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Brahmans, gymnosophy, magic and cabala

Bracmanes; Gimnosophistes; Gimnosophie; Ægyptiens; Gimnosophie; Magie; caballe

Brahmans, gymnosophists, Egyptian magic and Jewish cabala are names within Nuysement's account of ancient wisdom.

From the book

Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici

Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordBrahmans, gymnosophists, Egyptian magic and Jewish cabala are names within Nuysement's account of ancient wisdom.
  • In Sal LumenII.4.28 invokes Bracmanes and Gimnosophistes among those who veiled natural knowledge in figures.
  • In this editionThe English retains the distinct tradition names and the strong identity claim in III.17.
  • A place to readNamed peoples/traditions appear in Nuysement’s expansive claim of ancient veiled natural knowledge.

Meaning

Brahmans, gymnosophists, Egyptian magic and Jewish cabala are names within Nuysement's account of ancient wisdom. Their function is to authorize a penetrating, concealed philosophy of Nature. The text's claim that they converge should be reported as a claim, not adopted as a sufficient description of those different traditions.

Use in the book

II.4.28 invokes Bracmanes and Gimnosophistes among those who veiled natural knowledge in figures. Egyptian instruction and sacred concealment join the argument that apparently fabulous narratives can carry philosophical meaning. The author's defence of such analogy also answers the charge that comparison with Christianity profanes sacred things; he regards natural knowledge as an approach to a higher truth, while the two domains retain different agents.

At the close of Book III, true philosophy is called properly the same as the gymnosophy of the Indians, the magic of the Egyptians and the cabala of the Jews. This is an expansive identification in an encomium. It contrasts inward penetration to the marrow with common sciences crawling around bark and surface. The claim supports the superiority of the author's philosophy over scholastic conjecture rather than documenting the actual history of every tradition named.

Cabala elsewhere enters through the Esdras narrative and Pico quotation, where reserved transmission, theology, metaphysics and natural knowledge are differentiated. Reading those passages beside the broad identity claim exposes its rhetorical compression. The lexicon should neither erase the strong wording “the same” nor inflate it into independently verified comparative history. No additional occult lineage or modern reconstruction is needed to explain its work in the argument.

Places to read

  1. Book Two · Chapter 4 · Unit 28Named peoples/traditions appear in Nuysement’s expansive claim of ancient veiled natural knowledge.
  2. Book Two · Chapter 4 · Unit 35Esdras supplies the reported narrative of reserved sacred transmission.
  3. Book Two · Chapter 4 · Unit 36The Pico quotation differentiates theological, metaphysical and natural kinds of knowledge.
  4. Book Three · Unit 17The text asserts a unity of true philosophy across named traditions, central to its authority claim.

Translation

The English retains the distinct tradition names and the strong identity claim in III.17. Note 272 marks that claim as Nuysement's, while note 273 explains the less explicit French demonstrative in the ensuing attack on scholastic learning. The criticism targets scholastic conjecture, not the ancient wisdom just praised.

Attested forms

Bracmanes & Gimnosophistes; Gimnosophie; Ægyptiens; Gimnosophie des Indis; Magie des Ægiptiens; caballe des Juifs; Bracmanes; Gimnosophistes; Magie; caballe; Indis; Ægiptiens