Egyptian-Hebrew stream·Corpus Hermeticum·The Secret Hymn: The Holy Speech

Source context

Theme

sacred doxological speech as theurgic act — the hidden hymn as vehicular form for divine self-praise through the initiate

Soul-faculty

Consciousness Soul

Steiner

not engaged in the GA corpus

Cross-tradition

• Vedic / Upanishadic traditionThe Vedic stuti and the Upanishadic nāma-rūpa doctrine share cross-tradition congruence with the Hermetic secret hymn's premise that sacred speech is not human composition but the cosmos sounding itself through a prepared vessel.
• Kabbalistic traditionThe Kabbalistic concept of the divine Name (Shem) as active creative force, particularly in Sefer Yetzirah, displays cross-tradition congruence with the Hermetic holy speech as an ontologically operative rather than merely representational utterance.
• Neoplatonic theurgy (Iamblichus)Iamblichus in De Mysteriis holds that certain divine names and invocations operate independently of the speaker's intellectual understanding, a structural parallel to the Hermetic hymn's claim that the speech itself carries efficacy beyond discursive meaning.

The Secret Hymn: The Holy Speech

Let all of Nature lend an ear to this hymn.

Open up, O Earth, and let all the treasures of the rain be revealed.

Trees, do not tremble, for I will sing and praise the Lord of Creation—the All and the One.

Open up, you Heavens; winds, be still; let the immortal circle of God receive these words.

For I will sing and praise Him who created all things, who fixed the Earth and hung up the Heavens, who commanded sweet waters to flow from the Ocean into all the world—inhabited and uninhabited—for the sustenance of all beings.

He commanded fire to shine for every action, benefiting both gods and humans.

Let us all together bless Him who rides upon the Heavens, the Creator of all Nature.

He is the Eye of the Mind and will accept the praise of my virtues.

O all you virtues within me, praise the One and the All.

Sing in unison with my will, all you virtues within me.

O Holy Knowledge, enlightened by you, I magnify the intelligible Light and rejoice in the Mind's joy.

All my virtues sing praise with me, and you, my self-control, praise righteousness through me; praise what is righteous.

O Communion within me, praise the All.

Through me, Truth praises Truth; Goodness praises Goodness.

O Life, O Light, from us to you flows this praise and thanksgiving.

I give thanks to you, O Father, the operation of my virtues.

I give thanks to you, O God, the power behind my actions.

Through me, your Word sings praise to you; receive this reasonable sacrifice expressed in words.

The virtues within me proclaim these things; they praise the All and fulfill your Will. Your Will and Counsel come from you and return to you.

O All, receive a rational sacrifice from all things.

O Life, save all that is within us; O Light, enlighten us; O God, Spirit, for the Mind nourishes the Word; O Spirit-bearing Creator.

You are God; your human creation cries out to you through fire, air, earth, water, spirit, and all your works.

From eternity, I've found ways to bless and praise you, and I've attained what I seek, for I rest in your Will.

Tat: Father, I see that you've sung this hymn of praise and blessing with your whole being, and so I've placed it within my own world.

Hermes: Say "within your intelligible world," my son.

Tat: Yes, I mean within my mind's world, for your hymn and song of praise have enlightened my mind. I'd gladly offer my own. thanksgiving to God from my understanding.

Hermes: Not hastily, my son.

Tat: Within my mind, Father.

Hermes: The things I see and contemplate, I impart to you. Therefore, say, you, my son Tat, originator of your future generations, "I offer these rational sacrifices to God."

"O God, you are the Father, you are the Lord, you are the Mind. Accept these rational sacrifices which you require of me.

For all things occur as the Mind wills."

You, my son, present this acceptable sacrifice to God, the Father of all things. But express it also, my son, in words.

Tat: I thank you, Father; you've guided and instructed me to offer praise and thanks in this way.

Hermes: I'm glad, my son, to see Truth bearing the fruits of goodness and such immortal virtues.

And learn this from me: Above all other virtues, embrace Silence, and share the teachings of regeneration with no one, my son, lest we be misunderstood. We've both contemplated sufficiently—you in listening, 1 in speaking. Now you intellectually know yourself and our Father.

The Eighth Book. That The Greatest Evil In Man, Is The Not Knowing God.

Where are you heading, O men, intoxicated by the strong wine of ignorance? Since you cannot bear it, why do you not purge it from yourselves?

Stand firm, become sober, and look upward with the eyes of your heart. If not all of you can do this, then at least as many as are able.

For the malice of ignorance envelops the whole earth and corrupts the soul, which is confined within the body and prevented from. reaching the harbor of salvation.

Do not let yourselves be swept along by the great current; instead, resist the tide. You who can, grasp hold of the haven of safety and set your course fully toward it.

Seek someone who can lead you by the hand and guide you to the door of truth and knowledge, where the clear light exists, pure and free from darkness. There, none are intoxicated, but all are sober and look within their hearts to Him who delights in being seen.

For He cannot be heard with ears, nor seen with eyes, nor expressed in words, but only perceived in mind and heart.

But first, you must tear apart and break through the garment you wear—the web of ignorance, the foundation of all mischief; the bond of corruption; the dark covering; the living death; the tangible corpse; the tomb we carry around with us; the internal thief who, while seeming to love us, actually hates and envies us.

Such is the harmful attire with which you are clothed, dragging and pulling you downward by its own weight. It does this to prevent you from looking upward and seeing the beauty of truth and the goodness that resides there, lest you come to hate the wickedness of this garment and recognize the traps and ambushes it has set for you.

Therefore, it strives to validate the things that merely seem real and are judged by the senses, while hiding the things that truly are. It envelops them in such a way, filling what it presents to you with deceptive pleasures, so that you can neither hear what you ought to hear nor see what you ought to see.

The Ninth Book. A Universal Sermon To Asclepius.

Hermes: Everything that moves, Asclepius, does it not move within something and because of something?

Asclepius: Yes, indeed.

Hermes: Must not the space in which something moves necessarily be greater than the thing that is moving?

Asclepius: It must be.

Hermes: And isn't that which moves something else stronger than the thing that is moved?

Asclepius: It is stronger.

Hermes: Therefore, the space in which something moves must have a nature contrary to that of the thing that is moved, mustn't it?

Asclepius: It must.

Hermes: Isn't this great world a body beyond which there is nothing greater?

Asclepius: Yes, certainly.

Hermes: And isn't it solid, filled with many large bodies—in fact, with all the bodies that exist?

Asclepius: That is so.

Hermes: And isn't the world itself a body that is in motion?

Asclepius: It is.

Hermes: Then what kind of place must it be in which the world moves, and what is its nature? Must it not be much larger to accommodate continuous motion and prevent the moving object from being hindered due to lack of space?

Asclepius: It must indeed be something immense, Trismegistus, but of what nature?

Hermes: Of a contrary nature, Asclepius. Isn't the nature of incorporeal things contrary to that of a body?

Asclepius: Indeed it is.

Hermes: Therefore, the space is incorporeal. And that which is incorporeal is either something divine or God Himself. By "something divine," I don't mean anything that was made or born.

If it is divine, then it is an essence or substance. But if it is God, then He is above essence; He is understood differently.

Firstly, God is intelligible not to Himself but to us, because that which is intelligible is subject to the one who understands through perception.

Therefore, God does not perceive Himself in the same way, for, not being different from what is understood, He cannot understand Himself as separate.

But He is different from us, and therefore He is understood by us.

If, then, space is intelligible, it is not merely space but God. But if God is intelligible, He is understood not as space but as a capable operation.

Now, everything that moves does so not within or by that which is moving, but within that which stands still or rests. And that which causes movement itself stands or rests, for it cannot be moved along with the thing it moves.

Asclepius: How then, Trismegistus, do things here move along with other moving things? For you say that the wandering stars are moved by the sphere that does not wander.

Hermes: That, Asclepius, is not simultaneous movement but counter-motion. They are not moved in the same manner but in opposite ways. Contrariety provides a stable resistance to motion, for resistance is a hindrance to motion.

Therefore, the wandering stars, moving contrary to the sphere that does not wander, establish a mutual contrariety that remains constant.

Consider the constellation known as the Bear, which neither rises nor sets but always turns around the same point. Do you think it moves or stands still?

Asclepius: I think it moves, Trismegistus.

Hermes: What kind of motion?

Asclepius: A motion that continually revolves around the same point.

Hermes: But the circular motion around the same point and the motion about the same are both concealed by a state of rest. For that which moves around the same point prevents that which is above from appearing stationary relative to it.

Thus, the opposing motion remains constant, always established by contrariety.

But I'll give you an earthly example that can be seen with your eyes.

Look at any living creature on Earth—take a person swimming, for example. As the water flows one way, the resistance of their hands and feet creates a stationary state for the swimmer, preventing them from being carried away by the water or sinking beneath it.

Asclepius: You've provided a very clear example, Trismegistus.

Hermes: Therefore, every motion exists within a state of rest and is moved by something at rest.

The motion of the world and of every material living thing does not occur due to things outside the world but because of things within it—a soul, or spirit, or some other incorporeal thing acting upon what is external.

For an inanimate body cannot move itself, much less move if it is entirely lifeless.

Asclepius: What do you mean by this, Trismegistus? Wood and stones and all other inanimate things—aren't they moving bodies?

Hermes: By no means, Asclepius. That which moves the inanimate object from within is not the body itself. It moves both the body that carries and the body that is carried. One dead or inanimate thing cannot move another; whatever moves must be alive to initiate movement.

You see, then, how the soul is burdened when it carries two bodies.

Now it is clear that things that are moved are moved within something and by something.

Asclepius: Then, Trismegistus, things must be moved within something that is void or empty—a vacuum.

Hermes: Be cautious, Asclepius. Of all the things that exist, nothing is empty; only that which does not exist is empty and alien to being.

But that which exists could not be if it were not full of existence, for that which is in being can never be made empty.

Asclepius: Aren't there, then, some things that are empty, Trismegistus? Like an empty barrel, an empty jug, an empty well, an empty wine press, and many such things?

Hermes: Oh, Asclepius! Those things that are most full a the misunderstanding, and replenished—you consider them void and empty?

Asclepius: What do you mean, Trismegistus?

Hermes: Isn't air a body?

Asclepius: Yes, it is a body.

Hermes: Then doesn't this body pass through all things that exist, filling them as it goes? And isn't this body composed of a mixture of the four elements? Therefore, all those things you call empty are actually full of air.

So, the things you call empty you should rather call hollow, not empty, for they exist and are full of air and spirit.

Asclepius: This reasoning is undeniable, Trismegistus. But what shall we call the space in which the whole universe moves?

Hermes: Call it incorporeal, Asclepius.

Asclepius: What is the incorporeal or unbodied?

Hermes: It is Mind and Reason, encompassing the whole and comprehending itself entirely, free from any body, undeceivable, invisible, unaffected by bodily existence, steadfast in itself, capable of all things, and favorable to the things that exist.

From it emanate the Good, the Truth, the Archetypal Light, and the Archetype of the Soul, which are like rays.

Asclepius: Then what is God?

Hermes: God is none of these things, yet He exists and is the cause of being for all things and for each individual thing that exists. He has left nothing devoid of existence.

All things are made from what exists, not from what does not. For things that do not exist lack the nature to be made, and things that exist have the nature never to cease existing or to become nonexistent.

Asclepius: Then what do you ultimately say that God is?

Hermes: God is not Mind, but the cause that Mind exists; not Spirit, but the cause that Spirit exists; not Light, but the cause that Light exists.

Therefore, we must worship God with these two titles that are unique to Him and to no other.

For none of the others called gods, nor humans, nor demons, nor angels can be— even in the slightest degree—good except God alone.

And this He is, and nothing else. All other things are separate from the nature of the Good.

For neither the body nor the soul has a place capable of containing the Good.

The greatness of the Good is as vast as the existence of all things, both bodily and incorporeal, both perceivable and intelligible.

This is the Good—that is, God.

See to it, then, that you never call anything else good, for if you do, you will be irreverent; nor call any other god but the Good, for otherwise you will again be irreverent.

People often speak the word "good," but not all understand what it truly means. Through ignorance, they call both the gods and some people good, who can neither be nor become so.

Therefore, all the other gods are honored with the title of "god," but God alone is the Good —not by virtue of Heaven but by His very nature.

For there is one nature of God, which is the Good, and from this one source come all kinds.

For He who is Good is the giver of all things and takes nothing; therefore, God gives all things and receives nothing.

The other title is "Father," because He creates all things—for it is the role of a father to bring forth.

Therefore, it has been the greatest and most sacred duty in life for the wise and virtuous to beget children.

Conversely, it is the greatest misfortune and irreverence for anyone to leave the world without offspring. Such a person is punished after death by spirits, and the punishment is this: to have the soul of this childless person assigned and condemned to a body that has neither the nature of a man nor of a woman— a cursed existence under the sun.

Therefore, Asclepius, never congratulate anyone who is childless; on the contrary, pity their misfortune, knowing what punishment awaits them.

Let these things be said, Asclepius, as a preliminary understanding of all things in Nature.

The Tenth Book. The Mind to Hermes.

"Hold your speech, O Hermes Trismegistus, and recall what has been said. Yet I won't delay in expressing what's on my mind. Many have spoken various and conflicting things about the universe and the Good, but I have not yet learned the truth.

Therefore, may the Lord make this clear to me; for I will believe you alone to reveal these matters.

Then the Mind spoke, explaining the situation:

God and all.

God, Eternity, the World, Time, Generation.

God created Eternity; Eternity created the World; the World created Time; and Time created Generation.

From God, as His very essence, come the Good, the Beautiful, Blessedness, and Wisdom.

From Eternity comes Identity or Selfhood.

From the World comes Order.

From Time comes Change.

From Generation come Life and Death.

But the operations of God are Mind and Soul.

From Eternity come Permanence and Immortality.

From the World come Renewal and Decay.

From Time come Growth and Diminishment.

And from Generation come Qualities.

Therefore, Eternity exists within God.

The World exists within Eternity.

Time exists within the World.

And Generation exists within Time.

Eternity surrounds God.

The World moves within Eternity.

Time is set within the World.

Generation happens within Time.

Therefore, the source and fountain of all things is God.

The substance is Eternity.

The matter is the World.

The power of God is Eternity.

And the work of Eternity is the World—not yet made, and yet ever being made by Eternity.

Therefore, nothing will ever be destroyed, for Eternity is incorruptible.

Nor can anything perish or be destroyed in the World, since the World is contained and embraced by Eternity.

But what is the Wisdom of God? It is the Good, the Beautiful, Blessedness, every Virtue, and Eternity.

Eternity, therefore, infused Immortality and Everlastingness into Matter; for the generation of that depends upon Eternity, just as Eternity depends upon God.

For Generation and Time, in Heaven and on Earth, have a dual nature; in Heaven, they are unchangeable and incorruptible; but on Earth, they are changeable and corruptible.

And the soul of Eternity is God; the soul of the World is Eternity; and the soul of Earth is Heaven.

God is in the Mind; the Mind is in the Soul; the Soul is in Matter; all things exist through Eternity.

This entire universal body, in which all bodies reside, is full of Soul; the Soul is full of Mind; the Mind is full of God.

For within, He fills them; and without, He contains them, giving life to the universe.

Externally, He enlivens this perfect living entity—the World; and internally, all living creatures.

Above, in Heaven, He remains constant; but below, on Earth, He changes through Generation.

Eternity encompasses the World, whether by Necessity, Providence, or Nature.

And if anyone thinks otherwise, it is God who activates and operates all.

But the action or operation of God is an unsurpassable power, to which nothing can be compared, whether human or divine.

Therefore, O Hermes, do not think that any of these things below or above are in any way like God, for if you do, you stray from the truth.

For nothing can be like the unlike, the only, the One; nor should you think that He has given any of His power to anything else.

For who, after Him, can make anything— whether of Life or Immortality, of Change or Quality—and what else would He Himself make?

For God is not idle, for then all things would be idle; for all things are full of God.

But there is nowhere in the world such a thing as idleness; for idleness implies a thing void or empty, lacking both a doer and a deed.

But all things must necessarily be made or done, always and according to the nature of every place.

For He who makes or does is in all things, yet not confined or contained in anything, nor making or doing just one thing, but all things.

For being an active and operating Power, sufficient unto Himself for all that is made, the things that are made are under Him.

Look upon the world through me, which is visible to your sight, and understand precisely its beauty.

A body that does not wither, than which there is nothing more ancient, yet always vigorous and young.

See also the seven realms above us, adorned with everlasting order, filling Eternity with their diverse courses.

For all things are full of light, but the fire is nowhere.

For the harmony and blending of opposites and unlikes became light, shining from the action of God, the Father of all Good, the Prince of all Order, and the Ruler of the seven realms.

Look also upon the Moon, the forerunner of them all, the instrument of Nature, which changes the matter here below.

Behold the Earth, the center of the whole, the firm and stable foundation of the beautiful world, the nurturer and sustainer of earthly things.

Consider moreover how great is the multitude of immortal living beings, and of mortal ones as well; and see the Moon moving among them all—that is, among things immortal and mortal.

But all things are full of Soul, and all things are properly moved by it; some things around the Heaven, and some things around the Earth; and neither do those on the right hand move to the left, nor those on the left hand to the right; nor do those things that are above move downward, nor those things that are below move upward.

And that all these things are made, O beloved Hermes, you need not learn from me.

For they are bodies, and have a soul, and are moved.

And that all these should come together into one—it is impossible without something to unite them.

Therefore, there must be someone, and He is altogether One.

For seeing that the motions are diverse and many, and the bodies not alike, yet there is one ordered swiftness among them all—it is impossible that there should be two or more creators.

For one order is not maintained by many.

Among the weaker, there would be jealousy of the stronger, and thus contentions.

And if there were one creator of mutable and mortal beings, he would desire also to make immortal ones, just as he who made immortal ones would wish to make mortal.

Moreover, if there were two, with the matter being one, who would be chief or have authority over creation?

Or if both of them, which would have the greater part?

But consider that every living body consists of Matter and Soul; and of that which is immortal and that which is mortal and irrational.

For all living bodies have a soul; and those things that are not living are only matter by itself.

And the soul, drawing near to its Maker, is the cause of life and being; and being the cause of life, is in a way the cause of immortal things.

How then are mortal beings different from immortal ones?

Or how can He who causes immortal things and immortality not make living beings?

That there is someone who does these things is evident, and that He is also One is most manifest.

For there is one Soul, one Life, and one Matter.

Who is this? Who can it be but the One God?

For whom else can it benefit to make living things, save only God alone?

Therefore, there is one God.

For it is absurd to acknowledge the world to be one, the Sun one, the Moon one, Divinity one, and yet to have, I know not how many gods.

He, therefore, being One, does all things in many ways.

And what great thing is it for God to make Life and Soul and Immortality and Change, when you yourself do so many things?

For you see, speak, hear, smell, taste, touch, walk, understand, and breathe.

And it is not one who sees, and another who hears, and another who speaks, and another who touches, and another who smells, and another who walks, and another who understands, and another who breathes—but one who does all these things.

Yet none of these things can exist without God.

For just as you, if you ceased doing these things, would no longer be a living being; so if God should cease from these, He would no longer be—which is not lawful to say—God.

For if it has already been shown that nothing can be idle or empty, how much more may this be affirmed of God?

For if there be anything He does not do, then He is—if it were lawful to say so—imperfect.

But since He is not idle, but perfect, certainly He does all things.

Now, give yourself to me, O Hermes, for a little while, and you will more easily understand that it is the necessary work of God that all things should be made or done that are done, or were once done, or shall be done.

And this, O most beloved, is Life.

And this is the Beautiful.

And this is the Good.

And this is God.

And if you wish to understand this through action as well, consider what happens within yourself when you desire to create.

And yet this is not like Him; for He does not experience pleasure, nor does He have any fellow worker.

But being Himself the only Creator, He is always at work, Himself being that which He does or makes.

For all things, if they were separated from Him, must necessarily fall and die, as there would be no life in them.

And again, if all things are living beings, both those in Heaven and on Earth, and there is one Life in all things which are made by God, and that is God, then certainly all things are made or done by God.

Life is the union of Mind and Soul.

But death is not the destruction of those things that were combined, but a dissolving of the union.

Therefore, the image of God is Eternity; of Eternity, the World; of the World, the Sun; of the Sun, Humanity.

But people say that change is death, because the body dissolves and life moves into what is unseen.

By this discourse, my dearest Hermes, I affirm —as you hear—that the world is changed, because every day part of it becomes invisible; but it is never destroyed.

And these are the transformations of the world: revolutions and renewals. Revolution is a turning; renewal is rejuvenation.

And the world, being all-formed, does not have forms lying outside of it, but itself changes within itself.

Seeing then that the world is all-formed, what must He be that made it? For without form, He cannot be.

And if He is all-formed, He would be like the world; but if He has but one form, He would, in this regard, be less than the world.

What then shall we say that He is? We will not raise any doubts by our speech, for nothing that is doubtful concerning God is yet known.

He has, therefore, one Idea which is proper to Him, which, because it is incorporeal, is not visible, yet it reveals all forms through bodies.

And do not wonder if there is an incorruptible Idea.

For they are like the margins of that speech which is written; they seem elevated and prominent, but they are by nature smooth and even.

But understand well what I say, more boldly, for it is more true: just as a person cannot live without life, so neither can God exist without doing good.

For this is, in a way, the life and motion of God: to move all things and to enliven them.

But some of the things I have said require a particular explanation; understand then what Isay.

All things are in God—not as lying in a place, for place is both a body and immovable, and those things that are placed there have no motion.

For they exist differently in that which is incorporeal than they appear to us.

Consider Him who contains all things, and understand that nothing is more capacious than that which is incorporeal; nothing swifter, nothing more powerful; it is most capacious, most swift, and most strong.

And judge this by yourself: command your soul to go to India, and before you can bid it, it will be there.

Bid it likewise to cross the ocean, and suddenly it will be there—not by moving from place to place, but instantaneously.

Command it to fly into Heaven, and it will need no wings, nor will anything hinder it— not the fire of the sun, not the ether, not the turning of the spheres, not the bodies of any other stars—but cutting through all, it will fly up to the furthest realm.

And if you wish even to break through the whole and see those things that are beyond the world (if there be anything beyond), you may.

Behold how great power, how great swiftness you have! Can you do all these things, and cannot God?

In this way, therefore, contemplate God as having the whole world within Himself, as it were, all thoughts or understandings.

If, therefore, you do not make yourself equal to God, you cannot understand God.

For like is understood by like.

Expand yourself to an immeasurable greatness, leaping beyond every body, transcending all time; become Eternity, and you shall understand God. If you believe in yourself that nothing is impossible, but consider yourself immortal and able to understand all things—every art, every science, and the nature of every living being.

Become higher than all height, lower than all depths; gather into yourself the qualities of all creatures—of the fire, the water, the dry and the moist; conceive likewise that you can be everywhere—in the sea, on the land.

You shall at once understand yourself not yet born in the womb, young, old, to be dead, and the things after death; and all these together —as well as times, places, deeds, qualities, quantities—or else you cannot yet understand God.

But if you confine your soul in the body and belittle it, and say, "I understand nothing, I can do nothing, I am afraid of the sea, I cannot climb into Heaven, I know not who I am, I cannot tell what I shall be"—what have you to do with God? For you cannot understand any of the beautiful and good things; you become a lover of the body and of evil.

For it is the greatest evil not to know God.

But to be able to know, to will, and to hope is the straight and divine path, proper to the Good; and it will meet you everywhere and be seen by you everywhere—plain and easy— when you do not expect or look for it. It will meet you waking, sleeping, sailing, traveling, by night, by day, when you speak and when you are silent.

For there is nothing that is not the image of God.

And yet you say, "God is invisible." But consider this: who is more manifest than He?

For He has made all things so that you may see Him through all things.

This is the Good of God; this is His virtue: to appear and to be seen in all things.

There is nothing invisible—not even among those things that are incorporeal.

The Mind is seen in understanding, and God is seen in doing and creating.

Let these things be made clear to you thus far, O Trismegistus.

Understand all other things in a similar manner through yourself, and you shall not be deceived."

The Eleventh Book. Of the Common Mind to Tat.

Hermes speaks to his son Tat:

"The Mind, my son, is of the very essence of God—if indeed God has an essence. What kind of essence that is, only He knows precisely.

The Mind is not separate or divided from God's essential nature but is united with it, like the light of the sun.

This Mind within humans is God Himself, and therefore some humans are divine, their humanity close to divinity. As the good Daimon once said, the gods are immortal humans, and humans are mortal gods.

In animals—creatures without reason—their nature serves as their mind. Where there is a soul, there is a mind; just as where there is life, there is also a soul. In living creatures that lack reason, the soul is life devoid of the operations of the Mind. For the Mind benefits the souls of humans, guiding them toward the proper good.

In irrational beings, the Mind cooperates with each one's nature, but in humans, it works against their base inclinations. When the soul enters the body, it is immediately affected by sorrow, grief, and pleasure, which corrupt it. Grief and pleasure flow like juices from the physical body; when the soul descends into it, it becomes saturated and stained by them.

For as many souls as the Mind governs or rules over, it shows them its own light, resisting their preconceived notions and presumptions. Just as a good physician causes pain to the body afflicted with disease by burning or cutting it for the sake of health, so too does the Mind afflict the soul by drawing it away from pleasure, from which every disease of the soul arises.

The greatest disease of the soul is atheism, for that belief leads to all evil and no good. Therefore, the Mind resists it, bringing good to the soul, just as a physician brings health to the body.

But the souls of those humans who do not accept the Mind as their governor suffer the same fate as the souls of irrational creatures. The soul, cooperating with their desires, allows them to be carried away by their appetites, leading them toward a brutish existence. Like wild beasts, they are angry without reason, they desire without reason, and they never cease or are satisfied with evil. For unreasonable anger and desires are the greatest evils.

Therefore, God has set the Mind over these passions as a revenger and reprover."

Tat asks: "Father, this discussion about Fate or Destiny that you shared with me seems in danger of being contradicted. If it is fated for someone to commit adultery or sacrilege or any evil, and they are punished for it—even though they necessarily do the work of Fate or Destiny—how is that just?"

Hermes replies: "All things, my son, are the work of Fate, and without it, no bodily thing, whether good or evil, can be done. It is decreed by Fate that whoever does evil should also suffer for it. Therefore, they do it so they may suffer the consequences because they did it.

But let's set aside this discussion about evil and Fate for now; we've spoken of it at other times. Our current discourse is about the Mind —what it can do, how it differs, and how it exists in humans in one way but is changed in irrational creatures. In animals, it is not beneficial, but in humans, it quenches both their anger and desires.

Among humans, you must understand that some are rational, governed by reason, and others irrational. All humans are subject to Fate, Generation, and Change, for these are the beginning and end of Fate or Destiny. All humans suffer the things decreed by Fate. But rational humans, over whom the Mind rules, do not suffer like other humans; being free from vice and not evil themselves, they do suffer evil.

Tat questions: "How can you say this, Father? Isn't an adulterer evil? Isn't a murderer evil? And so with all others."

Hermes answers: "But the rational person, my son, will not suffer as an adulterer for adultery, nor as a murderer for murder. It is impossible to escape the quality of change or generation, but one who has the Mind can escape vice.

Therefore, my son, I have always heard the good Daimon say—and if he had written it down, it would have greatly benefited all humankind—for he alone, as the firstborn of God, seeing all things, truly spoke divine words. I have heard him say at times that all things are one thing, especially intelligible bodies, or rather that all intelligible bodies are one.

We live in Power, in Act, and in Eternity. Therefore, a good Mind is what the soul of a person is. And if this is so, then no intelligible thing differs from other intelligible things. Just as it is possible for the Mind, the ruler of all things, so likewise the soul that is of God can do whatever it wills.

But understand well that this discourse I've given relates to the question you asked me before concerning Fate and the Mind. First, if you diligently withdraw yourself from all contentious speech, you will find that in truth, the Mind—the soul of God—rules over all things, including Fate, Law, and all else. Nothing is impossible for it, not even things that are under Fate.

Therefore, even though the soul of a person is above Fate, it should not neglect things that happen to be under Fate.

These, thus far, were the excellent sayings of the good Daimon."

Tat exclaims: "Most divinely spoken, Father, truly and profitably. Yet please clarify one thing for me. You say that in irrational creatures, the Mind acts according to Nature, cooperating with their instinctive inclinations.

Now, these instinctive inclinations in animals, as I understand, are passions. If the Mind cooperates with these instinctive inclinations, and they are passions in animals, then certainly the Mind is also a passion, conforming itself to passions."

Hermes responds: "Well asked, my son. It is right that I should answer you. All incorporeal things within the body are capable of being affected; in fact, they are properly called passions. Everything that moves is incorporeal; everything that is moved is a body, and it is moved within bodies by the Mind. Now, motion is a passion, and in motion, both the mover and the moved experience it—the ruler and the ruled alike.

But when freed from the body, it is also freed from passion. Especially, my son, nothing is incapable of being affected; all things are subject to passion. However, passion differs from that which is passible, for passion acts, but the passible suffers.

Bodies themselves act, for they are either immovable or moved; whichever it is, it involves passion. But incorporeal things always act and therefore are passible.

Do not let the names confuse you, for action and passion are the same thing, though it is preferable to use the more honorable term."

Tat remarks: "Father, you have explained this discourse most clearly."

Hermes continues: "Consider this also, my son: God has freely bestowed upon humans, above all other living things, these two gifts—Mind and Speech (or Reason), equal to immortality. If anyone uses these properly, they will be no different from the immortals. Indeed, leaving the body behind, they will be guided and led by them into the choir and society of the gods and blessed ones."

Tat asks: "Do not other living creatures use speech, Father?"

Hermes replies: "No, my son, they have only voice. Speech and voice differ greatly; speech is common to all humans, but voice is specific to each kind of living creature."

Tat says: "Yes, but human speech differs, Father; every person according to their nation."

Hermes explains: "It's true, my son, they do differ. Yet just as humanity is one, so is speech one, and it is interpreted and found the same in Egypt, Persia, and Greece. But you seem unaware of the power and greatness of Speech.

For the blessed God, the good Daimon, commanded the Soul to be in the body, the Mind in the Soul, the Word (or Speech or Reason) in the Mind, and the Mind in God, and that God is the Father of them all.

Therefore, the Word is the image of the Mind, the Mind of God, the body of the Idea, and the Idea of the Soul.

Thus, from Matter, the subtlest or smallest part is Air; from Air, the Soul; from the Soul, the Mind; from the Mind, God.

And God is around all things and through all things; the Mind is around the Soul, the Soul around the Air, and the Air around Matter.

Necessity, Providence, and Nature are the instruments of the World and the order of Matter.

For of those things that are intelligible, each one is but the essence of them in identity.

But of the bodies of the whole universe, each one is many things.

For the bodies that are combined and undergo changes into others, possessing this identity, always preserve the incorruptibility of the identity.

In every one of the compound bodies, there is a number.

For without number, there can be no consistency, constitution, composition, or dissolution.

But units both generate and increase numbers, and again, being dissolved, return into themselves.

And Matter is one.

But this whole World—the great God and the image of the Greater, united with Him and preserving the order and will of the Father—is the fullness of Life.

There is nothing therein, throughout all Eternity's revolutions, neither of the whole nor of the parts, that does not live.

For there is nothing dead that has been, is, or shall be in the World.

For the Father intended that as long as it exists, it should be a living thing; and therefore, it must also be God.

How then, my son, can there be any dead things in God, in the image of the Universe, in the fullness of Life?

For dying is corruption, and corruption is destruction.

How then can any part of the incorruptible be corrupted, or of God be destroyed?"

Tat inquires: "Therefore, Father, do not the living things in the World die, though they are parts of it?"

Hermes cautions: "Be careful with your words, my son, and do not be deceived by the names of things. They do not die, my son, but as compound bodies, they are dissolved. But dissolution is not death; they are dissolved not to be destroyed but to be made new."

Tat asks: "What then is the operation of Life? Is it not motion?"

Hermes answers: "And what is there in the World that is unmoving? Nothing at all, my son."

Tat says: "But doesn't the Earth seem immovable to you, Father?"

Hermes replies: "No, it is subject to many motions, though in a way it alone is stable. How ridiculous it would be if the nurse of all things were immovable—the one who bears and brings forth all things. For it is impossible for anything that brings forth to do so without motion.

And it is a ridiculous question to ask whether a fourth part of the whole is idle, for the word ‘immovable’ or ‘without motion’ signifies nothing but idleness.

Know generally, my son, that whatever is in the World is moved, either increasing or decreasing.

But that which is moved also lives, yet it is not necessary that a living thing should be or continue the same.

For while the whole World remains together, it is unchangeable, my son, but all its parts are changeable.

Yet nothing is corrupted or destroyed and entirely abolished; but names confuse people.

For Generation is not Life, but Sense; neither is Change Death, but Forgetfulness, or rather hiding. Or better put: Generation is not the creation of Life, but the production of things into sense and making them manifest. Neither is Change Death, but the hiding of that which was.

These things being so, all things are immortal —Matter, Life, Spirit, Soul, Mind—of which every living thing consists.

Every living thing, therefore, is immortal because of the Mind, but especially humans, who both receive God and converse with Him.

For with this living being alone is God familiar —in the night by dreams, in the day by signs or symbols.

And by all things, He foretells to them things to come—by birds, by animals, by the wind, and by trees.

Therefore, humans profess to know things that have been, things that are present, and things to come.

Consider this also, my son: every living creature occupies one part of the World— swimming creatures in water, land animals upon the Earth, flying birds in the air.

But humans use all these—the Earth, the Water, the Air, and the Fire; indeed, they see and touch Heaven with their senses.

But God is both around all things and through all things, for He is both Act and Power.

And it is not difficult, my son, to understand God.

And if you also wish to see Him, look upon the necessity of things that appear and the providence of things that have been and are done.

See Matter, being most full of Life, and so great a God moved with all Good and Beauty—gods, demons, and humans."

Tat observes: "But these, Father, are entirely acts or operations."

Hermes replies: "If they are entirely acts or operations, my son, by whom are they acted or operated but by God?

Are you unaware that just as the parts of the World are Heaven, Earth, Water, and Air, in the same way, the members of God are Life, Immortality, Eternity, Spirit, Necessity, Providence, Nature, Soul, Mind, and the continuance or perseverance of all these, which is called Good.

And there is nothing of all that has been and all that is where God is not."

Tat asks: "Even in Matter, Father?"

Hermes responds: "Matter, my son—what is it without God that you should assign it a separate place?

Or what do you think it to be? Perhaps some heap that is not activated or operated upon.

But if it is activated, by whom is it activated? For we have said that acts or operations are the parts of God.

By whom are all living things enlivened? And the immortal, they immortalized? The things that are changeable, by whom are they changed? by whom = are Whether you speak of Matter, Body, or Essence, know that all these are acts of God.

And that the act of Matter is materiality, of Bodies corporeality, of Essence essentiality; and this is God—the Whole.

And in the Whole, there is nothing that is not God.

Therefore, concerning God, there is neither greatness, place, quality, figure, nor time; for He is All, and the All, through all, and about all.

This Word, my son, worship and adore. And the only service to God is not to be evil."

The Twelfth Book. His Crater or Monas.

The Creator fashioned this universal world not with His hands but with His Word. So consider Him as ever-present, eternal, making all things—the One above all—who, by His will, has formed everything that exists.

His essence is not tangible or visible or measurable or extended like any other body.

He is neither fire, nor water, nor air, nor wind; yet all these things come from Him. Being the ultimate Good, He has reserved that name for Himself alone.

He wished to adorn the Earth with the ornament of a divine body. Thus, He sent forth humanity—a being both immortal and mortal. Humans possess more than all other living creatures and even the world itself because of their capacity for speech and mind.

Humankind became observers of God's works, marveling and acknowledging the Maker. God distributed speech among all people but not the Mind. Yet He did not envy anyone, for envy does not dwell there; it resides here below in the souls of those who lack the Mind.

Tat asks: "But why, Father, did God not distribute the Mind to all people?"

Hermes replies: "Because it pleased Him, my son, to place it among all souls as a prize to strive for."

Tat inquires further: "And where has He placed it?"

"Filling a great cup or bowl with it," Hermes continues, "He sent it down, appointing a herald to proclaim to the souls of humans:

‘Dip and wash yourself, you who are able, in this cup. You who believe that you will return to Him who sent this cup; you who recognize why you were made.' Those who understood the proclamation and were baptized into the Mind became participants in knowledge and achieved perfection by receiving the Mind.

But those who missed the proclamation received only speech, not Mind, remaining ignorant of why they were made or by whom. Their senses are like those of brute beasts; driven by anger and wrath, they do not admire things worthy of contemplation. Completely absorbed in bodily pleasures and desires, they believe that humans were made for these purposes.

However, those who partook of God's gift —these, O Tat, are more immortal than mortal in comparison to their deeds. They comprehend all things in their Mind: what is on Earth, what is in Heaven, and even beyond Heaven. Lifting themselves so high, they see the Good, and seeing it, they consider it a miserable fate to dwell here. Despising all things bodily and unbodily, they hasten toward the One and Only.

Thus, O Tat, the knowledge of the Mind is the beholding of divine things and the understanding of God—the cup itself being divine."

Tat declares: "And I, O Father, wish to be baptized and immersed in it."

Hermes responds, "Unless you first disdain your body, my son, you cannot love your true self. But in loving your true self, you shall possess the Mind, and having the Mind, you shall also partake in knowledge."

Tat asks: "What do you mean by that, Father?"

"Because it is impossible, my son," Hermes explains, "to engage fully with both mortal and divine things simultaneously. There are two realms: the corporeal and the incorporeal, wherein reside the mortal and the divine. The choice between them is left to the individual; no one can choose both.

Whichever choice is made, the other diminishes or is overcome, amplifying the act and operation of the chosen path. Choosing the better not only benefits the chooser by elevating them toward divinity but also demonstrates piety and devotion toward God.

Conversely, choosing the worse destroys a person but does nothing against God. Just as parades or spectacles cannot achieve anything themselves but only distract, those seduced by bodily pleasures merely make a show in the world without substance.

Given that so many blessings have been abundantly provided to us by God, let us, in turn, give freely without holding back. For God is innocent and guiltless; we are the causes of evil by preferring it over the Good.

You see, my son, how many layers we must transcend—how many ranks of demons, the continuous courses of stars—so that we may hasten to the One and Only God. The Good cannot be surpassed; it is boundless and infinite, without beginning in itself but seeming to have a beginning for us—namely, our awareness of it.

Our knowledge is not its beginning but reveals to us the commencement of its being known to us. Let us, therefore, seize this beginning, and we shall swiftly move through all things.

Indeed, it is challenging to leave behind what is familiar and present and turn toward what is ancient and aligned with the original essence. The things that appear delight us but make the unseen hard to believe.

The most apparent things are often evil, while the Good remains hidden from plain sight, for it has neither form nor figure. For this reason, it resembles itself but is unlike anything else; it is impossible for anything incorporeal to be made known or appear to a corporeal being.

This is the difference between the like and the unlike: the unlike always lacks something of the like. Unity is the beginning and root of all things, being itself unbegotten, the source of all.

Nothing exists without a beginning, but the Beginning originates from nothing but itself, for it is the commencement of all else. Therefore, it exists independently, not deriving from another beginning.

Unity, being the Beginning, contains every number but is contained by none; it begets every number while itself being begotten by no other number. Everything that is created is imperfect and can be divided, increased, or diminished. But the perfect experiences none of these changes.

That which increases does so through Unity but is consumed and vanishes through weakness, being unable to fully embrace Unity.

This image of God I have described to you, O Tat, as best I could. If you diligently contemplate it and view it with the eyes of your mind and heart, believe me, my son, you will find the way to the higher realms—or rather, the image itself will guide you.

This vision has a unique quality: those who can truly see and behold it are held fast and drawn to it, just as the lodestone attracts iron."

The Thirteenth Book. Of Sense and Understanding.

"Yesterday, Asclepius, I delivered a complete discourse. Today, I feel it's necessary to discuss the nature of Sense, following up on our previous conversation.

Sense and Understanding seem to differ —Sense being material and Understanding being essential. Yet, to me, they appear united in humans, not divided. In other living creatures, Sense is connected to Nature, but in humans, it is linked to Understanding.

The Mind differs from Understanding as much as God differs from Divinity. Divinity comes from or is under God, and Understanding comes from the Mind, being the sister of Word or Speech—they are instruments of each other. Neither can the Word be expressed without Understanding, nor can Understanding be manifested without the Word.

Therefore, Sense and Understanding flow together into a person, as if enfolded within one another. It's impossible to understand without Sense, and we cannot have Sense without Understanding. Yet, it's possible— for a time—that Understanding can operate without Sense, as when people imagine visions in their dreams.

But it seems to me that both operations occur in dream visions, and that Sense is awakened from sleep into awareness. Humans are composed of Body and Soul; when both parts of Sense agree with each other, Understanding is conceived and expressed by the Mind.

The Mind brings forth all thoughts or understandings—good ones when it receives good seed from God, and the opposite when it receives them from devils. There's no part of the world devoid of the devil, who, entering secretly, sows seeds of his own operations. The Mind then becomes pregnant and brings forth what was sown: adulteries, murders, assaults on parents, sacrilege, impiety, violence, ruinous acts, and all other works of evil spirits.

The seeds of God are few but great, noble, and good: Virtue, Temperance, and Piety. Piety is the knowledge of God. Whoever knows God, being filled with all good things, has divine Understanding, unlike the majority.

Therefore, those who have this knowledge neither please the masses nor are pleased by them. They seem mad, provoke laughter, are hated and despised, and often even killed. As we've said, wickedness must dwell here, being in its own domain. Its domain is Earth, not the entire World, as some blasphemously claim.

But the godly person, grasping Knowledge, will despise and trample underfoot all these things. For though they are evil to others, to him all things are good. Upon deep reflection, he attributes everything to Knowledge, and most remarkably, he alone transforms evil things into good.

But let me return to our discussion of Sense.

It's unique to humans to communicate and unite Sense and Understanding. Yet, as I said before, not everyone enjoys Understanding; some are material, others essential. The material person, filled with wickedness, receives from devils the seed of Understanding. Those who are essentially aligned with the Good are saved with God.

God is the creator of all things; when He works, He uses Nature. He makes all things good like Himself. But these good creations are often misused unlawfully in their operation.

The motion of the World, stirring up generations, creates qualities, infecting some with evil and purifying others with good.

The World, Asclepius, has its own unique Sense and Understanding—not like human's, nor as varied and complex, but better and simpler. This Sense and Understanding of the World is one, in that it creates all things and returns them into itself; it is the instrument of the Will of God.

It's organized and designed by God as an instrument, receiving all seeds from Him and keeping them within itself. It effectively brings forth all things and, dissolving them, renews everything. Like a good gardener of life, when things dissolve, it provides renewal to all growing things by sowing seeds.

There's nothing that the World doesn't beget or bring forth alive; through its motion, it gives life to all things. It is simultaneously the place and the craftsman of life.

Bodies come from Matter in different ways: some from Earth, some from Water, some from Air, some from Fire. All are compounds, but some are more complex, others simpler. The more compounded are heavier; the less compounded are lighter.

The swift motion of the World creates the variety of qualities in generation. The frequent influence extends to the qualities of bodies with a singular fullness, which is life.

Therefore, God is the Father of the World, and the World is the Father of the things within it. The World is the Son of God, and things in the World are the sons of the World. Hence, it's aptly called the World—an Ornament— because it adorns and beautifies all things with the diversity of generation and the endlessness of life, through tireless operation, the inevitability of necessity, the mingling of elements, and the order of events.

Therefore, it is necessarily and properly called the World.

In all living things, both Sense and Understanding come to them from outside, inspired by what surrounds and sustains them. The World, having received this from God when it was made, still retains all it once had.

But God is not, as some blasphemously think due to superstition, without Sense and without Mind or Understanding. All things that exist, Asclepius, are in God, made by Him, and depend on Him—some acting through bodies, some moving by a soul-like essence, some enlivened by a spirit, and some receiving what is weary—all fittingly arranged.

Rather, I should say that He doesn't just possess them; to speak the truth, He is all things, not receiving them from outside but expressing them outwardly.

And this is the Sense and Understanding of God: to move all things always.

There will never be a time when any of the things that exist will fail or be lacking. When I say ‘the things that exist,’ I mean God, for the things that exist are what God has; and there's nothing without Him, nor is He without anything.

These things, Asclepius, will appear true if you understand them; but if you do not understand them, they will seem incredible.

To understand is to believe, but not to believe is not to understand. My words cannot fully capture the Truth, but the Mind is great, and being guided for a while by speech, it can attain the Truth. Understanding everything around and finding it consistent and in harmony with what has been conveyed through speech, it believes; and in that good belief, it rests.

Therefore, to those who understand what's been said about God, these words are credible; but to those who don't understand, they seem. incredible.

Let these be the words spoken concerning

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