Above is the podcast, and attached is the podcast transcript. The podcast transcript is linked here.
For our podcast episode, the primary source I discussed was The Corpus Hermeticum attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. The Hermetica, as it is colloquially known, lays out and discusses all aspects of Hermetic philosophy. It also discusses practices and methods for the “technical” aspect of the Hermetic tradition, such as alchemy, magic, and other spiritual practices. My quote, more of a short excerpt, draws from the first part of the Hermetica, known as the Philosophical Hermetica, in conjunction with the second part, the Technical Hermetica. It reads:
“And from the downward elements Nature brought forth lives reason−less; for He did not extend the Reason (Logos) [to them]. The Air brought forth things winged; the Water things that swim, and Earth−and−Water one from another parted, as Mind willed. And from her bosom Earth produced what lives she had, four−footed things and reptiles, beasts wild and tame.
12. But All−Father Mind, being Life and Light, did bring forth Man co−equal to Himself, with whom He fell in love, as being His own child; for he was beautiful beyond compare, the Image of his Sire. In very truth, God fell in love with his own Form; and on him did bestow all of His own formations.”
This excerpt, from the first treatise of The Corpus Hermticum, tells part of the creation story of the universe and life on Earth. Specifically, it touches on the dynamic between nature and humanity. To give context to the passage, the first treatise of the Hermetica sees Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary figure credited with its creation, speaking to a figure named Poemandres; in the Hermetic tradition, this figure is understood to be God, or an attribute of God. In their dialogue, Poemandres regails Hermes with the story of everything’s creation, which bears many similarities to the Christian creation story from the Bible.
To analyze the passage, Poemandres describes how when God created life on Earth, he created two different orders of life: those with reason and those without. Creatures such as birds, reptiles, and “four-footed” animals were born without “reason;” reason being a soul in the context of the treatise. On the other hand, humans were born with reason because God had a great love for them. The love was born out of the fact that man was made in God’s own image, and, thus, humans were created to be like God. Setting these two orders of life apart is an idea also found in Christianity and the other Abrahamic religions. However, in Hermeticism, the divide is much less glaring. All life, sentient or not, was born from the four elements created by God, those being Air, Fire, Earth, and Water. Additionally, all life was born out of Nature, a separate being controlled by God. So, in that regard, all life on the Earth shares the same stature and origin.
As mentioned, this passage provides an interesting take on the role of humans in the natural world. In the greater context of Hermeticism, humans alone are granted reason for experiencing the natural world, gaining knowledge, and growing closer to God by those means. This contrasts the Western Christian view of nature as being completely detached from God and being a force for humans to contend with. Hermeticism, rather, does not paint nature as a degree of separation between God and man or a lower existence, but a degree of unity between the two; nature is a means to get closer to God, not an obstacle for man that God created.