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

Section 1c

This is God's sense-and-thought, ever to move all things. And never time shall be when e'en a whit of things that are shall cease; and when I say "a whit of things that are", I mean a whit of God. For thigs that are, God hath; nor aught [is there] without Him, nor [is] He without aught. 10. These things should seem to thee, Asclepius, if thou dost understand them, true; but if thou dost not understand, things not to be believed. To understand is to believe, to not believe is not to understand. My word (logos) doth go before [thee] to the truth. But mighty is the mind, and when it hath been led by word up to a certain point, it hath the power to come before [thee] to the truth. And having thought o'er all these things, and found them consonant with those which have already been translated by the reason, it hath [e'en now] believed, and found its rest in that Fair Faith. To those, then, who by God['s good aid] do understand the things that have been said [by us] above, they're credible; but unto those who understand them not, incredible. Let so much, then, suffice on thought-and-sense.
Themes
◆Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

The passage negates divine possession ('He doth not have these things') to describe God's nature.

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◆Divine Providencetheology

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

God's sense-and-thought is described as actively moving all things continuously.

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◆Monadcosmology

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

God is presented as the singular source from which all existence flows without external acquisition.

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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 those who understand the teachings (credible) and those who do not (incredible).

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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 references bodies, soul-substance, and spirit as mediums through which divine action occurs.

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◇Divine Simplicitytheology

The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.

[auto] God is defined not as possessing things but as being them all Himself, indicating a non-composite identity.

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◇Emanation Hierarchycosmology

A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.

[auto] Existence flows from God who gives things out from Himself through various levels like body, soul, and spirit.

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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] It equates understanding with believing, prioritizing direct intellectual grasp of truth over external faith.

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◇Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

[auto] Truth is presented as contingent on the listener's ability to understand, implying esoteric accessibility reserved for the initiated.

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◇Living Godtheology

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

[auto] God is described as actively moving all things and giving existence from Himself rather than being static.

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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 text explicitly mentions the 'word (logos)' as leading the mind to truth and preceding the listener.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] The statement that nothing exists without God and He is without nothing implies a total immanent union between the divine and creation.

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◇Opposites Transcendedanthropology

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

[auto] The text negates the separation between God and existence by stating nothing is without Him nor He without anything.

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◇Paradox As Teachingethics

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

[auto] The equation of understanding with belief challenges conventional distinctions between faith and reason to induce insight.

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◇Spiritual Ascentpraxis

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

[auto] The mind is described as being led by the word up to a certain point, suggesting an upward cognitive journey toward truth.

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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.

[auto] The passage asserts that all things are in God and God is all things, establishing a monistic ontology where nothing exists outside the divine.

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Related passages · 11 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1k
“and all things are moved by a longing for the Beautiful and Good, to accomplish every outward work and form every act of will. And true reasoning will also dare to affirm that even the Creator of all things Himself yearneth after all thing…”
Both passages discuss the nature of God and His relationship with creation, emphasizing the unity and interconnectedness of all things with the Divine. They both explore the idea of God as the source and sustainer of all existence, though from different mystical traditions.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 275 (part 2)
“In its character as Life, as emanation, as containing all things in their precise forms and not merely in the agglomerate mass- for this would be to contain them imperfectly and inarticulately- it must of necessity derive from some other Be…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine as the source and essence of all things, emphasizing the unity and interconnectedness of existence. They explore the idea that the divine is not separate from creation but is the very substance and principle of all that is.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 276 (part 2)
“It cannot be, itself, The Good, since then it would not need to see or to perform any other Act; for The Good is the centre of all else, and it is by means of The Good that every thing has Act, while the Good is in need of nothing and there…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine as the source and sustainer of all things, emphasizing the unity and simplicity of the divine principle. They share a mystical perspective on the relationship between the divine and the created world.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 426
“Section 10 10. We have shown the inevitability of certain convictions as to the scheme of things: There exists a Principle which transcends Being; this is The One, whose nature we have sought to establish in so far as such matters lend them…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine and its relationship to the world and the individual. They emphasize the transcendence and immanence of the divine principle, as well as the importance of understanding and belief in achieving spiritual insight.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 433
“Section 1 1. Are we to think that a being knowing itself must contain diversity, that self-knowledge can be affirmed only when some one phase of the self perceives other phases, and that therefore an absolutely simplex entity would be equal…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine and its relationship to the world and the individual. They emphasize the unity and transcendence of the divine principle, as well as the importance of understanding and belief in achieving spiritual insight.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 463
“Section 10 10. Still, do not, I urge you, look for The Good through any of these other things; if you do, you will see not itself but its trace: you must form the idea of that which is to be grasped cleanly standing to itself not in any com…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine as the ultimate source and cause of all existence, emphasizing the transcendence and unity of the divine principle. They share a mystical perspective on the divine intellect and its relationship to creation.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 502
“Section 10 10. All, then, that is present in the sense realm as Idea comes from the Supreme. But what is not present as Idea, does not. Thus of things conflicting with nature, none is There: the inartistic is not contained in the arts; lame…”
Both passages discuss the unity and interconnectedness of all things within the divine, emphasizing that everything originates from and depends on the Supreme or God. They share a mystical perspective on the nature of reality and the divine.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 509
“Section 1 1. Philosophy at a very early stage investigated the number and character of the Existents. Various theories resulted: some declared for one Existent, others for a finite number, others again for an infinite number, while as regar…”
Both passages discuss the nature of God or the Supreme as the source and essence of all things, emphasizing the unity and interdependence of existence. They share a mystical perspective on the divine as the fundamental reality underlying all phenomena.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 617
“Section 10 10. It remains, then, poised in wisdom within itself; it could not enter into any other; those others look to it and in their longing find it where it is. This is that "Love Waiting at the Door," ever coming up from without, stri…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine and its relationship with creation, emphasizing unity and the interconnectedness of all things. They share a mystical perspective on the divine as being both immanent and transcendent, though they come from different traditions.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 627
“Section 7 7. It is inevitably necessary to think of all as contained within one nature; one nature must hold and encompass all; there cannot be as in the realm of sense thing apart from thing, here a sun and elsewhere something else; all mu…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine and its relationship with creation, emphasizing the unity and immanence of the divine in all things. They both explore the idea that the divine is not separate from creation but is inherently present within it.
1 more
◆renaissance_hermeticism|Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter XIV — Of the Spirit of the World, What It Is, and How by Way of Medium It Unites Occult Virtues to Their Subjects|Chapter XIV, Section 1a
“CHAPTER XIV. Of the Spirit of the World, What It Is, and How by Way of Medium It Unites Occult Virtues to Their Subjects . Democritus and Orpheus, and many Pythagoreans, having most diligently searched into the virtues of celestial things…”
Both passages discuss the omnipresence and unity of the divine in all things, emphasizing that all existence depends on and is interconnected through the divine. They share a mystical perspective on the nature of reality and the role of the divine in sustaining and animating the world.