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130 THE TREE OF LIFE
the same time when carried to extremes a blind refusal of the nourishment
by which that long journey may be sustained. The root
principle involved in the practice of fakirs who sleep on nail or wire
beds, holding their arms upright for the full span of their lives,
tearing living flesh from long-suffering bodies, all this is reprehensible
to the Theurgist, and is altogether opposed in principle to the
method outlined above. The body is not a thing of evil, for we have
previously defined corporeality and spirituality as different degrees
of one divine substance. All the vehicles of the spirit are instruments
through which it may act, obtain experience, and arrive at a knowledge
of itself ; and though in matters pertaining to celestial communion
some are bound to be a hindrance if untrained, the observation
simply proves the necessity for training, not for this cruel and
senseless destruction.
By the ascetic technique of Theurgy, one simply decides to
obtain a conscious control over certain aspects of one's physical
and mental organization, and this control tends to the acquisition of
a greatly increased potential of Will. The cutting of the arm does
cause some little pain, it is true ; though this pain is useful and
necessary as setting up certain currents in the inhibitory centres of
the brain or mind. Thcse result in the establishment of a curious
vigilance on the part of the Will, a free unconscious flow of Will-force
being ever-present and ready to execute the wishes of the Master.
One will discover, in the event of a decision talten not to cross the
legs, that when chatting in casual conversation with a group of
people and in a state of utter forgetfulness of the oath, any automatic
tendency of the legs to repeat instinctively the habit to which they
have long become accustomed will immediately be detected by the
Will before the proscribed act is even half-way completed, and the
tendency will be stopped in its inception. It has been noticed again
and again that just as the legs are about to cross, even during the
deepest sleep when the body makes spasmodic automatic motions,
the Will operating from the inhibitory centres of the mind causes a
spontaneous warning to be flashed, with the result that the action is
prevented. If asleep, there is an immediate awakening with full
consciousness of the intended act. At least, this is the rationale
obtaining after the Operator has failed about a dozen times or so,
and when his forearm has become beautifully adorned by as many
cuts. It is particularly so in the case of the prohibition of the
word " I " which one may well use as the object of the practice.