Once, when I was contemplating the nature of things and my mind was greatly exalted, my bodily senses were restrained, as happens to those heavy with sleep. It seemed that a being of vast dimensions appeared before me and called my name.
"Who are you?" I asked. "I am Poimandres," he replied, "the Mind of the Sovereignty. I know what you wish, and I am with you everywhere."
"I desire to learn the things that are,
To understand their nature,
And to know God."
And Poimandres answered:
"Hold fast in your mind what you wish to learn,
And I will teach you."
With these words, everything changed. The dimensions opened, and I saw a boundless vision: all things became light, serene and joyful. I fell in love with it. And after a little while, a darkness came down, fearful and gloomy, which coiled like a serpent. And the darkness changed into a moist nature, unspeakably troubled, giving off smoke as from a fire.
"Have you understood what this vision means?" asked Poimandres. "That light is I, Mind, your God, who existed before the moist nature that appeared from the darkness. And the luminous Word that came forth from Mind is the Son of God."
"What then am I to understand?" I asked.
"Know this: that in you which sees and hears
Is the Word of the Lord,
And Mind is its Father.
They are not separate from each other,
For life is the union of these."
The vision continued, showing how the worlds were formed, how humanity was created in the image of the divine, how the soul descended through the spheres and took on garments of matter. "The human being alone among earthly creatures is twofold — mortal because of the body, immortal because of the essential self."
"This is why," Poimandres concluded, "unlike all other creatures on earth, humanity has a double nature: mortal because of the body, immortal because of the essential Human. Though immortal and having authority over all things, humanity suffers the conditions of mortality, being subject to fate. Though above the framework of the spheres, humanity has become a slave within the framework."
The path of return, Poimandres taught, is the path of awakening. "Let the person who has mind recognize himself as immortal, and know that the cause of death is desire, and know all things that are."
Teaching 24
You are twofold: mortal in body, immortal in essence. The light that sees through your eyes is the Word of the Lord. Mind is its Father. Your task is to recognize what you truly are — to see through the garments of matter to the immortal being beneath.