Corpus Hermeticum 11: The Hymn · 2 of 5 · tr. G.R.S. Mead
Section 1b
It <i.e., Soul> fills it <i.e., the Body of the Cosmos> from within, and from without encircles it, making the All to live.
Without, this vast and perfect Life [encircles] Cosmos; within, it fills [it with] all lives; above, in Heaven, continuing in sameness; below, on Earth, changing becoming.
5.
And Aeon doth preserve this [Cosmos], or by Necessity, or by Foreknowledge, or by Nature, or by whatever else a man supposes or shall suppose.
And all is this - God energizing.
The Energy of God is Power that naught can e'er surpass, a Power with which no one can make comparison of any human thing at all, or any thing divine.
Wherefore, O Hermes, never think that aught of things above or things below is like to God, for thou wilt fall from truth.
For naught is like to That which hath no like, and is Alone and One.
And do not ever think that any other can possibly possess His power; for what apart from Him is there of life, and deathlessness and change of quality?
For what else should He make?
God's not inactive, since all things [then] would lack activity; for all are full of God.
But neither in the Cosmos anywhere, nor in aught else, is there inaction.
For that "inaction" is a name that cannot be applied to either what doth make or what is made.
6.
But all things must be made; both ever made, and also in accordance with the influence of every space.
For He who makes, is in them all; not stablished in some one of them, nor making one thing only, but making all.
For being Power, He energizeth in the things He makes and is not independent of them - although the things He makes are subject to Him.
Now gaze through Me upon the Cosmos that's now subject to thy sight; regard its Beauty carefully - Body in pure perfection, though one than which there's no more ancient one, ever in prime of life, and ever-young, nay, rather, in even fuller and yet fuller prime!
7.
Behold, again, the seven subject Worlds; ordered by Aeon's order, and with their varied course full-filling Aeon!
[See how] all things [are] full of light, and nowhere [is there] fire; for 'tis the love and the blending of the contraries and the dissimilars that doth give birth to light down shining by the energy of God, the Father of all good, the Leader of all order, and Ruler of the seven world-orderings!
[Behold] the Moon, forerunner of them all, the instrument of nature, and the transmuter of its lower matter!
[Look at] the Earth set in the midst of All, foundation of the Cosmos Beautiful, feeder and nurse of things on Earth!
And contemplate the multitude of deathless lives, how great it is, and that of lives subject to death; and midway, between both, immortal [lives] and mortal, [see thou] the circling Moon.
8.
And all are full of soul, and all are moved by it, each in its proper way; some round the Heaven, others around the Earth; [see] how the right [move] not unto the left, nor yet the left unto the right; nor the above below, nor the below above.
And that all there are subject unto Genesis, My dearest Hermes, thou hast no longer need to learn of Me.
For that they bodies are, have souls, and they are moved.
But 'tis impossible for them to come together into one without some one to bring them [all] together.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Aeonscosmology
Divine archetypal beings or eternal attributes dwelling within the Pleroma, often arranged in male-female syzygies.
[auto] Aeon is explicitly named as the preserver of the Cosmos and the medium through which the divine hierarchy flows.
All passages →Apophatic Theologytheology
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
[auto] The text strongly employs negation, warning that nothing is like God and stating 'naught is like to That which hath no like'.
All passages →Correspondencecosmology
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The text maps the divine hierarchy onto the cosmos, noting similarities between Heaven and Earth and internal/external structures.
All passages →Divine Simplicitytheology
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
[auto] The assertion that God has no like and is Alone implies a lack of composite parts or divisible attributes.
All passages →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] The passage explicitly outlines a descending chain of divine principles: God in Mind, Mind in Soul, and Soul in Matter.
All passages →Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage instructs Hermes to avoid false thoughts about God to remain in truth, implying knowledge of divine nature is essential.
All passages →Living Godtheology
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
[auto] God is described as active Energy that energizes all things and is never inactive.
All passages →Logoscosmology
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
Mind (Nous) functions as the mediating principle between God and Soul/Matter in the cosmic hierarchy.
All passages →Monadcosmology
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
[auto] God is described as 'Alone and One' with no likeness, emphasizing absolute singularity and unity.
All passages →Unity Of Beingtheology
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
[auto] The text asserts that all things are full of God and that 'All is this - God energizing,' indicating a panentheistic unity.
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