Section 2

THE HERMETIC ART
17
and the drunkenness which it induces, but calls upon all who have the capacity to do this, all who are able to at least follow his advice and look upwards. Hence it is to be observed that the Hermetic message is not directed to the multitude but rather to those scattered within the multitude w^ho are capable of grasping a thought of the higher life.
For that the ill of ignorance doth pour o'er all the earth and overwhelm the soul that's battened down within the body, pre- venting it from fetching port within Salva- tion's harbors.
The ill of ignorance relates to the consequences or effects of ignorance, the evil growing out of it, and also to ignorance itself as an ill. It is stated that this pours o'er all the earth. In other words, there is nothing in the sensible w^orld but what con- tributes to the development of this ill of ignorance. In other words, all objects of the senses engender sensations which in turn produce ignorance in the human mind. Therefore the earth is completely covered wdth this ill of ignorance inasmuch as all objects in the world directly induce ignorance in the human consciousness. It overwhelms the soul that's battened down within the body. That is to say all souls resident in the body, all incarnate souls, are influenced by this ill of ignorance because their corporeal senses are controlled and domi- nated by the objects of sense. These senses cause distorted images of those objects to be reflected in the mind in terms of corresponding mental impres- sions. Therefore all souls resident w^ithin the body are influenced by the testimony of the senses so that the soul is ovenvhelmed by this force of ignorance, is controlled by it, and is unable to express itself against this force of the obvious. It is this over-
18
THE HERMETIC ART
whelming of the soul by ignorance that prevents it from fetching port within Salvation^s harbors. In other words, the soul is described as a vessel at sea. Tossed about upon the waves of ignorance Salvation is the harbor to which it is bound, but it is unable to fetch port within the harbors of Sal- vation because it is overwhelmed by ignorance due to its residence in the body. He therefore very clearly indicates what he means by salvation. Inasmuch as ignorance induced by sense percep- tion is that which keeps the soul from reaching sal- vation, it follows that salvation is the state result- ing from a repudiation of the testimony of the senses. In other words, in order to reach Salvation the soul must through Reason rise above the testi- mony of the senses, must break away from the ideal world of sense induced thought and reach a con- sciousness of reality. In other words. Salvation is the state of mind growing out of knowledge of the truth rather than the facts indicated by the senses. So long, therefore, as anyone takes the testimony of his senses seriously, or gives credit to the thoughts induced by the senses Salvation is impos- sible. It therefore follows that Salvation is a state of consciousness directly the reverse of the ordi- nary human consciousness, the consciousness grow- ing out of the testimony of the senses. It is an ideal consciousness rather than a sensible con- sciousness, or a sensuous consciousness, that is termed Salvation. The whole preaching of our sermon is an exhortation to strive to overcome the testimony of the senses, though abiding within the body, and reach the pure plane of truth.
2. Be then not carried off by the fierce flood, but using the shore-current, ye who can, make for Salvation's port, and, harbor- ing there, seek ye for one to take you by the hand and lead unto Gnosis' gates.
THE HERMETIC ART
19
Where shines clear light, of every dark- ness clean ; where not a single soul is drunk, but sober all they gaze with their heart's eyes on Him who willeth to be seen.
Where no ear can hear him, nor can eye see him, nor tongue speak of him, but [only] mind and heart.
But first thou must tear off from thee the cloak which thou dost wear, — the web of ignorance, the ground of bad. Corruption's chain, the carapace of darkness, the living death, sensation's corpse, the tomb thou car- riest with thee, the robber in thy house, who through the things he loveth, hateth thee, and through the things he hateth, bears thee malice.
Be then not carried off by the fierce flood, but using the shore-current, ye who can, make for Salvation's port, and, harboring there, seek ye for one to take you by the hand and lead you into Gnosis' gates.
Here he describes the force of ignorance as a fierce flood, that is as a swift flowing stream, the main current of a stream, which carries one out to sea, as it were, leading him entirely away from the true reason and consciousness of things. A cur- rent against which no one can pull. Nevertheless he urges those to whom he appeals to not be car- ried off by this fierce flood but overcome it, and he assures them that it is possible to do this by using the shore-current. That is to say, the back or up-current which is caused by the swift flowing of the current; the back current being induced, and which tends to flow upstream near the shore.
20
THE HERMETIC ART
The advice therefore is to struggle to get out of the swift current and bring one's bark within the back or shore current, so that one may drift to shore. In this way it is possible to make for Sal- vation's port. The imagery here is very graphic, and yet it does not appear to be so very difficult to understand. He describes the life of sense induced thought, that is the life naturally growing out of one's mode of thinking, when that mode of thinking is induced by the testimony of the senses. This mode of life is likened to being adrift in the current of a swift flowing stream. Nevertheless from that there is a shore current which leads one away from the testimony of the senses, and this shore current is nothing more nor less than the faculty of analytical reasoning. Using the shore current means nothing more nor less than exercis- ing ones faculty for analysis, — striving to get back of appearances and come in contact with reality. Salvation's port is the landing place from the river of ignorance, hence it relates to that stage of one's consciousness where a basis for clear thinking has been realized, where one begins to develop a philosophical concept entirely independent of the testimony of the senses. In other words, Salva- tion's port is the metaphysical concept. When one has reached that stage where he thinks from the metaphysical rather than from the sensory, or obvious, or physical standpoint he has entered Sal- vation's port.
The next instruction is to harbor there. By entering the port and harboring there he means to live temporarily in this metaphysical port, this port of the metaphysical view of life. In other words, to continue to study and contemplate life from the metaphysical point of view. Next, seek for one to take you by the hand and lead you into Gnosis' gates. He takes the position that to change one's views of life from that induced by the senses
THE HERMETIC ART
21
to the metaphysical, and to maintain that meta- physical view of life, is about as far as one can go by his own effort. In other words, Hermes was not a believer in the idea that one could look within and find the truth. He does not believe that it was advisable for anyone to try to attain the Gnosis by development dependent upon himself. He did not consider that there was any inner voice that could lead one to the consciousness of truth, but rather held that the metaphysical view of things was about as far as one could go without assistance. When one had reached this stage Hermes advised him to seek for an Initiate who understood the higher teachings, who understood the nature of things to a great extent, who would lead him into the gates of Gnosis. Mind you, he does not say, who w^ould give him Gnosis, for no teacher can impart Gnosis to any human being. All the teacher can do is to teach philosophy from the standpoint of the Reason through analysis, to bring one's soul to that stage of development where he is able to reach the gates of Gnosis. Hence he advised everyone who had entered Salvation's port to remain in that state of mind, not striving to go beyond it until he had found a Master who was able through teaching to prepare him for Gnosis.
Where shines clear Light, of every dark- ness clean; where not a single soul is drunk, but sober all they gaze with their heart's eyes on Him who willeth to be seen.
In this paragraph we have a description of the Gnosis. In the first place, there shines clear Light. By this he does not mean physical light, nor yet cosmic light, but rather does he mean that divine ray of light from which mind proceeds. And this clear Divine Light shines in the place of Gnosis.
22
THE HERMETIC ART
Within the gates of Gnosis. It is one of the condi- tions precedent to the attainment of Gnosis. This Light is clean of every darkness, for here in this Light there is nothing but the pure undivided Divine Light which shines into the soul of the aspirant illuminating his consciousness with this clear Divine Light. Where not a single soul is drunk, for the simple reason that this Light dispels all darkness, all ignorance, causing the light to reflect the perfect truth and thus leaving no space for ignorance. The soul being clearly illumined by the Divine Light is not drunk but sober. All souls bathed in this Light must be free of ignor- ance, and therefore in a state of soberness result- ing from the clear consciousness of truth. So that all gaze with their heart's eyes; that is with the perception of their souls, with their soul sense, on Him who willeth to be seen, that is upon the Abso- lute, unmanifest God. The soul sense of the Gnosis is therefore able to give him a clear view of the unmanifest God, the God beyond all name. He it is who is the subject of their contemplation.
Where no ear can hear Him, nor can eye see Him, nor tongue speak of Him, but [only] mind and heart.
God cannot be approached through the medium of the senses. He cannot be heard, neither can He be seen, neither can He be described by words of speech. God is therefore entirely removed from the plane of the senses. He can only be seen, heard and spoken of by mind and heart. That is to say, only through intelligence and devotion is it pos- sible for one to deal with God. Language cannot describe Him, we can only think of Him, and the heart's devotion can alone grasp His nature. Therefore God must be worshiped in thought and the devotion of the heart. Hence the Gnostic
THE HERMETIC ART
23
must be one whose mind is capable of thinking independently of the testimony of the senses. It must work entirely apart from the senses, dealing in the problem from altogether a different angle. In other words, it is a pure, metaphysical, mystical contemplation of mind and heart directed unto the consideration of the nature of God. The train- ing one receives from the Master is in reality to develop this faculty of which we are speaking, the faculty for the independent operation of the mind and heart when entirely divested of the testimony of the senses.
But first thou must tear off from thee the cloak which thou dost wear, — the web of ignorance, the ground of bad, corruption's chain, the carapace of darkness, the living death, sensation's corpse, the tomb thou car- riest with thee, the robber in thy house, who through the things he loveth, hateth tliee, and through the things he hateth, bears thee malice.
In this paragraph he denounces the body, and announces that before one can reach this gnostic state he must tear off from him the cloak which he wears. This cloak which is worn by the soul is the body. First of all he denounces it as the web of ignorance, because of the fact that it com- municates nothing true to the soul, it lies about everything — that is the physical senses misrepre- sent things. Next, it is the ground of bad, for nothing good can be expressed in the physical body. It is the ground of bad. We do all things because of the process of generation which goes on in the production of the body, we do all things because we have physical bodies. It is utterly impossible for the good to grow out of the physical.
24
THE HERMETIC ART
Next, corruption's chain, that is to say the chain of corruption by which we are bound. The con- tinual process of corruption which goes on because of the presence of the body. The carapace of darkness, because the bodily senses shut out the light, causing us to be guided by false testimony, by false sensations. Thus the body shuts out the light and binds us to darkness. The living death, because the body going through the process of cor- ruption, of transition, continually dies. Our life is but a sequence of deaths. Sensation's corpse, that is the corpse through which the senses oper- ate, the corpse produced by sensation. Every man is really dead so long as he is governed by the senses. He only lives when they are overcome. The tomb thou carriest with thee. The body is described as the tomb in which the soul is buried. The robber in thy house. The body and its physical sensations rob one of the soul's life, because so long as the corporeal and sensuous life is led it is utterly impossible to lead the spiritual life. Who through the things he loveth, hateth thee. Remember the one addressed here is the soul always, and the body, through the things it loves, hates the soul, because it strives after phys- ical gratification and thus prevents the spiritual gratification of the soul. And through the things he hateth, bears thee malice. In other words, all the antipathies of the body are malicious because of the attitude which they have upon the soul.
While this paragraph deals with the body as the subject of its denunciation, the bodily life, yet there is a secondary meaning. It is not merely the body that is here used in its physical senses but we have also a sort of mystical body of sensation that we have to take into consideration, and that is perhaps the more important of the two. Because he states that first we must tear off the cloak which we wear before we can enter the gates of Gnosis. Now if
THE HERMETIC ART
25
this related only to the physical body it would mean that no one could attain Gnosis until he died, but the whole tenor of Hermetic teaching is the urging of people to attain Gnosis while they are yet alive. Therefore this cannot refer so much to the physical body as to a sort of mystical body of sensation, which will really mean the cloak that he speaks of here. In this sense the web of ignor- ance would relate to a web woven by ignorant thinking, which binds the mind as in a spider's web, so to speak; a pall, a curtain, that incloses the mind and soul, preventing them from seeing beyond it. This must be torn off first,— the web of ignorance — and we must destroy the web of ignorance by destroying ignorance with knowl- edge. The ground of bad, that is, the foundation from which bad proceeds. As bad is the result of genesis it will follow that to tear away the ground of bad will mean to cause the fruit of ignorance to be no longer borne. That is to prevent our previous ignorant thinking from bringing forth fruit, from generating offspring in the form of consciousness and deed. Corruption's chain must also be torn off, that is to say the sequence of cor- ruption which is operating within our being, this must be torn away by entirely separating in our consciousness the soul life from the bodily life. No one can escape the chain of corruption so long as he looks upon the physical body as being him- self. The self must be identified with the soul, and when the soul has been identified as the self, the body being no longer recognized as an integral part of the self, corruption's chain will cease to affect the soul. In other words, we must cease to believe in corruption and death and assert our immortality, and in this way corruption's chain is torn off. We must tear off the carapace of dark- ness. We must refuse to dwell in the dark. We must open our souls to the shining of the light, thus
26
THE HERMETIC ART
escaping the shell of darkness induced by ignor- ance and carnality of mind. The living death must be torn away by consciously living not in time but in eternity, by realizing the eternity of the soul's nature. We must cease to function in sen- sation's corpse by repudiating the testimony of the senses; by thinking not in terms of sense percep- tion or experience, but in terms of the Pure Rea- son. No one can escape the corpse of sensation so long as he believes in the testimony of his senses. By repudiating the testimony of the senses, by refusing to accept it as true, by thinking rather in terms of eternal truth through the Pure Reason of the soul, one is able to cast aside sensation's corpse and live the spiritual life w^hile still in the body.. The tomb thou carriest with thee, is noth- ing more nor less than the life which one leads, his consciousness being bounded by the testimony of the senses. This leads to a belief in death and the belief in death entombs the soul in mortality, consequently the soul abiding in this mortal tomb, is shut ofif from the true life. The robber in thy house, is this belief in mortality induced by sensa- tion, in other words, the mental attitude which sensation induces — such mental attitude robs the soul of its true life, in that it renders it impossible for the soul to be conscious of its true attributes seeing that the human consciousness is made up entirely of dying things, of the changes and transi- tions which the objects of sense indicate. This robber in the house which we have thus indicated hates the soul through the very things he loves. That is to say, as long as the consciousness is made up of the testimony of the senses, of ignorance, it will be antagonistic to every aspect of the true soul life, being entirely against the life of the soul, com- pletely destroying whatever of the soul life tends to manifest itself, and these antipathies, that is the antipathies of the senses, befog the mind and are