Qabalistic Meditation

Now that you understand what concentration works with, what force it limits and intensifies, you are ready to begin to study the practical side of the work. In order to follow the first part of this lesson you will have to use the Tarot. Take out the major trumps entitled the MAGICIAN, STRENGTH and THE DEVIL, and place them on a table before you. Put THE MAGICIAN at the top, STRENGTH in the middle and THE DEVIL below.

The first thing to be observed about this arrangement is that STRENGTH, the middle card, bears a number which is the mean arithmetical term between the numbers of the MAGICIAN and THE DEVIL.

The mean term between two numbers is half their sum, and in the Tarot a card whose number is the mean between the numbers of two other cards represents the equilibrium between a pair of opposites symbolized by those two cards. Thus 10 is the mean between 1 and 19, 2 and 18, 3 and 17, 4 and 16, and so on. In this instance the pair of opposites is THE MAGICIAN and THE DEVIL. STRENGTH is the equilibrating activity which reconciles them.

In the preceding lesson we reached the conclusion that the force which we are to learn to concentrate is the L.V.X., or the Astral Light concerning which Eliphas Levi wrote at such length. This is the force which he tells us "was adored in the secret rites of the Sabbath or the Temple under the symbolic figure of Baphomet, or of the androgyne goat of Mendes." (Remember that the Sabbath was the so-called "Sabbath of the Sorcerers," a survival of the old pagan mystery cults, and that the Temple was not that of the Jews, but of the original Knights Templar.) Levi informs us also that the Astral Light is "the devil of esoteric dogmatism, and is really the blind force which souls must conquer, in order to detach themselves from the chains of earth."

THE DEVIL, therefore, represents this force, and we may now add somewhat to the interpretation of this picture given in the First Year Course. Very penetrating students of the earlier lessons may already have arrived at an understanding of what we are about to say; but because the science revealed and concealed by means of these pictorial symbols is one that leads to command of potent forces, (and that without any regard to the mentality or morals of the person who employs them, beyond such mentality as is required to grasp and apply the laws whereby those forces are called into activity), the First Year work on the Tarot purposely leaves many things unsaid. Nowhere is there any deliberate attempt to throw dust in the eyes of the reader by resorting to misstatements, but there are many intentional omissions, because we know that by no means every one who begins the Builder's Work will persevere in it until the end.

The first thing to consider about the DEVIL is the number 15. This conceals several details of the Ageless Wisdom in a subtle way. Has it ever occurred to you that XV includes two of the letters of L.V.X.? You see that it does, of course, as soon as I speak of it, and perhaps you may be inclined to ask, "What of it?"

Just this, the adepts who combined their knowledge in the production of the Tarot overlooked nothing that their ingenuity could devise in the way of providing clues to the meaning of the pictures, and one reason why the DEVIL is numbered XV is that X and V represent L.V.X. minus the L.

L is Lamed, which as a verb means "to instruct," and as a noun signifies "an ox-goad." Thus L.V.X. minus L suggests the absence of the equilibrating and directive quality represented by the 11th major trump, JUSTICE. In other words, the DEVIL is the Astral Light as it works in the realms of nature below man, where it is truly a fatal force, working by the mathematical law of averages. This is what Levi means by saying that it is the blind force which souls must conquer.

From the same source to which we owe the Book of Tokens, we received in 1919 the following statement about the DEVIL:

"The Devil is a figure of the Creative Fire encased in Matter, and he is also the 'god of them that walk in darkness' (i.e., the darkness of ignorance, or want of instruction, XV, or L.V.X. minus L. – P.F.C.). For they see the Source of All as a creative power ungoverned by Law; but God follows the Law of His own being, which is Love. Love misunderstood, materialized, and perverted, is the veritable Devil. Therefore are the human figures in chains, and the Pentagram inverted." (The Pentagram, through its correspondence to 5, is a symbol of the Mars-force and of man. Its inversion is the sign of a human misunderstanding and misuse of the Mars-force which inverts human consciousness, and turns man upside down. This inversion and misunderstanding are nowhere more thoroughly exemplified than in the teachings and practices of certain deluded souls who imagine that they are practicing regeneration.)

In other words, the DEVIL is a picture symbolizing the false conception of the Life-Power held by those who are wanting in knowledge of its real nature. The DEVIL is what theologians call God, as that Power is imagined by people who have not yet arrived by practical experimentation at an understanding of its true nature. We say "by practical experimentation," because Qabalists identify instruction or knowledge with work, as you may see by referring to the attributions of the letter Lamed.

On the other hand, although the DEVIL symbolizes a false conception of the Life-Power, it also indicates the true nature of that Power when we know how to interpret the symbols. For it is written, "The Devil is God as He is misunderstood by the wicked," and God misunderstood is not the less divine because men see His image upside down. Hence the wise men who invented the Tarot assigned the number XV to this picture, because the number 15 is the number of the divine name I H, Jah, which is attributed to Chokmah.

Reference to the Qabalistic dictionary in the lesson on the Literal Qabalah will give you an opportunity to trace the connections between various words corresponding to the number 15. Each refers to some aspect of the Astral Light, and you should endeavor to work out the hidden meanings from this point-of-view. Particularly should you observe that 15 is the number of הוֹד Hod, the sphere of Mercury, because Hod is the Sephirah completing the 26th path עין on the Way of Descent, as it is also the Sephirah whence the same path rises on the Way of Return. Observe, too, that even the number of this path hints at the divine nature of the activity manifest in it, because the number 26 is the number of IHVH, the Tetragrammaton.

The faculty assigned to the 26th path and to the letter עין is Mirth. The Hebrew noun is שְׁחוֹק (414), which is 9, the number of Teth, the coiled serpent, and also the number of YESOD, the Foundation). Work out the deeper meanings of this Qabalistic term with the help of the Tarot cards. The first letter is that of the Fire (the Fire of the Divine Breath, remember, because ש=300=אלהים, Life-Breath of the gods) which leads to the birth of the regenerated personality (Key 20). The second letter is that which suggests the circumscribed field of human activity, and its card is the one that shows the true relation of the Divine I AM to Its vehicle. The third letter refers to the revelation of the arcana of the Ageless Wisdom when we listen in silence to the Revealer within, and it also shows the operation of the power which is the conjunctive and mediating principle in the universe. The last letter, through the Tarot, calls up a picture of the Way which leads out of the delusions of this world into the Beyond of the higher consciousness that is our Goal.

But apart from these and other meanings of שדוק which the Tarot will enable you to evoke from your inner consciousness, please do not overlook the obvious implication of this Qabalistic marriage of the idea of laughter with that suggested by the name of the 26th path, Renewing Intelligence. A sense of humor is indispensable to the practical occultist. Laughter is a cleansing activity, and the ability to use it is one sign whereby you may always distinguish a person who is really an occultist from the crank who merely supposes himself to be one.

When we think of an Egyptian priest, most of us call up an image of an austere, grim being. This is a false image, and fortunately we have indisputable evidence that it is so. Let me quote an old Egyptian hymn to the sun-god Ra, from Robert Silliman Hillyer's metrical version, to be found in his anthology of Egyptian hymns, entitled The Coming Forth By Day:

'Homage to thee, O Ra, at they tremendous rising. Thou risest. Thou shinest. The heavens are rolled aside. Thou art the King of Gods, thou art the All-comprising, From thee we come, in thee are deified. Thy priests go forth at dawn; they wash their hearts with laughter; Divine winds move in music across thy golden strings. At sunset they embrace thee, as every cloudy rafter Flames with reflected color from thy wings.'

Laughter is a prophylactic. A sense of humor is one of the best protections against the sense of separateness. No egotist is ever a humorist, and no egotist ever succeeded in accomplishing the Great Work. For the egotist is encased in the impenetrable shell of his sense of personal importance, and just that sense is what the Great Work seeks to overcome.

We have learned to laugh at the devil, but we are just a little afraid, perhaps, to laugh at the equally demoniac idea of God which theologians have tried their best to impose upon the race-consciousness. If you can understand that this grotesque figure in the 15th Key of the Tarot represents what sages have thought in all times and ages concerning the notion of God advanced by esoteric teachers you will be well on the way to realizing that the aim of practical occultism really is. The DEVIL is an image of man's silly imaginings about God.

For even those silly imaginings are the outworking of the Life-Power through unripened minds. Remember the words of The Book of Tokens: 'Into every state of knowledge do I enter, into false knowledge as well as into true, so that I am not less the ignorance of the deluded than the wisdom of the sage. For what thou callest ignorance and folly is my pure knowing, imperfectly expressed through an uncompleted image of my divine perfection" (ALEPH; par. 6)

Concerning the Astral Light Levi says also that "man, in the image of the Deity, modifies and apparently multiplies it in the reproduction of his species." This is the force of the earthy sign, Capricorn, the sign of the goat. It is the power ruled by Saturn, and Saturn is the force of limitation, the force which gives concreteness, or definite shape and form, to all things. The Astral Light as manifested in Capricorn is also the means of the exaltation or lifting-up of the fiery activity of the Mars-force.

This aspect of the One Force is the tempter in the allegory of Adam and Eve. Its name, Nachash, נחש is by Gematria to the name of the Christos, Messiach, משיח. You remember that נחש is also the spelling of a Hebrew word for copper, the metal of Venus, so that נחש conceals a reference to Love and Beauty. For Love, after all, is the great secret of the Life-Power. Therefore is the Sephirah of Victory called the sphere of Venus, because of the truth which the New Testament writer phrases thus: "Love faileth never."

What has all this to do with concentration? Simply this: You must understand the inner nature of the Astral Light before you begin to direct its currents, unless you are looking for trouble. You must know, too, something concerning the proper emotional mood in which to approach your work. If you look upon concentration as a disagreeable task you will never accomplish much at it. Its real purpose is to intensify, purify, control and set at work the love-force in your whole being. We do not know how to put the matter any plainer than this, yet it may be that not every reader will rightly understand us. Let the words stand. If you do not grasp their full import now, you will when you are riper.

So much for the force, as represented by the DEVIL. Let us now consider the law which enables us to modify that force. This law is pictured in the Tarot by STRENGTH.

The number of the card is one clue. Read the lesson on the meaning of numbers, and you will find that 8 is the symbol of flux and reflux, of evolution, of vibration. This last word is the name of the law which we shall apply in our work of modifying and intensifying the currents of the Astral Light.

What is vibration? It is an alternating activity, a reciprocal ebb and flow of energy between two extremes or poles. The name calls up an image of wave-motion, and in this image are two elements -- the crest of the wave and its trough. We find the same image in the 14th and 18th Keys of the Tarot. In both pictures the Way of Return is shown as a path ascending over rolling ground, so that it rises and falls in its progress, like waves.

Knowledge of the law of vibration, and skill in applying it, are the basis of practical work in every department of occult science. It is a universal law, and because it is at work in all things the path of the letter Teth is called "Intelligence of the Secret of all Spiritual Activities." He who is perfect in his use of this law of vibration is called a Master or a Yogi. His works are what the ignorant call miracles. So well does he understand the art of combining the inertia of Saturn with the energy of Mars, (or as alchemists would say, the fusion of Salt and Sulphur), that he can, if need be, multiply a few loaves and fishes until he has food enough to feed five thousand.

The key to the secret of mastering the Astral Light by using the law of vibration is shown by the attribution of the letter Teth of the sign Leo, which rules the heart. For even as Love is the essential principle of divinity, so that the devil is merely a caricature of love, so is the practical secret of the Great Work a secret of the human heart. This is subtly and beautifully shown in the symbolism of the 8th Tarot trump, where the lion is being led by a chain of roses. Love, beauty, service -- these are the key-words to the art of mastering the currents of the Astral Light.

They have been horribly misunderstood. Fools and charlatans misuse them daily. Cranks of every stripe known to the 57 varieties of pseudo-occultism mouth and mumble these sacred syllables until one who really knows is almost physically nauseated by the sound of holy words emerging from unclean lips. For they are unclean lips, those that besmirch all the beautiful laws of the Divine Life which flows through us, poisoning the wells of existence with their vile imaginings. Would there were other words to use than those which have been so often abused. But no others will serve. Love, beauty, service –understood aright – sum up the whole mystery of the Great Secret.

Love, because its essence is reciprocity, so that it is directly related to the great law of vibration represented by STRENGTH. Beauty, because nothing unbeautiful is strong, nothing inharmonious lovely, nothing ugly serviceable. Service, because no service can be one-sided. We cannot serve you unless you serve us too. We cannot love unless we are loved. I waste my time in efforts to produce a beauty which no eye but mine beholds. Service, too, (and this particularly for students of occultism,) because the ability to master the Astral Light is not to be sought for the sake of being able to astonish your neighbor.

Jesus did not heal to show that he was a Master. He did not multiply the loaves and fishes to convince anybody that he understood the secrets of cosmic law. Again and again he warned the recipients of his favors against vain babbling, saying, 'See that thou tell no man.'

All this is vitally important to you when you begin to study the practice of concentration, because your success depends largely upon your ability to begin the work in the right mood. The work is hard, and its first stages are disheartening. Days and weeks and months pass before one begins to get any striking results. If you begin in the wrong mood, these difficulties will soon lead you to abandon practice.

If you begin with the idea that you are going to unfold wonderful powers which will raise you above your fellows, or if in any other way your motive for study be a selfish one, it is extremely unlikely that you will persevere long enough to get results. But if you begin with the understanding that this work aims to make you more lovely by making you more lovable, more beautiful by making you stronger, more serviceable by turning all your life-force into constructive action which shall make your world a better one for all its inhabitants, then the power of the ideal thus set before you will carry you through the periods of depression, through the troughs of the waves, on to ultimate success.

Those apparent set-backs, these moments of depression following a period of exaltation, are simply expressions of the great law of alternation or vibration. We warn you of them now so that they may not surprise or disturb you. You cannot maintain yourself at the highest levels of consciousness all the time. Your body could not stand the strain. Neither can you expect to make steady progress in concentration, as if you were walking up a long, gradual incline. You will have your ups and downs. Some days the exercises will be easy, and you will be happy over your success. Other days will come when you will have more breaks than usual, and the more you try to concentrate, the more your thought will wander from the selected image. Curb your elation over a successful day, and be sure not to let yourself become unhappy over an unsuccessful one. Waves gather force for their ascent while they are at the very lowest point of the trough. So it is in mental practice. A 'bad day' is one in which you are gathering your forces. The main thing is to keep on.

No matter how many times your attention wanders in the quarter-hour of practice, bring it resolutely back to the selected image. Keep your record just as carefully on bad days as on good ones. Never for a moment trouble your mind about any other member of the class, and do not compare notes as to your progress.

This is most important. You are responsible to no other person in this work but me. Be sure that I shall play no favorites. If you begin to compare notes, you will do yourself and your associates much harm. If you find it easy to concentrate, you will discourage your less-gifted neighbor by a recital of your successes. If concentration is hard for you, you only make it harder by telling other people so. And above all, I wish to avoid the spirit of emulation or competition, which may be the life of trade but is fatal to success in the work we are engaged in.

The force you are learning to control is depicted in the 8th Tarot Key as a lion because the lion, when we think of him as the king of beasts, is a synthesis of all the powers of nature below the human level. In Hebrew the noun for lion and also for the zodiacal sign Leo is Arich, אריה.

Observe the numeration of this word. It is 216, and is the number of Geburah, גבורה, the sphere of Mars, and of ראייה, sight, the faculty attributed to the letter H, corresponding to Aries, one of the two houses of Mars. Furthermore, the same number, 216, is that of the noun רוגז, anger, wrath, excitement, the faculty corresponding to the letter S, assigned to the sign Sagittarius.

Thus to every one of the three signs of the fiery triplicity in the zodiac the Qabalah gives a name which corresponds by Gematria to the names assigned to the other two signs of the same triplicity, To Aries, Sight, for the perfection of the inner vision is the end of concentration, and he who attains to it restores the Emperor of creation to his throne. To Leo, the lion, because this beast is a symbol of all the forms of force which must be controlled before the higher vision may be experienced. To Sagittarius, excitement or intense activity of the desire-nature, because this is what gives us courage to persist, and supports us (S) like a staff in our progress toward liberation.

What is this fiery power? It is the Mars-force, ruling in Aries where it has its highest throne, and active in Leo and Sagittarius because these signs partake of its own essential quality. It is the force exalted in Capricorn, the sign symbolized by the DEVIL, and represented in that picture by the demon's inverted torch, as well as by the inverted pentagram upon his forehead. It is the force, again, whose most occult aspects are those connected with the letter Nun, with the sign Scorpio, and with the symbolism of the 13th Key. Finally, it is the force whose sphere of action is the fifth Sephirah, Geburah. Consider it in all these aspects until you know what it is that you are learning to master when you set out to learn how to concentrate. It seems to us that more open exposition of the nature of this force has never been given. Certainly we would not make it any clearer if we could, for if any reader of these pages remains in ignorance after this plain exposition of a secret long kept hidden, that ignorance betrays him as one who has heard and read, but who has done no work.

A word further concerning the number 216. It has something to do with the number of beads whereby you are to record the breaks in your practice. Even as the color and the substance of the beads were not chosen at random, so has their number several hidden meanings, which are really suggestions to your subconsciousness.

The number 108 is half of 216, so that the beads in your rosary symbolize the synthesis of the opposite or polar manifestations of the Mars-force in a higher mode of expression. That is, because 108 is half of 216, it suggests a drawing together or concentration of the forces of Geburah. Thus your beads symbolize that transcending of the pairs of opposites which the sages recommend. He who transcends the pairs of opposites is on the Middle Way, and the Hebrew noun for "middle" is חַצַּת (108). The first letter of this noun signifies Speech, the second corresponds to the faculty of Meditation, and the function attributed to the third is that of Coition. Control of speech through meditation leads to the perfect marriage of the consciousness with the subconsciousness. That perfect union is the occult significance of Coition, and it is the uniting of subject and object which results in the experience of superconsciousness.

The numbers 216 and 108 have the same least number, 9, so that both refer to the force of cosmic electricity, the FOHAT of the Theosophical teaching, which H.P. Blavatsky tells us is represented by the letter Teth. And because 9 is also the number of the Sephirah Yesod, the root of that power is the activity centered in that Sephirah.

Your beads, then, because the least number of their total is 9, symbolize the cosmic force of FOHAT, the serpent-fire of the letter Teth, and relate also to the center where that force is most active in human life. Their color is that of the Saturnine influence of limitation dominant in Capricorn, the DEVIL in the Tarot. Their material, wood, is chosen for two reasons: 1st, because wood is an organic substance, which absorbs personal emanations of the Astral Light, so that your bead-string will eventually be a reservoir of your personal forces; 2nd, because "wood" is ὕλη in Greek, and Hyle was the Gnostic name for the Astral Light.

Thus your rosary symbolizes the force you are learning to control, and it also represents the means you will use in order to control that serpent-power.

The number of beads has yet another meaning. It is composed of the symbols 1, 0 and 8. Let 8 serve to remind you of the law of vibration symbolized by STRENGTH. Let 0 recall the fact that the goal of concentration is union with that One which is neither Aught nor Naught, whose Tarot symbol is the FOOL. Let 1 bring to your recollection the MAGICIAN, for this Key shows exactly what happens when you concentrate.

You remember that we interpret this Key as a symbol of attention. It shows an adept in the act of concentration. The power he uses is being brought down from above. Here is a subtlety, for one result of concentration is the raising of the Mars-force from lower to higher centers of the sympathetic nervous system. This is what the Hindus mean when they say that concentration raises the Kundalini. What they do not say, for no Hindu occultist ever makes a complete statement concerning any phase of practical work, is that the serpent-power rises in response to the descent of the undifferentiated Prana from above. In concentration we do not try to lift up the Kundalini by main force, as if we were trying to raise ourselves by our boot-straps. We simply open ourselves to the descending current of light which flows down from Kether, and that current, when it returns, raises the serpent-fire from chakra to chakra. For it must never be forgotten that the Astral Light is cosmic electricity, and every electrician knows that no matter what the application we make of that force, it must always pass from a higher to a lower potential.

Begin every period of concentration, therefore, by reciting the affirmations, beginning with the first. During the recitation picture the white light of Kether descending through the course of the lightning-flash on the Tree of Life, changing color as it passes from Sephirah to Sephirah – from the white of Kether to the opalescent gray of Chokmah, from this to the black of Binah, and so on, until you reach Malkuth, where you should visualize the color-cross of the four elements: Citrine, Russet, Slate and Black. Thus you will set up in the sphere of your personality the vibrations of every aspect of the One L.V.X., and so prepare yourself for the work that follows. DO NOT USE THE COLORS IN THE MORNING AND EVENING USE OF THE AFFIRMATIONS, OR AT ANY OTHER TIME EXCEPT AS A PRELIMINARY TO CONCENTRATION PRACTICE.

This exercise should not be explained to affiliates of the Builders who have not advanced into the second Section, and it should never be mentioned to outsiders. It is by no means 'all imagination.' You really set up the vibratory action of these forces when you recite the affirmations and visualize the colors at the same time.

Another thing to notice about the MAGICIAN is that his left hand makes a gesture indicating definite purpose. He is directing his power to a plane below that of his own existence, for a specific reason. The plane below him is shown as a garden, which typifies the subconscious. In concentration remember always that you seek to impress some definite images upon the subconscious. You do not draw down the power from Kether without any particular object. You aim to accomplish some concrete modification of the subconscious field of activity.

What the purpose may be will vary from day to day, according to the circumstances. It will always have certain characteristics. You will use the force either to promote the culture of a desire image (roses), or also to develop some seed of intellectual perception (lilies). Again, whatever the exercise may be, it will necessarily partake of the dominant quality of one of the implements symbolizing the elements. For in each path on the Tree of Life one of the elements predominates, except in the 10th, Malkuth, the 3rd, Binah, the 2nd, Chokmah, and the 1st, Kether -- these four being synthetic paths, in which the operation of all four elements is mingled, without any one element predominating.

The garments of the MAGICIAN show that the outer aspect of the One Force utilized in concentration is Rajas, Sulphur, or the fiery desire-nature (red), while the inner reality is Sattva, Mercury, or the white brilliance of Kether. For it is really the descent of power from Kether which does the work, although the manifestation of power takes the Rajasic form of the ascent of Kundalini. The MAGICIAN'S serpent girdle symbolizes the Tamasic limitation imposed upon the white light of Kether in all concentration practice.

The exercises to be practiced in connection with this lesson are connected with the 32nd path of Tau, the 31st path of Shin, and the 30th path of Resh. In the exercises for the 32nd path, imagine yourself also to be in Malkuth, but projecting your consciousness upward to Yesod. In the practice of concentration connected with the 30th path, however, you must imagine yourself as being placed in Hod, and as drawing power up from Yesod to Hod, along the channel of that path. Observe these directions carefully, even though the reasons therefore may not be evident at a first reading.

Place your watch where you can see it without having to alter your position to look at it, and practice five minutes of your fifteen-minute period on each path. By so doing you avoid strain in these first exercises, because the shifting of attention at the end of five minutes from one path to another is a kind of rest.

On the first day of practice confine yourself to the color of the path. Begin with the color-cross of Malkuth, and then picture a ray of deep indigo force passing upward from the citrine segment of Malkuth toward Yesod. See yourself projecting that force upward and inward. Whenever the image wavers, slip a bead on your string. At first this action of slipping the beads will interfere with concentration, but eventually it will become automatic, as will the noting of the passage of time. (In passing I may say that this work will ultimately provide you with a sort of interior clock, so that you will be able to estimate the passage of time automatically.)

After the first five minutes, change to the path of Shin, picturing a red ray projected upward from the russet segment of Malkuth. Then, after five minutes of this, place yourself in Hod, seeing yourself surrounded by a sphere of orange light, and see a ray of the same light being drawn upward to your from the sphere of Yesod. (This imagined activity is in actual correspondence when one succeeds in this particular exercise.)

On the second day, concentrate on the planetary symbols and elementary symbol. Begin with Saturn, and visualize the symbol in color, holding it firmly before your mental gaze, and recording as a break each variation in shape or color. Next take the path of Shin, and imagine an upright red triangle. Finish this series of concentrations with the path of Resh and use a sun-symbol in orange.

The third day, use the Hebrew letters, visualizing each in its proper color. The fourth day, using your pitch-pipe or the piano (which is not nearly so good) to give you the tone, sound the names of the three letters, one during each five minutes, at first audibly, and then internally. The fifth day picture the corresponding Tarot Keys. The sixth day use this formula: "I am the Administrative Intelligence, uniting the Kingdom of Light to its Foundation," during the first five minutes; in the succeeding five minutes say, "I am the Perpetual Intelligence, which rules the two great lights of consciousness"; and in the last five minutes say, "I am the Collecting Intelligence, gathering up the force of the Foundation, and concentrating it in the sphere of Splendor." The seventh day you should do no practices.

At the end of the period make a brief record of the following things:

1. Time practice began.
2. Number of breaks in each five-minute period.
3. Easiest part of exercise.
4. Hardest part of exercise.
5. Any unusual impressions.

This record is essential, and I shall wish to examine it from time to time. A good record contains few words, and one that describes a lot of marvelous psychic experiences is a very, very bad one.