Ascend with the greatest sagacity from the earth to heaven, and then again descend to earth, and unite together the powers of things superior and things inferior.
Tabula Smaragdina: The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus
Historians researching the history of the Emerald Tablet agree that the Tablet may be one of the earliest of all surviving alchemical works. It’s fascinating research and if you’re unfamiliar with Hermes Trismegistus and the Emerald Tablet, it contains much wisdom. You may be familiar with “As above; so below. As within; so without. As with the universe; so with the soul.” ~ Hermes Trismegistus, one of the more famous quotes from the Tablet. We know, this refers to consciousness and reality.
I teach a topic called, Accessing Higher Consciousness. I discuss the existence of various dimensions in our reality and begin with learning about third dimensionality, what it is, who it has affected, and who is currently still affected by it. I then move into distinguishing fourth and fifth dimensionality. This is nothing out of a science fiction novel. It is a study in consciousness and awareness. We’ve heard countless times, ‘consciousness creates reality” yet, what does this really mean? It is a study of applying “as above, so below” “as within so without”
A large number of the spiritual community have been referring to this work as the shift in consciousness and the paradigm shift and the New Earth. I refer to this period as a new Episteme since we are only historically entering into this period. Time and history will name this period and perhaps the “New Earth” will stick. History books will let us know! The famous philosopher, linguist, and historian, Michel Foucault worked with the concept of Epistemes.
Foucault taught that the history of science is not a single, linear trajectory towards more knowledge but rather perspectives, conversations, discoveries, and insights that disrupt the current cultural perspective. There are historically only three major Epistemes in over the last 800 years in western European culture.
In order to understand an Episteme, look at it like this: there is the conscious behavior of a culture and the unconscious behavior. The conscious rules of society are rules we know and understand consciously and make decisions according to. The unconscious levels that determine how we think, write, and behave are deeply embedded into our society and belief system. An example, in the Middle Ages, what was considered scientific knowledge would be ridiculed by today’s scientists. However, at the time of those teachings and their knowledge, it was scientific fact.
The Episteme is the unconscious rule that governs serious scientific conversations in a certain society at a certain time. And this determines what does and does not get taken seriously by the scientific community. We are now entering into a new Episteme in the history of humanity. Remember, it is unconscious. Most of the time people are not even aware of this because it is a set of unconscious rules that govern our behavior.
You may wonder how the Episteme differs from the Paradigm:
A paradigm is conscious. Scientists and researchers are conscious of this knowledge and behavior. An episteme is unconscious because the rules are so deeply ingrained in our thinking.
A paradigm happens in a specific field of study, ie. history, linguists, art, etc. whereas the episteme encompasses all facets of culture, history, and science.
Paradigms do not live long. There could be several paradigm shifts in a century. According to Foucault, epistemes happen very rarely. There have only been three epistemes in science in western culture in the past 800 years. Therefore when an episteme changes, its impact on science and society is huge. It happens in every discipline at once.