Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Become a vessel for the universe

This piece comes from the amazing Herman Hesse (author of Siddhartha and the Glass Bead Game), in this short paragraph he talks about Abraxas and its relationship with us. For those who don’t know what Abraxas is, it comes from Gnostic writings and in Gnostic writings the spelling represents the 7 classic planets (the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) – in other words it is not an actual god but the word represents the universe and its power.


Contemplate the fire, contemplate the clouds, and when omens appear and voices begin to sound to your soul, abandon yourself to them without wondering beforehand whether it seems convenient or good to do so. If you hesitate, you will spoil your own being, you will become little more than the bourgeois façade which encloses you, and you will become a fossil. Our god is named Abraxas, and he is both the god and the devil at the same time. You will find in him both the world of light and of shadows. Abraxas is not opposed to any of your thoughts nor to any of your dreams, but he will abandon you if you become normal and unapproachable. He will abandon you and look for another vessel in which to cook his thoughts.
- Hermann Hesse

Abandon yourself to omens, clouds, fire. Become a vessel for the universe, in which it can cook its thoughts.

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