The Key of Wisdom

"I, Thoth, the Atlantean,
give of my wisdom,
give of my knowledge,
give of my power.
Freely I give to the children of men.
Give that they, too, might have wisdom
to shine through the world from the veil of the night.
Wisdom is power and power is wisdom,
one with each other, perfecting the whole.
Be thou not proud, O man, in thy wisdom.
Discourse with the ignorant as well as the wise.
If one comes to thee full of knowledge,
listen and heed, for wisdom is all.
Keep thou not silent when evil is spoken for Truth
like the sunlight shines above all.
He who over-steppeth the Law shall be punished,
for only through Law comes the freedom of men.
Cause thou not fear for fear is a bondage,
a fetter that binds the darkness to men.
Follow thine heart during thy lifetime.
Do thou more than is commanded of thee.
When thou hast gained riches,
follow thou thine heart,
for all these are of no avail if
thine heart be weary.
Diminish thou not the time of
following thine heart.
It is abhorred of the soul.
They that are guided go not astray,
but they that are lost cannot find a straight path.
If thou go among men, make for thyself,
Love, the beginning and end of the heart.
If one cometh unto thee for council,
let him speak freely,
that the thing for which he hath
come to thee may be done.
If he hesitates to open his heart to thee,
it is because thou, the judge, doeth the wrong.
Repeat thou not extravagant speech,
neither listen thou to it,
for it is the utterance of one
not in equilibrium.
Speak thou not of it,
so that he before thee may know wisdom.
Silence is of great profit.
An abundance of speech profiteth nothing.
Exalt not thine heart above the children of men,
lest it be brought lower than the dust.
If thou be great among men,
be honoured for knowledge and gentleness.
If thou seeketh to know the nature of a friend,
ask not his companion,
but pass a time alone with him.
Debate with him,
testing his heart by his words and his bearing.
That which goeth into the store-house must come forth,
and the things that are thine must be shared with a friend.
Knowledge is regarded by the fool as ignorance,
and the things that are profitable are to him hurtful.
He liveth in death.
It is therefore his food.
The wise man lets his heart overflow
but keeps silent his mouth.
O man, list to the voice of wisdom;
list to the voice of light.
Mysteries there are in the Cosmos
that unveiled fill the world with their light.
Let he who would be free from the bonds of darkness
first divine the material from the immaterial,
the fire from the earth;
for know ye that as earth descends to earth,
so also fire ascends unto
fire and becomes one with fire.
He who knows the fire that is within
himself shall ascend unto the eternal fire
and dwell in it eternally.
Fire, the inner fire,
is the most potent of all force,
for it overcomethall things and
penetrates to all things of the Earth.
Man supports himself only on that which resists.
So Earth must resist man else he existeth not.
All eyes do not see with the same vision,
for to one an object appears of
one form and colour
and to a different eye of another.
So also the infinite fire,
changing from colour to colour,
is never the same from day to day.
Thus, speak I, THOTH, of my wisdom,
for a man is a fire burning bright
through the night;
never is quenched in the veil of the darkness,
never is quenched by the veil of the night.
Into men's hearts, I looked by my wisdom,
found them not free from the bondage of strife.
Free from the toils, thy fire, O my brother,
lest it be buried in the shadow of night!
Hark ye, O man, and list to this wisdom:
where do name and form cease?
Only in consciousness, invisible,
an infinite force of radiance bright.
The forms that ye create by brightening
they vision are truly effects that follow thy cause.
Man is a star bound to a body,
until in the end,
he is freed through his strife.
Only by struggle and toiling thy
utmost shall the star within thee
bloom out in new life.
He who knows the commencement of all things,
free is his star from the realm of night.
Remember, O man, that all which exists
is only another form of that which exists not.
Everything that has being is passing into yet other
being and thou thyself are not an exception.
Consider the Law, for all is Law.
Seek not that which is not of the Law,
for such exists only in the illusions of the senses.
Wisdom cometh to all her children
even as they cometh unto wisdom.

All through the ages,
the light has been hidden.
Awake, O man, and be wise."

- The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean

In the words of a true Philaletheian. . .

“What every man needs first is to find himself,
and then take an honest inventory of his
subjective possessions, and, bad or bankrupt as
it may be, it is not beyond redemption if we set
about it in earnest.” But how many do? All are
willing to work for their own development and
progress; very few for those of others. To quote
the same writer again: “Men have been deceived
and deluded long enough; they must break their
idols, put away their shams, and go to work for
themselves — nay, there is one little word too
much or too many, for he who works for himself
had better not work at all; rather let him work
himself for others, for all. For every flower of
love and charity he plants in his neighbor's
garden, a loathsome weed will disappear from
his own, and so this garden of the gods —
Humanity — shall blossom as a rose. In all
Bibles, all religions, this is plainly set forth —
but designing men have at first misinterpreted
and finally emasculated, materialized, besotted
them. It does not require a new revelation. Let
every man be a revelation unto himself. Let once
man’s immortal spirit take possession of the
temple of his body, drive out the moneychangers
and every unclean thing, and his own
divine humanity will redeem him, for when he is
thus at one with himself he will know the
‘builder of the Temple.’ ”

- Key to Theosophy

The Seven Hermetic Keys

I have learned a lot in the last 3 years but there are seven things no man can do without. They are the seven hermetic principles, keys if you will, of life. They are not based on religion or belief. Philosophy has far from ever been a belief system. Atrue philosopher, a lover of knowledge, cares not what someone believes. If anything the one thing we “believe in” is the acquiring and proper application of knowledge and wisdom in order to help our fellow man do the same. The keys I give you here will open many doors on the path to wisdom, read them and learn. Believe or not but read.

The Principle of Mentalism-
This principle embodies the fact that all of existence is mental. Most of us already realize in our hearts that there is an omnipotent, infinite, invisible force that guides everything in the universe. What you personally call this entity is not of our concern right now. The important thing to note here is that for anything at all to truly be infinite nothing can be added to it, nothing can be subtracted from it, and nothing can exists outside of itself; for if anything did or was then how could this force be infinite? That is the point; if this entity is infinite we can only exist in its mind and that is the key.

The Principle of Correspondence-
“As above so below, as below so above,” I’m sure many of us have heard this old axiom before. There is much wisdom in these words for everything in life follows this law as well as all other laws. This principle explains that there is always a correspondence with the laws and phenomena of the different planes of being and life. Whether it be an atom, a cell, an entity, a solar system, a galaxy; all laws and phenomena correspond. Just like the atom has a nucleus and orbiting bodies which make it up so does a man have his brain and his organs, so does the solar system have a sun and its planets, so does a galaxy have its center and its stars…

The Principle of Vibration-
This principle tells us that everything is in motion, everything vibrates, nothing is at rest; facts which modern science already believes and that each new discovery tend to verify. This principle explains that the difference between different states of matter, energy, mind and even spirit, result largely from the varying frequencies of vibrations.

The Principle of Polarity-
Everything is dual in nature. Everything has its poles. Bad and good, dark and light, dull and sharp, hate and love; they are all just different aspects of the same things. Look at your thermometer and tell me if you can show me where cold ends and where hot begins.

The Principle of Rhythm-
There is manifest in everything, a measured motion, back and forth, flow and inflow, a high-tide and low, a pendulum movement. This law is responsible for the rise and fall of nations, night and day, the tides, our seemingly equal accounts of depression and happiness in our lives, and it is manifest in everything else as well. The hermetic master polarizes himself at the point which he desires to rest and then neutralizes the rhythmic swing of the pendulum that would normally carry him to the other pole.

The Principle of Cause and Effect-
Every effect has its cause, every cause its effect. There is no chance, everything happens according to law.

The Principle of Gender-
This principle embodies the truth that there is gender manifest in everything. This is true not only of the physical but the mental and spiritual as well. On the physical plane it manifests itself as sex. On higher planes it takes higher forms but the principle is still the same.

What does this all lead to, you might ask. What am I to do with this knowledge? First and foremost, know them because they will prove of inestimable value to the serious student.

“Remember, that which exists is only another form of that which exists not. Everything that has being is passing into yet another being and thou thyself are no exception.” -The Emerald Tablets