At a glance
- Also called
- mentalism hermetic principle, the all is mind, law of mentalism, hermetic mentalism
- Found in
- Mystical Systems
- Related
- The Kybalion, Seven Hermetic Principles, The All (Kybalion), Nous
The Principle of Mentalism is the first of The Kybalion's seven principles, stated as 'THE ALL is MIND; The Universe is Mental'.
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What is the Principle of Mentalism?
The Principle of Mentalism holds that the universe exists as a thought in the mind of an ultimate reality the book calls THE ALL. Matter, energy and the laws of nature are on this view mental in their ground, much as a character and a landscape exist in the mind of a novelist. The book places it first because the other six principles are said to follow from it.
Principle of Mentalism’s practical use in the book is modest. If one's own states of mind are the nearest piece of a mental universe, then learning to direct attention and mood is the beginning of all other mastery. The Kybalion itself warns against concluding that the world is an illusion that can be ignored.
On the tree of the hidden arts: The Hermetic principles.
What sets Principle of Mentalism apart
Mentalism is the only one of the seven that is a claim about what the universe is made of; the other six describe how things behave. It is also the one the book hedges most carefully, devoting a chapter to the paradox that a mental universe must still be treated as solid by those living in it. The stress falls on a universal mind, and the book does not say that an individual's thoughts create the world.
- Number: first of the seven principles
- Axiom: THE ALL is MIND; The Universe is Mental
- Philosophical family: idealism: mind, not matter, as the ground of reality
- Ancient parallel: the divine Nous of the Corpus Hermeticum, not stated as a law
- Book's own warning: the chapter on the divine paradox, against calling the world unreal
Often mistaken for something else: The law of attraction says a person's thoughts draw matching events; Mentalism says only that the universe exists in one universal mind.
The story behind Principle of Mentalism
The wording comes from The Kybalion (1908). The position is a form of philosophical idealism, which has a long history in Western and Indian thought, and it was a commonplace of the American New Thought movement to which the book belongs. The ancient Hermetic treatises do speak of a divine Mind, called Nous, as the source of the cosmos, but they do not state the principle in this form.
Why Principle of Mentalism matters
Principle of Mentalism is the foundation the book builds on, and it explains why every later principle is turned towards the management of one's own thinking.
How to read Principle of Mentalism
Students treat it as a prompt to examine assumptions first, before trying to change anything outside themselves.
Principle of Mentalism in practice: an example
A person stuck on a problem might apply it by asking which part of the difficulty lies in events and which in the picture of them held in mind.
Where readings of Principle of Mentalism go wrong
Principle of Mentalism is a metaphysical position and not a finding of science; it does not show that thinking alone alters outside events.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Mystical Systems
- Aliases
- mentalism hermetic principle, the all is mind, law of mentalism, hermetic mentalism
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
What is the Principle of Mentalism?
It is the first principle of The Kybalion, which states that THE ALL is Mind and the universe is mental: everything that exists is held within one infinite living mind.
Does mentalism mean that reality is an illusion?
The Kybalion says no. It calls the universe real for all practical purposes and warns against the half-truth of treating it as a dream to be disregarded.
Is the Principle of Mentalism the same as stage mentalism?
No. Stage mentalism is a performing art that simulates mind reading. The Hermetic principle is a philosophical statement about the nature of the universe.
