The Paradoxes of the Highest Science with Footnotes By a Master of the Wisdom

by Éliphas Lévi

By the time of his death in 1875, Eliphas Lévi was recognized in both Europe and America as the greatest occultist of the 19th century. In life, his work was the inspiration for Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma, the most influential American Masonic book of its day, and in death, it proved to be a seminal influence on figures as diverse as Madame Blavatsky, A.E. Waite, and Aleister Crowley—but during his lifetime none of his writings appeared in English. The Paradoxes of the Highest Science first appeared in 1883 in Calcutta as a pamphlet in the Theosophical Miscellanies series. In it, Lévi makes an appeal for a balance between science and religion by addressing seven paradoxical statements including "Religion is magic sanctioned by authority," "liberty is obedience to the Law," and "reason is God." Included in this edition are the extensive and illuminating footnotes that were added to Lévi's text.Some of these are by the anonymous translator, and some by the "Eminent Occultist" who seems to have been Madame Blavatsky herself. Lévi could have asked for no better commentator upon his work.

Genres: Philosophy, Occult, Esoterica

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1865

About the author

Éliphas Lévi is the pen-name of Abbé Alphonse Louis Constant, a Roman Catholic priest and magician. His later writings on the Tarot and occult topics were a great influence on the Spiritualist and Hermetic movements of fin de siècle England and France, especially on such members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn as Arthur Edward Waite and Aleister Crowley.

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Éliphas Lévi es el nombre adoptado por el mago y escritor ocultista francés Alphonse Louis Constant.

Reviews

[Catholicus Magus · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice little work which seeks to demonstrate how Catholicism is not only one of the highest forms of "magic," but is in fact essential to the sort of endeavor undertaken by the Theosophical School of the 19th century—which is to say, the unification of scientific liberty and religion as a kind of legitimate orthopraxis. The notes by E. O. are at times pedantic, as are that of the Translator, though it is fair to say the E. L. was a master of Jesuitical casuistry and Jansenist hyperbolism.

To say that this work is as important as his later writings on the rituals of High Magic would be to speak a falsity, but when read in continuity with Lazarelli, St. Albertus, Pico Mirandola, Ficino, or the likes of Paschal & Fenelon, it should be very little surprise that this work seeks to mend the veil torn asunder. At moments it was beautifully written and profoundly insightful on certain religious themes, and at others it was clear that E. L. was trying to satisfy the bourgeois man's appetite for religion without controversy, gnosis with overstuffed armchair comforts. His other works are certainly of a far better quality, and his attempt to show how Blavatsky's Theosophy are able to be reconciled with Catholicism are best left as a historical curiosity than a legitimate spiritual synthesis. Theosophy is the universal whipping boy of esoteric and exoteric religionists, and the further one distances oneself from it, the better for one's spiritual journey.

[Roger Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last book which is available in English by Eliphas Levi, which appeared two years before his death. It reveals Levi at his most mature and beautiful.

This is to say it testifies to the remarkable transformation which happened in Levi's soul - as described by Valentin Tomberg in his astounding Meditations on the Tarot. (My review of Meditations on the Tarot here: http://corjesusacratissimum.org/2009/...)

That remarkable transformation is also testified to in these words from Levi's pen:

"The ancient rites have lost their effectiveness since Christianity appeared in the world. The Christian and Catholic religion, in fact, is the legitimate daughter of Jesus, king of the Mages.

A simple scapular worn by a truly Christian person is a more invincible talisman than the ring and pentacle of Solomon.

The Mass is the most prodigious of evocations. Necromancers evoke the dead, the sorcerer evokes the devil and he shakes, but the Catholic Priest does not tremble in evoking the living God.

Catholics alone have Priests because they alone have the altar and the offering, i.e. the whole of religion. To practise high Magic is to compete with the Catholic Priesthood; it is to be a dissident Priest.

Rome is the great Thebes of the new initiation ... It has crypts for its catacombs; for talismen, its rosaries and medallions; for a magic chain, its congregations; for magnetic fires, its convents; for centres of attraction, its confessionals; for means of expansion, its pulpits and the addresses of its Bishops; it has, lastly, its Pope, the Man-God rendered visible."

Yes here is the penitent Eliphas Levi, whom no one has understood better, it seems to me, than the anonymous author of Meditations on the Tarot of which much more at the link above ...

[Gerald Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required reading for budding occultists

The translator is HP Blavatsky. She knows EL's value, but she despises Catholicism (EL was a defrocked priest) but more importantly, was an enemy of Christianity. Her criticisms here are not invalid, but need to be taken with a large grain of salt. She was always in thrall to the Eastern occult schools which really had it out for the West. Nevertheless, a profoundly important book.

[Äsruþr Cyneaþsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Levi's final work and one of profound occult philosophy. Herein lay aspects of Hermeticism, psychology, pre-quantum physics (in that the ideas and notions would support the later quantum science), Nietzschean philosophy and and hefty dose of socio-theology.

The footnotes are often amusing, often enlightening. Worth reading for the footnotes alone if you have read Levi's portion elsewhere.

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Levi writes with such mystic power and poetry. His words glide effortlessly through the most profound of discussions and considerations. This book is sublime in many a sense, inspiring and thought-provoking. Seemingly more poetic in style than some of his other work, it holds many powerful insights into the magical tradition and Christian lineages.

[Bender · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[C.J. Wills · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books of all time!!!!

[Kristjan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Performance: **
Story: ****

The narration was a bit laconic for my taste and I found it a little difficult to stay focused. This seems to be the favored style for spiritual/mystical books, where this definitely sits. Organized in 10 unlabeled chapters over 4.5 hours, the first 7 cover the advertised paradoxes (aka oxymorons) that were fairly interesting given the confluence of christian theology and occult magic (not normally grouped together). In that respect, it really comes across as a pseudo-gnostic text that tries really hard to pivot away from literal translations of the christian new testament to provide a more allegorical interpretation (that apparently allows for magic). Even more surprising was the strong defense of Catholicism in chapter 9, which summed up the author’s 51 precepts, beginning with a statement that man only has two (2) means by which s/he may attain certainty: mathematics and common sense (something akin to natural philosophy/law). If you have he patience, there are a few hidden gems here that make it worth the effort.

Note: The term magic here is really more about metaphysics and mysticism; not spells or the like (which would be anathema to judeo-christian thought).

1. Religion is Magic Sanctioned by Authority
2. Liberty is Obedience to the Law
3. Love is he Realization of the Impossible
4. Knowledge is the Ignorance or Negation of Evil
5. Reason is God
6. The Imagination Realizes What It Invents
7. The Will Accomplishes Everything That It Does Not Desire

8. Synthetic Recapitulation: Magic and Mageism
9. Let Us Now Sum Up (51 Precepts)
10. The Great Secret of Magic

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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