Rhythm & Causation & Gender
Table of Contents
5. The Principle of Rhythm
“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."—The Kybalion.
In everything there is manifested a measured motion:
- to and fro
- a flow and inflow
- a swing backward and forward
- a pendulum-like movement
- a tide-like ebb and flow
- a high-tide and low-tide
Between the two poles which exist in accordance with the Principle of Polarity described a moment ago.
There is always:
- an action and a reaction
- an advance and a retreat
- a rising and a sinking.
This is in the affairs of the Universe, suns, worlds, men, animals, mind, energy, and matter.
This law is manifest in:
- the creation and destruction of worlds
- the rise and fall of nations
- the life of all things
- the mental states of Man
The Hermetists apply the Mental Law of Neutralization.
They cannot annul the Principle, but they have learned how to escape its effects on themselves depending on the Mastery of the Principle.
They have learned how to USE it, instead of being USED BY it. This forms the Art of the Hermetists.
The Master of Hermetics polarizes himself at the point at which he desires to rest, and then neutralizes the Rhythmic swing of the pendulum which would tend to carry him to the other pole.
All individuals who have attained any degree of Self-Mastery do this to a certain degree, more or less unconsciously.
But the Master does this consciously, and by the use of his Will. He attains a degree of Poise and Mental Firmness almost impossible of belief on the part of the masses who are swung backward and forward like a pendulum.
This Principle and that of Polarity have been closely studied by the Hermetists, and the methods of counteracting, neutralizing, and USING them form an important part of the Hermetic Mental Alchemy.
6. The Principle 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."—The Kybalion.
This Principle states that:
- there is a Cause for every Effect
- there is an Effect from every Cause.
- everything Happens according to Law
- nothing ever “merely happens”
- there is no such thing as Chance
- there are various planes of Cause and Effect, the higher dominating the lower planes, still nothing ever entirely escapes the Law.
The Hermetists rise above the ordinary plane of Cause and Effect and by mentally rising to a higher plane they become Causers instead of Effects.
The masses of people are carried along, obedient to:
- environment
- the wills and desires of others stronger than themselves
- heredity
- suggestion
- other outward causes moving them about like pawns on the Chessboard of Life.
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.
They USE the Principle instead of being its tools. The Masters obey the Causation of the higher planes, but they help to RULE on their own plane. In this statement there is condensed a wealth of Hermetic knowledge—let him read who can.
7. The Principle of Gender
“Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes."—The Kybalion.
There is GENDER manifested in everything—the Masculine and Feminine Principles ever at work.
This is true for the Physical, Mental, and the Spiritual Planes.
On the Physical Plane, the Principle manifests as SEX.
on the higher planes it takes higher forms, but the Principle is ever the same.
No creation, physical, mental or spiritual, is possible without this Principle. An understanding of its laws will throw light on many a subject that has perplexed the minds of men.
The Principle of Gender works ever in the direction of generation, regeneration, and creation. Everything, and every person, contains the two Elements or Principles, or this great Principle, within it, him or her. Every Male thing has the Female Element also; every Female contains also the Male Principle.
If you would understand the philosophy of Mental and Spiritual Creation, Generation, and Re-generation, you must understand and study this Hermetic Principle.
- It contains the solution of many mysteries of Life.
We caution you that this Principle has no reference to the many base, pernicious and degrading lustful theories, teachings and practices, which are:
- taught under fanciful titles, and
- are a prostitution of the great natural principle of Gender.
Such base revivals of the ancient infamous forms of Phallicism tend to ruin mind, body and soul. The Hermetic Philosophy has always warned against these degraded teachings which tend toward lust, licentiousness, and perversion of Nature’s principles.