“The Gnostic does not love, does not hate, does not suffer, nor is happy, but is neutral with regard to everything of this world.
But in this inner silence flows a special power bringing inner joy, happiness, fullness and contentment that cannot be explained by anything of this nature.”
The central concept in the book Kybalion (full title Kybalion: A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece), published in 1908 by the Three Initiates, is the seven hermetic principles on which hermetic philosophy is based. These principles, however, can be viewed from many perspectives and serve different purposes. They can be used both by practitioners of black magic to gain power over their fellow men and derive various benefits from them, and by candidates of the Gnostic mysteries who live and act on the basis of the kindled fiery spiritual principle located at the level of their hearts. The goal of the Gnostics is to release the Wisdom hidden in their inner being with which to act in a right way in the service of world and humanity.
The first principle is that of mentalism, stating that: “The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental.” To understand this statement, we must turn to the Universal Doctrine, which asserts that God, the Absolute, is beyond the Creation, the manifested, and He emanates, sustains, and moves it. He is the Unknowable One, who becomes visible through His creations, being at the same time without form, beginning or end. Therefore, it is understandable that from a higher point of view the knowable universe in which human beings exist is merely a thought-form of the Absolute Being. In fact, the human beings whom the Sacred Scriptures state to be created in the image of God also possess creative faculties. Even in their present state of separation from God, they think and so create through their minds – thought-forms that are brought to life through their feelings and emotions. Each person thus has a worldview unique to himself and acts accordingly. And so, we can conclude that from this perspective that the world has a mental character for individuals as well. People, however, are mostly not in control of their thoughts, and their own thought-forms force them to think for them, thus energizing and sustaining them and consequently holding people captive and binding them to the mundane. Hence, it is clear that the human as he is at present, a slave to his own creations, cannot be that being who is created in the image of God. The Gnostic knows this and turns to his inner source, trying to live in accordance with it, thus merging and uniting with his inner God, the primordial man from the beginning, the true child of God. In this way, the egocentric consciousness of the personality gradually is transformed and merged into the omnipresent consciousness of the spiritual man, and the human being regains his lost freedom. The control of the thought activity plays an important role in this process.
The second principle of correspondence states: “As above, so below; as below, so above”. This principle means that the energy levels of this world are completely consistent with the physical world and define each other. What has arisen in the afterlife will undoubtedly manifest on the gross material plane. Furthermore, what is within the human being always manifests outwardly as well; this is an immutable law. However, it should be borne in mind that the law only applies to commensurable concepts. For example, humans currently inhabit the world of opposites, where everything is relative and absolute values do not exist. Thus, good for some is evil for others, and everyone measures with a different yardstick. That is why nothing in this world corresponds to the Divine world of the Absolute, where Creation itself is Love and where perfect Truth, Wisdom and Justice exist. There, all beings are immortal and eternal, and they are interconnected and cooperate in complete harmony in a process of constant self-improvement in a true evolution. Therefore, it can be rightfully said that our world is the complete opposite of the divine world. Towards this world is the mind of the Gnostic directed, who in his work seeks to radiate and propagate these higher values.
“Nothing rests; everything moves, everything vibrates.” This is the third principle of vibration, which means that not only does the subtle matter of the energetic worlds vibrate at a certain frequency of vibration, but even the gross material world visible to the naked eye vibrates, it is just that the vibrations are so slow that they are imperceptible. It is important to mention here that the higher the frequency of the oscillation of matter, the more purified it is and the consciousness associated with it is at a higher level. Thus, when a certain vibrational limit is crossed in the inner process of purification and transformation, the personal consciousness of the man of this world can touch the omnipresent consciousness of the inner God that is hidden in the human heart. The reverse is also true – focusing only on the struggle for self-maintenance, power, prestige and similar values leads to a ever more deeper sinking into matter, attachment to it and is associated with a decreasing of the vibrational frequency, among other things.
“Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.” This is the fourth principle of polarity, the principle that best describes the ordinary earthling. He is a true being of opposites, in whom everything is constantly passing into its opposite. Love turns into indifference, and sometimes loathing, hatred. Serenity often passes into anger, by which the man harms others, but most of all himself. No truth in this world is absolute, and seen from another point of view is only a half-truth. Achieved goals never lead to lasting contentment because the human being feels a great inner absence that cannot be filled by anything. It is the lack of connection with his own spiritual being that is asleep in his heart, a lack that is demonstrated with an anxiety that does not go away until the lost unity is restored. When the human being begins to work at restoring this unity, gradually the opposites disappear, for consciousness increases its range of action, and what appears to be an opposite, a paradox, or a discrepancy from the limited perspective of egocentric consciousness is simply part of the whole for the omnipresent consciousness.
“Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates.” This fifth principle of rhythm explains the movement between the various opposites in which everything belonging to this world finds itself. The pendulum is present in everyone and everyone drives and nourishess it with his own energy. If a man lives a life devoted to the spiritual being within himself and to the service of his fellow men, a new source of energy opens up in him, whereby the emotions and feelings connected with the heart and the astral body diminish in intensity and gradually subside, and the pendulum stops in the middle, at the zero point. In that quiet heart the rose of the New, Immortal Soul blossoms, and then man stands in the middle of all opposites. He does not love, does not hate, does not suffer, nor is happy, but is neutral with regard to everything of this world. But in this inner silence flows a special power bringing inner joy, happiness, fullness and contentment that cannot be explained by anything of this nature. These are the emanations from the New Soul, the blossoming rose of the heart, due to which mortality is swallowed up by immortality and opposites by the wholeness.
“Every cause has its effect; every effect has its cause; everything happens according to law; chance is but a name for law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the law.” This sixth principle of cause and effect refers to the law of karma, well known to esotericists. And it states that nothing is accidental and that our thoughts, feelings, emotions and actions cause karma, a binding to others and thus to this nature. In this way we become attached to the turning of the wheel of birth and death and are sometimes the cause and sometimes the effect of many happenings in the great game of our lives. Understanding this, the Gnostic lets go of life’s merry-go-round, and subsiding inwardly he stands in the eye of the storm like an unshakable rock around which the waves of the sea of life break. One such candidate of the mysteries understands the words of the Sacred Scriptures – “forgive and you shall be forgiven.” No one can overcome the karma of countless lifetimes alone, but when he understands his fellow man, the reasons for his deeds, and realizes that he himself is also imperfect like him and truly forgives him fully and from the heart, then his karmic debts are forgiven and the web of energetic ties that has entangled and held him in this world is torn and disappears. Thus acting, the Gnostic learns to read from the great Book of Life. He knows that nothing he encounters on his life’s path is accidental, but has happened to tell him something, to help him know himself and his fellow men. In this way he also understands so much better the way in which his immortal soul suggests the right action with its silent voice. He becomes increasingly aware of the nature of the divine world and its laws, which he must apply in the world of opposites in order to transform himself and the world.
“Gender is in everything; everything has its masculine and feminine principles; gender manifests on all planes.” The last, seventh principle of the gender refers to the existence of two driving forces, masculine and feminine, respectively positively and negatively polarized, which emanate from the Creator and which, interacting and complementing each other, give rise to the whole of creation, both on the level of the world of opposites in which we live and in the far loftier divine realms. On the physical level of our world, the principle of gender manifests itself in the differentiation of the two genders, male and female. Here it is important to understand that the male gender also possesses something of the feminine element, and the opposite is true as well, which is why the human being carries within himself the potential for inner harmony. However, the excessive individualization of the human being and its separation from the divine origin has made it so that the two elements in each individual have long been out of the necessary balance. Hence, marriage as a binding of individuals of both genders has long since become an instinctive necessity in the attempt to achieve some harmony in life. To what extent this is successful is shown by life itself. The Gnostic knows that only the power of the new Spiritual Soul born of the spiritual principle in his heart, in which the masculine principle of the Spirit and the feminine principle of the Soul are united, can bring about true harmony of life and inner peace. And only unconditional service to the world and humanity in complete self-surrender can enable the Spiritual Soul to drink from the source of Living Water, the emanations from the higher divine realms pervading this nature, and the human being to reach the Good End, his complete transformation, and return to the Father’s house, the true spiritual world.
