It is a lapse back, back to the original position, the Mosaic position, ofthe divinity of the flesh, and the absoluteness of its laws. But also there isthe Aphrodite-worship. The flesh, the senses, are now self-consciousThey know their aim. Their aim is in supreme sensation. They seek themaxmum of sensation. They seek the reduction of the flesh, the flesh reacting upon itself, to a crisis, an ecstasy, a phosphorescent transfigureThe mind, all the time, subserves the senses. As in a cat, there is subtlety and beauty and the dignity of the darkness. But the fire is cold, as inthe eves of a cat, it is a green fire. It is fluid electric. At its maxmum it isthe white ecstasy of phosphorescence, in the darkness, always amid thedarkness, as under the black fur of a cat. Like the feline fire it is destructive, always consuming and reducing to the ecstasy of sensation, which isthe end in itselfThere is the I, always the I And the mind is submerged, overcome. Butthe senses are superbly arrogant. The senses are the absolute, the god-like. For I can never have another man's senses. These are me. my sensesabsolutely me. And all that is can only come to me through my sensesSo that all is me, and is administered unto me. The rest, that is not me, isnothing, it is something which is nothing. So the Italian, through centur-ies, has avoided our Northern purposive industry, because it has seemedto him a form of nothingnessIt is the spirit of the tiger. The tiger is the supreme manifestation of thesenses made absoluteTiger, tiger burning bright, In the forests of the nightof Blake. It does indeed burn within the darkness. But the essential fateof the tiger is cold and white, a white ecstasy. It is seen in the white eveof the blazing cat. This is the supremacy of the flesh, which devours alland becomes transfigured into a magnificent brindled flame, a burningbush indeedThis is one way of transfiguration into the eternal flame, the transfig.uration through ecstasy in the flesh. Like the tiger in the night, i devouall flesh, I drink all blood, until this fuel blazes up in me to the consunmate fire of the Infinite. In the ecstacy I am Infinite, I become again thegreat Whole, I am a flame of the One White Flame which is the Infinitethe Etermal, the Originator, the Creator, the Everlasting God. In thesensual ecstasy, having drunk all blood and devoured all flesh, I am be-come again the eternal Fire I am infinite

This is thger is supreme. His head is flattenedas if there were some great weight on the hard skull, pressing, pressingpressing the mind into a stone, pressing it down under the blood,rve the blood. It is the subjugate instrument of theThe will liesbore the loinsthe base of the spinal column, there is theng mind of the tiger,the slendethe spinal cordthe Italian, soThis is theit of the soldier hewalks with his consciousness concentrated atnind subjugated, submerged. The will of the soldier is the will of thethe will to ecstasy in destruction, in absorbing life into hislife, alwavs hislifethe ecstasy burst into the whiteeternal flame the nfiniteFlame of the Infinite. Then he is satisfiedThis is the true soldier this is the immortal climax of theThis isthe flesh. theperb tiger who hasall livingflesh, and now paces backwards and forwarfinite, glaring with blind, fierce, absorbethat which is nothing-The eyes of the tiger cannot see, except with the light from withinby the lightwn desirewhitelight is so fiercethat the other warm light of dav is outshone, it isexist. Sowhitene tiger gleam to a point of concentrated vision,nat whidist. Henceterrifying sightlessness. Thesomething which I knowistance to the tigers lookingthat which it knowds overcome, a running of hotbetween its TawAnd what is the rest. that whichthe tiger, that which the tiger is2? What is thisWhat is that which paays with the terrific eagle-like angel of thethe Renaissance? The Italians said. Wethe Fatherwill go back. The NorthernChrist we willWhat is the consummation in Christ? Man knows satisfaction when heconditions andhimself consummateInfinite, when he reaches a state of infinity. In the supreme ecstasy of theflesh, the Dionysic ecstasy he reaches this state. But how does it come topass in Christ?

It is not the mystic ecstasy. The mystic ecstasy is a special sensual ec-stay, it is the senses satisfying themselves with a self-created object. It iself-projection into the self, the sensuous self satisfied in a projected selfBlessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, fortheirs is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is this Infiniteinto which we may be consummated, then, if we are poor in spirit or persecured for righteousness sakeWhosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the otherLove your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them thatate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecuteBe ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven isTo be perfect, to be one with God, to be infinite and etermal, what shallwe do? We must turn the other cheek, and love our enemiesChrist is the lamb which the eagle swoops down upon, the dove takenby the hawk, the deer which the tiger devoursWhat then, if a man come to me with a sword, to kill me, and i do notresist him, but suffer his sword and the death from his sword, what amI? Am I greater than he, am I stronger than he? Do I know a consumma-tion in the Infinite, I, the prey, beyond the tiger who devours me? By mynon-resistance I have robbed him of his consummation. For a tigerknows no consummation unless he kill a violated and struggling preyThere is no consummation merely for the butcher, nor for a hyena. I canob the tiger of his ecstasy, his consummation, his very my non-resist.ance. In my non-resistance the tiger is infinitely destroyedBut I what am I? Be ye therefore perfect. Wherein am I perfect in thissubmission? Is there an affirmation, behind my negation, other than thetiger's affirmation of his own glorious infinity?What is the Oneness to which I subscribe, I who offer no resistance inthe flesh?