The Asclepius - The Perfect Discourse

The First 7 Seals of The Perfect Discourse of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus

An Extract from the full reading of The Asclepius, The Perfect Discourse of Hermes Trismegistus, translated by Clement Salaman. Available soon on the Violet Flame Store. Translation

Teacher and disciples

[1] ‘It is God, yes, God, who has led you to me, 0 Asclepius, so that you can take part in a divine discourse. This discourse will be such that through its love and reverence for God it will rightly seem to have more divine power than any I have previously spoken, or rather than any that have been inspired in me by the divine spirit. If you show yourself able to understand it your whole mind will be completely filled with all that is good, that is if there are many good things and not one only in which all are held. Indeed, one can see that these alternatives are consistent with each other; either all things are of one, or they are one. The two propositions are so linked that it is impossible to separate one from the other. But this you will find out if you attend carefully to the coming discourse. But now, Asclepius, you must move forward a little. Call Tat to come and join us.’

At Tat’s entry Asclepius suggested that Hammon also be present. Trismegistus said, ‘No ill-will prevents Hammon from joining us, for I well remember that many of my writings have been dedicated to him, just as many discourses on natural philosophy and countless public discourses have been dedicated to my most loving and beloved son Tat. But on this treatise I shall inscribe your name. Call no one except Hammon lest a conversation worthy of such reverence and on such a profound subject be profaned by the arrival and presence of many people. For it is the mark of an irreligious mind to bring to the notice of a crowd of people a discourse that is totally filled with the whole majesty of the divine spirit.’

When Hammon had entered the sanctuary, and the fervour of the four men and the presence of God had filled this holy place, in due silence the minds and hearts of all hung upon the lips of Hermes, and divine love began to speak:

The One and the All

[2] ‘0 Asclepius, every human soul is immortal, but the nature of their immortality is not the same, for souls differ according to conduct and time.’

‘Why, 0 Trismegistus? Is not every soul of one quality?’

‘0 Asclepius, how quickly you have broken from the just restraint of reason! For did I not say that all things are one and the one is all, since all these things were in the creator before he created them? Rightly is he said to be all, whose limbs are all things. And so, throughout this discourse, take care to be mindful of him who alone is all, or who is the creator of all. Everything comes from heaven into earth, into water, into air. Only fire, which is borne upwards, is life-giving. What moves downward serves it. Yet what moves down from on high is full of generative power; what moves upward gives nourishment. Only earth of all the elements remains within itself and is the receiver of every kind of form, and what it receives it returns.

‘This therefore is the all, as you remember; it is the essence of the all and it is the all. The soul and the cosmos being embraced by Nature are set in movement by her with such diversity of quality, evident in all images, that countless forms are known to exist by the contrast of their qualities. Yet these forms are also united so that all things appear as one whole and from the one.

Cosmos, nature and the elements

[3] ‘The elements, then, by which the whole cosmos has been formed are four: fire, water, earth, air. The cosmos is one, the soul is one, God is one.

‘Now be entirely present, as far as your mind and ability are capable. For the knowledge of God is to be attained by a godlike concentration of consciousness. Such knowledge comes like a rushing river tumbling in flux from above to the depths beneath. By its headlong rush it outruns any effort we make as hearers, or even as teachers.

‘Now heaven, the manifest god, directs all bodies, whose increase and decrease the sun and moon determine. But heaven and the soul itself, along with all that is in the cosmos are in turn governed by Him who has created them: this is God.

‘From all the heavenly bodies just referred to, of which the same God is the ruler, continual influences are borne through¬ out the cosmos and throughout all ensouled classes and individual forms, because this is the nature of the cosmos. The cosmos has been prepared by God as a receptacle for forms of all kinds. Nature, then, impresses forms on matter by means of the four elements, and leads all things to heaven so that they will be pleasing in the sight of God.

Archetypes and individual forms

[4] ‘All beings dependent on the world above are divided into individual forms, as I am going to explain. The forms of all beings conform to their archetypes so that the archetype is the whole; the individual is a part of the archetype. Thus the archetype of gods will create from itself forms of gods; and so similarly with the archetype of daemons,* of men, of birds and the archetypes of all things which exist in the cosmos. They will all generate forms similar to themselves.

‘There is another class of living being, a class without soul, which yet does not lack senses so that it benefits from good treatment, while it is weakened and injured by bad treatment. I am speaking of all those things which take life from the health of their roots in the ground and their shoots; their forms are scattered throughout the whole earth. Heaven itself is totally filled by God. But the archetypes of which I have spoken dwell in the space co-extensive with their forms; and insofar as they belong to their archetypes the forms are immortal. For the individual form is part of the archetype, as a man is part of humankind, so by necessity the individual conforms to the character of its archetype. But although all these archetypes are immortal, not all the individual forms are. In the case of the divine beings both the archetype itself and the individuals are immortal. For all the other classes immortality lies in the archetype. Although there is death for individual forms, life is preserved through the fecundity of reproduction. Thus the individual forms are mortal, the archetypes are not: man is mortal, humankind, immortal.

Associations

[5] ‘However, the individual forms of all classes are mixed with all other classes; some of these were created early on; others were created from those which were made previously. Those which are created by gods, by daemons or by humans are the forms which bear the greatest similarity to their archetypes. It is impossible for bodies to be fashioned without the assent of the gods, or for individual forms to receive their shapes without the help of daemons, nor can beings without a soul be planted and cultivated without human beings. When any of the daemons pass from their own class into another form, and are perhaps joined to a form of the divine class, they are considered similar to gods because of their proximity and association. However, these daemons retain the quality of their own archetype and are called friends of humankind. The principle is the same with regard to humans, but it is more far-reaching. For the forms of humankind are many and are varied. Coming down from asso¬ ciation with divine forms, in the way described, they make many unions with all other forms, and with most of them through necessity.

‘On the same principle someone who, through divinely in¬ spired religion, has joined himself to the gods in mind comes close to the gods. For it is by means of mind that a man becomes one with the gods, and similarly a man becomes one with the daemons who attaches himself to them. It follows that those beings are indeed human who are content with the middle position of their class, and all other human beings will be similar to the class belonging to the individuals with whom they associate.

Stature of Man

[6] ‘Thus, 0 Asclepius, Man is a great miracle, a being to be adored and honoured. He passes into the nature of God as though he were God. He understands the race of daemons as he knows that he originates from the same source. He views with contempt that part of nature in himself which is human since he has put his entire trust in the divinity of the other part. How much happier is the nature of a man when it is tempered by self-control! He is united to the gods through a common divinity. He inwardly despises that part of himself by which he is earthbound. All other beings, to whom he knows he is necessary through divine dispensation, he binds to himself in a knot of love. He raises his sight to heaven while he takes care of the earth. Thus he is in the fortunate middle position: he loves those things that are below him and is beloved by the beings above. He quickly unites with the elements; through the sharpness of his mind he plumbs the depths of the sea. All things are open to him. The heavens do not seem too high, for he measures them by the skill of his mind as though he were very close to them. Foggy air never disturbs the direction of his attention; the dense earth is no obstacle to his work; no depth of water, however great, impairs his view. He is all things and he is the same everywhere.

‘Of all kinds of beings those which are endowed with soul have roots reaching downwards from above, while those with¬ out soul reach upwards from a root which lives below. Some beings are nourished by two kinds of food, others by one kind alone. The two kinds of food by which beings endowed with soul exist are the food of the soul and the food of the body. The soul of the world is fed by unceasing movement. Bodies increase from water and earth, foods of the lower world \mundi*]. The breath, by which all things are filled, mixes with all things and brings them to life. In human beings, intelligence is endowed with consciousness. This intelligence is the quintessence and is granted from heaven to human beings alone.

‘Of all living beings it is in humans alone that conscious¬ ness provides the intelligence of divine reason; consciousness both raises and sustains this intelligence. But since I am being reminded to speak of consciousness I shall give you an account of it shortly. It is noble and most holy; no less than that of God Himself. But now I shall bring to a conclusion what I began.

Pure mind concealed by body

[7] ‘For I was speaking of the union with the gods in the very beginning of things, by which humans alone fully enjoy the respect of the gods; that is, those men who have attained so much bliss that they perceive the divine consciousness in human intelligence; or rather the more than divine consciousness which is only in God and in human intelligence.’

‘Is not consciousness the same in all men, 0 Trismegistus?’

‘Not all men, 0 Asclepius, have attained true understanding, but through a rash impulse and without the true insight of reason most, pursuing an illusion, are deceived. This begets evil in minds and transforms the nature of the best living creature into that of a wild beast and makes it behave like a savage monster. But I shall give you a full account of consciousness and

all that is related to it when I speak of spirit. For of living beings Man alone is twofold: one part is single, which the Greeks term “ousiodes” and we call “the beauty of divine likeness”; the other is fourfold, which the Greeks term “hulikon” and we call “pertaining to matter”. From this the body has been made, and it clothes what we have already said is divine in human beings. In this, the single divinity of pure mind is concealed, together with what is akin to it; this is the consciousness pertaining to the pure mind which remains wholly at rest within itself, as if enclosed by the wall of the body.’

‘Why was it necessary, 0 Trismegistus, that Man be placed in the world [tnundo] and not in that realm which is the abode of God where he might have lived in the highest bliss?’

‘You are asking a good question, 0 Asclepius, and I pray God to give me the means of returning an answer to it. For since all things depend on his will, most certainly do these discussions which deal with absolute supremacy. Of this principle we are enquiring in our present conversation.