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I.
Poemandres, the Shepherd of Men
1.
It happened at a moment when my mind was meditating on the things
that are. My thought was raised to a great height, the senses
of my body were held back - just as men who are weighed down with
sleep after having eaten too much, or from bodily fatigue.
I thought of a Being more than vast, in size beyond all bounds,
calling out my name and said: What would you hear and see, and
what have you in mind to learn and know?
Using
meditation, the subject has an out of body experience. In
that state, he has an experience with a “Being”
– God, the One, etc. – who invites the subject
to learn, as he will be able to learn directly from God.
Central to the Hermetic philosophy was the argument that direct
experience of the One was possible; God did not need to be
“believed in” – he could be experienced.
Most believed that the experience was accomplished through
a revelation, wherein the subject became divinely possessed
and inspired. Those who acquired this insight became “ecstatic”.
In its literal sense, this means “standing outside oneself”,
an out of body experience. Many Hermeticists, including Plotinus,
one of the most important Neoplatonists, stated that he had
experienced this state many times.
The Hermetic “knew” that knowledge of God was
innate to him, and could be accomplished by every human being.
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2. And I said: Who are you?
He said: I am Man-Shepherd (Poemandres), Mind of all-masterhood;
I know what you desire and I’m with you everywhere.
The
first question asked can be seen as stupid, but “God”
does not identify himself under that name. Instead, he calls
himself “Man Shepherd”, or Poemandres –
the title of the first treatise. The Shepherd of Men. He informs
the subject that He is always there, everywhere.
Asking who it is the person is in contact with, acts as confirmation
that the subject is experiencing the One – and not some
impostor. |
3. I replied: I long to learn the things that
are, and comprehend their nature, and know God. This is, I said,
what I desire to hear.
He answered back to me: Hold in your mind all you would know,
and I will teach you.
4. Even with these words His aspect changed,
and straightaway, in the twinkling of an eye, all things were
revealed to me, and I see a vision, limitless, all things turned
into Light - sweet, joyous [Light]. And I became transported as
I gazed.
But after a little while, Darkness came settling down on part
[of it], awesome and gloomy, coiling in sinuous folds, as if it
were a snake.
And then the Darkness changed into some sort of a Moist Nature,
tossed about beyond all power of words, belching out smoke as
from a fire, and groaning forth a wailing sound that beggars all
description.
After that, an inarticulate outcry rose from it, as though it
were a Voice of Fire.
The
subject will receive the ultimate revelation: all he wants
to know, as a gift from God. Part of this revelation is a
shift of his consciousness, into a world of Light, which is
described as “sweet and joyous”.
The Poimandres is, as should be customary for the first treatise,
a revelation of the creation – the Divine Creation.
As such, the subject will see a creation event. What he sees
is how parts of the Light – associated with The One
– become Dark, then becoming something almost indescribable,
but apparently taking on the appearance of what other cultures
would have termed “Hell”, or “the Abyss”
– or something else. What is happening? What is being
created? The sun? A sun? The Earth? Stars and planets? At
this moment in time, it would be tempting to suggest that
the subject sees the birth of the universe, but only later
will it become clear that this is – not yet –
the case; the creation event here is something else. |
5. [Then,] out of the Light [...,] a Holy Word
(Logos) descended on that Nature. And upwards to the height from
the Moist Nature leaped forth pure Fire; it was light, swift and
active too.
The Air, too, being light, followed after the Fire; from out of
the Earth-and-Water rising up to Fire so that it seemed to hang
from it.
But Earth-and-Water stayed mingled with each other in such a manner
that no one could discern Earth from Water. Yet they were moved
to hear by reason of the Spirit-Word (Logos) pervading them.
The
creation myth of the Hermetica is standard for ancient cultures.
In short, Light creates the Logos, out of which the four
elements will be created. In this case, the first element
is Earth, then Fire, then Air, then Water.
 |
6.
Then Man-Shepherd said to me: Did you understand this Vision?
No; that shall I know, I said.
That Light, He said, am I, your God, Mind, prior to Moist Nature
which appeared from Darkness; the Light-Word (Logos) [that appeared]
from Mind is Son of God.
What then? – I said.
Know that what you sees in you and hears is the Lord’s Word
(Logos); but Mind is Father-God. They are not separate from one
another; it is only in their union that Life consists.
Thank you, I said.
So, understand the Light [He answered], and make friends with
it.
The
subject has been given a vision of the creation of the four
elements and is asked whether he “understands”.
For the Hermeticist, there was a vast difference between “knowing”
and “understanding”. Understanding was true knowledge
– “knowing” was merely being able to learn
by heart – acquire “facts”.
God then identifies himself as the “primeval light”,
out of which everything came. He makes a further clarification
about the vision the subject has seen: pure light equalled
God, equalling Mind. God/Mind then created Logos, Light-Word,
also known as Son of God. It is the Logos that orders the
four elements.
Most importantly, God then gives an insight into the human
make-up. What we see and hear, with our senses, is Logos,
but Mind, with which the subject is now seeing God in this
vision, is “Father-God”, i.e. the Creator; the
One. But as soon as God has stated that “we” are
dualistic, made up of “Father-God” and “Son
of God” (Mind and Logos) does he underline that actually
this duality is exactly that: they are two aspects of one,
they are not separate – yet together. In fact, “in
their union, Life exists”.
Having demonstrated that knowledge of creation is one thing,
but that God has just giving the subject understanding, the
Light then instructs the subject to embrace this Light –
learn to work with it. |
7. And while speaking, He gazed for long into
my eyes, so that I trembled at the look of him.
But when He raised His head, I see in Mind the Light, [but] now
in Powers no man could number, and Cosmos grown beyond all bounds,
and that the Fire was compassed round about by a most mighty Power,
and [now] subdued had come unto a stand.
And when I saw these things I understood by reason of Man-Shepherd’s
Word (Logos).
The
Understanding is validated when the One looks into the eyes
of the subject; the subject now sees the pure power of the
Creator, which instils in the subject the realisation of the
boundlessness of God. The subject then acknowledges that he
now “understands” what the One is “by reason”.
Mind and Reason have thus become in balance, and both “understand”.
He also see what happened next in the creation myth: Cosmos
grows beyond all bounds, and the Fire has somehow become controlled. |
8. But as I was in great astonishment, He said
to me again: You beheld in Mind the Archetypal Form whose being
is before beginning without end. Thus spoke to me Man-Shepherd.
And I said: From where then have Nature’s elements their
being?
To this, He answered: From Will of God. [Nature] received the
Word (Logos), and gazing upon the Beautiful Cosmos copied it,
making herself into a cosmos, by means of her own elements and
by the births of souls.
As
if the One wants to make sure there is no room for error,
he underlines what just transpired: the subject has just
seen, in his Mind, the Creator God. When the subject “understands”
that God is actually far removed from the physical world,
the subject asks where “Nature” has come from.
God answers that it was created from the Will of God. Nature
received the Logos and when she sees the creation, Nature
copied it, making herself into the universe, i.e. physical
reality. She accomplished this by means of her own elements,
and by the births of souls.
This is an often less understood passage of the creation,
which is however vital for a proper understanding. Many
have erred here and most have come away with an erroneous
conclusion of the Hermetic writings. Most importantly, most
biographers trying to explain the life of Hermeticists,
have completely misunderstood the message of the Hermeticist.
Though the subject has seen the creation and the “coming
forth” of the elements, the subject realises he has
not seen the creation of the physical universe, but of the
“Cosmos” – the Otherworld. Nature, our
physical reality, is a copy of the Cosmos. And Nature copied
the Cosmos into the cosmos by creating souls, the physical
“vehicle” for the Mind (and Logos) to sojourn
in the cosmos.
|
9. And God-the-Mind, being both male and female,
as Light and Life subsisting, brought forth another Mind to give
things form, who, God as he was of Fire and Spirit, formed Seven
Rulers who enclose the cosmos that the sense perceives. Men call
their ruling Fate.
The
One then creates another Mind, “to give things form”,
who then himself creates Seven Rulers. Their ruling is called
“Fate”.
With
the Cosmos and cosmos, we have two worlds. It is to the
Cosmos and the cosmos that the statement “as above,
so below” applies: what is the Cosmos, is in the cosmos.
This is the critical message, which so many have so often
misunderstood.
|
10. Straightaway from out the downward elements,
God’s Reason (Logos) leaped up to Nature’s pure formation,
and was at-oned with the Formative Mind; for it was co-essential
with it. And Nature’s downward elements were thus left reason-less,
so as to be pure matter.
| With
this knowledge in “mind”, we are getting close
to “our reality”. The four Cosmic elements enter
into the cosmos, where they become one with “mind”.
As to the four cosmic elements, they are left without reason
– they are “pure matter”: the stones, water,
sand and air of our physical world; the building blocks of
the physical universe. |
11. Then the Formative Mind ([at-oned] with Reason),
he who surrounds the spheres and spins them with his whorl, set
turning his formations, and let them turn from a beginning boundless
unto an endless end. For that the circulation of these [spheres]
begins where it does end, as Mind does will.
And from the downward elements, Nature brought forth lives reason-less;
for He did not extend the Reason (Logos) [to them]. The Air brought
forth winged things; the Water things that swim, and Earth-and-Water
one from another parted, as Mind willed. And from her bosom, Earth
produced what lives she had, four-footed things and reptiles,
beasts wild and tame.
| The
cosmic “Mind-Reason” then sets the universe/cosmos
into motion. As to the four physical elements, Nature brings
forth “reasonless lives” – birds, fish,
reptiles and mammals – all without Logos. For the Hermeticist,
animals are not like us, which modern scientists would label
as the distinction between humanity’s self-consciousness
and the animal’s instinctive behaviour. |
12. But All-Father Mind, being Life and Light,
did create Man co-equal to Himself, with whom He fell in love,
as being His own child; for he was beautiful beyond compare, the
Image of his Sire. In very truth, God fell in love with his own
Form; and on him did bestow all of His own formations.
| “Finally”,
Cosmic Mind created Man, in his own image. |
13. And when he gazed upon what the Enformer
had created in the Father, [Man] too wished to enform; and [so]
assent was given to him by the Father.
Changing his state to the formative sphere, in that he was to
have his whole authority, he gazed upon his Brother’s creatures.
They fell in love with him, and gave him each a share of his own
ordering.
And after that he had well learned their essence and had become
a sharer in their nature, he had a mind to break right through
the Boundary of their spheres, and to subdue the might of that
which pressed upon the Fire.
| Man
was then able to look upon the creation of the One and Man
too wanted to create, which the One allowed him to do. The
text then suggests that “Man” was, nevertheless
not yet physical – Man had been created, but when he
wanted to create, the One allowed Man to incarnate –
“change his state to the formative sphere”, i.e.
cosmos. The other animals on Earth saw this and allowed it
to happen, i.e. Man becoming a part of Earth. But, unlike
the animals, Man had “Mind”, with which he could
“break right through the Boundary of their spheres”
(i.e. cosmos), as well as subdue the power of the force that
pressed upon the Fire – which will remain enigmatic
for now… but should perhaps be linked with the “Baptism
by Fire” that is often spoke of. |
14. So he who had the whole authority over [all]
mortals in the cosmos and over its irrational lives, bent his
face downwards through the Harmony, breaking right through its
strength, and showed to downward Nature God’s fair form.
And when she saw that Form of beauty which can never satiate,
and him who [now] possessed within himself each single energy
of [all seven] Rulers as well as God’s own Form, she smiled
with love; for it was as though she’d seen the image of
Man’s fairest form upon her Water, his shadow on her Earth.
He in turn beholding the form like to himself, existing in her,
in her Water, loved it and willed to live in it; and with the
will came act, and [so] he vivified the form devoid of reason.
And Nature took the object of her love and wound herself completely
around him, and they were intermingled, for they were lovers.
| Man
was now in charge of cosmos and all creations, but somehow
is still merely “an idea”. It is soon decided
that this “idea” is fine, and hence Man is placed
on earth. |
15. And this is why beyond all creatures on Earth
man is twofold; mortal because of body, but immortal because of
the essential man.
Though deathless and possessed of sway over all, yet does he suffer
as a mortal does, subject to Fate.
Thus even though above the Harmony, within the Harmony he has
become a slave. Though male-female, as from a Father male-female,
and though he’s sleepless from a sleepless [Sire], yet is
he overcome [by sleep].
| Finally,
we understand, from the very first act of creation down to
the “contract” made between Mind and Nature, why
Man is twofold: a mortal body, but an immortal Mind. Both
above Fate, but subject to it. Though the Mind has no need
to sleep, the body needs to sleep. In short, the treatise
has explained not only the dual, but what many people have
perceived as the contradictory nature of this reality. |
16. Thereon [I say: Teach on], O Mind of me,
for I myself as well am amorous of the Word (Logos).
The Shepherd said: This is the mystery kept hidden until today.
Nature embraced by Man brought forth a wonder, oh so wonderful.
For as he had the nature of the Concord of the Seven, who, as
I said to you, [were made] of Fire and Spirit - Nature delayed
not, but immediately brought forth seven “men”, in
correspondence with the natures of the Seven, male-female and
moving in the air.
Thereupon [I said]: O Shepherd, ..., for now I am filled with
great desire and long to hear; do not run off.
The Shepherd said: Keep silence, for not as yet have I unrolled
for you the first discourse (logoi).
Lo! I am still, I said.
The
One confirms that the subject has now had this revelation.
He adds further detail, stating that as to the “Seven
Rulers”, made out of Fire and Spirit, Nature then decided
to create seven “men”, the “physical transformation”
of the “Fire-Spirit”. These seven physical beings
were male-female, and moved in the air – in what some
cultures would later call the Seven Archangels.
This concludes the main lesson of the first class, but there
is more to come. |
17. In such wise than, as I have said, the generation
of these seven came to pass. Earth was as woman, her Water filled
with longing; ripeness she took from Fire, spirit from Ether.
Nature thus brought forth frames to suit the form of Man.
And Man from Light and Life changed into soul and mind - from
Life to soul, from Light to mind.
And thus continued all the sense-world’s parts, until the
period of their end and new beginnings.
| The
One does an executive summary of what “we” are,
repeating the nature of Man and his relationship with Nature. |
18. Now listen to the rest of the discourse (Logos)
which you long to hear.
The period having ended, the bond that bound them all was loosened
by God’s Will. For all the animals being male-female, at
the same time with Man were loosed apart; some became partly male,
some in like fashion [partly] female. And straightway, God spoke
by His Holy Word (Logos):
“Increase yourself in increasing, and multiply in multitude,
you creatures and creations all; and man that has Mind in him,
let him learn to know that he himself is deathless, and that the
cause of death is love, though Love is all.”
| And
so lesson two of the first class begins. This world was not
yet as our world is today. “Reality version 1”–
“the First Time” – had ended and God decided
to change certain things. Everything had so far had a dual
male-female nature, but this was changed: the sexes came about.
Through Logos, the One stated to have physical procreation
through sex. The mission for Man is now to “learn to
know that he is deathless”, i.e. that he has Mind, a
divine nature in him. At the same time, he needs to learn
that the cause of death is love, though at the same time,
the stakes of “Reality version 2” all revolve
around Love – almost the “Fifth Element”,
which unites all four. This “change of mind” of
the One is what other cultures have identified as “the
Fall”, but it is clear that in this section, there is
no pejorative colouring to God’s decision. It is almost
as if God wanted a change, and upgraded the computer programme,
by giving the characters in the game sexes. |
19. When He said this, His Forethought did by
means of Fate and Harmony effect their couplings and their generations
founded. And so all things were multiplied according to their
kind.
And he who has thus learned to know himself, has reached that
Good which transcends abundance; but he who through a love that
leads astray, expends his love upon his body – stays in
Darkness wandering, and suffering through his senses the things
of Death.
| With
the rules of the game now changed – Man on a mission
to “understand” his Divine nature – men
and women began to copulate and procreate. Amongst these people,
some were aware of their Mind, but others, led astray by love,
became hooked upon the purely materialistic side of this cosmos…
Unaware of who he truly was, he suffered, specifically suffering
from Fate, the rulers of the cosmos, and he suffered death,
for he thought that death signalled the end of everything,
unaware as he was that Mind – “he” –
was actually not subject to death, but that only his body
was. |
20. What is the greatest fault, I said, the ignorant
commit, that they should be deprived of deathlessness?
You seem, He said, not to have given heed to what you heard. Did
I not bid you to think?
Yes, I do think, and I remember, and therefore give you thanks.
If you do think about all of this, [He said], tell me: Why do
they who are in Death merit death?
It is because the gloomy Darkness is the root and base of the
material frame; from it came the Moist Nature; from this the body
in the sense-world was composed; and from this [body] Death drains
the Water.
| The
greatest fault Man could thus commit (to himself) was not
to realise that he was immortal. And when these ignoramuses
die, they think they are dead. They wander in Death, not realising
there is the “Light” of their own Mind to which
they can go – return. Where is Death? It is the gloomy
Darkness, “the Abyss”, “Hell”, that
“Moist Nature” that was created early on. |
21. Your thoughts were correct, o you! But how
does “he who knows himself, go unto Him”, as God’s
Word (Logos) has declared?
And I reply: the Father of the universals consists of Light and
Life, from Him Man was born.
You speak well. Light and Life is Father-God, and from Him Man
was born.
If therefore you learn that you are of Life and Light, and that
you happen to be out of them, you shall return again to Life.
Thus spoke Man-Shepherd.
But tell me more, Mind of me, I cried, how shall I come to Life
again... for God says: “The man who has Mind in him, let
him learn to know that he himself [is deathless].”
| The
subject realises that knowledge and understanding is one,
but how does the one who knows he has Mind go to the One?
The One states that it is very simple: you only need to be
aware that you have – are – Mind and you shall
return to the One. Still, the subject – and so must
any reader – has doubts… The solution to the game
in Version 2 seems all too easy, for sure? “Just know
that you are Mind, and you have won. When you die, you will
return to the One.” “Game over.” |
22. Have not all men then Mind?
You speak well. I, Mind, myself am present with holy men and good,
the pure and merciful, men who live piously.
[To them] my presence becomes an aid, and straightway they gain
gnosis of all things, and win the Father’s love by their
pure lives, and give Him thanks, invoking on Him blessings, and
chanting hymns, intent on Him with ardent love.
And thus they give up the body unto its proper death, they turn
with disgust from its sensations, from knowledge of what things
they operate. No, it is I, the Mind, that will not let the operations
which befall the body, work to their [natural] end. For being
door-keeper I’ll close [all] the entrances, and cut the
mental actions off which base and evil energies induce.
Though
everyone has Mind, not everyone knows that their mind is Mind.
There needs to be an awakening. But for the awoken, that knowledge
becomes an aid – if only because they realise that the
physical world is not the total, but merely a game board.
Death is not the end, but only an illusion. Life is an experience.
They understand what is important in life, and how to live;
a blindfold, the blindfold of the material world, has been
lifted, and they can “see” – and they address
their life to the service of the Mind. They enter in rapport
with him, living not only a good life, but pray – talk
– to Mind. They no longer love the physical, but love
the Mind.
When they die, they do not care about their bodily death.
It is here that for the first time, a pejorative element comes
into the narrative: for those with Mind, this section states,
are disgusted with their sensations – their physical
emotions. They are disgusted as to what these physical emotions
can do to men: kill, rape, deprive, belittle, cheat, etc.
It seems that the Mind then turns a switch and disallows these
emotions to rule the awoken. |
23.
But to the Mind-less ones, the wicked and depraved, the envious
and covetous, and those who mured do and love impiety, I am far
off, yielding my place to the Avenging Demon, who sharpening the
fire, torments him and adds fire to fire upon him, and rushes
upon him through his senses, thus rendering him readier for transgressions
of the law, so that he meets with greater torment; nor does he
ever cease to have desire for inordinate appetites, insatiately
striving in the dark.
| This
is what happens to those who understand. But for those who
do not, they do not even seem to have any awareness that God
exists. They instead worship “the Avenging Demon”
– the Christian devil – who toys with them, torments
them, plays with their emotions, states that if they so love
money, why not have more. If they feed on sexual power, why
not rape more? Even more infirm ones? Children? And most seem
to take each temptation, falling ever deeper and deeper…
|
24. You have thought me well, as I desired, O
Mind. And now, pray, tell me further of the nature of the Way
Above as now it is [for me].
To this Man-Shepherd said: When the material body is to be dissolved,
first will you surrender the body by itself unto the work of change,
and thus the form you have does vanish, and you surrender your
way of life, void of its energy, unto the Demon. The body’s
senses next pass back into their sources, becoming separate, and
resurrect as energies; and passion and desire withdraw unto that
nature which is void of reason.
The
subject thanks God for having granted him this knowledge,
which he understands. But what else is there to learn for
those like him, who has not fallen vice of physical reality,
but hopes to ascend?
God states that when the subject will die, he needs to let
go of his body – the Demon will have the body. As to
the senses: these are distilled – separated –
into their original sources, and become energy; they are “but”
energy, nothing more – there is no passion, no desire,
just energy. |
25. And thus it is that man does speed his way
thereafter upwards through the Harmony.
To the first zone, he gives the Energy of Growth and Waning; unto
the second [zone], Device of Evils [now] de-energized; unto the
third, the Guile of the Desires de-energized; unto the fourth,
his Domineering Arrogance, [also] de-energized; unto the fifth,
unholy Daring and the Rashness of Audacity, de-energized; unto
the sixth, Striving for Wealth by evil means, deprived of its
aggrandizement; and to the seventh zone, Ensnaring Falsehood,
de-energized.
For
those whose mind is on Mind, they speed through the spheres,
giving their distilled sensual energies to each appropriate
sphere he passes on his ascent.
Each sphere has its “deadly sin” – which
is exactly that: upon death, emotions need to be let go off;
the subject needs to realise that the emotions he experienced
in life were just that: physical emotions. This is what near-death
experiencers have called the “Life Review” and
religions have called “the Judgment”. The subject,
upon death, reviews his life and experiences the emotions
associated with its events. But he needs to be aware that
these emotions are physical – that he is Mind, not mind.
And to go to the One, he needs to “survive” the
life review – if he can “forgive himself”
and “accept himself” – accept the life he
lived – the emotional energies do not cling to him,
but are transformed. And so, if he is able to do this, when
he ascends to the One and passes through sphere, to each,
he returns what could have been a “deadly sin”:
a human emotion that he could not forgive himself during the
Life Review – Judgment Day. |
26.
And then, with all the energisings of the harmony stripped
from him, clothed in his proper Power, he comes to that Nature
which belongs unto the Eighth, and there with those-that-are signs
to the Father.
They who are there welcome his arrival with joy; and he, made
like to them that sojourn there, further hears the Powers who
are above the Nature that belongs unto the Eighth, singing their
songs of praise to God in a language of their own.
And then they, together, go to the Father’s home; of their
own selves they surrender the Powers, and [thus] becoming Powers
they are in God. This the good end for those who have gained Gnosis
- to be made one with God.
Why should you then delay? Must it not be, since you have all
received, that you should point the way to the worthy, in order
that through you the race of mortal kind may by God be saved?
When
all this emotional clothing has been returned to the proper
sphere, he enters the eight sphere, where he is met by “those
who are there”, who are like him. He is now above the
cosmos, above Nature. And, together they go the One –
home. They are made “one” again with the One.
With this in mind, it is essential not to delay in giving
other people this message – this mission. |
27. This when He’d said, Man-Shepherd mingled
with the Powers.
But I, with thanks and blessings unto the Father of the universal
[Powers], was freed, full of the power he had poured into me,
and full of what He’d taught me of the nature of the All
and of the loftiest Vision.
And I began to preach unto men the Beauty of Devotion and of Gnosis:
O you people, earth-born folk, you who have given yourselves to
drunkenness and sleep and ignorance of God, be sober now, cease
from your surfeit, cease to be glamoured by irrational sleep!
| Thus
ends the lesson and the One disappears “into himself”.
As for the subject, his life just begins: he is freed, knows
and understands. And what he knows, he wants to tell to other
people. And he does: he preaches. “Wake Up.” “You
have Mind. There is more to this cosmos than just the physical.”
|
28.
And when they heard, they came with one accord. Whereupon I said:
You earth-born folk, why have you given yourselves up to Death,
while yet you have the power of sharing Deathlessness? Repent,
O you, who walk with Error arm in arm and make of Ignorance the
sharer of your board; get yourself out the light of Darkness,
and take your part in Deathlessness, forsake Destruction!
| And
when they know that he is there, preaching, they come, and
he tells them that death is not the end. He asks them to repent
– abandon walking around blindly, and direct yourself
to the Path of God. |
29.
And some of them with jests upon their lips departed [from me],
abandoning themselves unto the Way of Death; others entreated
to be taught, casting themselves before my feet.
But I made them arise, and I became a leader of the Race towards
home, teaching the words (logoi), how and in what way they shall
be saved. I sowed in them the words (logoi) of wisdom; of Deathless
Water were they given to drink.
And when the evening came and the sun began to set, I asked them
all to give thanks to God. And when they had brought to an end
thanksgiving, each man returned to his own resting place.
Some
who heard, could not accept and continued to err in the Darkness.
But others listened. They “arose”. And the subject
became a shepherd of those who wanted to return to the One.
It seems that this confirmation involves drinking “Deathless
Water” – a type of initiation, which in some cultures
was a baptism; in other cultures, was more akin to drinking
from the “Cup of Life” – or another similar
name.
At sunset, he asks them to pray, before they themselves return
home. |
30.
But I recorded in my heart Man-Shepherd’s benefaction, and
with my every hope fulfilled more than rejoiced. For body’s
sleep became the soul’s awakening, and closing of the eyes
- true vision, pregnant with Good my silence, and the utterance
of my word (logos) begetting of good things.
All this befell me from my Mind, that is Man-Shepherd, Word (Logos)
of all masterhood, by whom being God-inspired I came unto the
Plain of Truth. Wherefore with all my soul and strength thanksgiving
I give to the Father-God.
| The
subject then summarises that this is who he became: a happy
person, who rejoiced with every person that he awakened –
who rose. |
31. Holy are you, O God, the universals’
Father.
Holy are you, O God, whose Will perfects itself by means of its
own Powers.
Holy are you, O God, who wants to be known and is known by Your
own.
Holy are you, who by Word (Logos) makes the things that are.
Holy are you, of whom All-nature has been made an image.
Holy are you, whose Form Nature has never made.
Holy are you, more powerful than all power.
Holy are you, transcending all pre-eminence.
Holy are you, better than all praise.
Accept my reason’s offerings pure, from soul and heart for
I stretched up to you, O you unutterable, unspeakable, Whose Name
nothing but the Silence can express.
| The
subject then offers a prayer, which is obviously meant to
be used – or adapted at leisure – by others who
share his objective. The prayer ends with a return to the
basic premise of the first sections of the treatise, in which
it is noted that the true name of the One cannot be spoken…
“nothing but the Silence can express” it. |
32.
Give ear to me who pray that I may never fail of Gnosis,
which is our common being’s nature; and fill me with your
Power, and with your Grace, that I may give the Light to those
in ignorance of the Race, my Brethren, and your Sons.
For this cause I believe, and I bear witness; I go to Life and
Light. Blessed are you, O Father. Your Man would be holy as you
are holy, even as you gave him your full authority [to be].
| Finally,
the subject hopes that he will never fail on this Path. He
hopes that the One will give him the power to continue, that
he may give Mind to his fellow men. “This is my mission,
to this manifesto I subscribe.” In fact, the very last
paragraph’s opening is almost like the final clause
of a contract, a contract of the soul, in which the subject
signs his soul to the One. |
Summary:
Poimandres is a two part lesson. Part 1 tells a creation myth,
including the Fall of Man, as he unites with the powers of
Nature. We learn how Man is created by the supreme Mind or
nous, and receives the qualities of the seven rulers (often
seen as the seven planets that ruled astrology), which govern
his destiny on earth. But there is another aspect to this,
part 2, which is a mission statement for every human: Man,
who shares the essence of Mind, also partakes of its absolute
freedom, and he wills to 'break through the circumference
of the spheres' and come to know his Maker. In other words,
as soon as he desires to overcome Fate, he can, by realising
and acting from the immortal part of his soul - Mind. All
men are governed by Fate, says Poimandres, but those who are
led by Nous do not suffer as others do. Man is a god, he only
has to recognise it, and this very recognition can change
his relationship with Fate. He will rule Fate – Fate
will not rule him. And as a consequence, he will ascend –
rise – to the One. This is Man’s mission, and
those who have taken it upon themselves, are also invited
to preach the mission to Mankind, so that, in the end, everyone
will know and hopefully agree to ascend – return to
the One. |
|
