AMRITA - Comments on the Elixir of Life

[BeautifulEvil]

Source Text: Liber CCCXLIII: AMRITA

As we cannot drink at the source of Life, keep Youth perpetual as we can keep Light--strange realization of the Rosicrucian's dream, or, it may be, discovery of his secret!

But we have found the Super-food. We know a vehicle of which a few grains can house enough pure light to fill a man not only with nourishment, but with Energy almost superhuman, and parallel, Intelligence incredibly sun-bright for four-and twenty hours. That substance is theoretically easy, but practically hard to obtain. In England and America it would be impossible to procure any
quantity even of the raw material, at least in strength and purity; much less to prepare it. We know how to charge this substance with the Life-force. The process is at present laborious and expensive; great skill is required, and much precaution for errors in
preparation are hard to detect, and may result in hideous mischance.

It is now six years since we gained our knowledge. They have been crowded with experiment; we are arrived at the practical stage. We cannot understand the true Nature of this force; we cannot measure it; we cannot create it, or obtain it synthetically. But we can purify and intensify it; we can, within wide limits, determine at will the quality and scope of its action; we can postpone death, increase energy, or prolong youth; and we are justified in saying that we possess the Elixir of Life.

Note: The Elixir is only administered to selected individuals for good reason shown. The normal course of treatment consists of two or three months' preparation in the place prepared for the purpose in Sicily, followed by the necessary period, usually one month, of the actual experiment which is made in the greatest secrecy.

I'm interested in what others have to say about this part of the text. What's even more interesting is Crowley states that it would be impossible to procure any quantity of the raw material in England and America. What is he referring to here? Is it some type of special plant, a fungi, or some type of mineral?

Apparently it didn't work for Crowley, or he never administered it to himself. He died a sickly old man, and if he did administer the Elixir of Life to himself then it didn't work. IF that's the case, we can be sure that Crowley did not know the secret. This seems really bothersome, especially since Crowley was a genius of the highest quality.

[deviadah]

Is there a possibility that he is speaking in allegories here? He often did so...

If this is the case then it is not difficult to interpret, but if he was not then that is another matter!

[BeautifulEvil]

Is there a possibility that he is speaking in allegories here? He often did so...

There is always such a possibility, and Crowley would be a prime suspect for such acts.

Let's assume he is speaking in allegory; what do you think it means in that case?

[MythMath]

How immortal does one have to be...?

We are still talking about this man,
still learning from his work...

Don't you feel that he too is still
learning, from our collective work...?

[BeautifulEvil]

How immortal does one have to be...?

You bring up a fantastic point. What defines immortality?

I define immortality as being able to live as long as you want, and by being able to choose the moment of your death. That means I could live for 150 years, 500 years, or 6,000 years; if I want to die, then I simply kill over regardless of age. Of course, immortality != invincibility, but now that I think about it, I'm not sure. If you get shot or stabbed -- tough luck.

Maybe we should speak of life extension rather than immortality.

Don't you feel that he too is still
learning, from our collective work...?

How cryptic!

[deviadah]

I believe in WILL, and A.C. speaks a lot about willpower.

You can choose to get sick, and you can choose to get well again. The power of the mind is infinite, and eternal life is eternal, but the concept of time does confuse us all. We should just ignore this aspect. We can live aeons in a second (just look at dreams) and seconds can feel like hours...

I think it is all about will!

...determine at will the quality and scope of its action...

[m1thr0s]

Don't you feel that he too is still
learning, from our collective work...?

yeah, actually I think that's probably true. There are certain schools of reincarnation philosophy that maintain that a spiritual teacher becomes unavoidably locked into those worlds he/she impacts until that impact reaches some kind of resolution. It's as though they are still alive since their words are still affecting people which has the general effect of binding them to the spot itself.

Now if a given teaching is deficient in some way...if it goes part way but doesn't go the necessary distance for instance, it may happen that the spiritual teacher reincarnates to push that teaching further along...or in other cases this reincarnation may occur in the form of students independantly taking up the mantle and braving new dimensions on their own initiative.

So I would say AC's ass is sort of on the line here more than he might have anticipated...all this "star" stuff and "will" stuff is a pretty big deal and while he raises many excellent points, he fails to resolve many critical issues as well. I wouldn't be at all surprized to learn he is a busy little bee somewhere on the astral plane testing out all the various extensions his work has thus far ignited.

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