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THE GNOSIS OF ... THE MIND. .
.
WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR A'et.
Thrice Greatest Hermes (3 vols.) Fragments of a Faith Forgotten Apoli^onius of Tyana The Gospel and the Gospei^s - Did Jesus Live 100 B.C. - - Plotinus The Upanishads (2 vols.) - - -
-
30/-
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10/6
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4/6
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9/-
3/6
i/-
3/-
ECHOES FROM THE
G. R. S.
GNOSIS
VOL
BY
MEAD I
TH E GNOSIS OF THE MIND
'^^^
THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY
LONDON AND BENARES 1906
PRINTED BY PERCY LUND. HUMPHRIES 4 CO., LTD. THE COUNTRY PRESS, BRADFORD; 3,
AND
6P^
/
AMEN CORNER, LONDON. E.G. BRIDGE STREET, MANCHESTER. ;
97,
2437-10
ECHOES FROM THE GNOSIS, Under this general title it a series of small volumes,
is
proposed to publish
drawn from, or based upon, the mystic, theosophic and gnostic writings of the ancients, so as to make more easily audible for the ever- widening circle of those
some echoes
things,
many who
love such
their spiritual ancestry.
initiatory lore of
are
who
of the my.^tic experiences
love the
life
of the spirit,
and
There
and who
long for the light of gnostic illumination, but who are not sufficiently equipped to study the writings of the ancients at first hand, or to follow the
These
labours of scholars unaided. are therefore
to the study of the subject,
they even
and
it
is
may become heard
little
intended to serve as
of
more
difficult
hoped that for
the
some,
Gnosis,
literature of the
at the
who
volumes
introduction
same time
have, as yet, not
stepping-stones
higher things. G. R. S. M.
to
The
volume are to the recentlyGreatest Hermes : Studies Theosophy and Gnosis. Being a
references in this
published
work
in Hellenistic
— Thrice
Translation of the Extant Sermons of
the
Trismegistic
Literature,
Commentaries and Notes,
3
and Fragments
with
vols.
Prolegomena,
(London, 1906),
THE GNOSIS OF THE MIND. I have been spending much in a world of great beauty time my and of thought purity of feeling, created
For long
of
by the devotion and of the
intelligence of
one
theosophical fraternities of the ancient world. They called them-
many
selves disciples of Thrice-greatest Hermes, and sometimes spoke of their faith as the
Religion of the Mind. to
They were
and contemporary with
and earliest centuries of and they lived in Egypt.
What
the
prior
origins
Christianity,
remains of their scriptures and of their endeavour
what can be gleaned
7
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
made
has recently been
accessible in the
tongue, in such fashion as I have been able to reproduce their thought
English
and interpret it. The labour of many months is ended the task of reproduction is accomplished, and the echoes of the Gnosis of Thrice-greatest Hermes ;
are
audible
the
across
centuries
for
English ears in fuller volume than before,
and
I
It
hope in greater clarity. no small thing this Gnosis
—
is
ten-thousand-times-great
Hermes, enthusiasm
of
as
an ecstasy of calls has as its foundation the Single Love of God, it endeavours to base itself upon the True Philosophy and Pure Science of Nature and of Man, and is indeed one of the fairest forms of the Gnosis of the Ages. It is replete with
Zosimus
Him
;
in
for it
Wisdom
(Theosophia) and Worship (Theothe Religion of the
—
sebeia) in harm.ony Mind. It is in its
beginning 8
Religion,
devotion and piety and worship, based on the right activity and passivity of the Mind, and its end is the Gnosis of true
things-that-are and the Path of the that leads man unto God.
Do
I
claim too
much
the Gnosis
for
Thrice-greatest Hermes ? echo what He teaches in His of
(or rather those of
into is
English speech.
hearers.
the
many
used
by
I
do but
own words
disciples)
turned
The claim made forms of
for the Gnosis, not for the
expression
of
His
Good
its
learners
All these forms of
its
and
expression,
sermons, or sacred discourses,
the disciples of this Way, are but to lead men towards the Gnosis
means they
;
are
not
the
Gnosis
itself.
True,
that is set forth appears to me to be very beautifully expressed, and I have been delighted with many a thought and phrase that these nameless writers and thinkers of years long ago have
much
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
handed down tongue
;
to
all this
us in the fair Greek
however,
as a garment
is
that hides the all-beautiful natural form
and glory
What
of the Truth.
is
of
importance
is
that
all
these
Theosophists of the Trismegistic tradition declare with one voice a sweet voice,
—
that carries with it conviction within, to the true knower in our inmost soul that
—
is Gnosis and Certitude, full and inexhaustible, no matter how the doubt-
there
ing mind, opinion,' the counterfeit mind,
may weave
its
magic
of contrary appear-
ances about us. Seeing, then, that
mind
I
have now much
what has been written of this Religion of the Mind, I would set down
in
of
a few thoughts thereon as they occur to me, an impression or two that the contemplation of the beautiful sermons of the disciples of the Master-Mind has
engraved upon
my
memory. 10
And
would say that I as a great privilege to have been regard permitted by the Gods to be a hander-on in some small way of these fair things for indeed it is a great privilege and high honour to be allowed in any fashion to first
of
all
I
it
;
forward the preparation for the unveiling of the beauties of the Gnosis in the hearts of one's fellows,
a
way
— even
as that of
in so insignificant
translating
and com-
menting on that which has already been forth by greater minds in greater set beauty centuries ago. The feeling that arises is one of joy and thankfulness that so pleasant a task has been granted by the Providence of God as a respite on the
way And
(to
use
a
phrase
of
so, as in all sacred acts,
praise
and
thankfulness
Hermes teaches us. But when is there Master
will
interject)
II
Plotinus').
we begin with to
God,
as
(the disciple of the an act that is not
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
sacred for one " a procession
who
is
a
"
man " and not ? He who is
"
of Fate coming unto himself, who from the unconscious and the dead is beginning to return to consciousness and rise into life,
every act
his
self-consecrates
deeper realisation of the divine nature ; for now
for
mystery no longer
ever
of his
is he an embryo within the womb, nourished in all things by the Mother-Soul, but a
man-babe new-born, breathing the the greater of the Father-Mind.
spirit of
life,,
freer
the cosmic airs
And
so
is
it
that
every act and function of the body should be consecrated to the Soul and Mind the traveller on this Way should pray ;
by devoting
unceasingly,
unto his God
As or
;
this food nourishes the
the Bread of
Wisdom
when bathing
the
body,
so
his every act
thinking when
:
As
body, so
nourish the this
la
:
may
mind
;
water purifies
the Water
may
eating
of
Life
vivify the mind of impurities :
;
or
when
freeing the
body
As
these impurities pass so may the refuse of
from the body, opinion pass from the mind Not, however, that he should think that an3^thing is in itself unclean or !
divine substance
common, for all is of the and of mother-matter knows in his heart of lower members are not
he already hearts, but his this
;
yet knit tothey are as yet gether in right harmony awry, not centred in the perfect whole. as
;
He
as
point Point
;'
sees things from onl}^ one he has not yet realised that the
yet
is everywhere, and that for everyis a point of view whence it is there thing true and right and beautiful and good.
That all-embracing point one sense,
all-sense,
the sense of the
sensible
identical
the
of
view
common
is
the
sense,
the intelligence, in which and the intelligible are
and not apart. 13
It is the little
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THB GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
mind, the cession,
mind
that
the Great
in
man, the external
creates
fate-pro-
duality
;
Mind knows that the without
and the within are twain
in one, are self-
conditioned complements, the one within the other and without the other at one
and the same time. In this Religion of the Mind there is no opposition of the heart and head. It is
not a cult of intellect alone, it is not a it is the Path of emotion alone
cult of
;
Devotion and Gnosis inseparably united, the true Sacred Marriage of Soul and Mind, of Life and Light, the ineffable union of God the Mother and God the Father in the Divine Man, the Logos, the
Alone-Begotten of the Mystery of Mysthe All and
teries,
One
Effability eternally in
— Ineffability and simultaneous Act
and Passion.
And Mind
if you should object to the word as excluding other names of equal
14
dignity, know that this also has been spoken of again and again by the disciples of Thrice-greatest Hermes.
He
has no name, for
He
many names, nay, He is names, for He is Name
One of the One of all is
the
itself and all is and there naught that is things else, Nor is not He. He One alone, though He is the One and Only One, for He is All and Nothing, if such a thing as nothing
there can be.
But we, because of our ignorance, call Mind, for Mind is that which knows, and ignorance seeks ever for its other self, and the other self of ignorance is
Him
Gnosis.
And
seeking
own
whether view of what
Gnosis,
it
love or hate
it
seeks, ignorance is ever changing into of knowing, experiencing some
its
false
some form
novelty or other as is
it
thinks, not
knowing
But Mind experiencing itself. not only that which knows, but also
that
it is
15
THB GNOSIS
OF THB MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
the object of
know to know first
all
knowledge
;
for
it
knows
alone, there being nothing else to but Mind. It self -creates itself
itself
itself,
not
know
and
to
itself.
know itself it must Mind thus makes
ignorance and Gnosis, but is not either in itself. It is itself the Mystery that makes all mysteries in order that it may
be
self-initiate in all.
Thus we are taught that Mind, the Great Initiator, hood, Master of
all
master-
ignorance as weU as so we find the Supreme
all
And
knowledge.
Master of
is
addressing one of His Beloved Sons, one who has won the mastery of self, as "
Soul of
my
Soul and Mind of
My own
Mind."
The
perfectioning. opened up to
neophyte
Mind
is
pre-
initiation, of perpetual
The
into
the
of
Religion
eminently one of
the
vista
of
mind's these i6
possibility
eye of sacred
the rites
One
transcends credibility.
asks oneself
Can this be true again and again seems too good to be true.
?
:
But how can
It
Master smiles in reply) when the inevitable end of everything is the Perfection
The Good
of perfection, It
cannot be
nor too much,
What
then,
And fection ? we cannot but
?
good, for that out of its own self
too good is with the Good there
is
Itself
too
is
which but ;
neither too little
Perfection.
it is
we
feebly ask, is imperin the Master-Presence
It is the doubt reply too good" that is the imperfection of our nature we fear it cannot be for us, " " not knowing that the little one who
"It
:
is
;
catches some glimpse of the vista, the earnest of the Vision Glorious, sees not something without, but that which is
within himself. tTie
full
Sonship
It is all
of
17
there potentially,
the Father.
GNOSIS
OF THE
be ''too good" (the
it
THE
It
is
MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
there and here and everywhere, for the nature of our very being.
The
it is
glimpse of this Divine possibrought to the consciousness of the prepared disciple by the immediate Presence and Glory of the Master, accordfirst
is
bility
ing to the records of the followers of the But who is the Religion of the Mind.
Master is
tion
ripe,
;
"
so.
he who
\
;
?
Not is
without us
is He some one sets forth a formal instruc-
other
who
teacher
"
He someone
Is
?
He some
is
This race," that is to say, born in this natural way,
when the time is by God." some new thing it is
never taught, but its
memory
is
restored
It is not therefore not the becoming of something or other it is a return to the same, we become what we have ever been. The dream ;
;
is
ended and we wake to life. the marvellous so in one of
And
i8
descriptions of initiation handed on in the Trismegistic sermons, in which the disciple is reborn, or born in Mind, he " " is all amazed that his father and
below should remain there before him just as he ever was in his initiator here
familiar is
form, while the efhcacious rite " " by his means. The father " son is the link, the channel
perfected "
of this
of the Gnosis
;
the true initiation
formed by the Great
And
that this
is
is
per-
Initiator, the Mind.
so
from another sermon,
in
be learned which a disciple
may
of a higher grade is initiated without any intermediate link by himself, alone as ;
far as
any physical presence of another is concerned, he is embraced by the Great Presence and instructed in the mystery. The office of the " father " is to bring "
"
union with himself, so be born out of ignorance may into Gnosis, born in Mind, his Highest the
son
to
that he
19
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
Self,
and
so
become Son
of
the Father
indeed.
What is most striking in the whole of the tradition of the Mind-doctrine is impersonal nature. In this it stands out in sharp contrast with the popular Christianity and other saving cults contemporary with it. It is true that the its
sermons are
set forth
of instruction of
mostly in the form
We
teacher to pupil.
learn to love Hermes and Asclepius and Tat and Ammon, and become friends with all of them in turn they seem to ;
be living men, with well-marked characters. But they are not historical charThere is an acters they are types. Ammon, a Tat, an Asclepius, and a Hermes, in each one of us, and that is " why we learn to love them. The holy " four are in the shrine of our hearts ;
;
but transcending the
Shepherd
of
all,
all
20
embracing men, the
all,
is
Love
Divine that through the lips of our HeiTnes teaches us as Asclepius or Tat as we have ears to hear or Ammon
—
—
the words of power, or eyes to see the splendour of the teaching.
gnostic
Nay, more than this and true as
such instruction, may be, is not the highest teaching of the Mind. They who are born in Mind, are taught by Mind beautiful
every
it
and every thought and The Mind eternally
act
by every
;
sensation.
instructs
and mind
the ;
man
for
know through
through body, soul
now
the
man
begins to
he is changing from the little mind and soul and body that he was to the Great Body and Great Soul and Mind of the Great Man. He no longer seeks a teacher, for all things teach him, or rather the One Teacher teaches him through all. All that there is transforms itself for him mto the nature of the Gnosis of the Good. all
of
21
these,
for
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
No longer is he a hearer, but the Hearer for
he has ears on
voice of Nature,
all
of the Divine,
Spouse
in everything that breathes
seems to have no winter and
life
summer
—the
and
all
that
simultaneous
of the Lord.
he a No longer for he has eyes on is
;
sides to hear the
but the Seer
seer,
;
sides to see the
all
beauty of the whole, and fairest things most foul. No longer is he a doer, but the Doer for all he does is consecrated to the Lord who dedicates Himself to acting in the man. in things that are
;
And
so all of his senses
are set on the Great in the Mysteries of
illumined
by
perfectioning,
and
his energies
Work of self-initiation God his life becomes ;
the
glory
of
perpetual
and he no longer thinks
that he has ever been other than is.
For memory
is
and the memory
now he
ever present with him,
of Jhe.. Mind is of_ tlie
22
nature of eternity, which transcends
all
THE
and future and
all
GNOSIS
time,
and
sees all past
present in the
instant that endures for
MIND.
evermore.
And what does the Religion of the Mind teach us of God, the universe and
man
?
It
teaches
us
many
of
things
and
solemnity joyous presage but one thing especially it seems to teach, and that is the impossibility of human
great
;
speech to tell the mystery. For^ every is but a letter in the language of so that all that a man may the Gods
man
;
no matter how well stocked his mind may be with systems of the world or of theology, or with the science of the human state, no matter how exactly he may reproduce his thought and trick write,
it
forth in fairest
that he can express of
his
Word.
OF THE
human language— is
The Words
written with the general 23
^^all
but a single letter of
God
are
purposed acts
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
of
men, and are not uttered by
their
individual spoken speech or penned with written words. The Words of God are
spoken by the energies of Nature, and are not written on the surfaces of things ;
the surfaces of things are scribbled over with the false appearances that men project from their
How
then can
unknowing minds.
men
describe the uni-
except by their inscribing of themselves upon the fields of space ? verse,
To describe the universe as it is they must become the universe, and then they will describe themselves and to describe ;
themselves they will be able to discover no better way than that in which the universe
gives
utterance
to
itself.
It
speaks perpetually the Language of the Gods, the Universal Tongue, for it is God for ever givmg utterance unto Himself.
The Tongue
of the Eternal
24
is
the
Mind
of
God.
It is
by Mind, the Reason that
Self-subsistence,
speaks forth
He
of
His
perpetually
all things.
Thus we learn that the Religion of the Mind is pre-eminently the Religion of the Logos, and throughout the whole of our tractates no name comes more frequently before us than the word For the Logos is the Word of Logos. God, not in the sense of a single Word,
Trismegistic
but the
Word in
the sense of the Universal
Scripture of all worlds
And
so
it is
of the Gods.
the Gods
and
of all
men.
Hermes is the Scribe Not that Hermes is one of
who
that
a scribe for the rest, as though they could not write themselves but Hermes is the Logos of God, and the is
;
Words he
men
writes are Gods.
Word or our has the glorious destiny before him, nay, the actuality even now in his universal nature, of being a God, a W^e
God
;
for
are letters of our
man
25
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE
Divine Being, of
GNOSIS
and Joy and Subsistence. That Word has written itself manj^ times in the world, now one letter and now another
OF THE MIND.
the nature of Gnosis
;
spells itself in many ways, in sequences of lives of men, and of other lives as well. it
And
time will be when each and every in its own proper turn, will in all its glory, not letter by
God- Word, sound forth
but the whole Word simultaneously on earth and a Christ will be born and all Nature will rejoice, and the world of men will know or be ignorant according to the nature of the times and the manner letter,
;
of the utterance of the W^ord.
Such are some of the ideas aroused by some of the leading conceptions of the Religion of the Mind, or the Pure or as the Single Love, of called Hermes disciples Thrice-greatest their Theosophy some nineteen centuries
Philosophy,
ago.
26
The most general term, however, by they named their science and it philosophy and religion was Gnosis almost every sennon and occurs in excerpt and fragment of their literature which we possess. The doctrine and the which
;
discipline
of
Mind, the Feeder of
men
and Shepherd of man's soul, are summed up in that fairest word Gnosis. Let us then briefly consider the mean-
—
ing of the
name
as the followers of this
Way understood it. Gnosi^^is.^KnaW" but not discursive knowledge of ledge T the nature of the multifarious arts and sciences known in those days or in our pmi
i
» «*
;
i
l
'
own.
On
this
"
noise of
words," these
multifarious knowledges of the appearances of things and vain opinions, the followers of the True
Science and Pure
Philosophy looked with resignation while those of them who were still probationers ;
treated
them with even 27
less
tolerance,
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
declaring that they left such things to " " the for Greeks "; Egyptians," of course, nothing but Wisdom could suffice. At any rate this is how one of the less
instructed editors of one of the collections of our sermons phrases it. For him Egypt was the Sacred Land and the while the Egyptians the Chosen Race and Greeks were shallow upstarts The like-natured Jew of the reasoners. ;
period,
on
the other while
hand, called
the
Judsea was the
body "Egypt," Holy Land, and Palestine the Promised Land, and Israel the Chosen of God and so the game went merrily on, as it does ;
even unto this day.
But the
knew
real
otherwise.
writers of
Gnosis
the sermons
for
them was
superior to all distinction of race the Gnostic was precisely he who reborn, regenerate, into the Race,
;
Race
of true Wisdom-lovers, the
28
for
was the
Kinship
of
the Divine
Fatherhood.
Gnosis for
them began with the Knowledge of Man, to be consummated at the end of the perfectioning by the or Divine Wisdom.
Knowledge
of
God
This Knowledge was far other than the knowledge or science of the world. Not, however, that the latter was to be for all things are true or despised untrue, according to our point of view. If our standpoint is firmly centred in the ;
True,
whereas if we wander in error, even the truest, become things,
meaning all
things can be read in their true
all ;
misleading for us. The Gnosis began, continued and ended in the
knowledge
tion of the
of one's self, the reflec-
Knowledge
of
the
One
Self,
So that if we say that Gnosis was other than the science of the world, we do not mean that it excluded anything, but only that it regarded all the All
Self.
29
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND,
human
arts
and sciences as
insufficient,
incomplete, imperfect. Indeed it is quite evident on that
the
writers
of
the
all
hands
Trismegistic
tractates, in setting forth their intuitions of the things-that-are, and in expressing
the living ideas that came to birtli in their hearts and heads, made use of the
philosophy and science and art of their It in is, day. very deed, one of the stories of their endeavour that they did so for in so doing they brought the ;
great truths of the inner life into contact with the thought of their age.
There is, however, always a danger in for in proportion as any such attempt ;
we
involve the great intuitions of the soul and the apocalypses of the mind in the opinions of
the day,
we make the
ex-
position of the mysteries depart from the nature of scripture and fall into the
changing
notions
of
30
the
ephemeral.
Human
science
we
forth such glimpses of
set
ideas as
and living
we can
forms
of
ever changing
is
of
verities
in
obtain,
evolving
;
and
if
the sure
the Gnosis
the ever-changing science,
we
may,
indeed, do much to popularise our glimpse of the mysteries for our own time ;
but the days that are to come will accuse us of clothing the Beauty of the Truth
compared with the fairer own improved opinions. garments The documents that have been preserved from the scriptoria of the Trismegistic tradition are by many hands and the product of many minds. Somein
rags
as
of their
times they involve themselves so closely with the science of their day that the current opinion of the twentieth century will turn from them with a feeling of
on the other contemptuous superiority hand they not infrequently remain in the paths of clear reason, and offer us an ;
31
THB GNOSIS
OF THB MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
unimpeded view of vistas of the Plain But even when they hold of Truth. most closely to the world-representations and man-knowledges of their own day they are not without
interest
;
for
may be that in their notions of living nature the very antipodes of our modern day opinions based on the dead surfaces of things they may have been with regard to some things even nearer the truth than we are ourselves in this so
it
—
—
boasted age of grace and enlightenment.
Be
this
as
it
may, there are many
examples of clean and clear thinking
in
the logoi or sacred sermons, or discourses, and one or utterances, of the School ;
of
the most attractive
elements in the
whole discipline is the fact that the pupil was encouraged to think and question. Reason was held in high honour a right ;
use of reason, or rather, let us say, right reason, and not its counterfeit, opinion, 32
was the most of
knowledge the means
of
precious
instrument
of
man and
the cosm.os, and self-realisation into that
Highest Good which, among many other names of sublime dignity, was known as
Good Mind
the
Reason (Logos)
or
of
God.
The whole theory of attainment was by the fact that man in soul and mind was a world in himbody,
conditioned
—a
true, so long as " is content to play the part of a pro" cession of Fate but his Destiny is self
little
world,
it
is
he
;
than that
greater
us say, his
Awareness little
individual, all
is
rather, is
be his Destiny.
let
Fate, his Man is a
the sense of personal, but a world for separate little in
—a monad.
;
And the destiny of that he should become the Monad
that
man
or
Unknowingness
will
world,
Fate,
—
monads, or the Mind of God the Cosmos itself, not only as perceived by of
33
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE
the senses as
GNOSIS
moves and moves
OF THE MIND.
that
all
is,
not,
both that which which is the
Great Bod}^ and Great Soul of things but also as conceived by mind, as that ;
Intelligible
Greatness of
Idea of
the
Reason
of
all
God
ideas,
all
greatnesses,
the
Mind and
own
Himself, His
Self-
created Son, Alone-begotten, the Beloved. On this transcendent fact of facts
founded
is
method
whole
the
and The
discipline of the Gnosis of the Mind.
Mystery of mysteries is Man or Mind. But this naming of the Mystery should not be understood as excluding Soul and Body. Mind is the Person of persons, the
Presence
of
all
presences.
Time,
space, and causality are conditioned by the Mind. But this Mind, the True Man,
not the mind in bondage to causality, On the other hand, space and time. is
it
is
just
**
procession
this
of
mind Fate," 34
in
bondage, the
"
this
servant's
which
the
appearance that hides the potentiality of becoming the form,"
All, of
—that
is
becoming the ^Eon, the Presence, the Subsistence of
all
things at every moment of time, and present, point of space, and every instant causeIt is and-effect in the Bosom of Fate. is,
true that in the region of opinion, body, soul and mind seem separate and apart ;
they are held by the man in separation as the fundamental categories of his existence and truly so, for they are ;
the conditions of ^.r-istence, of standing gut of Being, that environment of incom-
— the
pleteness of which
is
complement or fulfilment ^c-stasis, whereby the man
goes forth from his limitations to unite himself with Himself, and so reaches that Satisfaction
and Fulfilment, which
our Gnostics
the Pl3r3>ma
call
over
when
set
against the conception of space, and the ^on when set over against the
35
THE ^^^f.^^
0? THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
time, and the Good when contrasted with the notion of Fate.
idea of
But Being Soul and
is
the Three in One, Mind, Life and Sub-
Body—Light,
stance, co-eternal together and co-equal. It therefore follows that he who would
be Gnostic, must not
foolishly divorce
within himself the mystery of the triple Partners, the Three Powers, or the For him the object of Divine Triad.
endeavour is to consummate the Sacred Marriage within himself, where " " Three must marry to create that so he may be united to his Greatest Self and become at-one with God. Body, his
;
soul,
and mind
Gnosis
spirit is
{or
spirit,
frequently a
for
in
this
synonym
of
mind) must all work together in intimate union for righteousness. The body of man must be regarded as
—
a holy temple, a shrine of the Divine the most marvellous House of God that
36
than the
exists, fairer far
raised
with
For
hands.
THE
fairest
temple
this
natural
temple which the Divine has wrought for the indwelling of His beloved sons, is a copy of the Great Image, the Temple of the Universe in which the Son of God, the Man, dwells.
Every atom and every group of atoms, every limb and joint and organ, is laid down according to the Divine Plan ;
an image of the Great Seal, Heaven-and-Earth, male- female in one. But how few know or even dream of
the body
is
the possibilities of the Divine of the
We
!
dead
;
temple of
this living
are
sepulchres,
our bodies are
for
tombs half-
only to the things of Death, and dead to the things of Life. The Gnosis of the Mind thus teaches atrophied,
us to
let
channels
alive
the Life of
our
flow into the
corporeal
invoke the Holy Breath of 37
dead
nature, to to enliven
God
GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE
the
substance
GNOSIS
the
Divine
OF IHE
our
our
other
frames,
so
may bring divine complement,
our
self,
that
first
Quickener
birth in us our
to
MIND.
of
spouse,
long-lost
and then we may ourselves with ungrudging love and fair wooing of her bring our true selves to birth, so becoming regenea trinitj^ of Being, not rate or reborn,
—
a
unit
of of
vegetative
existence,
or
a
man-animal nature, but the
duality Perfect Triangle jewelled with
sparks of perfected
all
three
manhood.
very evident, then, that if the idea of this Gnosis be carried out logically, the hearer of this Mathesis must strive ever to become a doer of the Word, and It is
so
self-realise
himself
in
every portion
of his being. The object that he has in view is intensification of his whole nature. '"
He
does not parcel out his universe or
compartments, but he. strives ever_to_refund himsdf^into ever himself
into
special
.
38
more intimate union with himself ing ness
he
by ;
is
this ;his for there
ever-present is
— mean-
conscious-
nothing really that
not.
Indeed features
it
of
is
one of
the
the Trismegistic
pleasantest Gnosis, or
rather, one istic,
may say its chief charactera characteristic which should speci-
ally endear
it
to our
present age, that
throughout it is eminently reasonable. It is ever encouraging the pupil to think and question and reason I do not mean that it encourages criticism for the sake ;
of
pedantic the sake of
carping, or questioning for idle curiosity, but that it
ever insisting on a right use of the and the striving to purified reason, the mind and soul and body, so clarify is
they may become a crystal prism through which the One Ray of the Logos,
that
the All-Brilliancy, as Philo calls it, may shine with unimpeded lustre in clean 39
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE
and
GNOSIS
Qj ^Yie truth in manifestation.
OF THE MIND.
clear colours according to the nature
And here we may attempt to compare, though not with any idea of contrasting to the disparagement of the either, greater simplicity of the Gnosis of the Mind with the dazzling multiplicity and endless immensities of the, perhaps for
my of
readers,
more
familiar
the Christianised
two aspects
Gnosis.
revelations
They
are
the same Mystery but whereas the former is conditioned by the of
;
clear thinking of philosophic reason as set forth pre-eminently in the Logic of
Plato,
and refuses
to
sever its contact " " here as well
with the things-that-are as
"
there,"
the
latter
soars into such
transcendent heights of vision and apocalypsis, that it loses itself in ecstasies
which cannot possibly be registered in the waking consciousness. I, for my part, love to try to follow 40
the seers of the Christian Gnosis, in their heaven-storming, love to soa-ring and
plunge
into
the
depths
and greatness
of their spiritual intuitions yet it cannot of that this intoxication but be admitted ;
a great danger for any but minds. Indeed, it is highly probable that such unrestrained outpourings of divine frenzy as we meet
the spirit the most
is
balanced
with in some of the Christian Gnostic Apocalypses, were never intended to be circulated except
among
those
who had
already proved themselves self-restrained in the fullest meaning of the term.
The such
show us that and visions were also the " them who are in Gnosis ";
Trismegistic sermons rapts
privilege of
but they did not circulate the revelations of such mysteries and though they the to dare all things in taught disciple ;
perhaps more daring terms than we find recorded in any other scripture, they 41
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
again and again force him to bring all to the test of the practical reason, that
substance received from be rightly digested by the pure mind and fitly used to nourish the nature below. so
the
above
But
vital
may
as for us
who
are hearers of the
Gnosis, of Theosophy, wherever
it
is
to
would be unwise to reject any experience of those who have gone Whether we call before upon the Way.
be found,
it
the Gnosis of the
Mind with the followers
of Thrice-greatest of the Truth as
Hermes, or the Gnosis Marcus does, or by
it
another
many
name
Gnostics of that day, the great fact is that
given it by the it matters little ;
there
is
Gnosis,
and that men have touched her sacred robe and been healed of the vices of their and the mother-vice of the soul souls ;
is
ignorance, as
ignorance
is
not
Hermes
says. ignorance of
42
But
this
the arts
and of
and the
sciences
God
it is
;
superstition heart, — the
rest,
but ignorance
the true a-theism, the rootof the human mind and
that prevents a man of his true self with the oneness realising the Divine. ilkision
The dawning
of this sacred conviction,
the birth of this true faith,
ning of Gnosis the Gnosis of
Sorrow as
flees
His wings
Joy,
the
the beginthe Glad Tidings,
is
whose shining
at
This
away.
Basilides
the Sun of in
it
;
is
the Gospel, conceived it,
is
Gnostic
Righteousness with healing that is to say, the Father ;
—
dove the Father o^ over the sacred vessel, Light brooding or divine chalice, or cup, the awakened in the likeness of a
spiritual nature of the
first
new-born son.
the true baptism, and also the the Gnosis of the miracle, as in
This
is
Fourth Gospel, when the water of the watery spheres is turned into the wine 43
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
"
THE
of the spirit at the
GNOSIS
But perhaps my readers will say But this is the Christian Gnosis and not the Gnosis of the Mind My dear friends (if you will permit me, I would reply), there is no Christian Gnosis and and Trismegistic Gnosis there is but one Gnosis. If that Gnosis was for
first
marriage." :
OF THE MIND.
!
;
certain
purposes either
associated with
name and mystic person of the Great Teacher known as Jesus of Nazareth, the or
handed on under
the
typical
per-
Great Hermes, it is not for us to keep the two streams apart in heart and head in water-tight compartsonality of
ments.
The two
traditions mutually in-
terpret and complete one another. are contemporaneous they are ;
part and parcel
Read
They both
the same Economy. the fragments of these two forof
gotten faiths, or rather the fragments of the two manifestations of this forgotten
44
^
and you
faith,
THE
will see for yourselves.
again, some one may say (as a matter of fact not a few have already
But
said)
What do we want with
:
a for-
gotten faith, fragmentary or otherwise ? We are living in the twentieth century
;
we do not want of
to return to the
modes
thought of two thousand years ago create a new Gnosis that will ;
we can
interpret the facts of present-day science
and philosophy and too
I
religion.
dawn
await the
of
that
New
doubt that the Gnosis of the Age New Age will be new. Certainly it will be set forth in new forms, for the forms can be infinite. The Gnosis itself is uot it is we conditioned by space and time ;
but
I
;
who
are conditioned
manifestation.
by these modes
He who
man
of
reborn into
I have heard, the and space, and passes from into the state of Super-man and
the Gnosis becomes, as
Lord
is
of time
45
GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
Daimon and God, as a Hermes would have phrased it two thousand years ago, or of Bodhisattva and Buddha, as it was phrased five hundred years Christ, or
before that.
Indeed, essence of
man
if
believe
I
the Gnosis
can
transcend
rightly, is
the very
the faith that,
the limits
of
the
makes him man, and become a consciously diyiiie being. The problem duality that
He has to solve
is the problem of his day, the transcending of his present limitations.
The way submit,
to do so
by
knowledge
in
not, I venture to
is
his exalting present-day science or philosophy or
religion at the expense of the little can learn of the imperfect tradition
he of
the religion and philosophy and science of the past, handed on to us by the forgetfulness of a series of ignorant and careless generations.
The feeding
present-day vanity on
46
of
our
the husks from
the feasts of other days for
one who would
is
a poor diet
be Gnostic.
very true that, speaking
It
is
we
generally,
do know more of physical observation, know analysis and classification, we do more of the theory of knowledge, and
many
other things in the domain of the
lower
world
of
appearances
do
but
;
a living we know more of religion experience than the great souls of the do we know more of the Gnosis past as
;
than
the
doubt
We our
of
other
days
?
I
are beginning once more to turn in the direction of the
attention
Greater
JEon
Gnostics
it.
Mysteries
are,
I
the
;
believe,
cycles
once more
of
the
set in a
configuration similar to the mode of the Time-Mind when such illumination is possible for for
stra}^
numbers individuals
of
souls,
only.
and not But the
conditions of receiving that illumination
47
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
same now as they have ever been and one of the conditions is the power
are the
;
to rise superior to the opinions of the Hour into the Gnosis of the Eternal JEon. It therefore follows,
if
I
am
premises, that the illusion of
which we must that of the Lord
right in all
my
illusions
transcend
strive
to
of the
Hour;
it is
is
just
the general opinions and pre-suppositions and prejudices of our own day against
which we must be on our watch with There are certain greatest vigilance. forms of knowledge, forms of religion, and foiTQS of philosophy, that dominate these forms every age and every hour are most potent, for they are alive with the faith of millions and therefore it follows that it may be we shall find less to pierce difficulty, in our endeavour ;
;
through the clouds of living ideas beyond, that are no longer
48
if
opinion
to
the
we study forms
charged
with
the
—
passions of mankind, with that storage of the hopes and fears of incarnated
minds, the shock of which few are strong enough to withstand. It may thus be that the forms of the Gnosis of the past
may
be read more
seen through
However
more
this
dispassionately
and
clearly.
may
be,
it
would be
manifestly absurd to go back to the past and simply pour ourselves once more this would be into these ancient forms " redeath and a mental and spiritual " incarnation backwards, so to speak. It is precisely this absurdity which so ;
many
literalists
attempt
in theology,
to find themselves stranded
with
forms life far
On who
the
tide
of
only
among dead the
spiritual
out.
the other hand, there may be some that in what has been said
feel
above, the artist and lover of the Beautiful be sacrificed entirely to the
in us risk to
49
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE
Philistine.
GNOSIS
there are such things as the scripture Non refert quam multos sed best books.
There
is
such
a
thing
as
;
OF THE MIND.
bonos libros
legas ; it is not the the but quahty of the books quantity we read that is of importance. The Gnosis is enshrined in scripture, in bibles and not in books. And I doubt not that even to-day there are enough biblelovers, in the wider sense of the word,
quam
among us
to
appreciate
the
beautiful
and permanent in literature. The Trismegistic sermons have a com-
mon language with the writers of New Testament books, and they
also
use the language of
can,
Plato.
They
the
therefore, hardly be said to be out of vvhile as to date even as to their form ;
their content, as far as their
venture
main ideas
say that they belong to the great books of the world, they are part of the world-scripture, are
concerned,
I
50
to
THE If, then, any would learn of the Gnosis GNOSIS of the Mind, they will not lose anything
bv
what
readins[
the
disciples
of
this
form of the Wisdom-Tradition have handed on to us. They may prefer more modern expositions, or they may
OF THE
MIND
some other scripture of the past more but if they are suitable to their needs
find
;
lovers
of
comparative
are persuaded that he
theosophy,
who
and
is
acquainted theosophy only does not know theosophy truly, even as he who is acquainted with one language only knows no language really, they may learn much by comparing the theosophy of the Hermes-Gnostics with the theo-
with one
mode
of
sophy of the Christian Gnostics, or of the Buddhist or Brahmanical lovers of the Gnosis.
In
conclusion,
I
would
add
a
few
quotations touching the Gnosis from the for, as Lactantius, Trismegistic sermons ;
51
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
the Church Father, tells us of the Holy Scribe who inspired these scriptures :
"
He
wrote books, indeed many of them, treating of the Gnosis of things divine, in which he asserts the Greatness of the Highest and
One and Only
God" (iii., 233). Yes, He wrote many books, whether " " we call Him Hermes or by any other For as He says in of His many names. another scripture of that Day of Sunshine, writing of the inner history of the ChristMystery, most probably before even there
were as yet any Christian scriptures " Wherefore, send me, O Father Seals in my hands, I will descend
:
!
Through .-Eons universal a Path
will I
;
make
;
Through mysteries a All
The
Way Forms
all
I'll
open up
!
of
Gods
Secrets of the
52
will I display
Holy Path
;
I will
hand
And Yes,
THE
on,
call
He
them Gnosis wrote
sermons and
GNOSIS
192).
books,
many
sacred discourses, entitled "
:
(ii.,
(i.,
many
by many names, one precisely Gnosis of
"
the
An
them
of
Introduction
Nature
of
All
called
the "
to
Things
68).
Not that
there
of the Gnosis or
is
any precise beginning any definite introduction
confined to any formal
may
be presented in
instruction
the learner and hearer, for
Great Original. And so we read
is
it
;
modes
infinite
like
it
to
unto
its
:
"
For to the Good there is no other shore It hath no bounds It is without an end and for Itself It is without beginning, too, though unto us It seemeth to have one the Gnosis. " Therefore to It Gnosis is no berather is it that Gnosis doth ginning ;
;
;
—
;
53
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
afford to us the first beginning of
" being known
And
(ii.,
Its
90).
we
find a Jewish mystic, who wrote just prior to the days of Paul, quoting from some scripture of the Gnosis so again
probability from one of the lost sermons of our School) which sets forth (in
all
the matter in
aphorism
striking
"
greater clarity in the
still :
The
beginning of Perfection but Gnosis of God Gnosis of Man " ;
Perfect Perfection
Thus Hermes
178). in teaching his
is is
(i.,
beloved
son, the seeker, the suppliant and hearer, how to set his feet upon the path of selfrealisation,
points out
the
way
in
the
wise and gentle words " Seek'st thou for God, thou seekest One is the Path that for the Beautiful. leadeth unto It Devotion joined with :
—
Gnosis
And
" (ii.,
again he
114).
sets forth the
54
boundary-
marks ments
of the
Way of
the
Good Command-
admirable instruction, saying The Seeds of God, 'tis true, are few, but vast and fair and good virtue in
—
is
devotion.
self-control,
God-Gnosis
Devotion
and he who knoweth
;
God, being filled with all good things, thinks godly thoughts and not thoughts like the
" are,
think.
many
For
this cause
not
please
many
them.
they
the
They
who
Gnostic
many, nor the
are
thought
mad
and laughed at they're hated and and sometimes even put to despised, ;
death. "
GNOSIS
:
"
and
THE
.
.
.
But he who
bear with
all
is
a devotee of God, will he has sensed the
— once
For such an one all things, e'en though they be for others bad, are for him good deliberately he doth refer them all unto the Gnosis. And, thing most marvellous, 'tis he alone Gnosis,
;
55
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
who maketh bad things good " (ii., 131). The devotee of God is the Gnostic, and " " stand in the they who are Gnostic " original as they who are in Gnosis." It is of
more than ordinary
interest to
simple statement of fact " " addressed to those in Gnosis with the
compare
this
well-known words "
adapted from
some "
early collection of Logoi of the Lord " for the comfort of those in Faith."
What
the Sayings preserved by the first and third evangelists may have been in their original form, we do not know, " though any day the Oxhyrhynchus rub-
" bish-heaps may yield us a clue. Some " " of these which Sayings of the Lord in their original form circulated in the inner communities, were, in the highest probability, subsequently adapted to the prophetical mood by a Christian evangelist
prior
synoptists.
to
our
Thus we 56
first
and
third
find the writer of
our First Gospel handing on one of these Sayings as " Blessed are ye when they shall
THE GNOSIS
:
you and persecute you and shall all manner of evil against you,
revile sa}^
lying, for
My "
sake." "
Here the is lying evidently the of some scribe who knew gloss scrupulous there were some things that could be said whereas the third against them justly ;
evangelist
keeps closer to his
original,
writing " Blessed :
are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you forth (from them), and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the
sake of the Son of the Man.'' But even so there still seems to be a blend of two traditions before the Saying reached the hands of our third evangelist. The antithesis between " men " and " Son of the Man " is familiar to us in our 57
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
Trismegistic sermons, and would be under" '' all who knew of the Myth of
stood by
m
Man it is
"
the
'*
Mysteries
139-198)
(i.,
;
clearly to be distinguished from the " of the first evangelist. sake
My
Whereas the separating
forth
and the
casting forth of the name as evil are, I believe, to be understood as expulsion of
members from
a
removal of their
community and the names from the list of
the brethren.
But is
else
True Piety
than the Gnosis of
tantius, quoting
Latin
Devotion
to return to the Gnosis.
God-Gnosis.
(ii.,
243).
" is
God
"
—nothing as Lac-
Hermes, phrases This
piety,
it
in
however,
something other than pious exercise and the practice of devotional worship " the complete or allleads unto it and embraces perfect contemplation,"
is
;
"
learning of the things-that-are, the contemplating of their nature and the
the
58
knowing God
words, the being taught the nature of the all and " And the Supreme Vision (ii., 264). ";
in other
or,
'*
that
Supreme
Vision,
if
I
understand
is no rapt into regions beyond the a Seeing of the Good in everybut sky, For the Master of this Way thing. his teaches disciple concerning the Gnosis
aright,
of the
Good, that
saying
:
is
the Gnosis of God,
"
For only then wilt thou upon It gaze when thou canst say no word For Gnosis of the concerning It. Good is holy silence and a giving holiday to every sense." " all sense," the It is the gaining of the " " the sense of the common sense," intelligence."
"
For neither can he who perceiveth
nor he who else, nor else on on It, aught gaze gazeth hear aught else. It,
perceive aught
;
.
59
.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
"
THE GNOSIS
OF THE
And
shining
It shines
mind, and draws
MIND. all of
him
it
then
all
through his
round his whole soul,
out of body, transforming
to essence.
"
For it is possible, my son, that a man's soul should be made like to God, e'en while it still is in a body, it doth contemplate the Beauty of
if
Good
the
This
is
"
"
(ii.,
the
"
144). " deification
man
or
"
apo-
he becomes like unto in that he a God. The becomes God, Beauty of the Good is the Cosmic Order and the mode of meditation was that of theosis
of a
;
;
self-realisation
whereby
the
soul
is
brought into sympathy with the Cosmic Soul.
nd
so speaking of such a soul, of one gnostic in true piety, Hermes writes " But on the pious soul the Mind :
doth mount and guide it to the Gnosis' And such a soul doth never Light. 60
in
tire
songs of
to
praise
on
God and and
men, pouring blessing doing good in word and deed to all, in imitation of
And
its
Sire
all
"
(ii.,
155).
so again in the outer
preaching,
warning the multitude against the "fierce flood" of ignorance, the misin
sionary of the Gnosis and evangelist of Salvation exhorts them, saying " Be then not carried off by the :
fierce
flood,
rent,
ye who
but using can,
make
the shore-curfor Salvation's
port, and, harbouring there, seek ye for one to take you by the hand and
lead you unto Gnosis' Gates. " Where shines clear Light, of every darkness clean, where not a single soul is drunk, but sober all they gaze with their hearts' eyes on Him who willeth to be seen. " No ear can hear see
Him, nor can eye Him, nor tongue speak of Him, 61
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
but only mind and heart " (ii., 121). And from this preaching we learn the very interesting fact that there was some great association that the Gnostic evanregarded as Salvation's port, a harbour of refuge for many but even
gelist
;
when
safe within the quiet of the discipline that could calm the waves of the fierce
there
flood
was
of
still
passion and ignorance, a further adventure for
the soul before the Light of the New Day dawned. A guide who knew the Way to the Gates of the Spiritual Sun must be " " in Gnosis found, one who was and " not only in Faith."
For faith is conditioned upon feeling, upon sense, and not knowledge; as Hermes says " But Gnosis is far different from sense. For sense is brought about by that which hath the mastery o'er us, while Gnosis is the end of science, and :
62
science
God's
is
" gift
(ii.,
THE
147).
a refuge can be found in the Harbour of Salvation by means of but Salvation itself is Gnosis. Faith " This is the sole Salvation for a It is true that
;
man— God's
Gnosis.
This
is
the
Way
to the Mount.
up
"
By Him
alone the soul become th not whiles is good, whiles evil, good, " but good out of necessity (ii., 150).
And "
He says virtue of the soul
again
The
:
is
Gnosis.
For he who knows, he good and pious " is, and still while on the earth Divine (ii.,
146).
For in this view of the mystery, in consonance with the teaching of the Buddha, and with Indian theosophy in "
general, And so
of virtues
tinence,
the soul's vice
we
—
is
ignorance."
find Gnosis
heading the list Gnosis, Joy, Self-control, Con-
Righteousness, 63
Sharing-with-all,
GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE
Truth a septenary consummated in the divine triad of Life, Light and the ;
GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
Good
(ii.,
For Gnosis
246).
doth distribute all,
and good
life
to all
to
is
and hght to
all,
296).
(ii.,
that which
And
so the
Master, in the spiritual theurgic rite at which he consecrates his beloved son to
the holy life, declares " Gnosis of God hath come to us, and :
and when knowing "
its
away
(ii.,
225).
For
it is
comes,
my
son, not-
cast out.
Gnosis of
and on flee
this
is
to
by
Joy hath come
to us,
coming, son, sorrow will
them who give this
"
it
room "
enformation accord-
"
that the man is made like ing to Gnosis unto the Great Man, the Good Mind or
Reason of God. This Gnosis is not only Light and Life, the father-motherhood of God, but also Love. It is this Love of the Gnosis, of that which gives light and 64
it to all, that urges on the disciple the Breath of God Himself energizing
life is
It is the the heart, inspiring us. Providence or Foresight of God, the Holy And so in one of the sacred Spirit. " The Perfect Sermon," discourses, called
in
we read " To them, sunk :
in
fit
silence rever-
and minds pendent on thus Love Divine began
ently, their souls
Hermes' to speak
lips,
"
(iii.,
260).
To be Knowers we must be Lovers we must have " the Single Love, the ;
of wisdom-loving, which consists in Gnosis of Divinity alone the practice of
Love
—
perpetual
contemplation
and
of
holy
piety" (h., 330). Of such Lovers and such Gnostics we read
THE
;
:
"
the}^ whu have received some of God's gift, these, son, if we portion judge bv their deeds, have from Death's
But
65
GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
bonds won their release for they embrace in their own mind all things, things on the earth, things in the heaven, and things above the heaven ;
—
if
"
they be aught.
And having
raised
themselves so
and having they sight the Good look sighted It, they upon their sojourn here as a mischance and in disdain far
;
;
both things in body and the bodiless, they speed their way unto that One and Only One. " This is, my son, the Gnosis of the GodMind, vision of things Divine " is for the is Mind God's it, knowledge of
all,
;
(ii.,
88).
Hard as it may be to we have grown used
leave the to,"
the
" things
things
habitual, it must be done if we are to enter into the Way of the Gnosis. But
no new Path
is this,
new lands (though
it
66
no going forth into may have all the
THE
appearance of being so). The entrance GNOSIS on the Path of the Gnosis is a Going OF THE Home it is a Return a Turning-Back MIND. (a true Repentance of the whole nature). " We must turn ourselves back into the " Old, Old Way (ii., 98). And for those who will thus " repent," there are promises and words of fair comfort spoken by the Mind Himself " The in the Gospel of the Gnosis called
—
;
Shepherd
of
Men
"
:
"I, Mind, Myself
am
present with
men and good, the pure and merciful, men who live piously. holy *'
To such my Presence doth become an aid, and straightway they gain Gnosis of all things, and win the Father's love
by
thanks,
their pure lives,
invoking
on
and give
Him
Him
blessings
and chanting hymns, intent on Him with ardent love'*
And
(ii.,
14).
to the truth of this, testimony
67
is
THE GNOSIS
OF THE MIND.
borne by one of those in Gnosis who had heard and had believed and had known, when he writes " But I, with thanks and blessings unto the Father of the universal :
Powers, was freed,
full
Power
of the
He had poured
into me, and full of taught me of the nature of
what He'd all and
the
the
loftiest
vision
"
17).
(ii.,
And "
of
so he begins to preach to
men
Devotion and of the Beauty '* Gnosis for he cannot refrain from uttering the Word, now that he has become a knower, a doer, and not a He prays no longer for hearer only. himself, but that he may be the means whereby the rest of human kind may the
of
;
come to Light and Life, saying "Give ear to me who pray that :
may is
ne'er of Gnosis
our
common
fail,
being's nature
68
I
Gnosis which ;
and
fill
this
me
with
THE Thy Power, and with
Grace of Thine, that
I
GNOSIS
may
give the Light to those in ignorance of the " Race, my brethren and Thy sons (ii.,
20).
With these
brief
indications
of
the
Gnosis of the Mind, drawn from a wealth of like noble teachings, we bring to an "
Echoes end the iirst volume of these from the Gnosis," in the hope that there will turn to the fair may be some who " and read, mark, learn and originals, )Âť them. inwardly digest
6Q
OF THE MIND.
SOME PROPOSED SUBJECTS FOR FORTHCOMING VOLUMES THE THE THE THE
HYMNS OF HERMES. VISION OF ARlDiEUS.
HYMN OF JESUS. CHALDEAN ORACLES.
A MITHRIAC LITURGY.
THE GNOSTIC HYMN OF THE PRODIGAL SON.
Date Due OCT ^
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Library Bureau Cat. No. 1137
imm-
ClAPP
3 5002 00102 798 Mead, G. R. S. Echoes from the Gnosis
BP 565
Mead,
.
G.
/
M4 E27 1906 R.
S.
1
1863-1933.
Echoes from the Gnosis