Thanateros (Thanatos – smrt, Eros – ljubav, strast, želja za
stvaranjem) je jedan od naziva za jedinstvo dualnosti koje se nalazi u
srcu Visoke Magije. Tekstovi koji slede nisu neke direktno upotrebljive
tehnike; radi se o ražmišljanjima o višim pitanjima, o konceptima na
koje magi naleću pre ili kasnije. Zašto su ovi koncepti važni? Oni su
ideje koje ukazuju na centar… svega. Na odgovor na pitanje o životu,
univerzumu i svemu ostalom. Na pitanja koja ne možemo jasno da
formulišemo, na probleme koji nas muče (što svesno što podsvesno) i
koje nismo u stanju ni sami sebi da jasno predstavimo. Možete reći da
je razmišljanje o ovim tekstovima “prvi korak na putu ka
prosvetljenju.” Ja bih dodao i sledeće: razumevanje sveta u kome čovek
radi bilo šta je neophodno da bi taj rad bio efikasan.
Međutim, da prvo objasnimo ideju spoznaje. Da li možete da mi date
jasnu, nedvosmislenu definiciju broja? Ne možete – filozofi se i dalje
prepiru oko “klase klasa” i sličnih stvari. Da li možete da slepom
čoveku rečima objasnite kako izgleda narandzasta boja? Ne možete – ona
mora biti viđena da bi čovek znao kako izgleda. Isto važi za ukuse,
mirise, osećanja… Ideje, koje se NE MOGU logički, rečima preneti
drugim ljudima nazivamo spoznajni koncepti. Te ideje zahtevaju direktno
iskustvo da bi mogle biti shvaćene; one su neobjašnjive i neprenosive,
ne mogu biti izrečene već samo doživljene. Ono što sledi je nekoliko
putokaza; prateći te putokaze, možete doći do SPOZNAJE stvari koje vam
niko ne može prosto reći. Da li će vam biti razumljivi? Verovatno ne
odmah. Da li treba da ih pažljivo pročitate i razmislite o njima?
Svakako. U magiji ćete pre ili kasnije početi da nalećete na događaje
kod kojih će vam ođednom “pući pred očima” šta neki delovi ovih stvari
znače; isto će se događati u životu, pogotovo ako imate običaj da
čitate knjige – iznenadićete se koliko često ćete naići na senku
Thanaterosa.
Kabala je mistični sistem na kome je zasnovana jevrejska religija.
Rabiji uče Kabalu nakon što napune četrdesetu godinu (smatra se da
čovek pre toga nije dovoljno stabilan da bi mogao da podnese moć tog
sistema), dok su zapadni magi koristili kabalističke ideje kroz čitav
srednji vek. Mnogi sistemi (Zlatna Zora, Telema, preko polovine struja
Hermeticizma) su potpuno zasnovani na kabalističkim učenjima. Tekst
koji sledi izlaže osnovnu ideju Kabale, izraženu kroz simbol poznat kao
Drvo Života.
Tekst je prilično apstraktan, ali daje neke osnovne ideje jasnije
nego bilo šta drugo što sam do sada video. Da bi ste videli ASCII
ilustracije kako treba, gledajte ovaj tekst sa nekim fixed fontom (ne
TrueType).
The Tree of Life
(from “Notes on Kabbalah,” (c) 1991. Colin Low)
At the root of the Kabbalistic view of the world are three fundamental
concepts and they provide a natural place to begin. The three concepts
are force, form and consciousness and these words are used in an
abstract way, as the following examples illustrate:
high pressure steam in the cylinder of a steam engine provides a force. The engine is a form which constrains the force.
a river runs downhill under the force of gravity. The river channel
is a form which constrains the water to run in a well defined path.
someone wants to get to the centre of a garden maze. The hedges are a
form which constrain that person’s ability to walk as they please.
a diesel engine provides the force which drives a boat forwards. A rudder constrains its course to a given direction.
a polititian wants to change the law. The legislative framework of the
country is a form which he or she must follow if the change is to be
made legally.
water sits in a bowl. The force of gravity pulls the water down. The bowl is a form which gives its shape to the water.
a stone falls to the ground under the force of gravity. Its
acceleration is constrained to be equal to the force divided by the
mass of the stone.
I want to win at chess. The force of my desire to win is constrained
within the rules of chess.
I see something in a shop window and have to have it. I am constrained
by the conditions of sale (do I have enough money, is it in stock).
cordite explodes in a gun barrel and provides an explosive force on a
bullet. The gas and the bullet are constrained by the form of the gun
barrel.
I want to get a passport. The government won’t give me one unless I fill in lots of forms in precisely the right way.
I want a university degree. The university won’t give me a degree unless I attend certain courses and pass various assessments.
In all these examples there is something which is causing change to
take place (“a force”) and there is something which causes change to
take place in a defined way (“a form”). Without being too pedantic it
is possible to identify two very different types of example here:
examples of natural physical processes (e.g. a falling stone) where
the force is one of the natural forces known to physics (e.g. gravity)
and the form is is some combination of physical laws which constrain
the force to act in a well defined way.
examples of people wanting something, where the force is some
ill-defined concept of “desire”, “will”, or “drives”, and the form is
one of the forms we impose upon ourselves (the rules of chess, the Law,
polite behaviour etc.).
Despite the fact that the two different types of example are “only
metaphorically similar”, Kabbalists see no fundamental distiniction
between them. To the Kabbalist there are forces which cause change in
the natural world, and there are corresponding psychological forces
which drive us to change both the world and ourselves, and whether
these forces are natural or psychological they are rooted in the same
place: consciousness. Similarly, there are forms which the component
parts of the physical world seem to obey (natural laws) and there are
completely arbitrary forms we create as part of the process of living
(the rules of a game, the shape of a mug, the design
of an engine, the syntax of a language) and these forms are also rooted
in the same place: consciousness. It is a Kabbalistic axiom that there
is a prime cause which underpins all the manifestations of force and
form in both the natural and psychological world and that prime cause I
have called consciousness for lack of a better word.
Consciousness is undefinable. We know that we are conscious in
different ways at different times – sometimes we feel free and happy,
at other times trapped and confused, sometimes angry and passionate,
sometimes cold and restrained – but these words describe manifestations
of consciousness. We can define the manifestations of consciousness in
terms of manifestations of consciousness, which is about as useful as
defining an ocean in terms of waves and foam. Anyone who attempts to
define consciousness itself tends to come out of the same door as they
went in. We have lots of words for the phenomena of consciousness
thoughts, feelings, beliefs, desires, emotions, motives and so on – but
few words for the states of consciousness which give rise to these
phenomena, just as we have many words to describe the surface of a sea,
but few words to describe its depths. Kabbalah provides a vocabulary
for states of consciousness underlying the phenomena, and one of the
purposes of these notes is to explain this vocabulary, not by
definition, but mostly by metaphor and analogy. The only genuine method
of understanding what the vocabulary means is by attaining various
states of consciousness in a predictable and reasonably objective way,
and Kabbalah provides practical methods for doing this.
A fundamental premise of the Kabbalistic model of reality is that
there is a pure, primal, and undefinable state of consciousness which
manifests as an interaction between force and form. This is virtually
the entire guts of the Kabbalistic view of things, and almost
everything I have to say from now on is based on this trinity of
consciousness, force, and form. Consciousness comes first, but hidden
within it is an inherent duality; there is an energy associated with
consciousness which causes change (force), and there is a capacity
within consciousness to constrain that energy and cause it to manifest
in a well-defined way (form).
First Principle
of
/ Consciousness
/
/
Capacity Raw
to take ________________ Energy
Form
Figure 1.
What do we get out of raw energy and an inbuilt capacity for form
and structure? Is there yet another hidden potential within this
trinity waiting to manifest? There is. If modern physics is to be
believed we get matter and the physical world. The cosmological Big
Bang model of raw energy surging out from an infintesimal point and
condensing into basic forms of matter as
it cools, then into stars and galaxies, then planets, and ultimately
living creatures, has many points of similarity with the Kabbalistic
model. In the Big Bang model a soup of energy condenses according to
some yet-to-be-formulated Grand-Universal-Theory into our physical
world. What Kabbalah does suggest (and modern physics most certainly
does not!) is that
matter and consciousness are the same stuff, and differ only in the
degree of structure imposed – matter is consciousness so heavily
structured and constrained that its behaviour becomes describable using
the regular and simple laws of physics. This is shown in Fig. 2. The
primal, first principle of consciousness is synonymous with the idea of
“God”.
First Principle
of
/ Consciousness
/ |
/ |
Capacity | Raw
to take _____________ Energy/Force
Form |
| /
| /
| /
Matter
The World
Figure 2
The glyph in Fig. 2 is the basis for the Tree of Life. The first
principle of consciousness is called Kether, which means Crown. The raw
energy of consciousness is called Chockhmah or Wisdom, and the capacity
to give form to the energy of consciousness is called Binah, which is
sometimes translated as Understanding, and sometimes as Intelligence.
The outcome of
the interaction of force and form, the physical world, called Malkuth
or Kingdom. This quaternery is a Kabbalistic representation of God-the
Knowable, in the sense that it the most primitive representation of God
we are capable of comprehending; paradoxically, Kabbalah also contains
a notion of God-the-Unknowable which transcends this glyph, and is
called En Soph. There is not much I can say about En Soph, and what I
can say I will postpone for later.
God-the-Knowable has four aspects, two male and two female: Kether
and Chokhmah are both represented as male, and Binah and Malkuth are
represented as female. One of the titles of Chokhmah is Abba, which
means Father, and one of the titles of Binah is Aima, which means
Mother, so you can think of Chokhmah as Godthe -Father, and Binah as
God-the-Mother. Malkuth is the daughter, the female spirit of
God-as-Matter, and it would not be wildly wrong to think of her as
Mother Earth. One of the more pleasant things about Kabbalah is that
its symbolism gives equal place to both male and female.
And what of God-the-Son? Is there also a God-the-Son in Kabbalah?
There is, and this is the point where Kabbalah tackles the interesting
problem of thee and me. The glyph in Fig. 2 is a model of
consciousness, but not of self-consciousness, and selfconsciousness
throws an interesting spanner in the works.
The Fall
Self-consciousness is like a mirror in which
consciousness sees itself reflected. Self-consciousness is modelled in
Kabbalah by making a copy of figure 2.
Consciousness
of
/ Consciousness
/ |
/ |
Consciousness | Consciousness
of ________________ of
Form | Energy/Force
| /
| /
| /
Consciousness
of the
World
Figure 3
Figure 3. is Figure 2. reflected through self-consciousness. The
overall effect of self-consciousness is to add an additional layer to
Figure 2. as follows:
First Principle
of
/ Consciousness
/ |
/ |
Capacity | Raw
to take _____________ Energy/Force
Form |
| /
| /
| /
Consciousness
of
/ Consciousness
/ |
/ |
Consciousness | Consciousness
of ________________ of
Form | Energy/Force
| /
| /
| /
Consciousness
of the
World
|
|
|
Matter
The World
Figure 4
Fig. 2 is sometimes called “the Garden of Eden” because it
represents a primal state of consciousness. The effect of
selfconsciousness as shown in Fig. 4 is to drive a wedge between the
First Principle of Consciousness (Kether) and that Consciousness
realised as matter and the physical world (Malkuth). This is called
“the Fall”, after the story of Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden. From a Kabbalistic point of view the story of Eden,
with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the serpent and the
temptation, and the casting out from the Garden has a great deal of
meaning in terms of understanding the evolution of consciousness.
Self-consciousness introduces four new states of consciousness: the
Consciousness of Consciousness is called Tipheret, which means Beauty;
the Consciousness of Force/Energy is called Netzach, which means
Victory or Firmness; the Consciousness of Form is called Hod, which
means Splendour or Glory, and the Consciousness of Matter is called
Yesod, which means Foundation. These four states have readily
observable manifestations, as shown below in Fig. 5:
The Self
Self-Importance
Self-Sacrifice
/ |
/ |
/ |
Language | Emotions
Abstraction_______________Drives
Reason | Feelings
| /
| /
| /
Perception /
Imagination
Instinct
Reproduction
Figure 5
Figure 4. is almost the complete Tree of Life, but not quite – there
are still two states missing. The inherent capacity of consciousness to
take on structure and objectify itself (Binah, God-the-Mother) is
reflected through self-consciousness as a perception of the limitedness
and boundedness of things. We are conscious of space and time,
yesterday and today, here and
there, you and me, in and out, life and death, whole and broken,
together and apart. We see things as limited and bounded and we have a
perception of form as something “created” and “destroyed”. My car was
built a year ago, but it was smashed yesterday. I wrote an essay, but I
lost it when my computer crashed. My granny is dead. The river changed
its course. A law has been repealed. I broke my coffee mug. The world
changes, and what was here yesterday is not here today. This perception
acts like an “interface” between the quaternary of consciousness which
represents “God”, and the quaternary which represents a living
self-conscious being, and two new states are introduced to represent
this interface. The state which
represents the creation of new forms is called Chesed, which means
Mercy, and the state which represents the destruction of forms is
called Gevurah, which means Strength. This is shown in Fig. 6. The
objectification of forms which takes place in a self-conscious being,
and the consequent tendency to view the world in terms of limitations
and dualities (time and space, here and there, you and me, in and out,
God and Man, good and evil…) produces a barrier to perception which
most people rarely overcome, and for this reason it has come to be
called the Abyss. The Abyss is also marked on Figure 6.
First Principle
of
/ Consciousness
/ |
/ |
Capacity | Raw
to take _____________ Energy/Force
Form | |
| | /|
| | / |
--------------Abyss---------------
| | / |
Destruction | Creation
of__________|_____ /____of
Form | / Form
| | / / |
| | / / |
| Consciousness / |
| of |
| / Consciousness |
| / | |
|/ | |
Consciousness | Consciousness
of ________________ of
Form | Energy/Force
| / /
| / /
| / /
Consciousness /
of /
the World /
/
| /
| /
| /
Matter
The World
Figure 6
The diagram in Fig. 6 is called the Tree of Life. The
“constructionist” approach I have used to justify its structure is a
little unusual, but the essence of my presentation can be found in the
“Zohar” under the guise of the Macroprosopus and Microprosopus,
although in this form it is not readily accessible to the average
reader. My attempt to show how the Tree of Life
can be derived out of pure consciousness through the interaction of an
abstract notion of force and form was not intended to be a convincing
exercise from an intellectual point of view – the Tree of Life is
primarily a gnostic rather than a rational or intellectual explanation
of consciousness and its interaction with the physical world.
The Tree is composed of 10 states or sephiroth (sephiroth plural,
sephira singular) and 22 interconnecting paths. The age of this diagram
is unknown: there is enough information in the 13th. century “Sepher ha
Zohar” to construct this diagram, and the doctrine of the sephiroth has
been attributed to Isaac the Blind in the 12th. century, but we have no
certain knowledge of its origin. It probably originated sometime in the
interval between the 6th. and 13th. centuries AD. The origin of the
word “sephira” is unclear – it is almost certainly derived from the
Hebrew word for “number” (SPhR), but it has also been attributed to the
Greek word for “sphere” and even to the Hebrew word for a sapphire
(SPhIR). With a characteristic aptitude for discovering hidden meanings
everywhere, Kabbalists find all three derivations useful, so take your
pick.
In the language of earlier Kabbalistic writers the sephiroth
represented ten primeval emanations of God, ten focii through which the
energy of a hidden, absolute and unknown Godhead (En Soph) propagated
throughout the creation, like white light passing through a prism. The
sephiroth can be interpreted as aspects of God, as states of
consciousness, or as nodes akin to the Chakras in the occult anatomy of
a human being .
I have left out one important detail from the structure of the Tree.
There is an eleventh “something” which is definitely *not* a sephira,
but is often shown on modern representations of the Tree. The
Kabbalistic “explanation” runs as follows: when Malkuth “fell” out of
the Garden of Eden (Fig. 2) it left behind a “hole” in the fabric of
the Tree, and this “hole”, located in
the centre of the Abyss, is called Daath, or Knowledge. Daath is *not*
a sephira; it is a hole. This may sound like gobbledy-gook, and in the
sense that it is only a metaphor, it is. The completed Tree of Life
with the Hebrew titles of the sephiroth is shown below in Fig. 7.
En Soph
/-------------------------
/
( Kether )
/ (Crown)
/ |
/ |
/ |
Binah | Chokhmah
(Understanding)__________ (Wisdom)
(Intelligence) | |
| | /|
| Daath / |
| (Knowledge) / |
| | / |
Gevurah | / Chesed
(Strength)_____|_____/__ (Mercy)
| | / (Love)
| | / / |
| | / / |
| Tipheret / |
| / (Beauty) |
| / | |
| / | |
|/ | |
Hod | Netzach
(Glory) _______________(Victory)
(Splendour) | (Firmness)
| / /
| / /
| / /
| / /
Yesod / /
(Foundation) /
/
| /
| /
| /
Malkuth
(Kingdom)
Figure 7
From an historical point of view the doctrine of emanations and the
Tree of Life are only one small part of a huge body of Kabbalistic
speculation about the nature of divinity and our part in creation, but
it is the part which has survived. The Tree continues to be used in the
Twentieth Century because it has proved to be a useful and productive
symbol for practices of a
magical, mystical and religious nature. Modern Kabbalah in the Western
Mystery Tradition is largely concerned with the understanding and
practical application of the Tree of Life, and the following set of
notes will list some of the characteristics of each sephira in more
detail so that you will have a “snapshot” of what each sephira
represents before going on to examine
the sephiroth and the “deep structure” of the Tree in more detail.
[Ako vas zanima više o Kabali, javite mi se i tražite, i dobićete
celu knjigu u elektronskom obliku (107KB .zip fajl). Knjiga je odlična,
daleko iznad proseka knjiga na temu Kabale, ali imajte u vidu da je
više analiticka nego uvodna ili praktična.]
[Verovatno najjasnije i najčistije izražavanje ideja o kojima pričamo. Prvi stih sadrži jednu od najvažnijih ideja koje čovek može uopšte da zna. Iza njega sledi izbor nekoliko stihova koji su, po meni, najvažniji za vas sada na početku. Ako možete da nađete u sebi interesovanja, obavezno pogledajte celu knjigu.]
1
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.
2
When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.
Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.
Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn’t possess,
acts but doesn’t expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.
4
The Tao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities.
It is hidden but always present.
I don’t know who gave birth to it.
It is older than God.
5
The Tao doesn’t take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn’t take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.
The Tao is like a bellows:
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.
Hold on to the center.
6
The Tao is called the Great Mother:
empty yet inexhaustible,
it gives birth to infinite worlds.
It is always present within you.
You can use it any way you want.
11
We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.
We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.
23
Express yourself completely,
then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.
If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.
Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.
33 Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.
36
If you want to shrink something,
you must first allow it to expand.
If you want to get rid of something,
you must first allow it to flourish.
If you want to take something,
you must first allow it to be given.
This is called the subtle perception
of the way things are.
The soft overcomes the hard.
The slow overcomes the fast.
Let your workings remain a mystery.
Just show people the results.
40
Return is the movement of the Tao.
Yielding is the way of the Tao.
All things are born of being.
Being is born of non-being.
[Ako je Tao Te Ching najjasnije, Smaragdna Tablica je najsažetije
objašnjenje pomenutih ideja. Tekst na kome je dobrim delom zasnovan
zapadni hermetizam, kao i čitava Alhemija, na tri jezika:]
Verum, sine mendacio, certum, et verissimum: Quod est inferious est
sicut quod est superius, et quod est superius est sicut quod est
inferius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius. Et sicut res omnes fuerunt
ab uno, meditatione unius, sic omnes res natae ab hac una re,
adaptatione. Pater eius est sol; mater eius est luna. Portavit illud
ventus in ventre suo; nutrix ius terra est. Pater omnis telesmi totius
mundi est hic. Virtus eius integra est, si versa fuerit in terram.
Separabis terram ab igne, subtile ab pisso, suaviter, magno cum
ingenio. Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque descendit in terram, et
recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum. Sic habebis gloriam totius mundi.
Ideo fugiet a te omnis obscuritas. Haec est totius fortitudinis
fortitudo fortis, quia vincet omnem rem subtilem, omnemque solidam
penetrabit. Sic mundus creatus est. Hinc erunt adaptationes mirabiles,
quarum modus est his. Itaque vocatus sum Hermes Trismegistus, habens
tres partes philosophiae totius mundi. Completum est quod dixi de
operatione solis.
True, without falsehood, certain and most true, that which is above
is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that which is
above, for the performance of the miracles of the One Thing. And as all
things are from One, by the mediation of One, so all things have their
birth from this One Thing by adaptation. The Sun is its father, the
Moon its mother, the Wind
carries it in its belly, its nurse is the Earth. This is the father of
all perfection, or consummation of the whole world. Its power is
integrating, if it be turned into earth. Thou shalt separate the earth
from the fire, the subtle from the gross, suavely, and with great
ingenuity. It ascends from earth to heaven and descends again to earth,
and receives the power of the superiors and of the inferiors. So thou
hast the glory of the whole world; therefore let all obscurity flee
before thee. This is the strong force of all forces, overcoming every
subtle and penetrating every solid thing. So the world was created.
Hence were all wonderful adaptations, of which this is the manner.
Therefore am I called Hermes Trismegistus, having the three parts of
the philosophy of the whole world. What I have to tell is completed,
concerning the Operation of the Sun.
Istinito, bez laži, sigurno i najistinitije, ono što je iznad je kao
ono što je ispod, i ono što je ispod je kao ono što je iznad, radi
izvođenja čuda Jedne Stvari. I kao što su sve stvari od Jedne, kroz
kontemplaciju Jedne, tako i sve stvari imaju svoje rođenje od ove Jedne
Stvari kroz adaptaciju. Sunce je otac toga, Mesec majka, Vetar to nosi
u svom stomaku, dadilja je tome Zemlja. Ovo je otac svih savršenih
stvari celog sveta. Moć toga je integrišuća, ako se pretvori u zemlju.
Ti ćeš razdvojiti zemlju od vatre, suptilno od grubog, blago, polako, i
sa mnogo razmišljanja. Ono se izdiže sa zemlje do neba i spušta se
ponovo na zemlju, i prima moć superiornih i inferiornih. Tako ti imaš
slavu celog sveta; otud, neka svo nerazumevanje nestane pred tobom. Ovo
je snažna sila svih sila, prevazilazeći svaku nematerijalnu i
prožimajući svaku čvrstu stvar. Tako je svet stvoren. Otud sve divne
adaptacije, od kojih je ovo način. Otud sam ja zvan Hermes
Trismegistus, imajući tri dela filozofije celog sveta. Ono što imam da
kažem je završeno, o Operaciji Sunca.
Knjige koje preporučujem za dalje čitanje (* znači da se mogu naći na
Internetu):
Lao Tze: Tao Te Ching*
Malaclypse the Younger: Principia Discordia*
Herman Hesse: Siddhartha
Den Simmons: Hollow Man
Robert Anton Wilson & Robert Shea: Illuminatus!
Robert Anton Wilson: Masks of the Illuminati
W.S. Maugham: Razor’s Edge