Egyptian-Hebrew stream·Corpus Hermeticum·Understanding and Sense."

Source context

Theme

distinction between discursive understanding (logos) and embodied sense-perception as two orders of knowing

Soul-faculty

Intellectual Soul

Steiner

not engaged in the GA corpus

Cross-tradition

• Neoplatonism (Plotinus, Enneads)Cross-tradition congruence appears in Plotinus's distinction between discursive reason (dianoia) and higher intellect (nous), paralleling the Hermetic separation of sense-bound cognition from understanding rooted in divine mind.
• Vedanta (Advaita)Cross-tradition congruence is present in the Advaita distinction between manas (sensory-coordinating mind) and buddhi (discriminative intelligence), structurally parallel to the Hermetic hierarchy of sense and understanding.
• KabbalahCross-tradition congruence appears in the Kabbalistic pairing of Binah (understanding) with the lower sefirot governing material perception, which structurally echoes the Hermetic positioning of nous above aisthesis.

Understanding and Sense."

The Fourteenth Operation and Sense.

Book. Of Tat: "You have explained these things well, Father. Please teach me more. You mentioned. that science and art are operations of the rational mind, but now you say that animals are irrational and, lacking reason, are called brutes. By this reasoning, it would follow that irrational creatures do not partake in science or art because they lack reason."

Hermes: "That must indeed be so, my son."

Tat: "Then why do we see some irrational creatures using both science and art? For example, ants store up food for the winter, birds build nests, and four-footed animals know their own dens."

Hermes: "They do these things not through science or art, but by nature. Science and art are things that are taught, but none of these brute beasts are taught such things."

Tat: "But these activities come naturally to them and are produced by nature, whereas art and science do not happen to all but only to some."

Hermes: "Just as not all humans are musicians —not everyone is an archer, hunter, or skilled in other arts; only some have learned these through the practice of science or art. Similarly, if only some ants stored food and others did not, you might say they gather their food according to science and art. But since they are all led by nature to do the same thing, even without conscious intent, it is clear they do not act through science or art."

Tat: "Operations, Father, being incorporeal, exist within bodies and work through bodies."

Hermes: "Therefore, since they are incorporeal, you must consider them immortal."

Tat: "But since they cannot act without bodies, I say they are always in a body."

Hermes: "Exactly. Things that are subject to providence or necessity and serve as causes cannot possibly remain idle from their proper operation. What exists shall always exist; both the body and its life are the same. By this reasoning, it follows that bodies also always exist because corporality always exists by act and operation.

Although earthly bodies are subject to dissolution, these bodies must be the places, organs, and instruments of acts or operations. Acts or operations are immortal, and that which is immortal is always active; therefore, corporality exists eternally if it always acts.

Acts or operations follow the soul; they do not come suddenly or randomly, but some of them come together with being made human, concerning brutish or irrational things. The purer operations work imperceptibly over time with the subtler part of the soul. These operations depend upon bodies, and indeed those that become corporeal come from divine bodies into mortal ones.

Each of them acts upon both the body and the soul and is present with the soul even without the body. They are always acts or operations, but the soul is not always in a mortal body —for it can exist without a body—but acts or operations cannot exist without bodies. This is a sacred teaching, my son: the body cannot exist without a soul."

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

Hermes: "Understand it this way: when the soul is separated from the body, the body remains. This same body, according to the time of its existence, is acted upon in that it is dissolved and becomes invisible. These changes the body cannot undergo without act or operation; consequently, the same act or operation remains with the body.

This, then, is the difference between an immortal body and a mortal one: the immortal consists of a single essence, while the mortal does not; the immortal acts, but the mortal undergoes. Everything that acts or operates is stronger and rules, but that which is acted upon is ruled. The ruler directs and governs freely, but the other is ruled—a servant.

Acts or operations not only act upon living or ensouled bodies but also upon lifeless bodies without souls—wood, stones, and the like—causing growth, bearing fruit, ripening, decaying, rotting, and breaking, or producing similar effects—whatever inanimate bodies can experience.

An act or operation, my son, is whatever exists, is made, or is done, and there are always many things made—in fact, all things. The world is never deprived or forsaken of any of the things that exist; always moving within itself, it labors to bring forth things that will never be abandoned to corruption.

Let every act or operation be understood as always immortal, in whatever kind of body it may be. Some acts or operations belong to divine bodies, some to corruptible bodies; some are universal, some particular, some general, and some specific to parts of everything.

Divine acts or operations are those that work upon their proper bodies; these are perfect and occur in perfect bodies. Particular operations are those that work through any of the living creatures. Proper operations are those that work upon any existing thing.

From this discourse, we gather that all things are full of acts or operations. If they necessarily exist in every body, and there are many bodies in the world, we can affirm that there are many other acts or operations. Often, in one body, there is one, a second, and a third operation, besides the universal ones that follow.

By universal operations, I mean those that are indeed bodily and are performed through the senses and motions. Without these, it is impossible for the body to exist. Other operations are proper to the souls of humans, through arts, sciences, studies, and actions. The senses also follow these operations—or rather, are their effects or perfections.

Understand, therefore, the differences among operations; they are sent from above. Sense, being in the body and deriving its essence from it, when it receives an act or operation, manifests it, making it, as it were, corporeal. Therefore, I say that the senses are both corporeal and mortal, having existence only as long as the body does, for they are born with the body and die with it.

But mortal things themselves do not possess sense, as they do not consist of such an essence. For sense can be nothing other than a corporeal perception of either evil or good that comes to the body. But to eternal bodies, nothing comes or departs; therefore, there is no sense in them."

Tat: "Does sense, therefore, perceive or apprehend in every body?"

Hermes: "In every body, my son."

Tat: "And do acts or operations work in all things?"

Hermes: "Even in inanimate things, but there are differences in senses. The senses of rational beings are accompanied by reason; those of irrational beings are only corporeal; but the senses of inanimate things are passive only, according to growth and decay.

Passion and sense both depend upon one source and are united by acts or operations. In living beings, there are two other operations that follow the senses and passions: grief and pleasure. Without these, it is impossible for a living being—especially a rational one—to perceive or apprehend.

Therefore, I say that these are the primary forces of passions that rule, especially in rational living beings. The operations act indeed, but the senses declare and manifest the operations, and they, being bodily, are moved by the brutish parts of the soul; therefore, they are both harmful or doers of evil.

That which causes the sense to rejoice with pleasure is immediately the cause of many evils happening to the one who experiences it. But sorrow brings stronger torments and anguish; therefore, both are undoubtedly harmful. The same can be said of the sense of the soul."

Tat: "Is not the soul incorporeal and the sense a body, Father? Or is it rather in the body?"

Hermes: "If we place sense in a body, we make it similar to the soul or the operations; for these, being incorporeal, are said to be in bodies. But sense is neither operation, nor soul, nor anything else that belongs to the body as we've described; therefore, it is not incorporeal. And if it is not incorporeal, it must necessarily be a body; for we always say that of things that exist, some are bodies and some are incorporeal."

The Fifteenth Book. Of Truth to His Son Tat.

Hermes speaks:

"Concerning Truth, my son Tat, it's impossible for a human being—an imperfect creature made up of imperfect parts, dwelling in a body composed of diverse and many elements—to speak with absolute certainty.

But as far as it's possible and just, I say this: Truth exists only in the eternal bodies, whose very essence is also true. Fire is fire itself and nothing else. Earth is earth itself and nothing else. Air is air itself and nothing else. Water is water itself and nothing else.

But our bodies are composed of all these elements—they contain fire, earth, water, and air—and yet they are none of these things in their pure form, nor is anything about them truly authentic.

If, from the beginning, our constitution lacked truth, how could humans ever see the truth, or speak it, or even understand it—unless God wills it?

Therefore, all things on Earth, Tat, are not the Truth but imitations of the Truth—and even then, only a few things are such imitations. The rest are falsehood and deception, like images produced by imagination.

When imagination receives an influence from above, it becomes an imitation of Truth; but without that divine operation, it remains a lie.

Just as an image depicts the body it represents but is not the actual body—it appears to have eyes but cannot see, ears but hears nothing, and all other features that deceive the beholder into thinking they see the Truth when they are actually seeing falsehood.

Therefore, those who do not see falsehood see the Truth.

If we understand and perceive each thing as it truly is, then we see and understand true things. But if we see or understand anything differently from what it is, we neither understand nor know the Truth.

Tat asks: "Is Truth, then, upon Earth, Father?"

Hermes replies: "You're close to the mark, my son. Truth is nowhere on Earth, Tat, for it cannot be generated or made here.

But perhaps some people, to whom God grants the power of clear sight, may understand it.

So, to the mind and reason, there's nothing truly real on Earth.

To the true mind and reason, all things are fantasies, appearances, and opinions."

Tat inquires: "Must we not, then, call it Truth when we understand and speak of things as they are?"

Hermes answers: "But there's nothing true upon Earth."

Tat asks further: "How then is it true that we do not know anything true? How can that be?"

Hermes explains: "My son, Truth is the most perfect virtue and the highest good itself —not troubled by matter, not confined by a body, pure, clear, unchangeable, venerable, and unalterable good.

But the things here on Earth are visible, incapable of true goodness, corruptible, subject to suffering, dissolvable, changeable, constantly altering, and made of other things.

Therefore, things that are not true to themselves—how can they be true?

For everything that changes is a lie, not remaining as it is; but being changed, it always presents different appearances.

Tat asks: "Is not man true, Father?"

Hermes responds: "As far as he is a man, he is not true, my son; for that which is true has its constitution in itself alone and remains and abides as it is.

But man consists of many things and does not abide in himself but is transformed and changed, age after age, form after form, even while he is still in his physical body.

Many have not recognized their own children after a little while, and many children likewise have not known their own parents.

Is it possible, then, Tat, that someone who changes so much as to be unrecognizable can be true? No, on the contrary, he is falsehood, existing in many appearances of change.

But understand that the true is that which remains the same and is eternal; but man does not last forever, therefore he is not true. Man is a kind of appearance, and appearance is the greatest lie or falsehood.

Tat asks: "But these eternal bodies, Father—are they not true even though they change?"

Hermes replies: "Everything that is begotten or made and changes is not true. Yet, being made by our Creator, they might have had true matter.

But even these have something false within them due to their change.

For nothing that does not remain in itself is true.

Tat continues: "What shall we say then, Father —that only the sun, which besides the nature of other things is unchanging and abides in itself, is Truth?"

Hermes answers: "It is indeed Truth, and therefore he alone is entrusted with the craftsmanship of the world, ruling and making all things. 1 both honor and adore his Truth; and after the One and First, I acknowledge him as the Craftsman.

Tat asks: "What, therefore, do you affirm to be the First Truth, Father?"

Hermes responds: "The One and Only, Tat, who is not of matter, not in a body, without color, without shape, immutable, unalterable, who always is; but falsehood, my son, is corrupted.

Corruption has overtaken all things on Earth, and the providence of the True surrounds and will encompass them.

For without corruption, no generation can exist.

Corruption follows every generation so that things may be generated again.

For those things that are generated must necessarily come from those that are corrupted, and the things generated must be corrupted so that the generation of things may not cease or stand still.

Recognize, therefore, the First Craftsman through the generation of things.

Consequently, the things that are generated from corruption are false, being sometimes one thing, sometimes another; for it's impossible for them to become the same things again, and that which is not the same— how can it be true?

Therefore, my son, we must call these things fantasies or appearances.

If we are to give a person their true name, we must call them the appearance of humanity; and a child, the appearance of a child; an old man, the appearance of an old man; a young man, the appearance of a young man; and a man of mature age, the appearance of aman of mature age.

For neither is a man truly a man, nor a child truly a child, nor a young man truly a young man, nor an old man truly an old man.

But the things that pre-exist and that are, being changed, are false.

Understand these things, my son, as these false operations have their dependence from above, even from the Truth itself.

Which being so, I affirm that Falsehood is the work of Truth."

The Sixteenth Book. That None of the Things that are, can Perish.

Hermes speaks to his son Tat:

"We must now discuss the Soul and the Body, my son—specifically, how the Soul is immortal and the operation that constitutes and dissolves the Body.

But in neither the Soul nor the Body is there truly Death. Death is merely a concept, a word that is either empty or mistakenly used instead of ‘Immortal’ by omitting the first letter. [In Greek, 'Thanatos' means Death, while ‘Athanatos' means Immortal.] For Death implies destruction, but nothing in the entire universe is ever truly destroyed.

If the World is a second God—an immortal living being—then it's impossible for any part of an immortal being to die.

All things within the World are parts of the World, especially Humanity, the rational living being.

First of all is God—the Eternal and Uncreated, the Maker of all things.

Second is the World, made by Him in His own image, held together and sustained by Him, made immortal, and ever-living as a child is to its father.

Thus, being immortal, the World is ever-living and ever-unchanging.

But note that what is ever-living differs from what is eternal.

The Eternal was not begotten or made by another; and if it were made, it was made by itself, not by any other—it always exists.

For the Eternal, being eternal, is the Universe itself.

The Father Himself is eternal by His own nature, but the World was made by the Father —ever-living and immortal.

From the matter He had stored up, the Father formed it all into a Body. Expanding it, He shaped it into a sphere, endowed it with qualities, making it immortal and giving it eternal substance.

The Father, full of ideas, sowed qualities into the sphere and enclosed them as within a circle, intending to beautify with every quality that which would be created later.

Then He clothed the Universal Body with immortality, so that the matter, if it ever tried to depart from this composition, would not dissolve back into chaos.

For when matter was incorporeal, my son, it was disordered. Even now, it experiences the same confusion when it interacts with other small things endowed with qualities, in terms of growth and decay—which humans call Death—being, in fact, a disorder affecting earthly living beings.

The bodies of heavenly things have a singular order, received from the Father at the beginning, and through the renewal of each, they remain indestructible.

But the renewal of earthly bodies is their composition; their dissolution restores them to the indestructible—that is, the immortal state.

Thus, there is a loss of sensation but not a destruction of bodies.

Now, the third living being is Humanity, made in the image of the World and endowed by the Father's will with a Mind superior to other earthly beings.

Humans not only share a connection with the second God (the World) but also have an understanding of the First God.

For they perceive the second God as a Body, but they understand the First as Incorporeal—the Mind of the Good.

Tat asks: "Doesn't this living being perish?"

Hermes replies: "Speak carefully, my son, and learn what God is, what the World is, what an immortal being is, and what a dissolvable one is.

Understand that the World is of God and in God; but Humanity is of the World and in the World.

The beginning, the end, and the essence of all things is God."

The Seventeenth Book. To Asclepius, to be Truly Wise.

Because my son Tat, during your absence, was eager to learn about the nature of all things, he wouldn't allow me to stop until I was compelled to explain many matters in detail. Though he was very young in understanding each individual concept, I wanted his contemplation to progress smoothly and successfully from one point to the next.

But to you, I have decided to write briefly, selecting the main points of what was discussed, and to interpret them more mystically, since you have both more years and a greater knowledge of nature.

All things that appear were made and are continually being made.

Those things that are made are not made by themselves but by another.

There are many things made—especially all things that appear, which are different and unlike each other.

If the things that are made and done are made and done by another, there must be someone who makes and does them—someone unmade and more ancient than the things that are made. assert that the things that are made are made by another; and it is impossible for any of the things that are made to be more ancient than all, except for that which is not made.

He is stronger, singular, and all-knowing, having nothing more ancient than Himself.

For He rules over the multitude, the greatness, the diversity of things made, and the continuity of their creation and operation.

Moreover, the things that are made are visible, but He is invisible; and for this reason, He makes them so that He may become visible; and therefore, He is always making them.

Thus, it is fitting to understand, and in understanding, to admire; and in admiring, to consider yourself fortunate to know your natural Father.

For what is sweeter than a natural Father?

Who, then, is this, and how shall we know Him?

Is it proper to ascribe to Him alone the titles and names of God, Maker, or Father—or all three? We call Him God because of His power; Maker because of His working and operation; and Father because of His goodness.

For power is distinct from the things that are made, but action or operation is evident in that all things are made.

Therefore, setting aside all excessive and vain talk, we must understand these two things: That which is Made, and Him who is the Maker. There is nothing in between these two, nor is there any third.

Therefore, understanding ll things, remember these two; and consider that these encompass everything, leaving nothing in doubt—neither things above nor things below; neither things changeable nor things hidden or secret.

For all things are but two entities: That which Makes, and that which is Made. And one cannot exist or be separated from the other.

For it is impossible for the Maker to exist without the thing made, for they are essentially the same. Therefore, one cannot be separated from the other, no more than a thing can be separated from itself.

If He who makes is nothing else but the act of making itself—simple and uncompounded —it is necessary that He makes the same thing for Himself, to whom the generation of the Maker is also all that is made.

For that which is generated or made must necessarily be generated or made by another. Without the Maker, that which is made neither exists nor is made; for each without the other loses its true nature through the absence of the other.

So if these two are acknowledged—the Maker and the Made—then they are united as one, with the Maker preceding and the Made following.

And that which goes before is God the Maker, and that which follows is that which is made, whatever it may be.

Let no one be troubled by the variety of things that are made or done, fearing to cast blame or dishonor upon God. For it is His greatest glory to do or make all things.

This making or creation is, so to speak, the Body of God; and to Him who makes or does, nothing is considered evil or unclean.

For these are consequences that follow creation, like rust follows copper or waste follows the body.

But just as the coppersmith does not create the rust, nor the Maker the filth, nor God the evil, so too the cycles of creation cause such things to emerge. For this reason, change exists as, one might say, the cleansing of creation.

Moreover, if it is permissible for the same painter to create both heaven and gods, earth and sea, humans and animals, inanimate objects and trees, is it impossible for God to make all these things? Oh, the great madness and ignorance of people concerning God!

For those who think this way suffer the most ridiculous error of all. While professing to bless and praise God, yet by not attributing to Him the making or doing of all things, they do not truly know Him.

Beyond their ignorance, they are extremely impious toward Him, attributing to Him human flaws like pride, negligence, weakness, ignorance, or envy.

For if He does not make or do all things, He is either proud, incapable, ignorant, or envious— which is blasphemous to suggest.

For God has only one attribute, namely Goodness; and He who is good is neither proud, nor powerless, nor any of those other flaws. God is Goodness itself.

For Goodness is all-powerful, able to do or make all things; and everything that is made is made by God—that is, by the Good who can make or do all things.

See, then, how He makes all things and how the things that are done come into being. If you wish to learn, you may observe a very beautiful and similar image.

Look at the farmer who casts seeds into the earth—here wheat, there barley, and elsewhere other seeds.

Observe the same man planting a vine, or an apple tree, or a fig tree, or some other kind of tree.

Just as the farmer sows various seeds, so does God sow immortality in heaven, change on earth, and throughout the universe, life and motion.

And these things are not many but few and easily counted, for they are all but four: God and Creation, in which all things exist.

JSON: /api/sources/hermetic-corpus/08-understanding-and-sense.json