House of Living Books

A Living Library

From 17 August 2022, the Embassy of the Free Mind presented House of Living Books: The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica. The exhibition offered visitors a cross-section of the library collection that forms the heart of the Embassy.

‘As above, so below.’

It is one of the most important principles in the so-called Hermetic philosophy, named after the Egyptian sage Hermes Trismegistus. It means that the cosmos, humans and nature are intricately interconnected on both a spiritual and a material level. The cosmos is reflected in man; man is reflected in the cosmos. In the 15th century, when this philosophy was rediscovered, it was an inspiring thought that made people look at the world — and themselves — with different eyes. Care for nature, the equality of men and women, of all peoples, religions, and races, and our modern understanding of what it means to be human, have their origins in this philosophy.

The Collection

The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica — the Library of Hermetic Philosophy — is the library collection of the Embassy of the Free Mind. The collection comprises more than 28,000 books, including about 2,300 ancient books and three hundred manuscripts from the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries: rare, often beautifully illustrated works.

In the exhibition House of Living Books, visitors could see a cross-section of this collection. Not only Hermetic philosophy, but also related movements such as alchemy, Kabbalah, mysticism, Christian theosophy, Rosicrucianism, astrology, magic, and free thinking in general were on display. For in all these currents, the important principles of Hermetic philosophy can be found.

As a House of Living Books

The library tells the many-sided, eventful, and largely unknown story of a spiritual tradition in which self-knowledge and knowledge of nature are the keys to achieving knowledge of God. Hermes Trismegistus, Father of the Philosophers, is the principal source of this knowledge of the connection between everything: ‘He who thinks about himself with his mind, knows himself, knows the All; the All is in man.’ Every book tells this story differently, but together they speak of unity in diversity.

Feast your eyes on beautiful old books, discover the wisdom and freedom of thought in all these movements, and stimulate your mind!