Month: September 2013

santmat:

Brief Introduction to the Gnostic and Hermetic Mystics

The Corpus Hermeticum of Hermes Trismegistus is a collection of Egyptian mystical texts, many of which are slightly older than the Nag Hammadi books and other Gnostic Gospels.

The Hermetic school(s) of spirituality had much in common with Gnostic, Neoplatonist, Pythagorean, and Jewish mysticism.

As was the case with the Books of Enoch — there were many “Enochs”, not simply one prophet or writer by that name, there was no person by the name of Hermes. “Hermes Trismegistus” was a pseudonym used by many authors who contributed to this body (corpus) of Hermetic literature.

Some of the Hermetic and Gnostic texts of Egypt and Syria seem to reveal an advanced level of mysticism compatible with Sant Mat and early Sufism, describing schools of mystics in antiquity that advocated: (1) non-violence including in the area of diet (vegetarian); (2) not just a reliance on old scriptures and past masters (easily misinterpreted and misunderstood) but the need for living masters who serve as spiritual guides and mentors, and initiate souls into the “Mysteries” of the heavens; 3) a cosmology of several heavens or inner regions of consciousness that the soul travels or ascends through on the way back to the One Nameless God; and, 4) the understanding that LIVING ONES — living human beings right now — can mystically seek to see God in the living present via a contemplative meditation practice, going within, (with techniques about how to experience this revealed at the of initiation by a living teacher) — not putting off the spiritual life and visions of the Divine till the after-life or some hypothetical future age.

Hermetic Texts Online: http://www.gnosis.org/library/hermet.htm

Gnostic Writings Online: http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhlalpha.html

http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/index.htm