“The Father of the universals consists of Light and Life, and from Him, Man was born.”

“You are right! Light and Life is the Divine Mind, and from it Man was born. If then you know that you are yourself of Life and Light, and that you are made of them, you shall return to Life and Light.” Thus did the Shepherd speak.

“But tell me further, Mind of me,” I cried out, “How shall I come to Life again, for God does say ‘the man who had Mind in him, let him learn to know that he himself is deathless.’ Have not all men then Mind?”

“Again you speak well! I, Divine Mind, myself am present with holy men and good, the pure and merciful men who live piously. To such my presence becomes an aid, and straightway they gain Gnosis of all things, and win their Father’s love by their pure lives, and give Him thanks, invoking on Him blessings and entering his Kingdom, intent on Him with ardent love. And before they give the body up unto its proper death, they turn from their bodies with disgust from its sensations, from knowledge of what things they operate. Nay, it is I, the Divine Mind, that will not let the operations that befall the body work to their natural end. For being the gatekeeper, I close up all the entrances, and bar the entrance of the base and evil workings of the senses, cutting off all thoughts of them. But to the Mindless ones, the wicked and depraved, the envious and covetous, and murderous and impious, I keep far aloof, yielding my place to the Avenging Daimon, who sharpening the fire, torments them and adds fire to fire upon them, and rushes on them through their senses, thus rendering them the readier for their transgressions of the law, so that they meet with greater torment. Nor do they ever cease to have desire for their appetites inordinate, insatiably striving in the Darkness.”

Hermes