting her potential power into Working Order. She ought really to be free to devote herself to doing so. In any case, what The Book of the Law contemplates is evidently the arising of a Semiramis who will exercise despotic political power—derived from me and dependent on me. I could work with such a woman because I could then keep in the background; and that again is, I think contemplated by CCXX. (The world is obviously rife for the appearance of a female ruler of this kind.)

     

The question of The Scarlet Woman is particularly difficult for men to investigate simply because of her peripheral consciousness as against man's centralized Ego. Perhaps you with your "woman's heart" may understand it better than I.

     

There is one thing that annoys me hellishly about all these problems. We are always coming up against brick walls and having to wait when we want to be up and doing. ('Scuse the reference to Longfellow. That verse, by the way, gives his psychology beautifully. He jumps up with the greatest enthusiasm in order to—wait—It's a perfectly beautiful clinical example of nervous weakness.) However, here we are with same boat. We don't know what we want to do, it is true, but anyhow, we can't do it until the arrival of the rich man from the West and a few things like that. Well, I don't mind, I'm perfectly happy writing. I merely wish to remind the Gods that—for many considerations—this attitude shows my complete dependence upon them. (Compare Napoleon in Anatole France's story of "La Muiron".)

     

About your remarks on my remarks on honour—(I assume that you have copies of your own letters) I quite see your Point A. But I think all these stumbling blocks would disappear simultaneously if people would only grasp my mathematical conception of 93. That is exactly where I thought you would come in strongest.

     

Let me put it this way. In spite of the variety of possible triangles they are all limited by having three sides. Similarly, the scope of possible Wills for any man is limited by his race, caste, etc. Nothing annoys me more than having people imagine that 93 allows any amount of looseness. Don't forget that one of the principal things (pause for an almost inconceivable absurd accident. I am dictating this lying down. A few minutes ago I missed my pen knife and found another for the purpose. I then slightly shifted my position. The large blade of the missing knife went an inch or so into the small of my back.) which makes Thelema inevitable is that it identifies destiny and Free Will. It is on just such rocks that I am building my castle. Note B. Of course "Do what thou wilt" is not a guide, it is a scientific principle of ethics. There are numerous guides to conduct in the Book:—I - 10, 12, 22, 32, 41, 42, 43, 51, 52, 57, 61, 62, 63 and so on. But these, as I think the Comment shows, are not sufficient indication to enable any one to solve his ethical problems dynamically. (C) You are quite right. We do take away all other criteria of righteousness but as to the determination of the True Will Liber Thisarb and others should help. A year's probation should help. I have explained somewhere that I contemplate the establishment of a staff of experts to assist the judgment of aspirants.

     

But I'm not sure that you quite grasp the idea of the Book when you say there must be hope for the average man. As I read it, the acceptance of The Law is something like deciding to enter an University. "The slaves shall serve". Most people "the many and the known" will refuse The Law:—"The slave shall serve". They are to be ruled by "the few and secret". The point is, I think, with regard to freedom that it is up to any man to declare that he intends to do his Will. By doing so, he undertakes the responsibility of governing himself and others. He must succeed or fail in that higher task.

     

Your next remark makes me feel sure that you have got things a bit wrong. You talk of the greater emergencies of life. But to the Thelemite every breath he draws is important, and it is not in the least necessary for the non-Thelemite to decide on anything. He has neither the right nor the capacity to do so. All we can do for the Troglydytes (as I have got into trouble for calling them) is to work for their general welfare and try very slowly to prepare them for emancipation. But the essential for ourselves is to put a stop absolutely to their damned impertinent interference with us. We must not allow Sunday newspaper morality to interfere with self-expression in art, or even our relaxations. Here is where the secrecy comes in, by the way. We must put a stop to the vulgar knowing what we are doing. You want me to make clear (1) The fact that instruments of knowledge are not principles of Will. I admit I had not thought this necessary. (2) The measure of the importance of the instruments. I have assumed that a Thelemite should devote himself first of all to discovering his True Will, and that he should use all the regular accepted methods of forming a judgment, on any subject. Surely the main principles are the same whether you are determining a boiling point or deciding how to act in a domestic crisis. I want to do away with the distinction between Occult, ordinary, and Scientific research. I affirm the unity of nature. To me the adept is simply a man who knows his business in both senses; (a) what it is; (b) how to do it.

     

Note D. Please note the absolute incompetence of Crowley in psychology. He can, it is true, analyze anything as well as or better than any one alive. (Did I mention that Sullivan, knowing Einstein and other such men [illegible[, said that I had a more analytical mind than any one he had ever met?) It has become second nature with me to analyze every idea as it occurs; I mean casual things. I can hardly read a story of De Maupassant, without stopping every minute to determine the exact interpretation of every unusual word, etymologically and in all other sorts of ways. You will notice this tendency in looking through those books which I have annotated. But I am a hopeless imbecile when it comes to a matter like judging how men will react, either individually or in mass, to any given stimulus. In all such matters I rely on Lea [Leah Hirsig] who is as clever as I am stupid. I can't say more than that. Do get out of the way of thinking that a Logos has anything like universal genus. His uniqueness still implies that his limits are extremely narrow. Consider that to become 9º=2o, he has had to concentrate in himself the energies of 20 centuries or so, that he has had to find a single word capable of expressing the past and future history of mankind. This of course is one reason for the necessity of the Qabalah. The literary meaning of a word could not possibly be adequate. It must contain the connotations of all sorts of correspondences, those of pure number, of yetziratic attributions, of the Tarot and so on. Since therefore, I am (by definition) the Zeitgeist in its human relations. I cannot possibly understand the peculiarities of any individual. (Being the idea of a triangle, I cannot identify myself with any particular triangle.) I am indeed the mediator between mankind and the Gods but therefore any man can only understand me just so far as he is able to sink his personal aberration from the norm in some universal consciousness. I have uttered the Word but I cannot make it intelligible by exposition; to attempt to do so would be to lie every time. All I can do is to act as Hierophant—CCXX—I—37, 38, 50, etc. In other words, I can appoint rituals, ordeals, methods, and the like. It must depend almost wholly on the candidate to come by such means to an understanding of my Word which shall be true and powerful for him. His interpretation as is obvious, will be useless to his twin brother. But what you fail to see, I think, is that any interpretation of mine would be equally fatuous. This indeed is why I have appeared so misleading. Either I have with the best intentions, explained things all wrong; or else, in doing the right thing by showing the candidate the Universal truth and the need for him to fit himself to grasp it as such, led him to a conception which is untrue for him exactly as the true statement "the country is prosperous" might mislead and bring to ruin a small shop-keeper.

     

E. (1) Yes, I think that I have indicated far better than the psychoanalysts the meaning of sex and its value as a sign post on the path. I note regretfully, however, your phrase, "if deep, and sincere, and reverently treated". Such moral limitations would induce error. Of course, any scientific observation must be made accurately if it is to have value. But a shallow sexual nature, a tendency to insincerity therein, or the Anglo-Saxon, Montmartre and Chinese attitudes towards sex will be just as useful indications of the kind of self of their possessions as St. Theresa's, Shelley's or my own.

     

(2) Emphasize the word "abiding". Racial customs only count if capable of surviving the most revolutionary political and religious changes. Ideas of honour, hospitality, and friendship seem to me as important as any. It should be obvious that current conventions about such matters are worthless. They are neither guaranteed by history, fostered on necessity, nor significant of biological tendencies.

     

(3) The word gentlemanliness is not used by Thelemites. What do you mean by "morbid perversions"? A sentence like that warns me that you have not yet got rid of prejudices. I say this without the slightest doubt that you and I should agree entirely as to what action would be 'noble' in any stated case. I will, however, define "morbid perversion" for you in order to make sense. Every worthy idea must be pure: by which I mean that its connotation should be determined only by consideration pertaining to its plane. For example: generosity would be impure if partly based on the idea of pleasing God or acquiring a good reputation.

 

I cannot quite agree with your summary. I hold that one must discover one's True Will by a spiritual experience based on practices worthy of the type of Samma sati. (I hope you understand the sense in which I use this word.) Take my own case:—The Burmah-China record and the successive illuminations of more recent date. But such "direct vision" should not be trusted unless confirmed fully by intellectual criteria and also by the course of events. "Success is your proof." I have become convinced that I am the Logos of the Aeon, not so much by the revelation to that effect in the Book of the Law, or by the rational considerations which have confirmed such texts as CCXX—I—5, 6, 15, II—5, 53, 65, 76, 77, 78, 79; and III—42; that by the force of circumstances which have compelled me to identify myself with the Word Thelema, and refuse to allow me to follow any of my numerous normal ambitions though these are still strong in me! At this moment, A.C. is as mad as Hell that he cannot be a famous poet, the leader of the next Expedition to Everest, and that sort of thing. It is of course equally true that my deepest Will is absolutely satisfied by being the Logos, for nothing else would carry me beyond the barriers of birth and death.

 

But the True Will being once definitely ascertained and named—each man is a Word—though this word may be modified and its connotations rectified and extended by the influence of subsequent events, he should not, as you suggest, rely on secondary guides, but apply all his normal faculties directly to each problem that arises. "How shall I act so as not to introduce an element of self-contradiction in the word which is I."

 

F. As you say, spiritual perfection is the sole object worth pursuing. But I define spiritual perfection as the full manifestation of this Word, the name of the Star. Every Word is equally pure and perfect. Every Star has its place in the body of Nuit. I hope these definitions will cover your criticism about the dangering of 93. 93 is of course not a guide to decision, but a form of consecration, as you say. Decision should be based on calculations of the nature of the Word—Star, and its proper relations with its galaxy. To illustrate: The Word "or" in Hamlet's soliloquy is nothing in itself; but it is a necessary Word and its usefulness appears when given its proper place in the sentence.

 

G. I have been trying for some time to produce a satisfactory essay on how to discover The True Will. You will find many scattered remarks on the subject. It would be useful for you to collect them as a basis for a formal presentation of the case, but don't put the cart before the horse. The guides you mention are to be used to discover the will. That work must be done first of all. "All your righteousness is as filthy rags". Until you have "found Jesus", good works are a delusion of the Devil. Do get this well into your head. It is vitally important. Until you have had the spiritual experience of discovering the True Will, all your efforts are likely to lead you further astray. Qabalistically, you are tackling a problem which pertains to above the Abyss with weapons which pertain below it. Your error is of the very essence of iniquity. Here lie I sore wounded by my own dagger, in the small of the back, and you write like a snosh! Fie sir, for shame! Hang it, haven't you read my 1906 record, or "The Wake-World"? Isn't the whole crux of attainment the abandonment of all that you have and are? Is not the devil the prince of the power of the air, that is of the Ruach? You are the unclean spirit that perpetually worketh in the children of disobedience. Wash off thy Mudd!

     

The game is to collect, organize, develop, and exalt every single energy to the utmost possible degree and having concentrated all in the Ego of the Adeptus Exemptus, to annihilate the whole caboodle by one frantic leap into the Abyss. It is the Cardinal error of the Black Brothers to think that the "secondary guides" possess value. But, having crossed the Abyss, all the curses turn to blessings; and every faculty, however insignificant, finds its place in the Temple. Thou blitherer! Do you suppose that I should consent to live another moment, bleeding as I am internally from a self-inflicted wound for which I do not see how I can blame Alostrael, as I feel that she deserves, if it were not that every such moment chants its witness of wonder, thrills me with exaltation as I realize that I cannot even leave my pen knife at home when I go to Tunis, and buy a book so that I have to buy another penknife, and get a bilious attack, and sleep it off, so that that penknife slips out of my pocket on to the bed, and gets opened somehow, and stabs me clandestinely when I shift my position so as to relieve the monotony of my testicles, all in order to introduce a breezier note into my letter of sorrowful admonition and dignified reproach to my old and valued friend Omnia Pro Veritate whom I should like to amuse because I have a sort of sneaking feeling that he isn't all bad.

     

I hope I haven't lost the thread of my discourse. What I am trying to bring out is that Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law and therefore, the knowledge of the True Will is essential to the consciousness of righteousness. A man is simply groping in the dark until he realizes the nature of his Star. Having done so, there is nothing in the Universe obscure, useless, or malignant, while, previously, he cannot be sure that his noblest qualities and his most brilliant faculties are not the enemies of his soul.

 

You must not therefore expect me to indicate the "whole set" of "secondary guides". Understand every phenomenon as a particular dealing of God with your soul and therefore as an infallible guide to conduct. This is true in a different way for the uninitiate, to whom every phenomenon is a factor in the equation of his True Will. What I want you to see is that there are not many problems, but one only. The Law has introduced an absolute simplicity into life. Of course, each man must progress for himself; and at first, no doubt, it will appear to him as if there were complexities, what you call "the complicated situations of modern life." One of the great advantages of The Law is that it enables one gradually to coordinate all one's internal and external elements. All problems appear as particular cases easily soluble by intelligent reference to the single general principle. This makes, I need hardly point out, for leisure to devote oneself to the specific Great Work. One banishes everything that might hinder, and also transforms it into an asset; but further, the ability to dispose of all ordinary matters thus easily and favourably, both releases energy and economizes time.

     

H. I admit what you say but the liability to error lies in original failure to work out the True Will. In the case you give, the man should have already taken into account his capacity for Yoga, its probable value to him, etc., in the course of discovering his True Will. I am so glad you brought this up. Just put it side by side with my remarks on honour. Observe that the error is the same in each case. The man acting dishonourably in the belief that his True Will demands that he do so, or practicing Yoga unadvisedly under a similar misapprehension has been led into the fault by inadequate preparation. I hope that these remarks will make clear to you my view about the discovery of the Will. Everything depends upon this being done flawlessly; to generalize from insufficient data is, as you know, the chief cause of the failure of the theorist in science. The same is true with 93. I may say, in fact, that I know nothing true in science which is not true in 93, and applicable to its problems. Let me ask you to think up a few more probable pitfalls and then say if they would not all be avoided by thoroughness and accuracy in preparing the ground for attaining illumination about the True Will.

     

I. I have already covered the points raised in the first part of this section of your letter. According to my Eqx. hexagram, I should devote just the month to formulating important plans.

     

I quite follow what you say about the initial offensiveness of CCXX. I have of course, always seen the difficulties raised thereby. It was obviously purposeful on the part of Aiwass. I have not thought very deeply "to what end" but my main idea is that the object is to secure that no one shall accept the Law who is not prepared to go the whole hog. It throws out the prude, the coward, the opportunist, the materialist, the sentimentalist, and their like. In other words, it assures us that the 12 apostles, so to speak, shall be an extremely select body of men and women. This is evidently vital to the career of the book (Incidentally, it has already got rid of quite a number of people whom I personally like, respect, and admire; people of great attainment even in spiritual matters; people, in short, whom I should certainly have entrusted with the widest executive powers. The Book has prevented me from making any such blunder.

     

I notice one phrase of yours which seems to doubt the complete adequacy of the Book itself for all the purposes of the Aeon and those who live it. Make no such mistake. Above all, don't imagine for a moment that the Logos of the Aeon is anything but the Word Thelema (ΟΕΛΗΜΑ, of course, may be considered as defined by the Book; e.g. any mystery revealed in the Book should be regarded as a mystery of ΟΕΛΗΜΑ, i.e., as part of the connotation of the Word.) I, the Beast 666, and myself defined by the text of the Book. I am only valuable to humanity insofar as I am of use in proclaiming and otherwise fulfilling the functions appointed for me. Apart from the Book, apart from the Word, I am, sp to speak, one of the Qliphoth.

     

I am furious with you for your remarks about the MLPH [Mathematical, Logical, Philosophical] concepts of CCXX. Don't you recognize my unmanly modesty. Who am I to dare to do more than suggest that Whitehead & Co. are not alone in their glory? Of course, if Aiwass really knows more that they, all the better. Equally, of course, I believe he does and inserted those MLPH concepts for the very purpose of demonstrating his superiority to any existing thinker.

     

Let me put down the syllogism, all by itself, for it is the bed-rock of my pyramid.

          

a. Aiwass possesses superior knowledge to any living man.

          

b. A.C. got into communication with Aiwass through certain magical methods.

          

c. ∴ It is possible for a man to acquire knowledge, not otherwise available, by adopting certain methods.

    

Of course there are any number of other premises and corollaries. For example, it is presumable that Aiwass is only one of a number of intelligences similarly superior. It is probable that A.C.'s methods are very primitive etc. etc. But the supremely important point is to establish the existence of praeter-human intelligences and the possibility of communicating with them. Anatole France makes Berthollet say "L'observation de la nature n'y saisit jamais l'intervention d'une intelligence supérieure." That is the one point one which religion has always broken down; and it is absolutely up to us to establish our proofs while the events are recent. This is not merely in the interests of the religion as such but as giving humanity a weapon for further advancement. III—10, 11 and 39, 47 are my bugbears. I will write later on these points, though I feel so ashamed of myself about my neglect of duty, that Alostrael will have to give me several big wallops to get me to do it.

     

However, you talk of the URMLPHC as superior to the "blind gropings" of Macroprosopus whether as Square-point or White-Head. Now then, do you not understand why I asked you to come from South Africa? Here am I, with not enough sense to avoid being stabbed in the back with a penknife at Fr. 2.50 and you expect me to challenge the long-bearded, long-nosed, long-worded]?] bunch at their own game. Curse it, Norman, don't you realize that my mathematics stopped in 1892 with a loud thump, that I know practically nothing of conic sections, hardly the difference between the various kinds of calculus to save my life? But if you, a trained mathematician find that these URMLPHC, written down by me, years before I met you, are ahead of the Kether gang, will it not stagger mathematicians if you announce them? I only thought my cooperation possibly useful because I happen to understand something about the cipher (I wrote you think the cipher likely to put people off. It must therefore be demonstrated that this cipher is part of the proof of identity.) Figure to yourself how you would act in order to demonstrate your existence and identity. It is useless merely to announce who you are. It is useless to convey information straightforwardly; for if I know it to be true, I may be faking; and if I don't, what evidence is there of your truth? The only thing to do is exactly what Aiwass did. (1) He gave me some knowledge which I was able to recognize as superior; (2) He gave me some knowledge which I learned later to be superior; (3) He conveyed this knowledge through a double medium, in other words, used a language which I could translate after studying it but could not write fluently; (4) He indicated that he was using such a language by a few examples in the Hebrew Qabalah which  I knew, but concealed the bulk of the information (a) in a Hebrew Qabalah which I did not know, (b) in Greek Qabalah of which I know a very few words; (5) He referred to facts outside my then knowledge. (b) He referred to events which had not yet taken place. I cannot think of any other way in which this demonstration could have been made unless he had come forward in a more or less human shape, which would either have destroyed the value of the demonstration altogether—He might merely have been a distinguished stranger—or alternatively, he would have had to violate the fundamental conditions of the problem, which is to prove that personal intelligence exists apart from cerebral tissue, but can't be approached by suitable means.

 

 

Tuesday Night. I am really a prize idiot. A and B. I had a very bad bilious attack; but in spite of that little wound in my back I went on dictating till all hours, nearly killing poor Alostrael. The result—I have been very ill physically and suffering from the acutest mental depression. I have managed to pull myself round to continue; tho' briefly, being fagged.

     

I quite realize the importance of the Hag [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley]. I do not grudge the time; but am extremely worried about it because it is not susceptible of being put into really first-class artistic form. I feel much the same as I do about The Comment, only of course, less so. The root of the trouble is that I feel my self unequal to the job. I have always written inspirationally, having the idea clear in subconscious and the form well within my technical powers. Consequently, any work which cannot be finished at a sitting destroys me.

     

Let me confess with utter shame that I am constantly distressed by inability to find a publisher. Hearing of the enormous prices fetched by my previous books rubs it in. The public want me so badly and I them; yet the publishers are too stupid to make the connection.

     

Lampada Tradam is Neuburg [Victor B. Neuburg].

     

Heard that Ward was dead.

     

Authorizations enclosed herewith.

     

Please have typewriter repaired in Palermo for Lea to use when she comes.

     

Can't understand the absence of The Cairo Working in the Hag. Please hunt thoroughly. Lea [Leah Hirsig] has written Jane [Jane Wolfe] about it.

     

Eddie's [Eddie Saayman] letter suggests that he needs to come to his sexual strength. Very important to get him on the right lines. He is just the sort to ruin himself for life thro' having sentimental ideas about it. Most important for him to spend a month or so at The Abbey.

 

93     93/93

 

Fraternally, but all in

 

The Beast 666.

 

 

[112]