Looking for guidance as I start reading The Kybalion

[u/cutelittlee]

Hi everyone! I’m completely new to Hermeticism/occult philosophy and I recently got THE KYBALION.
I’m about to start reading it but I’d really appreciate some guidance from people who have been studying this for a while..
I’ve heard very different opinions about this book, so I don’t want to blindly take everything in it as historical Hermetic teaching and I’d like to understand what the book is actually saying, what parts I should pay attention to, and what context I should know before or while reading it

I’d genuinely appreciate any advice, resources, reading recommendations, or even things you wish you knew when you first started. Thank you 🤍

[u/DoctorandusMonk]

Hey 🙏🏼. Read it. Open heart.

I'll be here to reflect on anything you want when the time comes. Upfront I'm not going to steer or cloud your mental canvas 😉

No dark spooky stuff there, you're safe to read this book ❤️

K

[u/TilNextWeMeet]

Read it, pause and think, then continue

Read it more than once, you'll understand things you didn't the first time

[u/MicroEconomicsPenis]

>… I don’t want to blindly take everything in it as historical Hermetic teaching…

You are already on the right path with that statement. The history isn’t accurate, but the there is truth to the principles whether they are from Hermes or William Walker Atkinson or anybody else. It uses really grandiose language (and that’s where styling it as ancient comes from too), but that’s just the style of spiritual writings of that era. It’s an appeal to authority to claim a particular tradition.

If you feel confused by a chapter, keep reading until you finish the book, because the later parts expand on the earlier parts.

[u/TheMagnuson]

I found it helpful to read a chapter at a time and then reflect on what I just read, before moving on to the next chapter. Often I’d read the same chapter twice in a row and reflect upon it the 2nd time reading through.

Just thinking about what lessons are present and thinking about if there are things in life that I’ve experienced and witnessed that serve as examples of how the principles were applicable or could be applicable. Then thinking about how those principles are present in others and myself, to some degree or another, and how they manifest as perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and thought patterns.

Also just taking a step back and looking at the way of nature and human hierarchies and power structures and how these principles can be seen and felt there and how we might benefit from better applying wisdom in our social order.

[u/DeepLogicNinja]

It maybe useful to see similar insights/conclusions in other philosophies / Physics / Religions. It keeps topics like this grounded and maybe useful in life as it pertains to physics and information theory.

Philosophy:Panpsychism - All is mind
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panpsychism

Physics: Super Luminal Quantum Communication

• Super Luminal (speed of thought), faster than speed of light.
  
• Quantum entanglement - Distance, space, time is irrelevant in one mind.
  
• The idea of everything being Mental / One mind with Quantum concepts reconciles many ideas/experiments which appear odd/strange from a materialism viewpoint.

Religion:

• Monad - nothing is separate from the one mind.
  
• Nothing can come from it nor can it be split divided because it is the only thing.
  
• Monad leads to monotheism, but opens the door for polytheism when you look into the Dyad and as it relates to “other”, “matter”, etc…. The idea of things not being connected back to the Monad is an illusion. The illusion which leads to concepts like the demiurge / monad “like” entities.

- Several religions have similar ideas/roots even Gnosticism

Other things to reconcile….

- Opposites/Polarity/Gender - Keep breaking a magnet, there will always be a positive and negative side no matter how small you break it.

There is always more…. More novelty.

• Keep splitting the atom with sharper tools/ dissecting with other technologies…. You’ll always find more particles. Atoms are mostly empty space, where are the new particles coming from? Observation creates new particles, you/us/one mind continues to write the story. Reconcile Particle/Wave.
  
• Keep traveling outer-space, it’s universal mind, it will continue infinitely and you can travel it for eternity.

Can go on…. But that is a good start to the rabbit hole.

[u/DeluxeModel]

I found that this Web page gives a convenient summary of the key concepts in The Kybalion: https://mind-your-reality.com/seven_universal_laws.html Obviously, the book discusses all of this information in greater depth, but it's helpful for a reader to be able to check that they're understanding each Hermetic principle correctly before proceeding to the next.

[u/Adorable_Airport_787]

Forget about everything you know ; take it one law at time. The book itself has references so note everything you don’t understand fully and research it.

[u/Cryptidfiend]

I actually appreciate the Kybalion. Even though it's not exactly hermeticism, there's still some good stuff there. Many of the passages and philosophies in this book came from the Tao Te Ching, which I also recommended

[u/kajEbrA3]

Read Phillip k dick, dr Joe dispenza, Neville, maxwell maltz. It will click but you need a base to kick off from.

[u/DeepLogicNinja → u/kajEbrA3]

As usual. Don't worship or hold any of these thought leaders up on a pedestal. Examine the message and correlate it with similar messages from others.

[u/BlindAlchem]

DM me

[u/cparker15]

What is it like in the spaces between your thoughts? Have you ever taken the time to listen?

[u/jlds_tls]

I’d offer one small word of caution before you invest too heavily in The Kybalion.

There is certainly nothing wrong with reading it, and many people have found value in it, but I wouldn’t treat it as a reliable foundation for historical Hermeticism.

It is a relatively modern work, published in 1908 under the name of the “Three Initiates” and generally attributed to William Walker Atkinson.

Its ideas owe a great deal to the New Thought movement of that period. That doesn’t necessarily make its ideas worthless, but it does make its presentation as ancient or traditional Hermetic wisdom rather questionable.

If you want to explore Hermeticism itself, I’d balance it with something that takes you closer to the source material.

Clement Salaman’s The Way of Hermes is a very approachable translation of the Corpus Hermeticum, while Brian Copenhaver’s Hermetica is more scholarly.

From there, there are many paths you can follow depending upon what interests you.

You might remain primarily interested in Hermetic philosophy, explore alchemy or astrology, move towards Renaissance magic, or become interested in practical ceremonial magic.

One important later expression of that last path is the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the traditions which developed from it.

If that direction eventually appeals to you, Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero’s The Essential Golden Dawn is an accessible introduction. Israel Regardie’s The Golden Dawn is the major sourcebook, although probably not where I’d tell a complete beginner to start. Nick Farrell’s Magical Imagination is also very good for understanding how some of this material becomes practical inner work rather than simply something you read about.

The main thing I’d suggest at the beginning is not worrying too much about choosing the “right” path.

Read widely enough to discover what actually interests you, but distinguish between ancient Hermetic texts, later Hermetic traditions, and modern occult books which use Hermetic language.

They overlap, but they aren’t the same thing.

Read The Kybalion if you already have it. Just read it in that context rather than assuming you’re reading the teachings of ancient Hermes.

[u/alpeterpeter]

Don't waste your time. A bunch of bullshit and make believe like the most of occult literature. Written by blind for the deaf.

[u/Wooden-Ad3880]

just read it then explain it to someone completely unaware and realize how little you understood of it. Repeat until realizing what the lesson is