Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination : Altered States of Knowledge in Late Antiquity

by: Hanegraaff, W.J.

Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination
Altered States of Knowledge in Late Antiquity

Author: Wouter J. Hanegraaff, University of Amsterdam

In Egypt during the first centuries CE, men and women would meet discreetly in their homes, in temple sanctuaries, or insolitary places to learn a powerful practice of spiritual liberation. They thought of themselves as followers of Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary master of ancient wisdom. While many of their writings are lost, those that survived have been interpreted primarily as philosophical treatises about theological topics. Wouter J. Hanegraaff challenges this dominant narrative by demonstrating that Hermetic literature was concerned with experiential practices intended for healing the soul from mental delusion. The Way of Hermes involved radical alterations of consciousness in which practitioners claimed to perceive the true nature of reality behind the hallucinatory veil of appearances. Hanegraaff explores how practitioners went through a training regime that involved luminous visions, exorcism, spiritual rebirth, cosmic consciousness, and union with the divine beauty of universal goodness and truth to attain the salvational knowledge known as gnôsis.

Shows how close analysis of ancient texts can lead to new insights in the study of human consciousness and its modifications
Reassess how language and translation determine our very perception of the world
Makes technically difficult materials accessible by discussing them in a narrative format

Table of Contents
Prologue
1. Hermetic Spirituality
2. Heart of Darkness
3. The Presence of Gods
4. Children of Hermes
5. Through a Glass Darkly
6. Healing the Soul
7. The Path of Reverence
8. Becoming Alive
9. The Source
10. The Conquest of Time
Epilogue.

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