Greetings to the entire Zevist family!
After rereading some of the materials on the Temple website and spending some time reflecting on them, I would like to share a few thoughts and notes centred around the three concepts mentioned in the title of this post: Humanity, the Human, and Humaneness.
I. On Humanity
From Zeus let us begin; ... full of Zeus are all the streets ... always we all have need of Zeus. For we are also his offspring.
— Aratus, Phaenomena, 1–5
With these words, the ancient Greek poet Aratus opens his Phaenomena, celebrating the all-pervading presence of the Divine and the inseparable bond between God and His creation. The history of Humanity begins long before the emergence of the first cities, states, and written records. The Gods created humankind, endowing us with abilities that would allow us not merely to exist in the world, but to understand, transform, and improve the reality around us. In the ancient Egyptian Instruction for Merikare, human beings are described as images of the Deity, having come forth from His body, while the creation of the world is presented as an expression of divine care for them. In the Sumerian tale Enki and Ninmah, humanity is brought into existence through the involvement of Enki, the primordial mother Namma, and the birth goddesses. Addressing his mother, Enki declares:
My mother, the creature you planned will really come into existence.
— Enki and Ninmah, lines 24–37
Yet the Gods' involvement in humanity's destiny did not end with its creation. They bestowed upon human beings the knowledge and arts that would gradually form the foundations of civilization. In the Sumerian tale Inana and Enki, the Goddess receives the sacred me – divine powers and decrees encompassing many aspects of existence. Among them are wisdom, social institutions, and various crafts:
Holy Inana received the craft of the carpenter, the craft of the coppersmith, the craft of the scribe, the craft of the smith...
— Inana and Enki, Segment D, lines 10–13
In Ancient Egypt, the act of creation was associated with Ptah, who brought things into existence through the heart and tongue – through thought and word. In other traditions, Isis and Osiris were believed to have introduced humanity to agriculture, while Thoth, identified by the Greeks with Hermes, was revered as a patron of writing, language, music, and the knowledge of celestial order. Similar traditions existed in Ancient Greece: Demeter taught humanity to cultivate grain, Athena presided over wisdom and skilled handiwork, and Hephaestus over craftsmanship and the working of materials. The twentieth Homeric Hymn tells us:
With bright-eyed Athene he taught men glorious gifts throughout the world, -- men who before used to dwell in caves in the mountains like wild beasts.
— Homeric Hymn XX: To Hephaestus, lines 1–4
The myth of Prometheus holds a special place among these accounts. In the tragedy Prometheus Bound, he recalls a time when human beings looked without understanding what they saw and listened without comprehending what they heard. Prometheus taught them numbers, writing, construction, navigation, and medicine, concluding his account with the words:
Every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.
— Prometheus Bound, line 506
Yet Humanity did not confine itself to making earthly existence easier. It learned to create beauty, to give form to its experiences, and to preserve them in works capable of outliving their creators. In Greek tradition, Apollo and the Muses presided over poetry and music (Hesiod, Theogony, 53–95).
Among the divine gifts, philosophy held a special place. In the Timaeus, Plato connects its emergence with the observation of the movements of heavenly bodies, through which humanity came to understand number, time, and the laws governing the cosmos. He describes philosophy as a gift from the Gods, declaring:
No greater good has ever or will ever come to mortal creatures as a gift from the gods than this.
— Plato, Timaeus
Through divine gifts and their own efforts, human beings gradually transformed the world around them. From the earliest observations of the stars, we have come to study distant galaxies; from ancient healing practices, to modern medicine; from simple tools, to extraordinarily complex engineering systems. None of this was the achievement of a single person, or even a single generation. Thousands of years separate us from the earliest written records, yet we can still read the words of those long gone, contemplate their discoveries, and continue the searches they began.
And yet the history of Humanity is marked not only by great discoveries and beautiful creations, but also by terrible mistakes and crimes: slavery, devastating wars, persecution, exploitation, the destruction of cultural heritage, and the devastation of nature. To deny these chapters of history would also mean denying the suffering of countless human beings. But it would be equally unjust to reduce the whole history of civilization to its cruelty and errors. For the same Humanity that committed such grave wrongs also developed philosophical teachings, legal principles, and social institutions that made it possible to condemn injustice, reconsider established beliefs, and seek ways to make amends.
Acknowledging past mistakes does not require us to reject the entirety of our civilizational heritage. To honour the work of those who came before us does not mean considering them infallible, just as condemning their actions does not mean rejecting everything they created. Every generation inherits a world it did not build, along with the opportunity to preserve what is worthy, correct what is wrong, and enrich that inheritance through its own achievements.
Humanity's story is far from over. However many discoveries have already been made, new horizons of knowledge and creation still lie ahead. Yet behind all the great achievements that make up the history of civilization stands the Human Being.
II. On the Human
What, then, is the Human Being – a creature capable of such extraordinary achievements, yet limited by its own nature? Human life is finite, the body is subject to illness and decay, and our existence unfolds within the passage of time. And yet we can contemplate eternity, perceive beauty, love, and turn towards that which transcends the boundaries of earthly existence.
In the Hermetic treatise Asclepius, this remarkable union of the earthly and the divine is expressed in the words:
Man is a mighty wonder, – an animal meet for our worship and for our respect.
— Hermes Trismegistus, Asclepius, VI
Hermes describes the Human Being as occupying an intermediate position between the earthly and the divine. Bound to the material world through the body, the Human is nevertheless connected to a higher principle and capable of turning towards it through Nous. This dual nature is also revealed in Poimandres, where the Human Being is described as mortal through the body, yet immortal in essence.
But earthly existence should not be regarded solely as a limitation. Through the body and the senses, we encounter the richness of the perceptible world: the beauty of nature, music, the joy of reunion, the tenderness of touch. The very perception of beauty can awaken a longing for something beyond immediate sensory pleasure. In the Enneads, Plotinus begins his inquiry into Beauty with the forms accessible to sight and hearing. In Plato's Symposium, the beauty of the sensible world likewise becomes the starting point of an ascent towards Beauty itself.
At the same time, the Human Being possesses intelligence, through which we can turn towards the foundations of existence. Our mortality does not prevent us from aspiring to the eternal. Aristotle even warns against the notion that human beings should confine their aspirations to mortal things alone:
We must not follow those who advise us ... to think of human things ... but must, so far as we can, make ourselves immortal.
— Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, X.7, 1177b31–34
The Human Being can marvel at the beauty of a fleeting moment while striving to comprehend the first principles of the cosmos; can belong to the earthly world without being confined to it. It is in this diversity of abilities that the extraordinary fullness of human existence is revealed.
III. On Humaneness
Yet the greatness of human abilities does not determine how we choose to use them. They may serve creation or destruction, good or evil. This duality was expressed by Sophocles in the famous choral ode from Antigone:
Wonders / terrors [deina, pl.] are many, and none is more wonderful / terrible [deinon] than man.
— Sophocles, Antigone, 332–333
The Greek word δεινόν (deinon) carries both meanings: something astonishing and worthy of admiration, yet also formidable and capable of inspiring fear. Sophocles celebrates human ingenuity while reminding us that our abilities can lead us towards either good or evil.
But what is virtue itself – ἀρετή (aretē)? Before we can strive for it, we must first seek to understand its essence. This is precisely the question Socrates raises in his conversation with Meno about whether virtue can be taught:
If I do not know what a thing is, how can I know what its nature may be?
— Plato, Meno, 71b
The ancient Greek concept of aretē is associated with excellence, with the fullest and most proper realization of a being's nature. When applied to human beings, it inevitably leads us to the condition of the soul, its inner order, and its ability to discern the true Good. This is why παιδεία – the education and cultivation of the human being – occupies such an important place in Greek thought. It is not merely the transmission of knowledge, but the cultivation of the soul itself: developing the ability to think, appreciate beauty, and aspire towards what is good.
Yet knowing about virtue is not enough. We must practise it, gradually making right actions into lasting qualities of character. As Aristotle wrote:
So too we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.
— Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, II.1, 1103a34–b2
Cultivating a virtuous soul does not mean destroying the sensory or emotional aspects of our nature. Rather, it means bringing its various elements into harmony, so that impulses find their proper measure under the guidance of the higher principle, directed towards the Good. And moral development should not become a solitary contemplation of one's own perfection, nor should it lead to contempt for the imperfections of others. In Stoic philosophy, the recognition of our shared human nature becomes the foundation of mutual responsibility, patience, and goodwill. Marcus Aurelius reminds us:
Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them.
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, VIII.59
And here I find one of the most important dimensions of Humaneness: it requires not only the ability to distinguish good from evil, but also the willingness to act upon that distinction in our own lives, to acknowledge our mistakes, and to allow others the possibility of correcting theirs. Striving for perfection does not mean denying human vulnerability. On the contrary, it means being able to see in another person not only who they are now, but also who they may yet become.
Conclusion
Humanity – how much is contained within this single word. Beauty and horror, creation and destruction, the longing to reach towards the divine and the struggle with our own weaknesses. We are far from perfect, and our history bears witness to that. Yet perhaps our ability to recognize our shortcomings, learn from our mistakes, and strive to become better deserves no less admiration than the greatest achievements of human civilization.
The Gods have bestowed extraordinary gifts upon us, but bringing those gifts to fruition requires our own efforts. And it is virtue that allows us to direct our abilities towards the true Good. Throughout life, every human being faces trials and obstacles, both external and internal. Each of us, in one way or another, must walk our own path towards knowledge and self-improvement.
We Zevists are truly blessed to be here. Each of us, in our own time, awakened and returned Home. Through the Gods and the Wisdom restored within the Temple, we have access to the knowledge, teachings, Rituals, and spiritual practices necessary to cultivate Humaneness within ourselves, refine our souls, and pursue spiritual and ethical growth. We have everything we need to strive towards a genuine understanding of what it truly means to be Human. Yet possessing this inheritance does not mean that we have already embodied it. Like the sculptor in Plotinus' metaphor, each of us must work upon our own soul, gradually revealing its beauty and removing whatever prevents it from shining through.
And although we will inevitably encounter difficulties along this path, we have an unfading guide – the call of Truth and Goodness, a guiding light illuminating our way even through darkness. But this light should not remain ours alone. As it has been said:
Despite all the destruction and upheaval that human civilization has endured, its spiritual foundations can be restored and carried forward. Here, within the Temple, we have found a foundation upon which we can build anew – not only by refining our own souls, but also by helping to transform the world around us. For inner growth should never become an end in itself:
This is why I believe that love for the Human Being and Humanity should be expressed not only through admiration for what we have already created, but also through the desire to improve what has been entrusted to us. To better ourselves, to help others, to preserve what is beautiful, and to create something new – these are ways in which we can honour the gifts of the Gods and the work of those who came before us.
And to conclude my post, I would like to share some verses of my own, inspired by the Virtue Into a Human, especially since the beautiful Rituals of the Muses are currently taking place at the Temple.
To Be Human
Whispers.
Why are they talking to me?
What are they wanting to say?
Where do they want to lead me?
Voices.
They get me back on my feet,
and next I’m running away,
running back to the heat.
Breeze.
It’s playing gently with me.
I can feel it on my skin,
just how I want it to be.
Breathe.
I’ll carry on and I’ll thrive,
and scream from the top of my lungs,
and just rejoice I’m alive.
Faith.
Gives me a spark to grow.
Passion.
Gives me fuel to move on.
Struggles?
They are also here sometimes.
But I will never give up.
I’m going to reach my own skies!
Blessings.
They make my spirit complete.
Prayers.
They’re in my mind on repeat.
Mountains?
I will be climbing them all.
But first,
I will be conquering my own!
I want to feel both Hate and Love.
I want to be free and to evolve.
I want to truly understand
how to be human in the first place.
I want to be both soft and tough.
I want to see the stars above.
And then I’m going to exclaim:
It’s manifested.
I’m human.
It’s reclaimed!
Have I smelled the perfumes and the flowers?
Or haven’t I?
Have I felt a deep connection with true love?
Or haven’t I?
Have I strived to be better?
Have I thrown off my fetter?
Have I lived, or have I just survived?
But I accept where I am now.
I am affirming my vow.
Because I know:
To be human
is enough.