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Chamber above thou shalt see the Symbol of Destruction. Here thou seest the ascent and the descent, yet the Circle
is one and unbroken; but a vaster Circle existeth which the eye of man cannot see; it turneth and turneth through
Eternity without ceasing; the Spirit of Creation createth, and the Spirit of Destruction destroyeth; and the Circle is
the Equilibrium without which there would be no Manifestation of the Unity, and if there were no Manifestation of
the Unity the Unity would be dead and Unconscious of Himself.'
When my Guide had ceased speaking he led me to the Eleventh Chamber, and there I saw a Virgin standing before
me radiant in all the splendour of youth and strength. With a voice which had the ring of silver without tremor and
without fear she spoke to me thus : 'In me lies hid the germ of Vitality. To thee my hand seems weak, but strength
lieth in the Spirit, and because my heart is pure, know I no fear, and with my foot do I curb the Dragon beneath me.'
It was so sweet a vision that it made my heart leap with joy, and when it vanished from my sight, pensively I
followed my Guide to the Twelfth Chamber, with my mind still full of the beautiful young Virgin who had appeared
to me.
In this Chamber I found myself in complete obscurity, but as I gazed into the darkness a sign appeared to me by
degrees in the form of a Cross. My Guide said: 'Behold the Sign of the Revealed Law; out of the Darkness it
proceedeth, and Man must bow to it.' As I gazed more intently, the face of a man seemed to appear to me enclosed
by a triangle hanging downwards at the base of the Cross, and I marvelled and exclaimed: 'What meaneth this
transformation!' My Guide replied: 'Woe unto the man who filled with Pride presumeth to rebel against the Revealed
Law, for on him waiteth destruction. Vain is it of Man to seek to rebel against that which the Eternal hath revealed
unto him; by submission he will rise, by rebellion his face will be turned away from the Light, and his advancement
delayed.'
When my Guide had ceased speaking, we left the Chamber and proceeded to ascend to the Fifth Level of the Tower;
there we entered together the Thirteenth Chamber, and this Vision appeared to me. A luxuriant meadow spread out
before my eyes like the plain of the World; it was filled with variety, and the luxuriant flowers nodded to each other
in their joy of existence. Presently, however, the breath of winter approached and its icy blast chilled my Soul; and
as I gazed I saw the Vision of Death looming up before me; in one hand he held a scimitar, and in the other an
empty basket; and he mowed down the flowers and threw them into the basket; and it seemed to me that they turned
into dead men's heads; and some wore crowns and others the humble hood of the Dervish; and some had the golden
hair of youth, and others the whitened locks of old age. And in my fear I cried aloud: 'O Terror of the World! what
art thou?' And a Voice replied: 'I am the Link between the Known and the Unknown. That which seems gold in the
World I will turn it into base metal, and that which seems base metal I will turn into gold. As the Ocean dissolveth
and absorbeth the Salt of the World, so do I, for I am the Solvent of Humanity, and out of that which is do I make
that which shall be.'
When the Voice ceased, the Vision of Death departed from me, and I saw again the green meadow filled with
flowers. Then my Guide said to me:
The Spirit of Life is the antagonist of the Spirit of Stagnation, for Stagnation is the Negation of Life. In the Unity
nothing is created, nothing is destroyed. To the Sage, therefore, Death hath no terrors, for he knoweth that without
Death there could be no Life, without Darkness no Light, without the Negation no Manifestation of the Reality.
Death is the Key which opens unto Man a further stage on the Path of the Manifestation of the Unity.
From this Chamber my Guide led me to the Fourteenth Chamber, where I saw before me an Angel who poured out
of a pitcher into a receiver beneath the Water of Life. My Guide said to me: 'The meaning is this. In the World in
which thou livest, the mind perceiveth the existence of Individuality, which is caused by the Water of Life
descending in varying degrees into Matter, its Opposite. Now the Angel, when fertilizing the World by pouring upon
it the Water of Life, giveth unto Man the conception of justice, which is to be the Light which is to guide him upon
the path through the Material World. The Angel whom thou seest is, therefore, the Emblem of Temperance, which is
the principle which should govern the individual creature in the World.'
Then with my Guide I proceeded to the last Chamber on this level of the Tower, which was the Fifteenth in Number.
Here I found myself in complete darkness, but Presently out of the profundity of the gloom glowed forth the Beast
of Evil, the Dragon biting his tail. Seized with fear I clung to my Guide, who threw around me the Mantle of
Protection, and said: 'Behold the Sign! This is the Circle of Evil. Woe unto the man who steppeth into the shadow of
the Light, for the gloom shall grow greater and greater, and against the fatal power of the Dragon's Ring man's will
struggleth in vain. Who falleth into the Magic Circle him no regrets can avail, for an Eternity seemeth to separate
him from the Path of Reunion.'
Overcome with dread, I issued from the last Chamber, and began the ascent to the next Level of the Tower, where
when I had reached it I entered with my Guide the Sixteenth Chamber. Here I saw before me a Tower of great
strength, and the Master of the Tower and his attendants were enjoying their security behind the battlements of their
stronghold. And I said to myself: 'So cunning seemeth to have been the skill of the architect that this Tower will not
perish but with the destruction of the World.' But presently I heard a great roar, and I beheld a thunderbolt
descending from a cloud, and it struck the mighty Tower, and the battlements parted asunder, and the Master and his [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]