The Emerald Tablet
June 2008 & October 2009
Comments
In
this article I explain the Emerald tablet, making clear as I do so the
links between the tablet concepts and the works of Plato, Jung and
others.
The Emerald Tablet is a text
said to be the work of Hermes Trismegistus, "Hermes the Thrice-Great", a
legendary Egyptian sage or God. However, modern historians have proved him
to be a collection of unknown 200ADish writers who mixed ideas from
Platonism, Stoicism, Judaism, Christianity, Persia, Egypt etc. The Hermitic
writings became especially popular in the Renaissance, eg Rosicrucianism,
but they died out as philosophy took on more empirical and practical
characteristics, eg Descartes' rationalism. In the late 19th Century the
writings enjoyed a revival under the "Order of The Golden Dawn"
and the "Theosophical Society". In its
heyday, many celebrities belonged to the Golden Dawn, for example William
Butler Yeats, one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature.
However, the drug taking hedonist Aleister Crowley brought the movement into considerable disrepute by
associating it with occultism and 'black magic'.
The myth of antiquity, which persisted up until the 20th Century, gave the writings enormous, yet completely unwarranted, credibility. Why? Because inside them are metaphysical theories which Plato and others appeared to have independently rediscovered at a much later date. The writings also predict the rise of Christianity despite supposedly predating it by thousands of years. Somewhat tragically, for the science of metaphysics, many seeks of truth consequently eschewed the works of Plato and his contemporaries in favour of these contradictory and cryptic texts, which they considered to be the unadulterated ancient source of all wisdom. Aquinas, on the other hand, was horrified by the blasphemies, and declared them demonically inspired. One marvels at how easily scholars were once taken in.
The short and cryptic text
of "The Emeral Tablet" supposedly contains a
description of the meaning of life, the perfecting of life, ie the
turning of Lead, the negative, Earth, Man into Gold, the positive, God,
Enlightenment. I think it is the highlight of the Hermitic Writings.
Isaac Newton also wrote a famous translation. Newton was not trying to turn
lead into gold physically - this is an outrageous corruption of the lead-gold metaphor. In those days it was fashionable to be cryptic, which
hardly helped the knowledge escape. Why? Because had the enlightened
admitted that they were studying God rather than "alchemy" the Christian
authorities might have persecuted them.
1) This is true and remote from all cover of falsehood.
What follows is the complete truth.
2) Whatever is below is similar to that which is above. Through this the
marvels of the work of one thing are procured and perfected.
As above so below, as within so without. The macrocosm and microcosm. This is the mystical connection
principle Carl Jung called synchronicity.
Explaining synchronicity Carl Jung tells the story: "A young woman I was
treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden
scarab. While she was telling me this dream, I sat with my back to the
closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I
turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window-pane from
the outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it
flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab one finds in our
latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer (Cetonia aurata),
which, contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt the urge to get into
a dark room at this particular moment. I must admit that nothing like it
ever happened to me before or since." Was this coincidence? Jung thought
not (anyway, this was only one of many examples). Was this an example of
conventional telepathy, clairvoyance or psychokinesis? No, although it could
be the principle from which these phenomena derive. This was an example of a simultaneous occurrence that is
meaningfully related in a psychological sense but has no causal relationship
in nature. Jung variously described synchronicity as an "acausal connecting
principle", "meaningful coincidence" and "acausal parallelism".
Here are some examples: (1) A film director emphasises the coming
assassination of the King by having his palace catch fire the night before. According to the principle this type of
'meaningful coincidence'
happens in real life as well as films. (2) A young man dreams and prays for
something to happen which subsequently does. As within so without: if something is imagined with enough force it crystallises in the
physical. Here we have the power of prayer. There is said to be a link
between the spiritual development of the individual and the speed with which
his inner manifests on the outer physical. The more spiritually developed an
individual the more synchronistic events occur around him. (3) A young man is vain and
arrogant as a result of his inherited wealth. His higher unconscious mind is
in opposition to his egotistical flaws and manifests his financial ruin in
order that he may develop. Karma is the drawing toward an individual those
external circumstances most appropriate to his self development. As we
evolve spiritually our Karma works out that much more quickly. (The use of
the individual's higher unconscious in this explanation of Karma does not
exclude other possible mechanisms).
Although in the past this principle was universally accepted, eg
Shakespeare's plays are full of it, today our scientists reject it as mumbo
jumbo and our politicians reject it as immoral. In fact there is limited
circumstantial scientific evidence for some sort micro-synchronistic process coming from results in quantum
mechanics. It is possible, and has been demonstrated in laboratory tests, to
split particles in two, send the halves in opposite directions, and then measure
one of them for spin. The instant it is measured, and the spin determined, the
other particle adopts the opposite spin. The time interval is zero, the
event takes place instantaneously, even though the particles are separated,
and theoretically would still do so even if they were separated by a
distance measured in light years. This "EPR Paradox" mystifies physicists
and is an apparent example of micro-synchronicity. Another possible example is the
wave-particle like nature of electromagnetic energy. The photon particle is
detected at random but in accordance with the wave distribution, thus we
have probability crystallising into events. Wolfgang Pauli was a brilliant Nobel
Prize winning scientist at the forefront of quantum mechanics who developed
spin theory. Pauli
and Jung collaborated to some extend on the theory of synchronicity. Pauli
thought synchronicity might be an example of a possible fundamental
principle which needs to be properly integrated into Physics at the micro
level (Jung's interest was in the psychological and spiritual
ramifications). Pauli was a brilliant man who wrote a 237 page paper on
general relativity at the age of 21 that was praised by Einstein. He was
critical of Neo-Darwinian Theory even before Crick's arguments about the
complexity of DNA. Jung
considered Pauli a highly evolved individual whose dreams contained vast
quantities of deep archetypal material. The Pauli effect was named after his
bizarre ability to break experimental equipment simply by being in the
vicinity. Pauli himself was aware of his reputation, he believed this
poltergeist like activity was the synchronistic effect of inner conflict. In 1958 he was admitted to hospital with cancer. When his
assistant visited him Pauli asked “Did you see the room number?” It was
number 137. Throughout his life, Pauli had been preoccupied with the
question of why the fine structure constant, a dimensionless fundamental
constant, has a value nearly equal to 1/137. Pauli later died in that room.
Once one really understands the connection principle the veil is lifted and
one begins to live in another world.
Some more complex examples: (a) A woman is tense and fussy and has
difficulty behaving in a
loving way - her top lip is thin - 'Face Reading' is an example of synchronicity.
Angelina Jolie's large lips are popular because they reflect a desirable
psychological trait in a mate. Although the conscious mind of the average
person cannot see a link, deep down feelings are generated. (b) What is
beauty? The striking reflection of a harmonious state of consciousness. Of
course, it is easier to create striking reflections of disharmonious states,
a trick employed by many Modern Artists (Beauty defined at last and so
simply- I hope you are impressed! Yet there is another problem - what of raw
nature? No longer a state of consciousness we are witnessing divine
complexity directly. Dorris Day vs JS Bach).
An Enlightened individual is one who can discern the plot and untangle the connections. Take face reading - how can one become conscious of the inner outer associations? By reason and feeling, by sight and sound. For example place your finger above your top lip and consider the mood associated. It's pensive, but it's outgoing. Now your finger below your bottom lip and we have pensive incoming. We feel the energy which flows up from the ground into the head and down again. We see how in one case we block the upward flow (eg block incoming sensory data whilst we process data already in the queue), in the other case we block the downward flowing active response. Now we see why it is said that the bottom lip takes and the top lip gives. Some homework: What do large ear lobes mean? You need detachment and inner calm to release yourself from your ego and feel these subtle energies. To reason you need detachment again and concentration to follow the abstract arguments so remote from ordinary thinking.
Plato's "Theory Of Forms" is another explanation of the "As Above, So Below" cosmology. Perhaps we should amend it to: "Whatever is below is a reflection of that which is above..." Plato described the concept of mortal things being imperfect limited reflections of higher immortal truths or Forms. The physical form of a cat is a reflection of the cats inner nature or state of consciousness. This in turn is a reflection of, amongst other things, the archetypical cat Form. The cat Form is a theoretical ideal, an immortal concept, real cats are limited flawed reflections which change grow and die etc. To behold truth is to comprehend the Form, that which the reflections have in common.
For the unenlightened the world is in chaos. The miraculous
order is what makes the perfecting process possible
because the lessons and manifestations are
appropriate not random. "As Above, So Below" is a key part of the positive
teleological philosophy of mysticism.
3) Also, as all things are made from one, by the consideration of one, so
all things were made from this one, by conjunction.
Platonists divide the world into three primary levels. We have been
discussing the relationship between the Immortal (Form) and Mortal
(Reflection) which make up two of the three levels. The third layer is
called "The One", or "God Itself" rather that "The Gods" which inhabit the
Immortal layer. The One
is the that which the Immortal World of Forms have in common, the source,
the first principle, the unity, perhaps "The Good" or "Beauty". All things are
from The One, by the consideration of the The One, and therefore The One is
the source of all things. Thinking about Entropy, The One has none, the
immortal has infinity, the mortal is somewhere between the two.
Recall the well know cosmic consciousness experience (the passive experience of an interconnected universe, the first of the three religious experiences, the limit beyond which few have progressed).
Recall the paradox that God is in all
things, but God is not in all things. That which is manifested is no longer
God, it is the daughter of God, sometimes very good, sometimes very evil.
Was Einstein evil because he invented the technology used to create nuclear
weapons? Of course not but that doesn't let God off the hook say some
because he invented the politicians! But God is the totality and capable of
all things, manifestations (things below) are limited reflections. All
manifestation is 'evil' in a sense. Thus we have the positive God world and
the negative physical world of limited reflected illusion.
4) The father of it is the sun, the mother the moon.
The sun is the symbol of the immortal world, the moon the mortal world. Just
as the moon reflects the light of the sun, the mortal world reflects the Forms of the immortal world.
More precisely: the sun radiates light which is separated and reflected in a
multitude of colours and shades below.
Why father and mother? The immortal world is abstract, the mortal world
is manifestation. Some readers will struggle to make the connection, but
what we are speaking of is akin to the yang-yin or male-female duality.
As above so below- the male/female is not simply limited to human nature, it
reflects the very structure of heaven and earth. The male-female nature is
a microcosm
of the relationship between God and Man.
Male attributes include: detachment, intelligence, theory, power, competitive, active, positive. Female attributes include: materialism, emotion, practicality, love, nurturing, passive, negative. Now we understand why women are practical and man are single minded. We can see why the Christians call God "The Father" and why Paul said "wives [must] to submit to their husbands as to the Lord". Some homework: Why does the woman suffer from hysteria and the man from lack of purpose! I read a beautiful metaphor describing the male female relationship in a book called "On the Breath of the Gods" by Ariel Tomioka, she described a butterfly (male) landing on a flower (female).
So the moral code of rationalist philosophers depends on their perspective. The Mortal Moral Perspective is the nurturing love of the mother. Justice is equality, utopia, cohesive. We have today's popular Christian morality. The Immortal Moral Perspective is the competitive father who forces his children to take risks. Divisive and painful evolution is no longer immoral, instead stasis is the primary evil. Recall the genetic breeding viewpoint expressed in the Republic which is so offensive to modern Christian morality. For modern humanists (who have abandoned religion because God appears inconsistent with their passive feminine Christian morality) Plato & Nietzsche are evil or 'emotionally damaged'. But the passive viewpoint does not withstand reason. Does God care when humans die in a Tsunami any more than we humans care when we stand on a Cockroach?
In the 1970s it became fashionable to believe that men and women are the same and separated only by their upbringing (the nature vs nurture argument). Although clearly utter nonsense the theory was popular with the so called great minds of western science until the discovery of the psychological impact of testosterone in the 1980s forced them to change their minds.
Out of the Duality we get the concept
of the Trinity.
Trinity: The immortal-mortal are opposites, that which they have in
common is the intermediate spirit, together the three are called a Trinity.
In Plato's Symposium Socrates asks Diotima
above love: "What then is Love?" I asked; "Is he mortal?" "No." "What then?"
"As in the former instance, he is neither mortal nor immortal, but in a mean
between the two."... "He is a great spirit and like all spirits he is
intermediate between the divine and the mortal... Now these spirits or
intermediate powers are many and diverse, and one of them is Love...." "What
is the use of him to men?" asks Socrates. "That, Socrates," she replied, "I
will attempt to unfold..."... "When a man loves the beautiful, what
does he desire?" I answered her "That the beautiful may be his." "Still,"
she said, "the answer suggests a further question: What is given by the
possession of beauty?"... "Happiness," I replied" "Yes," she said, "the
happy are made happy by the acquisition of good things. Nor is there any
need to ask why a man desires happiness; the answer is already final."...
This desire is common to all men..."
This is famous Immortal-Mortal-Love Trinity. Love, which mediates between the
Immortal and Mortal, is an intermediate by which Mortal Man can make contact
with the Immortal. In
Christianity "Divine Love" is given a prominent place and normally associated
with the "Holy Spirit" which intermediates between the Mortal and Immortal.
Nevertheless "Now these spirits or intermediate powers are many and diverse, and one of them is Love...." Along with the passive intermediate of Love perhaps we have an active intermediate called Reason. Man beholds truth by reason and love. I like to use the world Wisdom to capture both Love & Reason, but that would be a long digression...
The duality is at the very heart of
everything, yet I have never met anyone who knew much about it. Once one
understands the duality the veil is lifted. What is socialism and
capitalism? Why is music more emotionally powerful than painting?
5) The wind bore it in the womb. Its nurse is the earth, the mother of
all perfection.
We have already alluded to some mechanisms which lift the human upwards from
mortal illusion to immortal truth: Karma, Love, Reason. Here we add more detail. Our overall picture
is that Mortal evolution toward the Immortal.
The Neo-Platonists rejected the materialistic nature of man implicit in
Christianity and saw him as a spark of God with potentially God powers under
his rational control (not just a channel for divine power). Enlightenment is
omniscient and omnipotent. The divine redemption concept, eg saviour from
our sins by Jesus at death, is gone. Instead we have exciting active
principle of self redemption, ie personal spiritual evolution to perfection
over lifetimes on earth. Heaven and Hell is replaced by Reincarnation. The
passive oneness with God sought by meditation is rejected in favour of the
razor sharp intelligence and power of contemplation.
The manifest mortal world (world of
attachment, materialism and pain) is one of the mechanisms of evolutionary perfection. This Darwinian "Dog Eat Dog" World is the "School of Hard Knocks"
with the motto "No Pain, No Gain". The blood stained earth is the mother
of all perfection. More on this:
Solving
The Problem Of Evil. One day man will walk the earth as a god,
brilliant, loving, all powerful. Technology was the missing key which
limited the explanations of the ancients. Perhaps one day man will shed his
physical body and take on a new engineered form, perhaps one day he will
loose interest in physical existence and merge his essence into an
engineered supra
physical contemplating collective, star trek style. The "Forbidden Planet"
was wrong - interface without instrumentation is not the final step!
Reflect carefully on this vital Un-Christian thought: We are born the worm,
and by experience and reincarnation, evolve into the eagle, capable of
feeding on worms.
Fan's of Hegel will remember "Anthropology has for its subject matter the
soul in its uncultivated natural condition". Controversial stuff - these
days our politically correct scientists no longer try to save primitive
heathens, instead they credit them with imaginary wisdom. Jung described
primitive man as a prisoner of the collective unconscious who is now
developing freedom. Nietzsche shocked us with his provocative descriptions
of the herd and the Übermensch. Ah how exciting that powerful story of the
Superman, how could any man believe that cringing nonsense about a heavenly
utopia? Only a woman could believe that happy story of an infinitely caring
saviour, which brings tears to the eyes of sheep, and naļvely rejects the heartless
truth of the Superman!
The process which turns the worm into the eagle is the "School of Hard
Knocks", evolutionary Earth.
Of course there is a difference between Darwin's Theory of Evolution
and human spiritual growth. Also I am not advocating the theory that Soul
starts off as an Amoeba and evolves into a Human. Darwin's theory of Evolution is non-divine, its
relevance to mortal->immortal progression is only an appealing allegory. In fact
Darwin's Theory of Evolution fails
anyway, the entire theory is nothing more than allegory.
By the way, I am not completely
rejecting the passive conception of God, I am trying to open the readers
eyes to the bigger picture. As I go deeper, as I see more, even though I am
wise, "I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance".
6) Its power is perfected, (7a) If it is turned into earth
God's power is perfected by manifesting it.
We can say that the purpose of life is the perfection of life, which, since all life is God,
is the perfection of God. The father thinks, the mother is, the father
thinks again, the mother changes...
Also, only by exercising ones power in the
manifesting of the imperfect is it possible to perfect ones power. Does this
article count?!
7b) Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle and thin from the crude
and coarse, prudently, with modesty and wisdom.
How does the mind
recognise a chair coming as it does in so many forms? Intelligence is the grasping of archetypal
forms. Hence great minds,
like Winston Churchill, love generalisations. Modesty is the ability to question everything we know
and discard it. No stone unturned, no faith, no sacred belief. Plato talks about ignorance,
knowledge and opinion. Mankind lives in a world of opinion, the philosopher
looks to knowledge by intellect, feeling and Socratic Detachment. Prudently and wisely - the trap so many who study the
divine work fall into is to abandon logic, good sense and perspective. They
say there are two paths to God, reason and imitation (Confucius), or power and love, the
Emerald Tablet is for the philosophers.
Although I have written very quickly
here, the concept of Socratic wisdom, or enlightenment, is key. This is
complete detachment, intellectuality, scientific process (yet without
the dull materialistic thinking and the absence of intuition associated with
excessive empiricism). Most people live
in a world of opinion, they are robots, animals, fools. New Age nonsense and the
world of blog exemplify the decline of modern thinking. Plato calls it
'opinion', or, if it is bad enough, 'superstition'. 'Religion', 'dogma', 'ideology', 'emotion',
'baggage', 'aberration' describe it too.
Raw intelligence is not enough. Look at
Einstein's stupid rejection of quantum physics, look at the ludicrous
popular support for evolution by random change and selection. The world is
full of fools.
8) This ascends from the earth into the sky and again descends from the
sky to the earth, and receives the power and efficacy of things above and of
things below.
The perfecting of wisdom acquired on the manifest negative rising up to the
reflective positive
and passing back down to the negative for further refinement. Energy spirals
out from The One and returns back to the centre again.
9) By this means you will acquire the glory of the whole world, and so
you will drive away all shadows and blindness.
Shadows: wrong understanding. Blindness: no understanding.
10) For this by its fortitude snatches the palm from all other fortitude
and power. For it is able to penetrate and subdue everything subtle and
everything crude and hard.
Wisdom is the ultimate goal and brings the ultimate fulfilment. As you
understand more and more the circumstances of your life arrange to bring you
toward the glory of the whole world. This snatches the palm from all other
fortitude and power.
Perhaps also it is worth mentioning that one can consciously use the connection principle by speaking or creating symbols
which evoke thoughts which in turn manifest.
11) By this means the world was founded
12) And hence the marvellous conjunctions of it and admirable effects,
since this is the way by which these marvels may be brought about.
I am not going to try and explain the One, the Henads, the Nous etc.
13) And because of this they have called me Hermes Tristmegistus since I
have the three parts of the wisdom and Philosophy of the whole universe.
The three parts wisdom & conjunctions refers to the "trinity" concept
described earlier (in 4).
14) My speech is finished which I have spoken concerning the solar work.
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Hi, I came across another web site about the Emerald Tablet with different explanations: Link. What do you think? Regards T.
Hello T.,
I had a look at your web site quickly. Eg:
(Point 2 - As Above, So Below) The fundamental point
being made is that truth and reality can only be grasped by analogy. The
Above is not the Below; it is like the Below. That is, we can only
understand by symbols, metaphors, parables, poems, mandalas and koans. We
can only approach reality indirectly to accomplish the Great Work.
This is a typical example of the type of New Age nonsense I utterly despise!
It's not just the author's failure to quote Jung's Theory of Synchronicity, which
would excite any intellectual snob, it's his failure to grasp even the
most fundamental principle of mysticism. Not only is he no
further forward than the incorrigible materialist, by
discarding his rational mind he is actually moving backwards, back toward
the worthless speculations and superstitions of primitive man.
The link between "Plato's Forms", "As Above, So Below" and "Jung's Synchronicity" is not a possibly erroneous theory of mine - it is a fact - a truism - and an obvious one at that. Jung's original paper on synchronicity talks about it at length, I wish I could add links to other articles, but all I can find on the internet is junk, the web site you sent certainly being no exception.
Yet it gets even worse. Look at these pitiful lines from your suggested site:
(Point 4 - Father is Sun, Mother Moon) The One becomes the Many and so, it differentiates into 4 separate steps; Above Ž Below, personified as the astrologer. Heaven sets the pattern for earth. On the Tree of Life, Tiferet is the Sun, Chakhmah is the Zodiac, Binah is Saturn, Chesed is Jupiter and Gevurah is Mars. Again, these are guides for visualisation. It is no use talking about it, we must experience it.
In this quote we can see clearly the
deeply dangerous New Age & Religious idea that metaphysical truth transcends
reason and can only be grasped by feel or faith. Socratic detachment is hard
enough for people to achieve as it is, the last thing we need are arguments
that it is antithetical to
truth.
I am afraid that metaphysics is beyond all but the most sophisticated
intellectuals. The tragedy is that these few have imparted so little to
their fellow man, so the masses live in complete darkness. Instead of Plato, Proclus, Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche & William Hooper we have Christianity
and other popular religions which are as fit for the human mind as Coca-Cola is for
the human body.
By sending me this link, you have clearly revealed yourself as just another worm, in a world of worms, who has stumbled across my pearls of wisdom, and slithered past unmoved.
You have no chance of intellectually penetrating the mysteries in this lifetime. Instead I suggest you embrace popular books such as 'Journey Of Souls' by Dr Michael Newton. This work is not intellectually challenging, but it is infinitely more uplifting than The Ten Commandments, that pitiful collection of so called sacred rules at the heart of the worlds most popular opiate affliction.