Quote:Mervat Nasser, MD, MPhil, FRCPsych, is a graduate of Cairo Medical School and fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, London. She holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy and a doctorate in psychiatry from London University. She took an early retirement from her job as a consultant psychiatrist and senior lecturer at Kings College London in 2007 and returned to Egypt to pursue her dream of establishing the project of New Hermopolis.
She is author of The Path to the New Hermopolis: The History, Philosophy, and Future of the City of Hermes. Her website is https://www.newhermopolis.org/ Here she points to the Egyptian Blue Lotus as a metaphor embodying the philosophy of hope. It is a beautiful flower that grows out of stagnant and muddy water. She notes that some of the most hopeful philosophers, psychotherapists, and poets emerged from the first half of the twentieth century, which was one of the darkest periods in human history. She expresses her appreciation for the work of Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin, Victor Frankl, Rainer Maria Rilke, Gene Gebser, Rudolf Steiner, and others. She explains how their work relates to ancient Hermetic philosophy and how it impacts her work with the community of New Hermopolis.
'Historically, we may regard materialism as a system of dogma set up to combat orthodox dogma...Accordingly we find that, as ancient orthodoxies disintegrate, materialism more and more gives way to scepticism.'
- Bertrand Russell
- Bertrand Russell