Section 12

The sense-and-thought, then, of all lives doth come into them from without, in- breathed by what contains [them all] ; whereas Cosmos receives them once for all together with its coming into being, and keeps them as a gift from God.
Sense-and-thought are inherent in no living thing. In all living things sense-and-thought comes into them from without. It is not in any sense of the word a product of any living thing, but ema- nates from without them all. As it is not in any living thing, it must be inbreathed into them by
126
THE HERMETIC ART
some force which is not a thing, and this will have to be a principle containing within itself all living things. This can be nothing other than the Kosmos which we have investigated above. Hence it fol- lows that both sense and thought are inherently and universally present in Kosmos. In a word, in addi- tion to forming the body, and infusing it with life so as to make it live, Kosmos also breathes into it both sense and thought, which makes it instinctive and intelligent. This is all the work of Kosmos. It will be perfectly correct if we say that we live in Kosmos at all times, completely immersed in it, and completely bathed in the Kosmic sea. We are breathing in, life, sense, and thought from Kosmos as well as air from the Atmosphere. But more properly will it be to say that these are being breathed into us by Kosmos, for we are the Nega- tive side and not the Positive side of this relation- ship. Kosmos, in its coming into being, receives sense-and-thought as an integral part of its being. They remain inseparably united with its being, for were it not for Kosmic Sense and Kosmic Thought, Kosmos would not be Kosmos. This will at once appear, when we bear in mind that the nature of Kosmos is the Ultimate Order. Now, this Order is maintained through the operation of sense-and-thought, and hence, Kosmos depends upon the perpetual presence of this kosmic sense- and-thought, Man senses that which already is, and through his sensing, he comes in contact with it, but Kosmos senses that which does not exist, and through such sensing of the non-existent, it is brought into existence through the action of the kosmic sense. The action of sense-and-thought are exactly the reverse in the case of man, and of Kos- mos. Man senses that which is exterior to himself and this sensing of the object causes him to think of it, so that thought springs out of his sensing. In the case of Kosmos, however, thought precedes
THE HERMETIC ART
127
sense. Through sense, the thing thought of is brought into existence. Through Kosmic sense, the kosmic thoughts are made sensible, and in this way they begin to exist. Kosmic sense is therefore the kosmic faculty of rendering the subjective thought side of Kosmos, objective. When man has trans- formed this human sense into kosmic sense, he has acquired the power of making his subjective thought objective, that is of objectifying his thought images, and thus of creating that which he thinks in his mind. This is the true secret of creation. When one has mastered this secret he is the master of the Art of Creation, and thus has he attained creative thought through the mastering of kosmic sense. Kosmic sense-and-thought are the reflection in kosmic substance of the sense-and- thought of God. It is in this sense that the sense- and-thought of Kosmos is a gift from God, it is the sense-and-thought of God m^ifesting through Kosmic Substance, The sense-and-thought of man are in turn, the manifestation of the kosmic sense- and-thought through the medium of the human organism. For this reason we might truly sa}^, the sense-and-thought of man is a gift from Kosmos. It is this connection which enables man to rise from the status of the human man to that of the kosmic man, through the incarnation in himself, of kosmic sense and kosmic thought. Such trans- position of himself and of his powxrs to the kosmic status is the true secret as well as the true goal of the Alchemist, and this is the Ultama thule of the Hermetic Art. This is the great distinction between the Natural and the Artistic Man. The great problem is to open up oneself to the activities of the Kosmos, and permit them a freer degree of manifestation through our diverse principles. To ensoul as far as we are able, Kosmos, is the Magnum Opus in all of its completeness.
LESSON X
The Sense-and-Thought of God
9. But God is not, as some suppose, beyond the reach of sense-and-thought. It is through superstition men thus impiously speak.
For all the things that are, Asclepius, all are in God, are brought by God to be, and do depend on Him — both things that act through bodies, and things that through soul-substance make [other things] to move, and things that make things live by means of spirit, and things that take unto themselves the things that are worn out.
And rightly so ; nay, I would rather say, He doth not have these things ; but I speak forth the truth. He is them all Himself. He doth not get them from without, but gives them out [from Himself].
This is God's sense-and-thought, even to move all things. And never time shall be when e'en a whit of things that are shall cease ; and when I say ''a whit of things that are," I mean a whit of God. For things that are, God hath; nor aught [is there] without Him, nor [is] He without aught.
But God is not, as some suppose, beyond the reach of sense-and-thought. It is through superstition men thus impiously speak.
129
130
THE HERMETIC ART
Those who assume that God is absolutely transcendent and cannot be approached, are the ignorant and the superstitious. The whole theory of the transcendence of God is entirely due to a misunderstanding of the nature of God. The prin- ciple reason for such contention is that it renders it impossible for man to know God and His Will, and this renders a Revelation of God necessary. Thus we have the belief that we can only reach a knowledge of God through revelation, and of course this is a very convenient doctrine for the clergy, as it makes them the sole custodians of the Will of God. I might say that this idea of a transcendent God, the knowledge of Whom comes only by revelation, is the deliberate invention of the priesthood, and it is one of the most useful of all inventions, for it is of course at all times essen- tial that we should befuddle the cheap organisms, and in this way it will be the easier f ot us to exploit them. It is impious for anyone to say that God cannot be reached through sense-and-thought. As a matter of fact, the sense-and-thought of man is quite capable of at-oneing itself with God, so that simply through his sense-and-thought man may know God definitely and with complete satisfac- tion. This of course is not the privilege of cheap organisms, only gentlemen have any business to know God!
For all the things that are, Asclepius, all are in God, are brought by God to be, and do depend on Him — both things that act through bodies, and things that through soul-substance make [other things] to move, and things that make things live by means of spirit, and things that take unto themselves the things that are worn out.
THE HERMETIC ART
131
Nothing ever comes into being unless it was previously in God. That is, things come into existence because they have previously subsisted in God. Not only is this true, but they continue to subsist in Him after they have been born into existence. In fact, the only cause for the existence of anything is the abiding idea of it in God. They are in God, they are brought by Him into being, and their continued existence depends upon Him. They can exist only so long as He is conscious of them as being in Him. This will mean that they can exist only because they subsist in His con- sciousness. They have no other substratum than God. He does not create them, He externalizes them from the depths of Himself alone. In a word, ail things are generated in Ku, are born forth out of Ku, and at the same time ever continue to abide in Ku. This is true of everything that lives and acts through the instrumentality of a body, that is, all embodied life. In a word, every single body that exists, subsists in God, has been born forth out of God, and depends for its con- tinued existence upon the continued presence in God of its arche-typal idea. But this is not only true of all embodied things, but it is true as well of those motive forces that manifest through soul- substance and in this way move other things. In a word, every form of dynamic energy subsists in God, has been emanated from God and depends for its continued activity upon the fact that it is still in God. Also, all those things that are the causes of the infusing of spirit into other things, and in this way make them to live, are likewise in God, they have been manifested out from God, and at the same time they continue to subsist in God. Likewise, those things that devour or absorb the things that have lived out their period of life, and are hence worn out, are also subsistent in God, are existent from God and continue to depend upon
132
THE HERMETIC ART
God for their being. In a word, every single thing in the Kosmos, in the Universe, in the earth, and everywhere else, has subsisted in God, it has been born forth from God into existence, and it con- tinues to abide in God as to its ideal form. There- fore, we see that God is all-in-all. That all things are but aspects of His being, made active, and in this way made manifest. Hence there is nothing apart from Him. Not only have all things been brought into being through the act of God, but likewise, they continue to exist only because of the continual sustenance of God to them, they are His perpetual manifestations.
And rightly so; nay, I would rather say, He doth not have these things ; but I speak forth the truth. He is them all Himself. He doth not get them from without, but gives them out [from Him].
God has not created these things. They are not His creatures, neither does He have them as possessions. In no sense are they to be separated from Him. They are not to be thought of as His works, neither should we in truth speak of them as emanations from Him. In reality, God is all these things Himself. He does not get these things from some other source. They are not derived from another, neither do they come from outside of God. On the other hand, God gives them all out from Himself. In a word, all things are born forth from God. Now, if they are born of Him, they must have b^en formed previously to the time of such birth, and if they are born of God, they can be formed of nothing apart from Him, hence they must have been formed in God. If they are formed in Him, they can be formed of nothing which is not present in Him at a time previous to such forming, hence, they will of necessity have to be
THE HERMETIC ART
133
formed of the substance of God Himself. In a word, they will have to be formed of Ku and in Ku. As all the divine formations take place in Ku and as a result of thought, it will follow that God must first think of the thing to be formed; that is, he must think the thought corresponding to the thing that is going to be formed, for, bear in mind God does not intend to form this or that, His thought, on the contrary, engenders that which corresponds to it. The Divine Thought impreg- nates Ku, and as a result that which corresponds to the thought is formed in the womb of Ku. From this it will follow that it must be formed of the substance of Ku and energized by Her energy, thus it will be quite divine. All things are there- fore the thoughts of God, manifesting through the substance and energy of God. There is no other thought, no other substance, and no other energy save that of God, hence, all things are of this thought, substance and energy of God and have nothing else, hence, they are all of them, God. Therefore, God is each and every thing of all things that are. He is not only all things, but He is each particular thing. To be a little more explicit, no thing has any objective existence. They all have an existence purely subjective, subsisting in the consciousness of God, but do not exist as objects. It is illusion that causes us to see them as objective; they are in fact thoughts of God, existing merely as states of His sense. In no other sense do they exist. Hence, they are to all intents and purposes God Himself.
This is God's sense-and-thought, ever to move all things. And never time shall be when e'en a whit of things that are shall cease; and when I say ''a whit of things that are/' I mean a whit of God. For things that
134
THE HERMETIC ART
are, God hath, nor aught [is there] without Him, nor [is] He without aught.
The sense-and-thought of God is the power that moves all things. They are engendered by His thought, and after they have been engendered, that thought abides in them, thus becoming their intel- ligence, and in this way, directing from within, all their movements. The sense of God is that which causes them to have form, for they are in form, because they are in the sense of God, and for no other reason. Were they to cease to be sensible to Him they would cease to be. Energy they have because of the sense of God, for His energy is His sense. Therefore, all things are brought into being and are made to move, through the sense of God. It is in fact the sense of God abiding in all things that causes them to move by reason of the move- ment which is within them, this is true because all things are ensouled by the sense of God. The time can never come when a whit of things that are shall cease to be, because, all such things have merely a subjective existence in the thought and sense of God, hence they can never cease to be, so long as God is sensible of them. Until such time as God shall become insensible of His own thought-and- sense, nothing existing in His thought-and-sense can ever cease to be. As His thought-and-sense are His Being, it follows that the very being of God must change before any thing can ever cease to be, and owing to the immutability of His Essence this is impossible. All things are there- fore so many parts of God, and as no part of God can be destroyed, seeing that He is not composed, but is the Absolute Unity, the dissolution of any part of Him would be the extinction of His unity, it follows that nothing that has come into being, can ever cease to be. There is nothing without God, hence nothing has existence save as God.
THE HERMETIC ART
135
This being the case, God does not subsist, save as the totality of the all, hence God cannot survive if any single thing is lost. This soul-satisfying Omni-Theism solves all the problems of existence and subsistence. We can see that there are no things, but on the contrary, there is the Absolute One whose relativity appears to be diverse.
10. These things should seem to thee, Asclepius, if thou dost understand them, true ; but if thou dost not understand, things not to be believed.
To understand is to believe, to not believe is not to understand.
My word (logos) doth go before [thee] to the truth. But mighty is the mind, and when it hath been led by w^ord up to a certain point, it hath the power to come before thee to the truth.
And having thought o'er all these things, and found them consonant with those which have already been translated by the reason, it hath [e'en] now believed, and found its rest in that Fair Faith.
To those, then, who by God ['s good aid] do understand the things that have been said [by us] above, they're credible; but unto those who understand them not, incredible.
Let so much, then, suffice on thought-and- sense.
These things should seem to thee, Ascle- pius, if thou dost understand them, true ; but if thou dost not undrestand, things not to be believed.
136
THE HERMETIC ART
The teaching that we have been giving here on the subject of thought-and-sense, will at once appear to be the truth, if one understands the true meaning of what has been said. If one is able to comprehend our interpretation, he will at once see that it could not possibly have been any other way. To one who understands our meaning, the truth of what we have said will be self-evident. If this is not the case, it will simply prove that the unbe- liever has simply no comprehension whatsoever of what we are talking about. In a word, it will go to show, that he is not capable of forming an opinion on such subjects, in a word, it will expose him as a cheap organism. The beauty of the Hermetic position is in the fact that once it has been understood, an intelligent person cannot pos- sibly see how it would be possible for it to be any other way.