Section 8

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holds that sense and thought are interactive, each one having its influence upon the other. And this is quite characteristic of the absolute monism which is so common to Hermes; that is to say of his unwillingness to separate or divide the uni- verse. He prefers to look at it as a whole. There- fore he does not conceive of substance as distinct from matter, or of matter as distinct from sub- stance. They are not in his mind two things but rather give two phases of one verity. Therefore he merges thought and sense so far as man is con- cerned. In other lives, that is in the animals, sense is at-oned with nature. That is to say nature expresses itself through the sense of the animal. The animal senses nature but in man nature expresses itself through thought. In other words he would hold that one gets an understanding of things by the activity of his thought. Conse- quently it is evident that Hermes would not con- sider that there are very many men living today, he would argue that there are a lot of animals walking on their hind legs, but not many men. Because only he who conceives a thing by thought is in his concept human.
Now mind doth differ just as much from thought as God doth from divinity. For that divinity by God doth come to be, and by mind thought, the sister of the word {Logos) and instruments of one another. For neither doth the word (Logos) find utterance without thought, nor is thought manifested without word.
Hermes here draws the distinction between mind and thought. He illustrates the difference between mind and thought by the difference between God and divinity. He would argue that there would
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be no divinity if there was no God. God is what produces divinity; divinity is in the nature of the manifesting essence of God. God in action pro- duces divinity. Divinity is therefore the activity of God; the product of God's action within Him- self; the product of this, the character of God in a certain sense, is what we term divinity. Now in the same way, just as divinity comes to be as the result of the active life of God it follows that thought comes into being because of mind. Mind is therefore an active principle, a generative force, w^hich becomes active in terms of thought. Thought must also be distinguished from thoughts, for thought is that process emanating from mind w^hich tends to engender thoughts; thought there- fore being the generative action of mind and thoughts the things generated.
Thought is the sister of the logos or word. Now the logos, the w^ord, in this sense must not be con- founded w^ith the words which people speak that is, with articulate speech. It is rather the ideal form of the word. It is rather the tendency for thoughts to take a psychic form which when uttered becomes a word. The logos is therefore the psychic prototype or archetype of a word. And this is the sister of thought because thought becomes logic; that is, as we think, our thought naturally assumes the form of a psychic image, which in turn expresses itself as the uttered word, that is expresses itself through the medium of sound. They are mutually instruments, the one of the other. The logos or word does not find utter- ance without thought; in fact there would be no logos, no spirit of a word, were it not for thought giving utterance to this word. And thought can never be made manifest without the w^ord. In other words, thought is in the unmanifest state until the word has been found. The word is what makes the thought manifest; words are therefore the
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means of concreting thought. We think, but can- not clarify, express or utter our thought, until the logos or the word is found through which such utterance becomes possible. This will throw a great deal of light upon the subject of the origin of language. In other words, there exists no word until after someone has believed the thing that that word expresses. Until we accept as true v/hat the w^ord expresses the word is not coined. Articu- late speech is therefore the means of expressing the logos. The logos therefore when conceived out of thought causes someone to formulate an uttered word which will express it. The faculty of lan- guage is therefore the faculty for giving utterance by means of articulate speech to the logos which brings forth from our thought. The man who has thoughts which he cannot find words to express, whose thinking cannot be properly expressed, is an illustration of the principle of which we are speak- ing. This is the stage when thought has not expressed itself by means of the logos. It is in the shadow stage, — the man cannot definitely express his thought. This is the relation between thought, logos, and uttered speech, and this will give us a fair conception of the nature of thought and its relation to sense; always bearing in mind that thought relates itself to substance and not to mat- ter. Therefore thoughts are not of the material but of the substantial. Therefore logoi, or words, are forms of the reason and reason is therefore the expression of mind, the vehicle of mind, just as logoi are the vehicles of expressed thoughts.
2. So sense and thought both flow to- gether into man, as though they were en- twined with one another. For neither without sensing can one think, nor without thinking sense.
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But it is possible [they say] to think a thing apart from sense, as those who fancy sights in dreams. But unto me it seems that both of these activities occur in dreamsight, and sense doth pass out of the sleeping to the waking state.
For man is separated into soul and body, and only when the two sides of his sense agree together, does utterance of its thought conceived by mind take place.
So sense and thought both flow together into man, as though they were entwined with one another. For neither without sensing can one think, nor without thinking sense.
Sense and thought do not act separately upon man, but on the contrary, they are simultaneously active, and in fact blend into one composite force. They are mutually interactive at all times. An- other point we must bear in mind is this, both sense and thought flow into man. By this we are to understand that both sense and thought are kos- mical forces, existing independent of man, which flow into him, from without, and entering him, awaken sense and thought in him. He does not hold that they are original with man, but rather that man is the Organ through which, both sense and thought are made manifest. Hence, man is negative, while both sense and thought are positive forces in their action through man. The sense referred to here cannot therefore be confined to physical sensation, but must refer to something a great deal higher. Sensing is always accompanied by thought, and likewise is thought ever accom- panied by sensing, the two are merely two aspects of the one process.
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But it is possible [they say] to think a thing apart from sense, as those who fancy Sight in dreams. But unto me it seems that both of these activities occur in dream-sight, and sense doth pass out of the sleeping to the waking state.
¥/e are next lead into the question of thought independent of sense. He takes the position that there is no such thing. The error which he is here refuting is due to the other error that sense is confined to the physical sensations. This is wrong. Sense is in reality that power which brings one into contact with that which is exterior to him, and in this way, through contact, awakens the action of thought. Dream-sight is in reality more sensing than thought, though both activities are present. There is a continuity of the sense of the sleeping state into that of the waking state. Sense not being confined to the body, it transcends the plane of physical matter.
For man is separated into soul and body, and only v^hen the two sides of his sense agree together, does utterance of its thought conceived by mind take place.
As man is separated into soul and body, it fol- lows that there is a corresponding separation of sense, into soul sense and bodily sense. Thought is the result of the union of the soul sense with the sense of the body. In this way, is man's sensing made to include the soul world and the physical world. The physical and the Psychic are there- fore both matters of sense. Through the dual sense, there is deposited in man the germ of thought, which is conceived in the mind, very much after the manner of the conception of a child
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in the womb of the mother, so that the mind act- ing as the matrix in which sense is deposited, becomes in this way, fecundated by sense, and as a result, thought is conceived within the mind, from whence it is born into consciousness. This will give to us a true conception of the nature of sense and thought. The basis of all sensing is the Kosmic Sense. This sense, being sensible of all things in Kosmos, acts upon both soul and body, with the result that it acts upon both the body and soul in such a manner as to there deposit this sense, causing us to become aware of that sense, though as a feeling, and not as a mental conception. This sensing acts upon the mind, so that, being acted upon by the dynamic motion of sense, it moves in such a manner as to conceive thought. Sense in man, is therefore the process of Kosmic Sense acting upon him in such a way as to make him sensible of that which is held in Kosmic Sense. This process, acting upon the mind, causes it to conceive the thought, corresponding to that which has been sensed, which is in that manner born into consciousness. This will show that the conception of thought is only possible in a mind fecundated by sense, and that this fecundation by sense is the result of the Kosmic Sense contacting the Soul as well as the body. It will therefore follow that the mind can conceive no thoughts which are not the reflex of corresponding sensings. This leads us to the conclusion that the first requisite is not so much a matter of mental power as it is one of sensing. Mentality therefore does not depend upon brain capacity or intellectual culture half so much as upon a soul and body, so sensitively attuned that they will respond to the vibration of Kosmic Sense. The first requisite is to be very sensitive, so that we will respond to, and register all possible aspects of Kosmic Sense. This ability win definitely limit the extent of the mental opera-
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tions, though of course the mental operations may not come up to the full extent of the sensing capacity. This will depend upon the possession of a mind capable of acting under all the impulses of sense, in such a manner as to conceive thought under each one of them. This will depend upon the sensitiveness and upon the responsiveness and activity of the mind. Mind is therefore the feminine womb into which sense deposits the germs of thought. Sensing is the fecundating action which fecundates the mind with the seeds of future thoughts, while Kosmic Sense is the fecundator of all minds. From this point of view the nature of man, is essentially feminine.
We have here a very important lesson in the Hermetic Art. The source of all things must be found in nature, we can originate nothing, but must merely duplicate the work of nature, though we can improve upon this under certain limitations. But we must derive the Seed from nature. The first thing is, therefore, to prepare a suitable recep- tacle in which the work is to be performed. After this we must deposit in this receptacle a suitable matter as the Matrix in which conception is to take place. After this, we must have a transmissive ele- ment through which motion can be imparted to this plastic mass, and the last step is to have the active principle of the universe brought into direct contact with the transmissive agent. If all these elements are properly prepared we will find that the Seed will be deposited from the Kosmos into our receptacle and in this way will be developed into actuality after the manner of the conception of thought in the mind. However, do not make this mistake, do not imagine that you can make either Gold, or Life. Life can never be created, though we can direct the form of the evolution through which it passes. Gold is never made, it is born. We must learn to conceive it in the Vase of
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Art, exactly as thought is conceived in the mind of man. Remember this, the Seed of Gold is in the Kosmos, it must fecundate the First Matter and in this way, conceive gold in the Vase of Art. This is the Alchemist's Secret.
LESSON vn
The Conception of Thought
3. For it is mind that doth conceive of thoughts— good thoughts when it receives the seeds from God, their contraries when [it receiveth them] from one of the daimo- nials; no part of Cosmos being free of daimons, who stealthily doth creep unto the daimon who's illumined by God's Light, and sow in him the seed of its own energy.
And mind conceives the seed thus sown ; adultery, murder, parricide, [and] sacrilege, impiety, [and] strangling, casting dowTi precipices, and all such other deeds as are the work of evil daimons.
For it is mind that doth conceive of thoughts — good thoughts when it receives the seeds from God, their contraries when [it receiveth them] from one of the dai- monials; no part of Cosmos being free of daimons, w^ho stealthily doth creep into the daimon who's illumined by God's Light, and sow in him the seed of its own energy;
All thoughts are conceived in mind, conceived from seed sown in the mind from some source external to the mind itself. This must necessarily be true because it is through sense that the seeds are sown in mind. After being deposited in mind these seeds go through a process of transformation, — or rather they stimulate the mind to action resulting in the conception of corresponding
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thoughts. If the mind receives the seed of thought from God it must conceive good thoughts, that is corresponding in a measure to the nature of God, because thought which is conceived as a result of the seed must correspond to the seed antecedent to the conception. While just the con- trary is the result when the mind receives the seed from one of the daimonials. Inasmuch as the character of the daimonials is not good but the reverse, it follows therefore that the seed emanat- ing from the daimonial must be a daimonial seed, that Is to say a seed partaking of the nature of the daimons, and this daimonial seed has started into operation by the specific action of the mind, it must necessarily follow that the mind will conceive daimonial thoughts; evil thoughts; thoughts par- taking of the nature of the daimons. No part of Kosmos is free of daimons; that is to say there is no part of the Kosmos that is not occupied by daimons, the daimonial hosts being so numerous, so extensive, that every part of the Kosmos is in- habited by them; hence there are always daimons present to deposit the seeds of evil thought within the mind of each and every one. These evil thoughts must be conceived in the minds of all unless the soul has reached such a degree of refine- ment and spiritualization that it is positive to the daimons and negative only to God. This is really the only guarantee anyone has, — his spiritual thought, which will establish the right degree of polarity. Now we find here a very important point brought out and at the same time one that very few realize, and that is this, no man ever thinks thoughts which are entirely dependent upon his own mentality; all thoughts are conceived in the mind from seed sown in the mind by beings external to that mind. Either God or the daimons, using God here in the sense not only of the One and-only-one but also in the sense of the gods as
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well. Deity sows good seed in the mind, the daimonials sow evil seed, and all our thinking is the result of a mind fecundated by the seeds of divinity or of the daimons. A mind unfecundated by such seed is incapable of conceiving thought.
We are informed that these daimons stealthily creep into the daimon who is illumined by God's Light. We must bear in mind that according to Hermes the daimons are not only those kosmic powers or beings, but he also terms the soul of man a daimon. It is the daimon in man. Now we must bear in mind that the daimons are an order of beings subordinate to the gods, because of their creative power the same term is applied to the human soul, which is also creative. The daimon in man is his soul ; the daimon illumined by God's light means a higher order of soul than w^hat we mean when we ordinarily speak of the soul of man. It means the soul into which the light of God has shined, and thus the soul being illumined by a higher degree of enlightenment than what is common to the grasp of the human understanding. God's light must not be con- founded with God himself. Light is one of the rays emanating from God. Now this emanating ray of the divine light has shone into the soul of man and quickened his intelligence, so that it is thereby illumined by this light. He is the daimon that is illumined by God's light mentioned here. Now^ we are informed that these daimons stealthily creep into the daimon illumined by God's light and sow in him the seed of their own energy. In other words, although one has reached that stage of development where his soul is illumined by the light of God he is not yet safe from demonial interference. He may be inspired, or illumined; the light of God may shine into his soul and thus give him an illuminated vision of eternal things, nevertheless this does not prevent the daimons