8 July 1943 - Max Schneider Diary

Thursday, 8 July 1943

I think that it is correct to say that one of the important objects of magical training is to attain to a complete reliance on one's own powers, based on one's own experience—and not to rely on belief. ("Do not say there is a God before you have experienced God", or words to that effect; and "Be ye lamps unto yourselves; betake ye not to any external refuge."—Not to forget the broken bottle incident in "KIM". It was exactly Kim's ability to rely upon his own faculties of observation and his firmness in refusing hypnotic suggestion, that qualified him for the task for which he was being tested.)

All of the evidence of the last 10 years, based on the observation of scores of people, makes it clear that Wilfred [Wilfred Talbot Smith] is a failure as a leader, a bungler as an organizer, a meddler and martinet in his relations with his fellows whom he treated as his subordinates and whose initiative he sought to suppress, and a wet blanket when performing the office of priest.—Now comes Mellinger's [Frederic Mellinger] testimony, entirely uncorroborated, that W. [Wilfred Talbot Smith] often became inspired and had great power. Worse yet, other reports being disseminated by or through Mellinger, have been found incorrect and unreliable; Mel.[linger] may otherwise be a fine fellow, but his powers of discernment seem to be of questionable value. Everybody else seems to agree that W. as priest was definitely uninspiring and inept. It seems therefore a bit ludicrous that on such a flimsy basis we are being asked to accept W. as the coming Priest and Prophet par excellence. Ye gods and little fishes! It reminds one of Annie Besant asking a following of gullible Toshochists to accept Krishnamurti as the world teacher.

Now if someone had suggested, reasoning from the sorry spectacle of W.'s inaptitude in all matters external, that perchance he was a frustrated Mystic who had mistaken himself for something he isn't and had got lost in the labyrinth of mundane affairs, caught in the coils of power politics, something like the unhappy example of the "Grey Eminence" . . . then I might lend a sympathetic ear. But what evidence can we discover that will encourage us in the pursuit of this forlorn hope?

A man who proclaims that the Tao is so difficult to understand, whose byword is "misty mysticism" for most ideas that are beyond his literal- mindedness; who becomes annoyed when anyone offers a mystical interpretation, who has no sense of the beautiful—can one call that a promising candidate for the office of inspired Priest and God-illuminated Prophet?

"Success is thy proof",

If W. could really go through with the enormous task of purging his soul of his egotism and lust of power and all the rest; if he could get rid of the silly idea that he is the "Little beast" of revelations and an imitation of A.C.; if he could overcome all the handicaps that stand in the way of his becoming a presentable, devoted and holy Priest; if he could cancel out all the karma of his many "errors" during the past decade; if he now would turn to Lao tse and actually would tread the path of the Tao; if he were really able to understand the profundities of Liber Aleph and present us with an illuminated comment thereon; if he were then to rejoin us with the simplicity of the Pure Fool as his garment—that would be a miracle indeed, and I WOULD BE THE FIRST ONE TO WELCOME HIM AS JOYOUSLY AS I DO THE FLOWERS IN SPRING.

Meanwhile all this remains a pipe-dream and a wish-phantasm, and a very dangerous snare for a man with W.'s psychological background. When this devoutly to be wished for consummation becomes an actuality, it will be time enough to take it more seriously.

Also, there is much work to be done. Agape Lodge must be cleansed of many false ideas; it needs a better understanding of its proper function and of the principles of the Book of the Law which its members have sworn to defend.

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