Q.B.L. or
THE BRIDE'S RECEPTION.
INTRODUCTION.
Philosophically speaking, a great deal of rubbish has accumulated around the roots of The Tree of Life, and this has certainly deterred some truly hungry and thirsty souls from participation in the fruitful feast that awaits all who have the courage, patience, and it may be, daring to claim their Divine Inheritance.
This Inheritance, many have been content to exchange for a Mess of Pottage. In fact, even prior to the time of Esau and Jacob, ever since our forefather Adam was persuaded to accept a sour and half-chewed apple as the Whole Fruit, his descendents have suffered, very much as the small schoolboy suffers, crying "Never again, I'm through with forbidden fruit forever."
If one were to be swayed by the learned but destructive criticism of Mr. Ginsburg, sickened by the Puerilities of some Mystics who ought to know better, deceived by the apparent grossness of the Secret Schools, whose exponents do know better, to say nothing of becoming poisoned by the unwarranted efforts of deliberate deceivers and their ignorant dupes, one might well follow the example of the small school-boy and leave the fruit of the Qabalistic Tree alone.
But, fortunately, there is an aspect of this Work, slightly different from those usually considered, which is-or has been to me-of great interest and importance.
Let me first give due credit and thanks to all those who in the Past and in the Present have transmitted the fragments of the Secret Wisdom and have done so much towards fashioning them into a complete System of Attainment, the fruit of whose labours I have unhesitatingly used, as all True Initiates intend their followers should do. That I do not mention These by Name, is not through lack of courtesy, but rather that I feel it desirable to confuse the issue as little as possible. In other words, although the Holy Qabalah must, of course, have a History, just for once, I intend to take the liberty of leaving aside the Historical Background, and with it the squabbles over its Origin, as to whether it was In the Beginning transmitted by God to the Angels and in turn to Men or whether it arose from obscurity within the last 1800 years, considering rather its PRESENT USE.
We should learn to take advantage of the Past, using the scaffolding of the Temple and such ideas connected therewith as are of use in our particular ease, adding thereto the results of our own investigations. In other words, we shall find in the "Tree of Life" and its correspondences A CONVENIENT MEANS OF CLASSIFICATION, a sort of Filing Cabinet, together with much valuable material ready to file, and room for all that we may collect in our future researches.
We shall find in this "Filing Cabinet" a means of GETTING RID of a great many IDEAS which have been valueless on account of their unbalanced nature, and this, not by means of suppression - which forms complexes - but by careful arrangement, thus setting our minds in Order and by Balancing these ideas against their Opposites, leaving the Mind in a state which transcends both aspects, thus gradually regaining our lost EQUILIBRIUM which is the BASIS of the WORK.
The intention of this essay is to supply a basis whereby all serious Students of the Occult and Mystic Lore may learn to attain to Equilibrium on all Planes, thus gradually taking up their Great Inheritance, and while climbing higher and higher towards the Summit of the Work, planting their feet yet more firmly upon a sure foundation, that of Direct Experience. To such as succeed in their endeavours, History will matter little, except insofar as it represents their own early struggles or it may be gives hints of the means to be employed, but in the End, they will find themselves at One with the Beginning, citizens of that Kingdom wherein all is HERE and NOW.
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