thýs
philosopher, who lived about 190 a.d.,
was the founder of the Neoplatonic School. He was the son of
Christian parents, and received a Chritsian education, but departed from this
system and became a "philosopher." He gained a living by carrying
burdens for pay, and yet he was one of the greatest philosophers of that age,
and well acquainted with the Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. His
disciples were Erennios, Origenes, Plotinus, and Longinus.
PLOTINUS.
Plotinus
was born at Lykopolis in Egypt in the year 205 a.d.
He received his education at Alexandria. He took part in the war
of the Emperor Gordianus in Persia, and went afterwards to Rome,
where he established his school of philosophy. Here he obtained great renown
and was respected by all. It is said that during the 26 years he lived in Rome
he did not have a single enemy. Even the Emperor Gallienus, one of the
greatest villians, respected and honoured him.
Plotinus
fell sick. As the physician Eustachius entered the room in which
Plotinus was dying, the latter exclaimed, joyfully, "I am now going to
unite the God that lives within myself with the God of the universe."
The
mind of Plotinus was continually directed towards the Divine genius who
accompanied him,—his own higher self. He cared little about his physical
body, and having been asked about the day when the latter was born, he refused
to tell it, saying that such a trifling matter was of too little importance to
waste any words about.
Phenomenal
existence was to him an error, a mistake, a low and undesirable condition,
union with the Divine principle the highest aim of existence. He ate very
little, took no meat, and lived a life of chastity. Porphyry, another
one of the disciples of Saccas, having become envious of the renown of
Plotinus, attempted to use black magic against him, but without success; and
finally said that the soul of Plotinus was so strong that the most powerful
Will directed against his soul could not penetrate it, and rebounded upon the
sender. Plotinus, however, felt that magic influence, and expressed himself to
that effect.
According
to the philosophy of Plotinus, God is the foundation of all things. There is
only one Substance; Matter and Form are merely illusions, or shadows of the
Spirit. God is eternal and everywhere. He is pure light, a Unity, the basis of
all existence and thought. The Mind (noûs) is
the image of this Unity; it is, so to say, the image created by the Eternal by
looking within itself. Thus the Mind is the product or creation of God, and
yet God itself, and receiving its power from the latter. The Mind is the
eternal activity of the Eternal. It is Light, primordial and
unchangeable. Thought and every thinkable object exists within the mind. The
world of Mind is the internal world; the eternal, sensual world is the
external expression of the former. Mind being a Unity, and all beings and
objects consisting of Mind substance, all are fundamentally identical, but
they differ in form.
The
activity by which the inner world of Mind came into existence is an interior
power acting towards the centre. If an external world, corresponding to the
inner world, is to come into
existence, there must be another activity by which this internal activity is
reversed, so as to be directed towards the periphery. This centrifugal
activity is the Soul, a product or reaction of the centripetal
activity of the Mind, in other words a product of Thought, entering
within itself.
There
is a universal law according to which something real may produce something
approaching its own state of perfection, but not quite as perfect as itself,
and therefore the activity of the soul resembles the activity of the mind, but
is not as perfect as the latter.
The
Soul, like the Mind, is living thought, but unlike the Mind, subject to
continual change. The soul, unlike the mind, does not see things within her
own self, but sees them in the mind. The activity of the soul is directed
outwardly, that of the mind inwardly; the perceptions of the soul are not so
clear as those of the mind. The soul, like the mind, is a kind of light; but
while the light of the min is self-luminous, that of the soul is a reflection
of the former.
According
to the eternal laws of order and harmony existing in the whole organism of
Nature, all souls become after a certain time separated from the mind, or—to
express it more correctly—the distance between the soul and the centre of
mind increases, and they assume a more material state. Moving away from the
Divine intelligence they enter the state of matter, they descend into matter.
At each step towards materialization their forms become more dense and
material, the souls in the air have an airy, those upon the earth an earthly
material form. The activity of the soul produces other and secondary
activities. Some of the latter have an upward tendency, others follow lower
attractions. The upward-tending activities are Faith, Aspiration, Veneration,
Sublimity, etc.; the downward tendencies produce reasoning, speculations,
sophistry, etc.; the lowest activity of the soul is the purely vegetative
power, sensation, assimilation, instinct, etc.
The
ultimate aim of the activity of Nature is the attainment of self-knowledge.
Whatever Nature produces in a visible form, has also a supersenual form,
giving shape to gross matter, so that the form may become an object for
recognition. Nature is nothing but a living soul, she is the product of a
higher, interior activity, the Universal Mind. There is only one fundamental
living power in Nature, the power to imagine; there is only one result
of the activity of this power formation, or perception of form, and the
same process which takes place in Nature, takes place in the nature of man.
All
formations of matter are produced by the soul residing therein. All forms are
filled with an interior life, even if not manifested outwardly. The Earth is
like the wood of a tree, wherein life exists; the stones resemble twigs which
have been cut off from the tree. In the stars, as well as in the Earth, is
Divine Life and Reason.
The
sensual world and each existence therein has an interior soul, and this soul
is all that is lasting about those forms; the external appearance is nothing
more than an appearance.
The
World of Intelligence, is an unchangeable living
Unity wherein there is no separation by space or change in time. In that world
exists everything that is, but there is neither production nor
destruction, neither past nor future. It is not in space, and requires no
space. If we say the world of intelligence is everywhere, we mean to express
the idea that it is in its own being, and, therefore, within itself.
The
world of Intelligence is the world of Spirit. There is a supreme Intelligence,
wherein are germinally (potentially) contained all objects and all intellects,
and there are as many individual intellects as can possibly be contained in
that world of intelligence. The same may be said about the Soul. There is a
supreme Over-Soul, and as many individual souls as can be contained
therein; and the latter stand in the same relationship to the former as a
species to the one class to which it belongs. There are different kinds of
species in a class, yet all originate in the latter. Each species has a
character of its own. Likewise, in the intellectual world there must be some
certain qualities to produce souls of various kinds, and the souls must be in
possession of various degrees of thought-power, else they would all be
identical in every detail.
There
is nothing absolutely without Reason in Nature, although the manifestations of
the principle differ vastly in the various forms. Even animals, which seem to
be unreasonable, possess a reason which guides their instincts. Everything
that exists has its origin in Reason, and there can be nothing absolutely
unreasonable in Nature; but there are innumerable modes in which Reason
becomes manifest, because these manifestations are modified by external and
internal conditions and circumstances. The inner, spiritual man is far
more reasonable than the external one. In the external world Reason manifests
itself as observation, logic and speculation; but in the world of intelligence
Reason is manifest in direct perception of the truth.
The
aim of the internal action of reason is to produce an objective form. As
differentiation proceeds and the various powers unfold, they continually lose
some of their attributes, and the ultimate products are less perfect than the
original power; but the circumstances in which they are placed give rise to
the origin of new attributes, and thus a step is made towards rising again
into a higher state.
Thus
the world of intelligence is a radiation from the fundamental original centre,
and the world which we perceive with our senses is a product of the world of
intelligence. The state of imperfection and mutability of all things in the
external world is caused by their remoteness from the great centre. The
Universe is a product of three fundamental principles of existence; it is a
great living being or organism, in which all its constituent parts are
intimately connected together, and no part in that universe can act without
causing a certain reaction in all other, even distant parts because throughout
the whole there is only one soul, whose activity, manifesting itself in
all parts, constitutes the organism of the whole. All parts are connected
together by that universal power which constitutes the One Life in the
universe. All souls lead, so to say, amphibious existences. Sometimes they are
attracted more to the sensual plane and become interwoven with the latter; at
other times they follow the attraction of Reason, from whence they originated,
and may become united with it. The soul ultimately becomes divided, the
higher elements rise to the higher planes, the lower ones sink still lower
when they are no more held up by their connection with the higher ones.
Whenever the incarnation of a human being takes place, the soul furnishes the
mortal body with some of her own substance, but she does not, as a whole,
belong to the body; and only that part of the soul which has become thoroughly
amalgamated with the body takes part in the pains and pleasures of the latter.
Man's evil desires come only from that part of his soul, which is thus mixed
with the body, and, therefore, the evil consequences
of man's evil actions befall merely the animal man—that is to say, his
living animal principle—but not the real man or the spirit, connected with
the higher elements of the soul. The more the soul is attracted to the vulgar
and low, the more grossly material will the organism with which she clothes
herself become. After death the gross substances must be purified or
destroyed, while the pure elements rise up to the source from whence they
came, until the time for a new incarnation in a form of flesh has arrived.
This process is repeated until the soul has attained sufficient knowledge to
become inaccessible to the attraction of that which is low. In this sense
man's terrestrial existence may well be looked upon as being a punishment for
harbouring evil desires and inclinations. Intellectual labour is an activity
belonging to a lower state of existence, and is necessary because the original
faculty of the soul of directly perceiving the truth has been lost. If the
soul desires to obtain this faculty again, she must free herself from all
intellectual conceptions, and penetrate into the formless. If she desires to
reach up to the original inconceivable fountain of all, she must leave her own
conceptions behind, she must become free from all sensual perceptions and
intellectual speculations, free of thought and speech, and live in a state of
spiritual contemplation. That which is beyond intellectual conception can be
seen, but can neither be conceived nor described in words. Seeing is better
than believing, knowledge is better than logis; spiritual knowledge is one,
but human science is a multiplicity, and has nothing to do with the eternal
Unity, from which all things take their origin.
It
is of the utmost importance that men should be instructed about their own
nature, their origin, and their ultimate destiny; because an intellectual
person is not inclined to undertake a labour, unless he is convinced about its
usefulness. Spiritual perception is a power, which cannot be imparted, but
which must be gained by effort.
If
a person does not know that such a power exists, or if he cannot realize its
usefulness, he will make no efforts to attain that state, his mind will remain
without illumination, and he will not be able to see the truth. He may feel
the existence of the truth, like a man may feel love for an unknown ideal, of
which he does not know whether or not it exists; but he whose mind is
illumined sees the object of his love, the light which illumines the world.
This light is present everywhere. But it exists relatively only for those who
are able to see, perceive, feel, and embrace it, by reason of their own
similarity to it. To make the matter still more comprehensbile, let us
say that if the soul throws off her impediments and enters that state again in
which she originated from the Eternal, then will she be able to see and feel
the Eternal. If, after having received these instructions, a person is too
indolent to follow them, he will have no one to blame but himself if he
remains in darkness. Let all, therefore, try to tear themselves loose from
that which is low and sensual, and become united with the supreme power of
God.
If
you desire to find the Supreme, you must free your thoughts of all impressions
coming from the external world, purify your mind of all figures, forms, and
shapes.
God
is is present in all, even in those who do not recognise Him; but men flee
from God, they step out of Him, or, to speak more correctly, out of
themselves. They cannot grasp Him before whom they are thus fleeing, and,
having lost themselves, they hunt after other gods. But if the soul
progresses on the road to perfection, begins to realize her own higher state
of existence, to know that the fountain of eternal life is within herself, and
that she, therefore, has no need to hunt after
external things, but can find all that is desirable in the divine
element within herself; if she begins to understand that in that God within is
her whole life and being, and that she must flee from the realm of illusion to
live and exist in Him, then will the time come when she will be able to see
Him, and to see herself as an ethereal being, illumined by a super-terrestrial
light. She will see herself even as the pure Divine Light itself, as a God,
radiant in beauty, but becoming dark again as her light is rendered heavy if
it approaches the shadows of the material plane.
Why
does not the soul remain in that state of light? Merely because she has not
yet freed herself fully from the attractions of matter. If she has become
entirely free of these attractions, she will remain in that light, and know
that she is one with it. In this state there is no perceiver and no object of
perception, there is merely perception, and the soul is that which she
perceives. She is, for the time being, identified with the object of her
perception, and, therefore, this state is something beyond the intellectual
comprehension of man.
Having
been united and identical with it, the soul carries its image within herself
when she returns to herself. She then knows that during the time of her union
with the Eternal she was the Eternal itself, and there was no difference
between herself and the former. In herself there was no motion, no sensation,
no desire after anything else, neither was there thought nor conception. She
was exalted and resting in her own being, she was, so to say, rest itself, in
a state surpassing all conceptions of beauty or virtue. A soul entering into
this sublime state, in which there is no form and no image, cannot be supposed
to enter anything illusive. A soul which sinks into illusions degrades
herself, and enters the region of evil and darkness; but the exalted soul
enters into herself; she is then neither in a state of being nor of non-being,
but in one which is inconceivable and above all being.
malchus
porphyrýus.
This
philosopher was a disciple of Plotinus, and was born in Batanea,
in Syria, in the year 233 a.d. He
died at Rome in the year 304 a.d. He
says that only one single time during his life did he succeed in obtaining his
union with God, while his teacher Plotinus, was four times blessed in
this manner.
Porphyry
says, in regard to the Soul:—The embodied soul is like a traveller who has
lived a long time among foreign nations, and has, therefore, not only
forgotten the costumes of his own country, but also adopted those of the
foreigners. When such a traveller returns from his voyage, and desires to be
welcomed by his friends and relatives, he attempts to lay on? his foreign
manners,- and to return again to his former way of acting and thinking.
Likewise the soul, while banished from her celestial home, and being forced to
inhabit a physical form, acquires certain habits from the latter, and if she
desires to return to her former state, she must lay aside all she has adopted
from her terrestrial form. She must try to put off not merely the gross
physical mask in which she is dressed, but also her more interior envelopes,
so that she may enter, so to say, in a state of nudity into the realm of
bliss.
There
are two poisonous sources from which man drinks oblivion of his former
condition, and which cause him to become forgetful of his future destiny,
namely sensual pain and sensual pleasure. By the action of these two, but
especially by the action of the latter, desires and passions are created, and
these attract the soul to matter and become the cause of her corporification.
Thus the soul is, so to say nailed to the body, and the ethereal
vehicle of the soul is rendered heavy and dense. We should avoid
everything which may excite sensuality, because wherever sensuality is active,
reason and pure Intelligence cease their activity. We should, therefore, never
eat for the mere pleasure of eating, but only eat as much as is necessary to
nourish the body. Superfluous, and especially animal food, strengthens the
bonds which bind the soul to matter, and withdraw her from the Divinity and
from divine things. The wise, being a priest of God, should seek to remain
free of all impurities while he is in the temple of Nature, and he should
never so far forget his dignity as to approach the Source of all Life while he
himself constitutes a grave for the dead bodies of animals. He should select
for his nutriment only the pure gifts of his terrestrial mother. If we could
avoid all kind of food, we should become still more spiritual.
In
regard to the difference existing between corporeal and incorporeal things,
Porphyry says:—"The Incorporeal governs the Corporeal, and is,
therefore, present everywhere, although not as space, but in power. The
corporeal existence of things cannot hinder the Incorporeal from being present
to such things as it desires to enter into relation with. The Soul has
therefore the power to extend her activity to any locality she may desire. She
is a power which has no limits, and each part of her, being independent of
special conditions, can be present everywhere, provided she is pure and
unadulterated with matter. Things do not act upon each other merely by the
contact of their corporea1 forms, but also at a distance, provided they have a
soul, because the higher elements of the soul are everywhere, and cannot be
enclosed in a body, like an animal in a cage, or a liquid in a bottle. The
universal soul, being essentially one and identical with the infinite supreme
Spirit, may, by the infinite power of the latter, discover or produce
everything, and an individual soul may do the same thing if she is purified
and free from the body."
"The
realm of the soul, being semi-material, has its inhabitants possessing
semi-material (astral) forms. Some of them arc good, others evil; some are
kindly disposed towards man, others are malicious. Both classes have ethereal
but changeable bodies; the good ones are masters of their bodies and desires,
the evil ones are governed by the desires of their bodies. They are all powers
for good or for evil, divine, animal, or diabolic invisible influences
creating, by their interior activity, passions, desires, vices, and virtues in
the souls of beings. The more evil they are, the more do their forms approach
the corporeal state. They then live on the exhalations of matter; they induce men to murder and to kill animals, they enjoy the
vapours arising from the victims, and grow fat by absorbing the ethereal
substances of the dying. They are, therefore, always ready to incite men to
wars and crimes, and they collect in great crowds in places where men or
animals are killed."
Porphyry
ridicules the idea that gods, being wiser, more powerful, and superior to man,
could be coaxed, persuaded or forced to do the will of man or conform to his
desires. He repudiates the theory that clairvoyance, prophecy, etc., were the
results of the inspiration by external gods, but says that they are a function
of the Divine Spirit within man; and that the exercise of this function
becomes possible when the soul is put into that condition which is necessary
to exercise it. "The consciousness of man may be centred within or beyond
his physical form; and according to conditions a man may be, so to say, out of
himself or within himself, or in a state in which he is neither wholly without
nor within, but enjoys both states at once." He also states that there
are many invisible beings, which may take all possible forms and appear as
gods, as men, or as demons, that they are fond of lying and masquerading, and
of pretending to be the souls of departed men.
It
is said that Porphyry was several times during his prayers levitated into the
air, even to the height of ten yards or more, and that on such occasions his
body appeared to be surrounded by a golden light. "The gods are
everywhere, and he whose soul is filled with such a divine influence to the exclusion of lower
influences is, for the time being, the god which that influence represents,
possessing his attributes and ideas. The nature of the union of the soul with
God cannot be intellectually conceived or expressed in words; he who
accomplishes it is identical with God, he is Divinity itself, and there is no
difference between him and the latter. The gods are not called down to us by
our prayers; but we rise up to them by our own holy aspirations and efforts;
we are connected with them by the all-embracing power of love."
JaMBLIChus.
This
philosopher was a disciple of Porphyry, and died about 333 a.d.
He says:—
"If
the soul rises up to the gods, she becomes god-like and able to know the above
and the below; she then obtains the power to heal diseases, to make
useful inventions, to institute wise laws. Man has no intuitive power of his
own; his intuition is the result of the connection existing between his soul
and the Divine Spirit; the stronger this union grows, the greater will be his
intuition, spiritual knowledge. Not all the perceptions of the soul are of a
divine character; there are also many images which are the products of the
lower activity of the soul in her mixture with material elements. Divine
Nature, being the eternal fountain of Life, produces no deceptive images; but
if her activity is perverted, such deceptive images may appear. If the mind of
man is illumined by the Divine Light, the ethereal vehicle of his soul becomes
filled with light and shining."
PROCLUS.
Proclus
lived at Byzany, 412—485. He was a hermetic philosopher and mystic,
having often prophetical visions and dreams. It is said that he had the
spiritual power of producing rain by his "prayer" and of preventing
earthquakes. He was very pious and self-denying, and on some occasions his
head seemed to be surrounded by a glory of light.
He
says that the soul of man consists of many coats; some more dense, and others
of a more ethereal character, each one being a fundamental principle,
changeable only in regard to its form. "The soul can only return to her
divine state after having been purified of her earthly desires. Her reason and
free will must take part in the sufferings belonging to the material state,
until she attains knowledge and becomes free from desires. For this purpose
she clothes herself at certain periods in a physical form (reincarnates as a
human being), until she has laid off her desires. The more the soul frees
herself from her gross external coats (principles) the higher can she
rise."
HIEROCLES.
This
philosopher says:—"The intelligent soul-substance received from the Demiurgos
(Logos) an inseparable immaterial body, and entered thus into being. She is,
therefore, neither corporeal nor incorporeal, but comparable to the sun and
the stars, which are the product of an immaterial substance. This soul-body,
which human beings as well as "spirits" possess, is of a shining
nature. The vehicle of the soul is contained within the material body of man;
it breathes Life into the lifeless and soulless physical organism, and
contains the harmony of the latter. The Life Principle of man is the
inner being which produces the activity of Life in the organism. The inner man
consists of an intelligent substance and an immaterial (transcendentally
material) body. The visible material form is the production and images
of the interior man. The external form consists of the animal, unintellectual,
gross-material and ethereal bodies, a separation of living substance and dead
matter is effected, and thus man may render himself capable of having
intercourse with pure spirits.
During
the year 529, the imperial bigot Justinian closed the schools of
Philosophy at Athens, and their last representatives, Isodorus,
Damascius, and Simplicius went to Persia. They expected to find in
the East freedom of thought, tolerance, and wisdom. It was said that Chrosroes,
the King of Persia, was a philosopher, and they hoped to obtain his
protection. But they soon found that the philosophy of that King was very
superficial, and that he was a cruel, passionate, and ignorant tyrant,
varnished over with some superficial learning. Disappointed, they returned to
Greece.
This
was the experience of the last of the Neoplatonic philosophers, such as were
publicly known, and a long obscuration of the sun of wisdom took place, until
a ray of light broke again through the clouds during the I5th century.
Chapter
Three
MEDIAEVAL
PHILOSOPHERS
Centrum
in Trigono Centri
The
external world is an image of the interior world. The astronomy of the
visible starry sky is an external reproduction of astrological processes taking
place in the invisible heavens, and the revolutions of the planets which are
within the reach of observation by our physical senses, are symbols by means of
which the action of spiritual powers existing in the universe are represented.
As the earth has her seasons of heat and cold, according to her position which
she occupies in regard to the sun, and as she approaches the sun at certain
times and recedes at others, likewise there are regular periods at which the
human mind seems to come nearer to the spiritual sun of divine wisdom, and there
are other times when a period of darkness and materialism exists. During the
times of perihelion, receptive minds will find it easier to rise up in their
thoughts to the fountain of eternal truth; while during the aphelion it requires
greater efforts to approach the divine luminary. During the time of the Middle
Ages there appears such perihelion to have taken place, and a wave of
spirituality was passing over the world, illuminating the minds of those who
were receptive for wisdom; while in the minds of the vulgar it merely aroused
the emotional element, causing among them an epidemic of superstition, which
manifested itself on the external plane as the development of witchcraft and
sorcery. There were many hermetic philosophers of great prominence living during
those times. Foremost of all must be mentioned Theophrastus Paracelsus, of
Hohenheim; Jacob Boehme, Cornelius Agrippa, Basilius Valentinus, Robert Fludd,
and many others too numerous to be named. As the lives and the philosophy of the
two former ones have already been explicitly dealt with in my other books, I
will select from the rest the writings of Cornelius Agrippa as a type of what
was taught by those mediæval philosophers.
magýc,
ACCORDING TO cornelýus
agrýppa.
Cornelius
Agrippa of Nettesheim was born of a noble family at Coeln (Cologne)
on September 14, in the year 1486. He was a philosopher, physician, lawyer,
theologian, soldier, and also a statesman. He studied the Occult Sciences, and
is said to have been a good Alchemist. He also organized at Paris a secret
society for the purpose of studying the secret sciences. He drew upon himself
the hatred and malice of the clergy, whose evil practices he desired to
reform, and he was consequently denounced as a black magician and sorcerer,
and there are even to-day nearly as many fabulous stories circulating about
him as there are in regard to the reputed black magician, Doctor Faustus. He
was an open enemy of the Holy Inquisition, continually persecuted by latter,
and therefore he had to change his place of residence very often. While only
twenty-four years of age he wrote his celebrated work, “Occulta Philosophia,"
which in his riper age he greatly improved. His study of the occult side of
nature led him to realize the fact that the truth cannot be found in
illusions, even if they belong to the supersensual plane of existence, and he
therefore says in his book, "De Vanitate Scientiarum":
"He who does not prophesy in the truth and power of God, but by means of
daemons and evil spirits, errs. He who produces illusions by magic spells,
exorcisms, citations, cojurations, philtres, and other dæmoniacal methods
deserves to be punished in hell."
Cornelius
Agrippa made great effort to restore the true meaning of the term
"Magic": a term which means the exercise of spiritual functions
which are in possession of the wise; but the ignorant even to this day
use the term "Magic," when they want to talk about Sorcery
and Villainy, which is not wisdom, but the very thing opposed to it. In regard
to his book he says: "I have written it in such a manner that those who
are wise will find therein all the information they desire; but to the evil
disposed and the sceptic the door to the mysterious
realm will remain closed, no matter how hard they may struggle to enter
it. If you possess the power of seeing with the eye of reason, the whole
sublime magic science will appear before your sight, and you will know the
powers which Hermes, Zoroaster, and Apollonius knew."
”The
Key to the highest and divine philosophy of the mysterious powers
nature is reason. The brighter the sun of reason shines, the more powerful
will the intellect grow, and the easier will it become for us to accomplish
even the most wonderful things. But if the intellect is in the bonds of flesh,
if it cannot overcome the errors received by inheritance and false education,
it will be unable to penetrate into the divine mysteries of nature and God. He
who wants to enter into the sanctuary must die. He must die to the world and
to external sensual attractions, die to his animal instincts and desires. Not
that by such a death the soul would become separated from the body; but the
soul must be able to step out of the latter. Therefore Paulus writes to
the Colossians: 'You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God';
and at another place he says: ‘I know a man (but whether he was in the body
or out of the body I do not know, God knows it) he was exalted into the third
heaven.' Such a death must he die who wishes to know God, and only few are
privileged to do so."
"Whatever
we read about the irresistible powers of the Magic Art, of the wonderful
sights of the Astrologers, etc., will be found to be fables and lies as soon
as we take those things in their external and literal meaning. Their external
forms cover internal truths, and he who desires to sec those truths must be in
possession of the divine light of reason, which is in possession of
very few. Therefore those who attempt to solve the problems of the divine
secrets of nature by the reading of books will remain in the dark; they are
led away from the light of reason by the illusive glare of their erring
intellect; they are misguided by the tricks of external astral influences and
by erroneous imaginations. They fall continually into error by seeking beyond
their own selves that which exists within themselves. You must know that the
great cause of all magic effects is not external to ourselves, but operating
within ourselves, and this cause can produce all that the Magicians,
Astrologers, Alchemists, or Necromancers ever produced. Within ourselves is
the power which produces all wonderful things.
Nos
habitat, non tartara, sed nee sidera coeli
Spiritus in nobis, qui viget, ilia facit.
"Magic
Science embraces a knowledge of the most sublime and exalted truths, the
deepest mysteries in nature, the knowledge of the nature of matter and energy,
of the attributes and qualities of all things. By uniting the powers of nature
and combining the lower with its corresponding higher counterpart the most
surprising effects may be produced. This science is therefore the highest and
most perfect of all; she is a sacred and exalted philosophy the culminating
point of all."
Agrippa
regards nature as being a trinity; an elementary (corporeal) astral and
spiritual world, and the lower principles are intimately connected with the
higher ones, forming thus four more intermediary states; that is to say, seven
in all.
The
cause of all activity in the universe is the omnipresent principle of Life
(being identical with the Will), a function of the universal spirit. This life
principle causes the ethereal Soul to act upon the gross element of Matter.
"The
Spirit—the Primum mobile—is self-existent and is motion; the body,
or the element of matter, is in its essence without motion, and differs so
much from the former that an intermediary substance is required by which the
Spirit can be united with the body. This intermediary spiritual substance is
the soul, or the fifth essence (quinta essentia) because it is not
included in the four states of matter, which are called the four elements, but
constitutes a fifth element, or a higher state of matter which is perceptible
to the physical senses. This soul of the world is of the same form as the
world; because as the spirit in man acts upon all the members of his body by
means of man's soul, likewise the universal spirit by means of the soul of,
the universe pervades and penetrates all parts of the latter. There is nothing
in the world which does not contain a spark of this universal power; but
spirit is most active in those things or beings in whom the activity of soul
is strongest.
This
astral spirit can be rendered very useful to us if we know how to
separate it from the other elements, or if we use such things as contain an
abundance of it. There are certain things in which this principle is not so
deeply sunk into or so strongly amalgamated with the body as it is in others,
and such things act powerfully and may produce their counterparts.
This
is the great alchemical agent, and in it are contained all productive and
generative powers. If this spirit is extracted from gold or silver and united
with some other metal it transforms the latter into gold, respectively silver.
There
is such a great harmony and unity in nature that every superior power sends
its rays through intermediary links down to the lowest, and the most inferior
thing may rise up through the scale to the highest. Thus the lowest is
connected with the highest comparable to a string of a musical instrument,
which vibrates in its whole length if touched at one end. If the lower is
acted on it reacts upon the higher, and the highest corresponds to the lowest.
A
thing of very small size may produce a great effect (as may be seen by the
growth of a tree from a seed), but this cannot take place with an elementary
quality (physical force). The hidden powers may accomplish a great deal,
because they are the properties of the form to which they belong; but the
elementary (mechanical or physical) forces, being material, require a great
deal of matter to produce great effects upon matter. The powers belonging to
the form are called occult powers, because their causes are hidden;
that is to say, even the sharpest intellect cannot thoroughly conceive of
their nature, and what the philosophers know about them they have learned
rather by observation and experience, than by intellectual reasoning.
God
created man in His own image. The universe is the image of God and man is the
image of nature. Man is therefore, so to say, the image of the image; in other
words a Miscrocosmos, or little world. The world is a reasonable,
living, and immortal being; man is equally reasonable, but he is mortal, or at
least divisible. Hermes Trismegistus says that the world is immortal,
because no part of it is ever annihilated. Nothing is ever annihilated, and if
"to die" means to be annihilated, then is "dying" a term
without any reason for its existence; because there is no death in nature. If
we say that a man dies, we do not mean to imply that anything of that man
perishes; we only mean to say that his body and soul become separated from
each other. The true image of God is His Word, Wisdom, Life, Light, and Truth;
they exist through Him, and the (spiritual) soul is their image. This is the
reason why it is said that we (man in its primitive purity as a
spiritual being) have been created in the image of God, and not in the image
of the world or its creatures. God can neither be touched with the hand, nor
be heard with the external ear, nor be seen with the external eye, and
likewise the spirit of man can neither be seen, heard, or touched in this
manner. God is infinite and cannot be overpowered by anything, and likewise is
man's spirit (spiritual soul) free and can
neither be forced nor limited. In God is contained the whole world and
everything existing therein, and likewise in the will of man is contained
every part of his body. Man being thus stamped and sealed in the image of God
as His counterpart, necessarily clothed himself in a form, representing the
true image of nature. He is therefore called the second or little world; he
contains everything contained in the great world, and there is nothing
existing in the latter which is not also truly existing within the organism of
man. In him are contained all the elements (principles), each principle
according to its own qualities; in him is the ethereal astral body, the
vehicle of his soul, corresponding to the firmament of the world; in him is
the vegetative power of plants, the principle of sensation, manifest in the
animal kingdom, the divine spirit, divine reason, and the divine mind All this
is contained in man, united to a unity and belonging to him by divine right.
Man is therefore called by the Bible "the whole creation," and in
his aspect as the Microcosm he contains not only all parts of the world, but
also contains and comprehends the divinity itself.
The
natural Soul is the Medium by which the Spirit becomes united with the
flesh and the body, through which the latter lives and acts and exercises its
functions. This Medium is intelligent, but also so to say corporeal; or to
express it perhaps more correctly, the soul takes part in the materiality of
the physical body. This is the doctrine of all hermetic philosophers. Man
consists of the higher, the intermediary, and the lower principles. The higher
ones are called the illuminated spiritual soul, and Moses speaks of it
figuratively as having been breathed by God into the nostrils of man. The
lowest is the animal soul (anima sensitiva). The apostle Paulus calls it the
animal man. The intermediate part is the rational soul which connects the
animal soul with the divine mind and takes part in the nature of the two
extremes. This part, to become free, must be separated from the lower elements
by the power of the Will of which the apostle says, that it is living
and cutting like a sword. The divine principle never sins and never consents
to sin; but the animal principle sinks continually lower in animal desires
unless it is held up by the divine spirit. The highest part of ourselves is
never subject to punishment, knows nothing of the sufferings of the lower
principle; but returns after being separated from the lower principles to its
divine source; but that part which is called the rational soul, and which
being free, may choose between the higher or lower, will, if it continually
clings to the highest, become united with God and immortal in him; but if the
intellectual principle clings to that which is evil, it will become ultimately
evil, and grow to be a malicious demon.
God
is the centre of the world and enters the heart of man, like a sun-ray. As the
spirit of God descends, it surrounds itself with an ethereal substance,
forming the Astral body, the vehicle of the soul (the fiery chariot of
the soul). From the centre of the heat the spirit radiates
into all parts of the body and pervades all its members, combing its own
vehicle with the natural heart of the body and with the soul substance
generated within the heart. By means of the soul it mixes with and amalgamates
with the fluids (the blood, nerve currents, etc.), and with all organs of the
body. The soul is therefore equally near to all organs, although she radiates
from one organ into another in the same sense as the heat of a fire is
intimately connected with air and water, if it is carried from fire to water
by means of the air. In this way we may form a conception of the process, by
which the immortal spirit by means of its immortal ethereal vehicle may be
enabled to adhere to and mix with a dense, mortal, material body. If by
disease or otherwise the connection between different parts of the same
organism is interrupted, the spirit returns again to the
heart. If the life-principle leaves the heart, the spirit departs with
the ethereal vehicle and the physical organism dies.
The
first Light in God is beyond intellectual conception, and can therefore not be
called a conceivable light; but as it enters the mind it becomes intellectual
light and may be intellectually conceived. Entering into the soul it may not
only be conceived, but also understood. It is incorporeal. When it enters into
the ethereal vehicle it takes form, invisible to the physical senses; but when
it penetrates the elementary (physical) organism, it becomes also visible to
the external perception. By this gradual progression of this divine Light from
Spirit into dense Matter our spirit may obtain great power. It is possible
that if the thoughts of the wise are directed with great intensity upon God,
the divine light illuminates the mind and radiates its rays through all the
parts of the dark and gross body, causing even the latter to become
illuminated like a luminous star, and to change its attraction to the earth,
so that it may be raised up into the air, and thus it has happened that even
the physical bodies of men have been carried away to some distant locality. So
great is the interior power of the spirit over the external body that the
former may lift the latter up and take him to that place where man's thought
travels or where he desires or dreams to be.
Man's
power to think increases in proportion as this ethereal and celestial power or
light penetrates his mind, and strengthening his mental faculties, it may
enable him to see and perceive that which he interiorly thinks, just as if it
were objectively and eternal. Spirit being unity and independent of our ideas
of space, and all men having therefore essentially the same spirit, the souls
of men existing at places widely distant from each other may thus enter into
communication and converse with each other exactly in the same manner as if
they had met in their physical bodies. In this state man may perform a great
many things in an exceedingly short period of time, so that it may seem to us
as if he had required no time at all to perform it. But not everybody can do
so; it can only be done by those whose imagination and power of thought is
very strong. Such a man (an Adept) is
able to comprehend and understand everything by the light of the universal
power or guiding intelligence with which he is spiritually united.
But
if imagination possess such a power that it cannot be impeded or restrained by
the obstacles presented by time or distance, if it can even communicate itself
to the heavy physical body and carry the latter with it; then it will be
reasonable to believe that thought becomes still more powerful if it becomes
free and may follow its natural; inclinations, instead of being held back by
the attractions of the sensual plane. In each man there is such a power, which
is the inherent property of his soul by right of the divine origin of the
latter; but this power is not equally developed in all men, but stronger in
some, weaker in others, and according to the state of its development the
possibility to use it differs in different individuals.
By
this power two persons being bodily far distant from each other may exchange
their thoughts, or one may impress his thoughts upon another, and such a power
may be used for good or for evil purposes. Weak-minded persons may thus be
fascinated by stronger minds, or be made to fall in love with the person by
whom they are thus fascinated. The instrument of fascination is the spirit,
and the organ, by which it eminently expresses itself is the eye. Thus the
spirit of one person may enter the heart of another by way of the eyes, and
kindle a fire therein which may burn and communicate itself to the whole body.
If two persons look into the eyes of each other, their spirits come in
contact, and mix and amalgamate with each other. Thus love may be caused by a
look in a moment of time, like a wound caused suddenly by an arrow. The spirit
and the blood of a person thus affected then turn towards him who fascinated
it, like the avenging spirit and the blood of a murdered person turns against
the murderer.
The
passions of the soul which adhere to the imagination may, if they are
sufficiently strong, not only produce changes in the organism to which they
belong, but also be transferred upon another organism, and thus impressions
may be made by the will of a person upon the elements and external things, and
thus diseases of the soul or body may be caused or cured. The state of the
soul is the principal cause of the condition of the external body. A strong,
exalted soul, stimulated by a strong and active imagination, may not merely
cause health or disease in her own organism, but also in that of others with
which she comes in contact. Evil disposed persons may exert a very evil
influence upon others by their look. The invisible forces emanating from the
soul through the eye are much more powerful, stronger, hotter, and more active
than the emanations of the physical body. The soul-force of a person entering
within the soul sphere of another acts therein not less strong than it would
act if it had originated in the latter. By such means one man may exert an
influence upon the mind and character of another.
The
spirit may accomplish a great deal by the power of Faith. This
power is a firm confidence or conviction, based upon the knowledge that one
can and will accomplish his purpose. It is a strong, unwavering attention
which gives strength to the work, causing, so to say, an image in our mind of
the power which is necessary to accomplish the work, and of the work which is
to be accomplished in, by, and through ourselves. We must, therefore, in all
magic operations, apply a strong will, a vivid imagination, a confident hope,
and a firm faith; all of which combined will assist in producing the desired
result.
It
is well known that if a rich person has confidence and faith in his physician,
he is more liable to be benefited by the latter than if he mistrusts him, and
often the presence of the physician in whom the patient has faith benefits the
latter more than the remedies which he uses. The presence of a
spiritually-minded physician who possesses a strong soul, and who desires to
help the patient, is a power which is often sufficiently strong to change the
pathological activity of the soul-elements of the patient (of which the
physical processes taking place in the organism are merely the external
expression), and thus to restore the patient. Every physician ought therefore
be a magician in a certain sense. He ought not to doubt in the least that he
will be successful in that which he attempts to accomplish. He ought not even
to permit a thought of the possibility of a failure to enter his mind; because
as a firm faith may accomplish wonderful things, like-wise doubt disperses the
active power of the operator and renders it ineffective. In such a case the
spiritual activity vibrates, so to say, between two extremes: it lacks the
projecting impulse to enter the physical organism of the patient, it becomes
diffused in space and is lost.
In
this power of the spirit over the element of matter by means of the soul rests
the power of certain signs, images, formulas, incantations, words, etc., and
many wonderful experiments may thus be produced. The activity of the spirit
strengthens the soul; by the will and imagination of the spirit the soul
receives strength to act upon matter.
There
is a spiritual power residing in the soul of man which enables the latter to
attract, influence, and change things. If the power of the soul mounts to a
certain height she may overpower the elements which hold her in bonds; for
that which is above attracts and subjects that which is below,
and the latter partakes of the changes of the former. Therefore, a man who has
rendered himself capable to receive celestial gifts, by making use of the
aspirations (functions) of his soul and employing natural things, may
influence another being who is less spiritually strong, and force him to obey.
He
may cure another by the power of his will or cause him to be sick or kill him;
he may make him joyful or sad, fill him with fear, admiration, respect,
veneration, etc.
The
root from which all such effects spring is a strong and decided will
supported by the spiritual influence coming from and through the heart. An
opposing spiritual activity will, if the latter surpasses the former in
strength, neutralize or repulse it, or weaken its influence If
a man becomes subject to a fascination, it is not his intellectual principle,
but his sensual (animal) soul which is thus affected. The intelligent and
spiritual part in man cannot be thus magically influenced. If the organism of
a man is suffering it suffers according to its animal and terrestrial, and not
in his spiritual or celestial aspect. The intelligent and spiritual part of
man can merely know that such influences are acting upon the lower principles
by a certain sensation which is communicated from the lower to the higher
elements. Intelligent man feels the influence which is exercised by external
conditions upon his animal constitution; but he is not himself subject to
their influences. Everything belonging to the above moves that which is
next to it below according to its degree and order, not merely in the
visible, but also in the invisible part of nature. Thus the Universal Soul
moves the individual souls, the Mind acts upon the animal, and the animal upon
the vegetative principle. Each part of the world acts upon every other part,
and each one is capable to be moved by another; and upon each part of the
lower world acts the higher world, according to the attributes and conditions
of the former, just as one part of the animal organism acts upon
another.
There
is an art, known only to few, by which the purified and faithful
(intellectual) soul of man may be instructed and illuminated, so as to be
raised at once from the darkness of ignorance to the light of wisdom and
knowledge. There is also an art, by which the knowledge gained by the impure
and unfaithful may be taken away from their mind and memory and they thus be
reduced to their former state of ignorance.
Apuleius
says that the human soul may be put into a state of sleep, so that she will
forget her terrestrial conditions and turning her whole being towards her
divine origin, she will become illuminated by the divine light, and not only
be able to see the future and to prophesy it correctly, but also to receive
certain spiritual powers. On such occasions the divine inspiration and
illumination may be so great, as even to communicate itself to other persons
near, and to influence them in a similar manner.
Persons
in a state of receptivity or passivity may become mediums through which
divine demons (influences) may be attracted within the body of man and cause
men to perform wonderful things. If the soul of such a person breaks away from
the bonds of the body and surrenders herself to the power of imagination, she
may become the habitation of demons of a lower order, which may enable her to
perform extraordinary things. Thus we may see that a person who has never had
any instructions in painting may suddenly exercise that art and produce an
artistic work, etc., etc. If the soul enters entirely the intellectual sphere,
she may become the habitation of another class
of demons and obtain great knowledge in regard to human and external things,
and man may thus become suddenly a great philosopher, physician, orator, etc.,
without having learned those things; but if the soul rises up entirely to the
region of divinity, she may become the habitation of divine spiritual
influences, and obtain a knowledge of divine mysteries.
Only
those who are pure-minded and spiritual can possess true magic powers. Thought
is the supreme power in man, and pure spiritual thought is the miracle-worker
within him. If the thought of man is bound to the flesh, deeply amalgamated
with it and occupied with animal desires, it loses its power over the divine
elements, and therefore among those who seek to exercise magic powers there
are few who succeed. If we desire to become spiritually developed we must try
to find out how we can free ourselves of our animal instincts and desires and
become rid of our sensuality and passions, and we must, furthermore, attempt
to rise up to a state of true spirituality. Without accomplishing these two
propositions we will never rise up to that state which is necessary to obtain
magic powers, which result from the spiritual elevation and dignity of man.
We
should therefore attempt to remove all external impediments which are in the
way of our spiritual development and live in a state of purity. Our thoughts
should be continually directed inwardly and within ourselves; for within
ourselves is the element of consciousness, knowledge, and power. Nothing
hinders us to develop and exercise our own powers, except our misconceptions,
imaginations, and external desires. Therefore the divine influences will only
come to him who liberates his soul of all such hindrances, carnal desires,
prejudices, and hallucinations. A diseased eye cannot bear to look at the
light; an impure soul is repulsed by the divine light of truth.
Such
a process of development and unfolding is not accomplished at once, but
requires time and patience; a neophyte cannot immediately understand the
mysteries of initiation when he enters the sacred precincts. The soul must be
gradually accustomed to the light until the power of spiritual thought is
unfolded, and the latter being, continually directed towards the divine light,
becomes at last united with it. If the soul is perfectly purified and
sanctified she becomes free in her movements; she sees and recognizes the
divine light and she instructs herself, while she seems to be instructed by
another. In that state she requires no other admonition or instruction except
her own thought, which is the head and guide of the soul. She is then no more
subject to terrestrial conditions of time, but lives in the eternal, and for
her to desire a thing is to possess it already.
C.
Agrippa here adds the following instructions,
copied from Boëthius:—
"The
guides on the road to perfection are Faith, Hope, and Charity, and the means
to attain this object are Purity, Temperance, Self-control,
Chastity, Tranquility of Mind, Contemplation, Adoration (Ecstasy), Aspiration,
and Virtue."
If
the highest state of spiritual development is attained, the spirit, endowed
with the highest spiritual activity of the soul, attracts the truth, and
perceives and knows at once the conditions, causes, and effects of all
external and internal, natural and divine things. It sees them within the
eternal truth like in a mirror of Eternity. By this process Man, while
he still remains in eternal nature, may know all that exists in the internal
and external world, and see all things, not merely those which are, but also
those which have been, or which will exist in the future, and, moreover, by
being united and identified with the divine power (The Logos), he
obtains the power to change things by the power of his (spiritual) Word.
Thus man being within nature may be above her and control her laws."
Those
who are able to read the works of Cornelius Agrippa by the light of
internal reason, will see that a single page of his books contains more wisdom
than whole libraries filled with the speculations and theories of our modern
philosophers, and his name and doctrines will be remembered and admired when
all the illusions and hallucinations of the latter will have sunk into the
oblivion which they deserve.
Chapter
Four
AMONG
THE "ADEPTS."
A
belief in the existence of persons endowed with abnormal or extraordinary
psychic faculties or magical powers, by which they can produce wonderful
effects, such as are not to be explained by the commonly accepted theories of
external science, is nothing new. The Bible and the "Acta Sanctorum"
are full of accounts of so-called ”miracles," a term which signifies
something wonderful, but for all that not anything contrary to the laws of
nature. Such "wonders" are performed by the power of the spiritually
awakened will. The Yoga philosophy gives a specification of these powers, and
describes how they may be acquired.
To
those powers belongs the art of making oneself invisible; of leaving one's
body at will and returning to it again; of projecting one's soul to a distant
place; of prolonging physical life for a long period of time; of transforming
base metals into pure gold by alchemical means; of creating subjective
illusions which appear to the spectators as objective realities, and of
performing numerous other feats, such as belong to the department of Magic,
white or black.
There
is sufficient evidence going to show that during the time of the Middle Ages
there were numerous people existing in whom such psychic faculties had been
more or less developed. It was a time during which the imagination of the
people as a whole was more active and more directed toward the supersensual
and metaphysical aspect of the world. There was more of the true faith, and
likewise more superstition to be found than at present, and faith as well as
fear are active powers, capable to produce results on the astral plane. From
the true faith, the result of spiritual knowledge, spring the powers of the
Adept; from fear and superstition, the phenomena of obsession and sorcery.
Persons in possession of magic powers, and especially those who were supposed
to know the secrets of Alchemy, were called "Adepts,"
"Rosicrucians," or "Philosophers," and the greatest of
them were supposed to belong to some secret and mysterious society, called "the
Brotherhood of the Golden and Rosy Cross."
If
we allow a great deal of poetical liberty in the descriptions of the members
of this fabulous order, charging it to the fruitful imagination of the writers
living at the time of the "knights errant," nevertheless, there
remains a considerable amount of historical evidence going to show that there
were persons endowed with abnormal powers; although there is no evidence
whatever that they were united among themselves by any external association or
sect. Neither would such a farce ever be necessary among those whose
internal senses were opened, and who would be drawn together by the ties of
the spirit, Having the power of interior perception, they would surely not
need any external passwords and signs. The true brothers of the Golden and
Rosy Cross were and still are a spiritual society, and therefore the effort
made at that time of finding a real and living, indisputable true Rosicrucian,
were as unavailing as was at a more recent period the effort made by a certain
London society of proving the existence of real and living Adepts.
The
Rosicrucians have been celebrated in prose and in verse; and their virtues
have been extolled by some, while others have denounced them as impostors.
Some writers describe them as beings of a superior character, possessed of
apparently supernatural knowledge and powers, as men of noble appearance and
exercising an invisible but irresistible influence over all with whom they
come into contact. They describe them as having the power to read the hearts
of men, and to cure the diseases of their bodies by wonderful medicines, or
merely by the touch of their hands. They are loved by all and they love all;
but their hearts are invulnerable to sexual love. They never marry. They are
sometimes described as being of fabulous age, and still appearing in the full
vigour of manhood; as being great travellers and speaking the language of each
country where they temporarily reside, as fluently and correctly as if it were
their own native tongue; as possessing the power of rendering themselves
invisible, and again, as often appearing unexpectedly, when their presence is
most urgently needed. They are possessed of immense treasures, and have the
power to transmute base metals into gold, and yet they despise riches and are
contented to live in poverty. They are the wisest of all men, and the
knowledge of even the most learned cannot be compared with what they know.
They do nothing whatever for the purpose of obtaining fame, for they are dear
to ambition; nevertheless their fame spreads wherever they appear. They are
universally honoured, but they seek not for honour, and prefer to remain
unnoticed. Palaces are at their disposal, but they prefer the hut of a beggar.
They are not proud of their personal attributes, but it is the majesty of the
divine principle manifesting itself in them, and shining even through the
material envelope called the physical body, which surrounds them with an aura
commanding the respect and veneration of all who approach. The glory of
supermundane light which shines through their forms is so great that they may
even appear luminous in darkness.1
The
following is taken from a book entitled "Hermippus Redivivus," which
we will abbreviate as much as possible.
The
Sieur Paul Lucas, who, by the order of Louis XIV., travelled through
Greece and Africa in search of antiquities, says, "Being at Broussa, we
went to a little mosque. We were introduced into a cloister, where we found
four Dervishes, who invited us to their dinner. One of these, who said that he
was of the country of the Usbeks (a Tartar tribe) appeared to me more learned
than the rest; and / verily believe he spoke all the languages of the
world. After we had conversed for a time in the Turkish language, he asked
me whether I could speak Latin, Spanish or Italian. We then spoke in Italian;
but he noticed by my accent that this was not my mother tongue, and when I
told him that I was a native of France, he spoke to me in as good French as if
he had been brought up at Paris. I asked him how long he had stayed in France,
and he answered that he had never been there, but that he desired to visit
that country. This man was so learned that, judging from his discourse, he
seemed to have lived at least a century; but according to his external
appearance he was not more than thirty years of age.
"He
told us that he was one of seven friends who had wandered all over the world
with a view of perfecting their studies; that at parting they always appointed
another meeting at the end of twenty years in a certain town, and that the
first who came would wait for the rest. I perceived that Broussa was the place
appointed for their present meeting. There were a few of them present already,
and they seemed to converse with each other with a freedom which spoke of old
acquaintance rather than merely accidental meeting. We spoke of religion,
natural philosophy, chemistry, alchemy and the Kabala. I told him that the
latter, and especially the notion of the 'Philosopher's Stone,' were
considered by modern savants as mere chimeras. He seemed to know all about it,
and answered: 'The true sage hears all things without being scandalized at
them; but though he may have so much politeness as not to shock any ignorant
person by his denial when they talk of such things; yet, let me ask you
whether you think that he is obliged to sink his understanding to a level with
vulgar minds because they are not able to raise their thoughts to an altitude
equal to his? When I speak of a sage, I mean that kind of man to whom alone
the title "philosopher" properly belongs. He has no sort of tie to
the world; he sees all things die and revive without concern; he has more
riches in his power than the greatest of kings, but he tramples them under his
feet, and this generous contempt sets him even in the midst of indigence above
the power of events.'
"I
said: 'With all these fine maxims, the sage dies as well as other people. What
imports it, therefore, to me when I die, to have be«
either a fool or a philosopher, if wisdom has no prerogative over folly and
one is no more a shield against death than the other?'
"'Alas!'
he answered, 'I see you are absolutely unacquainted with our sublime
science, and have never known true philosophy. Learn from me, then, my friend,
that such an one as I have described dies indeed, for death is a debt which
Nature enacts, and from which therefore no man can be exempt; yet he dies not
before his utmost time is fixed. But then you must observe that this period
approaches near a thousand years, and to the end of that time a sage may live.
He arrives at that end through the knowledge he has of the true medicine. Thus
he is able to ward off whatever may impede the animal functions of his body or
injure the temp
