The Hermetic Axiom: Know Thyself is said to have existed over the entry door to Pythagorus’ ancient mystery school. And it sits as the central idea in the Western Mystery Tradition. Unfortunately, today, all too many mystery schools have just about forgotten this completely. And Hermetic practices have become more about prurience and vice, rather than virtue and nobility. Worse, it’s been made to seem like one has to become some knight-monk before one can hope to access this knowledge of the self. And yet, it can be a simple practice that when incorporated into your daily life can bring a great reward by just becoming more and more conscious of your thoughts, as you go through your day.
Please see the sermon video below, and the notes used to deliver the sermon below that.
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Sermon Notes
Self Knowledge
1. ‘Know Thyself’–the Hermetic Axiom.
1A. In that this clearly implies itself a noble goal, it also suggests this as a common human lacking.
1A1. We must then be living unconscious likes; asleep to our motives and rationales.
1B. It prompts us to ask the questions: Who am I? What am I? & What powers do I have over my life?
1B1. Socrates stated the unexplored life is not worth living.
1B1a. In other words, walking through life as a zombie–a metaphor for our time, is not really living, as we are not experiencing the full beingness of the lives we have.
2. Consciousness is the key to beingness.
2A. The capacity of consciousness is a measure, by contrast to our place on the evolutionary scale.
2B. Besides the measure, there is the articulation of the components of consciousness.
2B1. These may be divided into 3 general classes: Nephesch–animal body, Ruach–sophisticated soul, Neschamah–spirit.
3. Body consciousness is our root awareness. It is primal and instinctual.
3A. Physicality; pain, pleasure & comfort are certain keys to our understanding of this.
3A1. Habits, addiction & routine are a major component.
3A1a. As well as the reflex of running from pain & towards pleasure.
3A1a1. Attractions & repulsions figure into this.
3B. Sophistication is one way we refine the animal soul; celebrating & disciplining the self (Hadit) & uniting it with spirit (Nuit).
3B1. The rituals of dining, imbibing & loving; the scents of rooms and garnishing our bodies, all play into human culture.
3B1a. Even the way be bathe and recreate.
3C. The animal mind can be said to be centered in the cerebellum.
3C1. Dreams are generated from this, as well as our more primal drives.
3C1a. These dreams & drives look over the body processes and can also feed our responses to our environment.
3C1a1. They can give us our general impressions of the world around us; health=perspective.
4. These are articulated in the Western Mystery Tradition by the 7 sacred planets, as follows:
Moon/Yesod; The emotions-sensitivity & empathy, as well as an analysis of the state of the body.
Mercury/Hod; Intellect-being both the sophisticaions of the mind in its connection w/spirit (nobility) and an analysis of the emotions.
Venus/Netzach; Our aesthetic sensibility, philosophy, art & culture…the medium through which we relate to others.
Sun/Tiphareth; Inspiration & how we connect with spirit-knowledge of the heart & spiritual ecstasy.
Mars/Geburah; potency & self-empowerment, our sense of vitality and confidence.
Jupiter/Chesed; Command/leadership, a fully-formed idea of the nature of the world & one’s places in the world. Knowing what’s best for the world by accepting life on life’s terms.
Saturn/Binah; Transcendence, mastery of the world by having risen above the din of the world–having fulfilled one’s obligations to the world & stepped outside & away from it into a hermitage (spirit).
5. The wholeness of being with all of one’s faculties fully explored & properly evel9oped in accord with one’s nature is self-knowledge; Gosis–making you fully human.
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