From the editor : The Paradoxes of the Highest Science was the first of Levi's works to be published in English, and originally appeared in 1883 in Calcutta as a pamphlet in the "Theosophical Miscellanies" series. In it, Levi 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 Levi's text. Some of these are by the anonymous translator, and some by the "Eminent Occultist" who seems to have been Madame Blavatsky herself. Levi could have asked for no better commentator upon his work. R. A. Gilbert's introduction to this edition gives a brief biography of Levi and explains the context and value of The Paradoxes.

By the time of his death in 1875, Eliphas Levi was recognized in both Europe and America as the greatest occultist of the 19th century. During Levi's life, his work was the inspiration for Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma, the most influential American Masonic book of its day, and after his 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.

Pages: 172
Special Interest: Occult, Magick, Mysticism, Ritual, Sorcery, Theosophy, Science, Philosophy, Secret Orders.