The Kybalion

So little written on the Hermetic Teachings.

This work does not aim to explain any special doctrine, but to give a statement of the Truth that will reconcile the bits of occult knowledge that they may have acquired. Such bits are:

• apparently opposed to each other
• discourage and disgust the beginner.

Our intent is not to erect a new Temple of Knowledge, but to give a Master-Key to open the many inner doors in the Temple of Mystery.

The fragments of the Hermetic Teachings have come down to us over the tens of centuries since the lifetime of its great founder,

• These are the portion of the occult teachings which have been closely guarded the most.

Hermes Trismegistus was the “scribe of the gods”.

• He lived in old Egypt during the time of Abraham, if the legends be true, an instructor of Abraham.
• Hermes was, and is, the Great Central Sun of Occultism.

All the fundamental and basic teachings embedded in the esoteric teachings of every race may be traced back to Hermes.

• Even the most ancient teachings of India undoubtedly have their roots in the original Hermetic Teachings.

Many advanced occultists from India wandered into Egypt, and sat with Hermes, getting the Master-Key which explained and reconciled their divergent views.

Thus, the Secret Doctrine was firmly established.

From other lands also came the learned ones, all of whom regarded Hermes as the Master of Masters.

• His influence was so great that in spite of the many wanderings from the path by foreign teachers throughout the centuries, they still have some basic resemblance.

The student of Comparative Religions can perceive the influence of the Hermetic Teachings in every notable religion.

• They always have certain correspondence despite having contradictory features.
• The Hermetic Teachings are their Great Reconciler.

Hermes’s life work was to plant the great Seed-Truth instead of establishing a school of philosophy which would dominate the world’s thought.

• This seed has grown and blossomed in so many strange forms.

Nevertheless, his original truths have been kept intact in their original purity by a few men of each age,

• Such men refuse great numbers of half-developed students.
• They followed the Hermetic custom and reserved their truth for the few who were ready to comprehend and master it.

There have always been a few Initiates in each generation who kept alive the sacred flame of the Hermetic Teachings. These men devoted their lives to the labor of love:

“O, let not the flame die out! Cherished age after age in its dark cavern—in its holy temples cherished. Fed by pure ministers of love—let not the flame die out!”

These men have never sought popular approval, nor numbers of followers.

There are those who have criticized this attitude of the Hermetists. They have claimed that they did not manifest the proper spirit in their policy of seclusion and reticence.

But these show the wisdom of the Masters, who knew the folly of teaching to the world that which it was neither ready or willing to receive.

The Hermetists have never sought to be martyrs. They have, instead, sat silently aside while the “heathen raged noisily about them” in their customary amusement of putting to death and torture the honest but misguided enthusiasts who imagined that they could force upon barbarians the truth.

There are certain Hermetic Teachings, which, if publicly promulgated, would bring down upon the teachers a great cry of scorn and revilement from the multitude, who would again raise the cry of “Crucify! Crucify.”