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SUMMUM: Sealed Except to the Open Mind
This book is an introduction to the Summum Philosophy and outlines the principles of Creation that underlie all phenomena and address all issues of existence, sexuality, and death. It examines the cause of creation, seven fundamental principles, and humanity's place in the matrix of creation's formulations. A must read for anyone searching for a genuine understanding of Creation.
199 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 23, 2023
For Summum Members Only
The book is basically an introjection of content with slight additions, modifications, and even removal of content from The Kybalion. Unfortunately, I would recommend anyone not a member of Summum to grab The Kybalion instead. This review is for anyone interested who is not a member. Those who are members and have already subscribed to the metaphysics and ideals of Summum this review is not for you as the changes will amplify yourself, but this comes at the expense of the outsiders like us.
To start off I'd like to go over how this was sold to me. I gave a copy of a version of The Kybalion I had to someone and ordered a different "illustrated" edition and re-read it. In the back pages is an ad:
"Nothing is permanent but change." ... "Therefore, change must apply to The Kybalion as well. While The Kybalion is a profound little book, its language is becoming more outdated. A contemporary publication has evolved that breathes new life into this age old philosophy" ... "Amen Ra rewrites and expands upon" ... "more than a derivative work" ... "delves further into the esoteric and further reveals key insights and ideas"
This is what was sold to me. This it is not. The important introductionary chapters of The Kybalion (which is removed here) goes over a few important things. One that The Kybalion is an introductory lesson of Hermetecism and, two, a warning against the toying of metaphysics. This goes against Summum in two ways. First, it removes most mention of Hermetecism entirely and opts to replace with Summum which feels, personally, like despotism more than honoring the history and offering roots to dive into for further information. Second, the epilogue of this book writes off certain things as a completion rather than the original mention of the book being an introduction. And, third, the book delves far into the metaphysics of Summum. Whether someone agrees with the Summum's metaphysics is besides the point as it makes the text more closed and exclusionary whereas The Kybalion is more inclusive. I doubt these were the intents and it is hard to see certain things from outside of one's circle, but as one outside of the circle it is incredibly obvious upon reading.
"Our intent is not to erect a new temple of Knowledge, but rather place in the hands of the student a master key"
"This because of the warning of the ancient teachers against allowing the Secret Doctrine to become crystallized into a creed. The wisdom of this caution is apparent to all students of history. The ancient occultism of India and Persia degenerated, and was largely lost, owing to the fact that the teachers became priests, and so mixed theology with the philosophy, the result being that the occultism of India and Persia has been gradually lost amidst the mass of religious superstition, cults, creeds and "gods.\""
"Religion, to us, means that intuitional realization of the existence of THE ALL, and one's relationship to it; while Theology means the attempts of men to ascribe personality, qualities, and characteristics to it; their theories regarding its affairs, will, desires, plans, and designs, and their assumption of the office of '' middle-men'' between THE ALL and the people. Philosophy, to us, means the inquiry after knowledge of things knowable and thinkable; while Metaphysics means the attempt to carry the inquiry over and beyond the boundaries and into regions unknowable and unthinkable, and with the same tendency as that of Theology."
All of the above are from The Kybalion. If we make comparative note about the newly added ideas of stages of life after death (and the veracity and importance of stages thereof), assumption of middle men and their hierarchal placement, and the mummification and other additions it feels like theology crystallized. Regardless if it is correct or not the question is is it honoring the spirit of the authors they have taken from and literally overwritten? Or is the addition of the Summum theology counter-intuitive to the spirit of the letter?
Now, let me say that I don't hate this book. Maybe I should begin by what the changes are? We have the changing of words, the modification of sections, the removal of sections, additional (personally I believe superfluous) examples, and very minor modifications to current trends in science (albeit a forceful hand in some parts that might turn off some readers) and psychology.
1.) Changing of words. These literally replace major words to the wording choice of Summum. A big example is the replacement "The All" with "Summum" which is counter-intuitive to an attempt at a universal language whilst, on the other hand, likely being more impactful for a member of Summum due to its more charged nature. Now you have, at the very least, an additional translational barrier in communication. Whether you agree with these changes is up to you and I very much dislike most of these changes. I think the wording went from great to poor with these changes.
2.) Modification, amplifications, additions, removals, etc.
2a.) Amplification of material. Like I said a lot of it is new examples on top of current examples which is highly superfluous and repetitious. This might be in the eyes of the beholder because i belived the examples in the book were excellent. The new examples didn't feel up to par and were tacked on making way more examples than needed.
2b.) Removal of material. This will have to be based on whether you believe in the Summum philosophy or not. The removal of entire sections, history,a nd even warnings against certain things while adding Summum philosophy/theology those things can be seen as problematic.
2c.) Addition of new material. This is not just enhancements, but entirely new sections. Personally, I thought a section was overstepping, overbearing, or just not good and I'd look up if it was in The Kybalion and was correct every time. There is one major new idea being introduced here that is entirely obvious how much meaning it has to the Summum members.
2d.) Amplification via modern "language". This is just using newer terminology or, and let me be clear, hypothesis of current trends of some science. Some of the forced narrative might deter some readers.
All of this is directly introjected into the text of The Kybalion. Most of the material here is The Kybalion. I think this is the most unfortunate method they could have chosen for this book. I do not disagree with some of the changes and if they took some (SOME) of their ideas a little further I think they could have absolutely revolutionized some new ideas into the material. However, the way they did this does not feel right and I think it is less helpful than more so. I was going in expecting new frontiers, additions into the Hermetic introductionary material The Kybalion is, and more. What I got was Summum theology introjected into a text made more exclusive of the world. I think these extracts from the epilogue were what it should have been advertised as:
"Corky started teaching about the principles at Summum after he was initiated into them by the advanced beings, the Summa individuals, who are complete and whole" ... "when Corky was prepared to write a book about the Summum philosophy, he decide to use The Kybalion as an outline" ... "The Kybalion makes a very significant omission. It does not contain the one Grand Principle from which all the other principles come" ... "The Kybalion had fallen into the public domain and under laws of the land Corky could create a derivative work from it. By adding the Grand Principle of Creation to it" ... "and by rewriting in a style and language more appropriate for todays modern era (editor's note: disagree)" ... "The Principles of creation are once again presented in a pure, complete, and contemporary manner."
I'll state once more that it is truly the manipulation of the text with removals of the ancestry, text, and ideas with the introduction of exclusionary terminology relative to Summum theology and philosophy (rather than "appropriate for today's modern era") and more that is why I would never advise this over The Kybalion which it inherits most of the work from. It's not that I disagree with some of these changes. I belive that if they had kept the source material (does spiritual renewal of the dead letter via exegesis in other circles include manipulating the source text or adding to it?) and added new notes as annotations, included intros and/or outros, and extra chapters that it could have easily come across as the original advertisement. Until that day comes I can only advise this material for those who have already subscribed to the Summum theology or who are interested and not the seemingly intended audience.
The book is basically an introjection of content with slight additions, modifications, and even removal of content from The Kybalion. Unfortunately, I would recommend anyone not a member of Summum to grab The Kybalion instead. This review is for anyone interested who is not a member. Those who are members and have already subscribed to the metaphysics and ideals of Summum this review is not for you as the changes will amplify yourself, but this comes at the expense of the outsiders like us.
To start off I'd like to go over how this was sold to me. I gave a copy of a version of The Kybalion I had to someone and ordered a different "illustrated" edition and re-read it. In the back pages is an ad:
"Nothing is permanent but change." ... "Therefore, change must apply to The Kybalion as well. While The Kybalion is a profound little book, its language is becoming more outdated. A contemporary publication has evolved that breathes new life into this age old philosophy" ... "Amen Ra rewrites and expands upon" ... "more than a derivative work" ... "delves further into the esoteric and further reveals key insights and ideas"
This is what was sold to me. This it is not. The important introductionary chapters of The Kybalion (which is removed here) goes over a few important things. One that The Kybalion is an introductory lesson of Hermetecism and, two, a warning against the toying of metaphysics. This goes against Summum in two ways. First, it removes most mention of Hermetecism entirely and opts to replace with Summum which feels, personally, like despotism more than honoring the history and offering roots to dive into for further information. Second, the epilogue of this book writes off certain things as a completion rather than the original mention of the book being an introduction. And, third, the book delves far into the metaphysics of Summum. Whether someone agrees with the Summum's metaphysics is besides the point as it makes the text more closed and exclusionary whereas The Kybalion is more inclusive. I doubt these were the intents and it is hard to see certain things from outside of one's circle, but as one outside of the circle it is incredibly obvious upon reading.
"Our intent is not to erect a new temple of Knowledge, but rather place in the hands of the student a master key"
"This because of the warning of the ancient teachers against allowing the Secret Doctrine to become crystallized into a creed. The wisdom of this caution is apparent to all students of history. The ancient occultism of India and Persia degenerated, and was largely lost, owing to the fact that the teachers became priests, and so mixed theology with the philosophy, the result being that the occultism of India and Persia has been gradually lost amidst the mass of religious superstition, cults, creeds and "gods.\""
"Religion, to us, means that intuitional realization of the existence of THE ALL, and one's relationship to it; while Theology means the attempts of men to ascribe personality, qualities, and characteristics to it; their theories regarding its affairs, will, desires, plans, and designs, and their assumption of the office of '' middle-men'' between THE ALL and the people. Philosophy, to us, means the inquiry after knowledge of things knowable and thinkable; while Metaphysics means the attempt to carry the inquiry over and beyond the boundaries and into regions unknowable and unthinkable, and with the same tendency as that of Theology."
All of the above are from The Kybalion. If we make comparative note about the newly added ideas of stages of life after death (and the veracity and importance of stages thereof), assumption of middle men and their hierarchal placement, and the mummification and other additions it feels like theology crystallized. Regardless if it is correct or not the question is is it honoring the spirit of the authors they have taken from and literally overwritten? Or is the addition of the Summum theology counter-intuitive to the spirit of the letter?
Now, let me say that I don't hate this book. Maybe I should begin by what the changes are? We have the changing of words, the modification of sections, the removal of sections, additional (personally I believe superfluous) examples, and very minor modifications to current trends in science (albeit a forceful hand in some parts that might turn off some readers) and psychology.
1.) Changing of words. These literally replace major words to the wording choice of Summum. A big example is the replacement "The All" with "Summum" which is counter-intuitive to an attempt at a universal language whilst, on the other hand, likely being more impactful for a member of Summum due to its more charged nature. Now you have, at the very least, an additional translational barrier in communication. Whether you agree with these changes is up to you and I very much dislike most of these changes. I think the wording went from great to poor with these changes.
2.) Modification, amplifications, additions, removals, etc.
2a.) Amplification of material. Like I said a lot of it is new examples on top of current examples which is highly superfluous and repetitious. This might be in the eyes of the beholder because i belived the examples in the book were excellent. The new examples didn't feel up to par and were tacked on making way more examples than needed.
2b.) Removal of material. This will have to be based on whether you believe in the Summum philosophy or not. The removal of entire sections, history,a nd even warnings against certain things while adding Summum philosophy/theology those things can be seen as problematic.
2c.) Addition of new material. This is not just enhancements, but entirely new sections. Personally, I thought a section was overstepping, overbearing, or just not good and I'd look up if it was in The Kybalion and was correct every time. There is one major new idea being introduced here that is entirely obvious how much meaning it has to the Summum members.
2d.) Amplification via modern "language". This is just using newer terminology or, and let me be clear, hypothesis of current trends of some science. Some of the forced narrative might deter some readers.
All of this is directly introjected into the text of The Kybalion. Most of the material here is The Kybalion. I think this is the most unfortunate method they could have chosen for this book. I do not disagree with some of the changes and if they took some (SOME) of their ideas a little further I think they could have absolutely revolutionized some new ideas into the material. However, the way they did this does not feel right and I think it is less helpful than more so. I was going in expecting new frontiers, additions into the Hermetic introductionary material The Kybalion is, and more. What I got was Summum theology introjected into a text made more exclusive of the world. I think these extracts from the epilogue were what it should have been advertised as:
"Corky started teaching about the principles at Summum after he was initiated into them by the advanced beings, the Summa individuals, who are complete and whole" ... "when Corky was prepared to write a book about the Summum philosophy, he decide to use The Kybalion as an outline" ... "The Kybalion makes a very significant omission. It does not contain the one Grand Principle from which all the other principles come" ... "The Kybalion had fallen into the public domain and under laws of the land Corky could create a derivative work from it. By adding the Grand Principle of Creation to it" ... "and by rewriting in a style and language more appropriate for todays modern era (editor's note: disagree)" ... "The Principles of creation are once again presented in a pure, complete, and contemporary manner."
I'll state once more that it is truly the manipulation of the text with removals of the ancestry, text, and ideas with the introduction of exclusionary terminology relative to Summum theology and philosophy (rather than "appropriate for today's modern era") and more that is why I would never advise this over The Kybalion which it inherits most of the work from. It's not that I disagree with some of these changes. I belive that if they had kept the source material (does spiritual renewal of the dead letter via exegesis in other circles include manipulating the source text or adding to it?) and added new notes as annotations, included intros and/or outros, and extra chapters that it could have easily come across as the original advertisement. Until that day comes I can only advise this material for those who have already subscribed to the Summum theology or who are interested and not the seemingly intended audience.
June 6, 2014
Rather read "The Kybalion", the author copied it word for word... lame!
November 4, 2019
Only for those who are ready.
When the student is ready, the master will appear. This book leads those that are ready to understanding of esoteric truth.
When the student is ready, the master will appear. This book leads those that are ready to understanding of esoteric truth.
March 10, 2013
I have been going to classes in the SUMMUM pyrimid now sense june 2012. The ideas presented in this book are present in so many other books i have read, as well as can be found in everyday life. this is a must read for people who are looking to understand the nature of reality.
February 2, 2009
i read this book long before i found out that the uncle of my good friend trey had started this religion. "everything vibrates"
November 22, 2009
Interesting Doctrines
March 6, 2023
A less interesting and less concise re-stating of everything the Kybalion said.
January 13, 2013
Very profound read
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews