In Search of the Miraculous

to nothing because man cannot reconstruct the idea of the whole starting from separate

facts and they cannot divine the principles of the division of the whole without

knowing the laws upon which this division is based.

"None the less the idea of the unity of everything exists also in intellectual thought but in its exact relation to diversity it can never be clearly expressed in words or in

logical forms. There remains always the insurmountable difficulty of language. A

language which has been constructed through expressing impressions of plurality and

diversity in subjective states of consciousness can never transmit with sufficient

completeness and clarity the idea of unity which is intelligible and obvious for the

objective state of consciousness.

"Realizing the imperfection and weakness of ordinary language the people who

have possessed objective knowledge have tried to express the idea of unity in 'myths,'

in 'symbols,' and in particular 'verbal formulas' which, having been transmitted

without alteration, have carried on the idea from one school to another, often from one

epoch to another.

"It has already been said that the higher psychic centers work in man's higher states of consciousness: the 'higher emotional' and the 'higher mental.' The aim of 'myths'

and 'symbols' was to reach man's higher centers, to transmit to him ideas inaccessible

to the intellect and to transmit them in such forms as would exclude the possibility of

false interpretations. 'Myths' were destined for the higher emotional center;

'symbols' for the higher thinking center. By virtue of this all attempts to

understand or explain 'myths' and 'symbols' with the mind, or the formulas and the

expressions which give a summary of their content, are doomed beforehand to failure.

It is always possible to understand anything but only with the appropriate center. But

the preparation for receiving ideas belonging to objective knowledge has to proceed

by way of the mind, for only a mind properly prepared can transmit these ideas to the

higher centers without introducing elements foreign to them.

"The symbols that were used to transmit ideas belonging to objective knowledge

included diagrams of the fundamental laws of the universe and they not only

transmitted the knowledge itself but showed also the way to it. The study of symbols,

their construction and meaning, formed a very important part of the preparation for

receiving objective knowledge and it was in itself a test because a literal or formal

understanding of symbols at once made it impossible to receive any further

knowledge.

"Symbols were divided into the fundamental and the subordinate; the first included

the principles of separate domains of knowledge; the second expressed the essential

nature of phenomena in their relation to unity.

"Among the formulas giving a summary of the content of many symbols there was

one which had a particular significance, namely the formula 'As above, so below,'

from the 'Emerald Tablets of Hermes Trismegistus.' This formula stated that all the

laws of the cosmos could be found in the atom or in any other phenomenon which

exists as something completed according to certain laws. This same meaning was

contained in the analogy drawn between the microcosm—man, and the macrocosm—

the universe. The fundamental laws of triads and octaves penetrate everything and

should be studied simultaneously both in the world and in man. But in relation to

himself man is a nearer and a more accessible object of study and knowledge than the

world of phenomena outside him. Therefore, in striving towards a knowledge of the

universe, man should begin with the study of himself and with the realization of the

fundamental laws within him.

"From this point of view another formula. Know thyself, is full of particularly deep meaning and is one of the symbols leading to the knowledge of truth. The study of the

world and the study of man will assist one another. In studying the world and its laws

a man studies himself, and in studying himself he studies the world. In this sense

every symbol teaches us something about ourselves.

"The understanding of symbols can be approached in the following way: In

studying the world of phenomena a man first of all sees in everything the

manifestation of two principles, one opposed to the other, which, in conjunction or in

opposition, give one result or another, that is, reflect the essential nature of the

principles which have created them. This manifestation of the great laws of duality

and trinity man sees simultaneously in the cosmos and in himself. But in relation to the cosmos

he is merely a spectator and moreover one who sees only the surface of phenomena

which are moving in various directions though seeming to him to move in one

direction. But in relation to himself his understanding of the laws of duality and trinity can express itself in a practical form, namely, having understood these laws in