Man is twofold — mortal in body, immortal in essence
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ἡ δὲ φύσις λαβοῦσα τὸν ἐρώμενον περιεπλάκη ὅλη καὶ ἐμίγησαν· ἐρώμενοι γὰρ ἦσαν. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παρὰ πάντα τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς ζῶα διπλοῦς ἐστιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, θνητὸς μὲν διὰ τὸ σῶμα, ἀθάνατος δὲ διὰ τὸν οὐσιώδη ἄνθρωπον. ἀθάνατος γὰρ ὢν καὶ πάντων τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἔχων, τὰ θνητὰ πάσχει ὑποκείμενα τῇ εἱμαρμένῃ. ὑπεράνω οὖν ὢν τῆς ἁρμονίας, ἐναρμόνιος γέγονε δοῦλος. ἀρρενόθηλυς δὲ ὤν, ἐξ ἀρρενοθήλεος ὢν πατρὸς, καὶ ἄϋπνος ἀπὸ ἀΰπνου κρατεῖται.
And Nature, taking the beloved, entwined him wholly, and they mingled; for they were in love. And because of this, beyond all the living things upon earth, man is twofold — mortal because of the body, immortal because of the essential man. For, being immortal and having authority over all things, he suffers the things of mortality, being subject to Fate. Being therefore above the harmony, he has become a slave within the harmony. Being male-and-female, from a male-and-female Father, and sleepless from one sleepless, he is mastered.
Nature embraces the beloved and they mingle. And so, unlike every other creature on earth, man is twofold (διπλοῦς): mortal because of the body, immortal because of the essential Man within. Immortal and holding authority over all, he yet suffers the things of mortality, subject to Fate — above the harmony, yet made a slave within it.
Here is the Hermetic verdict on the human condition, and it is exact. From the union of the divine Man with Nature comes a creature 'twofold' as nothing else on earth: θνητὸς μὲν διὰ τὸ σῶμα, ἀθάνατος δὲ διὰ τὸν οὐσιώδη ἄνθρωπον — mortal because of the body, immortal because of the essential Man within. This is McKenna's first pillar completed: the divinity of the human is not lost in the fall; it is buried, carried down alive into the body.
The undercurrent is the exquisite paradox of the last lines, which the Greek states as wordplay the interlinear can show: 'above the harmony, he has become an in-harmony slave' (ὑπεράνω τῆς ἁρμονίας ... ἐναρμόνιος δοῦλος) — the being who transcends the cosmic order is bound inside it; 'sleepless, from a sleepless Father, he is mastered' by sleep. Man is God asleep in matter — deathless and enslaved, sovereign and suffering, at once. Everything the tradition will say about ascent is the attempt to wake the sleeper.
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Corpus Hermeticum CH1.15 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/hermetica/CH1.15/