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EXERPTS from Chapter One of Origins and Attributes of Being
"One day, while presenting a seminar on the philosophies of Egypt's ancient Hermes, specifically relating to a subject which I refer to as the ‘Hermetic origins of Life and Being (Humankind)’, I made a slight 'mistake' in my presentation and varied just a bit from my usual outline. I simply interchanged the order of a two topics.
"Suddenly, a dear friend interrupted the seminar and pointed out that I had just described a Native American ‘medicine wheel’! As obvious as the correlations are to me today, the ‘Hermetic Origins of Life and Being’ was amazing similar to the Native American medicine wheel!
"The Native American medicine wheel was Hermetic! Or, was Hermetics Native American? At that moment we were both surprised, and yet not surprised at all!
"Over the years that followed, I pursued a gnawing interest in ancient cultures and religious beliefs mostly to provide a context for the beliefs that I was experiencing in my culture and, more importantly, to provide a context for my own beliefs. Two separate and seemingly unrelated visits to Egyptian and Chinese museum exhibits ensued. These visits gave me first-hand access to rare artifacts peculiar to each of the separate cultures.
"As it happens, __ (number) of the Egyptian artifacts related to the burial of the Pharaohs and ___ (number) of the Chinese artifacts related specifically to a ceremonial re-burial of Buddha in 100 to 300 A.C.E. These specific artifacts caught my attention either because they were simply not shown in the cultural history books that I had seen. Others caught my attention because the guide or guide materials at the exhibit explained the cultural beliefs that were contemporary to the development of a particular artifact. For most of these instances, the sited cultural beliefs were referred to as ‘folk lore’ and were not part of what might be considered the ‘canonized’ or official religious beliefs prevalent in those times. Nonetheless, the associated tradition was held as ‘sacred’ by the masses in these ancient cultures.
"To my on-going amazement, each of these artifacts correlated with my ‘Hermetic-Native American Medicine Wheel.’ This was true regardless of whether the artifact and its ‘associated belief’ may have originated in China or in Egypt. Again, while the artifacts and their related traditions where well known and well documented, the correlations in the traditions and rituals I ‘discovered’ were not.
"Even today, I experience a sense of astonishment as I consider ‘the coincidences’ in the belief systems – as well as in the actual configuration of the artifacts – that seem to correlate ‘Hermetics’, the Native American ‘Medicine Wheel’, the ancient Egyptian burial traditions for the Pharaohs and Chinese burial traditions, relating specifically to Buddhism in 100 to 300 A.C.E. could all seem to be describing the same metaphor. Even though each to the traditions were to be found in very geographically separated areas of the world, these artifacts and their associated traditions seem to have the same message!"
