Selected Commentary
upon the Writings
and
Opinions of Stuart X

by
Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley's name appears on the title page of a privately printed volume which was distributed from Washington DC in 1916 e.v., under the title "A Prophet in His Own country: Being the Letters of STUART X, to many men on many occasions." Crowley was hired by Henry Clifford Stuart and credited as editor, and as writer of the introduction and some brief notes of commentary. (Crowley probably also prepared the index, which is extensive and interestingly organized.) As this material has never been available since its original private publication, some of Crowley's more extensive and self- explanatory comments upon Stuart's individual items have been collected here as an appendix to our presentation of Crowley's introductory article on Stuart in these pages earlier this summer. The Stuart volume is composed of over 190 numbered items, most of which are presented without any additional commentary. About 20% of them are followed by Crowley's notes, and a few others have added notes by Stuart himself. The 22 comments selected here comprise the majority of Crowley's editorial additions to Stuart's work. Most of the other 16 omitted comments are brief notes of only two or three lines, meaningless without an extended summary of the items to which they refer. Brief summaries of the items to which these selections refer are given in italic type immediately preceding Crowley's comments, identified here, as they are in the original volume, by the initials "A.C." We were very interested this past month to receive from Frater Numa of the O.T.O. in Australia a previously unknown presentation of the text of Crowley's "introduction." The article had been typed out by Karl Germer in New Jersey and sent to Dr. Krumm-Heller in the 1950s e.v. In an apparent attempt at humor, Germer retitled the piece "The Man that Put the O.K. in Book," and offered it as a sample product of the fancy new Remington electric typewriter he had recently borrowed for use in preparing Crowley's more substantial writings for publication. (The Germer typescript presents those substantial variants in the text of the essay.)

Section 1

"The Dollar"

4.. "An eight-page dialogue in free verse (or "outline" form) between "Mr Stuart" and "Prof. Fisher," regarding the ideas of price, cost, and property, of which the final speech by Stuart concludes with
"... man not only has always failed
to fix things himself
but has never yet found anything fixed,
nor does his vision,
roam where it will
in Heaven or Earth,
find anything fixed; --
All is flux --
The very tombstones fail to fix the 'Dead.'"

A.C.: This argument is extraordinarily subtle and profound, and cuts at the roots of the matter of exchange. The triumphant conclusion in the "Panta Rei" of Heraclitus stamps this dialogue as great literature.

6.. "A long letter dated 9 May 1913 in opposition to the gold standard, based upon the conviction that "the concept of 'value' is inseparable from labor.""

A.C.: A magnificent demonstration of the impossibility of using anything valuable as a means of exchange. One is reminded of the proverb: You cannot eat your cake and have it too.

7.. "A brief letter of 12 May 1913 proposing nationalization of the banks, because "the Bankers are rapidly coming to monopolize the means for exchange which once belonged to the people, thereby directly controlling their activities.""

A.C.: Here attention is called to the trouble created by the fact that the possessor of wealth in whatever form cannot mobilize his resources at any desired moment owing to his lack of a medium of exchange. Under the present system he is not credited even with what he possesses -- for this reason the possession of money has come to imply wealth. A man with immense resources may starve unless he can realize them immediately; but money is accounted wealth because it can immediately and without question be exchanged for whatever commodity is required. And since the proportion of dollars to the amount of business done is as one to sixty or thereabouts, the man with the dollar can disorganize the business of the world and inflate the value of his perfectly worthless bill still further by merely threatening to withhold it from circulation.

10.. "Notes on "currency 'Reform'" dated 4 June 1913, the final paragraph of which argues that "it was not 'luxury' that killed Rome but that for which luxury was the symbol -- slavery at the other end," leading to unwieldy concentration of wealth in the hands of a few large owners. He concludes that "the only safe cities in this land today are those where the common people own their homes . . . . The others will be wiped out when the class-war strikes us."

A.C.: The note of warning sounded in the last paragraph of this letter deserves the most careful consideration.

14.. "A short letter of 12 October 1913, condemning bankers for abuse of money, which "the people want and must have" as a "means for exchange," in order to monopolize it "as a means for enslaving the world.""

A.C.: This very acute criticism of the gold standard should be final. It is absurd for the banker to demand gold and at the same time to complain of over- production. It must be obvious to every one who thinks for a moment that the only reason that this is desired, or rather, that people pretend to desire it, is because it is unattainable. Unless there were artificial restrictions, there could be no trouble. Every one in the world is really rich. Poverty has been created deliberately by holding up the means of exchange.

17.. "A brief article dated 11 August 1914, rejected by the financial editors of several periodicals, angrily complaining of the war-time controls over stock-trading."

A.C.: It is amazing how pungent and acute is this criticism. It exposes completely the hypocrisy of the governments. No destruction of wealth takes place when stocks fall to a tenth of their former prices, and yet everybody acts as if something terrible had happened. It may be answered that I am committing a "husteron proteron," that it is because of some terrible happening that the stocks decline in value. True. But if so, why attempt to conceal the fact? You do not alter it by an arbitrary suspension of business. Even calamities become no worse by being boldly faced.

21.. "A letter of 29 November 1914 to the British Prime Minister Lloyd George."

A.C.: A splendid piece of satire with a core to it. The opening of the war was the greatest opportunity the world has ever seen for wiping out sham values. And if Mr Lloyd-George had had the sense to listen to Mr Stuart, it might have been done.

23.. "Letter of 23 January 1915 to E. E. Pratt, Foreign Bureau Chief in the Department of Commerce, pointing to past oppression caused by monetary injustice. "The best English blood, today, comes from the red-blooded 'law'- made 'felons' she expatriated. At home, aside from the oppressors, there are naught but starveling runts. This is the English 'System' -- She eats her own."

A.C.: Here we begin to see how capitalism, in the bad sense, has not merely enslaved the people, but threatens to ruin the race.

34.. "A very brief statement, dated 27 April 1915, on the financial fiction of demanding gold for paper money."

A.C.: A valuable note of warning. The governmental method is to issue demand notes, with the proviso that if it should ever be inconvenient to meet the demand, the law may be suspended or abrogated. At the slightest hint of a crisis this step is threatened. As governments depend ultimately on the confidence of the people, it is a mistake to "woo them with honest trifles and betray them in deepest consequence."

Section 2

"China"

37.. "An extensive report on Chinese and international financial challenges, purportedly related to a meeting of Sun Yat-sen and "the younger statesmen of New China," warning against the complexities of international capitalization and financial management for China."

A.C.: This letter contains the wisest advice ever given to a country. It seems possible at the moment of present writing that the Chinese, who after all are the wisest people on earth, may take it.

38.. "A long "open letter" to Dr. Sun Yat-sen (dated 16 June 1913), a copy of which Stuart mailed to President Wilson, and managed to have inserted into the" Congressional Record "for 13 September of that year, on the careful management by China of foreign loans."

A.C.: If Dr Sun Yat-sen be wise, he will act on this when he comes to power. He could hardly do better than make Mr Stuart financial adviser to his government.

Section 3

"The War"

52.. "A letter of 7 October 1914 to British diplomat Sir Cecil Spring-Rice on finance as "the power of reaping where ye have not sown," and the risks of trusting "Mr J. Pierpont Morgan, Jr., and his associates" with the administration of war-time bonds."

A.C.: Note that this letter was written prior to Mr Morgan's appointment as Agent for Britain.
One of the most prominent bankers in New York said the same thing in private conversation, only the other day, to the editor of these letters. They know better than any one that borrowing leads to ruin. Those who financed the Allies are their worst enemies.

71.. "A brief note dated 29 November 1915, which reads in full: "Every 'civilization' that has 'passed' has met its doom through 'law and order' -- the vain effort of the oppressors of the day to maintain the then existing order; -- Whence the bloody violence of 'God,' who suffers no 'order' but CHANGE!"

A.C.: One of the profoundest metaphysical points ever made. The old tendency to regard the movement of the universe as a kind of accident -- the distinction between matter and motion -- must be abandoned. Matter without motion, or being without form, means nothingness. It is very remarkable that this doctrine, which has been taught in secret to the highest initiates for centuries, should be discovered independently by one who has no formal initiation.

75.. "A short note dated 5 January 1915 on the violence of war and the Anglo- Saxon use of the word "shocking.""

A.C.: It is really a very remarkable fact that the idea which Anglo-Saxons express by the word "shocking" does not exist in the psychology of any other race. Only the Anglo-Saxon has built a wall against idea.

Section 4

"Aunt Margery" [Woodrow Wilson]

76.. "A complementary letter to "Governor Wilson" of New Jersey, dated 1 July 1912, on integrity and political success, including the question "Can it be that a Man shall refuse all deals with the political spawn of Belial -- and survive?"

A.C.: If there by any blind spot in the eye of the prophet, it is that "last infirmity of noble mind" surviving even the desire for fame, of believing that any man is strong enough to work within any existing system without being corrupted by it. No. The only possibility of the establishment of righteousness lies through revolution.

78.. "A letter to President Wilson, dated 7 August 1913, on relations with Spanish-speaking countries, with a postscript comparing government by "revolutions in Spanish-America" with the U.S. election system."

A.C.: Special attention should be paid to the broadmindedness of paragraph one of the post-script. The ordinary mind is quite incapable of understanding that the methods of election and revolution are only local variations. But can the American people change their government by election? Is Mr Morgan dependent on majorities? It will take more than an election to pull him from his throne.

88.. "A letter of 11 June 1914 to Wilson in the White House, complaining of Latin American policy and "secrets . . . . in the matter of Canal Tolls.""

A.C.: It is true that government under Wilson has become more secret than it ever was in Venice under the Council of Three. Who is there among the ordinary classes of the people, that understands the reasons for non- intervention in Mexico, or connects them with the activities of Franz von Rintelen?
Wilson went into power, in all probability, imagining that the government of the country bore at least some more or less definite relation to the Constitution. It is the natural idea which a university professor would have. It was probably very bitter to him to discover that he was really in the hands of the money-trust. Had he been a Cromwell, he would have called the financiers together for a conference, shot them without more ado, and proceeded to remedy the situation. But he was only a spavined old hack, and had to acquiesce, with a more or less bad grace.

90.. "A letter of 28 June 1914 to Wilson on financial promotion of the Mexican Revolution, "Currency Reform," etc., concluding with "The honorable thing would be for you to resign, but such is your unfortunate position that you cannot resign, in that your successors are more incompetent still.""

A.C. The idiocy of the policy of "Watchful Waiting" has by this time become apparent. The impunity enjoyed by first outrages leads of course to presumption. The Germans immediately took advantage of the situation, to induce Mexican troops to perform acts which should force America into war; and Washington, aware that this is the game, has its hands tied. If the murder of the first American had been followed up by marching to Mexico City and hanging about 500 people, there would have been no further trouble. At the present moment, January 1916, if Mexico were positively to declare war and invade the United States, it would hardly be possible to resist. So much more valuable is the invisible, spiritual thing, prestige, than all the dollars in the universe.

Section 5

"Miscellaneous"

98.. "A note dated 22 January 1911 on the limitations of human sight and the immature development of "our spiritual natures," containing the speculation "May it not be that 'The Heavens' are right before us in plain sight, were our organs only suitable for seeing them? When we do see them it will be through the spiritualization of the faculty of sight.""

A.C.: There is an extraordinary resemblance between the author of these letters and William Blake; which extends not only to the quality of the vision, but to their styles. There is the same curious difficulty about reading them, a sort of feeling that one is uncertain of the real meaning of the thought. And this is not a mere question of the connotation of the words used; it is a sort of fundamental misgiving as to whether one's mind is sufficiently in tune to be able to apprehend. If there be anything in the theory of re-incarnation, it is a good bet that Mr Stuart is William Blake come back.

114.. "Notes dated 17 January 1914 listing future inventions and sociological developments, such as colored sky-lights, "nurseries for adults" with playrooms of special toys, and underground meditation rooms "away from surface vibrations.""

A.C.: A most splendid and practical idea. If I may do a little bit of prophesying myself, it is this; that the Turkish bath of the day to that of the future is as the old dandy-horse of 1820 to the modern motor cycle.

116.. "Notes dated 13 May 1914 on the relations between thinking, thought, and silence."

A.C.: Nearly all the letters in this section may be regarded almost in the light of dope. They are injections, in minute form, which can revolutionize the whole contents of the mind. Each letter should be taken separately, committed to memory, and brooded over while life lasts.

129.. "Notes dated 16 April 1914 on the efficiency of thinking upon Sunday, away from "the grating of the ill-fitting wheels of 'the system.'""

A.C.: The editor here regrets to part company with his author. In his own case, the universal misery caused by the suppression of all natural instincts and enjoyments, by the operation of sabbatarianism, reacts upon him, fills him with wretchedness, and paralyzes his energies. Even in Paris there is a sufficient number of people, deliberately destroying their own happiness, to vitiate the atmosphere.

finis