The Egyptian Oedipus, Volume II

Otherness and inequality exist together by nature.

...taken from the greater, you will once again have what is equal. Inequality, therefore, is reduced to equality through subtraction; thus, equality naturally precedes the unequal. Therefore, "otherness" In philosophy, "otherness" or alteritas refers to the state of being different or distinct from something else; here, it refers to the beginning of multiplicity and inequality exist together by nature: for where there is otherness, there is also inequality, and vice versa. Between two things, at the very least, there will be otherness, and these two together will create a "doubling" relative to one of them; hence, there will be inequality by the "excess" of the one. Otherness and inequality, therefore, exist together by nature, but from the previous arguments, equality precedes inequality by nature, and therefore it also precedes otherness. Consequently, equality must be eternal.

Again, if there are two causes, one of which is prior to the other, the effect of the first will be prior by nature to the effect of the second. Now, Unity is either the connection itself, or the cause of the connection, for it is the "uniter" of all things. The "binary" The number two, or the concept of duality, however, is either division itself or the cause of division. If, then, Unity is the cause of connection and the binary is the cause of division—just as Unity is prior to the binary by nature—so too is connection prior to division by nature. But just as otherness and division exist together by nature, so do Unity and connection.

Since it has been proven that whatever precedes otherness, division, or changeability is eternal (for it is the "simply Maximum"), and since nothing preceding otherness is anything other than Unity—and Unity is the same as equality and connection—it follows necessarily that Unity, Equality, and Connection are eternal. These are not three eternal things, but one eternal thing; for if there were several eternal things, otherness or multitude would exist before Unity, and one would lack the other, so that none of them would be truly eternal. They would be both eternal and not eternal, all of which is absurd and impossible.

Unity, equality, and connection, just as they have one being, so they have eternal being.

It remains, therefore, that Unity, Equality, and Connection, just as they are one, so they are also eternal.

And this is that "Triple Unity" which Pythagoras An ancient Greek philosopher who believed that numbers were the fundamental reality of the universe decreed should be adored; and which the Egyptians called Hemphta Kircher's version of an Egyptian creator deity, often associated with the spirit or 'intellect' of the world, and secretly expressed under the "serpent-circle-wing-shaped" figure original Greek: ὄφι-κυκλο-πτερομόρφῳ (ophi-kyklo-pteromorpho)—that is, through a globe, a serpent, and a wing joined into a single sacred symbol; concerning which, see the Pamphilian Obelisk A famous ancient Egyptian obelisk in Rome which Kircher famously (and often incorrectly) attempted to decipher.

The saying of Trismegistus is explained.

From Unity, therefore, is begotten the "equality of unity," and from these two proceeds "connection." For the one God is the very "entity" of things, or the form of being; Equality is the "equity" of beings, in which there is neither more nor less, nothing above and nothing below. Thus, the generation of Unity is nothing other than the repetition of Unity. For if you multiply Unity twice, or thrice, or more, Unity will then procreate something else from itself, such as the binary, the trinity, or any other number that fits created things. Therefore, in divine matters, Unity repeated only once begets the equality of unity—or, what is the same thing, Unity begets Unity—which is the eternal generation of the Father and the Son. From this, it is clear how that saying of Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary Hellenistic figure to whom many mystical and philosophical texts were attributed is to be understood:

The Monad begat the Monad, and reflected its own ardor back upon itself. original Latin: "Monas genuit Monadem, & in seipsam suum reflexerit ardorem." A "Monad" is a single, indivisible unit representing God

Just as, therefore, the generation of unity from unity is a single repetition of unity, so the "procession" from both is the repetition of the unity of being and the unity of equality—or, what is the same thing, the connection and union of Unity and Equality. Correcty, then, from Unity and the Equality of Unity—that is, from both—proceeds the Connection. For connection does not belong to one alone, but Unity proceeds from Unity into Equality, and from the Equality of Unity into Union. Nor is it said that the connection [comes] from Unity, or from the Uni-