Anonymous - Some Philosophy of the Hermetics (1898)

7/27/2019 Anonymous - Some Philosophy of the Hermetics (1898)

1/126

o/nelosopfyy


2/126

PRESENTEDTOTHE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTOBY


3/126


4/126

PRESENTEDTOTHE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTOBY


5/126


6/126


7/126

SONE PHILOSOPHY, OF THE

HERMETiCS

ISSUED BY AUTHORITY OP THE

There are some who will see and seeing wtll perceive, / &others bearing -will understand. I /

LONDON:MESSRS. KEGAN, PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNKR & COMPANY

(LIMITED)

All Rights Reserved.


8/126

ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL,1898

BY D. P. HATCH OF Los ANGELES, CAL.All rights reserved.


9/126

CONTENTS.PAGE

PREFACE 5HERMETICS 7PHILOSOPHY 9FAITH 13CONCENTRATION 18PRACTICE 22MEMORY 26IMAGINATION 31THE BOOK OF REVELATION 37PRIDE AND PHILOSOPHY 41WHO ARE THE CRANKS? 47ONE DAY 53SECRET GRIEF 56COLD DESPAIR , 61BEAUTY ART POWER 65SPIRITS AND DEVILS 70DEATH WHAT OF IT? 73NATURE S JEST 79YOUR FRIEND 83THE ONE THING 86THE DEVIL 9THE PAIRS 94ADONAI 98MAGIC... 103


10/126


11/126

PREFACE.Nature has a way of concealing and

revealing. She tells half her story out inthe sunshine in a loud voice, and the otherhalf in whispers underground.She is coy like a coquette, and stern likea judge. She excites curiosity in thestudent, and dread in the debauchee.She holds the man of science to her

breast, but is dumb to the lover of pleasure.She scorns the victim of priestcraft andrepudiates the supernatural. The Sagetakes his cue from his mother; like Nature,he conceals and reveals. He who wouldsee other than the smiling, scowling faceof Hermes must search the dark placesby the light of his own candle ; Hermeslocks the gate between the outer and inner


12/126

Temple ; and he, only, enters the latter,who has the pass word and the key.In reading this book please notice howthe essays vary in style ; some of themfalling into a weird rhapsody, others laconicand plain The Mystic will understand thereason of the difference, while another willperuse only the words.The barbaric splendor of Nature revealstruth and law as surely as does her terriblelogic. She speaks in poetry and in prose.Facts are rarely ever naked, but often notonly draped but masked. The occult eyesees straight to the heart of a fact, whilethe normal lens dwells on the habiliments.

Enotigh has been said save this Maninevitably cometh unto his own.


13/126

THE HERMETICS.Who were they ? What are they ? Theywere those who could speak or keep silent.

They are those who whisper or shout. Theybelieve in silver and gold. " If speech issilver silence is gold." They believe in theconservation of energy, and its transformation. They believe in the Unit and in themany the special and the general. Theyhave found the Philosopher s stone theelixir of life. They catch glimpses of Eldorado the promised land. They know timeand realize eternity. They comprehenddistance and space. They circumscribe thesquare with the circle, and death with life.They teach an eternity of being, and anendless variety of form. They wed involution to evolution, and yesterday to tomorrow. They insist on object as the mirror


14/126

of subject, and consciousness as the child ofthe two. They hold that Nirvana is poisea motionless motion the paradox of

being.To find the Hermetic out of Thibet is todiscover him next door. He is as likely tobe in broadcloth as in adept s robe and aspossible in London as in Benares. He israre. Gold is not picked up without stooping, nor thefountain head discovered without searching. Swine are about and pearlsare treasured.Enough, save this The false implies the

true. Chaos, order. The word, secrecy." The one thing, many."


15/126


16/126

io SOME PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy brings it-life. She is beautiful she carries a cup in her hand it isgold; she begs you to drink and live. She isyour hand-maiden Philosophy the cup ispure metal the drink is elixir life. Asman, you are mortal; you have stood in thesunshine so long you are blind. As man,you are drunk with a drop of pure life;you have listened so long to the seas, youare deaf. Philosophy brings you the cup andyou drink, and you open your eyes; she waitsand you listen and hear what what doyou see do you hear?

Yourself- in the sun, in the sea yourself in the sky, in the air yourself in thewinds, in the stars yourself in the depths,in the heights yourself in the distanceyourself nearer home yourself in the open

yourself in the closed yourself in theseen and unseen yourself everywhere;yourself in her eyes Philosophy s eyesyourself in her voice Philosophy s voiceyourself in the speech of the beasts, in thesong of the birds, the rustling of leaves; innothing, in something, in naught and in all;


17/126

OF THE HERME TICS nin negative, positive, neither and both; inyou and in other, in other and you.

Life! inward and outward, receding advancing, coming and going Life ! Feelingis feeling thinking is thinking Life!Sleeping is sleeping waking is wakingLife ! Living is living dying is dyingLife!Open the windows and breathe the freshair open the windows and look at the sky

open the windows and feel the soft rainbreathe breathe breathe full to the chest

breathe.I ve traveled the spaces by thinking I vemounted the zenith by wishing I ve floated

in air by a longing I ve melted in mistwhen a dreaming I have flashed in the fireby desiring I have blended in water bylooking I have entered a soul by aspiring.I am many or one I am one or the many.Each day is mine own not anothers; eachday is all days, all days are each day.

I floated in blood in the veins of a bird,and beat in his heart to the tune of his wings;I sucked at the breast of a flower and dripped


18/126

12 SOME PHILOSOPHYin the honey of bees; I spun the fine silk ofa web, and tied up the knots of a snare; Ihave lain in the arms of a cloud and turnedup my face to the sky; I died and enteredthe tomb, and rotted away in a corpse; Icrawled through the pores of the earth in thesucculent bodies ofworms, and buried myselfin the mire to shiver with cold in a stone.Ah ! Life and Philosophy ! Wisdom andLife!Do you ask me the reason of all, I giveyou the reason of none; do you ask me thereason of none, I give you the wisdom of all.You burn with desire and you thrill;then dip in the blood of yourself and writeon the parchment a scroll, and read in theletters the words, and read in the words thecommand, and in the command the design,and in the design, the beginning and end;and living you read, and reading you live;and cease to be mortal, but soar as a god.If ever the bush is on fire harken forlanguage and hear; something is speakinglisten and listen something is shiningthe bush is on fire.


19/126

OF THE HERMETICS 13

FAITH.

We will present the subject of faith in asecondary aspect, and show you how tomake out of it a mighty lever towardsaccomplishing results. We advise youto be alert, and in a certain sense skeptical in all save the principle upon whichyou found your premise.Take as a starting point yourself, for it isnot necessary to travel far from home inorder to find a subject on which to work.Believing in your existence, a priori, andresting upon the fundamental consciousnessof the Ego, suppose you branch out intoa series of unusual experiments as to whatthe possibilities of that Ego are.Most people find certain dominant tendencies uppermost, and are entirely satisfiedto develop and live by them, never striving


20/126

14 SOME PHILOSOPHYto discover hidden mines within themselvesalong lines where they have not taken thetrouble to penetrate.

If you see a leaf floating on the wave atsea, you have some reason to think thatland is near. May it not be possible thatsome indication as small as a leaf, floatsround on the sea of your being, and youhave failed to draw any conclusion from it.The mariner discovers the bit of green, andmakes for the shore ; you discover the signof unseen things and sail out into deeperwaters.The lesson we would teach is this, observe

the signs, no matter how insignificant ; letthem create in you a sort of conditionalfaith ; follow them up and see what you willdiscover.The scientist is well used to this condi

tional faith ; it is not absolute faith, but asuspension ofjudgment, an abandonment ofprejudice, and a simple research based uponindications. When the miner strikes a signof color, a certain faith is developed in him;it is conditional of course ; it is based on


21/126

OF THE HERMETICS 15possibility, not on probability. It is quite adifferent thing from a man s faith in gravitation or repulsion. It is what might becalled a blind faith ; and the only excuse forits being is that in time, it will develop intoa certainty or fall through altogether, inother words prove itself.Suppose for instance, you find at some

one time, that you have seen clairvoyantly,treat that as the leaf on the sea of yourbeing ; follow it up, and be not astonishedif you land on the shore of an unknowncountry. Your faith which was sufficient to lead you to explore, has broughtyou a certainty which translates itself intoan added power.The reason that we insist on a conditionalfaith such as the scientist has, is this; if youblindly follow signs, so swallowed up inyour belief that you are incapacitated toreason, or to think, or to bear disappointment, you will become fanatical, and loseyour discrimination and power of judgment.There is a faith that is prepared foreither success or failure ; it is a kind of half


22/126

16 SOME PHILOSOPHYbelief in a thing, still strong enough to leadone to honest, unbiased investigation aboutit. It is the proper faith for one who investigates spiritualistic, psychic and sleight-of-hand phenomena ; a watchful, fair, considerate faith which weighs the pros and cons inan investigation, and allows no undue influence to be brought to bear either for oragainst the result sought.This is strictly the scientific faith, andit is the first essential in the mind of thestudent of Philosophy. It should be laiddown as an axiom by all beginners in thepursuit of knowledge, that our desiring ornot desiring a thing to be, cuts no figure inthe investigation. Truth does not arrangeherself to suit us, but forces us to conformto her.

If we enter the study of Philosophy withcertain fixed ideas of what we would like tohave, and of how we wish the Universe to beconducted, we are pretty apt to abandon thepursuit when we come to find out that Truthdoes not cut her clothes after a pattern ofour own designing. Truth is safe enough


23/126

OF THE HERMETICS 17and we can not improve upon her. It is ourbusiness to pursue her, and catch and holdsome aspect of her if possible, otherwise wehad better return to our delusions.To find Truth we must use the scientific

method, which is always founded upon atemporary faith ; a premise assumed for thetime being, as a test of the possibility of thesolution of the problem. This is not thesupreme faith which is founded upon theprinciple of being, and must be the rockupon which we build up any lasting structure. It is the shifting faith which can beabandoned, as we find the object upon whichit is fixed useful or not ; but we do insistthat when you start out to explore yourself,and to discover the latent possibilities withinyou, that you do as Columbus did, whohoped to find a new Continent, which up tothe day when the first sign of land appeared,was to him and the whole of Europe animage and a dream.


24/126

i8 SOME PHILOSOPHY

CONCENTRATION.We urged you in the last talk to go on a

voyage of discovery in yourself, and see ifsome waking potentiality was awaitingdevelopment. In this paper we desire toinsist on the use of concentration to this effect.You who think you know how to concentrate, will find on attempt at a sustainedeffort how difficult it is, and how weak youare.Look back and see how many things you

have begun, how many good resolutions youhave made, and how much you haveattempted and failed to complete.Youth climbs up the ladder of his ownhopes and scans the prospect ; he expects

to do every thing, to conquer every thing;he levels mountains of opposition in hisown mind. He figures on becoming king


25/126

OF THE HERMETICS 19of opportunity and creating it at his ownbidding. Notice him ten years later sittingat the foot of the ladder of his dreams. Hehas spent his summers and his winters, hissprings and his autumns in dabbling.

First an attempt at this and then atthat, tasting here and there of everythingand nourished by nothing. He startsdown a road to view an object, andslips off into a byway to view somethingelse. He gets to singing a new tune andforgets the first stanza of the old one. Heknows people and forgets their names, or heknows their names and forgets their faces.He is forever experimenting and neverfinishing ; he rests half way up the mountain and a positive climax is something thathe knows nothing about.Look over your life and see what youhave done. You have dipped into books,but they never dipped into you. You havestudied human nature and been cheated ahundred times. You have kissed a friend,and then another without reading the heartof the first. You came to the realm of


26/126

20 SOME PHILOSOPHYPhilosophy, and wandered aronnd in a maze;you plucked a leaf and threw it away ; youinhaled the perfume of a flower and passedon; you gathered a bouquet and tossed itinto the stream ; you dabbled your feet inthe water, and washed your face in the dew ;and then, you entered the front door of achurch and passed out at the rear.You tickled the wings of cupid, and heflew away, and sitting down on a grave yousighed ; and the next week, you danced.Such your life. Now you come to our doorsand knock ; and we say to you, from behindthe lock, "Can you look at the pointof a pin and look and look. Can yourest on a premise, and think and thinkup to the conclusion can you pile upfacts on facts to the pinnacle of a principlecan you study on one line to the very end ofthe question can you act on your conclusion as against the world can you resiststraying to the right and left when you havestarted towards a place or condition canyou keep on aiming with the same stone atthe same spot till you hit it can you stay


27/126

OF THE HERME TICS 21fixed in any pursuit any length of time, orare you a child?"

Start out with yourself and follow the leafon the wave of your sea; follow followconcentrate and follow, by the blind faithof science, some sign in yourself till its valuebe disclosed. Be like the dog that giveschase, and is bound to be in at the death orthe capture.We tell you now, at the very inception ofthe study ot Philosophy, that you must havetwo kinds of faith; one absolute, the othersecondary and changeable; also concentration; without these it is useless to go on.To cultivate concentration you must prac

tice. Cultivate that bull-dog tenacity to holdon to a thing till you know what it is, if youhave once decided to grapple with it.Look into yourself and see if your pastindicates concentration ; if not, begin.


28/126

22 SOME PHILOSOPHY

PRACTICE.

There is something truly pathetic in thelives of those who preach and do not practice;who revel in the generalities of Philosophyas a sort of intellectual tonic, and are at thesame time too lazy to try the formulas andhold fast to that which is good.

I desire you to avoid a method of practice that is backed by habit. To takestated times to become good (say Sundays), isnot at all after the manner of our system;and if you continually pursue this means,you will grow as fixed as a rock crystal.

Life is your business, all kinds of life;rustling among men, eating drinkingsleeping just as Christ did; and the besttime for you to practice, is all the time.

I who give you these instructions, knowwhat life is from its pleasures to its agonies;


29/126

OF THE HERMETICS 23from its feasts to its graveyards ; and themore of a Philosopher I am, the more do Iknow of its fulness. So when I tell you topractice, I mean that you are to stay whereyou are andpractice.The great need of the world is the livingPhilosopher. Cloisters are out of date.Monasteries are old fashioned ; they belongto the middle ages.

People must clash with each other inorder to live ; must feel each other s pulse,and jostle shoulder to shoulder ; they mustmingle magnetism, I might say, and giveand take. In this rush, this hurry, is thetime to try your cult and test its value.

If you hide a diamond in a box, it losesall its power to be saucy and throw back thesun s rays to the sun; in fact it forgets aftera while that it is a diamond at all, and becomes as sullen as a cold pebble. If youhave anything good, you must find it out;and you never can do that by shutting yourself up in an occult room and imagining.Do not mistake us; we told you to concentrate, and contemplate the point of a pin,


30/126

24 SOME PHILOSOPHY

but not forever. While a certain amountof daily retirement into "your closet" isgood, just as rest is necessary after exercise,too much of it is bad. Learn to concentrateand act too; this is practice of the best kind.Have a purpose, a means, a way, and ACTon it. Having a theory and getting no factout of it, is like having a friend who willnever embrace you.

Concentration and action should go together. To be sure, you should reverse andretire into yourself when the occasion demands, but never periodically and to order.Learn to do it when you have need of it (andyou can tell that) but do not do it becauseyou have arranged to.We preach practice from morning untilnight; all the time, everywhere. YourPhilosophy should stick to you closer thanthe hairs of your head, and should put in anappearance on every occasion. If it is goodfor great things, it is good for little things.This does not mean that you are to be likethe self-conscious Christian who can neverget rid of his sense of responsibility; on the


31/126

OF THE HEKMETICS 25contrary, it assures you the best that thereis in life. It shows you how to extract themost honey from the flower, the grestestbeauty from the landscape, and the truestlove out of a fellow mortal. It is also a sortof accident policy, it bestows on you a weeklyallowance in case of something unfortunateand unforeseen; and if you die, it pays up tothe last penny those whom you have leftbehind.

It is practical, practical, practical, and ifwhat you are getting is not, you hav nt theright thing. Practice at all times, and whenever you fail in making the application, youare that far short of grasping the situation.


32/126

26 SOME PHILOSOPHY

MEMORY.

When you go down into the shadowyplace where the sun s rays can not come,you are reconciled to the gloom because youremember. What is it that you remember ?That the sun still shines. You know verywell that not a ray can penetrate where youare; that as far as you are concerned, forthe time being, the Giver of Life the Consoler the Sun might as well be put out.It is a dark place gloom gloom gloomevery where, and along with the gloom,dampness and chill. But what of it yourmemory serves you well you recall thesplendor outside the half hour ago whenyou basked in heat and color all the tintsthat the sun brings out all the brilliancy

and instead of a realization, you substitute a memory.


33/126

OF THE HERMETICSIn your pursuit of Philosophy, understand

that your path will not be all sunshine.Philosophy does not undertake to supplyglory and glitter, nor does it guarantee youa freedom from shadows and tears. Philosophy does not undertake to change nature;it gives you no seven-leagued boots withwhich to stride over the land no sandalslike those of Pallas Athene, nor wings of aMercury. Philosophy lets Dame Naturealone so far as changing her is concerned ;in fact she is very self-willed and like allfeminine things, has her own way ; but hereis a secret Philosophy deals with naturesomewhat as a good husband does witha stubborn spouse ; Philosophy managesnature through her own attributes. Anatural attribute by the way, is memory.Philosophy knowing this, brings it to bearat the right time, and reaps the reward.Philosophy has much tact, just as a wisehusband has.To use art in remembering, is an essential towards Philosophic life. To be a goodforgetter, is as necessary as to be a good


34/126

28 SOME PHILOSOPHYrecaller. There is nothing more uncomfortable and out of place, than to have something that you have put under the sod,protrude its head at the wrong time. Whenyou bury, bury deep, and do not dig up thething unless you want it.Some memories are bores, just like somepeople ; they stay and stay out of pureviciousness, and the more you curse themthe more staying power they show. APhilosopher will never allow this ; he knowsthat he can get rid of one memory by substituting another, just as you would shovean impertinent person out of a chair andput, another in his place. As you c&nforgetby a sort of substitution, you can remember by a mental suggestion.When down in the shadow, recall something a star, a diamond, or a friend seyes ; and see how quickly the place willglow as if a sun had been born, withdropped lids it is the same. There is aflash and a shimmer in the fire of memorywhich radiates in the now, if you desire it.


35/126

OF THE HERMETICS 29Let us carry this lesson farther. Physical darkness is but one phase ; there is amental and a spiritual blackness which

tongue can not speak of, nor pen portray.Even in this dungeon of dungeons memorycan send a straight ray, and turn black towhite, night to day. When you recall thesun, at the time shadows enshroud you,with that recollection comes the consciousness that the sun is a fixed fact that it exists, and that shadows can not extinguishit ; this makes you safe ; safe in your mind,safe in your heart ; you wrap the mantleof darkness about you, and laugh in theface of the night for the sun IS. Youhave remembered.When any trouble gloom mood, enfolds you in a cloud, remember that thesun is, and the rays are warm, love warm,and they shine somewhere even in yourrecollection, and with the rememberingwill come a flash like that of Jupiter onOlympus like that of a friend s eyesand black will turn to white and nightto day.


36/126

30 SOME PHILOSOPHY

This is the office of memory. Memoryis your servant, if you can only realize it,memory is your slave, and all slaves imposeupon their masters when allowed.Put impertinent memories to sleep ; wakeup the right one at the right time ; andcheat Dame Nature into believing that shehas conquered Philosophjr.


37/126

OF THE HERMETICS 31

IMAGINATION.To imagine something is to call up animage in the mind by the will. This is vol

untary imagination. Involuntary imagination (which is a bad thing always) is thatstate where the image or images come oftheir own accord, oftentimes as unwelcome,vulgar or wicked guests.Most lewd, vile, uncanny people are toolsof the imagination. Images which seem to

be like conscious entities, persist in dwellingin, and dominating the untrained tenantof an abused brain, and do incalculablemischief to him and those with whom heassociates.

Imagination is man s greatest friend andhis greatest enemy; if you control him hewill serve you; and no artist can paint pictures as beautiful as his. Command him to


38/126

32 SOME PHILOSOPHYsketch the sea, the sky, the stars, the unseenand seen wonders of earth and heaven, andhe will produce instantaneous results. Hewill decorate your castle for you and placeyou in it; he will create an interior environment that will so overpower your soul thatcrude outer surroundings will cease totrouble you.Imagination controlled by the will, is theone thing to be desired. On the other hand,involuntary imagination, that creature whichlike a snake slips into your sanctuary in thedark and conceals itself to coil and stingwhen you are totally unable to combat it, isto be abhorred and dreaded. Not that he isforever ugly the serpent has an unrivaledgrace, and is a marvel in color not that,but he is unreliable, treacherous and poisonous; he may not sting, but if he does theantidote is hard to find. Worse than that,he is eternally reproducing himself; hebrings forth a brood, or rather like the worm,the more you divide him the more alive hebecomes; each piece of him in its turn maturing and producing.


39/126

OF THE HERME TICS 33He turns your mind into a nest, and wallows in it as the swine wallow in the sty. He

loves luxury and splendor as does the harlot; and his beauty, when it glitters has allthe fascination of a lewd woman.The true sage controls his imaginationsomewhat as he does his memory, putting it

out as he would extinguish a lamp, or lighting it as he would kindle a fire. The truesage can build himself an air castle thatfloats in a cloud, and frescoe it with the pic- -tures of angels. He can conjure forms ofgrandeur that outrival nature s own work;and create storms, the thunders of whichwill drown the voice of Jupiter. He can tintthe rose and perfume the lily; still further,he can create the NEW, and build palacesthat no architect before him has conceived,and design landscapes that as yet, arestrangers to the brush. The sage but willsand his servant, the imagination, does.On the contrary, he who is unwise, is thecoward lackey of his Master Imagination."^He grovels at his feet, and hides his head,and stops his ears against the horrors thrust


40/126

34 SOME PHILOSOPHYupon him. He fears the dark, and dreadsbeing alone. He is tortured about his health,and magnifies every twinge of pain into thedeath agony. All symptoms are to him asfatal ; he sleeps in his own coffin every night,and is resurrected from the grave everymorning. His dreams are all warnings andprognosticate some future weal or woe.His animal instincts run riot, while he is

4 fettered and bound; his progeny haunt himlike bad children, and lean on him for support. The air is peopled with his loathe-some offspring, and they follow him where-ever he goes.This fate is inevitable to him who allows

his imagination to go rampant. In time,his will falls to sleep and he becomes likeone in fever the prey to uncanny dreamsor like the brandy-soaked victim who is everterrified at the reptiles which his diseasedfancy brings forth.Take your imagination in hand, and holdit as you would a pair of horses ; do notlet it break, but pull on the bit eventhough it foams and writhes. To have


41/126

OF THE HERMETICS 35your imagination run with you, is to haveit bring you up any where either throwingyou upon the rocks or landing you in thegutter.Every one has imagination in some form.The power to call up images, is in allnormal human minds, and the power to

bid them leave is there also.The sage can free his mind of eitherunpleasant memories or undesired imagination, by an effort of pure will or by asubstitution. It is just as easy to substitute one imagination for another as onememory for another.The power to conjure is a ready powerand easy to handle ; ghosts, hobgoblins,saints and sinners will come at a wave ofthe magic wand, and if you did but knowit, at another wave they will disappear.

Evil imagination leads to suspicion,this (as a rule) is a bad tenant. To beforever suspecting, is to go through life assome people go through a kitchen, sniffingright and left for bad smells ; searchingout hidden corners with an eye for finding


42/126

SOME PHILOSOPHYfault; weighing all commodities with apair of test scales, under pretext of detecting theft; or like one who steals intoplaces at unsuspected times on the lookoutfor scandal ; listening at key-holes, prowling like a cat at night, peeping intowindows, over-hauling coat-pockets, rummaging desk drawers, talking in ambiguousphrases, dealing in hints, implying everything and saying next to nothing.

All this is the fruit of an ungovernedimagination ; and in its train come jealousyand envy a hideous pair who trample onhearts and reputations, and mark theirtrail with a stream of blood.

Catch your imagination while you can,and wither it with a glance of your eye ;otherwise it will curse you and in cursingyou, will curse the world.


43/126

OF THE HERMETICS 37

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.It is not the Koran, nor the Bible, northe Tripitaka. It is not the sky with its

glittering pattern of stars, nor objectivenature as manifested in the sea, themountains, the rocks nor the rivers. It isnot hidden in the debris of the past, norwritten upon the tombs of Egyptian Kings.It is not stamped upon tables of stone, norwill it come in handwriting upon the wall.No savant will search it out for you insome concealed vellum covered thicklywith hieroglyphics ; nor will some priestof the future reveal it to you, taken downfrom the mouth of an angel.To go far to find it will be to waste yourtime. To wait to have it come to you, willbe as fruitless as the waiting for an impos

sible Judgment Day.


44/126

38 SOME PHILOSOPHYThe Book of Revelation exists, neverthe

less, and its pages can be counted byhundreds. It is in many volumes, boundin skins finer than that of the sheep or thechamois. Its letters are written in thethree fundamental colors intershaded bymany tints ; some of them flash fire, andsome are wet with tears. It is fully illustrated with pictures in pigment mixed withblood, and in etchings of black and white.The scenes are humorous, grotesque, bewildering, sad, ecstatic, divine.

"And where is this book," you ask; Ianswer, "Look within, read yourself, andbehold the revelation"The skin covers enfolding each volumeinclose a life of your being the fine skincovers the tale is your own sorrowful,happy story which never ends, but has sequel after sequel eternally. The letters pickout the emotions, in dark or light, in bloodor fire. The blank pages are your dreamless sleeping hours ; and each sentence pointsthe moral like the finger of fate.

It is the Book of Mystery the record of


45/126

OF THE HERMETICS 39the dead and the living its initial lettersspeak beginnings and the closing word ofevery page its endings. You can read thisbook from first to last, or backward from lastto first. It reveals, reveals, reveals. Themore you read, the more you learn. No twopages are alike; no two scenes are the same,yet one flowers out of the other as naturallyas the rose from the bud.

It is an inspired book; inspired by MotherNature, by the Priest of Friendship, by theGod of Love, by the King of Evil.

It contains prophesies innumerable andwarnings without number. Its sallies of witconceal an element of sadness; its snatchesof pathos, a strain of gladness. In the reading, your eyes travel between the lines, andup and down and right and left. The wordsform into things and the things becomealive; even the thoughts march on in file, along procession holding volume to volume,as an army spans a river and binds land toland.This book was used at your christening,and will be brought forth at your funeral.


46/126

40 SOME PHILOSOPHYIt is given to you for a plaything in yourcradle and will be folded in your hands inyour coffin. It is your Sacred Book yourBible your Bhagavat your Ritual. Itencases your prayers and your psalms.Alas ! it embodies your evil thoughts andyour woes.Each letter casts a shadow, and the brightest throws the blackest. It is illuminated

with its own light, and the color of the glowvaries with the turning of the pages. It iswritten in hieroglyphics which you alonecan understand and even you puzzle overthe letters, when naught but the dictionaryof objectivity can help.

Study the world, that you may find itsfinal interpretation.


47/126

OF THE HERMETICS 41

PRIDE AND PHILOSOPHY.It is not strange that pride is the usual

vice of all young Philosophers. By youngPhilosophers I mean those just beginningthe pursuit of a genuine system. Thefirst result of ardent and earnest investigation is an increase of power, and with powercomes pride. A consciousness of strengthmakes one teem with self-respect, or in otherwords an emotion which the vulgar callconceit.To be a few inches higher than your fellow-men on the ladder, enables you to lookdown upon them, and alas ! to despise

them. We condemn self-respect, pride, self-love and self-pity, because to respect yourself is, to a great extent, to be satisfied; andto be satisfied in this sense of self-admiration, is to check all further advancementalong the line of consciousness.A respect of self is simply another way


48/126

42 SOME PHILOSOPHYof being proud of self, and this entire sentiment should be replaced by a somethingwhich puts the contemplation of self, in thepetting, coddling, comforting way, entirelyout of your thought.Pursue a thing for its own sake beauty

art health happiness, and in the pursuit after the ideal self-respect will be killed.Do not be alarmed, there is no danger ofyour going wrong in this; the object ofyour pursuit will save you from degradation. When you are on the chase, no onecan hurt you by enticements or allurements.You will not stop to lie or to steal or to dovulgar acts. You have no time to callnames or, in any manner, to lower yourmoral standard.Other people will honor your concentra

tion and the results produced by it. Youhave no need to contemplate yourself, orpay homage to your own soul.Pride is an uncomfortable thing to haveabout one ; it pricks like a paper of pins ; itis easily knocked over, and it falls like lead,and in the overturning makes a noise and


49/126

OF THE HERMETICS 43attracts everybody s attention. A haughty,self-respecting person is ever sensitive lesthis pride shall be hurt, and challenges theworld with his satisfied gaze ; which world,proceeds immediately upon the challenge toknock him down.

It is not in the least strange that theyoung Philosopher is proud, because an increased sense of power makes one superior,and being strong, he takes delight in manifesting this consciousness. There are tworeasons for this ; one is that he sees thelittleness of his fellow-man as he never didbefore (this is right), and the other reason isthat he is not yet himself sufficiently inlove with the object of his pursuit (saytruth) to rise above this enervating consciousness of self (this is wrong). Wefind ourselves only in something outside,never in dwelling on self emotionally. Todwell on self in this way is to sap your ownlife. This has nothing to do with self-contemplation intellectually, which is desirable. We prohibit emotional self-contemplation only.


50/126

44 SOME PHILOSOPHYPride is an emotion, a feeling ; self-respect

explains itself in its name. It is a warmingup of self to self, an admiration of self forself, a gloating over, a feeding upon self.This is one of the greatest evils.When the young man came to Christ andinformed him in a self-complacent way, thathe had kept all the Commandments fromhis youth up, the Master requested him tosell all that he had and follow him ; meaning, that in pursuit of the Ideal he shouldforget his own goodness.Do not mistake us. Your final object isto find yourself, but you never can do it byself-admiration. As you never have seenyour own face except in a mirror, you nevercan behold yourself except in another.When you gaze into the eyes of a friend youfind a little image of yourself imbeddedthere. To find the beauty of the subject,you must gaze at the object.

Pore over self, look into self, analyze self,dissect self; but never shed one tear uponthe soil of your own soul; if you do, something rank and poisonous will grow with


51/126

OF THE HERME TICS 45roots so deep, that it will take your wholeUnit ofForce to pull it out.The true Philosopher does not carry hispride with him long. Before he enters thenarrow path he is stripped naked and hispride falls first. He is allowed nothingheavy about him, and pride is heavy; hehas to run, for he is after something whicheludes and evades him. His eye must besteadily fixed on the object or it will escapehim ; and self-respect would be a fatal encumbrance. He becomes so in earnest in viewing himself in the thing that he is afterthat he forgets himself altogether; thisproves that one who would save his life mustlose it in the life of another.The first sorrow that comes to the youngPhilosopher is the fall of his pride; when ithas been broken he becomes a servant ; andthat to the very ones upon whom he formerly looked down. " He that is first shallbe last." He stoops to conquer, and whenhe again holds up his head, it is for the purpose of seeing better, rather than that oflooking over the hats of people.


52/126

46 SOME PHILOSOPHYThe object of this Philosophy is to gain

power; not that we may come down onothers with crushing blows, but that we maygive them a lift upward. You might stiffenyour back till you walked like a heathenking, but as your strut becomes intensifiedyour line of equipoise might be overlookedand your next position would be that of afool in the dirt.

Save your energy for the race; you aresupposed to be after something and verymuch in earnest. Other people will seeyou running and possibly they will start intoo, just for the running s sake, and lateron they may find an object to chase.

If you have a vestige of pride left, if yourself-respect still lingers; if your self-lovewhimpers and whines, get rid of them all.They will block your way where ever youturn; and as long as you harbor thesevices you will get no where. Your haughtylooks will set others to laughing; and youwill freeze yourself. Before you go fartherstrangle your pride, lest it get too heavy foryou and throw you down.


53/126

OF THE HERMETICS 47

WHO ARE OUR CRANKS?What are cranks ? Who are they ? These

questions are easily answered. First let mesay, that there are all degrees of cranks,from absolute to comparative ; that theyrange from a fool to a knave and from a kingdown to a peasant. Let me add also, thatthey are dangerous every one of them, fromthe highest to the lowest. A crank is anunbalanced person; by this we do not meaninsane, but one whose consciousness isclouded; he wears a veil and does not seestraight ; he is cross eyed and intrinsicallyevil.A person may be ignorant and not be acrank ; he may see but a short distance buthis vision will be correct as far as it goes .He will not have a mountain-top sweep, buthe can make out a horse or a dog as truly


54/126

48 SOME PHILOSOPHYas could Lord Bacon. Ignorance and shortsightedness do not mean crankism.A crank has crooked sight ; no matterwhat he sees nor how far, everything is outof gear, distorted. To be seen properly evena small thing should be consistent withitself and to the one who sees. A crank svision is out of focus; not only his physicalvision, but his mental and psychical visionas well.The mass of humanity have a vast deal ofcommon sense. Selfishness develops this

very early. The great body of mankindadjust themselves to their environmentwithout knowing why. They avoid spectaclesand steer clear of oculists. They have asort of horse understanding which enablesthem to find a stable and fodder. Selfishness is the cause of this, but it is a properselfishness and of a different kind from thatof the crank.

If the crank is not born an Egoist he verysoon becomes one, for it is almost invariablythe love of notoriety that leads him intoeccentricities. He longs for some sort of


55/126

OF THE HERMETICS 49fame, any sort. The idea of the love oftruth for itself has never entered hishead. His first ambition is to be looked upto. He begins by becoming odd, and thusattracts notice. There is so much of thefakir about him, that he grows more eccentric as people stare. If he gets a following,he begins to believe in himself and finallyconcludes that he is inspired ; having nobalance, but only love of fame, he does moreand more absurd things until the worldhisses him down.

His disciples become contaminated withhis unholy magnetism, and become lessercranks themselves, rushing with theirerratic Master to destruction.

There are religious, scientific, artistic,scholastic, dogmatic cranks ; cranks of bothsexes; cranks among the rich and the poor.They run after all sorts of absurdities whichhave no basis of reason. They like concealment and mystery; they hate the light ofthe sun and sense. Alas ! a vast proportionare women, whose little minds dabble rightand left in mysterious cults, that they may


56/126

50 SOME PHILOSOPHYhave hobbies and fads. They bring greatercranks to their drawing rooms to lecturethem on X pins nothing, and that they maydrink in words as a toper swallows rum.They ask no questions other than, " Is itnew?" " Is it strange ? " They never onceinquire " On what is it based?" "Is itsound? " They abhor logic, evidence andfacts

; they adore theories, dreams and assertions. They love one who will state to themsomething in positive tones with divineauthority. They delight in being hypnotized by fools more foolish than themselves.They glory in the Kingdom of Fooldom andlong to dwell there forever.Talk to them in plain Saxon, and theyaccuse you of being rough; present them a

syllogism and they dub you as dry; preachto them plain facts, and they call you common ; give them experience and they banishyou at once. They desire and promulgatehypotheses and theories; they stand witheach foot on an assertion and shake theirfists at reason.You will find the crank on nearly every


57/126

OF THE HERMETICS 51street of every city in America, to say nothing of Europe and the Holy East. But theArch Crank is rarer; and like the ChiefDevil is slippery and evasive. He is aroundthough, and he has one quality that theordinary crank has not wickedness; hisvery crankiness is abnormal self-interestand sin. Beware of the others, but verymuch of him ; he is horned and hoofed andclawed. He can hurt you with his head orhis feet or his hands, even with his eyes.In fact, His Majesty the Prince of Evil, isa crank, if crookedness means anything.You ask anxiously, " How shall we recognize those who are truly clairvoyant andhonest ? " By one simple rule a commonsense seeker after synthetic truth for truth ssake is never a crank. If he is in earnest,fame and notoriety are side issues. He is soserious that he forgets to pose; he is not sitting for his photograph, he is engaged inliving. Life is his object, not position; hemay appear cranky at times, and exceedingly absurd, but his motive, if he let yousee it, will clear his name. The would-be


58/126

52 SOME PHILOSOPHYSage often seems like a fool, but to look thecrank and to be one, are vastly different.

" Are there no honest cranks ? " you ask.Yes, a few. They are the great specialists,who have scarcely any power ^generalization; they accomplish something in oneparticular line, but their vision is narrow ;they see straight ahead, but they cannot lookout at the sides. They have a defect of vision which the doctors find hard to cure.The all-round Sage has eyes peering to

all points of the compass. Try to " evolute "eyes ; the more eyes you have, the less of acrank you will be.


59/126

OF THE HERMETICS 53

ONE DAY.In the dark we dream of the dawn and

youth divine youth starry-eyed. Wepray for the morning and the flash a skywarm with the bud of passion a form soft-limbed and strong. It comes We haveprayed. It comes morning youth.We stand somewhere on a high place, andthrill with our blood and the sunrise.The bud steals up on the sky like thepromise of a fiery rose the blood mountsto our cheeks like a prophesy of creation.But it is opening the great flower. The skyquivers with red rapture youth is fulfilled

passion is rising our soul is on fire.Alas ! We stare at the sun and he putsout our eyes the new sun the young sunhe stabs us with needles of light tillpleasure is pain. And our passion the


60/126

54 SOME PHILOSOPHYflower of our youth pierces us through andthrough till ecstacy weeps.

Alas ! We long for the noon theclimax the zenith. We go in the darkand wait.Up the high path of the sky the sun

triumphantly marches and we wait in thedark. The noon of our life the climaxthe zenith when glitters the mind likesteel in the battle when the heart beatstime to the fight when our muscles arehard like a rock our nerves tense like thestring of a bow.

Alas ! We uncover our heads and goout at the stroke of the clock High noonwhen the mass is said and the aged dieAnd we stare, but the sun more cruel thanfate pierces us through with its darts. Weare blind struck by the light.Alas ! Our blood had grown rich we

were ripe our muscles and nerves weretense our heart beat time to the march ofour feet We lifted our arm, our strongright arm, and hurled the lance It wasnoon it struck at the sun in the zenith


61/126

OF THE HERMETICS 55above, and backward it flew to our heartstraight to our heart. The rose of ourpassion was dead killed by our strongright arm.We go in the dark and pray pray for theeve and the setting sun for the splendorsthat usher in night, when the stars of hopecome out. We pray for the calm of ourpoisoned blood for the cool of the slowheart beat for the quiet of sleep forcomforting dreams.Alas ! the sun goes down and we stare

in its face but our eyes are gone eatenby worms the worm of age. And we fallto the ground for our limbs are weakthey shake with years. And we look withinbut we cannot see, for our blood is cold andthick our heart is ice, and beats with anoise like the cracking of snow.

Alas! Alas!! But wait !!! The GODSdo face the sun. BE GODS.


62/126

56 SOME PHILOSOPHY

SECRET GRIEF.

You will understand it, and how impossible it is to seek sympathy anywhere. Youwould go to the rack ere you would tell it ;torture could never force it from you. Youhide it and hide it deeper and deeper for fearsome far-reaching eye will pierce to thesecret. It is yours, emphatically yours.Your closest friend never suspects it, or ifhe does he cannot divine it. Shame wouldpaint your face redder than roses if it weredreamed of; not the shame of guilt, but theshame of shyness. You know that no mortal can comprehend it, no mortal but you ;even God must be puzzled about it you aresure. It is utterly inexplicable, and simplyis as life is. It is something so foreign towhat you would tolerate in another, thatyou wonder that you nurse it in yourself.


63/126

OF THE HERMETICS 57It is altogether out of the Conventional, andhas a close kinship to Mother Nature un-painted and unpowdered by the hand ofCivilization.

It is an enigma, and yet you comprehend itin a way and feel that it is the key to yourself. Could you discover the meaning of it,you would know who you are, what you havebeen, and will be. Your Secret Grief issacred; it dwells in your innermost heartwhere no other may enter. It puts yourcharacter in a strange light the after-glowof a long gone past floods it, and the dawnof tomorrow gilds its edge. It is not somuch something that you have done, as asomething that you have felt and still feel;a something that Society says you shall notfeel ; that man prohibits. As if Society andman could stop the natural beat of the heart,and escape the brand of Cain.

It may be a secret love which the verysecrecy sanctifies. It may be a secret hate,which God suffers. It may be an unfulfilled aspiration at which the world wouldlaugh. It may be a memory upon which


64/126

58 SOME PHILOSOPHYPriests frown and God smiles. It may be aregret which grows like a tropic palm, because of your scalding tears. Whatever itis, it is not as man would have it, and youare satisfied. You wander in the wildernesswith your Ishmael and no one sees. It isyour sacred property, the text of your scripture. It is the unnatural child, dearer tothe mother than the one born in wed-lock.It is the wild flower, sweeter in scent thanthe garden rose. It is the crystal spring,hid in the height of inaccessible mountains.It is the ocean depth which the plumb linemisses. It is the star out of sight whichpulls on the planets. Stop a moment !Think ! Now do you know? Do youunderstand.There are open secrets, honorable sor

rows, respectable griefs where mournersstand about, and sympathizers swarm. Thereis priceless crepe, there are flowers and coffins satin-lined. The minister condoles andprays, and angels stop their ears. Thereare donated years when sorrows sit down inthe house, well dressed in black; when com-


65/126

OF THE HERMETICS 59forters come and go, in black; when lightsteals into the eyes through black respectable black and the clock calculates the timefor the wearing of black and the seasonsare ravens in black.But one with the Secret Grief steals up to

his room alone and looks out in the dark onthe sky, and catching a glimpse of the moonhe melts her with his eyes. The moon of flintfloats in the mist the mist of his eyes.He locks the door and bids his Secret Griefcome forth. Her face chiseled by Destinydefiantly meets his own. She kisses him.Her form, hewn by the Fates, enfolds him.Her hair, shaded from dark to light by theages, entangles him. Her Karmic eyes meethis and absorb them. Her teeth, hardened bytime, bite with their passion his tender flesh.He writhes and quivers in throes of deliciousdespair. He loves her, and the more heloves the more she tortures. She melts intohim and is lost again deep deep in hisheart.

Then, calmly and unflinchingly he carriesher about in the mart of trade, to church


66/126

60 SOME PHILOSOPHYeven to his own fire-side. He talks withfriends; they know not. He smiles inwomen s eyes and they smile back. Hedances, eats and laughs. He earns gold andspends. He studies and invents. He dies.And when they try to bury him, somethingweighs the cofim down the bearers stagger.The Grief is there tis like a stone. Heleft it when he died.


67/126


68/126

62 SOME PHILOSOPHYillusion. But despair crawls on its belly,and lights up the night with the shineof its scales phosphorescent like fire-flies.There are things that are light and cold.Despair is light and cold colder than icecolder than space colder than the dead.To feel its touch, checks the flow of yourblood, and neither the fire nor the sun canwarm you. You shrink back and back intoyourself, farther, fartherback in search ofheat

of the white heat of life. But the furnaceis cold, the fire smoulders. Despair waitshis chance. He bides his time. He catchesHope napping, and he freezes her ; and then,he seizes you with his eyes. If Hope is notfrozen stiff, if she be not stark and dead, shewill arouse and veil your face and Despairwill wander off ; but Memory, like his slimytrail, will stay.What can you do, what will you do if heappear ?

"Fore warned, fore armed."Despair and Hope are twins, born from

the same womb at the same hour. Thesecret sympathy between the two, you can


69/126

OF THE HEXMETICS 63not fail to feel. Where one is, there theother dwells. Thongh Hope shrouds youin her veil until Despair is not, beware ! forthis illusion veil this maze of tint andlight this many colored rainbow shroudthis cloud of bubbles and dew this iridescent lace entwined with opals, amethystsand pearls this dainty dream of splendordazzling while it soothes, is but the burialshroud of truth. It is the mist upon themicroscopic lens. It is the mote within thetelescopic eye. It is the mask upon awoman s face. It is the fool s cap on theSage s head.

In flying from Despair you leave fairHope behind. Fair Hope ! The aphroditeof your dreams the golden-haired theamber-eyed. Fair Hope ! who points tosomething yet unseen who smiles on something yet unknown.Truth will have none of her, for like aharlot, she conceals within her ample skirtsher brother Cold Despair. She hides himmid the draperies and dances madly in thesun her partner hugged close to her


70/126

64 SOME PHILOSOPHYbreast but when she tires and falls uponthe ground asleep, sometimes alas ! sometimes the dew trailed mystery of her robe isrent, and from her very vitals does herawful mate come forth. Sometimes butyou who never dance with Hope, see himnot. Sorrow, agony and pain have beenyour guests, but Cold Despair is yet to come.Beware ! beware of Hope, and seek yewisdom. Truth neither hopes nor fears ;she understands. What she sees is essence,more glittering than illusion in the glare offire, more brilliant than all the suns above,more real than Karma, more enduring thanthe Fates. And on the door-post of hertemple there is writ in blood, u He whoenters here, leaves Hope behind. "


71/126


72/126


73/126

OF THE HERMETICS 67for itself, aids that power. Having such adevotion to the abstraction, you find it manifests in form everywhere and always congruous. Beauty is never incongruous ; shecombines well and appropriately. She doesnot adorn her sea-nymphs in muslin balldresses, nor her belles of the dance in a bathing suit. She puts the right thing in theright place, and makes it fit to the landscapeand environment.A woman devoted to the beautiful wouldendeavor to be so even on a desert where noeye, not even her own, could behold her.She would seek all things being equalfor the adored one, and would beg her company. She would instinctively adorn herself for the Beauty s sake, even thoughher conception of her be different fromall others ; and in this converse with thedivine abstraction harmony manifested inthe Real she would grow strong.

In the world no one can laugh down theBeauty lover. He is supremely happy inhis divine association and smiles back onthe scorner in his consciousness of power.


74/126

68 SOME PHILOSOPHYDo you desire Art ? What for for whom ?If for another, to gain by it, to hold another,

your quest is vain; but if your motto is," Art for Art s sake/ pray on. Like Beauty,Art is an abstraction growing out of combination. It has a meaning, subtle, and itsown. It includes consistency and congruity.But Beauty is not necessarily its divine consort.Art brings holy satisfaction, in fact a

species of ecstacy; but the rapture is different from that of Beauty or Love. Thereis a sense of the dual nature of Truth aboutArt, which is not found in the glamour ofCupid. In the trail of Art is a stream ofblood on the brow of Art is the shadow ofhate in the eyes of Art is the lust of life.Art like a white star, twinkles in alltints fire which burns heaven s blue andblackness. Art is master of heaven andhell he soars to the zenith and dives tothe center. He is awful he is sweet heappeals to the worst and the best in you.He is a God, all-sided. He fires you withthe lust of a fiend, and inspires you with


75/126

OF THE HERMETICS 69the love of an angel. He tempts you tothe low, and beckons you to the high.Splendid ! magnificent ! he stands on therock-granite foundation of earth, andlizards crawl over his feet. But the towering head rears itself into the cold spaceswhere feeling is lost in intellect and fearin knowledge. The heat of the planet sinternal fires warm him the cold of thesky s chilling ethers freeze him Art theterrible Art the divine.Would you know him, touch him kneel

at his feet ? Let me whisper a secret onlyfor his own sake, will he have you onlyfor his own sake And more, while youcrawl near his skirts and pick flowers, heis likely to tread on your form. He willthink you a worm. Rise up. Stand near,and measure stature with him. Thoughhe towers to the stars, stand near. Darethou to stand; and gazing on him thouwilt grow taller taller elbow to elbowshoulder to shoulder taller taller neckto neck head to head eyes to eyes.Power Beauty Art Power !


76/126

70 SOME PHILOSOPHY

SPIRITS AND DEVILS.We have a good deal to say on this sub

ject, and what we do not put into wordsmay be easily read between the lines. Inthe first place, to go spirit hunting is badbusiness, unless here we make a dash ,for there are conditions.

If you have the scientific mind, which isnothing other than one bent on knowingfor the knowing s sake ; if you are sure ofyourself, you may search after ghosts.Anything you can find in the Universe isa good thing, if it comes to you in the formof a hard fact. Do not congratulateyourself; it is possible that you have notas yet evolved the scientific mind.But wait a moment, there is anothercondition ; perhaps you have lost a friend

one very much loved ; that the living


77/126


78/126

72 SOME PHILOSOPHYand lost, keep clear of the seance roomfor they never come that way.His Majesty cheats you again in thegnise and form of a bride or a friend.Some day we will tell yon how. Satangoes ronnd disguised as a ghost, and devilsboth great and small emerge from the curtained box unseen but real.


79/126

OF THE HERMET1CS 73

DEATH WHAT OF IT?" If I should die," you say, " If I should

die just at the moment when I have learnedto live, what good? Philosophy is for life,life but death! What has the frozencorpse, embalmed, shrouded, boxed, to dowith truth ? The charnel-house is a drearyplace ; the grave is foul ; even the mausoleum, touched up with gold, is a lonesomespot. " If I should die what then ? "

Philosophy is for life, we still reiterate,for life; nor do we deny that death is stalking up and down the world to meet even youyou. Some day the wind will blow

colder than ever before it will lay you low,and transform you into a fallen statue. Thebreath of Death! more chill than the windsof the Arctic Death ! He has a twin


80/126

74 SOME PHILOSOPHYbrother sleep a zephyr of him, yet bleak.He lowers your pulse and lays you down andcloses your eyes.Where does Truth sit while you sleep ?Have you watched the sea when the tide islow have you heard it sigh in its dreams ?You sleep, and the tide of your life goesdown down to the ebb and you sigh inyour dreams ; but Truth never closes hereyes ; she watches through night and dayand she smiles when you sigh when thesea sighs.When you die you will grow so cold thatyou will forget to breathe your brain willbe frozen hard your lungs will turn to iceyou will even forget to think to love.But wait ! Philosophy, garbed in the robesof Truth will watch the tomb for three longdays, till the butterfly breaks the cocoon ;till the seed bursts open its husk; till thechick is hatched from the egg; till the tidebegins to rise; till the stone is rolled awayand the Christ comes forth.Remember that death is the soil of life


81/126

OF THE HERMETIC* 75and life is the despair of death. Rememberyou enter the womb to come out; you comeout to return again. What manner of mangoeth in, cometh out; what manner of mancometh out, Philosophy knows. She meetsher own at the gate of birth, and walks byhis side to the gate of death. Three daysin the tomb three days.When you wake from sleep, you take upthe thread and weave it into the warp whereit dropped the night before; if you find itknotted Alas ! you left it so. When youwake from the ebb-tide of death and openyour eyes in the realms of self, you pick upyour thread and weave again where youceased to weave the night before. If knotted

Alas! you left it so.O loved ones do you not see that the silkencord never breaks ; you pick it up, now here,now there, and you spin, and spin, and spin,like the sisters of fate. You spin as thespider spins, and fasten yourself to the web.You spin with the silver cord, as fine as asilken hair, as strong as the fiber of life.


82/126

76 SOME PHILOSOPHY

The fabric you weave hangs high twixt thisand the other world. Tis a veil of gossamer stuff, perfect on either side. You lookthrough its meshes without you lookthrough its meshes within now standingin front in the cold now standing behindin the heat. Tis an endless veil and youspin, and spin, and spin but what do youspin?The genius seeks his muse and kneels ather feet " O muse! One look from theethat I may know eternity."You who die, remember Philosophyyour muse! She closes your eyelids in sleep,and sits at your side the long night through.Dawn comes in, you open your eyes, yourquestioning looks melt into hers. She haswatched through the night with steady gaze.She saw the stars come up and the moondip into the sea. Her glance swept thespaces and comprehended the drama ofearth. She saw Love s rhapsody and Hate sgore. She beheld sorrow, weeping and painwrithing. She watched the Mother in thepangs of child-birth and the sufferer on his


83/126

OF THE HERME TICS 77bed of death. All this time you breathedsoftly your pulse was low you slept.When death touches you and the windblows cold, your muse stands firm.She wraps you in her cloak and lays youout. She braces herself against death as asingle will defies the universe. She facesthe Arctic winds. She sets her teeth, andfor three days challenges hell. Out uponher leap the devils of Inferno. She standsfast. Calmly you sleep on as calmly asthe plant sleeps under the snow.Your muse calls heaven to help her thesaints the cherubs the seraphs the angels the arch-angels God. She dareswith her eyes the terrible glitter of the dogstar. She shifts her gaze to the awful flashof Arcturus. She appeals to the majestyof Orion. She draws on the fires of thePleiades. She summons the combined forcesof Hercules. She faces all heaven. Hersoul drinks at the firmament and yousleep on.When the Sage of Athens drank the hemlock his muse shuddered, but stood firm.


84/126

78 SOME PHILOSOPHYWhen the heart of Christ broke, his musewept, but lived on. When death meets you,your muse will conquer hell, and face theeternal fires. Fear not.


85/126


86/126

8o SOME PHILOSOPHYto fasten it ? Beauty is too poor ! and hereyes! Tears make them brighter as dewfreshens the roses! Her white breast is buthalf covered Alas ! the rags are rent wherethe skin is softest, where the cold strikescoldest.

Poor Beauty! She is honest no daubof rouge, nor puff of powder, nor roue s kisshas touched her, only the wind nipping ather ears, and her shoulders and her pinkfinger-tips. Her tears freeze in her dimples,she has forgotten to smile, but Povertylaughs laughs till the wind is lost in hervoice laughs till the sound of the churchbell is drowned laughs till the city s roaris faint and Beauty stares in her bit ofglass, which is lit with the flash of her eyes.

Is Nature playing a joke, or is she adjusting the scales ?Madame Ugliness sparkles with gems.They shine in her ears gross ears thatgather scandals and lies, as the pitcher plantgobbles the flies they shine round her neck,gaunt like the arm of a sycamore treewrinkled and old they shine in her hair


87/126


88/126

82 SOME PHILOSOPHYBut Ugliness thou? Can Nature bal

ance the scale where beauty is weighed ?She loads on the silks, the satins, the furs ;she heaps on the rubies and gold, she pilesin the diamonds, the emeralds, the pearls,and yet, even yet, Beauty is heavy, gold is afeather, the jewels a speck. And Nature, despairing, goes down to the sea, she dives formore jewels, and more, she digs into earthand brings up more treasure and more. Sheslaughters the beast and the bird, she tearsoff the hide and the plume, but Uglinesscrouches, light as the skin of a fish, whileBeauty outbalances all.Ah ! Nature ! you jest, unless time andcauses long gone can be caught to weighdown things as they seem.


89/126


90/126

84 SOME PHILOSOPHYpaste nor pebble, but a gem. It willflash in a comparatively dark place, brighterthan in the sunshine. Wear it on yourbreast, and look into the glass when thelight is dim. But if the balance is againsthim, if the cons outweigh the pros, avoidhim. He may shine for another, but notfor you. By no amount of polishing canyou make a diamond of him, or a ruby, or apearl. Another may, but not you.Never let your heart deluge your head,when friendship comes your way. The headmust be above tears and smiles in clearcold air where it can think.The heart is a fountain whose streamflows forever, warm and gushing. You can

not stop it nor would you. But keep yourhead high, that you may see clearly, to turnthe course of the waters where the flowers offriendship can best grow. It is better tooverlook a field of ice with cold judgingeyes, than to raise a crop of weeds in a soilwatered by tears.Be just to your friend and you will dealsquarely with yourself. Await his coming


91/126

OF THE HERMETICS 85It may be a long time ere he appearsYou can afford it wait.Jewels are not used for side-walks, nor

stars for street-paving. You may find thepearl in the oyster you would eat, possiblyat the retailers. Be sure it is a pearl beforeyou set it. If it is precious conceal it, forthere are thieves about. If it is luminoushide it, for it might dazzle some one else.Your friend is your own not anothers -in that which makes him yours ; otherwisego friendless, and live with the birds, themountains and the sky. In nature someaspect ofyou is concealed, find that.


92/126

86 SOME PHILOSOPHY

THE ONE THING.Man wearies of everything save one. He

plucks the flower he has striven after, inhales its perfume and withers with it.Every thing tires him, even the most loved.When the flame goes out, he finds ashesblack and gray. No outer splendor holdshis eye long. He turns wearily from thevale to the mountain, and again from themountain to a star. In the face of the starhe closes his eyes. He is tired, even ofthe smile of his loved friend. At times hewould fly from it. He wearies of the daysof his youth He throws no kiss after themHe is glad they have gone He weariesof his prime and seeks to escape it, into theeasy chair of age. He wearies of old age,and of the old clothes which alone suit it.He makes his own coffin while yet alive.He drives the nails himself, and longs to liedown therein, even before he dies. He istired surfeited with everything.


93/126

OF l^HE HERMETICS 87This is the natural man, the man of

rhythm. He rubs off the down from thepeach and eats it He wins a heart totrample it All because he is tired. Because the demon change has told buthalf his story, shutting its mouth in themidst of the tale.But the One Thing What of the One

Thing ? Is there somewhere a bird of paradise whose feet never touch the earth ? Isthere a gem that charms the eye to flashever ? Is there a flower that excites one toecstasy by its breath ? Is there a song thatone sings always? Is there a land wherethe grass never withers ? Alas ! no. TheOne Thing is subtle and mighty It dwellsout of sight. No eye has beheld it nor earheard its voice. Philosophy Truth fascinating as the Ideal, faithful as the Real,ready at all times every where to fit changeto change as the lapidary fits gem to gem

linking incident to incident, mood tomood, hour to hour, day to day, year to yearwith the goldsmith s art. Of IT Thispower which ties and binds, holds and con-


94/126

88 SOME PHILOSOPHYnects, fits and matches you never weary.The inood may worry you, the day may exhaust you, but the art to adapt and linkthem, is the Master Creative Art themagic power, which if once you feel, willreveal the ONE THING .The charm of conquering, solving, blend

ing, combining,is the charm of God. It is

the power which adapted Earth to the Sunand Venus to Mars. It is the potencywhich patterns the constellations andspangles the sky with starry designs. Thismaster power of adjusting our moods andour hours one to another this art of swaying to environment, has in its essence thecharm of the new The ecstasy of creation

This Art is the Philosopher s own. Thenormal man knows nothing of it He isforever tired but the Sage smiles at prosperity, and goes with it, as man does withwoman even to the precipice of adversity,where he smiles again and ties a knot Hehas bound the two firmly like husband andwife, and he blesses them both. The Philosopher bares his head to the gale and lets


95/126

OF THE HERMETICS 89the wind s sharp fingers tear at his blowinghair He suffers the knives of ice to prickto his bones He tests himself on the grindstone of fate and finds the new .Each morn a new sun peers over the bor

ders of dawn Each eve a new splendormelts into the bosom of the night Eachday is a virgin immaculate, who conceivesand gives birth to a Christ. A mysteryappalling, but sweet, challenges the Wisewith each fresh beat of his heart, for to himis given the One Thing the power toCreate.

All other men tire. They sicken withthe stench of the old, the fetid, the stale.They shrink from the same dull colors andshapes the picture comes back at each turnof the wheel the same. They start atfamiliar sounds, the shriek of the whistle,the roll of the drum the same from cradleto grave the same But the Sage ! Hetouches the old A Philosopher s touchas soft as the falling of snow the kiss of afriend and lo ! the new .


96/126

90 SOME PHILOSOPHY

THE DEVIL.He is out of fashion. He went off the

stage with Jonathan Edwards and men ofhis cult. The masters of the " newtheology have not fist enough to shake athis phantom, so they deny him. They standin their pulpits and preach goodness, love,music, flowers, paradise. They believe inan eternal heaven of splendors without the

* great white throne." They have banishedthe angels and the harps, and they give youNature (when she smiles). The storms theyignore. When the wind blows they becomeas deaf as stones They hear nothing.When it is cold, they sit over their churchfurnaces and declare it is warm. They are


97/126

OF THE HERMEJICS 91as one-sided as the moon. If they haveanother face, they conceal it. This is" namby-pamby. * It is gush.We face facts. We believe that everything has two sides. If there is an up,there is a down. If there is a white, thereis a black. We know very well that liliesthrive in mud, and roses in decay. We haveseen the cat eat the mouse and the dog killthe cat. Insects destroy trees, and elephantstread on worms. We are also aware thatman builds his ladder to fame out of deadbodies, and climbs to the stars to the tuneof dying shrieks. The sea fish gorge themselves with one another, the air fiends in theshape of birds dive out of heaven afterhelpless victims.You may call the Devil by whatever nameyou choose, evil is afact or good could notbe. We believe in the Pairs the Parallels. Life and death go arm in arm. Painand pleasure are close linked. Heaven ison the verge of hell. God implies theDevil. We believe he takes a thousandforms, a million, a billion. He is not con-


98/126


99/126

OF THE HERMETICS 93even the Devil. He is sarcastic, but thePhilosopher is more so and when the firefights fire, you know the outcome.

So then we accept him, as we do the otherside of heaven, for the inner implies theouter The height the depth.


100/126

94 SOME PHILOSOPHY

THE PAIRvS.One s illusions vanish one after another ;what today we deem real tomorrow will be a

dream. We are building day after day uponthe shifting sand, and the tide comes up andwashes the shining bits away. Hopesfondly cherished break like bubbles or drownour hearts in tears.By and by our eyes will be dry, no tears

will come, and we will stare dimly andstraight ahead into vacancy, to see nothing,not even an illusion. Then upon all menwe will smile a ghastly smile, hoping for,believing in, wanting nothing. At thispoint we reverse and look in. Somethingappears, some one, and that appearance, thatone makes the illusion plain. This appear-


101/126


102/126

96 SOME PHILOSOPHYthe blood congeals and will not flow, andBeauty flaunts her hair in your face, look in.The bank must need follow the fickleriver, the inconstant river, but on the bankthe water-rushes grow. Ah ! the meandering stream. Ah ! the constant shore andthe water-rushes. When drowning in thecruel river, forget not the shore and thefaithful reeds. Wet and dripping you seekrefuge deep within the rushes deep withinthe rushes.

Drenched in the fog of illusion you rushinland and look into a pair of faithfuleyes. I have brushed the cob-webs frommine forever, the spider s web, and now I seestraight to the heart of a star. But to myfriend I am a mystery. Now and again hehates me, and yet he loves me too. Heturns here and there for something better ;he tries to go ; he lies to himself, but hecomes back.Look well to the opposites. The Pairs

are faithful. The dream, the illusion, is theother half of the Real. It shimmers likethe light on the sea It goes and comes like


103/126

OF THE HERMETICS 97the moon It lives and dies like ripe corn,but the arc of heaven which Iris bears inher hands, overshadows her never. Irisstill brings news from heaven and tells thetale of Zeus.


104/126

98 SOME PHILOSOPHY

ADONAI.To invoke Adonai is to call upon that in

your universe of consciousness which isakin to the ecstasy of love, by no means aphysical, but a purely spiritual emotion.You call out of yourself, into your consciousness, the charm and holy glamour of being.You throw yourself, by an effort of will, intoa state where soul is manifested in itsbeauty, as the flowers display the sex-charmof plants. You call up from the depths ofsoul its melody, for soul in its most graciousform is music, the singing as it were of thebird to its mate.To invoke Adonai is to enter the world of

variety where habit is abandoned, drudgeryforgotten, and conventionality is no more.All things common are hid from view. Itis the world of form, of sound, of languor,and of dream. It is the world of haze and


105/126


106/126

loo SOME PHILOSOPHY" Can we " you ask, " Can we as Mystics

invoke Adonai ? " We answer, unless youdo, you are doomed to see, to face andstruggle with the common place. Crudeugliness will strike you hour after hourhard blows The soul of things will behid, and only the half of every storywill be told Your nostrils will be greetedby bad smells Your eyes with ugly sightsYour ears will hear revolting soundsThe barren wash-day grayness of the worldwill stare you in the face Your friends willunveil all their petty faults, the verypimples on their foreheads will stand outThe great beyond in them will be boxed upin illshaped skulls Their tongues will sayrough things and lap coarse food Ordinary, all ordinary.You have no power to* discern whatthey have brought to you, what they yetwill bring You measure but the sizeof their shoes, and count the spots ou theirclothes You have no gift for looking backnor seeing far ahead You are marching inthe ranks where grease and oil besmirch the


107/126

OF THE HERMETICS 101hands of artisans You smell of lumber, offresh fish and blood You toil till sweatsoaks through your clothes, and gazing upyou think it rains.Your mother is a woman who breeds andnurses young Your father is a man whogjoats and drinks Your brothers kill livethings, and laugh Your sisters stuff ragdolls Your wife courts your stomachAnd gnats and insects suck your blood.You have no heaven nor hell. You servethe common place.But lo ! how this doth change when youbesiege the pearly gates of your own heart,and to the half truth add the other half.Does he come in the sunlight of morning orthe sunlight of evening It matters not.Does he look down from the zenith or upfrom the depths What difference? Doeshe appear without or within Who cares ?He is Adonai the Beautiful ! With himyou get the full meaning the illuminationthe glory. When you see him, your feetscorn the earth When you hear him, youanswer back.


108/126

102 SOME PHILOSOPHYVenus adores and yet fears him, for he

scatters light as he moves, and the flashesheat and thrill you. His countenancebeams even though veiled, and his eyespierce and transfix you. All things seenthrough the mist of him are beautiful.Beside each leaf on the tree is another likesilver, which the sun turns to gold.To invoke Adonai is not always to bringhim. Oft times he is taken by force likethe kingdom of heaven. If he will not comeby your wooing, plunge down in yourselfand drag him out of the depths, for he maybe asleep.Beware of the common place. Betterlook into heaven one moment and down into

hell the next, than to set your house instrict order, starch up your linen, and eatfor the palate.Beware of the common place Thatmood where you yawn and stretch, and huntout your aches and pains as old people do,who gloat over sores and decay. Beware ofscavengers, buzzards and flies.


109/126

OF THE HERMETICS 103

MAGIC.

You may follow Christianity to the yawning grave, you may suck the breast ofBuddhism dry, and yet miss Magic anAphrodite poising on the foam of the sea.The magician can subtract glamourfrom the heart of things ; he can manipulate combinations he can balance on foam.Out of himself comes a magnetism whichenvelops and transforms environment. Aslove turns hell into heaven, so the magicianplays at his art.Nature covers the woman s skeleton with

voluptuous curves of flesh She spreads apond of slime with water-lilies She bidsexquisite ferns to peep from ghastly crevicesShe paints the sky at the brink of the

desert sometimes when the mood is on


110/126

104 SOME PHILOSOPHYher sometimes. She touches up the vulture in the empyrean, till he has the majestyof a heaven sent messenger She glitters inthe purity of the gull till he rivals a white-throated angel On winter she breathes, andbrings hot splendor out of snow and fire outof ice.Magic never goes naked She is as real

as the soul of woman, but she drapes herselfas did Isis. Her eyes look at you throughthe veil of her hair her limbs gleam butfrom the meshes of a net She has the artof the spider ; she catches and holds, butunlike it she never devours you.Her food is the pollen of flowers, her drinkis the dew on their breasts.Truth is truth, but she is sometimes non-

commital. Whatever she bestows is oneaspect of her not all. Veiled in glamourshe gives you her smile, and bewitches,tantalizes, lures, and bewilders. Her formis clear-cut and awful, like the scars on thebrow of Olympus, but her smile is myriadand seen through a veil.Mystery and Magic are some way related.


111/126


112/126

io6 SOME PHILOSOPHYtantalizes Esculapius with microbes Shetempts the diver to risk the jaws of theshark, and turns the ills of the oyster intopearls She foils the explorer with herNorth Pole, and entices the aeronaut to apitiful rivalry with the chick-a-dee.The poet is her victim par excellence.He sees things through the mist of his owneyes a trait from nature by the terrible lawof heredity. He is eternally hypnotizedandwalks about in a dream. Nature s spell ison him from birth to death, and he, as hertrue child, shines by his own light. He isnot a planet but a lesser sun, that warmsitself at its own fire. He generates heat andradiates it from his eyes and fingers. Coldpeople sit at his feet, as beggars lie out inthe light. The rabble follow him as thepoor followed Christ. They touch his skirtsand warm their bodies in electric heat. Likethe magician of India, he draws an ignorantcrowd, who know nothing except that he iswarm. Each word of his is a spark, whichsets something on fire. He is rich withsmiles, that tickle the half-dead nerves, and


113/126

OF THE HERMETICS 107metaphors that shock the heart to renewedlife. He moves in a glory like the columnof fire, and he casts a shadow like the fallencloud. He is Ariel captured by Earth. Heis a god wedded to woman.But what of Venus Urania, who makesmatches in heaven, and kindles her heartat the shrine of Vesta. What of the lovethat blends souls rather than bodies, andcreates her children in celestial spaces onthe down pillows of ether ? What of thesplendor of Eden, when the gods walked inthe garden, and the serpent lay hid in theglitter of his own skin ? Even yet magiceyes sweep the horizon, where the sky liessoftly on the breast of the sea. Even yet,on the altar of Vesta, burn the sacred fires.Even yet, the loves of paradise hold the sunin its place and the moon.Would you know the art of Magic?Would you discover the magician in yourself and wake him out of sleep ? Retirewithin, far ba

Date post:	02-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	tahuti
View:	221 times
Download:	1 times

Anonymous - Some Philosophy of the Hermetics (1898)

Documents