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having been constructed on the basis of these ten numbers, and the first three being given to the Trinity,
the remaining seven were called the Inferiors. Thus in the Qabalah we have 'ten hells' grouped in seven
palaces!
It is therefore to be understood that when a medieval philosopher spoke of seven anything or twelve
anything, he did not mean that if you counted them there would be seven or twelve. He was
characterizing them in an extremely elaborate and subtle manner, which no other words could have
expressed. He was conveying {81} an idea beyond words, just as every great poet does. So also the
criticisms levelled by Freethinkers at the Doctrine of the Trinity have been merely examples of ignoratio
elenchi; and Christians were unable to defend it because they too had no idea of what the Fathers of the
Church meant by it. Criticisms by Christians of other worships, with their strange rites, have been equally
foolish for the most part. The founders wisely shrouded their truth in hieratic symbol.
The schoolmen were extraordinarily clever at these hieroglyphs. Instead of laughing at them, we should
try to understand them. We may take for instance the lines beginning Barbara, Celarent, Darii, Ferioque
priores. Which are not even Latin, but which contain in themselves practically the whole of the laws of
thought even as they are known to-day. Every single letter in the modern form of the verses stands for an
important truth![WEH NOTE: These names and words form part of a set of mnemonics used by students
of logic to memorize syllogism modes and structues. The vowels in the words signify the valid moods of
each figure of the syllogism, and some of the consonants show how to reduce the modes of some
syllogistic figures to the simple form. The s, ,,,,p, ,,,,m and c consonants show how to reduce imperfect
moods to perfect moods. Crowleys' selection is known as the Ist Figure and modernly rendered: Barbara
Celarent Darii Ferio. The other two figures are Cesare Camestres Festino Baroco and Darapti Felapton
Disamis Datisi Bocardo Ferrison. For more information, see Osterle's Logic, pp. 147-150.
] We are much
too ready to assume that our ancestors were fools.
But to return to Mr. Shaw's 'fashions of belief', he says to us; The number seven is the stamp of
superstition. It may be so among the superstitious, but it is not so among men of science, a class of persons
with whom Mr. Shaw should really try to get acquainted. Has he never heard of the Periodic Law, which
dates from 1828, the division of the elements on a sevenfold basis? He says that We will believe in
nothing less than millions. It is perfectly true that we have millions in astronomy and bacteriology, but we
still have two arms and two legs. There are still seven holes in our heads, and the number of the main
bodies of the solar system has not increased from seven to millions but {82} only from seven to nine.
Credibility and Truth
Mr. Shaw continues his diatribe in this section. He says, The modern man who believes that the earth is
round is grossly crediculous. Flat earth men drive him to fury by confusing him with the greatest ease
when he tries to argue about it. Mr. Shaw's acquaintances do seem to be very unsophisticated people. The
charm of their conversation must be amazing. Most schoolboys know the evidence of astronomy, the
evidence of exploration, the evidence from eclipses, the evidence of the disappearance of a ship at sea [T
NOTE:below the horizon], the evidence even perhaps from the Bedford Canal experiment [WEH NOTE:
I am not acquainted with this one, but the Bedford Canal was probably a dead-level and straight
waterway. If one sighted a transit on the tip of the mast of a boat going away on it, the curvature of the
earth would cause the mast tip to dip.
] Mr. Shaw continues, The things he believes may be true, but that
is not why he believes it: he believes it because in some mysterious way it appeals to his imagination.
Imagination has nothing to do with it; if he knows it at all, it is because he has been taught it, and if he has
been taught it properly he should remember the reasoning which ought to have been given him at the
time.
Mr. Shaw admits that he can laugh at the earlier estimates of the number of angels that can be
accommodated on the point of a needle. This simply means that Mr. Shaw's knowledge of the subject is
derived entirely from the report of some flippant journalist. If he had studied the question first-hand, he [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]