The birth of Man — begotten equal to God
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Ὁ δὲ πάντων πατὴρ ὁ νοῦς, ὢν ζωὴ καὶ φῶς, ἀπεκύησεν ἄνθρωπον ἑαὐτῷ ἴσον, οὗ ἠράσθη ὡς ἰδίου τόκου· περικαλλὴς γάρ, τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς εἰκόνα ἔχων. ὄντως γὰρ καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἠράσθη τῆς ἰδίας μορφῆς, καὶ αὐτῇ παρέδωκε τὰ ἑαυτοῦ πάντα δημιουργήματα.
But the Father of all, the Nous, being Life and Light, brought forth Man equal to himself, of whom he grew enamoured as his own offspring; for he was all-beautiful, bearing the image of the Father. For in truth God too loved his own form, and handed over to him all his own works.
The heart of the Poimandres. The Father of all, the Nous, being Life and Light, brings forth Man — not a lesser creature but one 'equal to himself' (ἑαυτῷ ἴσον), bearing the Father's image, so beautiful that God loves him as his own offspring and his own reflected form, and hands over to him all his works. This is the passage behind 'man is God's brother.'
This is the sentence the whole tradition is built on. The Father — Nous, Life and Light — brings forth not a servant or a lesser being but Ἄνθρωπος, Man, ἑαυτῷ ἴσον, 'equal to himself.' The word is ἴσον, equal, not merely 'like': Man is God's peer, God's own offspring, bearing the Father's εἰκών — the very word Genesis uses for humanity made 'in the image of God.' Here is the Hermetic first pillar in its source: the divinity, and the dignity, of the human being.
The undercurrent is that this dignity is founded on love, and love of a particular kind. God 'grew enamoured' (ἠράσθη) of Man because in Man he saw his own form — the divine falling in love with its own reflection. It is a breathtaking and a dangerous idea at once: the ground of human greatness is that we are the face God turned to and could not look away from — and, McKenna notes, the same sentence opens the door to pride. To Man, so loved, God hands over all his works.
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Corpus Hermeticum CH1.12 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/hermetica/CH1.12/