117 Preface إِن يَدعونَ مِن دونِهِ إِلّا إِناثًا وَإِن يَدعونَ إِلّا شَيطانًا مَريدًاYusuf Ali(The Pagans), leaving Him, call but upon female deities:1 They call but upon satan the persistent rebel! The unity, power, and goodness of God are so manifest in nature and in the human mind when it is in accord with the universal spirit, that only the most abject perversion can account for the sin of spiritual treason. That sin arises from perverted ideas of sex or perverted ideas of self. The perversion of sex is to suppose that sex rules in spiritual matters. From it arise such horrible creations of the imagination as Kali, the bloodthirsty goddess of Hindus, or Hecate, the goddess of revenge and hate in Greek mythology. Even in beautiful forms like Saraswati (the goddess of learning) or Minerva (the virgin goddess of sport and arts), to say nothing of Venus (the goddess of carnal pleasures), the emphasis laid on sex destroys a right view of spiritual nature. Perverted ideas of self are typified in the story of Satan, who was so puffed up with arrogance that he disobeyed God, and God cursed him. Both these perversions, if allowed lodgment, completely ruin our spiritual nature and deface God’s handiwork. Hence it is not merely an outer sin but one that corrupts us through and through.