{"collection":"Gnosticism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/gno/th1/th143.htm","path":"gno/th1/th143.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/gno/th1/th143.htm","text":"Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 1, by G.R.S. Mead, [1906]\nSo ends this exceedingly instructive treatise of Plutarch, which, in spite of the mass of texts and monuments concerning \u0226s\u0227r and \u0226st which have already been deciphered by the industry of Egyptologists, remains the most complete account of the root mystery-myth of ancient Egypt. The myth of Osiris and Isis goes back to the earliest times of which we have record, and is always found in the same form. Indeed the \u201cRitual,\u201d the \u201cBook of the Dead,\u201d which should rather be called the \u201cBook of the Living,\u201d might very well be styled \u201cThe Gospel of Osiris.\u201d\nIt would be out of place here to seek for the historical origin of this Great Mystery; certainly Osiris was originally something greater than a \u201cwater sprite,\u201d as Budge supposes. Osiris and Isis were and are originally, as I believe, cosmic or super-cosmic beings; for the Elder and Younger Horus, regarded macrocosmically, were the Intelligible and Sensible Worlds, and, regarded microcosmically, pertained to the mystery of the Christ-stage of manhood.\nIt may, of course, be denied that the ancient Egyptians were capable of entertaining any such notions; we, however, prefer the tradition of our Trismegistic tractates to the \u201cprimitive-culture\u201d theories of anthropological speculation. That, however, such views were entertained in the first centuries is incontrovertible, as may be seen from a careful study of Philo of Alexandria alone. Thus to quote one passage out of many with regard to the two Horoi:\n\u201cFor that this cosmos is the Younger Son of God, in that it is perceptible to sense. The Son who\u2019s older than this one, He hath declared to be no one [perceptible by sense], for that he is conceivable by mind alone.\n[paragraph continues] But having judged him worthy of the Elder\u2019s rights, He hath determined that he should remain with Him alone.\u201d 1\nWhen, moreover, we speak of the Christ-stage of manhood, we mean all that mystery that lies beyond the normal stage of man, including both the super-man stage and that of the Christ.\nIn any case, Plutarch is of the greatest service for understanding the atmosphere and environment in which the students of the Trismegistic tradition moved, and we have therefore bestowed more care upon him than perhaps the general reader may think necessary.\n368:1 Quod Deus Im., \u00a7 6; M. 1, 277, P. 298 (Ri. ii. 72, 73).","title":"Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 1: IX. Plutarch: Concerning ...","type":"page"}