# Parmenides vs Heraclitus, And The Hermetic Answer

## Parmenides

A is A. Not-A is Not-A. A can't be Not-A. Not-A can't be A. All
changes are illusions. Since a change means A becoming Not-A.
Therefore everything is identical. The One!

The Heaven.



## Heraclitus

> No man ever steps in the same river twice.
>
> Heraclitus

Let's say, a man (A) stepped in a river (B). If the man steps in
the river again, that means a new man (New A) steps in a new river
(New B). The man at different times are different men. The river
at different times are different rivers.

For every A, A becomes Not-A. Everything changes. Therefore all
identities are illusions. And the Logos governs that.

The Earth.



## Plato's Synthesis

There are form and matter. Matter is mimics of forms. A form does
not change. But matter does. Therefore the world of forms is perfect,
but the world of matter is imperfect.

For example, the color "red" (form) does not change. But an
implementation of "red" in the material world (for example, an
apple -- matter) changes.

Therefore the color "red" is perfect. But an implementation of
"red" in the material world is imperfect.



## Gnostic Response

The imperfect or evil god Demiurge (~ the evil god of the Old
Testament) has made the broken material world. The world of matter.
The material world is a prison.

Therefore we should go back to the perfect world of forms (Pleroma)
which is close to the divine Monad (~ the God of the New Testament
who sent Christ). And we need the knowledge (Gnosis) for that.



## Hermetic Answer

In early days, it was similar to Gnosticism. In Corpus Hermeticum,
it stresses out that the good is in god alone and thus nothing in
the material world is good. It also stresses that it is very
important to dismiss senses for the divinity. The material world
is quite illusionary.

And that seems to continue to the Renaissance. For example,

Rose Cross (human) = Rose (soul) + Cross (body)

A human is a rose trapped by a cross.


However, by the magical mantra "As above, so below" on the Emerald
Tablet, it somewhat changes.

The mantra means the correspondence between the macrocosmos and
the microcosmos. The correspondence between the spiritual, mental,
physical worlds. And the most importantly, the correspondence
between the Heaven and the Earth.

The same principles govern the Heaven and the Earth. Sun and Moon.
Alchemy and Astrology. Theory and Practice. Although those fields
are still fundamentally different.

I mean, theory (which deals with the world of Parmenides) and
practice (which deals with the world of Heraclitus) should meet.
Therefore the same underlying principles govern them in the end.

And by using the principles, one can achieve Magnum Opus -- making
the Philosopher's Stone (eternity in the material world).

But that doesn't mean that the material world suddenly became good.
It is the Gnosis. The material world is still imperfect. But that
(Gnosis) is how we can escape from it and become the one with the
Monad.



Long story short, the same principles govern the world of Parmenides
and the world of Heraclitus. It makes the totality. Abraxas if I
use a Gnostic word. And that's how we can be saved.