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Aleister Crowley Diary Entry Saturday, 13 July 1903
Casual mantring.
10.44 PY [Prana Yama]. Quite hopeless.
10.48. 32 m[inutes] 30 br[eaks]. Rather frivolous.
Went to Edinburgh, I suppose to meet Gerald [Gerald Kelley] etc about this time.
[On opposite page is a drawing headed:] "Another of Aunt's [Aunt Annie] Devils." [Then a second drawing] "The lower part is Too Horrible."
The Character of Breaks
1. Primary centres. The Senses.
2. Secondary. These seem to assume a morbid activity as soon as the primaries are stilled. Their character is that of the shorter kind of memory. Events of the day etc.
3. Terttiary. Partake of the character of 'reverie'. Very tempting and insidious.
4. Quaternary. Are closely connected with the control centre itself. Their nature is "How well I'm doing it!" or "Wouldn't it be a good idea to?" These are probably emanations from the control, not messages to it. We might call them "Aberrations of control". Of a similar depth are the reflections which discover a break; but these are healthy warnings and assist.
5. Quinary. Never rise into consciousness at all, being held down by the almost perfected control. Hence the blank of thought, the forgetfulness of all things, including the object. (Neighbourhood conc[entratio]n). Not partaking of any character at all, are the 'meteor' thoughts which seem to be quite independent of anything the brain could think, or had ever thought. Probably this kind of thought is the root of irrational hallucinations. E.g. "And if you're passing, won't you?"
6. Perhaps as a result of the intense control, a nervous storm breaks. This we call Dhyana. Its character is probably not determined by the immediate antecedents in consciousness. Its essential characteristic being the unity of Subject and Object, in a new world is revealed. Samadhi is but an expansion of this, so far as I can see. The slaying of any of these thoughts often leaves their echoes gradually dying away.
7. Marriage! the biggest break of all, lasted 2 years!
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