What is Hermeticism? - Sebastian Niklaus A study of the Christian Hermeticism of Valentin Tomberg in the light of Rudolf Steiners school of Initiation Science ____________________________ Contents: I. The living stream of Hermetic tradition ………….……...… 7 II. The Arcana as mediator to the Hermetic stream ….… 17 III. The experience of conscious life ….……….………………… 22 Postscript: The Rose-Cross Method ………………….…………… 26 Bibliography …………………………………………………………….……… 28 I. The living stream of Hermetic tradition We are all familiar with the central truth of Hermeticism: “As above, so below; as below, so above.” (Tabula Smaragdina) But what is the essential characteristic of Hermeticism? – It is not at all easy to answer this question. One reason for this is: the many prejudices in circulation with regard to Hermeticism, which are in part justified (since various misunderstandings have, indeed, given rise to a whole series of questionable personalities); while, on the other hand, there are also objective difficulties, as Hermeticism can only be recognized by those with an open mind for what is hidden. It eludes an easy approach, so long as the willingness is not there to enter into its true nature. The roots of Hermeticism lie in ancient Egypt. Very little is known of these beginnings through official records. The “hermetic” texts we have – e.g. the “Corpus Hermeticum” – deal with theological and philosophical questions, such as the rebirth and deification of man through knowledge of a transcendent God. However, the philosophical orientation of these texts is no longer Egyptian, but Greek. The Greeks saw a close connection between Hermes and the Egyptian god Toth. We know from Rudolf Steiner that for the people of ancient Egypt there existed only the last relics of an instinctive, natural connection to the spiritual world. On the other hand, they were able to direct the germinal faculty of a maturing reason towards the external world. In this relation of the human being to the physical-sensory and the spiritual world lies the origin of our modern culture, which was brought – especially via Greece – to Europe. Rudolf Steiner explains this as follows: “Through the process whereby man drew from the physical sense-world the laws of the spiritual underlying it, the sciences came into being; and through his recognition of the forces of this world and his operation with them, there arose man’s technical and artistic activity, and the tools and techniques involved.” (Rudolf Steiner, Complete Edition GA 13: Chapter “Man and the Evolution of the World”) The early sciences and arts developed through man’s engagement with the physical-sensory world, but knowledge of the “laws of the spiritual that underlies it” is the actual goal of the striving. The people of that time were able, through work within the physical-sensory world, to train their soul-nature in such a way, that it was prepared for the spiritual world after death. In Rudolf Steiner’s words: “Thus, the spiritual world could not be represented to them as the one which they could live into while on earth. Instead, it was possible to show them how in the body-free state after death man would live in the world of spirit-beings who, during his time on earth, appear through their reflection within the sensory-physical realm. Hermes taught them: To the extent that man employs his forces on the earth in order to work within it in accordance with the intentions of the spirit powers, he gains the capacity to be united with these powers after death; and those who between birth and death have worked the most zealously in this direction, will be united with Osiris, with the sublime Being of the Sun”. (RSt, GA 13: see above) The original impulse behind all human sciences and artistic work is, therefore, a spiritual one, whose purpose is to achieve for the soul, through work on the physical-sensory world, powers that would enable it to unite in “a harmonious way” with the spiritual world at the end of its earthly life. Thus, the impulse of ancient Egyptian Hermetics lies “above”, whereby the souls below should learn to mould themselves in analogy to the “above”, in order to reunite with it once more. Hermes was able to teach this analogy of “above” and “below” because he could perceive both the world “above” and the world “below” and, thirdly, the interrelation between the two spheres. The cultivation of a living analogy of earth and spiritual world is, for that time, a special capacity through which the legendary Hermes Trismegistos guided his followers. Before the event of Golgatha the final unity of “above” and “below” was not yet established, but through living analogies preparation was made for the realization of such a union. The pupils of the great Hermes had to purify and form their soul-forces of thinking, feeling and willing in such a way that they were able to unite after death with the Being of the Sun. This Sun Being, however, descended from the realm of the Sun at the turning point of time, and united with the earth. The goals of a modern Hermeticism are the same, as its pupils must, now too, purify their souls on earth so that they are inwardly prepared for the encounter with the “true world above”. However, since the event of Golgatha the path to this goal has changed. Now that the “greatest of all living analogies of above and below” is present in our midst, the soul can already work between birth and death towards union – here on earth – with the sublime Sun Being. Thus, the aim of modern Christian Hermeticism is to build a living relation to that inspirative community which is active around the centre of this “I-am” Being. […] III. The experience of conscious life […] Thus, Christian Hermeticism offers inner guidance through intuition. If one is to be led to the “child” and not to an abstract thought-life and to unpurified feelings (“straw and animals”) – a constant catharsis of the life of the will is necessary. The will in the thinking, the will in the feeling, as also the will itself, need to make continuous efforts to prove themselves worthy of the guidance of Hermeticism. When the different aspects of the will have become “poor” and empty, the pupil can not only receive the guidance of the TARO – he also finds in the events of his life a support and a means of schooling for his path of development. Such a pupil of Hermeticism will then be able to contribute also to the transformation of human science and art, so that the whole of our culture – and finally the entire earth – can re-enter the solar sphere of the “above”. And the guarantor of the harmonious working together of the inner guidance that arises from study of the TARO, and the outer trials of life, is that Being who united the “above” with the “below” around 2000 years ago. If it does not open up to the stream that flows from this Being, consciousness will ultimately remain bereft of life, and it will be impossible for life to be infused with clarity of consciousness. The connection between the soul-element that is imbued with clarity of consciousness, and the events of life, which imprint themselves in the physical, is established in the ethereal realm which lies between them. After the solar shaping of the astral body, the inner guidance through participation in the living stream of Hermeticism, and the lessons of outer life, the goal of Hermetic strivings consists in the quest for an encompassing relation to the Sun-irradiated ethereal life. Yet Hermeticism does not teach hard and fast conceptions regarding this consciousness; it stands for many-layered, immediate and living experience. Easter 2008 ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬___________ About the author: Dr. phil. Sebastian Niklaus studied philosophy, comparative religion, psychology and industrial economy in Munich, Vienna and Hagen, with an initial focus on epistemology, brain science and Tibetan Buddhism. Within the setting provided by a college for graduates, he worked for his doctorate on the question of a transition from a quantitative to a qualitative view of reality, in line with the insights acquired through his study of Rudolf Steiner and Valentin Tomberg. After a period of teaching at a German secondary school, he joined a company in Switzerland, where one of his tasks is concerned with the development of social impulses in the business world.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 18:31:42 +0000