Luminous Praise

The Ascension of Isaiah in Ethiopian translation

First some quick reminders of Ethiopia in antiquity and late antiquity. There have been contacts between this area of the region of Alexandria and India from at least the 1st century AD.

“In the second century BC, Ptolemy III Euergetes annexed several northern Ethiopian cities such as Tigray and the port of Adulis, which became major trading hubs for Ethiopian Greeks.” “The name Ethiopia itself is Greek and means "of burned face".

“After the Romans annexed the Ptolemaic Empire, the Axumite king Zoskales (Ancient Greek: Ζωσκάλης) established the Axumite Empire (Ancient Greek: Ἀξωμίτης) (c. 100 AD–c. 960 AD), which maintained Ethiopian Greek culture and used Greek as its lingua franca.”

“Trade between the [Ethiopia and India] flourished during the ancient Axumite Empire (1st century AD), which is seen to be origin of modern Ethiopia. Indian traders flocked to the ancient port of Adulis in the 6th Century AD trading silk and spices for gold and ivory.” https://www.mea.gov.in/Portal/ForeignRelation/Ethiopia_Sept_2017.pdf

Ethiopian priest with a fly whisk (Rod Waddington, Flickr)

According to Philostrates (3rd century CE) the 1st-century CE sage Apollonius of Tyana (VA) traveled to India, where he conversed with a group of wonder-working gymnosophists presided over by one Iarchas.

"Later, after advising Vespasian in Alexandria, Apollonius travels south to visit “the naked ones” (οἱ Γυμνοί‎), whom Philostratus locates imprecisely near Egypt’s border with Ethiopia, south of Thebes (6.4) and apparently in Ethiopian territory (6.22.1). Like the Indians, they live on a hill, albeit smaller, but meet in a grove (ἄλσος‎) and have no single place of worship (6.6.1–2). In reply to their leader Thespesion’s exposition (6.10.2–6) of their way of life as closer to nature than that of the Indian gymnosophists (they have no need of clothes, tables, chairs, or magic), Apollonius explains his own choice of a Pythagorean lifestyle and his grounds for believing Indian wisdom superior to theirs (6.11)—a covert Philostratean attack on Cynicism." (Gymnosophists, Ewen Bowie)

Were they different from the “Gymnosophists” or Garmanes (i.e., Buddhist Sramans) that Alexander the Great was said to have met? “Later Apollonius goes to see Ethiopian gymnosophists (6.6–23), whose inferiority to those in India (of whom they are represented as colonists) is stressed.” (Ewen Bowie)

Also see Les Gymnosophistes éthiopiens chez Philostrate et chez Héliodore 

“An Ethiopian delegation arrives at the Satavahana court c180. The magnificence of the Amaravati stupa was due to its proximity to the important port of Dharanikota, where excavations of its wharves have revealed quantities of glass & amphorae of wine, imported by Axum traders”. (Tweet and picture above by William Dalrymple, with a glimpse of himself in the glass)

Ethiopian priest reading old Bible (Wall Art)

Ethiopians also took part in the “Gnostic” activity of which Alexandria was the main center. One of the Gnostic texts is “The Ascension of Isaiah”, “a pseudepigraphical Judeo-Christian text” from approximately 70 AD to 175 AD. It is an assembled work consisting of three parts[1] “brought together in the third or fourth century A.D”. The extant complete manuscripts are from a later date, and an Ethiopic translation[2] was made during the 4th-6th cent. I am interested in the last part of the work, the Vision of Isaiah, because it describes the ascension and descent of Isaiah in some detail. It gives quite a precise idea about how such an ascension was thought to take place “technically”, from an early Christian perspective (proto-Trinitarian or subordinationist), at that time. It is possible that the last Cathar burnt at the stake in 1321, Guillaume Bélibaste, knew this text from a translation in langue d’Oc[3].

The ascension takes place in a cosmological structure of that time. As an example, Syrianus, the teacher of Proclus (412-485), explains it as consisting of three triads of intelligible gods (theoi noetoi, being), three triads of intelligible-intellective gods (theoi noetoi noetikoi, life), two triads of intellective gods (theoi noetikoi, intellect), and the seventh divinity (hebdomē theos, the separation of the higher gods from the world gods). The celestial beings are divided in hypercosmic gods (= the rulers), hypercosmic-encosmic gods (= the gods detached from the world), encosmic gods (= the celestial and sublunary gods), the universal souls, and finally the superior beings (angels, daimons and heroes). The lowest celestial heaven and the highest earthly level is “the firmament”, the limit between the sensitive and the sensual realm, where continuous fighting occurs.

For comparison, the Buddhist cosmological structure is divided in three realms: the Formless, the Form (form and subtle materiality), with Akaniṣṭha as the highest Form abode, and the Desire realms (six worlds), where Brāhma loka is the highest Desire abode. Also part of the Desire realm and respectively lower are Tuṣita, The Realm of Blissful Contentment, where future Buddhas abide waiting for their mission, and Tāvatimsa, The Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods of Śakra/Indra. The Form realms are accessible through contemplation (dhyāna), and the Formless realms through formless contemplation (arūpadhyāna). At every Great dissolution (mahāpralaya) -- the end of a universe -- the three realms disappear. This structure and its conditions may differ in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna schools, where Brāhma’s role is not limited to the Desire realm, and  where nirvāṇa (and the ancient path to nirvāṇa) is no longer the top priority… There is a change of strategy, and mythology makes a huge come-back.

Back to the Ascension of Isaiah. Isaiah is the 8th-century BC prophet from the Book of Isaiah. The Ascension of Isaiah is a Judeo-Christian “prequel”, probably meant to show how the coming of the messiah Jesus was part of the Divine plan and known by an important prophet like Isaiah. In chapter 7 of the online English translation by M. A. Knibb[4], Isaiah recounts how he saw a glorious angel (the angel of the Holy Spirit) and how he was taken to heaven by him, like e.g. Paul (in 1Co1). Isaiah’s ascension takes place in ten stages.

1. Firmament

2. 1st heaven
3. 2nd heaven
4. 3rd heaven
5. 4th heaven
6. 5th heaven

7. The air of the 6th heaven
8. 6th heaven
9. The air of the 7th heaven
10. 7th heaven

“Who are you? And what is your name? And where are you taking me up?"

"When I have taken you up through (all) the stages and have shown you the vision on account of which I was sent, then you will understand who I am; but my name you will not know, for you have to return into this body. But where I take you up, you will see, because for this purpose I was sent.”

"You will see one greater than me, how he will speak kindly and gently with you; and the Father of the one who is greater you will also see, because for this purpose I was sent from the seventh heaven, that I might make all this clear to you."

From the 1st heaven until the 5th heaven, Isaiah sees in each heaven “a throne in the middle, and on the right and on the left of it there were angels”. The one sitting on the throne, having more glory than the rest. The angels on the right sing, in one voice, the glory of the one on the throne. They are followed by the angels on the left, who don’t sing in one voice. In the 2nd heaven the glory is greater and Isaiah feels like worshiping.

“And I fell on my face to worship him, and the angel who led me would not let me, but said to me, "Worship neither throne, nor angel from the six heavens, from where I was sent to lead you, before I tell you in the seventh heaven. For above all the heavens and their angels is placed your throne, and also your robes and your crown [skt. makuṭa] which you are to see."

A celestial throne, robes and crown are waiting for Isaiah “above all heavens”, and due to his hierarchical celestial rank, it would not be right to worship a lower celestial being. Isaiah hasn’t reached his final destination, i.e. after his descent back on earth, and his final ascension. As Isaiah ascends, “the glory of my face was being transformed”, and he will notice that “nothing is hidden from the thrones and those who dwell in the heavens, nor from the angels."

From “the air of the sixth heaven” onward, there was a change. The glory and the splendor were greater, there was no throne, and no right and left row of angels. The angels present had greater glory and Praise. The guiding angel tells Isaiah he is not his lord, but his companion, and that from here on, everything is under the direct influence of the 7th heaven and in direct communication with it. Praise of the highest One is possible from here.

"From the sixth heaven and upwards there are no longer those on the left, nor is there a throne placed in the middle, but [they are directed] by the power of the seventh heaven, where the One who is not named dwells, and his Chosen One, whose name is unknown, and no heaven can learn his name; for he is alone, (he) whose voice all the heavens and thrones answer. I, therefore, have been empowered and sent to bring you up here that you may see this glory, and (that) you may see the Lord of all these heavens and of these thrones being transformed until he resembles your appearance and your likeness. But I say to you, Isaiah, that no man who has to return into a body of that world [has come up, or seen], or understood what you have seen and what you are to see, for you are destined in the lot of the LORD, the lot of the tree, to come here, and from there is the power of the sixth heaven and of the air."

Isaiah will have to return to his old body and to earth before his final ascension.

“[When from the body by the will of God you have come up here], then you will receive the robe which you will see, and also other numbered robes placed (there) you will see, and then you will be equal to the angels who (are) in the seventh heaven."

From the sixth heaven (the 8th stage), all denizens have the same appearance and their Praise is equal. The light of the sixth heaven is beyond the light of the lower stages, that seems like darkness now. From here onward the trinity is named and praised "with one voice".

“And (strength) was given to me, and I also sang praises with them, and that angel also, and our praise was like theirs. And there they all named the primal Father and his Beloved, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, all with one voice, but it was not like the voice of the angels who (were) in the five heavens, nor (was it) like their speech, but there was a different voice there, and there was much light there.”

In the the air of the seventh heaven, the voice of a celestial being (guardian) asked what a mortal being was doing at this level, another voice, Lord Christ, says “the holy Isaiah is permitted to come up here, for his robe is here”. Isaiah cannot hear his name until he has left his mortal body. The seventh heaven is filled with light, angels and with all the righteous ones from Adam’s time onward, but “ stripped of their robes of the flesh”. They were not sitting yet on thrones and not wearing their crowns of glory, but they were dressed “in their robes of above”. Everybody has to wait until the Beloved one, Christ, descends incognito, “concealed even from the heavens so that it will not be known who he is”, and for his glorious return.

“When he has plundered the angel of death, he will rise on the third day and will remain in that world for five hundred and forty-five days. And then many of the righteous will ascend with him, whose spirits do not receive (their) robes until the Lord Christ ascends and they ascend with him. Then indeed they will receive their robes and their thrones and their crowns, when he has ascended into the seventh heaven."

Isaiah spots all the numerous thrones, robes and crowns waiting for those who are destined for the seventh heaven. He also sees the books kept by the angels in which all the deeds are written down, “nothing which is done in this world is hidden in the seventh heaven”. Then Isaiah sees Christ, “one standing (there) whose glory surpassed that of all”, worshiped by all, who then “transformed and became like an angel”, ready for the descent into the world. When Isaiah sees him, the Glory (Light) is such, that everything else pales in comparison. Then the angel of the Holy Spirit and Lord Christ and all the righteous from the other six heavens together worship and praise “that Glorious One whose glory I could not see”[5], in a praise that is not only heard but also seen… Then that Glorious one addresses Christ.

“And I heard the voice of the Most High, the Father of my Lord, as he said to my Lord Christ, who will be called Jesus,"Go out and descend through all the heavens. You shall descend through the firmament and through that world as far as the angel who (is) in Sheol, but you shall not go as far as Perdition. And you shall make your likeness like that of all who (are) in the five heavens, and you shall take care to make your form like that of the angels of the firmament and also (like that) of the angels who (are) in Sheol. And none of the angels of that world shall know that you (are) Lord with me of the seven heavens and of their angels. And they shall not know that you (are) with me when with the voice of the heavens I summon you, and their angels and their lights, and when I lift up (my voice) to the sixth heaven, that you may judge and destroy the princes and the angels and the gods of that world, and the world which is ruled by them, for they have denied me and said, 'We alone are, and there is no one besides us[6].' And afterwards you shall ascend from the gods of death to your place, and you shall not be transformed in each of the heavens, but in glory you shall ascend and sit at my right hand, and then the princes and the powers of that world will worship you." This command I heard the Great Glory giving to my Lord.”

Isaiah witnesses in his vision the concealed descent and transformation of Christ through the various stages. In the 6th heaven (the 8th stage) Christ keeps his own appearance and doesn’t transform into an angel, and was recognised and praised as such by the angels there. In the 5th heaven “he made his form like that of the angels there, and they did not praise him, for his form was like theirs.” While descending, Christ adopts the form of the angels of every respective heaven, and is not praised, having the appearance of one of them. From the third heaven onward Christ even gives the required password, in order to pass incognito, including when passing the Firmament, “where the prince of this world [skt. jagannātha] dwells” and there are ongoing battles. The descent continues.

“I saw when he descended and made himself like the angels of the air, that he was like one of them. And he did not give the password, for they were plundering and doing violence to one another.”

The next stage in the text describes the miraculous conception of Mary and the birth of Jesus[7], his being suspended from a tree (crucifixion), resurrection (“et surget tertia die”) and return through ascension, this time without transforming himself.

“And I saw him, and he was in the firmament, but was not transformed into their form. And all the angels of the firmament, and Satan, saw him and worshiped. And there was much sorrow there as they said, "How did our Lord descend upon us, and we did not notice the glory which was upon him, which we (now) see was upon him from the sixth heaven?"

“And I saw how he ascended into the seventh heaven, and all the righteous and all the angels praised him. And then I saw that he sat down at the right hand of that Great Glory, whose glory I told you I could not behold. And also I saw that the angel of the Holy Spirit sat on the left.”

After his vision, Isaiah returned into his “robe” until his days were counted. “Then you shall come here." The Ascension of Isaiah is the account of the spheres Isaiah saw, the vision of the future descent and ascension of Christ, and his “incognito” transformations during the descent and the ascension in full glory. Other more theurgic traditions speculated about the transformations or metamorphoses of the ascension of the luminous body of saviors, saints etc. and how this hidden knowledge could be used for one’s own or others' ascension(s).

What is characteristic of The Ascension of Isaiah and other Gnostic works is the “praising” of the triune Godhead and of the ones sitting on the thrones of the last heavens, where their hidden names are essential. This is no ordinary “praise”: “the expression of approval or admiration for someone or something”. When an esoteric Buddhist text such as Chanting the Names of Mañjuśrī[8] (Mañjuśrīnāmasamgīti[9]) makes Praise a central theme, it’s worth looking into.

Buddha preaching in Tuṣita, Amaravati, Satavahana period, 2d century AD.Indian Museum, Calcutta

Chanting the Names of Mañjuśrī is a revelation given to the Master of Mysteries (Guhyendra) Vajrapāṇi, the vajradhara, directly into his “stream of consciousness” by the Lord (nātha)[10], no different from Mañjuśrī[11], the knowledge being (jñānasattva), the “gnosis embodiment”. Seven maṇḍalas (spheres, heavens, on the throne in the middle of which is seated the main deity) are revealed.

“The Lord in the center of the maṇḍala can also be understood as the central element-the Maṇḍa-while the surrounding gods and goddesses are the containing element the La; and these are nontwo.”

The seven maṇḍalas and their central deities are respectively:

1. The Net of Illusion, Mañjugoṣa
2. The Great Maṇḍala of Vajradhātu, MahāVairocana
3. The Pure Dharmadhātu Wisdom (Womb), Arapacana
4. Mirrorlike Wisdom: Trailokyavijaya (Victorious over the Three Worlds), Vajra hūṃkāra, Vajrabhairava
5. Discriminative Wisdom: Vādisiṃha
6. Sameness wisdom: Vādirāj, Vāgīśvara (Lord of Speech)
7. Procedure-of-duty Wisdom: Mañjuvajra, Vajrasattva, Jñānakāya

Six Buddha Families, six Buddhas, six Mañjuśrī aspects, the Lord of Speech (Vāgīśvara) being the seventh. And also six cycles of Praise (anuśaṃsā).

1. Cycle of eleven Praises of Mañjuśrī, the 'knowledge being' (jñāna-sattva) , “who is the knowledge body of the Bhagavat, the knowledge body of all the Tathāgatas”.

2. Cycle of fifty-two Praises of the “pure and immaculate omniscient knowledge (sarvajñājñāna) and the secret Body, Speech, and Mind. “It is the speedy success of the Bodhisattvas who engage in the practice by way of Mantra.”

3. Cycle of fifty-two Praises of the undoing of all negativity and the appearing of good qualities. “It is the utmost cleansing of all who are utmost cleansed; and the utmost purity of those who are utmost pure.” “preserving the names and clarifying the meaning of the underlying nature of non two, is the inexpressibility of all dharmas.”

4. Cycle of nineteen Praises of practicing Mantras and chanting the non two and absolute names of the jñānakāya of Bhagavat Mañjuśrī the 'knowledge being, which is the jñānakāya of all the Tathāgatas”. And Mañjuśrī the 'knowledge being' will be revealed to those who Praise.

5. Cycle of fifty-one Praises to generate the best materialization of the formal body (rūpakāya), and “never will he descend to the certainty of the Śrāvakas, Arhats, and Pratyekabuddhas."

6. Cycle of immeasurable Praises leading to quickly accomplishing the Buddha merits, and becoming manifestly awakened to the incomparable rightly perfected enlightenment, as a King of the Dharma.

In this Revelation, the Buddha pronounces a first gātha consisting of the twelve vowels (in Sanskrit),

A Ā I Ī U Ū E AI O AU AṂ AḤ

followed by:

“Stationed in the heart of the Buddhas abiding in the three times, am I (aham) the Buddha, gnosis embodiment." 

Wayman adds as a note:

“The twelve vowels: Smrti (37-2 and -3), defends the theory of the ācārya Līlavajra that the twelve stand for the twelve bhūmis, ten of the Bodhisattva and two more that are Buddha and Complete Buddha stages.”

“Smrti (37-2-8 to 37-3-1), gives a number of synonyms of the twelfth stage, all having a word "light" (prabha) as last member of compound.”

Light, prabha, Nous. At the matrix level (Dharmadhātu Womb, dharmayonir[12]), special codes and names are needed, ordinary language won’t work.

In the Gnostic tradition, the Great Invisible Spirit is the primordial Light (Father)[13]. It is from his womb, his silence, his "matrix", that a triad of powers emerges: the Father, the Mother and the Son. The Son is a triple person in himself. The primordial triad is presented as a monad or pentad, called the "five seals". The manifestation of the (primordial) Father takes place in a glorious place (Ennead), the throne room, where the secret name (the (five) vowels) of the Father is inscribed. The entities above the Ogdoade (eight level) address hymns to him.

"(Son:) How do they sing?
(Hermes:) You have reached the point where we will no longer be able to speak to you.[14]"

The Ogdoad and the Ennead, from Ecrits gnostiques Pléiade, p. 964

"(Son:) I am silent, O my Father. I wish to sing you a hymn in silence.
(Hermes:) Sing it to me then, for I am the Intellect.
(Son:) The Intellect is intelligible to me. Hermes, he who cannot be interpreted, For he withdraws into himself.
.../... I invoke from the bottom of my heart your mysterious Name:
a ō eeō ēēē ōōō iii ōōōō ooooo ōōō ōō uuuuuu ōō ōōōō ōōōō ōōōōō ōōōō"

A note explains that scribes often make intentional errors in transcribing the name of God, which must be transmitted by the initiator.
Note from Ecrits gnostiques Pléiade, p. 962 The name of God is often written a ee ēēē iii ooooo uuuuuu ōōōōō. This means that in the seven spheres or planets there reign twenty-eight particular gods, one more in the next than in the previous, all together constituting the one God."

There are lots of apparent similar structures and materials here, that ought to be further examined by specialists in both fields.

 

***

[1] Martyrdom of Isaiah, Testament of Hezekiah, and Vision of Isaiah.

[2] Ascension d’Isaie, Translated into French by Eugène Tisserant in 1909, Letouzé et Ané, éditeurs, Paris.

[3] L' « Ascension d'Isaïe » à travers la prédication d'un évêque cathare en Catalogne au quatorzième siècle, Mathias Delcor, 1974

[4] Ascension of Isaiah, M. A. Knibb, edited by James H. Charlesworth. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985. (pp. 164-176) [This digital edition omits all of the notes in the original and reproduction.]

[5] This reflects the proto-Trinitarian or subordinationist perspective of the text.

[6] Compare with Brahma , the first god, who thinks he is the creator god.

[7] “And when she was betrothed, she was found to be pregnant, and Joseph the carpenter wished to divorce her. But the angel of the Spirit appeared in this world, and after this Joseph did not divorce Mary; but he did not reveal this matter to anyone. And he did not approach Mary, but kept her as a holy virgin, although she was pregnant. And he did not live with her for two months. And after two months of days, while Joseph was in his house, and Mary his wife, but both alone, it came about, when they were alone, that Mary then looked with her eyes and saw a small infant, and she was astounded. And after her astonishment had worn off, her womb was found as (it was) at first, before she had conceived. And when her husband, Joseph, said to her, "What has made you astounded?" his eyes were opened, and he saw the infant and praised the Lord, because the Lord had come in his lot. And a voice came to them, "Do not tell this vision to anyone." But the story about the infant was spread abroad in Bethlehem. Some said, "The virgin Mary has given birth before she has been married two months." But many said, "She did not give birth; the midwife did not go up (to her), and we did not hear (any) cries of pain." And they were all blinded concerning him; they all knew about him, but they did not know from where he was. And they took him and went to Nazareth in Galilee.”

[8] Chanting the Names of Manjushri, The Manjusri-Nama-Samgiti, Sanskrit and Tibetan Texts, Alex Wayman, Motilal 1985

[9] 'Phags pa 'jam dpal gyi mtshan yang dag par brjod pa.

[10] Śākyamuni, Bhagavat, Sambuddha.

[11] “O Bhagavat, you have self-originated the gnosis-body, the great uṣṇīṣa, the master of speech, the gnosis-embodiment of Mañjuśrī, the knowledge being.”

[12] “Smrti (46-3-3), by knowing the nature of all the dharmas. "Dharma-womb": Smrti (46-3-3), because devoid of personal-self or dharma-self, makes an end to phenomenal life. [Notice the three kinds of Tathāgatagarbha set forth above under VI, no. I, so "progenitor" is the Dharmadhātu womb; "son" is the Dharmakāya embryo; and "womb-source" as well as "dharma-womb" amount to the third kind, with two qualifications of dharma.]”

[13] "Livre sacré", Ecrits gnostiques, Pleiade, p. 514

[14] Blog Le Corps de Gnose, source du Corps mystique, 22/12/2021

About the nature of "Light" (Nous)

Poimandres, the "shepherd of men", revealing himself to Hermes.
Sesthien boecken, Amsterdam 1643

Hermeticism is not a system. Any text that is attributed to Hermes, can be hermetic. Hermes, being Hermes Tris Megistos, the Thrice great[1], to which texts were attributed in late Antiquity, regardless of their later inclusion in Byzantine and other collections. There is a huge variety of materials attributed to Hermes/Thoth, and, for scholars, their attribution seems to be the lowest common denominator to qualify texts as “hermetical”.

As an aside, we could apply a similar rule to what is considered as “tantric” literature, attributed to a Heruka, Mañjuśrī, Vajrapāṇi, Vajradhara, Maheśvara Śiva, Bhairava and other deities (Nous), whatever the inclusion or exclusion of tantric revelations in “canonical” tantric collections. Not suggesting, but not excluding either, there may have been some intellectual cross-pollination at work between the Middle East and the Far East during Hellenist times or later. Or simply the “Pagan” connection or the “Pagan International” resisting the upcoming "religions".

Hermeticism is said to be “a product of pagan Egyptian Hellenism”[2]. The 17 treaties of what would be called “Corpus Hermeticum” were written in Greek language (using philosophical terminology), but in Egypt, in the 2nd-3rd century of the common era. A sort of marriage between Greek rationality and Egyptian spirituality.

In his works and lectures, prof. dr. Wouter Hanegraaff, explains that hermetic works try to convey the knowledge (gnosis) of reality, God and ourselves. Ultimately everything is Nous, which Hanegraaff insists ought to be translated as Light, universal Light, immeasurable Light. The true nature of reality is “Light”, universal spiritual light. God is Light, reality is Light and human beings are Light. In their ordinary perception human beings don’t see Light, they see objects, because they are “deluded”, in a state of hallucination, and don’t perceive reality as it is. The things that are perceived may seem real, but are in reality universal light. The “Way of Hermes” helps us to awaken from the state of delusion and to perceive the true nature of reality.

The first of the 17 treaties is called Poimandres ("shepherd of men"), the Light or Nous appearing to Hermes (presumably the “I” figure of the revelation). Hanegraaff considers this text as a “Revelation” (apokalupsis).

“One day when I had come to reflect on the things that truly are, and my mind was soaring high while my senses were restrained (as happens to someone overwhelmed by sleep from too much food or from physical exhaustion), an enormous being of immeasurable dimensions seemed to appear to me and call my name. He said to me: “What do you want to hear and see, and learn to understand by your nous?”

“For moderns like us, to say that something “cannot be thought” means that our mind cannot grasp it. Our mind, of course, resides in our brain and is concerned with rational thinking. However, according to ancient Egyptian, Semitic, and Greek anthropologies, our intellectual faculties rather resided in the heart. This must very much be kept in mind (or taken to heart) while reading the Hermetica, where we often encounter references to “knowledge of the heart” or perception through the “eyes of the heart.” For moderns it can be more natural in such cases to speak of “spiritual knowledge” and think of “the soul” rather than “the mind,” although this conflicts in many ways with the original meaning and connotations of such central terms as pneuma (“spirit”), psuchē (“soul”), nous (“mind”), or kardia (“heart”). The problem is that modern terms seldom if ever map very well, and often do not map at all, on the Greek words (or words in any other ancient languages) that they are trying to translate. Nevertheless – and this is where we encounter the essential dilemma – we still cannot avoid using such terms as mind, spirit, soul, or the heart in our attempts to convey how Hermetic authors thought of the faculties for gaining access to higher salvational “knowledge,” often referred to as gnōsis. In our efforts to reveal the meaning of ancient words, we have to resort to modern equivalents that in fact conceal their meaning; and yet we have no choice, because only through such acts of concealment can we hope to reveal at least something of the original.[3]”

I will use Hanegraaff’s podcast (Wouter Hanegraaff on the Poimandres) from here. Nous as knowledge, does not refer to mental or intellectual activities, but to what goes “beyond” them[4]. Therefore it would be more correct to speak of “Hermetic spirituality” (or practice) than of “Hermetic philosophy”. Nous not only refers to the perception of reality, but also to that reality itself. It’s both ontological and epistemological.[5] It is sometimes thought to refer to “God”, but in that case not the highest “God”. Not the Ennead, or the beyond of the Ennead (see below). Poimandres is the God that presents himself to the human mind, and is described as “Your God”, “I am the God for you [Hermes]”. Hanegraaff summarizes the Poimandres in the podcast. Hermes wants 1. to know the things that really are and 2. he wants to know God. 

Poimandres then changes his appearance into an Immeasurable Light, the Universal Light, a beautiful, loveable light. Light is what really is (1). And Light itself is the manifestation of something higher (2), going beyond Poimandres. Poimandres explains to Hermes that he (Poimandres) is that Light, and that Hermes is also part of that Light. Hermes’ Nous is equivalent to the Nous of Divinity. “Know the Light and get acquainted with it”. This form of “knowing” is more than knowing it’s a “noetic understanding”. Then Poimandres looks straight into the eyes of Hermes and Hermes looks straight back into the eyes of Poimandres, without any distinction between subject and object. Hermes is Light and is looking into Light, and in a certain way looking into his own eyes. There is no distinction between the ultimate reality of Nous and (Hermes) himself. Hermes himself is Nous and is divine, noetic light. This answers both questions of Hermes.

This direct gaze with no words, a direct realisation, is an essential part of the Poimandres. Another important concept of this text is Logos. Poimandres explains:

“I am that light … the nous, your God, which existed prior to the moist substance that appeared out of the darkness. The luminous logos that came from the nous [is the son of God]. … Know this: that in you which sees and hears is the [Lord’s] logos, and [your] nous is God [the father]. They are not separate, for their union is life.[6]”

The direct realisation doesn’t happen through the Logos (“which sees and hears”), but directly through the Nous. It’s a silent moment, which is neither visual nor auditory.

From this point onwards Poimandres starts explaining the Myth, or rather shows how the world came into being, from the Nous. What we see (and hear, etc.) is phenomenal reality, not the ultimate reality, although it appears as real to us.

1. From the Immeasurable Light (Nous) appears a chaotic darkness that seems distinct from it. From the darkness resounds a cry (“the voice of fire”, but actually the voice of Light according to Jean-Pierre Mahé). The Light of Nous reacts to the cry by sending down the Logos, as a manifestation of itself, and the Logos brings some first rudimentary order (the four elements) into the chaos of darkness.

Screen capture from Prof. dr. Wouter Hanegraaff

2. The androgynous divine Nous, is often described as “the Father”, but is actually both Father and Mother[7]. It can generate everything at once by itself, and doesn’t need a partner. It already generated the dark matter and the demiurge is created next. The demiurge molds and shapes the dark matter into the harmony of the planetary system. The seven planets and the cosmic spheres are thus created.

3. Then follows the creation of the Great Human, the anthropos (“the great man” skt. mahāpuruṣa), which again is a gendered word for an androgynous human. Yet, the chaotic matter manifests itself as “female” and the Great Human as predominantly male, although by nature both are androgynous.

4. The Human is the favorite manifestation of the Nous, and God/Father himself falls in love with it and wants to give the full power to the anthropos. He puts him in charge of creation. The Human, looking down, wants to act like the demiurge and create for himself. He obtains the permission to do so from the Father, which is an important detail. On this point Hermeticism stands apart from other traditions, where this point is considered as the fall of Man into sin. Because of the permission granted by the Nous, there is no transgression in Hermeticism. The Human enters the sphere of the demiurge, learns its crafts, and is welcomed by the (seven) planetary spheres. He is loved by God and the planets because of his beauty. Bending down over the lowest planet, Earth, the Human sees Nature (physis). Nature looks back up at him (endowed with all powers of divinity) with a smile and falls in love with him. The Human falls in love with Nature.

This is an important point for Hanegraaff, about which different theories exist. This part of the Poimandres is heavily corrupted. Some consider it is about the fall of the Human. Some think the Human falls narcissistically in love with its own reflection in the waters of Nature. The Human goes down, and the Human and Nature become lovers. In some “fin de siecle” scholarly interpretations, Nature seduces the Human and when he’s near enough, Nature grabs him and draws him under the surface, as a Satanic feminine. Demonic femininity seducing and drawing down the pure masculine into sexuality...

In fact the Human and Nature fall in love and become lovers, without any “fall”, and under the loving eye of the Father. Their love/union produces seven great androgynous humans, made from matter and Nous, which is considered as a great miracle, since they unite Heaven and Earth. Noetic/spiritual reality is brought into matter, and matter is thus beautified. The seven live for a whole season, after which God intervenes and splits them up into male and female, thus creating fourteen male and female entities. God tells them to multiply and spread over the world. This is the beginning of humanity and of mortal bodies.

“Grow and keep growing, multiply and keep multiplying, all you who have been fashioned and made! And may he who has nous recognize that he is immortal [kai anagnōrisatō <ho> ennous heauton onta athanaton] and that erōs is the cause of death, and may he know all that is[8].”

God is not against sex… Stating that erōs is the cause of death is merely pointing out that “all material bodies [are] mortal composites, but [that] all such bodies are born from sexual desire.[9]” The “Fall” interpretation of the Myth comes from Biblical notions of sin and the fall into sin..

“Once we have absorbed this basic point, everything else falls into place. Only knowledge of what is truly eternal, the nous, enables human beings to cultivate their immortal potential; and only by understanding that no other reality truly exists will they realize that in gaining knowledge of themselves, they gain knowledge of all that is[10].”

In this “love story between the Human and Nature”, all humans have been given the freedom to realize that knowledge, with “matter [as] a mirror of noetic perfection”, or to forget “their noetic potential”. Often the love story between e.g. Adam and Eve has been interpreted as a fall into sin though sex, and with sex being the cause of death, mortality. Death as punishment for sex. For Hanegraaff, the Poimandres is about what exactly one focuses one's attention on. The main choice between living focused on mortal bodies, and living in a bodily environment while remaining connected to the noetic world. Mortal bodies are not the ultimate reality. Without realizing this, gnōsis[11], there is no way out of that focus, and one enters a cycle of reincarnation “beneath the surface of noetic awareness”[12], in a “disenchanted world”. Poimandres’ answer is to keep a balance between Nous and the body.

An important difference between Hermeticism and Gnosticism is the role of the body. In Gnosticism, the body and matter are problematic and need to be transcended. In the Poimandres, passions are the problem, mainly the attraction to negative desires (sex, power, wealth…[13]). More Platonist influences can be found in e.g. Treatise IV, where the body is compared to a vessel filled with Nous. And another Treatise (XII[14]) explains that when the soul enters the body, it enters a kind of vessel polluted with negative desires, that poison the soul that therefore loses sight of the Nous. The origin of the soul is thought to be beyond the cosmos, outside of time and space, but the soul enters the sphere of time and space, and its states (of consciousness) are altered through this descent. According to Hanegraaff, Hermeticism has too often been interpreted through Gnosticism, thus changing its core message.

Daimones, Pompei, Museum of Naples

According to Gnosticism the soul is imprisoned in the body and has to escape from it and return to its divine origin. According to Hermeticism, the soul is not imprisoned in the body and does not need to escape from it. Passions are the problem, not the body[15]. In Hermetic literature at the moment the soul enters the body, the body gets invaded by daimons at a specific place and a specific time on the Earth at the very moment of birth, specified by the position of the stars and planets. These daimons will remain with the soul for the rest of its earthly life and have a harmful influence on the life of the body they invaded, stimulating harmful emotions, creating addictions and making us run after phantasms, thus poisoning the consciousness. “The daimons made me do it!”.

On the influence of the Poimandres on the “way of Hermes” (Iamblichus), of which hermetica is a part. Here I will be following Hermetic Spirituality and Altered states of Knowledge, a lecture by Prof. dr. Wouter Hanegraaff on December 15th 2022.

Hermetica has to be seen as a spiritual path, not as a philosophy, although it has philosophical theories. These serve as an underpinning to the spiritual path that develops the inner person. The path leads from a view where materiality predominates to a view (re)connected to the Nous. The goal of the path explained in the treatises following the Poimandres is to break the exclusive power of the bodily senses over our minds, in order to perceive again our essential connection to the Nous. The Poimandres is a sort of original enlightening event. Once “enlightened” there still is a long path to go for Hermes. This enlightenment needs to be further cultivated in order to become part of his life. The other treatises set out a path, going through stages, where the philosophical theories are learned in combination with “meditational practices” (podcast). Philosophy was a way of life (Pierre Hadot) and this is true as well for Hermetica. Yet their meditational practises went far beyond the standard practices of the other Greek traditions. These are techniques for the alteration of consciousness. In order to see things that we usually don’t see with our normal senses. We don’t have the details about these techniques, but we can see the progression in the stages of consciousness and their awareness of realities that initially were not perceived. These techniques are mentioned in particular in Treatises XIII and in the Ogdoad and the Ennead/Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth (Nag Hammadi Codex VI), with the objective to get back in touch with the noetic world.

Screen capture from Prof. dr. Wouter Hanegraaff

It’s about creating eusebeia (reverence, great respect)[16], which Hanegraaff sees as something more important than the pursuit of gnosis in Hermeticism, and glosses as being an attitude of wonder, of respect and admiration for God or for God’s creation, i.e. anything beautiful, good and true. Therefore the first task is to live a life of reverence, whether one has gnosis or not. The gods are believed to forgive anything, but not asebeia (“irreverence towards the state gods"), “a lack of reverence”. Those living a life of eusebeia, reverence, will find salvation after death. The Poimandres describes how the soul travels (back) upwards, going through the seven planets (spheres), leaving the cosmos and reaching the “sphere of the souls” ("Life"), also called the ogdoad (the eighth sphere). The ultimate essence of the soul is ultimate spiritual divine “Light” (Nous). If a soul then unites with the “Light” that is its real Self, its essence, it reaches the “sphere of Nous” (the noetic ninth sphere, Ennead). Everything is Light, anything that’s “not Light” is delusion.

When hermetic authors talk about “God”, they actually mean the Nous, the universal Light of divinity, the Nineth sphere, the only thing that really truly exists. The Light of the Nous is identical with our inner Light, the Nous inside ourselves. This Light may blind us through its presence, and we may forget its presence. Hermetica’s aim is to make us aware again of our inner Nous, and that our Inner Light is actually identical with the universal Light of God himself.

There even is a Tenth sphere, called “the One”, or “the Source” or “Fountain”[17]. Hermetic literature has ten levels[18]. Since there is no time and space beyond the cosmos, it is difficult to say that the Tenth level would be higher, or the Ninth and the Eight lower. It’s a mystery. The whole of reality is Life and Light, coming from a totally unknowable inconceivable (acintya) source.

This is a first blog about Hermeticism, which I will consider from an esoteric Buddhist and a “mainstream” Buddhist perspective. It seems to me that there is no genuine conflict between Hermeticism and esoteric Buddhism on “Light” (“God”) and its divine nature, but there may be a deeper conflict between “mainstream” Buddhism and Hermeticism, and consequently also with esoteric Buddhism about the nature of “Light”.

A curious Hermetic (Flammarion engraving)

***

[1] Hart explains that the epithet is derived from an epithet of Thoth found at the Temple of Esna, "Thoth the great, the great, the great". Hart, G., The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, 2005, Routledge, second edition, Oxon, p 158

[2] Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Bloomsbury Publishing

[3] Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination: Altered States of Knowledge in Late Antiquity, Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Cambridge University Press (2022)
“Throughout the rest of this volume, I write nous in small letters whenever it seems to mean primarily a human capacity or metaphysical reality, but capitalize it as Nous if the latter functions as a deity.”

[4] In Tibetan blo las ‘das pa.

[5] Episode 104: Wouter Hanegraaff on the Poimandres, 14/10/2020

[6] Hermetic Spirituality, p. 164

[7] Yab yum.

[8] Hermetic Spirituality, p. 176

[9] Hermetic Spirituality, p. 177

[10] Hermetic Spirituality, p. 177

[11] “The goal is spiritual knowledge, gnōsis – literally re-cognition or re-membering of one’s true self as identical with the divine Light and Life, as Poimandres points out to Hermes once again.”

[12] Hermetic Spirituality, p. 179

[13] Treatise XIII, about Rebirth, that gives a list of twelve vices corresponding to the twelve astrological houses.

[14] “As soon as it has entered a body, every soul gets corrupted by pain and pleasure”.

[15] Embassy of the Free Mind, Lecture Hermetic Spirituality and Altered states of Knowledge by Prof. dr. Wouter Hanegraaff, 15/12/2022

[16] Which makes me think of the notions “puja” in sanskrit and “mchod pa” in tibetan.


[17] “I want to speak! Fear restrains me. I have found the beginning of the power that is above all powers, the one that has no beginning. I see a fountain bubbling with life. I have said, my son, that I am Mind [Nous]. I have seen! Language is not able to reveal this. For the entire Ogdoad, my son, and the souls that are in it, and the angels, sing a hymn in silence. And I, Mind [Nous], understand.” The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth (Nag Hammadi Library), Translated by James Brashler, Peter A. Dirkse, and Douglas M. Parrott

[18] Bhūmi.