Introduction
'The hermetic gnosis' refers to a tradition, called 'hermetic philosophy' within the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, a tradition amply documented in manuscripts and printed books. The practice of this hermetic philosophy leads us to the heart of gnosis.
The word 'gnosis' is synonymous with 'knowledge', although the term more aptly covers the duality of the way in which this knowledge is revealed, both spiritually and materially. Man is faced with the task of uniting these two aspects of revelation and bring about a synthesis between them in his life. What is the deepest essence of this? Man is placed before a threefold choice: there is the path of the purely visual and material manifestation within the limitations of time and space; then there is the second path of an inner scope of life, providing a connection with life processes which cannot be explained by means of these limitations; and there is the third path, that of the fulfilment of life in the spirit, the mystery of the synthesis in which limitations of time and space, the inner experiences, are linked to the very source and aim of life itself.
This long path of experience may be described as the path of hermetic gnosis, or, to speak with Hermes Trismegistus in the Tabula Smaragdina: 'That which is above is like that which is below'.
Today more and more people ask themselves the classical question of the gnostic: 'Where do I come from, why am I here, what is man's destination and purpose?'
The search for an answer to this question initiates a development and at the same time continues a tradition which focusses on man's development. It is a tradition embedded in the classical 'Nosce te ipsum', 'Man, know thyself', inscribed above the entrance to Greek temples. In our time we undertake anew the task of connecting this motto with a spiritual reality, which establishes that the spiritual world, the world of gnosis, lies concealed in man himself as a divine reality.
Therefore if we, people of good will, are prepared to meet each other on the basis of this one reality, then the approach of gnosis passes into a truly spiritual fulfilment, a fulfilment in which gnostic knowledge of our mysterious creation and all of its aspects has become the very source of inspiration itself.
J.R. Ritman
Founder, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica