The best way to think about this unusual book from 1908 is to group it with other New Thought works from the same era (see the nearly incomprehensible Your Invisible Power by Genevieve Behrend for example), and then draw a lineage directly down through various foundational success literature works of the early/mid-20th century (see Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, or his lesser-known but much more impactful book Outwitting the Devil).
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We can also see the ancestry here of "positive thinking" books by Norman Vincent Peale as well as Emile Coué's surprisingly useful works on autosuggestion, and we can continue this lineage through Maxwell Maltz's famous Psycho-Cybernetics right down to the 1980s-era birth of NLP literature, the works of Joe Dispenza, such as You Are the Placebo and even through to therapeutic disciplines like CBT, or the singular works of Albert Ellis, like his wonderful Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy.
Finally, Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now, as well as modern mysticism works like David Hawkins' striking and unusual Power v Force both touch on certain ideas in The Kybalion, such as how to improve our mental agency, or how to have more power, control and awareness of our thoughts. Tolle's and Hawkins' books both have the advantages of being much more readable and accessible.
I think a reader who has some context for these books mentioned above will be better able to place The Kybalion in a mental matrix, and as a result the book will make a lot more sense. Without this sort of mental framework much of this book may come across as pseudoreligion, or worse, gobbledygook. Thus if you're not familiar with this general genre, don't start with this book. And if you are, any or all of the books I've listed above will do the job as well or better.
[Readers, once again, what follows are merely notes, quotes and reactions to the text. They are meant to organize my thinking as well as help me remember what I read. It's too long, life is too short; please feel free to read no further!]
Notes:
Introduction to the Centenary edition by Richard Smoley
ix Speculation here on the origin of the Kybalion: it "claims to be a brief introduction to a mystical tradition that has survived from antiquity."
x The seven basic principles:
Mentalism: The All is Mind; the Universe is mental.
Correspondence: As above, so below; as below so above.
Vibration: Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.
Polarity: Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites.
Rhythm: Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall
Cause and effect: Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law.
Gender: Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes.
xiff Some metacommentary here, exploring whether this work emerged from the New Thought movement; that it was written by the then-owner of the Yogi Publication Society when the book first came out in 1908; there is no reference to this book in antiquity.
xiiiff Details on William Walker Atkinson and his life (1862-1932): he left a career as a lawyer, moved to Chicago in 1900 and "began writing books and articles in the vein of New Thought." His first book Thought Force was published in 1901; speculating on the identity of "Three Initiates" who are the authors credited in The Kybalion; on a 2009 blog post that suggests that a plausible source for this work is The Virgin of the World of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus, which contain an adaptation of the Hermetic texts; that Atkinson was not plagiarizing this book but distilling its principles into his own words; this source is also plausible to the editor Richard Smoley, he cites various parallels in the following pages.
xviii Smoley also posits that the "Three Initiates" were Atkinson plus Kingsford and Maitland, the authors of The Virgin of the World text; Atkinson is just paying homage to them by including them as co-authors even though they were dead by the time this book came out. "Thus it is possible to trace out a lineage for The Kybalion: the original Hermetic texts, which have been known in the Western world since the fifteenth century and which have existed in English versions since at least seventeenth; and the digest of these texts as presented by Kingsford and Maitland in Victorian London." The author describes it as a "pious fraud" but still faithful to the tradition it lays claim to.
xixff Discussion of who has been influenced by this work, exponents of New Thought including Florence Scovel Shinn, who was a major influence on Norman Vincent Peale. Obviously this was significant influence on The Secret, the 2006 bestseller of the law of attraction; talking about the terminology of the Kybalion: vibration, rhythm, polarity, causation, etc.; see also the influence on Phineas P. Quimby and his spiritual descendants including Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science.
xxiff What value do the teachings of the Kybalion have? Are they true? On the idea of mind power; on thinking of thought power literally or in a more diluted form of the concept of positive suggestion; a discussion of the distinction between that which experiences and that which is experienced, the idea of the Self or the Atman or the true I, or pure cognition; the two things are entangled. "We believe we are what we experience; we believe we are the thoughts and emotions that pass through the mind."
The Kybalion
Introduction:
1ff Now we are entering the text itself; this section has kind of a Gnostic tone to it, where it claims to reveal hidden truths, secret knowledge; it organizes a set of occult ideas that may not have made sense to people who know them piecemeal, etc. The language and choice of phrasing is interesting here.
4 On how the men passing this knowledge down never sought popular approval, never sought followers, and "reserve their pearls of wisdom for the few elect" and those ready to receive it, rather than casting their pearls before swine. "The lips of Wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding." [Obviously the takeaway here is to stay "ready" because the teacher was already there all along. "Staying ready" is a handy cheat code to life!]
5 Again, interesting language (in an admittedly bad and run-on sentence) here, kind of a mix of Gnosticism and Zen: "The Hermetists have never sought to be martyrs, and have, instead, sat silently aside with a pitying smile on their closed lips, while the 'heathen raged noisily about them' in their customary amusement of putting to death and torture the honest but misguided enthusiasts who imagine that they could force upon a race of barbarians the truth capable of being understood only by the elect who had advanced along The Path."
5 "If you are a true student, you will be able to work out and apply these Principles--if not, then you must develop yourself into one, for otherwise the Hermetic Teachings will be as 'words, words, words' to you."
Chapter 1: The Hermetic Philosophy
7ff A sort of pseudohistory here of the Hermetic philosophy, coming from Egypt from Hermes Trismegistus, on the word "Hermetic" indicating secret knowledge and secrecy in their teachings; "milk for babes; meat for strong men" as a philosophy of who merits the truth, on a policy of careful dissemination of the truth. [When you think about Gnosticism, Christian monasticism or even Christian mysticism, you could make the argument that it's a feature not a bug of human nature to require certain tests or filters before giving out special knowledge, you have to protect it somehow, that certain metaphysical concepts or certain ways of looking at the world require a self-reflection and even extensive physical discipline to properly prepare for a given conceptual framework; see also the disciplines of martial arts and of the disciplines of certain Indian or Hindu mystics, etc.]
9ff On how this body of knowledge is not a creed or sect or religion, it's not theology; even a mention here of the Gnostics and the early Christians: "So it was with the Hermetic Teachings of the Gnostics and Early Christians, which were lost at the time of Constantine, whose iron hand smothered philosophy with the blanket of theology, losing to the Christian Church that which was its very essence and spirit, and causing it to grope throughout several centuries before it found the way back to its ancient faith, the indications apparent to all careful observers in this Twentieth Century being that the Church is now struggling to get back to its ancient mystic teachings." [Interesting!]
11 Basic Hermetic doctrines compiled and passed from teacher to student; the Kybalion, basically a set of maxims and precepts which are not understandable to outsiders but understood by students after they've been gradually explained.
12 [The authors make an interesting rhetorical flourish here, basically saying that you're either as a reader ready for the works, ideas and knowledge here, or you're not, and thus the knowledge will either reach you or it won't; I've found this to be a technique that actually helps people understand things in general: basically to ask them to be ready, or tell them that people who hear (what I'm about to say) are either ready for this or not; the reaction to this typically makes people more "ready" for what you may want to teach or explain to them. Bitcoin is just one recent example of just such a domain: either you're ready for it or you're not, it's either for you or it's not for you, and hence you will buy Bitcoin at the price you deserve, it's a way to sort of get people to be meta about their own epistemic readiness.]
Chapter 2: The Seven Hermetic Principles
The Principle of Mentalism
The Principle of Correspondence
The Principle of Vibration
The Principle of Polarity
The Principle of Rhythm
The Principle of Cause and Effect
The Principle of Gender
15 Short explanations of each principle to follow:
15-16 The Principle Of Mentalism: "all is mind"; the material universe is "Spirit" which is unknowable and undefinable, but it is a universal infinite living mind [I think we could substitute the term "Being" or "Logos" here to use perhaps Buddhist or Christian mysticism-type terminology.] "This Principle explains the true nature of 'Energy,' 'Power,' and 'Matter,' and why and how all these are subordinate to the Mastery of Mind."
16-17 The Principle of Correspondence: "As above, so below; as below, so above." The idea that there is always a correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of being and life, it "gives one the means of solving many a dark paradox"; "There are planes beyond our knowing, but when we apply the Principle of Correspondence to them we are able to understand much that would otherwise be unknowable to us." The metaphor here is how the principles of geometry enable us to measure distance to the sun or the movements of the stars, this Principle of Correspondence likewise allows us to reason about things. "Studying the monad, he understands the archangel."
17-18 The Principle of Vibration: nothing rests, everything is in motion; the higher the vibration, the higher the position in the scale, with the vibration of spirit at the highest; on Hermetic students and their efforts "to control their own mental vibrations as well as those of others" as well as conquering natural phenomena in various ways.
19-21 The Principle of Polarity: "Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degrees; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled." [This sure sounds like a Zen yin/yang framework] "Thesis and antithesis are identical in nature, but different in degree." The authors extend this further to heat and cold, dark and light, love and hate, even good and evil; on the act of changing one's own polarity or also that of others.
21-22 The Principle of Rhythm: "Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything..." "There is always an action and a reaction; an advance and a retreat; a rising and a sinking... This law is manifest in the creation and destruction of worlds; and the rise and fall of nations; and the life of all things; and finally in the mental states of Man (and it is with this latter that the Hermetists find the understanding of the Principle most important)." On using this principle instead of being used by it.
23-24 The Principal of Cause and Effect: "Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law." On the idea of understanding this cause-effect relationship and then rising to a plane where Hermetists can "become Causers instead of Effects." [I read this to mean "act on the world instead of allow the world to act on you" or the deal from strength using your own personal agency rather than be a victim of circumstance and be pushed around by circumstance.] "The masses of people are carried along, obedient to environment; the wills and desires of others stronger than themselves; heredity; suggestion; and other outward causes moving them about like pawns on the Chessboard of Life." [That sounds just like something Nietzsche would write.] "But the Masters, rising to the plane above, dominate their moods, characters, qualities, and powers, as well as the environment surrounding them, and become Movers instead of pawns. They help to play the game of life, instead of being played and moved about by other wills and environment."
24-25 The Principal of Gender: masculine and feminine principles at work not only in the physical plane but in the mental and spiritual planes; on the physical plane this manifests as sex, on other planes it takes higher forms, yet the principle is the same; everything and every person contains two elements, every male thing has a female element and vice versa; also you need to understand this principle in order to understand the philosophy of mental and spiritual creation; generation and regeneration; also they take care to distance this idea from any sort of lustful or base interpretation of the concept. "To the pure, all things are pure; to the base, all things are base."
Chapter 3: Mental Transmutation
26ff Drawing a parallel from ancient knowledge of astrology/astronomy, alchemy/chemistry and then of mental transmutation, which is having the ability to transform mental states, "a form of practical mystic psychology."
28ff Then claiming this idea goes even further because "the All is Mind"; the universe is mental, therefore there is an ability to change the underlying reality of the universe because the universe is itself mental; the book claims it will get to this in succeeding lessons.
30 The author describes "affirmations" as imperfect versions of the Hermetic art; also discussion here on changing the mental states of others, which are constantly changing, often unconsciously so, because of the effects of other people on them.
Chapter 4: The All
32ff Man sees that nothing really IS, but everything is becoming and changing. "Nothing stands still--everything is being born, growing, dying" and there is no enduring quality or fixity or substantiality in anything, nothing is permanent.
34 The All is unknowable, only the All can comprehend its own nature and being. "...all the theories, guesses and speculations of the theologians and metaphysicians regarding the inner nature of The All" are "childish efforts of mortal minds" to grasp the secret of the infinite and will always fail; also on the flaw of anthropomorphizing [note that the authors do not use this word] the All, giving it human emotions, feelings, characteristics, etc., even petty qualities like jealousy or desire for offerings and worship, "and all the other survivals from the days of the childhood of the race." [Again interesting rhetoric here; the author attempts to frame his religion as very old, yet uses other so-called "primitive" religions to reframe his own Hermetic teachings as superior, more explanatory, etc.]
35 On theology and theologists serving as middlemen between the All and the people, whereas philosophy is the inquiry after knowledge of things knowable and thinkable, and metaphysics carries this inquiry beyond the boundaries and into regions unknowable and unthinkable; on theology and metaphysics seeming "like broken reeds, rooted in the quicksands of ignorance, and affording naught but the most insecure support for the mind or soul of Man."
36ff Some of the things we must accept about the All without attempting to remove the veil of the unknowable, the All is all it really is, it is infinite and eternal, it can never have not been, it is infinite in power and absolute and immutable. From this "it must follow that anything finite, changeable, fleeting and conditioned cannot be the All"; the All cannot be physical matter.
Chapter 5: The Mental Universe
40ff The authors go through some pseudotheology/pseudocreation here, going through various theories of how the All may create or procreate the universe, even though the All is already infinite and includes everything; finally they work out that the All creates the universe mentally in the same way man creates mental images. "The universe, and all it contains, is a mental creation of the All."
46 Discussion of the self: "You which you call 'I' stands apart and witnesses the creation of mental images in your own mind. The part of your mind in which the mental generation is accomplished may be called the 'Me' in distinction from the 'I' which stands apart and witnesses and examines the thoughts, ideas and images of the 'Me.' 'As above, so below,' remember, and the phenomena of one plane may be employed to solve the riddles of higher or lower planes."
Chapter 6: The Divine Paradox
49 "Were THE ALL to imagine that the Universe were indeed Reality, then woe to the Universe, for there would be then no escape from lower to higher, divineward--then would the Universe become a fixity and progress would become impossible."
49ff "Remember the Divine Paradox, that while the Universe IS NOT, still IT IS." On paradox as an aspect of the Principle of Polarity.
50ff "The first thought that comes to the thinking man after he realizes the truth that the universe is a mental creation of THE ALL, is that the Universe and all that it contains is a mere illusion; and unreality; against which his instincts revolt. ...the Hermetic teachings do not preach the unsubstantiality of the universe in any stronger terms than those more familiar to you... Anything that has a beginning and an ending must be, in a sense, unreal and untrue... From an absolute point of view there is nothing real except THE ALL." [This sounds sort of like a mix of pseudo-Zen and pseudo-Christianity.]
52ff On the nature of matter, a discussion of "features of the illusion," the realness of the universe, how matter is particles, etc.
55ff Odd blurb here on Herbert Spencer and his basic principle that matter is energy; he postulates the existence of an eternal energy from which all things proceed, the Hermetics consider Spencer to be a reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian philosopher who then later reincarnated as Heraclitus. "With the Master-Key of the Hermetic Philosophy, the student of Spencer will be able to unlock many doors of the inner philosophical conceptions of the great English philosopher."
57ff The two (oppositional) poles of truth: that the universe is changing and transitory therefore devoid of substantiality and reality, but at the same time we are compelled to act and live as if these fleeting things were real and substantial. On how the "half-wise" take the unreality of the universe literally, and wander about as if it's a dream, but "they are broken against the rocks and torn asunder by the elements, by reason of their folly."
58 Instead "Mastery consists not in abnormal dreams, visions, and fantastic imaginings or living, but in using the higher forces against the lower--escaping the pains of the lower planes by vibrating on the higher... Our business in the Universe is not to deny its existence, but to LIVE, using the Laws to rise from lower to higher--living on, doing the best that we can under the circumstances arising each day, and living, so far as is possible, to our highest ideas and ideals."
58-9 "We are all on The Path--and the road leads upward ever, with frequent resting places."
Chapter 7: "The All" in All
61ff Another paradox, the authors describe using the "as above, so below; as below, so above" principle in examples of works like Othello, Hamlet or Oliver Twist that existed merely in the minds of their creators, but yet Shakespeare and Dickens existed within each of these characters as well ("Micawber is both Micawber, and yet Dickens. And, again, while Micawber be said to be Dickens, yet Dickens is not identical with Micawber"). In other words, man "may exclaim 'The spirit of my Creator is inherent within me--and yet I am not HE!'" The author contrasts this to Micawber claiming "I am Dickens!" "THE ALL is in the earth-worm, and yet the earth-worm is far from being THE ALL."
63 "And, in the degree that man realizes the existence of Indwelling Spirit immanent within his being, so will he rise in the spiritual scale of life. This is what spiritual development means--the recognition, realization, and manifestation of the Spirit within us."
64ff Interesting discussion here of the act of Creation, which on a human level is sort of a mix of muse and a flow state, the outpouring of divine energy; discussion also on the concept of attention, they also use the words "meditation," "contemplation" and "a mental reaching out"; on how the practice of meditation and attention helps us in the process of evolution on the material, mental and spiritual plates, "thus the upward movement begins... Life appears and manifests in higher and higher forms; and mind becomes more and more in evidence--the vibrations constantly becoming higher." This happens with humanity and its evolutionary journey, but it also happens "as below" on the individual level, as man withdraws himself more and more into the indwelling spirit as opposed to the material plane.
67ff A metaphysical discussion here attempting to explain why The All creates universes; he doesn't need anything, he can't be lonely, can't be compelled to create, can't be influenced, etc., thus there can't be any reason because a reason implies a Cause, thus this matter is "Unthinkable"; essentially the authors default to you can't understand it so don't ask. "We go into the matter here, merely to show that we recognize the question, and also the absurdity of the ordinary answers of metaphysics and theology."
Chapter 8: The Planes of Correspondence
71 "As above, so below; as below, so above."
71ff The three "Great Planes" of phenomena: the physical, the mental and the spiritual. The planes each shade into each other, "no hard and fast division may be made" between the planes; discussion of what is a plane: is it a place, does it have dimensions, is it a condition; that it has qualities of all of these things.
73-4 On the Hermetic principle of vibration: everything is in motion, nothing is at rest.
74ff The Three Great Planes are divided into Seven Minor Planes (and these are yet further divided into seven subplanes), again they are arbitrary and shade into each other:
I. The Plane of Matter (A) (solid, liquids, gases, things recognized in physics)
II. The Plane of Matter (B) (more subtle forms of matter like radiant matter, things beginning to be discovered by scientists)
III. The Plane of Matter (C) (still more subtle and tenuous matter not suspected by ordinary scientists)
IV. The Plane of Ethereal Substance (substance of extreme tenuity and elasticity pervading all universal space, a medium for transmission of light, heat, etc., and a link between matter and energy that partakes of the nature of each)
V. The Plane of Energy (A) (the forms of energy known to science: heat, light, magnetism, electricity, gravitation, etc.)
VI. The Plane of Energy (B) (planes of energy not yet discovered by science, energy that is called into operation in manifestations of certain forms of mental phenomena)
VII. The Plane of Energy (C) (subplanes of energy so highly organized that it bears many of the characteristics of life, but is not recognized by men on the ordinary plane of development; energy unthinkable to ordinary man that could be considered divine power)
76ff Next a discussion of the subplanes of the great mental plane, which is where living things exist, also each of these have their own seven subdivisions:
I. The plane of Mineral Mind
II. The Plane of Elemental Mind (A)
III. The Plane of Plant Mind
IV. The Plane of Elemental Mind (B)
V. The Plane of Animal Mind
VI. The Plane of Elemental Mind (C)
VII. The Plane of Human Mind
78 Even the level of the mineral mind has its attractions and repulsions, its loves and hates, affinities and non-affinities "and some of the more daring of modern scientific minds have expressed the opinion that the desire and will, emotions and feelings, of the atoms differ only in degree from those of men."
78ff Likewise plants have life, minds and souls just as do animals, man and super-man; The Planes of Elemental Mind are part of the scale between the plane before and after; thus for example the Plane of Elemental Mind (C) in its highest level sublevel is semi-human intelligence. The Plane of Human Mind with its seven subdivisions includes the levels of life and mentality that are common to man in various grades and degrees, "the average man of to-day occupies the fourth sub-division of the Plane of Human Mind, and only the most intelligent have crossed the borders of the fifth sub-division." It took millions of years to reach this stage and many more to move to the next stage; note also that there have been races which have passed through these degrees before, "Our own race is the fifth (with stragglers from the fourth) which has set foot upon The Path."
80 "And, then there are a few advanced souls of our own race who have outstripped the masses, and who have passed on to the sixth and seventh subdivision, and some few being still further on. The man of the Sixth Sub-Division will be the Super-Man; he of the Seventh will be the Over-Man." [Nietzsche all over again.]
81ff Discussion by metaphor of what it is like to explain, perceive or grasp higher planes: like describing light to a man born blind; likewise descriptions of denizens of the various planes, angels, archangels, demigods on the major plains, and Masters and Adepts on the lower minor planes; also commentary here on angelic helpers and unseen divinities that have intervened in human affairs over time.
83ff On the idea that these ideas and knowledge on spiritual powers may be employed for evil as well as good, in keeping with the Principle of Polarity; but also in keeping with the pendulum of Rhythm, those who misuse these powers "have a terrible fate in store for them"; "The legends of the Fallen Angels have a basis in actual facts, as all advanced occultists know."
Chapter 9: Vibration
86 "Motion is manifest in everything in the Universe... nothing is at rest... everything moves, vibrates, and circles." This was known by the early Greek philosophers, forgotten for centuries, and then rediscovered in 19th century physical sciences.
87ff Discussion here of various forms of movement: vibration, heat, energy, etc., with various pseudo-physical explanations.
91ff "But the Hermetic Teachings go much further than do those of modern science. They teach that all manifestation of thought, emotion, reason, will or desire, or any mental state or condition, are accompanied by vibrations, a portion of which are thrown off and which tend to affect the minds of other persons by 'induction.' This is the principle which produces the phenomena of 'telepathy'; mental influence, and other forms of the action and power of mind over mind... By a knowledge of the Principle of Vibration, as applied to Mental Phenomena, one may polarize his mind at any degree he wishes, thus gaining a perfect control over his mental states, moods, etc. In the same way he may affect the minds of others, producing the desired mental states in them." The authors take this one step further and describe the performance of what are commonly called "miracles" as a manifestation of this principle. "He who understands the Principle of Vibration, has grasped the sceptre of Power."
Chapter 10: Polarity
94 "Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled."
94 "...all manifested things have two sides, two aspects, two poles, a pair of opposites"
95ff Examples from the physical plane: heat and cold are matters of degree, they're the same thing; east and west, light and darkness, good and bad, love and hate, etc., they are polar opposites and wherever you find one thing you find its opposite at the other pole.
97ff Ppplying the idea Principle of Polarization allows you to transmute one mental state into another, but only if they're part of the same pole, you can't change love into fear or courage into hate, etc., courage can be changed into fear and vice versa because they're on the same scale and are polar opposites.
99ff On the phenomena of changing one's own mental states, as well as changing the mental states of others through the phenomena of mental influence, via induction from others by changing the vibration or polarization of a certain mental state in another person. "Knowledge of the existence of this great Hermetic Principle will enable the student to better understand his own mental states, and those of other people. He will see that these states are all matters of degree, and seeing thus, he will be able to raise or lower the vibration at will--to change his mental poles, and thus be Master of his mental states, instead of being their servant and slave. And by his knowledge he will be able to aid his fellows intelligently, and by the appropriate methods change the polarity when the same is desirable.
Chapter 11: Rhythm
101ff "Everything flows out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right, is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates." On the ebb and flow between the two poles, connecting the Principle of Rhythm with the Principle of Polarity; note that this does not mean that you automatically swing from one extreme to the other; "There is always an action and reaction; an advance and retreat; a rising and a sinking" everywhere, and particularly in the mental states of man. "Thus it is with all living things; they are born, grow, and die--and then are reborn. So it is with all great movements, philosophies, creeds, fashions, governments combinations, and all else." [I consider this to be one of the more calming insights in life right here: you see it in history, in empires, in economies, in our and our peers' lives: things rise and fall, rise and fall. It's much bigger than you or me. It helps you achieve patience, forbearance and acceptance the more you can internalize this idea, this fractal, across all domains of life.]
103ff On two general planes of consciousness, the lower and the higher, and how practitioners of Hermetics can move to the higher plane and escape aspects of the rhythmic pendulum manifesting on the lower plane. On the idea of "rising above" our mental states, moods and feelings.
105ff On the Law of Compensation: the pendulum swings back as far as it swung out, things balance out. Thus "the man who enjoys keenly, is subject to keen suffering; while he who feels little pain is capable of feeling but little joy." Also a nuance here that the negative is precedent to the compensatory reaction, and thus it does not follow that you have to "pay up for it" after experiencing pleasure or joy.
108 "If he has one thing, he lacks another--the balance is struck... Everything has its pleasant and unpleasant sides. The things that one gains are always paid for by the things that one loses."
Chapter 12: Causation
109 "Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law."
114ff Discussion here of free will vs determinism; on having Mastery vs being carried along by emotions, feelings, moods, the actions of opinions of others, the outside world, etc.; "...the Masters, knowing the rules of the game, rise above the plane of material life, and placing themselves in touch with the higher powers of their nature, dominate their own moods, characters, qualities, and polarity, as well as the environment surrounding them and thus become Movers in the game, instead of Pawns--Causes instead of Effects... While they Serve on the Higher Planes, they Rule on the Material Plane." [Nobody wants to be a pawn in the game, do they...? Good rhetoric.]
Chapter 13: Gender
117 "Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes."
118ff On manifestations of gender in the organic world, in science/physics, in chemical affinities, etc.
Chapter 14: Mental Gender
124ff On operating the Gender Principle on the mental plane; on various new theories for mind dualism (objective/subjective, conscious/subconscious, etc.) which are already accounted for in the Hermetic idea of Mental Gender: the masculine principle of Mind corresponds with the objective or conscious or voluntary mind, while the feminine principle of mind corresponds to the subjective, subconscious or involuntary mind.
126ff Discussion of the two selves; "A man thinks of his Self (in its aspect of 'Me') as being composed of certain feelings, tastes, likes, dislikes, habits, peculiar ties, characteristics, etc., all of which go to make up his personality, or the 'Self' known to himself and others."
128 On seeing your "Me" as your feelings, your appetites, your internal states, as a sort of "mental womb" that "reports to the consciousness as a 'Me' with latent powers of creation and generation of mental progeny of all sorts and kinds."
129 At the same time "there exists a mental Something which is able to Will that the 'Me' act along certain creative lines, and which is also able to stand aside and witness the mental creation. This part of himself he is taught to call his 'I.'... the 'I' represents the Masculine Principle of Mental Gender--the 'Me' represents the Female Principle. The 'I' represents the Aspect of Being; the 'Me' the Aspect of Becoming."
130 "The tendency of the Feminine Principle is always in the direction of receiving impressions, while the tendency of the Masculine Principle is always in the direction of giving out, or expressing."
131ff "The majority of persons really employ the Masculine Principle but little, and are content to live according to the thoughts and ideas instilled into the 'Me' from the 'I' of other minds." Discussion here of suggestion, hypnotism and mental influence; "An idea thus lodged in the mind of another person grows and develops, and in time is regarded as the rightful mental offspring of the individual, whereas it is in reality like the cuckoo egg placed in the sparrow's nest, where it destroys the rightful offspring and makes itself at home." On how this happens with people who have a weak or lazy Masculine Principle, thus their willpower is too slight and thus they are ruled by the minds and wills of other persons "whom they allow to do their thinking and willing for them." "How few original thoughts or original actions are performed by the average person? Are not the majority of persons mere shadows and echoes of others having stronger wills or minds than themselves? The trouble is that the average person dwells almost all together in his 'Me' consciousness, and does not realize that he has such a thing as an 'I.'"
132 "The strong men and women of the world invariably manifest the Masculine Principle of Will, and their strength depends materially upon this fact. Instead of living upon the impressions made upon their minds by others, they dominate their own minds by their will, obtaining the kind of mental images desired, and moreover dominate the minds of others likewise, in the same manner. Look at the strong people, how they manage to implant their seed-thoughts in the minds of the masses of the people, thus causing the latter to think thoughts in accordance with the desires and wills of the strong individuals. This is why the masses of people are such sheep-like creatures, never originating an idea of their own, or using their own powers of mental activity."
Chapter 15: Hermetic Axioms
137ff This is a review of some of the key teachings of the book so far, including the notion that knowledge should not be hoarded, it should be put to use; "beware of mental miserliness."
138 To change your mood or mental state, change your vibration by an effort of will by fixing your attention on a more desirable state, using the Principle of Polarity "and concentrate on the opposite pole to that which you desire to suppress."
139ff On mental transmutation from state to state; on neutralizing Rhythm by application of the art of Polarization on the plane of consciousness by rising mentally to a higher plane and letting the negative event or negative state flow under you; On developing self-mastery such that you can practice this.
141ff "Nothing escapes the Principle of Cause and Effect, but there are many Planes of Causation" thus self-mastery enables you to be a cause rather than being merely caused. "The masses of people are carried along, obedient to their environment; the wills and desires of others stronger than themselves; the effects of inherited tendencies; the suggestions of those about them; and other outward causes; which tend to move them about in the chess-board of life like mere pawns." In contrast, on seeking "to play the game of life understandingly, instead of being moved about this way and that way by stronger influences and powers and wills. They use the Principle of Cause and Effect, instead of being used by it. Of course, even the highest are subject to the Principle as it manifests on the higher planes, but on the lower planes of activity, they are Masters instead of Slaves." [Obviously this concept can be interpreted in lots of negative ways, but at the end of the day it's really about understanding the tendencies of your environment and adjusting, understanding where the water will likely flow and working with that knowledge: essentially acting knowing the terrain. It's really helpful and empowering advice to keep in mind.]
To Read:
William Walker Atkinson: Thought Force
William Walker Atkinson: Practical Mental Influence and Mental Fascination
Richard Smoley: The Dice Game of Shiva: How Consciousness Creates the Universe
Richard Smoley: The Deal: A Guide to Radical and Complete Forgiveness
Boris Mouravieff: Gnosis: Study and Commentaries on the Esoteric Tradition of Eastern Orthodoxy
Works of Herbert Spencer, including Man Versus the State
Edward Bulwer-Lytton: Zanoni