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Ah! Ah! What do I feel? Is the word exhausted?

The Djeridensis Comment
(69-70.) After a time my mortal part failed to endure the stress of the rapture. I came to myself, or rather wandered from myself, wondering who I was, and what had happened, and whether the word was at an end. Aiwass then taught me how to prepare myself for such supreme events. I should mention that this trance fulfilled the promise which I had asked of the Secret Chiefs when I agreed to accept the task they wished to lay upon me. "If I am to fill my office as I should, I must have first attained to that clear sight of truth without which every act of mine would certainly be an error." I had worked hard for a long time to attain some such trance and had never come near success. Yet now, without a word of warning I was caught up into it. The secret was this: the breaking down of my false Will by those dread words of mine Angel freed my True Self from all its bonds, so that I could enjoy at once the rapture of knowing myself to be who I am. To prepare oneself for such work one should strengthen oneself in every way, so as to be able to "bear more joy." This does not imply brute vigour. The nature of rapture is such that the finer it is, the stronger it is. Thus, in making oneself drunk to worship Hadit, one should observe the "eight and ninety rules of art" (I explain elsewhere the meaning of these figure). Likewise, in love, excess is not to be attained by violent lust. The artist is the model. One must learn to enjoy every least detail; yet blend them all into one single sublime concept. The same tactics apply to all joyous deeds. The key to success is subtlety.

The Old Comment
The prophet's own consciousness re-awakens. He no longer knows anything at all—then grows the memory of the inspiration past; he asks if it is all.
[It is evidently his own interpolation in the dictation.]

The New Comment
The phrase – "the word" – is of a deeper significance than at first sight may appear. The question is not merely equivalent to: "Is the dictation at an end?" For the Word is Conceived as the act of possession. This is evident from the choice of the word "exhausted". The inspiration has been like an electrical discharge. Language is in itself nothing; it is only the medium of transmitting experience to consciousness. Tahuti, Thoth, Hermes, or Mercury symbolize this relation; the character of this God is declared in very full terms in "The Paris Working", which should be studied eagerly by those who are fortunate enough to have access to the MS.