The Empty Verses: As Above, So below.

The Empty Verses:

AS ABOVE

SO BELOW

Thrice great? Thrice awful!

Many of us are prone to pack as much meaning as possible into little maxims and interludes so as to leave room for interpretation, or perhaps to simply appear wise. Hey, we’re all guilty of this. And why not? Sometimes we simply do not have the time to philosophize, that a pre-packaged saying suits the situation splendidly—we all have time enough, if we will but use it aright (we can thank Goethe for that one—he wrote his own maxims so as to bring them out at dinner parties). But often enough, someone we would like to believe is wise, usually because we cannot understand what he is saying, tries to encase so much into so little, that it is the exact same as if it was completely empty.

There is a reason people thought The Emerald Tablet of Hermetica fame was coded with ancient secrets—no one understood it. Due to man’s superstition towards language, it just had to be sacred, based only on the fact that others considered it sacred before them. Even Newton believed it held special importance, at least where alchemy was concerned, and worked on his own translation. Nothing ever came of it, of course, and the text was what it always was when it comes to texts deemed “sacred”, namely, it was another account of the world made by men drunk on their religious enthusiasm, that had little to no context where actual states of affairs were concerned.

“As above, so below” is such a saying. So innocuous a banality it is that in its poetic structure, it sounds almost profound. Even I almost wish it was. But upon thinking about it, nothing comes to mind and a foul taste enters the mouth. A shame. Add with it the context of the maxim from which it originated, ("that which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing"), we have a clear tautology, inflicting us with a series of self-reinforcing propositions that all basically mean the same thing—the universe is the universe. If we didn’t know this statement was actually an argument for astrology, we might be convinced of such a claim—as above so below might make sense if we believed the patterns of stars influenced human events.

Above and below what? What “one thing” is that? We will never know, because they never tell us, but if other Hermetic texts are any indication—yeah we get the idea. People have guessed and conjectured for thousands of years on what this “hidden wisdom” might mean. No end nor result but the squandering of time, but it is no less an axiom of those who wish their withins were without, that the spiritual world and the material world were somehow one. Or to others, it is a macrocosm/microcosm sort of thing, as if the lines we draw through things in our minds had any real existence. Unfortunately, that which is above is nothing like that which is below. I mean, take a look. I’ve climbed enough mountains to know that If I were to go any higher, I would not live for very long. I love to swim, but the same, if not worse, could be said about that which is below.

Scientifically it is without explanatory power. Logically it is contradictory. Rhetorically it is fallacious. Aesthetically, it is boring. At this point it doesn’t even matter, and one might lose his mind—or worse, become more seduced by it—if he wonders any longer. As with all attempts at this obscene sort of wisdom, it becomes its own content, it uses itself to argue itself, with zero connection to anything other than what it attempts to say; it is like a whirlpool from which there is no spiritual escape, or better yet, a toilet.

In terms of profundity? ...Well it sounds profound, and sometimes that is all that matters.

Thank you for reading,

LesMis

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Build yourself a fortress, the foundations are poor, and the measurements are inaccurate. However, the upper parts of the structure are built perfectly, and symmetrically. As above, so below - when the fortress collapses, what was above now does reflect what was below - a total shambles.

The contents of ones mind are built upon our founding thoughts, and as we develop a perspective, we learn that what we have refined into concept and reason, is still, inherently, and truly, still a reflection upon its basis.

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

The amount of ignorance in your post is mind boggling.

You mock what you don't understand.

a reply to: SystemResistor

Build yourself a fortress, the foundations are poor, and the measurements are inaccurate. However, the upper parts of the structure are built perfectly, and symmetrically. As above, so below - when the fortress collapses, what was above now does reflect what was below - a total shambles.

Above and below what? Do you choose an arbitrary point in the structure to designate above and below? I wager this imaginary line is above and below the head.

The contents of ones mind are built upon our founding thoughts, and as we develop a perspective, we learn that what we have refined into concept and reason, is still, inherently, and truly, still a reflection upon its basis.

It is a tautology. The mind is the mind sounds like what you're saying.

a reply to: WeAre0ne

The amount of ignorance in your post is mind boggling.

You mock what you don't understand.

The irony. Care to enlighten me?

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

This is only when we are blind to our unsteady foundations, due to our own ignorance of self. It creates a split in the mind, the dividing line so-to-speak.

So, I can take the contents of my current thoughts, ascribe the more complex theories as my "higher" self or "higher" thoughts, and then, I can look "below" and see that they are really extensions of the simple thoughts that I once had. No matter how I paint my current thoughtscape, from the view above, they are still "as below" or as they started out, in the most stringent sense.

Above and below will always be relative from the observation point, you can imagine a building for instance, unless you are on the roof, there will always be a higher level and a lower level. In that way its not really a pairing of opposites, but a scale that depends upon ones position on a continuum. Additionally, it is a concept that defines what is known and what is hidden - "beneath the surface" or "the foundations".

I was comparing this to the mind, and the self, where we are blind to our innermost natures - usually what we do not want to face, hidden, beneath the surface. What we think we are "from the top" is a reflection of what we deny or hide beneath, despite the level that we perceive we have ascended to.

I understand that it can be seen as "A is B and B is A" though, of course they are just the same thing in that sense.

isn't that what most religions are, at the end of the day? they are empty, they contradict themselves.
The ones that do the best job at it, are still around today.
what we consider today to be myths, were just stories told with too much accuracy. they offered themselves to scrutiny, to science.
The religions that still exist today are smart enough to keep it vague, and that vagueness, that uncertainty, for some crazy reasons translates into truth in the the minds of millions of people, the "you can't prove it to be wrong" argument.
when it came to zeus and his lightning, we learned how lightning works, we can to some extend predict what conditions we need and when it's more likely to happen, we collect data, we turn religion into myth.
when it comes to god and his 7 day creation, "the bible never says how much a day is in the lord's eyes, so you can't prove it wrong!"
Whoever wrote the bible, is a freaking genius

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Well it's not empty, it works on more than one level.
1. Superficial and personality, most people wasting their times with how they look get really empty.
Or if someone has everything supertidy and clean his emotional status is very often pure chaos
2. In a more philosophical way, like the atom is a star, in a body, a body is just a molecule of this world, the earth is just an atom in the universe, the universe is just a body, and so on
3. In a arcane or spiritual way it works too

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

It's a zen kōan. It's not supposed to make sense. It's mind aerobics. Imagining in what context it would make sense, exercises facets of your mind that would otherwise go flabby and meek. Meanwhile, you did exactly that (oratorical aerobics) with your post so your free toaster is in the mail.

s+f+lolz

Emerald Tablet


Truly, without Deceit, certainly and absolutely,

As Above, so Below, and as Below, so Above,
in the Accomplishment of the Miracle of the One Thing.
And just as all things have come from One,
through the Mediation of One,
so all things follow from this One Thing in the same Way.

Its Father was the Sun, the Moon its Mother.
It was carried in the Womb of Air, and the Earth was its Nurse.
It is the Father of every Willed Thing in the whole World.
Its Power is perfected if it becomes as Earth.
Separate the Earth from Fire: the Fine from the Gross,
gently and with great skill.

It rises from Earth to Heaven,
and then it descends again to the Earth and
receives Power from Above and from Below.
Thus you will have the Glory of the whole World.
All Obscurity will be clear to you.
This is the strong Power of all Power because
it overcomes everything fine and penetrates everything solid.

In this way was the World created.
From this there will be amazing Applications,
because this is the Pattern.
Therefore am I called Thrice Greatest Hermes,
having the three parts of the Wisdom of the whole World.

Herein have I completely explained the Operation of the Sun.


S+F for your thread.

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

"that which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing"

Above and below what? What “one thing” is that?

One understanding of this axiom is that the "one thing" is the Monad, or the One who is All and the All who is One, or the totality of known and unknown existence.

Pick any point in space, place, and time,... a fractal nature from any point stretches into the macro cosmos "Above," and into the micro cosmos "Below."

a reply to: WeAre0ne

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

I hesitate to say that you apply something from ancient times into today's world and forget they climbed mountains and swam in the sea and lakes etc, so its hardly likely to refer to something quite so mundane only. The echo of this saying does, as pointed out by several people here apply down through the layers logically.

Unless you look at what they valued and thought important to their lives and ask any of those who follow the ancient arts and sciences from their time, I suspect you will still miss what you are looking at. IMHO

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

You forgot to add that One needs to also KNOW what else goes with the snappy axiom. You mentioned Alchemy and then forget a very significant point... Heck, even when the 'charlatan' snake oil salesman says "Hocus Pocus" doesn't He move His hands??? Next time You're in/near a subway, not the sandwich shop but an actually Subway, look for the '3 Card Monte' game and You'll notice that both hands/lips move...

When Lilith left Adam after saying the 72 names of God (Hunab Ku) do You think She just sat there like a bump on a log?

"Seek and Ye shall find..."

'So close, yet so far away...'

namaste

a reply to: theultimatebelgianjoke

To wit: A poem from Hafiz re: the Sun...

The Sun Never Says,
Even after all this time,
The Sun never says to the Earth,

"You owe Me"

Look what happens with a Love like that,
It lights the whole sky.....

namaste

a reply to: theultimatebelgianjoke

And yet, so few here seem to "get" his thread….which really is great, both the writing and the thinking that produced it so. I expect more from the minds hereabouts, so I'm posting to bump Les Misanthrope's thread….
tetra

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Tis true without lying, certain & most true.

---Hydrogen has one proton and one electron in balance. From one thing comes many. This document recounts the strong nuclear force of proton and Neutron acting on this balance. From this, all things are mirrored from this one thing. All things arise from this one thing. The Strong nuclear force in nature acts on the weak to change the states of matter above and below.

That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing

---One thing is the neutral between male and female, positive and negative. The Strong Nuclear force retains invariance and symmetry by this one thing. From this one thing, symmetry is translational by the creation of the weak force in nature. She is the female. Neutrons have one up quark and two down. Protons have two up and one down. They are in a balance, just as protons and electrons are in balance. The one thing is the neutron acting in accord with the proton to bind.

And as all things have been & arose from one by the mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.

---Consciousness collapses wave function. Birth and adaptation come from an originating state of high order and low entropy. From this starting point, the birth of all things is by adaptation to the symmetry present in the strong nuclear force. All things in nature seek balance with this force, therefore engaging the multiplicity of individuation from ONE thing as a pattern / temple / template for the rest.

The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth is its nurse.

---By this principle, we can look to the father as the Sol and mother as Luna. We don't look to these as literal, but reflective of the original. As all things arise from the operation and influence of the strong force in our solar system, so the weak force is heeled by the authority of the strong. These two archetypes in the sky then show us how this same pattern engages all forms in the orthogonal linear matrix of spatial and temporal dimension. Just as the solar wind is carried to the inner sun of the earth, the earth nurses life as the soil. The Hebrew letter Hey means to behold. Ear is a seed. Adding a Hey (behold) to ear, you get Hear, or to behold. Adding a Tav (Plowman's mark) to Hear and you get HearT, or the soil for light in the human. Move the Hey to the end of Heart and you get EartH, or the soil WHERE you behold. Just as the Strong Force in nature (light) acts in conjunction with the weak force of adhesion, cohesion, repulsion and attraction, so each of these are relative to each other; just as temporal and spatial dimensions are relative and just as time and space are relative. As above, so below.

The father of all perfection in the whole world is here.

---Just as the balance between proton and electron is heeled by the Neutron, so the neutral between good and evil maintains the balance in the system. All things abide in the Father. In Hebrew, the word Father is Aleph (Strong) Bet (House), or letters. The Son is Bet (House) Nun (Seed), or the word created from letters. If the Strong nuclear force in nature is the strong house of letters, then we can easily see what chains and links of letters do for the creation of the individuation of the Son. What are we missing in this picture? Of course, the catalyst. Mother is Aleph (Strong) Mem (Water), or the wind of the Spirit, or the solar cycle originating with the Sun and Moon.

Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.

---How was the early state of high order and low entropy converted into Earth / Heart by light? Collapsing wave function in conjunction with consciousness. Consciousness collapses the wave function of indeterminate states of matter. Seek, Find and Adapt. Any good simulation starts with consciousness, programming and raw materials.

Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great industry.

---DESIGN, PROGRAMMING AND LAWS ACTING AS THE BIOS OF THE MACHINE.

It ascends from the earth to the heaven & again it descends to the earth & receives the force of things superior & inferior.

---Alchemy of Sol and Luna collapsed by the wave function of the Spirit / Wind / Prima Consciousness. The Same Spirit animating the inertia of the universe is the same Spirit dividing the three aspects of light. Particle, Wave and Consciousness.

By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.

---As my last Thread starts to outline, there is a purpose and necessity giving birth to invention. The True Identity of Mankind. Seek, Find and Adapt. Baptism is involution and evolution, or entering the waters of life for the purpose of rising to NEW life. A new Robe (Body) and Crown (Mind) are ensured from the process. Necessity is the Mother of Invention.

Its force is above all force. For it vanquishes every subtle thing & penetrates every solid thing.

---From the riddle, we lead back to the one thing that acts as the anchor and symmetry guiding the rest. IT (the one thing) is invariant. It does not change. It is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. We are the ones that must change to rise back to that symmetry. Read the thread I just linked.

So was the world created.

---Yes. Created!

From this are & do come admirable adaptations whereof the means (or process) is here in this. Hence I am called

---Seek, Find and Adaptation. It's the reason of being involved (Involution).

Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world

---Mother, Father and Son - LOGOS

That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished & ended.

---Tav. Past the Tav, we have GHAH, or the entire sequence of letters entering the Ayin. The entrance of the letters into the eye repeats in a vortex and cycle circling a prescribed path. From this, all things exist.



Letters in sequence create what you see around you. Just as DNA is comprised of letters engaging proteins, so the solar wind is streaming information in an orthogonal linear matrix of light. Insight is as what you see around you. Once you can see inside, outside makes sense. Not until. Seek, Find and Adapt. All truth is at right angles.

One Dot
.

1D (dots at right angles / orthogonal)
.................

2D (Lines at right angles)
................
................
................

3D (Planes at right angles)

SPATIAL DIRECTIONS AT RIGHT ANGLES BECOME TEMPORAL

4D (Unlimited right angles in four cardinal directions / Temporal)

5D (limited probability / indeterminate becomes determined by collapsing one wave function into temporal and spatial matrix)

6D (limitation / law / governing principle of probability / providence)

Above this, consciousness.

The Shadow of Law from 6D allows limited possibility.

The Shadows of Probability are the changing states of matter in time.

The Shadow of time is the object in motion.

The Shadow of 3D is 2D. Your shadow follows you (As above, so below).

The Shadow of 2D is 1D.

The Shadow of 1D is a dot, or one thing above and below.

1:1 is mirrored. 1+1 is 2. 2+1 is 3. 3+2 is 5. 1:1.618 locks exponentially.

a reply to: tetra50

No. It is sadly mistaken and this can be seen from my post above. Below, my post is the same.

Tis true without lying, certain & most true.

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

ONE THING

VOLUTION - As a linear transformation, every special orthogonal matrix acts as a rotation.

Involution - Revolving / truning over in the water.

Evolution - Rising from the waters of the flood. Baptism leads to Rising. Yeast makes bread rise. Yeast is sin. Bread is comprised of seed in an oven (fire / trials). Shall I keep going to show you the rest, or can you see from root position?

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Move on from one thing to multiplicity from unity.

Unitary Matrix

Jesus told Peter to fish on the right side of the boat. When he did, they caught 153 fish, or the measure of the fish by Pythagoras. Why is this so in relation to the one thing and in relation to unity over multiplicity? How does this then relate to quantum mechanics, collapsing wave function and the Sol and Luna relation of Father and Mother?

Just because you have not seen it yet does not mean it is not true. Why does probability have amplitude and how is law responsible for this above the temporal dimension? Why are all these truths at right angles above and below (orthogonal)?

If you will do the research, then answer my questions, you will rewrite your thesis in the OP with truth.