From the depths of millenium (machine translation)
According to the Doctrine, humanity exists much longer than is recognized by modern science. More precisely, civilization lasts longer. The beginning of humanity as a species has been pushed back, in view of the scientific data obtained over the past decades, a million years ago, or even more. Civilizations are allotted only the last 5-7 thousand years. Before that – primitive society, savagery. But the Doctrine says that much more cultures came to replace each other than is commonly believed, and these human civilizations, unknown to science, could reach a level comparable to the medieval, or even higher, – not necessarily technically. The book “Evora” includes the Mithavma “Top”, which tells about events that took place about 265,000 years ago. And the fact that it speaks of a fully developed civilization is not so significant. The main thing is that in those days there was one of the revelations of Hermes (which, however, in those days bore some other name). And this means that by then – even if the revelation indicated was the very first – humanity as a civilization should have existed for at least several tens of thousands of years. Because otherwise the revelation would not have taken place.
Each rational race — and there are many in the Universe — must go the path of knowledge and spiritual perfection. This way is not easy for anyone. But some of the intelligent races have special difficulties with this, their promotion takes too long, and as a result they find themselves on the verge of extinction, and sometimes self-destruction. However, each of them plays an important role in the fate of the universe: intelligent life as an evolutionary factor is priceless. Therefore, the God of Wisdom (Hermes, Emere) comes to the aid of the races faced with such difficulties. He sends them an information message that gives an intellectual and spiritual impulse and thus helps to overcome the crisis. Simply put, he gives a kind of clue – reveals to the problem race a part of the Truth, in a larger or smaller volume, and thereby returns it to the right path. This message is called revelation. However, he is not a supernatural phenomenon. Rare and extraordinary – yes; but not supernatural.
Humanity is one of the problem races. He has great difficulties with independent knowledge of the Truth. The reasons lie in the features of his character and mentality. But despite this, humanity is a very gifted race, which, having overcome its shortcomings, will be able to do a lot not only for its world, but also for the evolution of the entire Universe. Such a conclusion follows even from the tenacity with which the God of Wisdom fights for him. For some problem races, one revelation is enough to rectify a crisis. Others need a few. It happens that, seeing the situation is almost completely hopeless, the God of Wisdom abandons attempts to help, leaving the race of fate that she stubbornly negligent, which she chose for herself. In the end, the right to free choice is the right to free choice, and in such a situation one can help to go, but one cannot drag by force – even in the right direction. More than a few revelations are given infrequently. And humanity in its long history has received twenty-seven of them. This is a lot. The case is almost exceptional. Apparently, it’s worth fighting for people.
Returning to the above. Even if we assume that the revelation mentioned in the “Top” was the first, then enough time should have already passed before it would become apparent the unsuccessfulness of the independent attempts of mankind to learn the Truth. It was supposed to be a series of intellectual and spiritual ups and downs, a series of crises and their independent overcoming, until the situation became especially difficult. And this, as I said, would hardly take less than several tens of thousands of years. Based on the above considerations, we can estimate the life of human civilization at least 300,000 years.
During this time, mankind was periodically given revelations – on different continents, through prophets from different nations. The prophets found followers to whom the acquired knowledge was transmitted, and a closed community of initiates was created. So the Teaching came to our world again and again. However, knowledge was not intended for open dissemination, since the goal was not to present ready knowledge to humanity, but only to push it, to direct it on the right path. Therefore, a limited number of persons were allowed into the circle of initiates – in different eras and in different regions it ranged from several people to several thousand people. Of course, knowledge went beyond these communities – otherwise there would be no point in revelations. But this knowledge was disseminated indirectly, more or less indirectly: through moral instruction, philosophical teachings, scientific concepts, works of art, and so on. This each time gave the necessary effect, and the task of revelation was carried out. The initiate communities themselves eventually disappeared.
The latter circumstance sometimes raises questions like “Why did they disappear?” Does this mean that the Teaching is not viable? ” No, it doesn’t. Simply, no closed secret or half-secret community, the entry into which is complicated by the high demands on the neophytes and the very number of members of which is limited, cannot stably exist for a very long time. Inevitably, problems arise with the preservation of knowledge that could be lost or go beyond the circle of initiates, with finding suitable candidates, etc. In addition, it is difficult for such communities to survive and maintain integrity during wars, various social upheavals, epidemics and other disasters. But most importantly, it is difficult for them to survive in an environment hostile to dissidents. Nowadays, when religious tolerance has become a common norm on the scale of almost the whole world, and they have gotten used to it, it’s hard for some to imagine what could be different. But before it was different. It was difficult for groups of dissenters and dissenters in a cautious, hostile, often intolerant, and openly hostile environment. It came to physical destruction. History knows many sad examples (and in our time, anything else happens). In the case of the Teaching, everything was aggravated by the fact that the people who belonged to it could not even form a truly secret society, since this, as a rule, is fraught with the need for lies and pretense, which is incompatible with the principles of the Teaching. Therefore, his followers were usually in sight. They were often persecuted and died because they did not recognize lies for salvation and did not renounce their beliefs. The teaching as a system of views was not preached openly and defiantly; but the principles and behavior of his followers did not correspond to the prevailing beliefs, often went against the generally accepted customs and interests of those in power. Here is how it is said in the Mitem “Top”: “Our cause has never been accepted by the world as a blessing, for it resisted the evil that it exalted, imagining it as blessing. Although we didn’t do our work explicitly, it was often disclosed by those who went to where the clean wind came from. They guarded the stench from purity; and they found us, for we were pure and could not lie for their salvation. And then we perished, blessing the world ”(Summit, 12-15).
Despite all the difficulties and dangers, despite the fact that groups of knowledge holders sooner or later died out or died, the Teachings were always able to give humanity the necessary impetus, to create – during its existence or in the future – a sufficient counterbalance to the dominance of errors. And the echo of revelation every time sounded long after the last initiates died. It sounded in new religions, occult, philosophical and ethical teachings, in the culture and art of various peoples. The intellectual and spiritual heritage of the Teaching has survived for centuries and millennia. But then the matter again reached a deep crisis, and a need arose for a new revelation.
Of the twenty-five revelations, years ago, few traces remain. But the twenty-sixth – that is, the previous one – left a bright mark in the history of modern civilization. It took place several thousand years ago, in Europe, and the God of Wisdom appeared in it under the name Hermes. This name then migrated to mythology. The name of the prophet, who received that revelation, was forgotten, and he himself over time began to be identified with the source of the revelation. Thus arose the legend of the great sage Hermes Trismegistus. Yes: the one called Trismegistus actually existed, and he was one of the prophets of the Doctrine. His legacy has had a huge impact on religion, occultism, philosophy, science and culture. In all this one can find echoes of the Teaching, more or less explicit. Even more than that: if there had not been a previous revelation, we would not have known all this in the form in which we know. The previous appearance of the Teaching on the historical stage played an important role in shaping the image of the modern world familiar to us.
It is generally accepted that Trismegistus’s heritage is preserved in the lap of the tradition known as Hermeticism. The tradition is certainly famous, and its influence on the fate of mankind has received its recognition. But in reality, Hermeticism has very little to do with Hermes’ true teaching. This is only his distant echo, a weak echo, many times distorted by time and human errors. Only now, when a new revelation has come into the world, the teachings of Hermes can be restored in its true form. But about this – another time.
© Atarkhat, 2016