On the Mysteries of the Egyptians - Pimander - Asclepius

...is formed original: "matur," likely the conclusion of a word such as "confirmatur" or "formatur.", which he calls the acquired intellect original: "intellectum adeptum." In Neoplatonic philosophy, this is the highest state of human reason where the mind has successfully reached and united with divine truths.. For primary knowledge consists in the active intellect original: "agente intellectu." The "active" or "agent" intellect is the faculty of the mind that makes understanding possible by "lighting up" abstract concepts, similar to how light makes colors visible to the eye.. Since knowledge occurs through a process of "adequation" An "adequation" is a matching or balancing—the idea that the mind must become like the thing it is trying to understand., it follows that we reach those smallest things which are eternal and unmoving by using a concept that is itself eternal, unmoving, and simple.

The knowledge by which we understand separate substances original: "substantias separatas." These are immaterial beings, such as gods, angels, or pure spirits, that exist "separately" from physical matter. is of a different kind than the knowledge by which we understand other things. Knowledge of divine things has always existed within the soul through a simple intuition or direct contact. Some people believe they will reach these separate beings through a method of opposition—that is, they reason that because physical things are material, moving, localized, and subject to suffering, then separate beings must be unmoving and beyond such things.

In this way, one certainly learns what these beings are not; but what they truly are is known through the "adequation" of our knowledge to that which is naturally present in the soul through the intellect. This is acquired within our rational power through a specific kind of study—not so much a study of comparison and guesswork, but rather through the duty of separation and purification original: "purificationis officio." This refers to the "cathartic" process of stripping away bodily desires and sensory distractions to allow the mind to see divine truth clearly.. There was also a method of "disjunction" A logical tool where you prove a point by ruling out the only other possibility.: namely, that the gods and divine things are either temporal or eternal. They are clearly not temporal, therefore they must be eternal. However, even this logical method, because of its own "movement" The author means that step-by-step logic is a "moving" process of the mind, and therefore is not a perfect match for the "unmoving," eternal nature of the gods., does not truly suit those beings who are unmoving.

On the properties of each of the higher beings.

If any composition, on the contrary, exists within substances that are separate and separable, it is not...