Stay Where Thou Art

Captain's log, stardate 41153.7. 

Our Destination is Planet Deneb Four, 

beyond which lies the great 

unexplored mass of The Galaxy. 

My Orders are to examine Farpoint, 

a starbase built there 

by the inhabitants of that world. 

Meanwhile, I am becoming 

better acquainted 

with my new command, this 

Galaxy Class USS Enterprise. 

I am still somewhat in awe 

of its size and complexity. 

As for my crew, 

we are short in several 

key positions, 

most notably a first officer, 

but I am informed that 

a highly experienced man, 

one Commander William Riker, 

will be waiting to join Our Ship 

at our Deneb Four destination.

[Bridge]

PICARD: 

You will agree, Data, that 

Starfleet's orders are... difficult? 

DATA: 

Difficult? Simply, 

'Solve The Mystery 

of Farpoint Station.' 

PICARD: 

As simple as that. 

TROI: 

Farpoint Station. Even The Name 

sounds mysterious. 

PICARD: 

It's hardly simple, Data, 

to negotiate a friendly agreement 

for Starfleet to use The Base 

while at the same time snoop around 

finding how and why the life form there built it. 

DATA: 

Inquiry. The word 'snoop?' 

PICARD: 

Data, how can you be programmed 

as a virtual encyclopedia of human information 

without knowing a simple word like 'snoop'? 

DATA: 

A Possibility : A Kind of Human Behaviour 

I was not designed to emulate. 

PICARD: 

It means 'to Spy', 'to Sneak'. 

DATA: 

Ah! To seek covertly, to go stealthily, 

to slink, slither --

PICARD: 

Exactly, yes. 

DATA: 

Glide, creep, skulk, 

pussyfoot, gumshoe. 

TROI: 

Captain, I'm sensing a powerful mind. 

(Collision alert sounds) 

TORRES: 

Something strange on the detector circuits. 

(A massive barrier appears in front of them in space) 

DATA: 

It registers as solid, Captain. 

TROI: 

Or an incredibly powerful forcefield. 

But if we collide with either it could be very -- 

PICARD: 

Shut off that damned noise. 

Go to Yellow Alert. 

WORF: 

Shields and deflectors up, sir. 

(The barrier ripples like chain mail) 

PICARD: 

Reverse power, full stop. 

TORRES: 

Controls to full stop, sir. 

Now reading full stop, sir. 

(There's a flash of light, and an Elizabethan era soldier appears, complete with breast plate and plumed hat) 

Q.: 

Thou are notified that Thy Kind 

hath infiltrated The Galaxy too far already. 

Thou art directed to return 

to Thine Own Solar System immediately. 

PICARD: 

That's quite a directive. 

Would you mind identifying 

What You Are? 

Q.: 

We call ourselves The Q. 

Or Thou Mayst Call Me That. 

It's all much the same thing. 

(The same force barrier stops two people exiting the turbolift) 

Q .: 

I Present My Self to Thee as a fellow Ship's Captain, 

that Thou Mayst better understand me.

 

Go Back whence Thou camest. 

(to Helmsman) 

Stay Where Thou art! 

(And the helmsman is frozen solid, phaser in hand)

PICARD: 

Data, call medics. 

TROI: 

He's frozen! 

PICARD: 

He would not have injured You -- 

Do You recognise this, the stun setting? 

Q: 

Knowing Humans as Thou Dost, Captain, 

wouldst Thou be captured helpless by Them? 

Now, Go Back 

or Thou Shalt 

Most Certainly Die.

Captain's log, supplementary -- 

The frozen form of Lieutenant Torres 

has been rushed to sickbay. 

The Question, Now, is 

The Incredible Power 

of The Q.-Being. 

Do We Dare Oppose It?

[Bridge]

Q. : 

Captain, thy little centuries go by so rapidly. 

Perhaps thou will better understand this. 

(A flash of light and he is wearing a 20th century US military uniform, with a cigarette in his hand) 

Q. : 

Actually, The Issue at stake is Patriotism --

You must return to Your World 

and put an end to The Commies. 

All it takes is A Few Good Men. 

PICARD : 

What? That nonsense 

is centuries behind Us. 

Q. : 

But You can't deny that 

You're still a dangerous, 

Savage, Child-Race. 

PICARD: 

Most certainly I deny it. 

I agree we still were 

when humans wore costumes like
that, four hundred years ago. 

Q. : 

At which time you slaughtered millions 

in silly arguments about 

How to Divide The Resources 

of Your Little World. 

And four hundred years before that, 

You were murdering each other 

in quarrels over tribal God-Images. 

Since then,there are no indications 

that Humans will ever change. 

PICARD: 

But even when we wore costumes 

like that we'd already started 

to make rapid progress. 

Q: 

Oh yeah? You want to review your rapid progress? 

(Flash, and a change into a padded suit) 

Q. : 

Rapid progress, to where Humans learned 

to Control Their Military with drugs. 

WORF: 

Sir, sickbay reports 

Lieutenant Torres's 

condition is better. 

Q.: 

Oh, concern for one's fellow comrade --

How touching. 

WORF: 

And now a personal request, sir. 

Permission to clean up the bridge. 

TASHA: 

Lieutenant Worf is right, sir. 

As Security Chief I can't just stand here and let --

PICARD: 

Yes you can, Lieutenant Yar. 

Q. : 

(taking a snort of something) 

Oh, better. And later, on finally 

reaching Deep Space, 

Humans of course found Enemies 

to fight Out There, too. 

And to broaden those struggles 

You again found allies for still more murdering. 

The Same Old Story, 

all over again. 

PICARD: 

No. The Same Old Story is The One 

We're meeting now. 

Self-righteous life forms 

who are eager not to learn, 

but to Prosecute, 

to Judge anything 

They don't understand 

or can't tolerate. 

Q. : 

What an interesting idea : 

Prosecute and Judge. 

Suppose it turns out we understand 

You Humans only too well. 

PICARD: 

We've no fear of what the true facts about us will reveal. 

Q. : 

Facts about You? Splendid, splendid, Captain! 

You're a veritable 

Fountain of Good Ideas. 

There are preparations to make, 

but when we next meet, Captain, 

We'll proceed exactly 

as You suggest. 

(A flash and He is gone) 

WORF: 

Sir, respectfully submit, 

Our only Choice is to Fight. 

TASHA: 

Fight, or Try to Escape. 

PICARD: 

Sense anything, Commander? 

TROI: 

It's Mind is much Too Powerful. 

Recommend, We Avoid Contact. 

PICARD: 

From This Point, 

No Station aboard, 

repeat No Station, 

for any reason will 

make use of 

transmitted signals 

or intercom. 

We'll Try and Take Them 

by Surprise. 

Let's see what this 

Galaxy-class Starship can Do. 

(to Worf) 

Lieutenant, inform Engine Room 

to prepare for maximum acceleration. 

WORF: 

Aye, sir. 

PICARD: 

Records search, Data -- 

Results of detaching saucer-section 

at high-warp velocity. 

DATA: 

Inadvisable at any 

Warp Speed, sir. 

PICARD: 

Search Theoretical. 

DATA: 

It is possible, sir. 

But absolutely no 

margin for error. 

PICARD: 

Using print-out only, notify all decks 

to prepare for maximum acceleration. 

Now hear this, Maximum, 

You're entitled to know, 

means that We'll be 

pushing Our Engines 

well beyond safety limits. 

Our Hope is to surprise 

whatever That is Out There, 

try and outrun it. 

Our only other option is to 

tuck tail between our legs and 

Return to Earth as They demand. 

(Worf makes his trip to Engineering and back) 

WORF: 

Engine Room ready, sir. 

TROI: 

The Board shows Green, Captain. All Go. 

PICARD: 

Stand by -- Engage. 

(They swoop along and past The Barrier, which then turns into a ball and chases them) 

WORF: 

Velocity, Warp 9.2. 

DATA: 

Heading 351 mark 11, sir. 

PICARD: 

Steady on that. 

TASHA: 

The Hostile is now Giving Chase, sir. 

Accelerating fast. 

WORF: 

We're now at Warp 9.3, sir, 

which Takes Us past 

The Red Line, sir. 

PICARD: 

Continue accelerating. 

Counsellor, at This Point, 

I'm open to guesses about 

What We've just met. 

TROI: 

It it felt Like Something Beyond 

what We'd consider A Life Form. 

PICARD: 

Beyond? 

TROI: 

Very, very advanced, sir, 

or certainly very, very different. 

WORF: 

We're at 9.4, sir. 

TASHA: 

Hostile is now beginning 

to overtake Us, sir. 

PICARD: 

Are You Sure? 

DATA: 

Hostile's velocity is already 

Warp 9.6, sir. 

Shall I put Them on the main viewer? 

PICARD: 

Reverse angle. 

DATA: 

Magnifying viewer image. 

TASHA: 

Hostile's velocity is 9.7, sir. 

PICARD: 

Worf, inform The Engine Room 

We need more. 

DATA: 

Engine Room attempting 

to comply, sir, 

but They caution Us... 

PICARD: 

Go to Yellow Alert. 

Arm aft photon torpedoes. 

Place them on ready status. 

TASHA: 

Torpedoes to ready, sir. 

TASHA: 

Hostile now at Warp 9.8, sir. 

WORF: 

Our Velocity is only 9.5, sir. 

DATA: 

Projection, sir -- We may be able 

to match Hostile's 9.8, sir. 

But at extreme risk. 

TASHA: 

Now reading The Hostile 

at Warp 9.9, sir. 

PICARD: 

Now hear this. 

Print-out message, urgent, 

all stations on all decks. 

Prepare for emergency saucer sever. 

You will command the saucer section, Lieutenant. 

WORF: 

I am a Klingon, sir. 

For me to seek escape when 

My Captain goes into battle —

PICARD: 

You are a Starfleet officer, Lieutenant. 

WORF: 

Aye, sir. 

PICARD: 

Make The Mark, Data. 

Note in Ship's log 

that at this StarTime, 

I'm Transferring Command to 

The Battle Bridge. 

(Picard, Data, Yar and Troi 

leave the Bridge to unnamed crew)

Captain's log, StarDate 41153.7. 

Preparing to detach saucer section. so that families and the majority of the ship's company can seek relative safety while the vessel's stardrive, containing The Battle Bridge and main armaments, 

will turn back and confront the mystery that is threatening us.

[Battle Bridge]

(Families of various races make their way along corridors as the bridge crew settle into a more compact Bridge)

PICARD: 

Lieutenant, Your Torpedoes must detonate 

close enough to the hostile 

to blind it at the moment we separate. 

TASHA: 

Understood, sir. 

TROI: 

All decks acknowledging, sir. 
PICARD: 

Worf, this is the Captain.

[Bridge]

PICARD : 

At the moment of separation, 

we will reverse power just enough 

to get your saucer section out ahead and clear of us. 

WORF: 

Understood, Captain.

[Battle Bridge]

TASHA: 

Torpedoes away, sir. 

(Eight red dots shoot out from the stern) 

PICARD: 

Begin Countdown. Mark. 

DATA: 

Starship separation in six, five, 

four, three, two, one. 

(Gracefully, the huge saucer lifts away from the body of the ship) 

DATA: 

Separation is Successful, sir. 

(The main body does a hand-brake turn and heads back to their pursuer. The torpedoes detonate.) 

TASHA: 

Torpedoes have detonated, sir. 

PICARD: 

Let's come to a stop. 

Reverse power. 

DATA: 

Reverse power. 

Decelerating. 

PICARD: 

Dead Stop. 

We'll hold this position 

and wait for Them. 

TROI: 

That will bring them here in just minutes, sir. 

TASHA: 

Will we make A Fight of it, Captain? 

If We can at least damage Their Ship 

we'll have a chance 

PICARD: 

Lieutenant, are You recommending 

we fight a life form that can do 

all those things? 

I'd Like to Hear Your Advice. 

TASHA : 

I Spoke before I Thought, sir. 

We should look for some way 

to distract Them from 

going after The Saucer. 

O'BRIEN: 

All forward motion stopped, sir. 

PICARD: 

Thank you, Conn. 

Commander, Signal The Following, 

in All Languages 

and on All Frequencies. 

We Surrender. 

State that We are not asking 

for any terms or conditions. 

TROI: 

Aye, sir. 

All language forms and frequencies. 

Aladdin’s Cave

“Life can be absolutely phenomenal and it should be and it will be when you start using The Secret. 

Well a lot of people ask me what Their Job is in The Creative Process, and what The Job of The Universe is. 

So let's look at that for a moment. 

Let's use this metaphor if you think about Aladdin and His Lamp. 

You've probably heard of that one. 

I mean, Aladdin picks up The Lamp and he Dusts it Off and out pops The Genie. 

The Genie always says one thing, 

"Your wish is my command." 

If you trace the story back to its origins, you know we now think that there' s Three Wishes, but if you trace the story back to its origins there's absolutely no limit whatsoever to the wishes. 

Think about that one. Now, let's take this metaphor and blow it out and apply it to You and Your Life. 

Remember Aladdin is The One Who Always Asks for What He Wants. 

Then you've got The Universe at large, which is This Grand Genie, and Traditions you know have called it so many different things. Your Holy Guardian Angel, your Higher Self. I mean we can put any label on it, and you chose the one that works best for you. But every Tradition has told us there's something Bigger Than Us. 

And The Genie always Says one thing... 

"Your wish is my command." 

So we like to say to you that The Creative Process is a three step process. 

Step One is, You must Ask for What You Want. 

You Do Not Need to Use Words to Ask, in fact, The Universe is not even hearing Words from You. 

The Universe is responding completely 

to Your Thought. 

What do you really want? Sit down and write it out on a piece of paper. Write it in The Present Tense. 

You might begin by Writing, "I am so happy and grateful now that... ' 

And then explain How You Want Your Life to Be. 

In every area. 

And this is really fun. This is like having The Universe as Your Catalogue, and You flip through it and You go, "Well, I'd like to have this experience and I'd like to have that product and I'd like to have a person like that.' 

It is You just Placing Your Order with The Universe. 

It's really that easy. 

The Second Step is Answer. 

An Answer to What You're Asking. 

And that is Not-Your Work in Your Physical Form. 

The Universe will do that step for you. 

All of the universal forces are responding 

to The Thoughts that you have set into motion.

Genie: 

And The Universe will start to rearrange itself to make it happen for you. 

Most of us have never allowed ourselves 

to want What We Truly Want, 

because we can't see 

how it's going to manifest. 

If you do just a little research it is going to become evident to you that anyone that ever accomplished anything, 

did not know how they were going to do it. 

They only knew they were going to do it. 

You don't need to know how it's going to come about. 

You don't need to know how the universe will rearrange itself. 

You don't know how, it'll be shown to you. 

You will attract The Way. 

So then Our Friends Say, 'Something must be going terribly wrong, because I know I am asking so where' s my stuff? ' 

And We Say, "You are Asking. You are completing step one, you can't help but do that. 

And The Universe is answering every time, no exception. 

But there is another step that you must understand, and it is called Step Three, which is The Receiving Step. Which means, You must bring yourself into alignment with what you're asking for. When you are in alignment with What You Want, you feel wonderful. 

That's what Enthusiasm is, that's what Joy is, that's what Appreciation is, that's what that Feeling of Passion is. But when you are feeling despair or fear or anger, those are strong indicators that you are not right now in alignment with What You're Asking-for. 

And so, when you begin to realise that the way you feel is everything, and you begin to direct your thoughts based upon how they feel, little by little you can find the feeling place of it and now you are one with it, and now it must manifest into Your Experience. 

And when you turn that Fantasy into A Fact, you're in the position to build bigger and better fantasies. 

And that My Friend, 

is The Creative Process. 

So, The Law of Attraction, The Study and Practice of The Law of Attraction, is just figuring out what will help you generate The Feelings of Having it Now. 

Go test drive that car, 

go shop for that home, 

get in the house. 

Do whatever you have to do to generate the feelings of having it now, and remember them. 

Whatever you can do to do that will help you to literally attract it. It could be you wake up and it's just there, it' s manifest. 

Or, you might get some inspired idea of some action to take. 

You certainly shouldn't be going, 

"Well, I could do it this way, 

but man I would hate that.' 

Because you're not on the right track if that' s the case. 

Action will sometimes be required, 

but if you're really doing it in line with what The Universe is trying to deliver, 

it's going to feel joyous, 

you're going to feel so alive, 

time will just stop, 

you could do it all day. 

The Universe Likes Speed, 

Don't Delay 

Don't Second-Guess, 

Don't Doubt. 

When The Opportunity's there, 

when The Impulse is there, 

when The Intuitive-nudge from Within is there, act -- That's your job. 

And that's all you have to do. 

You will attract everything that you require. 

If it's money you need you will attract it, 

if it's people you need you'll attract it. 

If it's a certain book you need you'll attract it. 

You've gotta pay attention to what you're attracted-to, 

because as you hold images of what you want, 

you're gonna be attracted to things 

and they're gonna be attracted to you. 

But it literally moves into physical reality 

with and through you. 

And it does that By Law. 

You can start with nothing, 

and out of nothing 

and out of no way, 

A Way will be made. 

Think of this : 

A car driving through the night, the headlights only go a hundred to two hundred feet forward, and you can make it all the way from California to New York, driving, through the dark, because all you have to see is the next two hundred feet. And that's how life tends to unfold before us. And if we just trust that the next two hundred feet will unfold after that that and the next two hundred feet will unfold after that, your life will keep unfolding. 

And it will eventually get you to the destination of whatever it is you truly want, because you want it. Well another thing people wonder about is, how long is this gonna take? 

How long will it take to manifest the car, the relationship, the money, or whatever it happens to be. Well, I don't have any rule book that says it's gonna take you thirty minutes or three days or thirty days. I think its more a matter of you being in alignment with the Universe itself. 

Size is nothing to The Universe. 

It is no more difficult to attract on a scientific level something that we consider huge to something that we consider infinitesimally small... 

The Universe does everything it does with zero effort. 

The grass doesn't strain to grow, it's effortless. 

It' s just this great design. 

It's all about what' s going on up here. 

It's about what we put in place saying 

"This is big, it' s going to take some time' 

and "This is small, oh I'll give it an hour.' 

You know, those are Our Rules that we define. 

There are No Rules according to The Universe. 

You provide the feelings of Having it Now. 

It will respond. 

Some people have an easier time with little things and so we sometimes say, "Well, start with something small like a cup of coffee." 

Make it Your Intention to attract A Cup of Coffee today.' 

Hold an image of talking to an old friend that you haven't seen for a long time. 

Somehow or another somebody's going to start talking to you about that person. That person's going to phone you or you'll get a letter from them. 

People are amazed at how I line up car parks, and I've done this right from when I first understood The Secret. I would visualise a car space exactly where I wanted it and 95% of the time it would be there for me, and I would just pull straight in. 5% of the time I'd have to wait just a minute or two and the person would pull out and I'd pull in. So I do that all that time. 

A lot of people feel stuck or imprisoned or confined by their current circumstances, and I'm trying to point out that whatever your circumstances right now that is only your current reality and current reality will begin to change as a result of watching this and beginning to use The Secret. 

And sometimes it feels like you're stuck, because you continue to think the same thoughts over and over again. And so you tend to get the same results over and over again. 

And the reason is because, You see if you're just looking at What Is, then you're just thinking about What Is. 

And when you think about What Is, 

Law of Attraction gives you more of it. 

And then if you just observe What Is then you're just thinking about What Is and Law of Attraction gives you more of What Is. And then if you just observe what-we've been over this haven't we. 

You have to find a way that you are 

approaching What Is through 

a different vantage point. 

Most people look at their current state of affairs 

and they say "This is Who I Am". 

That's not Who You Are 

that's Who You Were. 

Little MIKE

 

 Twin Peaks - Man from another Place teaches how to speak in the Red Room

LIBER Taw-Yod-Shin-Aleph-Resh-Bet (ThIShARB)
VIAE MEMORIAE
sub figura CMXIII

A.·. A.·.
Publication in Class B.
Imprimatur:
N. Fra A.·. A.·.

000. May be.

[00. It has not been possible to construct this book on a basis of pure Scepticism. This matters less, as the practice leads to Scepticism, and it may be through it.]

0. This book is not intended to lead to the supreme attainment. On the contrary, its results define the separate being of the Exempt Adept from the rest of the Universe, and discover his relation to that Universe.

1. It is of such importance to the Exempt Adept that We cannot overrate it. Let him in no wise adventure the plunge into the Abyss until he have accomplished this to his most perfectest satisfaction.
2. For in the Abyss no effort is anywise possible. The Abyss is passed by virtue of the mass of the Adept and his Karma. Two forces impel him: (1) the attraction of Binah, (2) the impulse of his Karma; and the ease and even the safety of his passage depend on the strength and direction of the latter.
3. Should one rashly dare the passage, and take the irrevocable Oath of the Abyss, he might be lost therein through AEons of incalculable agony; he might even be thrown back upon Chesed, with the terrible Karma of failure added to his original imperfection.
4. It is even said that in certain circumstances it is possible to fall altogether from the Tree of Life, and to attain the Towers of the Black Brothers. But We hold that this is not possible for any adept who has truly attained his grade, or even for any man who has really sought to help humanity even for a single second,<<Those in possession of Liber CLXXXV. will note that in every grade but one the aspirant is pledged to serve his inferiors in the Order.>> and that although his aspiration have been impure through vanity or any similar imperfection.
5. Let then the Adept who finds the result of these meditations unsatisfactory refuse the Oath of the Abyss, and live so that his Karma gains strength and direction suitable to the task at some future period.
6. Memory is essential to the individual consciousness; otherwise the mind were but a blank sheet on which shadows are cast. But we see that not only does the mind retain impressions, but that it is so constituted that its tendency is to retain some more excellently than others. Thus the great classical scholar, Sir Richard Jebb, was unable to learn even the schoolboy mathematics required for the preliminary examination at Cambridge University, and a special act of the authorities was required in order to admit him.{WEH NOTE: Normally this would be an exercise of Medieval privilege by a Royal or other nobility. Wars have been lost over such "Grace" being given in the qualification of officers!}
7. The first method to be described has been detailed in Bhikkhu Ananda Metteya's "Training of the Mind" (EQUINOX, I. 5, pp. 28-59, and especially pp. 48-56). We have little to alter or to add. Its most important result, as regards the Oath of the Abyss, is the freedom from all desire or clinging to anything which it gives. Its second result is to aid the adept in the second method, by supplying him with further data for his investigation.
8. The stimulation of memory useful in both practices is also achieved by simple meditation (Liber E), in a certain stage of which old memories arise unbidden. The adept may then practise this, stopping at that stage, and encouraging instead of suppressing the flashes of memory.
9. Zoroaster has said, "Explore the River of the Soul, whence or in what order you have come; so that although you have become a servant to the body, you may again rise to that Order (the A.·. A.·.) from which you descended, joining Works (Kamma) to the Sacred Reason (the Tao)."
10. The Result of the Second Method is to show the Adept to what end his powers are destined. When he has passed the Abyss and become NEMO, the return of the current causes him "to appear in the Heaven of Jupiter as a morning star or as an evening star."[The formula of the Great Work "Solve et Coagula" may be thus interpreted. Solve, the dissolution of the Self in the Infinite; Coagula, the presentation of the Infinite in a concrete form to the outer. Both are necessary to the Task of a Master of the Temple.] In other words, he should discover what may be the nature of his work. Thus Mohammed was a Brother reflected into Netzach, Buddha a Brother reflected into Hod, or, as some say, Daath. The present manifestation of Frater P. to the outer is in Tiphereth, to the inner in the path of Leo.
11. First Method. Let the Exempt Adept first train himself to think backwards by external means, as set forth here following.

    ("a") Let him learn to write backwards, with either hand.
    ("b") Let him learn to walk backwards.
    ("c") Let him constantly watch, if convenient, cinematograph films, and listen to phonograph records, reversed, and let him so accustom himself to these that they appear natural, and appreciable as a whole.
    ("d") Let him practise speaking backwards; thus for "I am He" let him say, "Eh ma I".
    ("e") Let him learn to read backwards. In this it is difficult to avoid cheating one's self, as an expert reader sees a sentence at a glance. Let his disciple read aloud to him backwards, slowly at first, then more quickly.
    ("f") Of his own ingenium, let him devise other methods.

12. In this his brain will at first be overwhelmed by a sense of utter confusion; secondly, it will endeavour to evade the difficulty by a trick. The brain will pretend to be working backwards when it is really normal. It is difficult to describe the nature of the trick, but it will be quite obvious to anyone who has done practices ("a") and ("b") for a day or two. They become quite easy, and he will think that he is making progress, an illusion which close analysis will dispel.
13. Having begun to train his brain in this manner, and obtained some little success, let the Exempt Adept, seated in his Asana, think first of his present attitude, next of the act of being seated, next of his entering the room, next of his robing, et cetera, exactly as it happened. And let him most strenuously endeavour to think each act as happening backwards. It is not enough to think: "I am seated here, and before that I was standing, and before that I entered the room," etc. That series is the trick detected in the preliminary practices. The series must not run "ghi-def-abc" but "ihgfedcba": not "horse a is this" but "esroh a si siht". To obtain this thoroughly well, practice ("c") is very useful. The brain will be found to struggle constantly to right itself, soon accustoming itself to accept "esroh" as merely another glyph for "horse." This tendency must be constantly combated.
14. In the early stages of this practice the endeavour should be to meticulous minuteness of detail in remembering actions; for the brain's habit of thinking forwards will at first be insuperable. Thinking of large and complex actions, then, will give a series which we may symbolically write "opqrstu-hijklmn-abcdefg." If these be split into detail, we shall have "stu-pqr-o---mn-kl-hij---fg-cde-ab," which is much nearer to the ideal "utsrqponmlkjihgfedcba."
15. Capacities differ widely, but the Exempt Adept need have no reason to be discouraged if after a month's continuous labour he find that now and again for a few seconds his brain really works backwards.
16. The Exempt Adept should concentrate his efforts upon obtaining a perfect picture of five minutes backwards rather than upon extending the time covered by his meditation. For this preliminary training of the brain is the Pons Asinorum of the whole process.
17. This five minutes' exercise being satisfactory, the Exempt Adept may extend the same at his discretion to cover an hour, a day, a week, and so on. Difficulties vanish before him as he advances; the extension from a day to the course of his whole life will not prove so difficult as the perfecting of the five minutes.
18. This practice should be repeated at least four times daily, and progress is shown firstly by the ever easier running of the brain, secondly by the added memories which arise.
19. It is useful to reflect during this practice, which in time becomes almost mechanical, upon the way in which effects spring from causes. This aids the mind to link its memories, and prepares the adept for the preliminary practice of the Second Method.
20. Having allowed the mind to return for some hundred times to the hour of birth, it should be encouraged to endeavour to penetrate beyond that period. If it be properly trained to run backwards, there will be little difficulty in doing this, although it is one of the distinct steps in the practice.
21. It may be then that the memory will persuade the adept of some previous existence. Where this is possible, let it be checked by an appeal to facts, as follows:
22. It often occurs to men that on visiting a place to which they have never been, it appears familiar. This may arise from a confusion of thought or a slipping of the memory, but it is conceivably a fact.
    If, then, the adept "remember" that he was in a previous life in some city, say Cracow, which he has in this life never visited, let him describe from memory the appearance of Cracow, and of its inhabitants, setting down their names. Let him further enter into details of the city and its customs. And having done this with great minuteness, let him confirm the same by consultation with historians and geographers, or by a personal visit, remembering (both to the credit of his memory and its discredit) that historians, geographers, and himself are alike fallible. But let him not trust his memory to assert its conclusions as fact, and act thereupon, without most adequate confirmation.
23. This process of checking his memory should be practised with the earlier memories of childhood and youth by reference to the memories and records of others, always reflecting upon the fallibility even of such safeguards.
24. All this being perfected, so that the memory reaches back into aeons incalculably distant, let the Exempt Adept meditate upon the fruitlessness of all those years, and upon the fruit thereof, severing that which is transitory and worthless from that which is eternal. And it may be that he being but an Exempt Adept may hold all to be savourless and full of sorrow.
25. This being so, without reluctance will he swear the Oath of the Abyss.
26. Second Method. Let the Exempt Adept, fortified by the practice of the First Method, enter the preliminary practice of the Second Method.
27. Second Method. Preliminary Practices. Let him, seated in his Asana, consider any event, and trace it to its immediate causes. And let this be done very fully and minutely. Here, for example, is a body erect and motionless. Let the adept consider the many forces which maintain it; firstly, the attraction of the earth, of the sun, of the planets, of the farthest stars, nay, of every mote of dust in the room, one of which (could it be annihilated) would cause that body to move, although so imperceptibly. Also the resistance of the floor, the pressure of the air, and all other external conditions. Secondly, the internal forces which sustain it, the vast and complex machinery of the skeleton, the muscles, the blood, the lymph, the marrow, all that makes up a man. Thirdly the moral and intellectual forces involved, the mind, the will, the consciousness. Let him continue this with unremitting ardour, searching Nature, leaving nothing out.
28. Next, let him take one of the immediate causes of his position, and trace out its equilibrium. For example, the will. What determines the will to aid in holding the body erect and motionless?
29. This being discovered, let him choose one of the forces which determined his will, and trace out that in similar fashion; and let this process be continued for many days until the interdependence of all things is a truth assimilated in his inmost being.
30. This being accomplished, let him trace his own history with special reference to the causes of each event. And in this practice he may neglect to some extent the universal forces which at all times act on all, as for example the attraction of masses, and let him concentrate his attention upon the principal and determining or effective causes.
    For instance, he is seated, perhaps, in a country place in Spain. Why? Because Spain is warm and suitable for meditation, and because cities are noisy and crowded. Why is Spain warm? and why does he wish to meditate? Why choose warm Spain rather than warm India? To the last question: Because Spain is nearer to his home. Then why is his home near Spain? Because his parents were Germans. And why did they go to Germany? And so during the whole meditation.
31. On another day, let him begin with a question of another kind, and every day devise new questions, not only concerning his present situation, but also abstract questions. Thus let him connect the prevalence of water upon the surface of the globe with its necessity to such life as we know, with the specific gravity and other physical properties of water, and let him perceive ultimately through all this the necessity and concord of things, not concord as the schoolmen of old believed, making all things for man's benefit or convenience, but the essential mechanical concord whose final law is "inertia." And in these meditations let him avoid as if it were the plague any speculation sentimental or fantastic.
32. Second Method. The Practice Proper. Having then perfected in his mind these conceptions, let him apply them to his own career, forging the links of memory into the chain of necessity.
    And let this be his final question: To what purpose am I fitted? Of what service can my being prove to the Brothers of the A.·. A.·. if I cross the Abyss, and am admitted to the City of the Pyramids?
33. Now that he may clearly understand the nature of this question, and the method of solution, let him study the reasoning of the anatomist who reconstructs an animal from a single bone. To take a simple example.
34. Suppose, having lived all my life among savages, a ship is cast upon the shore and wrecked. Undamaged among the cargo is a "Victoria." What is its use? The wheels speak of roads, their slimness of smooth roads, the brake of hilly roads. The shafts show that it was meant to be drawn by an animal, their height and length suggest an animal of the size of a horse. That the carriage is open suggests a climate tolerable at any rate for part of the year. The height of the box suggest crowded streets, or the spirited character of the animal employed to draw it. The cushions indicate its use to convey men rather than merchandise; its hood that rain sometimes falls, or that the sun is at times powerful. The springs would imply considerable skill in metals; the varnish much attainment in that craft.
35. Similarly, let the adept consider of his own case. Now that he is on the point of plunging into the Abyss a giant Why? confronts him with uplifted club.
36. There is no minutest atom of his composition which can be withdrawn without making him some other than he is; no useless moment in his past. Then what is his future? The "Victoria" is not a waggon; it is not intended for carting hay. It is not a sulky; it is useless in trotting races.
37. So the adept has military genius, or much knowledge of Greek; how do these attainments help his purpose, or the purpose of the Brothers? He was put to death by Calvin, or stoned by Hezekiah; as a snake he was killed by a villager, or as an elephant slain in battle under Hamilcar. How do such memories help him? Until he have thoroughly mastered the reason for every incident in his past, and found a purpose for every item of his present equipment, [A brother known to me was repeatedly baffled in this meditation. But one day being thrown with his horse over a sheer cliff of forty feet, and escaping without a scratch or a bruse, he was reminded of his many narrow escapes from death. These proved to be the last factors in his problem, which, thus completed, solved itself in a moment. O.M. {WEH NOTE ADDENDA: Here Crowley speaks of himself, the event being noted in his China walk account.}] he cannot truly answer even those Three Question what were first put to him, even the Three Questions of the Ritual of the Pyramid; he is not ready to swear the Oath of the Abyss.
38. But being thus enlightened, let him swear the Oath of the Abyss; yea, let him swear the Oath of the Abyss.