That the Greatest Evil in Mankind Is Ignorance Concerning God

Hermetica. The Ancient Greek and Latin Writings which Contain Religious or Philosophic Teachings Ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus, Vol. I. Scott, Walter, editor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1924 (printing).

Open Greek and Latin · CC BY-SA 4.0

Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.

This work is a brief hortatory treatise addressing "ignorance concerning God" as the greatest evil afflicting mankind, urging people toward a spiritual awakening. The author strongly criticizes human beings on earth for being drowned in the drunkenness of ignorance, passionately calling on them to sober up. To achieve this, it is argued that one must cast off the "evil garment" of the physical body that binds the soul, and instead look up to the divine light with the eyes of the mind. The work presents this shift toward the knowledge of God as the only path for humanity to escape darkness and reach true salvation.