Magick
There were these two men sharing a railway carriage. They didn't know each other, they just happened to be travelling together. One of the men had, resting on his lap, a cardboard box with holes punched in the top. After some time contemplating what might be inside his travelling companion's box, the other man at last could not contain his curiosity.
"Excuse me, but I could not help noticing your box. Does it by chance contain some variety of animal?"
The other man, though obviously surprised by this impertinent intrusion from a stranger, smiled politely as he answered "You're absolutely right. There is indeed a creature kept inside this box, and furthermore, I may reveal that the animal in question is a mongoose."
The first man, who'd initiated the enquiry was astonished by this revelation. Sputtering with surprise he sought some explanation of this certainly provocative disclosure made by his strange fellow traveller. "A mongoose? Sir, I must confess I had expected it to be perhaps a cat, or a rabbit, not a creature so exotic and outlandish. The animal you mention so excites my curiosity that I must beg you to tell me more. Where are you bound with such a specimen, if I may be so bold?"
The other man, who sat with the perforated box on his lap shrugged wearily as he replied. "Well, it's something of a personal matter, as it concerns a family tragedy. However, since I'm confident I may rely on your discretion, I suppose I don't mind sharing my unfortunate account with you. You see, this sorry tale concerns my elder brother.He's always been what I suppose you might refer to as the black sheep of the family. He has for many years indulged himself in a predictable and commonplace array of vices, of which the worst is his fondness for strong spirits. His drinking has progressed until he is now in the final melancholy stages of delerium tremens. My brother now sees serpents everywhere, which is the reason I am taking him this mongoose, that he may be rid of them."
"Excuse me," the other man interjected, looking puzzled. "But these snakes your brother sees, aren't they imaginary?"
"Indeed," his fellow traveller replied. "But this," and here he gestured meaningfully to the perforated box on his lap, "is an imaginary mongoose."
-Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice
There were these two men sharing a railway carriage. They didn't know each other, they just happened to be travelling together. One of the men had, resting on his lap, a cardboard box with holes punched in the top. After some time contemplating what might be inside his travelling companion's box, the other man at last could not contain his curiosity.
"Excuse me, but I could not help noticing your box. Does it by chance contain some variety of animal?"
The other man, though obviously surprised by this impertinent intrusion from a stranger, smiled politely as he answered "You're absolutely right. There is indeed a creature kept inside this box, and furthermore, I may reveal that the animal in question is a mongoose."
The first man, who'd initiated the enquiry was astonished by this revelation. Sputtering with surprise he sought some explanation of this certainly provocative disclosure made by his strange fellow traveller. "A mongoose? Sir, I must confess I had expected it to be perhaps a cat, or a rabbit, not a creature so exotic and outlandish. The animal you mention so excites my curiosity that I must beg you to tell me more. Where are you bound with such a specimen, if I may be so bold?"
The other man, who sat with the perforated box on his lap shrugged wearily as he replied. "Well, it's something of a personal matter, as it concerns a family tragedy. However, since I'm confident I may rely on your discretion, I suppose I don't mind sharing my unfortunate account with you. You see, this sorry tale concerns my elder brother.He's always been what I suppose you might refer to as the black sheep of the family. He has for many years indulged himself in a predictable and commonplace array of vices, of which the worst is his fondness for strong spirits. His drinking has progressed until he is now in the final melancholy stages of delerium tremens. My brother now sees serpents everywhere, which is the reason I am taking him this mongoose, that he may be rid of them."
"Excuse me," the other man interjected, looking puzzled. "But these snakes your brother sees, aren't they imaginary?"
"Indeed," his fellow traveller replied. "But this," and here he gestured meaningfully to the perforated box on his lap, "is an imaginary mongoose."
-Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice
posted by CSP @ 8:32 PM
5 Comments:
At 11:53 PM ,
CSP said...
It just occurred to me-- and I'm not sure how much anyone out there should really care about this-- but this post that's up now, the Aleister Crowley quote? Immediately after posting that, my counter hit "666". Which doesn't mean anything, it's a coincidence, but I think Crowley would have appreciated it.
At 8:56 AM ,
The Little Black Duck said...
I'm surprised you survived to read this. Shouldn't a pan-dimensional vortex have opened up and swallowed you wholesale? Shouldn't you have ended up in some hell world, fighting demons and mad gods for a hundred years, only to reappear in our world three days later, all hardcore and shit?
At 1:39 AM ,
CSP said...
So... wait. You think I'm Jesus?
At 3:06 PM ,
The Little Black Duck said...
Don't you?
Ha!
This does bring to mind a Christian mythological question I've been meaning to ask you... When Jesus died, where did He go? Heaven or Hell? I mean, if He died for our sins, doesn't that mean He'd go to Hell? But He tells one of those thieves He dies with "Today you will be with Me in Paradise," or some such, right? So which is it?
At 2:29 AM ,
CSP said...
Well, if you want MY opinion, he died, and that was about it. Everything he ever was or ever would have been ended suddenly, permanently, nailed right there on that slab of wood. He didn't go to Heaven OR Hell, because there isn't any Heaven or Hell to go to. He just died, like everyone does (so far).
But I think if you asked Christian scholars, you'd get a slightly different answer. The party line as I always understood it is that he went to purgatory, or possibly limbo (back before the new Nazi-pope eliminated it, which is pretty amazing if you think about it). While he was there he rescued the suffering and seemingly forgotten righteous souls from the Old Testament, Moses and Abraham and the like.
Of course, that's a Catholic-rooted notion, since Protestants aren't supposed to believe in purgatory for some reason (if you ask me, from the perspective of these "loving god"-types, it makes far more sense to believe in purgatory than hell). When I was a kid, I had the idea that he went to heaven for three days. But now that I think about it, I don't know why I thought that. I certainly don't remember anyone telling me that's what happened. I don't think it ever came up-- Baptists don't get into specifics. They're a very basic people.
I don't know what to think about the comment to the thief. It's an excellent point, one that seems to indicate the heaven option. I like that a little better, since it means that A) Yahweh didn't actually make his only begotten son SIT IN HELL FOR THREE DAYS, which is good, because that would make worshiping him even more fucked-up. And B), it might mean that all the good guys from the Old Testament, who were the cream of the crop from the so-called chosen people, prophets and whatnot, weren't actually being forced to wait before going to heaven just because God hadn't started offing his kids yet.
I'm sure you could look this up somewhere. Or click on "LEL" on the sidebar there. Lobenhofer would know.
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