29 December (Hadit) Liber CCXX, 2:53-55
-
(v. 119) 53. Fear not, o prophet, when these words are said, thou shalt not be sorry. Thou art emphatically my chosen; and blessed are the eyes that thou shalt look upon with gladness. But I will hide thee in a mask of sorrow: they that see thee shall fear thou art fallen: but I lift thee up.
(v. 120) 54. Nor shall they who cry aloud their folly that thou meanest nought avail; thou shall reveal it: thou availest: they are the slaves of because: They are not of me. The stops as thou wilt; the letters? change them not in style or value!
(v. 121) 55. Thou shalt obtain the order & value of the English Alphabet; thou shalt find new symbols to attribute them unto. -
@CCXX said
"(v. 119) 53. Fear not, o prophet, when these words are said, thou shalt not be sorry. Thou art emphatically my chosen; and blessed are the eyes that thou shalt look upon with gladness. But I will hide thee in a mask of sorrow: they that see thee shall fear thou art fallen: but I lift thee up."
Apparently, this verse is direct to Crowley personally. (This Book is, after all, a direct communication to him by his own HGA, however universal its message.) It reassures him that he is one of the chosen, i.e., that he is "of Hadit." He is told that the inner reality of his life is one of intense rapture, a rapture that will shine through his eyes onto those upon whom he looks with gladness. Yet the outer details of his life shall appear a different thing. Atu XV, the "mask of sorrow," symbolizes the veiling of the light of the sun by illusion. To the outer he shall appear fallen - shall appear as the Devil! - but, in truth, he is lifted up (=Samekh) by the love of the HGA.
Besides the personal assurances to AC, I believe the important part of this verse is its continuing the teaching of the difference between inner essence and outer form. This "mask of sorrow" is more or less the same as the "veil of sorrow" &c. of the prior verse. It is a lie. But here, more importantly, it is a mask. Hadit (AC's own central Self) had every intention that the truth about AC be hidden, obscured, distorted to the outer world. It was essential to the entire mission of AC's life that "the people" not be able to think of him as fitting their stereotypes of a "holy man." Otherwise - for example - we would have had just one more example of a religion that deifies the teacher and abrogates the dignity of the devotee. AC is a self-slaying Buddha.
I consider it virtually the first criterion of a serious Thelemic student (I write here in jest, yet not in jest) that you not be able to stand AC the man, and that you feel pretty sure you would not want him as a friend. The second criterion is then an accepting him for what he was an is as a fellow traveler. The third criterion is seeing the whole joke! The fourth is seeing, blessing, and adoring that pure and beautiful Light which is the heart of every aspect of his being and his teaching. Sometimes these stages take time.
"Fear not" is one of the first lessons of all initiation, and is given here especially so that we not be distracted from the golden thread.
"(v. 120) 54. Nor shall they who cry aloud their folly that thou meanest nought avail; thou shall reveal it: thou availest: they are the slaves of because: They are not of me. The stops as thou wilt; the letters? change them not in style or value!"
Success is assured. AC is particularly fortified against the illusion of his detractors who, however, have no substance to their "folly." All who would detract from the elegant truth of our Law are (of necessity) alienated from their own Wills, their own Words, their own Truth. How else could they deny it? And without Hadit burning passionately in their hearts, how could they prevail? They are "the slaves of because" in that there is only intellectual form to their folly - all hot air! - and no real spirit.