Everything IFS Blog

A contemplative teaching from the Corpus Hermeticum exploring the nature of the Good. Hermes teaches that only the Divine is truly Good, while all created things participate in goodness without possessing it. Through a metaphysical and IFS-informed lens, this Tractate helps readers see how inner parts confuse safety, success, or relief with goodness, and how contact with the Good arises through recognition rather than striving.

The Principle of Gender teaches that all creation arises through the interaction of complementary forces often described as masculine and feminine. Through the lens of Internal Family Systems, this Hermetic law reveals how the inner system holds creative polarity, where Self allows initiative and receptivity, action and presence, to work together without dominance or imbalance.

The Principle of Cause and Effect teaches that nothing happens by chance and that every effect arises from preceding causes. Through the lens of Internal Family Systems, this Hermetic law reveals how Self can step out of reactive patterns and become a conscious cause, allowing parts to move from compulsion into intentional, Self-led action.

The Principle of Rhythm teaches that all things move in cycles of rise and fall, expansion and contraction. Through the lens of Internal Family Systems, this Hermetic law reveals how Self remains steady beneath emotional, psychological, and life rhythms, allowing parts to move without fear that any state, high or low, is permanent.

The Principle of Polarity teaches that opposites are not separate realities but different degrees of the same underlying thing. Through the lens of Internal Family Systems, this Hermetic law reveals how parts that seem opposed exist along a shared spectrum, while Self holds the capacity to witness, soften, and allow movement between extremes without forcing resolution.

The Principle of Vibration teaches that nothing rests and that everything moves, changes, and resonates at different frequencies. Through the lens of Internal Family Systems, this Hermetic law reveals how parts carry distinct emotional and energetic states, while Self relates to these vibrations without becoming trapped in or identified with any single frequency.

The Principle of Mentalism teaches that all reality arises within Mind, not as material accident but as intentional expression. Through the lens of Internal Family Systems, this Hermetic law reveals how Self exists as awareness within awareness, allowing parts, experiences, and even suffering to be held without dismissal, blame, or bypass.

The Principle of Mentalism is a foundational metaphysical teaching that explores reality as arising within Mind rather than matter. Through an Internal Family Systems lens, this reflection invites a Self-led way of relating to experience, meaning, and suffering without denial, bypass, or blame.