mol
August 15th, 2001, 11:41 AM
THE BOOK OF LIES
Aliester Crowley
THE BOOK OF LIES
WHICH IS ALSO FALSELY
CALLED
BREAKS
THE WANDERINGS OR FALSIFICATIONS
OF THE ONE THOUGHT OF
FRATER PERDURABO
(Aleister Crowley)
WHICH THOUGHT IS ITSELF
UNTRUE
A REPRINT
with an additional commentary to each chapter.
"Break, break, break
At the foot of thy stones, O Sea!
And I would that I could utter
The thoughts that arise in me!"
(OPPOSITE: Photo of FRATER PERDURABO on his ass.)
COMMENTARY (Title Page)
The number of the book is 333, as implying dis-
persion, so as to correspond with the title, "Breaks"
and "Lies".
However, the "one thought is itself untrue", and
therefore its falsifications are relatively true.
This book therefore consists of statements as nearly
true as is possible to human language.
The verse from Tennyson is inserted partly because
of the pun on the word "break"; partly because of the
reference to the meaning of this title page, as explained
above; partly because it is intensely amusing for
Crowley to quote Tennyson.
There is no joke or subtle meaning in the publisher's
imprint.
FOREWORD
THE BOOK OF LIES, first published in London
in 1913, Aleister Crowley's little master work, has
long been out of print. Its re-issue with the author's
own Commentary gives occasion for a few notes. We
have so much material by Crowley himself about this
book that we can do no better that quote some
passages which we find scattered about in the un-
published volumes of his "CONFESSIONS." He
writes:
"...None the less, I could point to some solid
achievement on the large scale, although it is com-
posed of more or less disconnected elements. I refer
to THE BOOK OF LIES. In this there are 93 chapters:
we count as a chapter the two pages filled re-
respectively with a note of interrogation and a mark of
exclamation. The other chapters contain sometimes a
single word, more frequently from a half-dozen to
twenty paragraphs. The subject of each chapter is
determined more or less definitely by the Qabalistic
import of its number. Thus Chapter 25 gives a revised
ritual of the Pentagram; 72 is a rondel with the refrain
~Shemhamphorash', the Divine name of 72 letters;
77 Laylah, whose name adds to that number; and
80, the number of the letter Pe, referred to Mars, a
panegyric upon War. Sometimes the text is serious
and straightforward, sometimes its obscure oracles
demand deep knowledge of the Qabalah for inter-
pretation, others contain obscure allusions, play
upon words, secrets expressed in cryptogram, double
or triple meanings which must be combined in order
[5]
to appreciate the full flavour; others again are
subtly ironical or cynical. At first sight the book is a
jumble of nonsense intended to insult the reader. It
requires infinite study, sympathy, intuition and
initiation. Given these I do not hesitate to claim that
in none other of my writings have I given so pro-
found and comprehensive an exposition of my
philosophy on every plane...."
"...My association with Free Masonry was there-
fore destined to be more fertile that almost any other
study, and that in a way despite itself. A word should
be pertinent with regard to the question of secrecy.
It has become difficult for me to take this matter
very seriously. Knowing what the secret actually is,
I cannot attach much importance to artificial
mysteries. Again, though the secret itself is of such
tremendous import, and though it is so simple that
I could disclose it...in a short paragraph, I might
do so without doing much harm. For it cannot be used
indiscriminately...I have found in practice that the
secret of the O.T.O. cannot be used unworthily...."
"It is interesting in this connection to recall how it
came into my possession. It had occurred to me to
write a book `THE BOOK OF LIES, WHICH IS
ALSO FALSELY CALLED BREAKS, THE
WANDERINGS OR FALSIFICATION OF THE
THOUGHT OF FRATER PERDURABO WHICH
THOUGHT IS ITSELF UNTRUE. . . .' One of
these chapters bothered me. I could not write it. I
invoked Dionysus with particular fervour, but still
without success. I went off in desperation to `change
my luck', by doing something entirely contrary to
my inclinations. In the midst of my disgust, the
spirit came over me, and I scribbled the chapter
down by the light of a farthing dip.. When I read it
over, I was as discontented as before, but I stuck it
into the book in a sort of anger at myself as a
deliberate act of spite towards my readers.
[6]
"Shortly after publication, the O.H.O. (Outer
Head of the O.T.O.) came to me. (At that time I did
not realise that there was anything in the O.T.O.
beyond a convenient compendium of the more
important truths of Free Masonry.) He said that since
I was acquainted with the supreme secret of the
Order, I must be allowed the IX {degree} and obligated in
regard to it. I protested that I knew no such secret.
He said `But you have printed it in the plainest
language'. I said that I could not have done so
because I did not know it. He went to the book-
shelves; taking out a copy of THE BOOK OF LIES, he
pointed to a passage in the despised chapter. It
instantly flashed upon me. The entire symbolism not
only of Free Masonry but of many other traditions
blazed upon my spiritual vision. From that moment
the O.T.O. assumed its proper importance in my
mind. I understood that I held in my hands the key
to the future progress of humanity...."
The Commentary was written by Crowley prob-
ably around 1921. The student will find it very
helpful for the light it throws on many of its passages.
The Editors
Aliester Crowley
THE BOOK OF LIES
WHICH IS ALSO FALSELY
CALLED
BREAKS
THE WANDERINGS OR FALSIFICATIONS
OF THE ONE THOUGHT OF
FRATER PERDURABO
(Aleister Crowley)
WHICH THOUGHT IS ITSELF
UNTRUE
A REPRINT
with an additional commentary to each chapter.
"Break, break, break
At the foot of thy stones, O Sea!
And I would that I could utter
The thoughts that arise in me!"
(OPPOSITE: Photo of FRATER PERDURABO on his ass.)
COMMENTARY (Title Page)
The number of the book is 333, as implying dis-
persion, so as to correspond with the title, "Breaks"
and "Lies".
However, the "one thought is itself untrue", and
therefore its falsifications are relatively true.
This book therefore consists of statements as nearly
true as is possible to human language.
The verse from Tennyson is inserted partly because
of the pun on the word "break"; partly because of the
reference to the meaning of this title page, as explained
above; partly because it is intensely amusing for
Crowley to quote Tennyson.
There is no joke or subtle meaning in the publisher's
imprint.
FOREWORD
THE BOOK OF LIES, first published in London
in 1913, Aleister Crowley's little master work, has
long been out of print. Its re-issue with the author's
own Commentary gives occasion for a few notes. We
have so much material by Crowley himself about this
book that we can do no better that quote some
passages which we find scattered about in the un-
published volumes of his "CONFESSIONS." He
writes:
"...None the less, I could point to some solid
achievement on the large scale, although it is com-
posed of more or less disconnected elements. I refer
to THE BOOK OF LIES. In this there are 93 chapters:
we count as a chapter the two pages filled re-
respectively with a note of interrogation and a mark of
exclamation. The other chapters contain sometimes a
single word, more frequently from a half-dozen to
twenty paragraphs. The subject of each chapter is
determined more or less definitely by the Qabalistic
import of its number. Thus Chapter 25 gives a revised
ritual of the Pentagram; 72 is a rondel with the refrain
~Shemhamphorash', the Divine name of 72 letters;
77 Laylah, whose name adds to that number; and
80, the number of the letter Pe, referred to Mars, a
panegyric upon War. Sometimes the text is serious
and straightforward, sometimes its obscure oracles
demand deep knowledge of the Qabalah for inter-
pretation, others contain obscure allusions, play
upon words, secrets expressed in cryptogram, double
or triple meanings which must be combined in order
[5]
to appreciate the full flavour; others again are
subtly ironical or cynical. At first sight the book is a
jumble of nonsense intended to insult the reader. It
requires infinite study, sympathy, intuition and
initiation. Given these I do not hesitate to claim that
in none other of my writings have I given so pro-
found and comprehensive an exposition of my
philosophy on every plane...."
"...My association with Free Masonry was there-
fore destined to be more fertile that almost any other
study, and that in a way despite itself. A word should
be pertinent with regard to the question of secrecy.
It has become difficult for me to take this matter
very seriously. Knowing what the secret actually is,
I cannot attach much importance to artificial
mysteries. Again, though the secret itself is of such
tremendous import, and though it is so simple that
I could disclose it...in a short paragraph, I might
do so without doing much harm. For it cannot be used
indiscriminately...I have found in practice that the
secret of the O.T.O. cannot be used unworthily...."
"It is interesting in this connection to recall how it
came into my possession. It had occurred to me to
write a book `THE BOOK OF LIES, WHICH IS
ALSO FALSELY CALLED BREAKS, THE
WANDERINGS OR FALSIFICATION OF THE
THOUGHT OF FRATER PERDURABO WHICH
THOUGHT IS ITSELF UNTRUE. . . .' One of
these chapters bothered me. I could not write it. I
invoked Dionysus with particular fervour, but still
without success. I went off in desperation to `change
my luck', by doing something entirely contrary to
my inclinations. In the midst of my disgust, the
spirit came over me, and I scribbled the chapter
down by the light of a farthing dip.. When I read it
over, I was as discontented as before, but I stuck it
into the book in a sort of anger at myself as a
deliberate act of spite towards my readers.
[6]
"Shortly after publication, the O.H.O. (Outer
Head of the O.T.O.) came to me. (At that time I did
not realise that there was anything in the O.T.O.
beyond a convenient compendium of the more
important truths of Free Masonry.) He said that since
I was acquainted with the supreme secret of the
Order, I must be allowed the IX {degree} and obligated in
regard to it. I protested that I knew no such secret.
He said `But you have printed it in the plainest
language'. I said that I could not have done so
because I did not know it. He went to the book-
shelves; taking out a copy of THE BOOK OF LIES, he
pointed to a passage in the despised chapter. It
instantly flashed upon me. The entire symbolism not
only of Free Masonry but of many other traditions
blazed upon my spiritual vision. From that moment
the O.T.O. assumed its proper importance in my
mind. I understood that I held in my hands the key
to the future progress of humanity...."
The Commentary was written by Crowley prob-
ably around 1921. The student will find it very
helpful for the light it throws on many of its passages.
The Editors