Truly it has been said that there is nothing new under
the sun, for knowledge is revealed and is submerged again, even as a
nation rises and falls. Here is a system, tested throughout the
ages, but lost again and again by ignorance or prejudice, in the
same way that great nations have risen and fallen and been lost to
history beneath the desert sands and in the ocean depths.
Paracelsus
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will
find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who
asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door
will be opened.
The Bible, Matthew 7: 7-8
Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains
understanding,
for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns
than gold.
She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare
with her.
Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and
honor.
Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold
of her will be blessed. By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's
foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his
knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.
The Bible, Proverbs 3: 13-20
"It is important to learn what other people have learned,
but too many people have lived and died for me to learn more than a
small fraction of what they have learned. There is a prodigious
supply of information, facts, opinions, theories, suppositions, and
doctrines, but the wisdom needed to sort through the mountain of
trash in the hope of finding a gold nugget is not
supplied." -- Colin Low
This new section of our web site is an introduction to inspiring
(and inspired) wisdom from the Past. You can find here thoughts
of famous philosophers, prophets, and scientists.
Distinguish between those who understand and those
who agree.
He who understands the Teaching will not tarry in applying it to
life;
He who agrees will nod and extol the Teaching as remarkable wisdom,
but will not apply this wisdom to his life.
There are many who have agreed, but they are like a withered forest,
fruitless and without shade. Only decay awaits them.
Those who understand are few, but like a sponge they absorb the
precious knowledge and are ready to cleanse the horrors of the world
with the precious liquid.
Buddha
Buddha - Siddhartha Gautama
(about 623 BC to 543 BC )
The wisdom of our ancestors frequently puzzles modern people. In
fact, an average person is totally unaware of that wisdom and most
of today's thinkers who study ancient writings do not understand
their true meaning.
It seems, that the ancients knew a lot about their world and beyond.
However that sacred knowledge was available only to very few
initiated "guardians" and philosophers. They were passing it
on to their disciples through the "sea of time"
in a
form not understood by the common folks. In order to understand how
this was done consider this simple illustration:
By omitting a simple element the meaning
of the image becomes hidden.
What were the reasons for hiding this highest wisdom from the
commoners?
Here are few hints:
The Hermetic Arcanum
15. Let the studious Reader have a care of the manifold
significations of words, for by deceitful windings, and doubtful,
yea contrary speeches (as it should seem), Philosophers wrote their
mysteries, with a desire of veiling and hiding, yet not of
sophisticating or destroying the truth; and though their writings
abound with ambiguous and equivocal words; yet about none do they
more contend than in hiding their Golden Branch.
Tractatus Aureusi [Golden Treatise of Hermes]
"Sons of Science! For this reason are philosophers said
to be envious, not that they grudged truth to religious or just men,
or to the wise, but to fools, ignorant and vicious, who are without
Self-Control and benevolence, lest they should be made powerful, and
able to penetrate sinful things. For of such the philosophers are
made accountable to God, and evil men are not admitted worthy of
this wisdom."
Hermes Trismegistus
(Greek for "Hermes the thrice-greatest")
The Book of the Revelation of Hermes interpreted by Theophrastus Paracelsus
First published in 1608 under the auspices of Benedictus
Figulus in his
"Golden and Blessed Casket of Nature's Marvels".
Concerning the Supreme Secret of the World
[...] By Avicenna this Spirit {of Truth} is named the
Soul of the World.
[...] And as the Soul is in all the limbs of the Body, so also is
this Spirit in all elementary created things. It is sought by many
and found by few. It is beheld from afar and found near; for it
exists in every thing, in every place, and at all times. It has the
powers of all creatures; its action is found in all elements, and
the qualities of all things are therein, even in the highest
perfection. By virtue of this essence did Adam and the Patriarchs
preserve their health and live to an extreme age, some of them also
flourishing in great riches.
When the philosophers had discovered it, with great diligence and
labour, they
straightaway concealed it under strange tongue, and in parables,
lest the same should become known to the unworthy, and the pearls be
cast before swine. For if everyone knew it, all work and industry
would cease; man would desire nothing but this one thing, people
would live wickedly, and the world would be ruined, seeing that they
would provoke God by reason of their avarice and superfluity. For
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath the heart of man
understood what Heaven hath naturally incorporated with this Sprit.
Paracelsus (November 11 or December 17, 1493 -
September 24, 1541)
A famous alchemist, physician, astrologer, and general occultist.
Born Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, he took the name
Paracelsus later in life, meaning "superior to Celsus", an early
Roman physician.
He was also known by the pseudonym
Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus
Bombastus von Hohenheim.
"The man is insane who writes a secret in any
other way than one which will conceal it from the vulgar and make it
intelligible only with difficulty even to scientific men and earnest
students. On this point the entire body of scientific men have been
agreed from the outset, and by many methods have concealed from the
vulgar all secrets of science. For some have concealed many things
by magic figures and spells, others by mysterious and symbolic
words. For example, Aristotle in the Book of Secrets says to
Alexander, 'O Alexander, I wish to show you the greatest secret of
secrets; may the Divine Power help you to conceal the mystery and to
accomplish your aim. Take therefore the stone which is not a stone
and is in every human being and in every place and at every time,
and it is called the Egg of the Philosophers, and Terminus of the
Egg.' Innumerable examples of the kind are to be found in many books
and divers sciences, veiled in such terminology that they cannot be
understood at all without a
teacher. The third method of concealment which they have employed is
that of writing in different ways, for example, by consonants alone,
so that no one can read it unless he knows the words and their
meanings. In this way the Hebrews and the Chaldaeans and Syrians and
Arabs write their secrets. Indeed, as a general thing, they write
almost everything in this way, and therefore among them, and
especially among the Hebrews.
Important scientific knowledge lies hidden. For Aristotle in the
book above mentioned says that God gave them all scientific
knowledge before there were any philosophers, and that from the
Hebrews all nations received the first elements of philosophy. .. .
In the fourth place, concealment is effected by commingling letters
of various kinds; it is in this way that Ethicus the astronomer
concealed his scientific knowledge by writing it in Hebrew, Greek,
and Latin letters in the same written line. In the fifth place,
certain persons have achieved concealment by means of letters not
then used by their own race or others but arbitrarily invented by
themselves; this is the greatest obstacle of all, and Artephiushas
employed it in his book On the Secrets of Nature. In the sixth
place, people invent not characters like letters, but geometrical
figures which acquire the significance of letters by means of points
and marks differently arranged; these likewise Artephius has used in
his science. In the seventh place, the greatestdevice
for concealment is that of shorthand, which is a method of noting
and writing down as briefly as we please and as rapidly as we
desire; by this method many secrets are written in the books of the
Latin-using peoples. I have thought fit to touch upon these
methods of concealment because I may perhaps, by reason of the
importance of my secrets, employ some of these methods, and it is my
desire to aid in this way, at least you, to the extent of my
ability."
R. Bacon, "Epistle on the Nullity of Magic"
Franciscan friar and scholar
Roger Bacon (c. 1214-1292)
The Bible
It is not easy to penetrate the inner meaning of the Bible, which
is heavily veiled word of God.
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables;
he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was
fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
"I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden
since the creation of the world."
The Bible, Matthew 13:34-35
His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He
said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has
been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not
understand.'
The Bible, Luke 8:9-10
He who has ears, let him hear.
The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the
people in parables?"
He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of
heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be
given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have,
even what he has will be taken from him."
This is why I speak to them in parables:
"Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not
hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
"You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with
their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because
they hear.
For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to
see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but
did not hear it."
The Bible, Matthew 13:9-17
"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your
pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet,
and then turn and tear you to pieces."
... darkness was over the surface of the
deep, and the Spirit of God
was hovering over the waters"
[ Genesis ]
Worth a Look
Plato, The Republic, Book II
[...]
First of all, I said, there was that greatest of all
lies, in high places, which the poet told about Uranus, and which
was a bad lie too,-- I mean what Hesiod says that Uranus did, and
how Cronus retaliated on him. The doings of Cronus, and the
sufferings which in turn his son inflicted upon him, even if they
were true, ought certainly not to be lightly told to young and
thoughtless persons; if possible, they had better be buried in
silence. But if there is an absolute necessity for their mention,
a chosen few might hear them in a mystery, and they should sacrifice
not a common [Eleusinian] pig, but some huge and unprocurable
victim; and then the number of the hearers will be very few indeed.
[...]
Neither, if we mean our future guardians to regard the
habit of quarrelling among themselves as of all things the basest,
should any word be said to them of the wars in heaven, and of the
plots and fightings of the gods against one another, for they are
not true. No, we shall never mention the battles of the giants, or
let them be embroidered on garments; and we shall be silent about
the innumerable other quarrels of gods and heroes with their friends
and relatives. If they would only believe us we would tell them that
quarrelling is unholy, and that never up to this time has there been
any, quarrel between citizens; this is what old men and old women
should begin by telling children; and when they grow up, the poets
also should be told to compose for them in a similar spirit. But the
narrative of Hephaestus binding Here his mother, or how on another
occasion Zeus sent him flying for taking her part when she was being
beaten, and all the battles of the gods in Homer--these tales
must not be admitted into our State, whether they are supposed to
have an allegorical meaning or not. For a young person cannot judge
what is allegorical and what is literal; anything that he
receives into his mind at that age is likely to become indelible and
unalterable; and therefore it is most important that the tales which
the young first hear should be models of virtuous thoughts.
The Internet Sacred Text Archive has the full
text of over 500 ebooks on Religion, Mythology, Folklore,
Traditions and the Esoteric. It includes all major
religions' scriptures in English and the original
languages, and hundreds of other books. Includes many
texts scanned from rare books no longer in print. Ideal
for schools, libraries and students. Books include: the
Bible in English, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, the Qur'an in
English and Arabic, the Vedas and Upanishads, Homer,
Virgil, Dante, the Eddas, the Kalavala and even the
complete works of Shakespeare. Topics include the Bible,
Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism,
Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Shinto, I Ching, Taoism,
Confucianism, Jainism, Sikhism, Shamanism, Traditions of
Australia, Polynesia, Africa and Native America; Ancient
Near East, Egypt, Classics of Rome and Greece, Sagas and
Legends, Wicca, Grimoires, Alchemy, Atlantis, Tarot,
Atheism, Philosophy and much more.
Plato:
Republic
by Plato, C. D. C. Reeve, G. M. Grube (Translator)
Plato (c. 427-347 b.c.) founded the Academy in Athens, the
prototype of all Western universities, and wrote more than twenty philosophical
dialogues.
Book Description
The central work of one of the West's greatest
philosophers, The Republic of Plato is a masterpiece of
insight and feeling, the finest of the Socratic dialogues,
and one of the great books of Western culture. Now Robin
Waterfield offers a new translation of The Republic, one
that captures the dramatic realism, poetic beauty,
intellectual vitality, and emotional power of Plato at his
height. Deftly weaving three main strands of argument into
an artistic whole--the ethical and political, the
aesthetic and mystical, and the metaphysical--Plato
explores in The Republic the elements of the ideal
community, where morality can be achieved in a balance of
wisdom, courage, and restraint. But of course the dialogue
is as much about our internal life as about social
morality, for these vital elements must likewise work
together to create harmonious human beings. Equally
important, Plato achieves more than a philosophical
dialogue of lasting fame and importance: The Republic is a
literary masterpiece as well, presenting the philosophy
with poetic power, with strikingly memorable images (the
simile of the cave being the best known of Plato's
unforgettable images of the human condition), carrying the
reader along by the wit and intensity of the language. BOX
"Waterfield's is certainly the best translation of
the Republic available. It is accurate and informed by
deep philosophical understanding of the text; unlike other
translations it combines these virtues with an impressive
ability to render Plato into English that is an varied and
expressive as is Plato's Greek."
NOTE: "The Republic" by Plato contains
much more than most critics are able to see...
"The name David Lindberg is certainly
not new to the study of medieval science in general or of
medieval optics in particular. . . . But without any doubt
we have in hand now the man's masterwork, a truly
first-rate book, done with consummate skill, complete in
every detail. . . .
"The translations . . . are the best ever for the two
Latin works . . . . And to continue with what may seem to
be an advertising blurb, the notes, which are appended at
the end of the explanations to the translations, are
everything that one could expect from good historical
study. . . .
"This is truly a beautiful book,
carefully wrought to the last detail. Even the printing is
exquisite. The ultimate test, to my way of thinking, for
this kind of book is how parallel the Latin and English
facing pages are. The English translation, in fact, is
never behind the Latin text as one turns the page by more
than half a line. That is perfection itself."
by Clement Salaman (Translator), Dorine Van Oyen,
William D. Wharton (Translator), Jean-Pierre Mahe
(Translator)
Book Description
A new translation of the great esoteric
masterpiece that includes the first English translation of
the recently rediscovered Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus
to Asclepius.
* The Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to
Asclepius provides new insights into the actual workings of
the gnostic spiritual path.
* Will be of great interest to scholars and
religious seekers alike.
The Corpus Hermeticum, a powerful fusion of
Greek and Egyptian thought, is one of the cornerstones of
the Western esoteric tradition. A collection of short
philosophical treatises, it was written in Greek between the
first and third centuries a.d. and translated into Latin
during the Renaissance by the great scholar and philosopher
Marsilio Ficino. These writings, believed to be the writings
of Hermes Trismegistus, were central to the spiritual work
of Hermetic societies in late antique Alexandria, aiming to
awaken gnosis, the direct realization of the unity of the
individual and the Supreme. They are still read as
important, inspirational spiritual writings today.
In addition to this new translation of The
Corpus Hermeticum, which seeks to reflect the inspirational
intent of the original, The Way of Hermes includes the first
English translation of the recently rediscovered manuscript
of The Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius, a
collection of aphorisms, closely related to parts of The
Corpus Hermeticum, used by the hermetic student to
strengthen his mind in meditation. With the proper mental
orientation, one could achieve a state of pure perception in
which the true face of God appears. This document is of
enormous value to the contemporary student of gnostic
studies for its insights into the actual workings of this
spiritual path.
Religious and philosophic teachings ascribed to the Egyptian sage
(god) Hermes Trismegistus.
This is a book to own and meditate on the
deeper meanings of its contents.
The Hermetica is an ancient Egyptian wisdom,
and not Greek.
Hermes is a Greek god equated to Tehuti: Tehuti (Egyptian)
is the author of the "Hermetica", who is also
called Thoth, or Hermes.
The works of Hermes were collated in the city
of Alexandria in Egypt during the second and third
centuries CE. The main idea in Hermes' teaching is God as
Cosmic Consciousness. Similar ideas seems to me to be in
other mystic outlooks of other religions.
This is a great little book for a person who
has an interest in all religions and spiritual writings
and traditions You can take this book and read just a few
pages a day and ponder its meaning on different chapters.
Over time, your understanding will increase and
deepen.
