THE SOLDIER AND THE HUNCHBACK

“One must pass by contemptuously the Christian liar’s gloss which interprets ‘sceptic’ as ‘mocker’; though in a sense it is true for him, since to inquire into Christianity is assuredly to mock at it”
— Aleister Crowley’s The Soldier and the Hunchback: ! and ?

“Indolence is no virtue in a questioner. Eagerness, intentness, concentration, vigilance — all these I include in the connotation of ‘sceptic.’ Such questioning as has been called ‘vital scepticism’ is but a device to avoid true questioning, and therefore its very antithesis, the devil disguised as an angel of light.

[Or vice versa, friend, if you are a Satanist; ’tis a matter of words — words — words. You may write x for y in your equations, so long as you consistently write y for x. They remain unchanged — and unsolved. Is not all our ‘knowledge’ an example of this fallacy of writing one unknown for another, and then crowing like Peter’s cock?]

I picture the true sceptic as a man eager and alert, his deep eyes glittering like sharp swords, his hands tense with effort as he asks, ‘What does it matter?’

I picture the false sceptic as a dude or popinjay, yawning, with dull eyes, his muscles limp, his purpose in asking the question but the expression of his slackness and stupidity.”
— Aleister Crowley’s The Soldier and the Hunchback: ! and ?

“The attitude recommended is scepticism, but a scepticism under control. Doubt inhibits action, as much as faith binds it.”
— Aleister Crowley’s Commentary (ΜΕ) on ΚΕΦΑΛΗ ΜΕ Chinese Music in Liber CCCXXXIII, The Book of Lies

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