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Initiations [A Treatise on Initiations; or, Asclepios.] PART
I
Hermes: IT is a God who hath brought thee to us, Asclepios, that thou mayst assist
at a divine discourse, and one which will be the most truly religious of all we
have as yet held, or with which we have been inspired from on high. In
understanding it thou wilt be in possession of all blessings, – if so be
indeed there are several, and if it be not more correct to say there is but one
blessing which comprises all. For each one of them is bound to another; all (p. 46) are derived from one and make but one, so that their
mutual bonds make separation impossible. This is what thou wilt understand by
paying attention to that which we are about to say. But first, Asclepios,
go away for a little while and look for another hearer for our discourse. [Asclepios proposes to call Ammon.] There is no objection to Ammon's presence
among us, says Trismegistos. I have not forgotten
that I have addressed to him, as to a dear son, several writings on Nature and
other subjects relating to exoteric teaching. But it is
thy name, Asclepios, which I shall inscribe at the
head of the present treatise. And call no other person than Ammon.
For a discourse upon the holiest matters of religion would be
profaned by a too numerous audience. It is an impiety to deliver to the
knowledge of a great number, a treatise full of divine majesty. (1) [Ammon enters the sanctuary, and completes the
holy quartet, (2) filled with the presence of God. The invitation
to devotional silence comes from the lips of Hermes, and in the presence of the
attentive souls who (p. 47) hang upon his words, the divine Love thus begins: –]
(1) Every human soul, Asclepios, is immortal; but
this immortality is not uniform. It differs both in mode and in duration. Asclepios: It is because
souls, Trismegistos, are not all of the same quality. Hermes: How
quickly thou understandest the reason of things, Asclepios! I have not yet said that all is one and that one
is all, since all things were in the Creator before the creation and we can
call Him all since all things are His members. Wherefore, throughout all this
discourse, bear in mind Him who is One and All, the
Creator of all things. Everything descends from heaven upon the earth, into the water, into the
air: only fire is vivifying, because it tends upwards; that which tends
downwards is subordinate to it. That which descends from above is generative;
that which emanates and rises is nutritive. The earth, alone self-supported, is
the receptacle of all things, and reconstructs the types which she receives.
That Universal Being which contains all and which is all,
puts into motion the soul and the world, all that nature comprises. In the
manifold unity of universal life, the innumerable individualities distinguished
by their variations, are, nevertheless, united in such a manner (p. 48) that the whole is one, and that everything proceeds from
unity. Now this unity, which constitutes the world, is formed of four elements:
fire, water, earth, and air: – one single world, one single soul, and one
single God. Lend me now all the powers and all the penetration of thy thought;
for the idea of Divinity, which cannot be conceived save by divine assistance,
resembles a rapid stream precipitating itself onwards with impetuosity, and
often, therefore, outstrips the attention of the listeners, and even of him who
teaches. FOOTNOTES (46:1) It is the indiscriminate disclosure of spiritual
mysteries to those who, by reason of their exclusively fleshly condition, are
incapable of appreciating and reverencing them, that is called by Jesus a
casting of pearls before swine. A. K. (46:2) The fourth being Tatios, the son
of Trismegistos. All such discourses required –
for occult reasons – the presence of a minimum number of four. The four
above represented the four great divisions of existence and constituted an
epitome of the Universe. "The form of the fourth is like the Son of
God," Nabuchodonosor is made to exclaim in the
Hermetic allegory in Daniel, representing the transmutation – instead of
the expected destruction – of the earthly elements of Man under the fiery
alchemic ordeal of suffering. A. K. (47:1) This identification of Hermes with Eros – the only instance Dr. Ménard says he has found in literature – accords with the Hermetic axiom – "Love and Wisdom are One." A. K.
PART II HEAVEN – God
manifest – regulates all bodies. Their growth and their decline are
determined by the sun and the moon. But He who directs heaven – the soul
itself and all that exists in the world – is very God, the Creator. From the heights where He reigns descend innumerable influences which
spread themselves throughout the world, into all souls both general and
particular, and into the nature of things. The world has been prepared by God in order to receive all particular
forms. Realising these forms by (p. 49) means of Nature, He has updrawn
the world to Heaven through the four elements. Everything is in accordance with the designs of God; but that which
originates from on high has been separated into individualities in the
following manner. The types of all things follow their (representative)
individualities in such way that the type is a whole; the individual is a part
of the type. Thus the Gods constitute a type, the genii also. Similarly, men, birds,
and all beings which the world contains, constitute types producing individuals
resembling them. There is yet another type, without sensation, but not without soul. It
consists of those beings which sustain themselves by means of roots fixed in
the earth. Individualities of this type are found everywhere. Heaven is full of God. The types of which we have spoken have their
habitation extending up to that of the beings whose individualities are
immortal. For the individuality is a part of the type, as, for instance, man is
a part of humanity; and each one follows the character of its type. Hence it
comes that, while all types are imperishable, individuals are not all
imperishable. Divinity forms a type of which all the individualisations
are as immortal as itself. Among other beings eternity
belongs only to the type; the individual perishes, and is perpetuated only by
reproduction. There are, then, some mortal individualities.
Thus man is mortal, humanity is immortal. Nevertheless, individuals of all the types mix with all the types. Some
are primitive; others are produced (p. 50) by these, by God, by genii, by men, and all resemble
their respective types. For bodies can be formed only by the divine will; individualities cannot
be characterised without the aid of the genii; the
education and training of animals cannot be conducted without man. All those genii who have forsaken their own type, and become joined in
individuality to an individuality of the divine type, are regarded as neighbours and associates of the Gods. The genii who preserve the character of their type and are properly
called genii, love that which relates to mankind. The human type resembles, or
even surpasses, theirs; for the individuality of the human is manifold and
various, and results from the association mentioned above. It is the indispensable
link between nearly all other individualities. The man who has affinity with the Gods through the intelligence which he shares with them, and through piety, is the neighbour of God. He who has affinity with the genii approximates himself to them. They who are satisfied with human mediocrity remain a part of the human type. Other human individualities will be neighbours of the types or individualities with which they shall be in affinity.
(p. 51) PART
III MAN, then, Asclepios, is a great marvel; a creature worthy of respect
and adoration. For amid this divine Nature he moves as if he himself were a
God. He knows the order of the genii, and, aware that he is of the same origin,
he despises the human side of his being in order to attach himself exclusively
to the divine element. How happily constituted and near to the Gods is humanity! In joining
himself to the divine, man disdains that which he has in him of the earthly; he
connects himself by a bond of love to all other beings, and thereby feels
himself necessary to the universal order. He contemplates heaven; and in this
happy middle sphere in which he is placed, he loves all that is below him, he
is beloved of all that is above. He cultivates the earth; he borrows the speed
of the elements; his piercing thought fathoms the deeps of the sea. Everything
is clear for him. Heaven does not seem to him too high, for knowledge lifts him
to it. The brightness of his mind is not obscured by the thick mists of the
air; the earth's gravitation is no obstacle to his efforts; the profundity of
deep seas does not disturb him; he includes everything and remains everywhere
the same. All animate beings have as it were roots passing downwards; inanimate
beings, on the contrary, have a single root passing from below upwards, and
supporting a whole forest of branches. Some creatures nourish (p. 52) themselves upon two elements, others upon one only.
There are two kinds of aliment for the two portions of the creature – one
for the soul and another for the body. The soul of the world sustains itself by
perpetual motion. Bodies develop themselves by means of water and of earth, the
aliments of the inferior world. The spirit which fills everything, mingles with
everything, and vivifies everything, adds consciousness to the intelligence,
which, by a peculiar privilege, man borrows from the fifth element – the
ether. In man, the consciousness is raised to the knowledge of the divine
order. Since I am led to speak of the consciousness, I will presently expound
to you its function, which is great and holy as that of divinity itself. But
let us first complete the exposition already begun. I was speaking of union
with the Gods – a privilege which they accord only to humanity. A few men
only have the happiness of rising to that perception of the Divine which
subsists only in God and in the human intelligence. Asclepios: Are,
then, not all men similarly conscient, Trismegistos? Hermes : All, Asclepios, have not the
true intelligence. They are deceived when they suffer themselves to be drawn
after the image of things, without seeking for the true reason of them. It is
thus that evil is produced in man; and that the first of all creatures lowers himself almost to the level of the brutes. (p. 53) But I will speak to you of the consciousness and all that belongs to it,
when I come to my exposition of the mind. For man alone is a dual creature. One
of the two parts of which he consists is single, and, as the Greeks say,
essential; that is, formed after the divine likeness. The part which the Greeks
call Kosmic – that is, belonging to the world
– is quadruple, and constitutes the body, which, in man, serves as an
envelope to the divine principle. This divine principle, and
that which belongs to it, the perceptions of the pure intelligence, conceal
themselves behind the rampart of the body. (1)
FOOTNOTES
(53:1) The five elements of the Microcosm are here made to correspond with the five elements which the Greeks allotted to the Macrocosm; – earth, water, air, fire, and ether. Trismegistos says that man obtains his intelligence from "the ether – the fifth element." Trismegistos includes in the body the physical particles, the exterior consciousness, the magnetic forces, and the sensible or mundane mind. In the fifth element he includes the immortal part – soul and spirit; since he speaks of the "divine principle and that which belongs to it – the perceptions of the pure intelligence." The soul, as we have already seen in the "Virgin of the World," is the percipient principle of man; the spirit is the divine light by means of which she sees. It is advisable, in this place, to point out, for the sake of a clear understanding of what follows, that Hermetic doctrine regards man as having a twofold nature. For he is in one sense a child of the earth, developed by progressive evolution from below upwards; a true animal, and therefore bound by strict ties of kinship with the lower races, and of allegiance to Nature. In the other sense, man descends from above, and is of celestial origin; because when a certain point in his development from below is reached, the human soul focuses and fixes the Divine Spirit, which is peculiarly the attribute of man, and the possession of which constitutes his sovereignty over all other creatures. And until this vivification of the soul occurs, man is not truly Man in the Hermetic sense. A. K.
(p. 54) PART
IV Asclepios: WHY then,
O Trismegistos, was it necessary that man should be
placed in the world, instead of where God is, to dwell with Him in supreme
beatitude? Hermes: Thy question is natural, O Asclepios, and I pray God to assist me in replying to it,
for everything depends upon His will, especially those great things which are
at this moment the subject of our enquiry; listen, then, to me, Asclepios. The Lord and Author of all things, whom we call
God, brought forth a second God, visible and sensible; I describe him
thus, not because he himself has sensibility, for this is not the place to
treat such a question, but because he is perceptible to the senses. Having then
produced this unique Being who holds the first rank among creatures and the
second after Himself, He found His offspring beautiful and filled with all
manner of good, and He loved it as His own child. (1) He willed,
then, that another should be able to contemplate this Being
so great and so perfect whom He had drawn forth from Himself, and to this end
He created man, endowed with reason and intelligence. (p. 55) The will of God is absolute accomplishment; to will and to do are for
Him the work of the selfsame instant. And, knowing that the essential could not
apprehend all things unless enveloped by the world, He gave to man a body for a
dwelling-place. He willed that man should have two natures; He united them
intimately and blended them in just proportion. Thus, He formed man of spirit and of body; of an eternal nature and of a
mortal nature, so that, a creature thus constituted, he might, by means of his
double origin, admire and adore that which is celestial and eternal; cultivate
and govern that which is upon the earth. I speak here of mortal things, not of
the two elements subjected to man, to wit, earth and water, but of things
coming from man, which are in him or depending on him, such as the culture of
the soil, the pastures, the construction of buildings, of ports, navigation,
commerce, and those reciprocal exchanges which are the strongest bond among
men. Earth and water form a part of the world, and this terrestrial part is
sustained by the arts and sciences, without which the world would be imperfect
in the eyes of God. For that which God wills is necessary, and the effect
accompanies His will; nor can it be believed that anything which has seemed
good to Him can cease to seem good to Him, because from the beginning He knew
what should be and what should please Him. FOOTNOTES (54:1) This "second God" is the Visible Universe, which in most Hermetic writings is spoken of as the "Son of God" – "the Word made flesh."
(p. 56) PART
V BUT I perceive, O Asclepios, that thou art anxious to know in what manner
Heaven and those who inhabit it can be the object of the aspiration and
adoration of man; learn, then, O Asclepios, that to
aspire after the God of heaven and all those who are therein is to render them
frequent homage; for alone of all animated beings, divine and human, man is
able to render it. The admiration, adoration, praise, and homage of man rejoice
heaven and the celestial inhabitants; and the choir of the Muses has been sent
among men by the supreme Divinity in order that the terrestrial world might not
be without the sweet science of hymns; or rather that the human voice might
celebrate Him who only is All, since He is the Father of all things, and that
the tender harmonies of earth might ever unite themselves with the celestial
choirs. Only a few men, rarely endowed with a pure intelligence, are entrusted
with this holy function of beholding heaven clearly. Those
in whom the confusion of their two natures holds the intelligence captive under
the weight of the body, are appointed to have communion with the inferior
elements. Man is not, then, debased because he has a mortal part; on the
contrary, this mortality augments his aptitudes and his power; his double
functions are possible to him only by his double nature; he is constituted in
such a manner that he can embrace alike the terrestrial and the divine. I
desire, O Asclepios, that thou mayest
bring to this exposition all the attention and all the ardour
of thy mind; for many are wanting in (p 57) faith concerning these things. And now I am about to unfold true principles for the instruction of the holiest intelligences.
PART VI THE Master of
Eternity is the first God, the world is the second, man
is the third. God, Creator of
the world and of all that it contains, governs all this
universe and subjects it to the rule of man. And man makes of it the object of
his special activity. So that the world and man become the appendage one of the
other, and it is with reason that in Greek the world is called Kosmos.
Man knows himself and knows the world; he should, therefore, distinguish
that which is in accord with himself, that which is
for his use and that which has a right to his worship. While addressing to God
his praises and his acts of grace, he should venerate the world which is the
image of God; remembering that he is himself the second image of God. For God has two similitudes: the world and
man. The nature of man being complex, that part of him which is composed of
soul, of consciousness, of mind, and of reason is divine,
and from the superior elements seems able to mount to heaven; while his cosmic
and mundane part, formed of fire, water, earth, and air, is (p. 58) mortal and remains upon the earth; so that what is borrowed
from the world may be restored to it. It is thus that mankind is composed of a divine part and of a mortal
part, to wit, the body. The law of this dual being, man, is religion, whose
effect is goodness. Perfection is attained when the virtue of man preserves him
from desire, and causes him to despise all that is foreign to himself. For terrestrial things, of which the body desires
the possession, are foreign to all parts of the divine Thought. Such things may
indeed be called possessions, for they are not born with us, they are acquired
later. They are then foreign to man, and even the body itself is foreign to
man, in such wise that man ought to disdain both the object of desire, and that whereby he is made accessible to desire. It is the duty of man to direct his soul by reason, so that the
contemplation of the divine may lead him to take but small account of that
mortal part which has been joined to him for the sake of the preservation of
the lower world. In order that man should be complete in both his parts,
observe that each of these possesses four binary subdivisions – to wit,
the two hands and the two feet, which, with the other organs of the body, place
him in relation with the inferior and terrestrial world. And, on the other
hand, he possesses four faculties: sensibility, soul, memory, and foresight,
which permit him to know and perceive divine things. He is able, therefore, to
include in his investigations, differences, qualities, effects, and quantities.
But if he be too much hindered by the weight of the body, he will be unable to
penetrate into the true reason of things. When man, thus formed and constituted, having (p. 59) received for his function from the supreme God,
the government of the world and the worship of Divinity, acquits himself well
of this double duty, and obeys the holy Will, what should be his recompense?
For, if the world is the work of God, he who by his care sustains and augments
its beauty, is the auxiliary of the divine Will, employing his body and his
daily labour in the service of the work produced by
the hands of God. What should be his recompense, if not that which our
ancestors have obtained? May it please divine goodness to accord this
recompense also to us; all our aspirations and all our prayers tend towards its
attainment; may we, delivered from the prison of the body, and, from our mortal
bonds, return, sanctified and pure, to the
divine heritage of our nature! Asclepios: What
thou sayest is just and true, O Trismegistos!
Such indeed is the price of piety towards God, and of care bestowed on the
maintenance of the world. But return to the heavens is denied to those who have
lived impiously; upon them is imposed a penance which holy souls escape, to
wit, migration into other bodies. The end of this discourse, O Trismegistos, brings us to the hope of an eternal future
for the soul, as the result of her life in the world. But this future is for
some difficult to believe; for others it is a fable; for others, again, perhaps
a subject of derision. For it is a sweet thing to enjoy what one possesses in
the corporeal life. Therein lies the evil, which, as
one may say, turns the soul's head, attaches her to her mortal part, hinders
her from knowing her divine part, and is envious of immortality. For I say unto
thee, by a prophetic inspiration, no man after us will choose the simple way of
philosophy, which lies (p. 60) wholly in application to the study of divine things, and in
holy religion. The majority of men obscure philosophy with diverse questions.
How come they to encumber it with sciences which ought not to be comprehended
in it, or after what manner do they mingle in it diverse questions? Hermes: O Asclepios, they mingle in it, by means of subtleties, a
diversity of sciences which belong not to it – arithmetic, music,
geometry. But pure, philosophy, whose proper object is holy religion, ought to
occupy itself with other sciences only in so far as to admire the regular
phases of the stars, their positions and their courses, determined by
calculations; the dimensions of the earth, its qualities and quantities; the
depth of the sea; the power of fire; and to know the effects of all these
things, and Nature; to adore Art, the artist, and his divine intelligence. As
for music, that is apprehended when one apprehends reason and the divine order
of things. For this order by which everything is ranged singly in the unity of
the whole, is indeed an admirable harmony and a divine
melody. Asclepios: What then, after
us, will men become? Hermes: Misled by the subtleties of the sophists, they will turn aside from the true, pure and holy philosophy. To adore God in the simplicity of thought and of the soul, to venerate His works, to bless His will, which alone is the fulness of good – this is the only philosophy which is not profaned by the idle curiosity of the mind. But enough on this matter.
(p. 61) PART
VII LET us begin to speak
of Mind and of other similar things. In the beginning were God and Hylè –
it is thus that the Greeks term the first matter or substance of the universe.
The Spirit was with the universe, but not in the same manner as with God. The
things which constitute the universe are not God, therefore before their birth
they were not in existence, but they were already contained in that from which
they were produced. For besides and without created things is not only that
which is not yet born, but that also which has no generative fecundity, and
which can bring forth nothing. Everything which has the power of generating
contains in germ all that can be born of it, for it is easy to that which is
brought forth to bear that which shall bring forth. But the eternal God cannot
and never could be born; He is, He has been, He will be always. The nature of
God is to be His own Principle. But matter, or the nature of
the world, and mind, although appearing to be brought forth from the beginning,
possess the power of birth and of procreation – fecundative energy. For the beginning is
in the quality of Nature, who possesses in herself the potentiality of
conception and of production. She is then, without any foreign
intervention, the principle of creation. It is otherwise with that which
possesses only the power of conception by means of mixing with a second nature.
The matrix of the universe and of all that it contains appears not to have been
itself born, holding however, within it, potentially, all Nature. I call that
the matrix (p. 62) which contains all things, for they could not have been
without a vehicle to contain them. Everything which exists must exist in some
place (or vehicle), neither qualities nor quantities,
nor positions, nor effects could be distinguished in things having no place and
being nowhere. Thus the world, although not having been born, has in it the
principle of all birth; since it affords all things a fitting matrix for
conception. It is, then, the sum-total of qualities and of matter susceptible
of creation, although not yet created. Matter, being fecund in all attributes, is able also to engender evil. I
put aside, therefore, O Asclepios and Ammon, the question asked by many: – "Could not
God hinder evil in the nature of things?" There is absolutely nothing to
say to them; but for you I will pursue the discourse begun, and I will give the
explanation. They affirm that God ought to have preserved the world from evil;
now, evil is in the world as an integral part of it. The sovereign God indeed
provided against it inasmuch as was reasonable and possible, when He bestowed
upon humanity sentiment, knowledge, and intelligence. By these faculties
solely, which place us above other animals, we may escape the snares of evil
and vice. The man who is wise and protected by divine
intelligence, knows how to preserve himself from such immediately he beholds
them, and before he has been entrapped thereby. The foundation of knowledge is
supreme goodness. Spirit governs and gives life to all that is in the world; it
is an instrument employed by the will of the sovereign God. Thus we ought to
comprehend, by intelligence alone, the supreme Intelligible called God. By Him
is directed that secondary sensible God (the universe), who contains all
spaces, all substances, the matter of all that engenders and produces, –
in a word, all that is. (p. 63) As for the spirit (or Mind), it moves and governs all individual beings
in the world according to the nature which God has assigned to them. Matter
– Hylè,
or the Kosmos
– is the receptacle, the motion, the replication of everything which
God directs, dispensing to each of them that which is necessary to it, and
filling them with spirit according to their qualities. The form of the universe is that of a hollow sphere, having in itself
the cause of its quality or of its figure, wholly invisible; if, choosing any
given point of its surface, one should seek to behold its depths, one would be
unable to see anything. It appears visible only by means of those special forms
whose images appear graven upon it, it shows itself only in effigy; but in
reality it is always invisible in itself. Therefore, the centre, the depths of
this sphere – if indeed one may call it a place – is in Greek named
Hades, the invisible,
from eidein,
to see, because the centre of a sphere cannot be seen from without.
Moreover, the types or formative appearances were called Ideas, because they
are the forms of the Invisible. This interior of the sphere
which the Greeks call Hades, because it is invisible, the Latins
name Hell (Inferno), on account of its profound position. These are the
primordial principles, the first sources, of all things. Everything is in them,
or by them, or comes forth from them. Asclepios: These
principles are, then, O Trismegistos, the universal
substance of all individual appearances? Hermes: The
world nourishes bodies, the spirit nourishes souls. Thought, the heavenly gift
which is the happy privilege (p.64) of humanity, nourishes intelligence, but few men only have an intelligence capable of receiving such a benefit. Thought is a light which illuminates the intelligence, as the sun illuminates the world. And even more, for the light of the sun may be intercepted by the moon, or by the earth when night comes; but when thought has once penetrated into the human soul, it mingles intimately with her nature, and the intelligence can never again be obscured by any cloud. Therefore, with reason, it has been said that the souls of the Gods are intelligences. As for me, I say not this of all of them, but of the great supernal Gods.
PART
VIII Asclepios: WHAT, O Trismegistos, are the
primordial principles of things? Hermes: I reveal to thee great and divine
mysteries, and in beginning this initiation I implore the favour
of heaven. There are many orders of the Gods; and in all there is an intelligible
part. It is not to be supposed that they do not come within the range of our
senses; on the contrary, we perceive them, better even than those which are
called visible, as this discussion will inform thee. (p. 65) Thou
wilt apprehend this fact if thou lendest all thine attention to our discourse; for this order of ideas,
so sublime, so divine, so elevated above the intelligence of man, demands an
uninterrupted attention without which speech merely flits across the mind and
flees away, or rather, returns to its source and is lost therein. There are, then, Gods superior to all appearances; after them come the
Gods whose principle is spiritual; these Gods being sensible, in conformity
with their double origin, manifest all things by a sensible nature, each of
them illuminating his works one by another. (1) The supreme Being of heaven, or of all that is comprehended
under this name, is Zeus, for it is by heaven that Zeus gives life to all things.
The supreme Being of the sun is light, for it is by
the disk of the sun that we receive the benefit of the light. The thirty-six
horoscopes of the fixed stars have for supreme Being
or prince, him whose name is Pantomorphos, or having all forms, because he
gives divine forms to divers types. The seven planets, or wandering spheres,
have for supreme Spirits Fortune and Destiny, who uphold the eternal stability
of the laws of Nature throughout incessant transformation and perpetual
agitation. The ether is the instrument or medium by which all is produced. Thus, from the centre to the uttermost parts, everything moves, and
relations are established according to natural analogies. That which is mortal
approximates to that which is mortal, that which is sensible to that which is
sensible. The supreme direction belongs to the supreme Master, in such wise
that diversity is resolved into unity. For all things depend from unity or develope (p. 66) from it, and because they appear distant from one another
it is believed that they are many, whereas, in their collectivity they form but
one, or rather two, Principles. These two Principles, whence all things
proceed, and by which all exist, are the substance of which things are formed,
and the Will of Him who differentiates them. Asclepios: What is
the reason of this, O Trismegistos? Hermes: It is this, Asclepios.
God is the Father, the universal Ruler – or whatever other name yet more
holy and religious may be given to Him – and which, because of our
intelligence, ought to be held sacred between us; but, in considering His
divinity, we cannot define Him by any such name. For the
voice is a sound resulting from the concussion of the air, and declaring the
will of man, or the impression that his mind has received through the senses.
This name, composed of a determined number of syllables, serving as a token
between the voice and the ear, and, moreover, sensation, breath, air, all that
is concerned with, and belonging to its expression – these convey this
name of God, and I do not think that a name, however complex it may be, is able
to designate the Principle of all majesty, the Father and Lord of all things.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to give Him a name, or rather every name, since
He is one and all; therefore we must say either that All
is His name, or we must call Him by the names of all things. He, then, who is one and all, possessing the full and entire (p. 67) fecundity of both sexes, ever impregnated by His
own Will, brings forth all that He has willed to beget. His Will is universal
goodness, the selfsame goodness that exists in all things. Nature is born of
His divinity, in such wise that all things should be as they are, and as they
have been, and that Nature may suffice to generate of herself all that in the
future is to be born. This, O Asclepios, is why and
how all things are of two sexes. Asclepios: Sayest thou this also of God, O Trismegistos? Hermes: Not only of God, but of all beings,
whether animated or inanimate. For it is impossible that anything which exists
should be barren. Were we to suppress the fecundity of existing things, it
would be impossible for them to remain what they are. For I say that this law
of generation is contained in Nature, in intellect, in the universe, and preserves
all that is brought forth. The two sexes are full of procreation, and their
union, or rather their incomprehensible at-one-ment,
may be known as Eros, or as Aphrodite, or by both names at once. If the mind
can perceive any one truth more certainly and clearly than another, it is this
duty of procreation, which God of universal Nature has imposed for ever upon
all beings, and to which He has attached the supremest
charity, joy, delight, longing, and divinest love. It
would be needful to demonstrate the power and necessity of this law, if
everyone were not able to recognise and perceive it
by interior sentiment. Behold, indeed, how at the moment when from the brain
the tide of life (p. 68) descends, the two natures lose themselves each in
each, and one eagerly seizes and hides within itself the seed of the other! At
this moment, by means of this mutual enchainment, the feminine nature receives
the virtue of the male, and the male reposes on the bosom of its mate. This
mystery, so sweet and so necessary, is enacted in secret, lest the divinity of
the two natures should be constrained to blush before the railleries
of the ignorant, were the union of the sexes exposed to irreligious
observation. For pious men are not numerous in the world; they are, even, rare,
and one might easily count them. In the majority of men malice abides, for lack
of prudence and of knowledge of things of the universe. The understanding of divine religion, the basis of all things, leads to
the contempt of all vices in the world, and supplies the remedy against them;
but when ignorance asserts itself, then vices develope
and inflict upon the soul an incurable hurt. Infected by vices, the soul is, as
it were, swollen with poison, and can be healed only by knowledge and
understanding. Let us then continue this teaching, even though but a small
number should profit by it; and learn thou, O Asclepios,
why to man only God has given a part of His
intelligence and of His knowledge. Wherefore, hearken. God the Father and the Ruler, after the Gods (1) formed men
by the union in equal proportions of the corruptible part of the universe and
of its divine part, and thus it happened that the imperfections of the universe
remained mingled in the flesh. The need of nourishment which we have in common
with all creatures, subjects us to desire and to all other vices of the soul.
The Gods, constituted of the purest part of Nature, have no need of the aid of
reasoning or of study; immortality (p. 69) and eternal youth are for them wisdom and knowledge.
Nevertheless, seeing the unity of Order, and that they might not be strangers
to these things, God bestowed on them for their reason and their intelligence,
the eternal law of Necessity. Alone, among all creatures, whether to avoid or to overcome the evils of
the flesh, man has the aid of reason and of intelligence, and the hope of
immortality. Man, created good, and capable of immortal life, has been formed
of two natures: one divine, the other mortal; and in thus forming him, the
Divine Will rendered him superior to the Gods, who have an immortal nature
only, as well as to all mortal beings. For this reason, man, united in close
affinity with the Gods, pays them religious service, and the Gods, in their turn,
watch with a tender affection over human affairs. But I speak here only of
pious men; as for the wicked, I will say nothing concerning them, in order that
I may not, by pausing to talk about them, sully the holiness of this discourse. FOOTNOTES
(65:1) Hermes
here includes as Gods the sensible Forces of Nature, the elements and phenomena
of the universe. A. K. (68:1) Hermes here intends the mundane deities. A. K.
PART
IX AND since we are
brought to speak of the relationship and of the resemblance between men and
Gods, behold, O Asclepios, the power and capacity of
man! Even as the Ruler and Father, or to give Him the loftiest name – (p. 70) God
– is the creator of the firmamental Gods, so is man the creator of the
Gods who dwell in temples, pleased with human proximity, and not only
themselves illumined, but illuminating. And this both profits man and
strengthens the Gods. Dost thou marvel, Asclepios?
Dost thou lack faith as do many? Asclepios: I am confounded, O
Trismegistos; but yielding myself willingly to thy
words, I judge man to be happy in that he has obtained such felicity. Hermes: Certes,
he deserves admiration, being the greatest of all the Gods! For the race of the
Gods is formed of the purest part of Nature, without admixture of other
elements, and their visible signs are, as it were, only heads. (1)
But the Gods which mankind makes, possess two natures
– one divine, which is the first and by far the purest, the other
belonging to humanity, which is the matter of which these Gods are composed, so
that they have not only heads, but entire bodies, with all their limbs. Thus
mankind, remembering its nature and its origin, persists in this matter, in the
imitation of Deity, for even as the Father and Lord has made the eternal Gods
after the similitude of Himself, so also has humanity made its Gods in its own
image. (p. 71) Asclepios: Dost
thou speak of the statues, Trismegistos? Hermes: Yes, of the statues, Asclepios.
See how wanting thou art in faith! Of what else should I speak but of the
statues, so full of life, of feeling, and of aspiration, which do so many
wonderful things; the prophetic statues which predict the future by bestowing
dreams and by all manner of other ways; which strike us with maladies, or heal
our pains according to our deserts? Art thou not aware, O Asclepios,
that (p. 72) words
graven upon stones will witness to thy devotion! The Scythian, the Indian, or
some other neighbouring barbarian will possess To thee I cry, O most sacred River, to thee I announce the coming doom!
Waves of blood, polluting thy divine waters, shall overflow thy banks; the
number of the dead shall surpass that of the living; and if, indeed, a few
inhabitants of the land remain, Egyptians by speech, they will in manners be
aliens! Thou weepest, O Asclepios!
But yet sadder things than these will come to pass. In those days the religious man will be thought mad; the impious man
will be hailed as a sage; savage men (p. 73) will be
deemed valiant; the evil-hearted will be applauded as the best of men. The Soul
and all that belongs thereto – whether born mortal or able to attain
eternal life – all those things which I have herein expounded to thee, will
be but matters for ridicule, and will be esteemed foolishness. There will even
be peril of death, believe me, for those who remain faithful to religion and
intelligence. New rights will be instituted, new laws, nor will there be left
one holy word, one sacred belief, religious and worthy of heaven and of
celestial things. O lamentable separation between the Gods and men! Then there
will remain only evil demons who will mingle themselves with the
miserable human race, their hand will be upon it impelling to all kinds of
wicked enterprise; to war, to rapine, to falsehood, to everything contrary to
the nature of the soul. The earth will no longer be in equilibrium, the sea
will no longer be navigable, in the heavens the regular course of the stars
will be troubled. Every holy voice will be condemned to silence; the fruits of
the earth will become corrupt, and she will be no more fertile; the very air
will sink into lugubrious torpor. Such will be the old age of the world;
irreligion and disorder, lawlessness, and the confusion of good men. When all these things shall be accomplished, O Asclepios,
then the Lord and Father, the sovereign God who rules the wide world, beholding
the evil ways and actions of men, will arrest these misfortunes by the exercise
of His divine will and goodness. And, in order to put an end to error and to
the general corruption, He will drown the world with a deluge or consume it by
fire, or destroy it by wars and epidemics, and thereafter He will restore to it
its primitive beauty; so that once more it shall appear worthy of admiration
and worship, and (p. 74) again a
chorus of praise and of blessing shall celebrate Him Who has created and
redeemed so beautiful a work. This re-birth of the world, this restoration of
all good things, this holy and sacred re-habilitation of Nature will take place
when the time shall come which is appointed by the divine and ever-eternal will
of God, without beginning and always the same. Asclepios: Indeed, Trismegistos, the nature of God is Will reflected; that is,
absolute goodness and wisdom. Hermes: O Asclepios, Will is the result of reflection, and to will is
itself an act of willing. For He Who is the fulness
of all things and Who possesses all that He will, wills nothing by caprice. But
everything He wills is good, and He has all that He wills; all that is good He
thinks and wills. Such is God, and the World is the image of His righteousness. Asclepios: Is the
world then good, O Trismegistos? Hermes: Yes,
the world is good, Asclepios, as I will inform thee.
Even as God accords to all beings and to all orders in the world benefits of
divers kinds, such as thought, soul, and life, so likewise the world itself
divides and distributes good things among mortals, changing seasons, the fruits
of the earth, birth, increase, maturity, (p. 75) and
other similar gifts. And thus God is above the summit of heaven, yet everywhere
present and beholding all things. For beyond the heavens is a sphere without
stars, transcending all corporeal things. Between heaven and earth he reigns
who is the dispenser of life, and whom we call Zeus (Jupiter). Over the earth
and the sea he reigns who nourishes all mortal creatures, the plants and
fruit-bearing trees, and whose name is Zeus Sarapis
(Jupiter Plutonius). And those to whom it shall be
given to dominate the earth shall be sent forth and established at the
extremity of Egypt, in a city built towards the west, whither, by sea and by
land, shall flow all the race of mortals. Asclepios: But where are they
now, Trismegistos? Hermes: They
are established in a great city, upon the
FOOTNOTES (70:1) Hermes
speaks of the Stars, and of the Astral Powers, not of the Divine Intelligences.
The whole of this discourse has a hidden and profound meaning, relating to the
human organism, and to the elemental genii, which through man are individualised. A. K. (75:1) By
"
(p. 76) PART
X Hermes: LET us speak now of that which is immortal and of that
which is mortal. The multitude, ignorant of the reason of things, is troubled by
the approach and the fear of death. Death occurs by the dissolution of the
body, wearied with its toil. When the number which maintains unity is complete
– for the binding-power of the body is a number – the body dies.
And this happens when it can no longer support the burdens of life. Such, then,
is death; the dissolution of the body, and the end of corporeal sensations. It
is superfluous to trouble oneself about such a matter. But there remains
another necessary law which human ignorance and unbelief despise. Asclepios: What law is this
which is thus ignored or unregarded? Hermes: Hearken, O Asclepios. When
the soul is separated from the body, she passes under the supreme power of
Deity, to be judged according to her merits. If found pious and just she is
allowed to dwell in the divine abodes, but if she appears defiled with vice she
is precipitated from height to depth, and delivered over to the tempests and
adverse hurricanes of the air, the fire, and the water. Ceaselessly tossed
about between heaven and (p. 77) earth
by the billows of the universe, she is driven from side to side in eternal
penance, her immortal nature gives endless duration to the judgment pronounced
against her. (1) How greatly must we fear so dreadful a fate! They
who now refuse to believe in such things will then be convinced against their
will, not by words, but by beholding; not by menaces, but by the pains they
will endure. Asclepios: The
faults of men, O Trismegistos, are not then punished
only by human laws? Hermes: O Asclepios, all that is terrestrial is mortal. Those who
live according to the corporeal state, and who fall short during their life of
the laws imposed on this condition, are subjected after death to chastisement
so much the more severe as the faults committed by them have remained hidden;
for the universal prescience of God will render the punishment proportional to
the transgression. (2) (p. 78) Asclepios: Who are
they who deserve the greatest penalties, O Trismegistos? Hermes: Those
who, condemned by human laws, die a violent death, in such wise that they
appear not to have paid the debt they owe to Nature, but to have received only
the reward of their actions. (1) The just man, on the contrary,
finds in religion and in piety a great help, and God protects him against all
evils. The Father and Lord of all things, Who alone is all, manifests Himself
willingly to all; not that He shows any man His abode, nor His splendour, nor His greatness, but He enlightens man by
intelligence alone, whereby the darkness of error, is dissipated, and the
glories of the truth revealed. By such means man is united to the Divine
Intelligence; aspiring thither he is delivered from the mortal part of (p. 79) his
nature, and conceives the hope of everlasting life. Herein is the difference
between the good and the wicked. He who is illumined by piety, religion,
wisdom, the service and veneration of God, sees, as with open eyes, the true
reason of things; and, through the confidence of this faith, surpasses other
men even as the sun the other fires of heaven. For if the sun enlightens the
rest of the stars, it is not so much by his greatness and power as by his
divinity and sanctity. Thou must see in him, O Asclepios,
a secondary God, who rules the rest of the world, and illumines all its
inhabitants, animate and inanimate. If the world is an animated being which is, which has been, and which
will be always living, nothing in it is mortal. Each of its parts is alive, for
in a single creature always living there is no room for death. Thus is God the
plenitude of life and of eternity, for He necessarily lives eternally; the sun
is lasting as the universe, and governs perpetually all living creatures, being
the fount and distributor of all vitality. God is, then, the everlasting Ruler
of all things which receive life, and of all that give it, the eternal
dispenser of the being of the universe. Now, He has once for all bestowed life
on all living creatures by an immutable law which I will expound to thee. The
movement of the universe is the life of eternity; the sphere of this motion is
the eternity of life. The universe will never cease from movement, nor will it
ever become corrupt; the permanence of eternal life surrounds it and protects
it as a rampart. It dispenses life to all that is in its bosom; it is the bond
of all things ordained under the sun. The effect of its motion is double; it is
vivified by the eternity which encompasses it, and, in its turn, it vivifies
all that it (p. 80) contains,
diversifying everything according to certain fixed and determined numbers and
seasons. All things are ordained in time by the action of the sun and the
stars, according to a Divine law. Terrestrial periods are distinguished by the
condition of the atmosphere, by the alternatives of heat and cold; celestial
periods by the revolutions of the constellations, which return at fixed
intervals of time to the same places in the heavens. The universe is the stage
of time, the course and movement of which maintain Life. Order and time produce
the renewal of all things in the world by recurring seasons. FOOTNOTES (77:1) This
passage resembles a fragment of Empedocles, cited by Plutarch: – “The etherial force pursues them towards the sea, the sea vomits
them forth upon its shores, the earth in turn flings them upward to the
untiring sun, and the sun again drives them back into the whirlwind of space.
Thus all the elements toss them from one to another, and all hold them in
horror." [It is needless to add that the whole of this passage is
allegorical, and that the penance referred to is that of Purgatory, or Kama Loka
– the intermediate state of purification. A. K.] (77:2) This
passage qualifies the previous statement in Sect IX., concerning the duration
of the purgatorial state, and shows that it is not to be regarded as
eternal, but as proportional to the faults committed. Moreover, it supplies a
reason for the Catholic custom of shriving the dying, seeing that unconfessed sin entails heavier penalty than sin confessed,
and therefore no longer "hidden." A. K. (78:1) An
obscure passage. Probably its meaning is that great sinners, cut off by violent
means in the midst of their iniquity, have no time to work out their penance in
life, and, being thus deprived of the opportunity of restitution and amendment,
suffer the more acutely in purgatory. For since they cannot discharge their
debt on earth, they are delivered to torment after death until the
"uttermost farthing" is paid. A. K. [The
opinions expressed in the above, or other scholarly annotations herein, must be
disclaimed being in any way necessarily accepted as expressive of, or identical
with my own. Robt. H. Fryar,
PART XI SINCE such is the state
of the universe, there is nothing immutable, nothing stable, nothing unchanging
in nature, either in the heavens or on the earth. God alone, and rightly alone,
is wholly full and perfect in Himself, of Himself, and around Himself. He is
His own firm stability, nor can He be moved by any impulsion, since all things
are in Him, and He alone is all. Unless, indeed, we should dare to say, that
His movement is in eternity, but this eternity itself is motionless, since all
the motion of time revolves in eternity and takes its form therein. God, then, has ever been and is for ever
immutable; with Him likewise is the immutable eternity, bearing within it, as (p. 81) the
image of God, the uncreated universe not yet manifest. Hence, the created
universe constitutes the imitation of this eternal universe. Time, despite its
perpetual movement, possesses, by means of its necessary revolutions on itself,
the force and nature of stability. Thus, although eternity is fixed and
immutable, nevertheless, since the motion of time unfolds itself in eternity,
and this mobility is the very condition of time, it appears that eternity,
immutable in itself, yet revolves by means of the time which is within it, and
which contains all motion. Thence it results that the stability of eternity
appears mobile, and the mobility of time, stable, by the fixed law of their
course. And thus it might seem even that God moves in His own immutability. For
there is in the immensity of the equilibrium an unchangeable movement; the law
of His immensity is unchangeable. That, therefore, which is not subject to sense – the Infinite, the
Incomprehensible, the Immeasureable – can not
be sustained, nor carried, nor sought out; neither can we know whence it comes,
whither it goes, where it is,
how it is, nor what it is. It is contained in its own; supreme stability, and
its stability in it; whether God be in eternity, or eternity in God, or both
one and the other in the two. Eternity is undefinable
by time; and time, which may be defined by number, by alternative, or by
periodical revolutions, is eternal. Thus both appear equally infinite and
eternal. Stability being the fixed point which serves as the basis of Movement,
must, because of this stability, hold the principal place. God and Eternity
are, therefore, the principle of all things; but the world, which is mutable,
cannot be considered the principle. The mutability of the world takes
precedence of its stability, by means of the law of eternal movement (p. 82) in
equilibrium. The whole consciousness of Divinity is then immutable, and moves
only in equilibrium; it is holy, incorruptible, eternal; or to define it
better, it is eternity, consisting in the very truth of the Supreme God, the
plenitude of all feeling and knowledge, or indeed, so to speak, in God Himself.
The consciousness of the natural universe includes all sensible things and
species; the consciousness of humanity involves memory, by which man remembers
his acts performed. Now, the consciousness of Divinity descends even to the human creature.
God has not seen fit to extend to all beings this supreme and divine
consciousness, lest, were it common to all animals, the glory of it should be
diminished. The intelligence of the human mind, – whatever may be its
quality and quantity, – lies wholly in the memory, and it is by means of
this tenacity of memory that man has become the lord of the earth. The
intelligence of nature, the quality and consciousness of the universe, may be
understood by means of the sensible things it contains. Eternity, in the next
place, is understood as to its consciousness and its quality, according to the
sensible world. But the intelligence of the Divine Being, the consciousness of the
Supreme God, is the only truth, and this truth cannot be discovered, –
no, nor so much as its shadow, – in this world full of illusion, of
changeful appearances, and of error, where things are known only in the
dimension of time. Thou seest, O Asclepios,
what lofty matters we dare to treat! I thank Thee, O most high God, Who hast
illumined me with the light of Thy Grace! As for you, O Tat, Asclepios, and Ammon, keep these Divine
mysteries in the secret place of your hearts, (p. 83) and
conceal them in silence. Intellect differs from perception in this – that
intellect, by means of study, is competent to understand and to know the nature
of the universe. The intellect of the universe penetrates to the consciousness of
eternity, and of the super-mundane Gods. And as for us who are men, we perceive
heavenly things as it were darkly through a mist, for thus only does the
condition of our human sense permit us to behold them. Feeble, indeed, is our
strength to penetrate things so Divine; but, when at last we attain to them, we
are indeed blessed by the joy of our inward consciousness.
PART
XII CONCERNING the Void, to which
so much importance is attached, my judgment is that it does not exist, that it
never has existed, and that it never will exist. For all the various parts of
the universe are filled, as the earth also is complete and full of bodies,
differing in quality and in form, having their species and their magnitude, one
larger, one smaller, one solid, one tenuous. The larger and more solid are
easily perceived; the smaller and more tenuous are difficult to apprehend, or
altogether invisible. We know only of their (p. 84) existence
by the sensation of feeling, wherefore many persons deny such entities to be
bodies, and regard them as simply spaces, but it is impossible there should be
such spaces. For if indeed there should be anything outside the universe, which
I do not believe, then it would be a space occupied by intelligible beings
analogous to its Divinity, in such wise that the world, which we call the
sensible world, would be filled with bodies and creatures appropriate to its
nature and quality. We do not behold all the aspects of the world some of these
indeed are very vast, others very small, or else they appear small to us by
reason of their remoteness, or the imperfection of our sight; their extreme tenuity may even cause us to be wholly ignorant of their
existence. I speak of the genii, for I hold they dwell with us, and of the
heroes who dwell above us, between the earth and the higher airs; wherein are
neither clouds nor any tempest. For in truth, O Asclepios, it cannot be said
that there is anywhere a void, unless care be taken to define what is signified
by void; as, for instance, void of fire, or water, or of some other such thing.
And even if this or that space, small or great, be empty of these elements,
nothing can be empty of the spirit and aerial fluid. The same thing may be said
of place; this word alone cannot be understood, unless it is applied to
something. By omitting the chief term, the sense intended is lost; thus, it is
correct to say, "the place of water," "the place of fire,"
or of any other similar thing. For as it is impossible that there should be
space void of everything, so also it is impossible there should be place by
itself. If a place is supposed without its contents, then it is an empty place,
and, in my judgment, such a place does not (p. 85) exist
in the universe. But if nothing be void, then there can be no such thing as
place in itself, unless it be qualified by length, breadth, and depth, even as
human bodies have distinguishing signs. If, then, these things be so, O Asclepios and
you who are also present, know that the Intelligible World, that is to say,
God, Who is perceived only by the eye of intelligence, is incorporeal, and that
nothing corporeal can be mingled with His nature, nor anything that can be
defined by quality, quantity, or numeration, for there is nothing of such a
kind in Him. This world, which is called the sensible world, is the receptacle
of all sensible appearances, qualities, and bodies, nor can this universe exist
without God. For God is all, and all come forth from Him, and depend on His
Will; He contains everything that is good, orderly, wise, perfect, perceptible
for Him alone, and intelligible for Him alone. Apart from Him nothing has been,
nothing is, nothing will be; for all proceed from Him, are in Him, and by Him;
whether manifold qualities, vast quantities, magnitudes exceeding measurement,
species of all forms. If thou understandest these
things, Asclepios, render thanks to God; and,
observing the universe, comprehend clearly that this sensible world, and all
that it contains, is enfolded, as in a garment, by the supernal world. O Asclepios, beings of every kind, whether mortals,
immortals, reasonable, animate, inanimate, to whatever class they may belong,
bear the impress of that class, and although each of them has the general
appearance of its kind, there are yet among them special differences. Even so,
the human kind is uniform, and man may be defined by his type; nevertheless,
under this general likeness, men present many dissimilarities. For the (p. 86) character
which proceeds from God is incorporeal, as is all that is comprehended in
intelligence. Since the two principles which determine form are corporeal and
incorporeal, it is impossible that they should generate a form wholly resembling
something else, at whatever distance of time or of place. Forms, nevertheless,
are as changeful as the moments in an hour's space, in the moveable circle
wherein is that omniform God of whom we have spoken.
Therefore the type persists, producing as many images of itself as the
revolution of the world has instants of time. The world has changes in its
revolution, but species (individuality) has neither period nor change. Thus the
forms of every species are permanent, and yet various in the same species. Asclepios: And does the world
also vary in its species, Trismegistos? Hermes: Why
then, Asclepios, hast thou been asleep all the while
we have been discoursing? What is the world, or of what is it composed, if not
of all that is generated in it? Or dost thou speak of heaven, of the earth, and
of the elements, for other beings continually change in appearance? But even so
the heaven, now rainy, now dry, now hot, now cold, now clear, now covered with
clouds, has many successive changes of aspect beneath its apparent uniformity.
So also the earth constantly changes its aspect, for now it brings forth its
fruits, now it hides them in its bosom, bearing (p. 87) products of diverse quality and quantity; here is repose, there is movement, and every variety of trees, flowers, seeds, properties, odours, savours, forms. Fire, likewise, has its manifold and divine transformations, for the sun and the moon have all manner of aspects comparable to the multitude of images beheld in mirrors. And now we have discoursed enough of these things.
PART XIII LET us return to man,
and enquire concerning the divine gift of reason which entitles him to be
called a reasonable creature. Among all the wonders we have noted in man, that
which above all commands admiration is this: – that man has discovered
the divinity of nature, and has made it efficient to his designs. (1) (p. 88) Our ancestors, wandering astray in matters of faith concerning the Gods,
and unable to lift their minds to the Divine knowledge and religion, discovered
the art of making Gods; and, having discovered it, they invested their products
with appropriate virtues drawn from the nature of the world. And, as they could
not make souls, they evoked the spirits of genii and angels, and endowed with
them the holy images and sacraments, thus enabling their idols to exercise
powers (p. 89) for
good or ill. In such wise thine ancestor, O Asclepios, the inventor of medicine, has a temple on the Lybian mountain by the shores of the crocodile-frequented river,
where also lies enshrined all of him which belonged to the earth – that
is, his body. For the rest of him – his better part, or rather, indeed,
himself – because the principle of consciousness and of life is the whole
man – is restored to heaven. And now, by his divinity, he lends help to
men in their sicknesses, who once instructed them in the art of healing. So
also, Hermes, my own ancestor, whose name I bear, now enshrined in the country
which is called after him, hears the prayers of those who come thither from all
parts of the land to obtain of him assistance and health. Behold, again, what
blessings Asclepios: And of what kind,
O Trismegistos, is the divinity of these Gods who
inhabit the earth? (p. 90) Hermes: It
consists in the divine virtue, which naturally subsists in herbs, rocks, and
aromatic principles, wherefore these deities love frequent sacrifices, hymns,
and praises, and sweet music resembling the celestial harmony, which
heaven-like rite, attractive to their sacred nature, draws them and retains
them in their shrines, so that they patiently endure their long sojourn among
men. It is thus that men make Gods. Neither must thou suppose, O Asclepios, that the acts of these terrestrial deities are
controlled by hazard. For while the supernal Gods abide in the heights of
heaven, keeping each the order which belongs to him, these Gods of ours have
also their special functions. Some predict by means of lots and divination the
events of the future; others preside, in various ways, over things depending on
their care, or come to our assistance as allies, as kinsmen, or as friends. FOOTNOTES (87:1) This section continues and elucidates the argument of section IX. An acquaintance with occult doctrine regarding the Nature-spirits, or mundane Gods, will, I think, enable the reader to follow intelligently the observations of Hermes in regard to the sacred images. Precisely the same virtues as those attributed by the ancients to the idols of their various deities, are in our day attributed by Catholics to the idols of their saints. We hear of the "Virgin" of this or that town being propitious to a petition which the "Virgin" of some other place has refused to grant. Sacred images still heal the sick, avert pestilences, discover hidden springs, and confer blessings upon devotees. Hermes points out that the powers by which these things are accomplished belong to the divinity of Nature, individualised and differentiated by human intervention; and that mankind necessarily passes through the stage of nature-worship before becoming competent to realise the celestial order and the being of the heavenly Gods. For before the empyrean can be reached by the human intelligence, it must traverse the spheres intermediate between earth and heaven. Thus the images of the Gods are worshipped before the Gods themselves are known; nor are these images necessarily of wood or stone. All personalities are eidola (idols) reflecting the true essentials, and having, as it were, a portion of Divinity attached to them and resident in their forms, but none the less are they images, and however powerful and adorable they may appear to the multitude who know not divine religion, they are to the Hermetist but types and persona of essentials which are eternally independent of manifestation and unaffected by it. The signs of the truly Divine are three: transcendency of form, transcendency of time, transcendency of personality. Instead of form is Essence; instead of time, Eternity; instead of persons, Principles. Events become Processes, and phenomena, Noumena. So long as the conception of any divine idea remains associated with, or dependent on, any physical or historical circumstance, so long it is certain that the heavenly plane has not been reached. Symbols, when they are recognised as symbols, are no longer either deceptive or dangerous; they were merely veils of light rendering visible the "Divine Dark," towards which the true Hermetist aspires. Even the most refined, the subtlest of and most metaphysical expression of the supreme Truth is still symbol and metaphor, for the Truth itself is unutterable, save by God to God. It is Essence, Silence, Darkness. A. K.
PART
XIV Asclepios: O TRISMEGISTOS, what is the part taken in the order of
things by Destiny or Fate? If the heavenly Gods rule the universe, and the
mundane deities control special events, where is the part of Destiny? (p. 91) Hermes: O Asclepios, Destiny is the necessity which compels
all things that happen, the chain which binds together all events. It is thus
the cause of things, the supreme deity, or rather the second God created by
God, that is the law of all things in heaven and earth established upon divine
ordinances. Destiny and Necessity are bound together indissolubly: Destiny
produces the beginning of all things, Necessity enforces the effect which
ensues from these beginnings. And hence arises Order – that is, the
sequence and of things accomplished in Time; for nothing is performed without
Order. And thus the world is perfected; for the world is founded on Order, and
in Order the universe consists. Therefore these three, Destiny (which is Fate),
Necessity, and Order, depend absolutely on the will of God Who governs the
world by His divine law and reason. These three principles have no will in
themselves; inflexible and inaccessible to favour as
to anger, they are but the instruments of the eternal Reason, which is
immutable, invariable, unalterable, indissoluble. First comes Destiny,
containing, like newly-sown soil, the germs of future events. Necessity
follows, urging them to their consummation. Lastly, Order maintains the fabric
of things established by Destiny and Necessity. For all this is an everlasting
sequence without beginning or end, sustained by its immutable law in the
continuity of eternity. It rises and falls alternately, and as time rolls
onward, that which had disappeared, again rises uppermost. For such is the
condition of the circular movement; all things are interchained
in such wise that neither (p. 92) beginning nor end can be distinguished, and they appear to precede and follow each other unceasingly. But as for accident and chance, they pervade all mundane affairs.
PART XV AND now, inasmuch as
it is given to man, and inasmuch as God has permitted, we have spoken
concerning everything; it remains only, therefore, that we should bless and
pray to God and return to our mortal cares, having satisfied our minds by
treating of sacred things which are the food of the mind. *
*
*
* Therewith, coming forth from the Sanctuary, they addressed to God their oraisons, turning themselves to the south, because when the
sun begins to decline, he who would praise the God should direct his gaze
thither, as in like manner, at sunrise, he should look towards the orient. And
even while they pronounced their invocations, Asclepios,
in a low voice, spoke thus: – (p.93) O Tatius, let us ask our father that our prayers
may be accompanied with odours of incense and
perfumes. Trismegistos heard, and was
moved. May the omen be favourable, O Asclepios, he said. It is almost a sacrilege to burn
incense or any other perfume during prayer; He Who is all and Who contains all,
desires nothing. Let us give Him praise and adoration only; the divinest odours are acts of grace
which mortals render to God. We give Thee thanks, O Lord Most High, for by Thy grace we have received
the light of Thy knowledge; may Thy Name be adored and venerated, only Name by
which Deity is praised according to the religion of our fathers! For Thou dost
vouchsafe to accord to all of us the ancestral faith, piety, love, and the most
worthy and gracious gifts, in that Thou bestowest
upon us consciousness, reason, and intelligence. By consciousness we discern
Thee, by reason we seek Thee, and intelligence endows us with the joy of
understanding Thee. Saved by Thy divine power, let us be glad in beholding the
manifestation of Thyself; let us be glad that, from the hour of our sojourn in
the body, Thou dost deign to consecrate us to eternity. The only joy of Man is
the knowledge of Thy majesty. We have known Thee, O magnificent Light, who art
apprehended by Intelligence alone! We have known Thee, O true Way of Life,
inexhaustible Source of all births! We have known Thee, O generative Plenitude
of all Nature, Eternal Permanence! And in this our oraison,
adoring the sanctity of Thy holiness, we ask of Thee only to grant that we may
persevere in the love of Thy knowledge, in such wise that we may never (p.94) separate
ourselves from this manner of life. With which hope being filled, we go forth
to take a pure repast
without animal flesh. (1) FOOTNOTES (94:1) The words with
which this Discourse on Initiation ends are full of significance. The key to
the Hermetic Secret is found when the aspirant adopts the Edenic
Life: the life of purity and charity which all mystics – Hebrew,
Egyptian, Buddhist, Greek, Latin, Vedic, with one consent, ascribe to man in
the golden age of his primeval perfection. The first outcome of the Fall, or
Degeneracy, is the shedding of blood and eating of flesh. The license to kill
is the sign-manual of "Paradise Lost." And the first step towards
"Paradise Regained" is taken when man voluntarily returns to the
manner of life indicated by his organism as that alone befitting him, and thus
reunites himself to the harmony of Nature and the Will of God. No man who
follows this path and faithfully keeps to it will fail to find at length the
Gate of Paradise. Not necessarily in a single life-time, for the process of
purification is a long one, and the past experiences of some men may be such as
to shut them out for many lives from the attainment of the promised land. But,
nevertheless, every step faithfully and firmly trodden, brings them nearer to
the goal, every year of pure life increasingly strengthens the spirit, purges
the mind, liberates the will, and augments their human royalty. On the other
hand, it is idle to seek union with God in the Spirit, while the physical and
magnetic organism remains insurgent against Nature. Harmony must be established
between man and Nature before union can be accomplished between man and God!
For Nature is the manifest God; and if man be not in perfect charity with that
which is visible, how shall he love that which is invisible? Hermetic doctrine
teaches the kinship and solidarity of all beings, redeemed and glorified in
man. For man does not stand aloof and apart from other creatures, as though he
were a fallen angel dropped from some supernal world upon the earth, but he is
the child of earth, the product of evolution, the elder brother of all conscient things; their lord and king, but not their
tyrant. It is his part to be to all creatures a Good Destiny; he is the keeper,
the redeemer, the regenerator of the earth. If need be, he may call on his
subjects to serve him as their king, but he may never, without forfeiting his
kingship, maltreat and afflict them. All the children of God, in every land and
age, have abstained from blood, in obedience (p. 95) to an
occult law which asserts itself in the breast of all regenerate men. The
mundane Gods are not averse to blood, for by means of it they are invigorated
and enabled to manifest. For the mundane Gods are the forces of the astral
element in man, which element dominates in the unregenerate. Therefore, the
unregenerate are under the power of the stars, and subject to illusion.
Inasmuch as a man is clean from the defilement of blood, insomuch he is less
liable to be beguiled by the deceptions of the astral serpent. Therefore, let
all who seek the Hermetic secret, do their utmost to attain to the Hermetic
life. If entire abstinence from all forms of animal food be impossible, let a
lower degree be adopted, admitting the use of the least bloody meats only
– milk, fish, eggs, and the flesh of birds. But in such a case, let the intention of the aspirant
be continually united with that of Nature, willing with firm desire to lead,
whenever possible, a yet more perfect life; so that in a future birth he may be
enabled to attain to it. A. K.
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