4 December (Nuit) Liber CCXX, 1:54-56
-
54. Change not as much as the style of a letter; for behold! thou, o prophet, shalt not behold all these mysteries hidden therein.
55. The child of thy bowels, he shall behold them.
56. Expect him not from the East, nor from the West; for from no expected house cometh that child. Aum! All words are sacred and all prophets true; save only that they understand a little; solve the first half of the equation, leave the second unattacked. -
In seeking a key of how to find in these verses today's path to union-by-recollection with the Angel, I am drawn to the technique of mindfully persisting in a path of unknowing - of honoring mystery and letting the incommunicable find me. This has been my technique of today, and I rest in the arms of my beloved.
A few remarks on the verses themselves:
@CCXX said
"54. Change not as much as the style of a letter; for behold! thou, o prophet, shalt not behold all these mysteries hidden therein."
Has the subject changed? Or is there a bridging concept not immediately apparent? The instruction, on the surface, is eminently practical: Do not change anything, even the style of a letter. Leave it as it is for others to explore as well.
At one level, it seems to say that there are concrete things written here that AC would not understand, and that others would. At the same time, the Book is like good poetry, is in fact a prose-poem; and the value of real poetry is the value it has for each reader, more or less independent of the poet's intent.
But "these mysteries" seems to refer to something already under discussion, something precedent to the present verse; presumably the teachings of the prior verses.
@CCXX said
"55. The child of thy bowels, he shall behold them."
Such a tempting promise for AC. So tremendously seductive and attractive. Yet never simple or clear.
What first was believed to be a literal statement on the physical plane came later to be understood by him to refer to a "magical son," Frater Achad. Even this, I believe, is not so simple. Here is a deeper meaning and, I believe, one for all of the rest of us as well.
The phrase is very Biblical in style and usage. At the very least, it means that one (or more) of a later generation shall first witness some of the mysteries of this Book.
"He" is very specific, though - even underlined in the original. This either signifies a male successor for this prophecy, or (much more likely) refers to the Qabalistic "child" as Vav (rather than Heh).
The chief psychological impact is to state that one or more of a later generation will be instrumental in the understanding of the mysteries of this Book. I believe it refers to all (or at least many) of us who dig through it. (AC in the N.C. stated that "there is more than one 'child.'")
Many passages of Liber Legis cannot be understood correctly without considering that the King James translation of The Bible was the almost exclusive reading material of Aleister Crowley in his formative years. For example, Cap. 2, v. 57 is a close paraphrase of Rev. 22:11. The contents of AC's psyche cannot help but have been strongly imprinted with the language, passion, and allusions of the Old and New Testaments.
Accordingly, in this present verse, the phrase "child of thy bowels" had a strong Biblical ring to it. Having searched, I believe it was inspired by 2 Samuel 7:12: "And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom."
In the context of *2 Sam *VII, this is a message sent to David from YHVH instructing him regarding the necessity of a new temple - what will become known as Solomon's temple. YHVH, in the present verse, makes a pledge not for David or his own generation, but for the generation to follow. And, although the next generation seems intended on the surface, in traditional Jewish thought there would not have been a great deal of difference between such a promise for the next generation, or for any or all generations that followed.
In any case, this is the type of thought and context that would have influenced Crowley's subconscious mind in formulating the wording of the present verse. Although the phrase "child of thy bowels" doesn't exactly appear anywhere in The Bible, there are many examples of similar usages.
@CCXX said
"56. Expect him not from the East, nor from the West; for from no expected house cometh that child. Aum! All words are sacred and all prophets true; save only that they understand a little; solve the first half of the equation, leave the second unattacked. But thou hast all in the clear light, and some, though not all, in the dark."
There is further mysterious discussion of the "child" first mentioned in v. 55. One psychological significance of the first sentence is that AC should simply not try to expect where he would find the child. It was not within his rational capacity (or even, apparently, his intuitive capacity). It is almost given as a definition that this child shall not come from anyplace he is expected. Real intuition is like this. This sentence seems to take the idea of the child entirely out of the framework of a physical child and, nearly, out of the framework of a physically distinctive person.
The child comes from no expected house - beyth may also be used to show a genetic line of descent, as in "the House of David" - for it comes from humanity as a whole. I suspect this verse was put here in part to keenly discriminate this prophecy from that of the Jewish Messiah who was to come from an "expected house."
"He" also comes from neither East nor West because "he" comes from both - again, from all humanity. The Book is a gift to succeeding generations, a legacy of wisdom, power, and love.
"He" comes neither from sunrise nor sunset, neither from birth nor from death; for "he" is both inwardly and outwardly the eternally living One which neither rises nor sets. Within, the "child" is the Tipheric consciousness of the scribe; without, it is the ever-living continuity of humanity.
Suddenly, by this interpretation, the entire verse becomes lucid and integrated. "All words are sacred and all prophets true" is a broad and important comment ("All religions have some truth," as AC commented), which also specifically refers to the "words" that are to come, over the generations, from each and all Thelemites - "save only that they understand a little." AC is then told to do what he can and leave the rest alone; to solve what he can, and leave the remainder "unattacked." It seems that more than rituals shall be "half known and half concealed."