Corpus Hermeticum 9: The Decalogue · 1 of 3 · tr. G.R.S. Mead

Section 1a

On Thought and Sense <This somewhat diffuse essay covers a series of topics, starting with (and to some extent from) the concept that the set of perceptions we call "thoughts" and the set we call "sensory perceptions" are not significantly different from each other.

The implications of this idea play a significant role in later Hermetic thought, particularly in the areas of magic and the Art of Memory; in this tractate, though, the issues involved are barely touched, and the argument wanders into moral dualisms and the equally important, but distinct, idea that the Cosmos is itself a divine creative power.

1.

I gave the Perfect Sermon (Logos) yesterday, Asclepius; today I think it right, as sequel thereunto, to go through point by point the Sermon about Sense.

Now sense and thought do seem to differ, in that the former has to do with matter, the latter has to do with substance.

But unto me both seem to be at-one and not to differ - in men I mean.

In other lives <or living creatures> sense is at-oned with Nature, but in men thought.

Now mind doth differ just as much from thought as God doth from divinity.

For that divinity by God doth come to be, and by mind thought, the sister of the word (logos) and instruments of one another.

For neither doth the word (logos) find utterance without thought, nor is thought manifested without word.

2.

So sense and thought both flow together into man, as though they were entwined with one another.

For neither without sensing can one think, nor without thinking sense.

But it is possible [they say] to think a thing apart from sense, as those who fancy sights in dreams.

But unto me it seems that both of these activities occur in dream-sight, and sense doth pass out of the sleeping to the waking state.

For man is separated into soul and body, and only when the two sides of his sense agree together, does utterance of its thought conceived by mind take place.

3.

For it is mind that doth conceive all thoughts - good thoughts when it receives the seeds from God, their contraries when [it receiveth them] from the daimonials; no part of Cosmos being free of daimon, who stealthily doth creep into the daimon who's illumined by God's light <i.e., the human soul>, and sow in him the seed of its own energy.

And mind conceives the seed thus sown, adultery, murder, parricide, [and] sacrilege, impiety, [and] strangling, casting down precipices, and all such other deeds as are the work of evil daimons.

4.

The seeds of God, 'tis true, are few, but vast and fair, and good - virtue and self-control, devotion.

Devotion is God-gnosis; and he who knoweth God, being filled with all good things, thinks godly thoughts and not thoughts like the many [think].

For this cause they who Gnostic are, please not the many, nor the many them.

They are thought mad and laughted at; they're hated and despised, and sometimes even put to death.

For we did say that bad must needs dwell on earth, where 'tis in its own place.

Its place is earth, and not Cosmos, as some will sometimes say with impious tongue.

But he who is a devotee of God, will bear with all - once he has sensed the Gnosis.

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 marvelous, 'tis he alone who maketh bad things good.

5.

Themes

◆Archonscosmology

Malevolent planetary rulers or demiurgic powers that govern the material world and obstruct the soul's ascent.

Evil daimonials are described as creeping into the soul to sow seeds of vice, functioning similarly to malevolent obstructing powers.

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◆Body As Obstacleanthropology

The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.

The text states that 'bad must needs dwell on earth' and separates man into soul and body, implying the material realm is a place of deficiency.

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◆Divine Lighttheology

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

The text mentions the daimon who is 'illumined by God's light', indicating a luminous divine quality.

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◆Divine Madnesssoteriology

Ecstatic irrational rapture — Plato's mania, Bruno's furore — by which the soul transcends ordinary reason and attains direct contact with divine reality; madness reframed as higher knowledge.

Gnostics are described as being 'thought mad and laughted at' by the many for their higher knowledge.

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◆Divine Sparkscosmology

Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.

The text describes 'seeds from God' being sown in the mind, analogous to fragments of divine spirit within the human.

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◆Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

The human soul is described as a daimon 'illumined by God's light', indicating an internal divine presence.

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◆Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

God is depicted as actively sowing seeds of virtue into the mind, portraying a dynamic divine presence.

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◆Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

The Gnostic is described as being 'filled with all good things' through God-gnosis, hinting at a state of union.

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◆Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

The author argues that sense and thought 'seem to differ' but are ultimately 'at-one and not to differ' in men.

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◆Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

The teaching relies on the paradoxical assertion that differing faculties like sense and thought are fundamentally identical.

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◆Pneumatic Electsoteriology

A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons.

A distinction is drawn between 'they who Gnostic are' and 'the many', indicating a spiritual elite set apart by knowledge.

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◆Soul Migrationcosmology

The transmigration of the soul across lives.

The text references 'other lives' where sense is at-oned with Nature, implying transmigration or previous existences.

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◆Theosis Deificationsoteriology

The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.

Those who know God are 'filled with all good things' and think godly thoughts, suggesting transformation into the divine nature.

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◆Tripartite Soulanthropology

Division of the human being into three principles: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body/matter (hyle or soma).

The text distinguishes between mind, thought, sense, soul, and body, outlining a complex internal structure of the human being.

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◆Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

The commentary states that the Cosmos is itself a divine creative power, implying an identification of the divine with existence.

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◇Cosmic Dualismtheology

Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.

[auto] The text distinguishes between sense (associated with matter) and thought, while the commentary notes moral dualisms.

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◇Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

[auto] The passage defines devotion as 'God-gnosis' and contrasts those who know God with the many who do not.

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◇Logoscosmology

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

[auto] The passage explicitly references the 'Perfect Sermon (Logos)' as a prior teaching given by the narrator.

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