ECHOES

FROM
THE

G. R. S.

GNOSIS

VOL

BY

MEAD
I

TH E
GNOSIS
OF
THE
MIND

'^^^

THEOSOPHICAL
PUBLISHING
SOCIETY

LONDON
AND
BENARES
1906

PRINTED BY PERCY LUND. HUMPHRIES 4 CO., LTD.

THE COUNTRY PRESS, BRADFORD;
3,

AND

6P^

AMEN CORNER, LONDON. E.G.

BRIDGE STREET, MANCHESTER.
;

97,

2437-10

ECHOES FROM THE

GNOSIS,
Under this general title it
a series of small volumes,

is

proposed to publish

drawn from, or based

upon, the mystic, theosophic and gnostic writings
of the ancients, so as to make more easily audible
for the ever- widening circle of those

some echoes

things,

many who

love such

their spiritual ancestry.

initiatory lore of

are

who

of the my.^tic experiences

love the

life

of the spirit,

and

There

and who

long for the light of gnostic illumination, but who

are not sufficiently equipped to study the writings
of the ancients at first hand, or to follow the

These

labours of scholars unaided.

are therefore

to the study of the

subject,

they
even

and

it

is

may become
heard

little

intended to serve as

of

more

difficult

hoped that
for

the

some,

Gnosis,

literature of the

at the

who

volumes

introduction

same time

have, as yet, not

stepping-stones

higher things.
G. R. S. M.

to

The

volume are to the recentlyGreatest Hermes : Studies

Theosophy and Gnosis.
Being a

references in this

published

work

in Hellenistic

Thrice

Translation of the Extant Sermons

of

the

Trismegistic

Literature,

Commentaries and Notes,

and Fragments

with

vols.

Prolegomena,

(London, 1906),

THE GNOSIS OF THE

MIND.
I have been spending much
in a world of great beauty
time
my
and
of thought
purity of feeling, created

For long

of

by the devotion and

of the

intelligence of

one

theosophical fraternities of
the ancient world. They called them-

many

selves disciples of Thrice-greatest Hermes,

and sometimes spoke of their faith as the

Religion of the Mind.

to

They were

and contemporary with

and earliest centuries of

and they lived in Egypt.

What

the

prior

origins

Christianity,

remains of their scriptures and

of their endeavour

what can be gleaned

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

made

has recently been

accessible in the

tongue, in such fashion as I

have been able to reproduce their thought

English

and interpret it. The labour of many

months is ended
the task of reproduction is accomplished, and the echoes
of the Gnosis of Thrice-greatest Hermes
;

are

audible

the

across

centuries

for

English ears in fuller volume than before,

and

It

hope in greater clarity.

no small thing this Gnosis

is

ten-thousand-times-great

Hermes,
enthusiasm

of

as

an ecstasy of
calls
has as its foundation the
Single Love of God, it endeavours to
base itself upon the True Philosophy and
Pure Science of Nature and of Man, and
is indeed one of the fairest forms of the
Gnosis of the Ages. It is replete with

Zosimus

Him

in

for it

Wisdom

(Theosophia) and Worship (Theothe Religion of the

sebeia) in harm.ony
Mind. It is in its

beginning
8

Religion,

devotion and piety and worship,

based on the right activity and passivity
of the Mind, and its end is the Gnosis of
true

things-that-are and the Path of the

that leads man unto God.

Do

claim too

much

the Gnosis

for

Thrice-greatest Hermes ?
echo what He teaches in His
of

(or rather those of

into
is

English speech.

hearers.

the

many

used

by

do but

own words

disciples)

turned

The claim made

forms of

for the Gnosis, not for the

expression

of

His

Good

its

learners

All these forms of

its

and

expression,

sermons, or sacred discourses,

the disciples of this Way, are but

to lead men towards the Gnosis

means
they

are

not

the

Gnosis

itself.

True,

that is set forth appears to me to

be very beautifully expressed, and I have
been delighted with many a thought
and phrase that these nameless writers
and thinkers of years long ago have

much

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

handed down
tongue

to

all this

us in the fair Greek

however,

as a garment

is

that hides the all-beautiful natural form

and glory

What

of the Truth.

is

of

importance

is

that

all

these

Theosophists of the Trismegistic tradition

declare with one voice a sweet voice,

that carries with it conviction within, to

the true knower in our inmost soul that

is Gnosis and Certitude, full and

inexhaustible, no matter how the doubt-

there

ing mind, opinion,' the counterfeit mind,

may weave

its

magic

of contrary appear-

ances about us.

Seeing, then, that

mind

have now much

what has been written of this

Religion of the Mind, I would set down

in

of

a few thoughts thereon as they occur to

me, an impression or two that the contemplation of the beautiful sermons of
the disciples of the Master-Mind has

engraved upon

my

memory.
10

And

would say that I

as a great privilege to have been
regard
permitted by the Gods to be a hander-on
in some small way of these fair things
for indeed it is a great privilege and high
honour to be allowed in any fashion to
first

of

all

it

forward the preparation for the unveiling

of the beauties of the Gnosis in the hearts
of one's fellows,

way

even

as that of

in so insignificant

translating

and com-

menting on that which has already been

forth by greater minds in greater
set
beauty centuries ago. The feeling that
arises is one of joy and thankfulness that
so pleasant a task has been granted by
the Providence of God as a respite on the

way
And

(to

use

phrase

of

so, as in all sacred acts,

praise

and

thankfulness

Hermes teaches us.

But when is there
Master

will

interject)

II

Plotinus').

we begin with
to

God,

as

(the disciple of the

an act that is not

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

sacred for one

"
a
procession

who

is

"

man " and not

?
He who is

"

of Fate
coming unto himself, who from the unconscious and the dead is beginning to
return to consciousness and rise into life,

every act

his

self-consecrates

deeper realisation of the

divine nature ; for now

for

mystery
no longer

ever

of his

is he
an embryo within the womb, nourished
in all things by the Mother-Soul, but a

man-babe new-born, breathing the

the greater
of the Father-Mind.

spirit of

life,,

freer

the cosmic airs

And

so

is

it

that

every act and function of the body should

be consecrated to the Soul and Mind
the traveller on this Way should pray
;

by devoting

unceasingly,

unto his God

As
or

this food nourishes the

the Bread of

Wisdom

when bathing

the

body,

so

his every act

thinking when

As

body, so

nourish the
this

la

may

mind

water purifies

the Water

may

eating

of

Life

vivify the mind

of impurities
:

or

when

freeing the

body

As

these impurities pass

so may the refuse of

from the body,

opinion pass from the mind
Not, however, that he should think
that an3^thing is in itself unclean or
!

divine substance

common, for all is of the

and of mother-matter
knows in his heart of
lower members are not

he already
hearts, but his
this

yet knit tothey are as yet

gether in right harmony
awry, not centred in the perfect whole.
as

He

as

point
Point

;'

sees things from onl}^ one

he has not yet realised that the

yet

is everywhere, and that for everyis a point of view whence it is

there
thing
true and right and beautiful and good.

That all-embracing point

one sense,

all-sense,

the sense of
the

sensible

identical

the

of

view

common

is

the

sense,

the intelligence, in which

and the intelligible are

and not apart.

13

It is the little

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THB
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

mind, the
cession,

mind

that

the Great

in

man, the
external

creates

fate-pro-

duality

Mind knows that the without

and the within are twain

in one, are self-

conditioned complements, the one within

the other and without the other at one

and the same time.

In this Religion of the Mind there is
no opposition of the heart and head.
It is

not a cult of intellect alone, it is not a

it is the Path of
emotion alone

cult of

Devotion and Gnosis inseparably united,

the true Sacred Marriage of Soul and
Mind, of Life and Light, the ineffable
union of God the Mother and God the
Father in the Divine Man, the Logos, the

Alone-Begotten of the Mystery of Mysthe All and

teries,

One

Effability eternally in

Ineffability and
simultaneous Act

and Passion.

And
Mind

if you should object to the word

as excluding other names of equal

14

dignity, know that this also has been

spoken of again and again by the disciples
of Thrice-greatest Hermes.

He

has no name, for

He

many names, nay, He is

names, for He is Name

One of
the One of all
is

the

itself and all

is
and
there
naught that is
things else,
Nor
is
not He.
He One alone, though He
is the One and Only One, for He is All
and Nothing, if such a thing as nothing

there can be.

But we, because of our ignorance, call

Mind, for Mind is that which knows,
and ignorance seeks ever for its other
self, and the other self of ignorance is

Him

Gnosis.

And

seeking

own

whether
view of what

Gnosis,

it

love or hate

it

seeks, ignorance is ever changing into

of knowing, experiencing some

its

false

some form

novelty or other as
is

it

thinks, not

knowing

But Mind
experiencing itself.
not only that which knows, but also

that

it is

15

THB
GNOSIS

OF THB
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

the object of

know
to know
first

all

knowledge

for

it

knows

alone, there being nothing else to

but Mind.
It self -creates itself

itself

itself,

not

know

and

to

itself.

know itself it must

Mind thus makes

ignorance and Gnosis, but is not either

in itself.
It is itself the Mystery that
makes all mysteries in order that it may

be

self-initiate in all.

Thus we are taught that Mind, the

Great Initiator,
hood, Master of

all

master-

ignorance as weU as
so we find the Supreme

all

And

knowledge.

Master of

is

addressing one of His Beloved Sons, one

who has won the mastery of self, as
"

Soul of

my

Soul and Mind of

My own

Mind."

The

perfectioning.
opened up to

neophyte

Mind

is

pre-

initiation, of perpetual

The

into

the

of

Religion

eminently one of

the

vista

of

mind's
these
i6

possibility

eye of
sacred

the
rites

One

transcends credibility.

asks oneself

Can this be true

again and again
seems too good to be true.

But how can

It

Master smiles in reply) when the inevitable end of everything is the Perfection

The Good

of perfection,
It

cannot be

nor too much,

What

then,

And
fection ?
we cannot but

good, for that

out of its own self

too good is
with the Good there

is

Itself

too

is

which
but
;

neither too little

Perfection.

it is

we

feebly ask, is imperin the

Master-Presence

It is the doubt
reply
too good" that is the imperfection
of our nature
we fear it cannot be for us,
"
"
not knowing that the
little one
who

"It

is

catches some glimpse of the vista, the

earnest of the Vision Glorious, sees not
something without, but that which is

within himself.
tTie

full

Sonship

It is all

of

17

there potentially,

the Father.

GNOSIS

OF THE

be ''too good" (the

it

THE

It

is

MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

there and here and everywhere, for

the nature of our very being.

The

it is

glimpse of this Divine possibrought to the consciousness of

the prepared disciple by the immediate
Presence and Glory of the Master, accordfirst

is

bility

ing to the records of the followers of the

But who is the
Religion of the Mind.

Master
is

tion

ripe,

"

so.

he who

Not
is

without us

is
He some
one
sets forth a formal instruc-

other

who

teacher

"

He someone

Is

He some

is

This race," that is to say,

born in this natural way,

when the time is

by God."
some new thing it is

never taught, but

its

memory

is

restored

It is not therefore
not the becoming of something or other
it is a return to the same, we become
what we have ever been. The dream
;

is

ended and we wake to life.

the marvellous
so in one of

And

i8

descriptions of initiation handed on in

the Trismegistic sermons, in which the
disciple is reborn, or born in Mind, he
"
"
is all amazed that
his
father
and

below should remain there

before him just as he ever was in his
initiator here

familiar
is

form, while the efhcacious rite

"
"
by his means. The father
"
son
is the link, the channel

perfected
"

of this

of the Gnosis

the true initiation

formed by the Great

And

that this

is

is

per-

Initiator, the Mind.

so

from another sermon,

in

be learned
which a disciple

may

of a higher grade is initiated without any

intermediate link
by himself, alone as
;

far as

any physical presence of another

is concerned, he is embraced by the Great
Presence and instructed in the mystery.
The office of the " father " is to bring
"

"

union with himself, so

be
born out of ignorance
may
into Gnosis, born in Mind, his Highest
the

son

to

that he

19

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

Self,

and

so

become Son

of

the Father

indeed.

What is most striking in the whole

of the tradition of the Mind-doctrine is
impersonal nature. In this it stands
out in sharp contrast with the popular
Christianity and other saving cults contemporary with it. It is true that the
its

sermons are

set forth

of instruction of

mostly in the form

We

teacher to pupil.

learn to love Hermes and Asclepius and

Tat and Ammon, and become friends
with all of them in turn
they seem to
;

be living men, with well-marked characters.

But they are not historical charThere is an
acters
they are types.
Ammon, a Tat, an Asclepius, and a
Hermes, in each one of us, and that is
"
why we learn to love them. The holy
"
four
are in the shrine of our hearts
;

but transcending
the

Shepherd

of

all,

all

20

embracing
men, the

all,

is

Love

Divine that through the lips of our

HeiTnes teaches us as Asclepius or Tat
as we have ears to hear
or Ammon

the words of power, or eyes to see the

splendour of the teaching.

gnostic

Nay, more than this

and true as

such instruction,
may be, is not
the highest teaching of the Mind. They
who are born in Mind, are taught by Mind
beautiful

every

it

and every thought and

The Mind eternally

act

by every

sensation.

instructs

and mind

the
;

man

for

know through

through body, soul

now

the

man

begins to

he is
changing from the little mind and soul
and body that he was to the Great Body
and Great Soul and Mind of the Great
Man. He no longer seeks a teacher,
for all things teach him, or rather the
One Teacher teaches him through all.
All that there is transforms itself for him
mto the nature of the Gnosis of the Good.
all

of

21

these,

for

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

No longer is he a hearer, but the Hearer

for

he has ears on

voice of Nature,

all

of the Divine,

Spouse

in everything that breathes

seems to have no
winter and

life

summer

the

and

all

that

simultaneous

of the Lord.

he a
No longer
for he has eyes on
is

sides to hear the

but the Seer

seer,

sides to see the

all

beauty of the whole, and fairest things

most foul.
No longer is he a doer, but the Doer
for all he does is consecrated to the Lord
who dedicates Himself to acting in the
man.
in things that are

And

so all of his senses

are set on the Great

in the Mysteries of

illumined

by

perfectioning,

and

his energies

Work of self-initiation
God his life becomes
;

the

glory

of

perpetual

and he no longer thinks

that he has ever been other than

is.

For memory

is

and the memory

now he

ever present with him,

of Jhe.. Mind is of_ tlie

22

nature of eternity, which transcends

all

THE

and future and

all

GNOSIS

time,

and

sees all past

present in the

instant that endures for

MIND.

evermore.

And what does the Religion of the

Mind teach us of God, the universe and

man

It

teaches

us

many

of

things

and

solemnity
joyous presage
but one thing especially it seems to teach,
and that is the impossibility of human

great

speech to tell the mystery. For^ every

is but a letter in the language of
so that all that a man may
the Gods

man

no matter how well stocked his

mind may be with systems of the world
or of theology, or with the science of the
human state, no matter how exactly he
may reproduce his thought and trick
write,

it

forth in fairest

that he can express

of

his

Word.

OF THE

human language
is

The Words

written with the general

23

^^all

but a single letter

of

God

are

purposed acts

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

of

men, and are not uttered by

their

individual spoken speech or penned with

written words.
The Words of God are

spoken by the energies of Nature, and

are not written on the surfaces of
things
;

the surfaces of things are scribbled over

with the false appearances that men
project from their

How

then can

unknowing minds.

men

describe the uni-

except by their inscribing of

themselves upon the fields of space ?
verse,

To describe the universe as it is they must

become the universe, and then they will
describe themselves
and to describe
;

themselves they will be able to discover

no better way than that in which the
universe

gives

utterance

to

itself.

It

speaks perpetually the Language of the

Gods, the Universal Tongue, for it is
God for ever givmg utterance unto
Himself.

The Tongue

of the Eternal

24

is

the

Mind

of

God.

It is

by Mind, the Reason

that

Self-subsistence,

speaks forth

He

of

His

perpetually

all things.

Thus we learn that the Religion of the

Mind is pre-eminently the Religion of the
Logos, and throughout the whole of our
tractates no name comes
more frequently before us than the word
For the Logos is the Word of
Logos.
God, not in the sense of a single Word,

Trismegistic

but the

Word in

the sense of the Universal

Scripture of all worlds

And

so

it is

of the Gods.

the Gods

and

of all

men.

Hermes is the Scribe

Not that Hermes is one of

who

that

a scribe for the rest, as

though they could not write themselves
but Hermes is the Logos of God, and the
is

Words he

men

writes are Gods.

Word or our
has the glorious destiny
before him, nay, the actuality even now
in his universal nature, of being a God, a
W^e

God

for

are letters of our

man

25

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE

Divine Being, of

GNOSIS

and Joy and Subsistence. That Word

has written itself manj^ times in the
world, now one letter and now another

OF THE
MIND.

the nature of Gnosis

spells itself in many ways, in sequences

of lives of men, and of other lives as well.
it

And

time will be when each and every

in its own proper turn, will
in all its glory, not letter by

God- Word,
sound forth

but the whole Word simultaneously

on earth
and a Christ will be born and
all Nature will rejoice, and the world of
men will know or be ignorant according
to the nature of the times and the manner
letter,

of the utterance of the W^ord.

Such are some of the ideas aroused

by some of the leading conceptions of
the Religion of the Mind, or the Pure
or
as
the
Single Love,
of
called
Hermes
disciples
Thrice-greatest
their Theosophy some nineteen centuries

Philosophy,

ago.

26

The most general term, however, by

they named their science and
it
philosophy and religion was Gnosis
almost every sennon and
occurs in
excerpt and fragment of their literature
which we possess. The doctrine and the
which

discipline

of

Mind, the Feeder of

men

and Shepherd of man's soul, are summed

up in that fairest word Gnosis.
Let us then briefly consider the mean-

ing of the

name

as the followers of this

Way understood it. Gnosi^^is.^KnaW"

but not discursive knowledge of
ledge
T
the nature of the multifarious arts and
sciences known in those days or in our
pmi

'

own.

On

this

"

noise of

words," these

multifarious knowledges of the appearances of things and vain opinions, the

followers of the True

Science and Pure

Philosophy looked with resignation while

those of them who were still probationers
;

treated

them with even

27

less

tolerance,

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

declaring that they left such things to

"
"
the
for
Greeks ";
Egyptians," of
course, nothing but Wisdom could suffice.
At any rate this is how one of the less

instructed editors of one of the collections

of our sermons phrases it.
For him
Egypt was the Sacred Land and the
while the
Egyptians the Chosen Race
and
Greeks
were
shallow
upstarts
The like-natured Jew of the
reasoners.
;

period,

on

the other
while

hand, called

the

Judsea was the

body "Egypt,"
Holy Land, and Palestine the Promised
Land, and Israel the Chosen of God and
so the game went merrily on, as it does
;

even unto this day.

But the

knew

real

otherwise.

writers of

Gnosis

the sermons

for

them was

superior to all distinction of race

the Gnostic was precisely he who
reborn, regenerate, into the Race,

Race

of true Wisdom-lovers, the

28

for

was
the

Kinship

of

the Divine

Fatherhood.

Gnosis for

them began with the Knowledge of Man,

to be consummated at the end of the
perfectioning by the
or Divine Wisdom.

Knowledge

of

God

This Knowledge was far other than the

knowledge or science of the world. Not,
however, that the latter was to be
for all things are true or
despised
untrue, according to our point of view.
If our standpoint is firmly centred in the
;

True,

whereas if we wander in error,

even the truest, become
things,

meaning
all

things can be read in their true

all
;

misleading for us.

The Gnosis began, continued and ended
in the

knowledge

tion of the

of one's self, the reflec-

Knowledge

of

the

One

Self,

So that if we say that

Gnosis was other than the science of the
world, we do not mean that it excluded
anything, but only that it regarded all
the All

Self.

29

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND,

human

arts

and sciences as

insufficient,

incomplete, imperfect.
Indeed it is quite evident on
that

the

writers

of

the

all

hands

Trismegistic

tractates, in setting forth their intuitions

of the things-that-are, and in
expressing

the living ideas that came to birtli in

their hearts and heads, made use of the

philosophy and science and art of their

It
in
is,
day.
very deed, one of
the stories of their endeavour that they
did so
for in so doing they brought the
;

great truths of the inner life into contact

with the thought of their age.

There is, however, always a danger in

for in proportion as
any such attempt
;

we

involve the great intuitions of the soul

and the apocalypses of the mind in the
opinions of

the day,

we make the

ex-

position of the mysteries depart from the

nature of scripture and fall into the

changing

notions

of

30

the

ephemeral.

Human

science

we

forth such glimpses of

set

ideas
as

and living

we can

forms

of

ever changing

is

of

verities

in

obtain,

evolving

and

if

the sure

the Gnosis

the ever-changing
science,

we

may,

indeed, do much to popularise our glimpse

of the mysteries for our own time
;

but the days that are to come will accuse

us of clothing the Beauty of the Truth

compared with the fairer

own improved opinions.
garments
The documents that have been preserved from the scriptoria of the Trismegistic tradition are by many hands
and the product of many minds. Somein

rags

as

of their

times they involve themselves so closely

with the science of their day that the
current opinion of the twentieth century
will turn from them with a
feeling of

on the other
contemptuous superiority
hand they not infrequently remain in the
paths of clear reason, and offer us an
;

31

THB
GNOSIS

OF THB
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

unimpeded view of vistas of the Plain

But even when they hold
of Truth.
most closely to the world-representations and man-knowledges of their own
day they are not without

interest

for

may be that in their notions of living

nature the very antipodes of our modern
day opinions based on the dead surfaces
of things
they may have been with
regard to some things even nearer the
truth than we are ourselves in this so

it

boasted age of grace and enlightenment.

Be

this

as

it

may, there are many

examples of clean and clear thinking

in

the logoi or sacred sermons, or discourses,

and one
or utterances, of the School
;

of

the most attractive

elements in the

whole discipline is the fact that the pupil

was encouraged to think and question.
Reason was held in high honour a right
;

use of reason, or rather, let us say, right

reason, and not its counterfeit, opinion,
32

was the most

of

knowledge
the means

of

precious

instrument

of

man and

the cosm.os, and

self-realisation into that

Highest Good which, among many other

names of sublime dignity, was known as

Good Mind

the

Reason (Logos)

or

of

God.

The whole theory of attainment was

by the fact that man in
soul
and
mind was a world in himbody,

conditioned

true, so long as
"
is content to play the part of a
pro"
cession of Fate
but his Destiny is
self

little

world,

it

is

he

than that

greater

us say, his

Awareness
little

individual,
all

is

rather,
is

be his Destiny.

let

Fate, his
Man is a

the sense of personal,

but a world for
separate
little in

a monad.

And the destiny of

that he should become the Monad

that

man

or

Unknowingness

will

world,

Fate,

monads, or the Mind of God the

Cosmos itself, not only as perceived by
of

33

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE

the senses as

GNOSIS

moves and moves

OF THE
MIND.

that

all

is,

not,

both that which

which is the

Great Bod}^ and Great Soul of things

but also as conceived by mind, as that
;

Intelligible

Greatness of

Idea of

the

Reason

of

all

God

ideas,

all

greatnesses,

the

Mind and

own

Himself, His

Self-

created Son, Alone-begotten, the Beloved.

On this transcendent fact of facts

founded

is

method

whole

the

and
The

discipline
of the Gnosis of the Mind.

Mystery of mysteries is Man or Mind.

But this naming of the Mystery should
not be understood as excluding Soul and
Body. Mind is the Person of persons,
the

Presence

of

all

presences.

Time,

space, and causality are conditioned by

the Mind. But this Mind, the True Man,

not the mind in bondage to causality,

On the other hand,
space and time.
is

it

is

just

**

procession

this

of

mind
Fate,"
34

in

bondage,
the

"

this

servant's

which

the

appearance that
hides the potentiality of becoming the
form,"

All, of

that

is

becoming the ^Eon, the Presence,

the Subsistence of

all

things
at every moment of time, and
present,
point of space, and every instant causeIt is
and-effect in the Bosom of Fate.
is,

true that in the region of opinion, body,

soul and mind seem separate and apart
;

they are held by the man in separation

as the fundamental categories of his
existence
and truly so, for they are
;

the conditions of ^.r-istence, of standing

gut of Being, that environment of incom-

the

pleteness
of which

is

complement or fulfilment
^c-stasis, whereby the man

goes forth from his limitations to unite

himself with Himself, and so reaches
that Satisfaction

and Fulfilment, which

our Gnostics

the Pl3r3>ma

call

over

when

set

against the conception of space,

and the ^on when set over against the

35

THE
^^^f.^^

0? THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

time, and the Good when contrasted with the notion of Fate.

idea of

But Being
Soul and

is

the Three in One, Mind,

Life and
Sub-

BodyLight,

stance, co-eternal together and co-equal.

It therefore follows that he who would

be Gnostic, must not

foolishly divorce

within himself the mystery of the triple

Partners, the Three
Powers, or the
For him the object of
Divine Triad.

endeavour is to consummate the

Sacred Marriage within himself, where
"
"
Three must
marry to create that so
he may be united to his Greatest Self
and become at-one with God. Body,
his

soul,

and mind

Gnosis

spirit is

{or

spirit,

frequently a

for

in

this

synonym

of

mind) must all work together in intimate

union for righteousness.
The body of man must be regarded as

a holy temple, a shrine of the Divine

the most marvellous House of God that

36

than the

exists, fairer far

raised

with

For

hands.

THE

fairest

temple

this

natural

temple which the Divine has wrought

for the indwelling of His beloved sons,
is a copy of the Great Image, the Temple
of the Universe in which the Son of God,
the Man, dwells.

Every atom and every group of atoms,

every limb and joint and organ, is laid
down according to the Divine Plan
;

an image of the Great Seal,

Heaven-and-Earth, male- female in one.
But how few know or even dream of

the body

is

the possibilities of
the Divine
of the

We

dead

temple of

this living

are

sepulchres,

our bodies are

for

tombs
half-

only to the things of

Death, and dead to the things of Life.
The Gnosis of the Mind thus teaches
atrophied,

us to

let

channels

alive

the Life
of

our

flow into the

corporeal

invoke the Holy Breath of

37

dead

nature, to
to enliven

God

GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE

the

substance

GNOSIS

the

Divine

OF IHE

our

our

other

frames,

so

may
bring
divine complement,

our

self,

that

first

Quickener

birth in us our

to

MIND.

of

spouse,

long-lost

and then we may ourselves with ungrudging love and fair wooing of her bring our
true selves to birth, so becoming regenea trinitj^ of Being, not
rate or reborn,

unit

of
of

vegetative

existence,

or

man-animal nature, but the

duality
Perfect Triangle jewelled with

sparks of perfected

all

three

manhood.

very evident, then, that if the idea

of this Gnosis be carried out logically,
the hearer of this Mathesis must strive
ever to become a doer of the Word, and
It is

so

self-realise

himself

in

every portion

of his being.
The object that he has in
view is intensification of his whole nature.
'"

He

does not parcel out his universe or

compartments, but
he. strives ever_to_refund himsdf^into ever
himself

into

special

38

more intimate union with himself

ing
ness

he

by
;

is

this ;his
for there

ever-present
is

mean-

conscious-

nothing really that

not.

Indeed
features

it

of

is

one of

the

the Trismegistic

pleasantest
Gnosis, or

rather, one
istic,

may say its chief charactera characteristic which should speci-

ally endear

it

to our

present age, that

throughout it is eminently reasonable.

It is ever encouraging the pupil to think
and question and reason I do not mean
that it encourages criticism for the sake
;

of

pedantic
the sake of

carping, or questioning for

idle curiosity, but that it

ever insisting on a right use of the

and the striving to
purified reason,
the
mind and soul and body, so
clarify
is

they may become a crystal prism

through which the One Ray of the Logos,

that

the All-Brilliancy, as Philo calls it, may

shine with unimpeded lustre in clean
39

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE

and

GNOSIS

Qj ^Yie truth in manifestation.

OF THE
MIND.

clear colours according to the nature

And here we may attempt to compare,

though not with any idea of contrasting
to the disparagement of
the
either,
greater simplicity of the Gnosis of the
Mind with the dazzling multiplicity and
endless immensities of the, perhaps for

my
of

readers,

more

familiar

the Christianised

two aspects

Gnosis.

revelations

They

are

the same Mystery

but
whereas the former is conditioned by the
of

clear thinking of philosophic reason as

set forth pre-eminently in the Logic of

Plato,

and refuses

to

sever its contact

"
"
here
as well

with the things-that-are

as

"

there,"

the

latter

soars into such

transcendent heights of vision and apocalypsis, that it loses itself in ecstasies

which cannot possibly be registered in

the waking consciousness.
I, for my part, love to try to follow
40

the seers of the Christian Gnosis, in their

heaven-storming, love to
soa-ring and

plunge

into

the

depths

and greatness

of their spiritual intuitions

yet it cannot
of
that
this
intoxication
but be admitted
;

a great danger for any but

minds. Indeed, it
is highly probable that such unrestrained
outpourings of divine frenzy as we meet

the spirit
the most

is

balanced

with in some of the Christian Gnostic

Apocalypses, were never intended to be
circulated except

among

those

who had

already proved themselves self-restrained

in the fullest meaning of the term.

The
such

show us that
and visions were also the
"
them who are in Gnosis ";

Trismegistic sermons
rapts

privilege of

but they did not circulate the revelations

of such mysteries
and though they
the
to
dare all things in
taught
disciple
;

perhaps more daring terms than we find

recorded in any other scripture, they
41

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

again and again force him to bring all

to the test of the practical reason, that

substance received from

be rightly digested by the
pure mind and fitly used to nourish the
nature below.
so

the

above

But

vital

may

as for us

who

are hearers of the

Gnosis, of Theosophy, wherever

it

is

to

would be unwise to reject

any experience of those who have gone
Whether we call
before upon the Way.

be found,

it

the Gnosis of the

Mind with the followers

of Thrice-greatest
of the Truth as

Hermes, or the Gnosis

Marcus does, or by

it

another

many

name

Gnostics of that day,

the great fact is that

given it by the
it matters little
;

there

is

Gnosis,

and that men have touched her sacred

robe and been healed of the vices of their
and the mother-vice of the soul
souls
;

is

ignorance, as

ignorance

is

not

Hermes

says.
ignorance of

42

But

this

the arts

and
of

and the

sciences

God

it is

superstition
heart, the

rest,

but ignorance

the true a-theism, the rootof the human mind and

that prevents a man

of his true self with
the
oneness
realising
the Divine.
ilkision

The dawning

of this sacred conviction,

the birth of this true faith,

ning of Gnosis
the Gnosis of

Sorrow
as

flees

His wings

Joy,

the

the beginthe Glad Tidings,

is

whose shining

at

This

away.

Basilides

the Sun of
in

it

is

the Gospel,
conceived it,

is

Gnostic

Righteousness with healing

that is to say, the Father
;

dove the Father o^

over
the sacred vessel,
Light brooding
or divine chalice, or cup, the awakened
in the likeness of a

spiritual nature of the

first

new-born son.

the true baptism, and also the

the Gnosis of the
miracle, as in

This

is

Fourth Gospel, when the water of the

watery spheres is turned into the wine
43

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

"

THE

of the spirit at the

GNOSIS

But perhaps my readers will say

But this is the Christian Gnosis and not
the Gnosis of the Mind
My dear
friends (if you will permit me, I would
reply), there is no Christian Gnosis and
and Trismegistic Gnosis
there is but
one Gnosis. If that Gnosis was for

first

marriage."
:

OF THE
MIND.

certain

purposes either

associated with

name and mystic person of the Great

Teacher known as Jesus of Nazareth,
the
or

handed on under

the

typical

per-

Great Hermes, it is not for

us to keep the two streams apart in
heart and head in water-tight compartsonality of

ments.

The two

traditions mutually in-

terpret and complete one another.

are contemporaneous
they are
;

part and parcel

Read

They
both

the same Economy.

the fragments of these two forof

gotten faiths, or rather the fragments of

the two manifestations of this forgotten

44

and you

faith,

THE

will see for yourselves.

again, some one may say (as a

matter of fact not a few have already

But

said)

What do we want with

a for-

gotten faith, fragmentary or otherwise ?

We are living in the twentieth century

we do not want
of

to return to the

modes

thought of two thousand years ago

create a new Gnosis that will
;

we can

interpret the facts of present-day science

and philosophy and

too

religion.

dawn

await the

of

that

New

doubt that the Gnosis of the

Age
New Age will be new. Certainly it will
be set forth in new forms, for the forms
can be infinite. The Gnosis itself is uot
it is we
conditioned by space and time
;

but

who

are conditioned

manifestation.

by these modes

He who

man

of

reborn into

I have heard, the

and space, and passes from
into the state of Super-man and

the Gnosis becomes, as

Lord

is

of time

45

GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

Daimon and God, as a Hermes

would have phrased it two thousand
years ago, or of Bodhisattva and Buddha,
as it was phrased five hundred years
Christ, or

before that.

Indeed,
essence of

man

if

believe

the Gnosis

can

transcend

rightly,
is

the very

the faith that,

the limits

of

the

makes him man, and become

a consciously diyiiie being. The problem
duality that

He has to solve

is the problem of his

day,
the transcending of his present limitations.

The way
submit,

to do so

by

knowledge

in

not, I venture to

is

his
exalting
present-day
science or philosophy or

religion at the expense of the little

can learn of the imperfect tradition

he
of

the religion and philosophy and science

of the past, handed on to us by the
forgetfulness of a series of ignorant and
careless generations.

The feeding

present-day vanity on

46

of

our

the husks from

the feasts of other days

for

one who would

is

a poor diet

be Gnostic.

very true that, speaking

It

is

we

generally,

do know more of physical observation,

know
analysis and classification, we do
more of the theory of knowledge, and

many

other things in the domain of the

lower

world

of

appearances

do

but

a living
we know more of religion
experience than the great souls of the
do we know more of the Gnosis
past
as

than

the

doubt

We
our

of

other

days

are beginning once more to turn

in the direction of the

attention

Greater

JEon

Gnostics

it.

Mysteries

are,

the

believe,

cycles

once more

of

the

set in a

configuration similar to the mode of the

Time-Mind when such illumination is
possible for
for

stra}^

numbers
individuals

of

souls,

only.

and not
But the

conditions of receiving that illumination

47

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

same now as they have ever been

and one of the conditions is the power

are the

to rise superior to the opinions of the

Hour into the Gnosis of the Eternal JEon.
It therefore follows,

if

am

premises, that the illusion of

which we must
that of the Lord

right in
all

my

illusions

transcend

strive

to

of the

Hour;

it is

is

just

the general opinions and pre-suppositions

and prejudices of our own day against

which we must be on our watch with

There are certain
greatest vigilance.
forms of knowledge, forms of religion,
and foiTQS of philosophy, that dominate
these forms
every age and every hour
are most potent, for they are alive with
the faith of millions
and therefore it
follows that it may be we shall find less
to pierce
difficulty, in our endeavour
;

through the clouds of

living ideas beyond,
that are no longer

48

if

opinion

to

the

we study forms

charged

with

the

passions of mankind, with that storage

of the hopes and fears of incarnated

minds, the shock of which few are strong

enough to withstand. It may thus be
that the forms of the Gnosis of the past

may

be read more

seen through

However

more

this

dispassionately

and

clearly.

may

be,

it

would be

manifestly absurd to go back to the past

and simply pour ourselves once more
this would be
into these ancient forms
"
redeath and a mental and spiritual
"
incarnation
backwards, so to speak.
It is precisely this absurdity which so
;

many

literalists

attempt

in theology,

to find themselves stranded

with

forms
life far

On
who

the

tide

of

only

among dead
the

spiritual

out.

the other hand, there may be some

that in what has been said

feel

above, the artist and lover of the Beautiful

be sacrificed entirely to the

in us risk to

49

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE

Philistine.

GNOSIS

there are such things as the

scripture
Non refert quam multos sed
best books.

There

is

such

thing

as

OF THE
MIND.

bonos libros

legas ; it is not the

the
but
quahty of the books
quantity
we read that is of importance. The
Gnosis is enshrined in scripture, in bibles
and not in books. And I doubt not that
even to-day there are enough biblelovers, in the wider sense of the word,

quam

among us

to

appreciate

the

beautiful

and permanent in literature.

The Trismegistic sermons have a com-

mon language with the writers of

New Testament books, and they

also

use the language of

can,

Plato.

They

the

therefore, hardly be said to be out of

vvhile as to
date even as to their form
;

their content, as far as their

venture

main ideas

say that
they belong to the great books of the
world, they are part of the world-scripture,
are

concerned,

50

to

THE
If, then, any would learn of the Gnosis
GNOSIS
of the Mind, they will not lose anything

bv

what

readins[

the

disciples

of

this

form of the Wisdom-Tradition have

handed on to us. They may prefer
more modern expositions, or they may

OF THE

MIND

some other scripture of the past more

but if they are
suitable to their needs

find

lovers

of

comparative

are persuaded that he

theosophy,

who

and

is

acquainted
theosophy only does
not know theosophy truly, even as he
who is acquainted with one language
only knows no language really, they may
learn much by comparing the theosophy
of the Hermes-Gnostics with the theo-

with one

mode

of

sophy of the Christian Gnostics, or of

the Buddhist or Brahmanical lovers of
the Gnosis.

In

conclusion,

would

add

few

quotations touching the Gnosis from the

for, as Lactantius,
Trismegistic sermons
;

51

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

the Church Father, tells us of the Holy

Scribe who inspired these scriptures
:

"

He

wrote books, indeed many of

them, treating of the Gnosis of things
divine, in which he asserts the Greatness of the Highest and

One and Only

God" (iii., 233).

Yes, He wrote many books, whether
"
"
we call Him Hermes or by any other
For as He says in
of His many names.
another scripture of that Day of Sunshine,
writing of the inner history of the ChristMystery, most probably before even there

were as yet any Christian scriptures

"
Wherefore, send me, O Father
Seals in my hands, I will descend

Through .-Eons universal

a Path

will I

make

Through mysteries
a
All

The

Way
Forms

all

I'll

open up

of

Gods

Secrets of the

52

will I display

Holy Path

I will

hand

And
Yes,

THE

on,

call

He

them Gnosis
wrote

sermons and

GNOSIS

192).

books,

many

sacred discourses, entitled

"

(ii.,

(i.,

many

by many names, one

precisely
Gnosis of

"

the

An

them

of

Introduction

Nature

of

All

called

the
"

to

Things

68).

Not that

there

of the Gnosis or

is

any precise beginning

any definite introduction

confined to any formal

may

be presented in

instruction

the learner and hearer, for

Great Original.
And so we read

is

it

modes

infinite

like

it

to

unto

its

"

For to the Good there is no other

shore
It hath no bounds
It is without an end
and for Itself It is without
beginning, too, though unto us It
seemeth to have one the Gnosis.
"
Therefore to It Gnosis is no berather is it that Gnosis doth
ginning
;

53

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

afford to us the first beginning of

"
being known

And

(ii.,

Its

90).

we

find a Jewish mystic,

who wrote just prior to the days of Paul,
quoting from some scripture of the Gnosis
so again

probability from one of the lost

sermons of our School) which sets forth
(in

all

the matter in

aphorism

striking

"

greater clarity in the

still
:

The

beginning of Perfection
but Gnosis of God
Gnosis of Man
"
;

Perfect Perfection

Thus Hermes

178).
in teaching his

is
is

(i.,

beloved

son, the seeker, the suppliant and hearer,

how to set his feet upon the path of selfrealisation,

points out

the

way

in

the

wise and gentle words

"
Seek'st thou for God, thou seekest
One is the Path that
for the Beautiful.
leadeth unto It Devotion joined with
:

Gnosis

And

"
(ii.,

again he

114).

sets forth the

54

boundary-

marks
ments

of the

Way of

the

Good Command-

admirable instruction, saying

The Seeds of God, 'tis true, are
few, but vast and fair and good virtue
in

is

devotion.

self-control,

God-Gnosis

Devotion

and he who knoweth

God, being filled with all good things,

thinks godly thoughts and not thoughts
like the

"
are,

think.

many

For

this cause

not

please

many

them.

they

the

They

who

Gnostic

many, nor the

are

thought

mad

and laughed at
they're hated and
and
sometimes
even put to
despised,
;

death.
"

GNOSIS

"

and

THE

But he who

bear with

all

is

a devotee of God, will

he has sensed the

once

For such an one all things,

e'en though they be for others bad,
are for him good
deliberately he doth
refer them all unto the Gnosis.
And,
thing most marvellous, 'tis he alone
Gnosis,

55

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

who maketh bad things good " (ii., 131).

The devotee of God is the Gnostic, and
"
"
stand in the
they who are Gnostic
"
original as
they who are in Gnosis."
It is of

more than ordinary

interest to

simple statement of fact

"
"
addressed to
those in Gnosis
with the

compare

this

well-known words
"

adapted from

some
"

early collection of
Logoi of the Lord
"
for the comfort of
those in Faith."

What

the Sayings preserved by the first

and third evangelists may have been in
their original form, we do not know,
"
though any day the Oxhyrhynchus rub-

"
bish-heaps
may yield us a clue. Some
"
"
of these
which
Sayings of the Lord
in their original form circulated in the
inner communities, were, in the highest
probability, subsequently adapted to the
prophetical mood by a Christian evangelist

prior

synoptists.

to

our

Thus we
56

first

and

third

find the writer of

our First Gospel handing on one of these

Sayings as
"
Blessed are ye when they shall

THE
GNOSIS

you and persecute you and shall

all manner of evil against you,

revile
sa}^

lying, for

My
"

sake."
"

Here the
is
lying
evidently the
of
some
scribe
who knew
gloss
scrupulous
there were some things that could be said
whereas the third
against them justly
;

evangelist

keeps closer to his

original,

writing
"
Blessed
:

are ye when men shall

hate you, and when they shall separate
you forth (from them), and revile you,
and cast out your name as evil, for the

sake of the Son of the Man.''

But even so there still seems to be a
blend of two traditions before the Saying
reached the hands of our third evangelist.
The antithesis between " men " and
"
Son of the Man " is familiar to us in our
57

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

Trismegistic sermons, and would be under"

''
all who knew of the
Myth of

stood by

Man
it is

"

the

'*

Mysteries

139-198)

(i.,

clearly to be distinguished from the

"
of the first evangelist.
sake

My

Whereas the separating

forth

and the

casting forth of the name as evil are, I

believe, to be understood as expulsion of

members from

removal of their

community and the

names from the list of

the brethren.

But
is

else

True Piety

than the Gnosis of

tantius, quoting

Latin

Devotion

to return to the Gnosis.

God-Gnosis.

(ii.,

243).

"
is

God

"

nothing
as Lac-

Hermes, phrases
This

piety,

it

in

however,

something other than pious exercise

and the practice of devotional worship
"
the complete or allleads unto
it
and embraces
perfect contemplation,"

is

"

learning of the things-that-are,

the contemplating of their nature and the

the

58

knowing God

words, the
being taught the nature of the all and
"
And
the Supreme Vision
(ii.,
264).
";

in other

or,

'*

that

Supreme

Vision,

if

understand

is no rapt into regions beyond the

a Seeing of the Good in everybut
sky,
For
the Master of this Way
thing.
his
teaches
disciple concerning the Gnosis

aright,

of the

Good, that

saying

is

the Gnosis of God,

"

For only then wilt thou upon It

gaze when thou canst say no word
For Gnosis of the
concerning It.
Good is holy silence and a giving
holiday to every sense."
"
all sense," the
It is the gaining of the
"
"
the
sense of the
common sense,"
intelligence."

"

For neither can he who perceiveth

nor he who
else,
nor
else
on
on
It,
aught
gaze
gazeth
hear aught else.
It,

perceive aught

59

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

"

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE

And

shining

It shines

mind,
and draws

MIND.
all of

him

it

then

all

through his

round his
whole soul,

out of body, transforming

to essence.

"

For it is possible, my son, that a

man's soul should be made like to
God, e'en while it still is in a body,
it doth
contemplate the Beauty of

if

Good

the

This

is

"

"

(ii.,

the

"

144).
"
deification

man

or

"

apo-

he becomes like unto

in
that
he
a God. The
becomes
God,
Beauty of the Good is the Cosmic Order
and the mode of meditation was that of
theosis

of a

self-realisation

whereby

the

soul

is

brought into sympathy with the Cosmic

Soul.

nd

so speaking of such a soul, of one

gnostic in true piety, Hermes writes
"
But on the pious soul the Mind
:

doth mount and guide it to the Gnosis'

And such a soul doth never
Light.
60

in

tire

songs of

to

praise

on

God and
and

men,
pouring blessing
doing good in word and deed to all, in
imitation of

And

its

Sire

all

"

(ii.,

155).

so again in the outer

preaching,

warning the multitude against the

"fierce flood" of ignorance, the misin

sionary of the Gnosis and evangelist

of Salvation exhorts them, saying
"
Be then not carried off by the
:

fierce

flood,

rent,

ye who

but using
can,

make

the shore-curfor Salvation's

port, and, harbouring there, seek ye

for one to take you by the hand and

lead you unto Gnosis' Gates.

"
Where shines clear Light, of every
darkness clean, where not a single
soul is drunk, but sober all they gaze
with their hearts' eyes on Him who
willeth to be seen.
"
No ear can hear
see

Him, nor can eye

Him, nor tongue speak of Him,
61

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

but only mind and heart " (ii., 121).

And from this preaching we learn the
very interesting fact that there was some
great association that the Gnostic evanregarded as Salvation's port, a
harbour of refuge for many
but even

gelist

when

safe within the quiet of the

discipline that could calm the waves of the
fierce

there

flood

was

of

still

passion and ignorance,

a further adventure for

the soul before the Light of the New

Day
dawned. A guide who knew the Way to
the Gates of the Spiritual Sun must be
"
"
in Gnosis
found, one who was
and
"
not only
in Faith."

For faith is conditioned upon feeling,

upon sense, and not knowledge; as
Hermes says
"
But Gnosis is far different from
sense.
For sense is brought about by
that which hath the mastery o'er us,
while Gnosis is the end of science, and
:

62

science

God's

is

"
gift

(ii.,

THE

147).

a refuge can be found

in the Harbour of Salvation by means of
but Salvation itself is Gnosis.
Faith
"
This is the sole Salvation for a
It is true that

man God's

Gnosis.

This

is

the

Way

to the Mount.

up

"

By Him

alone the soul become th

not
whiles
is good, whiles evil,
good,
"
but good out of necessity
(ii., 150).

And
"

He says
virtue of the soul

again

The

is

Gnosis.

For he who knows, he good and pious

"
is, and still while on the earth Divine
(ii.,

146).

For in this view of the mystery, in

consonance with the teaching of the
Buddha, and with Indian theosophy in
"

general,
And so

of virtues

tinence,

the soul's vice

we

is

ignorance."

find Gnosis

heading the list

Gnosis, Joy, Self-control, Con-

Righteousness,
63

Sharing-with-all,

GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE

Truth
a septenary consummated in
the divine triad of Life, Light and the
;

GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

Good

(ii.,

For Gnosis

246).

doth distribute
all,

and good

life

to all

to

is

and hght to

all,

296).

(ii.,

that which

And

so the

Master, in the spiritual theurgic rite at

which he consecrates his beloved son to

the holy life, declares

"
Gnosis of God hath come to us, and
:

and when
knowing
"

its

away

(ii.,

225).

For

it is

comes,

my

son, not-

cast out.

Gnosis of

and on
flee

this

is

to

by

Joy hath come

to us,

coming, son, sorrow will

them who give

this

"

it

room "

enformation accord-

"

that the man is made like

ing to Gnosis
unto the Great Man, the Good Mind or

Reason of God. This Gnosis is not only

Light and Life, the father-motherhood of
God, but also Love. It is this Love of
the Gnosis, of that which gives light and
64

it
to all, that urges on the disciple
the Breath of God Himself energizing

life
is

It is the
the heart, inspiring us.
Providence or Foresight of God, the Holy
And so in one of the sacred
Spirit.
"
The Perfect Sermon,"
discourses, called

in

we read
"
To them, sunk
:

in

fit

silence rever-

and minds pendent on

thus Love Divine began

ently, their souls

Hermes'
to speak

lips,

"

(iii.,

260).

To be Knowers we must be Lovers

we must have " the Single Love, the
;

of wisdom-loving, which consists in

Gnosis of Divinity alone the practice of

Love

perpetual

contemplation

and

of

holy

piety" (h., 330).

Of such Lovers and such Gnostics we
read

THE

"

the}^ whu have received some

of
God's gift, these, son, if we
portion
judge bv their deeds, have from Death's

But

65

GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

bonds won their release

for they
embrace in their own mind all things,
things on the earth, things in the
heaven, and things above the heaven
;

if

"

they be aught.

And having

raised

themselves so

and having
they sight the Good
look
sighted It, they
upon their sojourn
here as a mischance
and in disdain
far

both things in body and the

bodiless, they speed their way unto
that One and Only One.
"
This is, my son, the Gnosis of the
GodMind, vision of things Divine
"
is
for
the
is
Mind
God's
it,
knowledge
of

all,

(ii.,

88).

Hard as it may be to
we have grown used

leave the
to,"

the

"
things

things

habitual, it must be done if we are to

enter into the Way of the Gnosis.
But

no new Path

is this,

new lands (though

it

66

no going forth into

may have all the

THE

appearance of being so). The entrance

GNOSIS
on the Path of the Gnosis is a Going
OF THE
Home it is a Return a Turning-Back MIND.
(a true Repentance of the whole nature).
"
We must turn ourselves back into the
"
Old, Old Way
(ii., 98).
And for those who will thus " repent,"
there are promises and words of fair
comfort spoken by the Mind Himself
"
The
in the Gospel of the Gnosis called

Shepherd

of

Men

"

"I, Mind, Myself

am

present with

men and good, the pure and

merciful, men who live piously.
holy
*'

To such my Presence doth become

an aid, and straightway they gain Gnosis
of all things, and win the Father's
love

by

thanks,

their pure lives,

invoking

on

and give

Him

Him

blessings

and chanting hymns, intent on Him

with ardent love'*

And

(ii.,

14).

to the truth of this, testimony

67

is

THE
GNOSIS

OF THE
MIND.

borne by one of those in Gnosis who had

heard and had believed and had known,
when he writes
"
But I, with thanks and blessings
unto the Father of the universal
:

Powers, was freed,

full

Power

of the

He had poured

into me, and full of

taught me of the nature of

what He'd
all and

the

the

loftiest

vision

"

17).

(ii.,

And
"

of

so he begins to preach to

men

Devotion and of the

Beauty
'*
Gnosis
for he cannot refrain from
uttering the Word, now that he has
become a knower, a doer, and not a
He prays no longer for
hearer only.
himself, but that he may be the means
whereby the rest of human kind may
the

of

come to Light and Life, saying

"Give ear to me who pray that
:

may
is

ne'er of Gnosis

our

common

fail,

being's nature

68

Gnosis which
;

and

fill

this

me

with

THE
Thy Power, and with

Grace of Thine, that

GNOSIS

may

give
the Light to those in ignorance of the
"
Race, my brethren and Thy sons
(ii.,

20).

With these

brief

indications

of

the

Gnosis of the Mind, drawn from a wealth

of like noble teachings, we bring to an
"

Echoes
end the iirst volume of these
from the Gnosis," in the hope that there
will turn to the fair
may be some who
"
and
read,
mark, learn and
originals,
)
them.
inwardly digest

6Q

OF THE
MIND.

SOME PROPOSED SUBJECTS

FOR
FORTHCOMING VOLUMES
THE
THE
THE
THE

HYMNS OF HERMES.
VISION OF ARlDiEUS.

HYMN OF JESUS.
CHALDEAN ORACLES.

A MITHRIAC LITURGY.

THE GNOSTIC HYMN OF THE

PRODIGAL SON.

Date Due
OCT ^

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Library Bureau Cat. No. 1137

imm-

ClAPP

3 5002 00102 798

Mead, G. R. S.
Echoes from the Gnosis

BP 565

Mead,

G.

M4 E27 1906
R.

S.

1863-1933.

Echoes from the Gnosis