Happy Π Day!
“But we must proceed to consider the interpretation of the following rime:
Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner,
Eating a Christmas pie.
He stuck in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said, ‘What a good boy am I!’
In the interpretation of this remarkable poem there is a difference between two great schools of Adepts.”
Aleister Crowley, Book 4, Part II: Magick
Some believe any and every thing is symbolic, and can be transcribed, and explain the occult, but of what they do not know. (Great spiritual truths?) So argument a metaphor, cautiously confusing the obvious which developes the hidden virtue. This unnecessary corpulency, however impressive, is it not disgusting? (The Elephant is exceeding large but extremely powerful, the swine though odious does not breed the contempt of our good taste.) If a man is no hero to his servant, much less can he remain a mystic in the eyes of the curious; similarity educates mimicry. Decorate your meaning, however objectionable (as fact), after you have shown your honesty. Truth, though simple, never needs the argument of confusion for obscurity; its own pure symbolism embraces all possibilities as mystic design. Take your stand in commonsense and you include the truth which cannot lie; no argument has yet prevailed. Perfect proportion suggest no alteration, and what is useless decays.
Austin Osman Spare, The Book of Pleasure
it is the fashion to be unhappy. To have a reason for being so would be exceedingly common-place: to be so without any is the province of genius: the art of being miserable for misery’s sake, has been brought to great perfection in our days
Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey [Amazon, Bookshop, Local Library, Internet Archive]
Their mindgrief was great dark with mourning.
Frederick Rebsamen, Beowulf: An Updated Verse Translation [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library]
After the War people said he was different. I, myself, think he was. But I can’t help feeling that with all his gifts he ought to have been doing bigger work. All that Britannic Majesty stuff isn’t my idea of a great man’s career. And Conway was—or should have been—great.
James Hilton, Lost Horizon [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library]
In the tradition of all great America ideas, [they] have created a confident plan for action, no matter how costly, impractical, or dangerous.
Sean Bonner and Allen Morgenstern, The New Oklahoma [Amazon]
