JACOB BOEHME 
LIBRARY 
AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR HOMOEOPATHY “ My writings are only for those who are willing to receive the truth in 
a simple and childlike state of mind, for it is they who are to possess the 
kingdom of God. I have written only for those that seek; to the cunning 
and worldly-wise I have nothing to say.” (Threefold Life, xv. 65.) 
“Neither money nor worldly possessions, neither science nor authority, 
will bring to you the sweet rest of paradise, at which you can arrive only by 
the noble knowledge of self. In that you may clothe your soul; it is the 
pearl which is not eaten by moths, and which no thief takes away. Seek it, 
and you will find a noble treasure.” (Three Principles, ix. 1.) 
“ I write for no other purpose than that man may learn how to know him- 
self.” (Three Principles, iv. 64.) THE 
LIFE AND DOCTBINES 
OF 
JACOB BOEHME 
THE GOD-TAUGHT PHILOSOPHER 
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF HIS WORKS 
BY 
FRANZ HARTMANN, M.D., 
AUTHOR OF “MAGIC: WHITE AND BLACK,” “PARACELSUS,” ETC. 
“ That which is (now ignorantly) rejected by my fatherland will (in future 
days) joyfully be taken up by foreign nations.”—Jacob Boehme, Letters, 
1. 10, March 15, 1624. 
BOSTON 
THE OCCULT PUBLISHING COMPANY 
1891 COPYRIGHTED 1890 
BY 
FRANZ HARTMANN, M.D. PREFACE. 
The following is an attempt to present an epitome of 
the principal doctrines of Jacob Boehme in a certain 
systematic order, so as to afford a general view of them 
and to serve as an introduction to the study of Boelime’s 
works. I have herein followed the plan laid down in 
Dr. J. Hamberger’s excellent but now very rare book. 
The headings of the paragraphs are for the purpose of 
summarising the quotations that follow. These quota- 
tions have in many instances been condensed, and in 
some cases I have attempted to render them in a more 
modern and comprehensible phraseology than that of 
the original text, the latter being very often obscure and 
untranslatable. This I did because it seemed to me of 
far more importance that the public, for whom this book 
is written, should obtain a comprehensive view of the 
doctrines of Boehme than that merely the learned philo- 
logist should find his curiosity gratified by getting the 
exact form in which Boehme clothed his thoughts. In 
adding some remarks of my own, my object was not 
such a presumptuous one as to amend, comment upon, 
explain, or make clearer the writings of Boehme; for it 
is self-evident that in order to be able to criticise, amend, 
or explain the contents of a divinely inspired book, the 
critic or explainer would have to be divinely inspired VI 
PREFA CE. 
himself. I have no such arrogant claims to advance; 
but I wanted to call the attention of the reader to certain 
points that may aid in their understanding. 
I have carefully compared the doctrines of Boehme 
with those of the Eastern sages, as laid down in the 
“ Secret Doctrine ” and in the religious literature of the 
East, and I find the most remarkable harmony between 
them in their esoteric meaning; in fact, the religion of 
Buddha, Krishna, and that of the Christ seem to me to be 
one and identical. The greatest obstacle to the under- 
standing of the mysteries of the religion of the living 
Christ is the very narrow view which we have become 
accustomed to take of them, according to the merely 
external and superficial interpretation of the Old and 
New Testaments, such as is given by the modern 
churches and by fashionable clericalism, which regards 
these doctrines from a merely historical or emotional 
point of view. 
A study of Boehine’s writings, by means of entering 
into the spirit in which they were written, is sure to 
expand the mind and to elevate the heart of the reader, 
giving him a greater and more sublime conception of 
God, Nature, and Man, than any other book of which I 
know. 
I am under many obligations to Mrs. E. B. Penny, 
of Cullompton, for her assistance in this difficult work, 
and also to Mr. G. W. Redway for valuable suggestions. 
The extracts are taken from the 1682 Amsterdam 
(German) edition of Boehme’s Complete Works. 
F. H. 
Vienna, September 1890. CONTENTS. 
1. 
THE LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Account of his Life and Labours, and of the Influence 
of ms Writings upon the Outside World . . 1 
PAGE 
II. 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The only reality—External reasoning is inadequate to compre- 
hend internal truth—Historical aspect of the Bible—Man 
created in the image of God—The universal and the per- 
verted self-will of man—Atonement—The Yoga practice— 
Illuminated seers — Jacob Boehme’s spiritual knowledge 
and his terrestrial conditions—How his writings can be 
understood 33 
CHAPTER II. 
UNITY. 
God in his aspect as the Father—The unity of the All—Eternity 
and time—The will—Eternal wisdom—The Son and the 
Holy Spirit—Trinity—The will the positive energy—Wis- 
dom is merely passive—Three-personality of God—God 
revealed in being—The magic principle—The antithesis or 
duality—Eire and light 58 CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER III. 
THE SEVEN QUALITIES. 
PAGE 
Seven states of eternal nature referring to the Trinity—Each 
quality existing within the others—Seven in one—Matter, 
darkness, corporification, motion, consciousness, salt, sul- 
phur, and mercury—The lightning flash, illumination, 
light, substantiality, the water-spirit, sound—The seventh 
form—Essential wisdom, the body of God, transcendental 
magnificence, the eternal virgin, glorification . . . 71 
CHAPTER IV. 
CREATION. 
God the All and nevertheless n ot the All—Pantheism and Theism 
—Personality of God—Perfection—The subjective becom- 
ing objective—Divine love—The world not divine—Eternal 
nature, wisdom—Differentiation of divine powers—Neces- 
sity of the dark fire—Eternal chaos—Beginning, unfolding 
—The seven divine spirits—Co-operation of Spirit . . 89 
CHAPTER Y. 
THE ANGELS. 
Three types of God relatively to the Trinity—Sub-divisions of 
divine intelligences—Harmony—The seven accords in each 
body—The celestial world objective to the angels—Its 
products corresponding to their terrestrial types—Realms 
of Lucifer—Michael and Uriel, dominions, guardian angels, 
fidelity, freedom of will—Lucifer, his pride and fall—Hell 
produced by the ignition of the lower principles—Hell not 
yet complete—Evil spirits—Lucifer’s knowledge merely 
scientific, but not divine—An end of hell inconceivable, 
unless creation were destroyed iox 
CHAPTER VI. 
TIIE RESTORATION OF NATURE. 
Mosaic account of the restoration of Nature — The outcast 
spirits—The allegory of the Flood—The appearance of the CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
light—The seventh clay—The separation of the material 
from the immaterial element of water—Their separation 
not referring to locality—The conjunction of the fiery and 
watery essence life—Generation of gold and precious 
stones—Relative good and evil—The light that shines into 
the darkness—The sun and the planets—Manifestation of 
divine wisdom—The sun the life of the stars—The objec- 
tive planets—Sidereal life—The spirit of the stars—The 
superiority—The third principle—Man a compendium of 
Nature and all terrestrial qualities—The soul . . .122 
CHAPTER VII. 
MAN. 
Man an image of God—His celestial body—His powers—Eden 
—The paradise—Man not the equal of God—His free will— 
Object of the third principle—Object of man’s existence— 
The heart of God and its antithesis the devil and the ter- 
restrial world—Adam’s fall—The tree of temptation—The 
protection offered by the terrestrial form against the powers 
of evil—The weakening of the divine image—How Adam 
fell asleep—The terrestrial woman the saviour of man— 
Creation of Eve—Eating the forbidden fruit—The serpent 
—Adam caused Eve to sin and Eve seduced him—The rise 
of the desire for the knowledge of good and evil. . .140 
CHAPTER VIII. 
NATURE, OR THE THIRD PRINCIPLE. 
The origin of Nature—Duality—The powers of light and dark- 
ness—Lucifer’s influence in the world—The power of God 
in the inner world—The external sun an image of the 
divine heart of love—The sun omnipresent—Ruling of the 
planets — Their good and evil influences — Their living 
power —Individual life of the earth—Why the earth turns 
around her axis and around the sun—The four elements 
and the fifth—Origin of the terrestrial elements—Their 
attractions and repulsions—Latent qualities in the products 
of the earth—The vegetable and animal kingdoms—Their 
relation to paradise—The imperishable inner principle— 
The spiritual quality—The external form . . . .164 CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER IX. 
GENERATION. 
The Logos—The soul in the light of God—Self-will destructive 
to the perception of the divine idea—The growth of the 
manifestation of the evil principle—Man creates his own 
hell—His natural protection by means of external life—The 
rise of his natural qualities—Primordial man—How he be- 
came dense and material—Death—Man’s animal nature 
His senses—Will and mind—Temperaments—Origin of 
his terrestrial desires—Present method of reproduction 
caused by man’s degradation—The male and the female 
in one individuality—Primitive generation—Division of 
sex—Sexual attraction—Its necessity—Generation of soul 
—Sexual intercourse and its delight—Interaction of divine 
elements during the same — The nature of the child 
dependent on the qualities of the parents—Each soul an 
individual being 180 
PAGE 
CHAPTER X. 
THE CHRIST. 
Necessity of divine aid—Mercy—The entering of the spiritual 
light into the body of humanity—Preparation for redemp- 
tion was made before the world was created 1 he I redeemer 
in man not perceptible until after the fall The powei of 
the Redeemer pre-eminently manifested in womanhood— 
The celestial virgin—Her inlluence over humanity—When 
redemption became possible—Cain and Abel Genesis Ihe 
descendants of Seth—The three primordial races—The 
name of Abraham has no terrestrial meaning—It is the 
antitype of Christ—The sons of Isaac representing the first 
and the second Adam and the final conquest of the first by 
the second—The false gods of the sons of Japliet—Their 
oracles, symbols of celestial things—The power of the 
Redeemer present in all mankind Saciilices External 
ceremonies and internal faith—The saciificial fire not of a 
terrestrial but of a celestial wood—The light of the Christ 
represented within the fire—the children of light receiving 
the substance of Christ *98 CONTENTS. 
xi 
CHAPTER XI. 
INCARNATION. 
The configuration of the person of the Redeemer—The Son of 
God ; the celestial and the terrestrial man—Christ’s terres- 
trial nature—The necessity of his suffering in the flesh—The 
terrestrial virgin overshadowed by the virgin of wisdom— 
The immaculate conception—The restoration of the divine 
image in man by the power of the Holy Spirit—The glori- 
fication of the virgin—the three principles uniting but not 
commingling in the body of Christ—The eternal Word not 
mingling with the body and not even with the soul—The 
soul being penetrated and illuminated by the Word, Christ 
not a limited human being — This celestial corporeity 
likened to the sun—The Godhead 224 
PAGE 
CHAPTER XII. 
REDEMPTION. 
Means of redemption—The absolute will becoming relative— 
Necessity of incarnation ; the conquest of death — The 
three temptations—The victory—Christ’s corporeal death— 
Sacrifice of the self-will and also of the holy love-will—Its 
entering into the divine will—The transmutation of the 
body—The resurrection and glorification—The approaching 
destruction of the whole terrestrial world — The para- 
disical body—The heaven of the Redeemer . . . 242 
CHAPTER XIII. 
REGENERATION. 
Spirituality—The living Christ—Christ in man—How to effect 
regeneration—The nature of true prayer—What is faith? 
—Spiritual substantiality—The new body—Dangers—The 
new life—The terrestrial man realising the celestial ideal— 
The three temptations—Battle between the high and the 
low—Relation between the outer and inner man—Self- 
sacrifice—Conquest of evil—Uselessness of external desires 
—Changes in the physical body of man—Inner perception xii 
CONTENTS. 
of Christ—Its realisation after the death of the body— 
Trials, trouble, and suffering—The mystical death—Exter- 
nal and eternal possessions—The finding of salvation . 263 
PAGE 
CHAPTER XIV. 
DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. 
Man’s existence in three worlds—Death of the physical body— 
The soul in her twofold aspect after the death of the body— 
The law of spiritual gravitation—The power of self-control 
lost through death—Heaven and hell—Animal elemen- 
taries — Tortured souls — Objectivity and corporeity of 
mental images after death—Conscience and remorse—No 
salvation for devils—Suffering, fear, and despair—The 
redeemed souls in the light of God—Intercourse between 
spirits and mortals—Sanctified souls—Orthodox supersti- 
tions—Miracles—The “ Thread-souls” (Sutratma)—Kama 
loca (Purgatory)—Dead souls—Astral forms of the dead— 
Prayers and ceremonies for the dead 289 
CHAPTER XV 
CONCLUSION. 
What to believe—Babel—Christ—The true light—The unknown 
Church—Humanity—“Practical occultism’’—Divinity in 
Humanity 3n 
APPENDIX. 
Apparitions — Asceticism — Astral spirit — Atonement — The 
Cross—Death—Doubt—God—Humility—Jesus Christ— 
Man—Nature—Path—Planets—Principle—Sex—Sophia— 
Substantiality—Sulphur, salt, and mercury—Word . . 321 THE LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ The fulness of time lias taken place, and the kingdom of God has 
arrived. Repent and believe in the gospel of truth.”—J. B. 
Jacob Boehme was born in the year 1575, at Alt 
Seidenburg, a place about two miles distant from Goer- 
litz in Germany. He was the son of poor country 
people, and in his youth he herded the cattle of his 
parents. He was then sent to school, where he learned 
to read and to write, and afterwards he entered as an 
apprentice a shoemaker’s shop. 
It seems that even in early youth he was able to 
enter into an abnormal state of consciousness, and to 
behold images in the astral light; for once, while herd- 
ing the cattle and standing on the top of a hill, he 
suddenly saiw an arched opening of a vault, built of 
large red stones, and surrounded by bushes. He went 
through that opening into the vault, and in its depths 
he beheld a vessel filled with money. 
He, however, experienced no desire to possess himself 
of that treasure; but supposing that it was a product of 
the spirits of darkness made to lead him into temptation, 
he fled. 
On a later occasion, while left alone in the shoe- 
maker’s shop, an unknown stranger entered, asking to 
buy a pair of shoes. Boehme, supposing himself not 
entitled to make such a bargain in the absence of his 
master, asked an extraordinary high price, hoping thus 2 
LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
to get rid of the person who desired to purchase. 
Nevertheless, the stranger bought the shoes and left 
the shop. After leaving, he stopped in front of the 
shop, and, with a loud and solemn voice called to 
Boehme: “Jacob, come outside.” 
Boehme was very much astonished to see that the 
stranger knew his name. He went out in the street 
to meet him, and there the stranger, grasping him by 
the hand, and, with deeply penetrating eyes looking into 
his eyes, spoke the following words: “ Jacob, you are 
now little; but you will become a great man, and the 
world will wonder about you. Be pious, live in the fear 
of God, and honour His word. Especially do I admonish 
you to read the Bible; herein you will find comfort and 
consolation; for you will have to suffer a great deal of 
trouble, poverty, and persecution. Nevertheless, do not 
fear, but remain firm; for God loves you, and is gracious 
to you.” He then again pressed Boehme’s hand, gave 
him another kind look, and went away. 
Tliis remarkable event made a great impression 
on the mind of Jacob Boehme. He earnestly went 
through the exercises necessary in the study of practical 
occultism; that is to say, he practised patience, piety, 
simplicity of thought and purpose, modesty, resignation 
of his self-will to divine law, and he kept in mind the 
promise given in the Bible, that those who earnestly 
ask the Father in heaven for the communication of the 
Holy Ghost will have the spirit of sanctity awakened 
within themselves, and be illuminated with His 
wisdom. 
Such an illumination, indeed, took place within his 
mind, and for seven days in succession Jacob Boehme 
was in an ecstatic state, during which he was surrounded 
by the light of the Spirit, and his consciousness im- 
mersed in contemplation and happiness. It is not 
stated what he saw during those visions, nor would 
such a statement have the result of gratifying the curi- LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
osity of the reader; for the things of the Spirit are 
inconceivable to the external mind, and can only be 
realised by those who, rising above the realm of the 
senses and entering a state of superior consciousness, 
can perceive them. Such a state does not necessarily 
exclude the exercise of the external faculties; for while 
Plato says about Socrates, that the latter once stood 
immovable for a day and a half upon one spot in a 
state of such ecstasy, in the case of Jacob Boehme we 
find that during a similar condition he continued the 
external occupations of his profession. 
Afterwards, in the year 1594, he became master- 
shoemaker, and married a woman, with whom he lived 
for thirty years, and there were four sons born to him, 
who followed a profession like himself. 
In the year 1600, in the twenty-fifth year of his age, 
another divine illumination took place in his mind, and 
this time he learned to know the innermost foundation 
of nature, and acquired the capacity to see henceforth 
with the eyes of the soul into the heart of all things, a 
faculty which remained with him even in his normal 
condition. 
Ten years afterward, anno 1610, his third illumina- 
tion took place, and that which in former visions had 
appeared to him chaotic and multifarious was now recog- 
nised by him as a unity, like a harp of many strings, 
of which each string is a separate instrument, while the 
whole is only one harp. He now recognised the divine 
order of nature, and how from the trunk of the tree 
of life spring different branches, bearing manifold leaves 
and flowers and fruits, and he became impressed with 
the necessity of writing down what he saw and pre- 
serving the record. 
Thus, beginning with the year 1612, and up to his 
end in the year 1624, he wrote many books about the 
things which he saw in the light of his own spirit, com- 
prising thirty books full of the deepest mysteries regard- 
3 4 
LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
ing God and the angels, Christ and man, heaven and 
hell and nature, and the secret things of the world, such 
as before him no man is known to have communicated 
to this sinful world, and all this he did, not for the pur- 
pose of earthly gain, but for the glorification of God 
and for the redemption of mankind from ignorance 
regarding the things of the Spirit. 
He taught a conception of God which was far too 
grand to be grasped by the narrow-minded clergy, who 
saw their authority weakened by a poor shoemaker, and 
wrho therefore became his unrelenting enemies; for the 
God of whom they conceived was a limited Being, a 
Person who at the time of His death had given His divine 
powers into the hands of the clergy, while the God of 
Jacob Boehme was still living and filling the universe 
with His glory. He says:— 
“I acknowledge a universal God, being a Unity, and 
the primordial power of Good in the universe; self- 
existent, independent of forms, needing no locality for 
its existence, unmeasurable and not subject to the intel- 
lectual comprehension of any being. I acknowledge 
this power to be a Trinity in One, each of the Three 
being of equal power, being called the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost. I acknowledge that this triune 
principle fills at one and the same time all things; that 
it has been, and still continues to be, the cause, founda- 
tion, and beginning of all things. I believe and acknow- 
ledge that the eternal power of this principle caused the 
existence of the universe; that its power, in a manner 
comparable to a breath or speech (the Word, the Son or 
Christ), radiated from its centre, and produced the germs 
out of which grow visible forms, and that in this exhaled 
Breath or Word (the Logos) is contained the inner 
heaven and the visible world with all things existing 
within them.” 
. Moreover, he taught that to be a true Christian it 
was not sufficient to subscribe to a certain set of beliefs; LIFE OF JA COB BOEHME. 
5 
but that only he in whom the Christ is living is a true 
follower of Christ in spirit and in truth. 
“ He alone is a true Christian whose soul and mind has 
entered again into the original matrix, out of which the 
life of man has taken its origin; that is to say, the 
eternal Word (A.o'yo?). This Word has been revealed 
in our human nature, which is blind to the presence of 
God, and he who absorbs this Word with his hungry 
soul and thereby returns to the original spiritual state 
in wrhich humanity took its origin, his soul will become 
a temple of divine love, wherein the Father receives His 
beloved Son. In him will reside the Holy Ghost. 
“ He alone, therefore, in whom Christ exists and lives 
is a Christian, a man in whom Christ has been raised 
out of the wasted flesh of Adam. He will be an heir of 
Christ—not on account of some merit gained by some one 
else, nor by some favour conferred upon him by some 
external power, but by inward grace. 
“ To believe merely in a historical Christ, to be satisfied 
■with the belief that at some time in the past Jesus has 
died to satisfy the anger of God, does not constitute a 
Christian. Such a speculative Christian every wicked 
devil may be, for everyone would like to obtain, without 
any efforts of his own, something good which he does 
not deserve. But that which is born from the flesh 
cannot enter the kingdom of the God. To enter that king- 
dom one must be reborn in the Spirit. 
“Hot palaces of stone and costly houses of worship 
regenerate man; but the divine spiritual sun, existing 
in the divine heaven, acting through the divine power of 
the Word of God in the temple of Christ. A true Chris- 
tian desires nothing else but that which the Christ within 
his soul desires. 
“ All our religious systems are only the works of intel- 
lectual children. We ought to repudiate all our personal 
desires, disputes, science, and will, if wTe want to restore 
the harmony with the mother which gave us birth at the 6 
LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
beginning; for at present our souls are the playgrounds 
of many hundreds of malicious animals, which we have 
put there in the place of God, and which we worship 
for gods. These animals must die before the Christ 
principle can begin to live therein. Man must return 
to his natural state (his original purity), before he can 
become divine. 
“ There is no other way for Christ to live than through 
the death of old Adam; a man cannot become a god 
and remain an animal still. No one is saved by God 
as a mark of his gratitude for having attended church 
and having had the patience to listen to a sermon; but 
his attendance to external ceremonies can only benefit 
him if he hears Christ speak within his own heart. 
“ All our disputations and intellectual speculations in 
regard to the divine mysteries are useless; because they 
originate from external sources. God’s mysteries can be 
only known by God, and to know them we must first 
seek God in our own centre. Our reason and will must 
return to the inner source from which they originated ; 
then will we arrive at a true science of God and His 
attributes. 
“Man’s will and imagination have become perverted 
from their original state. Man has surrounded himself 
by a world of will and imagination of his own. He has 
therefore lost sight of God, and can only regain his 
former state and become wise if he brings the activity 
of his soul and mind again in harmony with the divine 
Spirit. 
“ A Christian is he who lives in Christ, and in whom 
Christ’s power is active. He must feel the divine fire of 
love burn in his heart. This fire is the Spirit of Christ, 
who continually crushes the head of the serpent, meaning 
the desires of the flesh. The flesh is governed by the will 
of the world; but the spiritual fire in man is kindled by 
the Spirit. He who wants to become a Christian must 
not boast and sny: ‘ I am a Christian ! ’ but he should LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
7 
desire to become one, and prepare all the conditions neces- 
sary that the Christ may live in him. Such a Christian 
will perhaps he hated and persecuted by the nominal 
Christians of his time; but he must bear his cross, and 
thereby he will become strong. 
“ The theologians and Christian sectarians keep on 
continually disputing about the letter and form, while 
they care nothing for the spirit, without which the form 
is empty and the letter dead. Each one imagines that 
he has the truth in his keeping, and wants to be admired 
by the world as a keeper of the truth. Therefore they 
denounce and slander and backbite each other, and thus 
they act against the first principle taught by Christ, and 
which is brotherly love. Thus the Church of Christ has 
become a bazaar where vanities are exhibited, and as the 
Israelites dance around the golden calf, so the modern 
Christians dance around their self-constructed fetiches, 
whom they call God, and on account of this fetich- 
worship they will not be able to enter .the promised 
land. 
“ The whole Christian religion is based upon a know- 
ledge of our origin, our present condition, our destiny. 
It shows first how from unity we fell into variety, 
and how we may return to the former state. Secondly, 
it shows what we were before we became disunited. 
Thirdly, it explains the cause of the continuance of our 
present disunion. Fourthly, it instructs us as to the final 
destiny of the mortal and immortal elements within our 
constitution. 
“ All the teachings of Christ have no other object than 
to show us the way how we may re-ascend from a 
state of variety and differentiation to our original unity; 
and he who teaches otherwise teaches an error. All the 
doctrines which have been hung around this fundamental 
doctrine, and which do not conform with the latter, are 
merely the products of worldly foolishness, thinking itself 
wise; they are merely useless ornaments which will 8 
LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
create errors, and are calculated to throw dust in the eyes 
of the ignorant. 
“ Whoever presumes to set himself up as a spiritual 
teacher, and has no spiritual power of perceiving the 
truth, thinking to serve God by teaching the kingdom of 
God, of which he practically knows nothing, does not 
serve the true God, but serves his own self, and nurses 
and feeds his own vanity. He may have been legally 
appointed to his clerical office, and yet he is not a true 
shepherd. Christ says : ‘ He who does not enter the stable 
of the sheep by the door, but enters by the window, is a 
thief and a murderer, and the sheep will not follow him, 
for they do not know his voice.’ He is not in possession 
of the voice of God, but merely of the voice of his learn- 
ing. But Christ said: ‘ All plants which have not been 
planted by my heavenly Father shall be torn out and 
destroyed.’ How, then, can he who is godless attempt to 
plant heavenly plants, having no spiritual seed and no 
power ? To become a true spiritual teacher, one must teach 
in the Spirit of God and not in the spirit of selfishness.” 
• In regard to the distinction between faith and mere 
belief, Boehme says :— 
“ A historical belief is merely an opinion based upon 
some adopted explanation of the letter of the written 
word, having been learned in schools, heard by the ex- 
ternal ear, and which produces dogmatists, sophists, and 
opinionated servants of the letter. But Faith is the 
result of the direct perception of the truth, heard and 
understood by the inner sense, taught by the Holy Ghost, 
and productive of theosophists and servants of the divine 
Spirit.” 
As to the question whether or jiot sins can be forgiven 
by a priest, his opinion is not doubtful: “ Ho sin can be 
taken away by priestly absolution. If Christ is resur- 
rected within the heart, the old Adam will be dead and with 
him the sins which he has committed. If the sun rises, 
the night will be swallowed by the day and exist no LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
9 
longer. Dissemble, shout, weep, sing, preach, and teach 
as much as you please, it will serve to no purpose as 
long as evil exists in your heart. If I go to confession 
for 1000 years, and get the priest to absolve me every 
day, and in addition to that receive the sacrament every 
four weeks, it will serve me nothing if Christ is not in 
me. An animal going to church will come out an animal, 
no matter to what ceremonies it may have been made to 
submit. 
“ The modern Christians have a building of stone, 
wherein they serve the goddess of vanity, where they 
dissimulate, where the people exhibit their fine clothes 
and the preacher his learning; but the true Christian has 
his church within his soul, wherein he teaches and 
listens. This church is with him and in him wherever 
he goes, and he is always in his church. His church is 
the temple of Christ, w'herein the Holy Ghost preaches to 
all beings, and in everything he beholds he hears a sermon 
of God. 
“ The true Christian does not belong to any particular 
sect. He may participate in the ceremonial service of 
every sect, and still belong to none. He has only one 
science, which is Christ within him; he has only one 
desire, namely, to do good. Look at the flowers of the 
field. Each one has its own particular attributes, never- 
theless they do not wrangle and fight with each other. 
They do not quarrel about the possession of sunshine and 
rain, or dispute about their colours, odour, and taste. 
Each one grows according to its nature. Thus it is with 
the children of God. Each one has his own gifts and 
attributes, but they all spring from one Spirit. They 
enjoy their gifts, and praise the wisdom of Him from 
whom they originated. Why should they dispute about 
the qualities of Him whose attributes are manifest in 
themselves ? 
“ We have all only one single order to which we 
belong, and the only rule of that order is to do the will of LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
God, that is to say, to keep still and serve as instruments 
through which God may do His will. Whatever God 
sows and makes manifest in us, we give it back to Him 
as His own fruit. The kingdom of heaven is not based 
upon our opinions and authorised beliefs, but roots in its 
own divine power. Our main object ought to be to have 
the divine power within ourselves. If we possess that, 
all scientific pursuit will be a mere play of the intellec- 
tual faculties with which to amuse ourselves; for the 
true science is the revelation of the wisdom of God within 
our own mind. God manifests His wisdom through His 
children as the earth manifests her powers through the 
production of various flowers and fruits. Therefore let 
each one be glad of his own gifts and enjoy those of the 
others. Why should all be alike ? Who condemns the 
birds of the forest because they do not all sing the same 
tune; but each praises its Creator in its own way ? 
Nevertheless, the power which enables them to sing ori- 
ginates in all from only one source.” 
His first work, entitled “Aurora” (the beginning of 
the new day), was not quite finished, when, by the in- 
discretion of a friend, copies of the manuscript came into 
the hands of the clergy. The head parson of Goerlitz, 
whose name was Gregorius Bichter, a person entirely in- 
capable of conceiving of the depths of that religion which 
he professed to teach, in ignorance of the divine mysteries 
of true Christianity, of which he knew nothing but its 
superficial aspect and form, too vain to bear with tolera- 
tion that a poor shoemaker should be in possession of 
any spiritual knowledge which he, the well-fed priest, 
did not possess, became Jacob Boehme’s bitterest enemy, 
denouncing and cursing the author of that book, and his 
hate wras raised to the utmost degree by the meekness 
and modesty with which Boehme received the insults 
and denunciations directed toward him. 
Soon the bigoted priest publicly in the pulpit accused 
Boehme of being a disturber of the peace and an heretic, LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
11 
asking the City Council of Goerlitz to punish the traitor, 
and threatening that if he were not removed from the 
town, the anger of God would be awakened and He would 
cause the whole place to be swallowed up by the earth, 
in the same manner in which he claimed that Ivorah, 
Datlian, and Abiram had perished after resisting Moses, 
the man of God. 
In vain Jacob Boehme attempted to reason personally 
with the infuriated Doctor of Divinity. New curses and 
insults were the result of his interview with him, and the 
parson threatened to have Jacob Boehme arrested and 
put into prison. The City Council was afraid of the 
priest, and, although he could not substantiate any charge 
against Boehme, nevertheless they ordered him to leave 
the town for fear of the consequences that might result 
if they did not comply with the Bev. Bichter’s request. 
Patiently Boehme submitted to the unjust decree. He 
requested to be permitted to go home and take leave of 
his family before going into banishment, and even this 
was refused to him. Then his only answer was: “Very 
well; if I cannot do otherwise, I will be contented.” 
Boehme left; but during the following night greater 
courage entered into the hearts and a better judgment 
into the heads of the Councilmen. They reproached 
themselves for having banished an inoffensive man, and the 
very next day they called Jacob Boehme back, and per- 
mitted him to remain, stipulating, however, that he should 
give up to them the manuscript of the “ Aurora,” and that 
henceforth he should abstain from the writing of books. 
For seven years Boehme, in obedience to this foolish 
decree, restrained himself from writing down the experi- 
ences which he enjoyed in the realm of the spirit, and, 
instead of bringing light to mankind, contented himself 
with mending their shoes. Hard was the battle required 
to stem the tidal wave of the Spirit, which with over- 
powering strength descended upon his soul; but at last, 
encouraged by the advice of his friends, who counselled 12 
LIFE OF JA COB BOEHME. 
him not to resist any longer the impulse coming from 
God for fear of disobeying man-made authorities, he re- 
sumed the labour of writing. 
The writings of Jacob Boehme soon made their way 
in the world, and attracted the attention of those who 
were capable of realising and appreciating their true 
character. He found many friends and followers among 
the high and the lowly, the rich and the poor, and it 
seemed, indeed, as if a new outpouring of the Spirit of 
Truth was intended to take place in priest-ridden and 
bigoted Germany. 
Jacob Boehme during that time wrote a number of 
books and pamphlets : “ Aurora,” “ The Three Principles 
of Divine Being,” “ The Threefold Life of Man,” “ The 
Incarnation of Jesus Christ,” “ The Six Theosophical 
Points,” “ The Book of Terrestrial and Celestial Myste- 
ries,” “ Biblical Calculation Regarding the Duration of 
the World,” “The Four Complexions,” his “Defence;” 
the book about “ The Generation and Signature of all 
Beings,” of “ True Repentance,” “ True Regeneration,” 
“ The Supersensual Life,” “ Regeneration and Divine 
Contemplation,” “ The Selection of Grace,” “ Holy Bap- 
tism,” “ Holy Communion,” “ Discourse between an En- 
lightened and an Unilluminated Soul,” an essay on 
“ Prayer,” “ Tables of the Three Principles of Divine 
Manifestation,” “ Key to the most Prominent Points,” 
“ One Hundred and Seventy-Seven Theosophical Ques- 
tions,” “ Theosophical Letters,” and other smaller works 
and articles regarding philosophical matters. 
In March, 1624, and shortly before his death, began 
for Jacob Boehme a time of great suffering. In 1623, 
Abraham von Frankenburg had some of Boehme’s works 
published under the title of “The Way to Christ,” and 
the appearance of this book, full of divine truth, again 
inflamed the envy and rage of the angry parson of 
Goerlitz, being blown into a flame by the observation of 
the great favour with which the book was received by LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
13 
all truly enlightened minds. With the utmost fury he 
began again his persecutions of Jacob Boehme, cursing 
and damning him from the pulpit, and published against 
him a pasquillo, full of personal insults and vulgar epithets, 
which contained neither reason nor logic; but in their 
places innumerable calumnies, such as only the brain 
of a person made insane by passion could invent or 
concoct. 
This time Boehme did not remain so passive as on a 
former occasion, but he handed over to the City Council 
a written defence in justification of what he had done, 
and he, moreover, wrote a reply to Richter, answering in 
a quiet and dignified manner every point of the objection 
raised by Richter, annihilating his arguments by the force 
of his logic and by the power of truth. This defence 
was not in an ironical style, but pregnant with love and 
pity for the misguided man, modest and eloquent to a 
degree such as rarely can be found even among the greatest 
orators. 
The City Council, however, being once more intimidated 
by the blustering priest, did not accept Boelime’s defence, 
but expressed a wish that he should voluntarily leave the 
town; and they expressed their wish to him in the form 
of a well-meant advice, to save himself from incurring the 
fate of heretics, which was to be burned alive on a stake 
by order of the Kurfiirst or Emperor, either of whom 
might have been inclined to lend a willing ear to the 
representations of the clergy, being supposed to hesitate 
very little to give the requisite order, if the whim of the 
priesthood could be gratified by such a comparatively 
insignificant thing as the execution of a troublesome per- 
son who disturbed their peace. 
Boehme, in obedience to that advice, which he well 
knew was a command in disguise, left Goerlitz on the 
9th day of May, 1624, and went to Dresden, where he 
found an asylum in the house of a physician named Dr. 
Benjamin Hinkelman. There he received many honours LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
and offers of aid, but be remained modest, writing to a 
friend that he intended to put his trust in no man, but 
in the living God; and that, as he was doing so, he was 
full of joy and all was well. 
About this time Boehme, by order of the Kurfiirst, was 
invited to take part in a learned discussion which was 
to take place between him and some of the best theo- 
logians of those times, including two professors of mathe- 
matics. The discussion took place, and Boehme astonished 
his opponents by the depths of his ideas and by his ex- 
traordinary knowledge in regard to divine and natural 
things; so that, when asked by the Kurfiirst to give their 
decision, the theologians begged for time to investigate 
still more the matters which Boehme had represented to 
them, and which seemed to transcend the limits of what 
they believed themselves capable of grasping. One of 
these theologians, Gerhard by name, was heard to say 
that he would not take the whole world if it were offered 
to him as a bribe to condemn such a man, and the other, 
Dr. Meissner, answered that he was of the same opinion, 
and that they had no right to condemn that which sur- 
passed their understanding; and thus it may be seen 
that not all the theologians were like Gregorius Bichter, 
but that in the clerical profession, as in any other, there 
may be wise men and fools. Such theologians, of noble 
mind and without bigotry, were henceforth to be found 
among Jacob Boehme’s admirers and friends, and when- 
ever he met them he treated them with respect. 
Soon afterwards he wrote his last work, entitled “ Tables 
Regarding Divine Manifestation,” and, having returned to 
his home, he was taken sick with a fever. His body 
began to swell, and he announced to his friends that the 
time of his death was near, saying: “ In three days you 
will see how God has made an end of me.” Then they 
asked him whether he was willing to die, and he replied: 
“ Yes, according to the will of God.” When his friends 
expressed the hope to find him improved on the following LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
15 
day, he said, “ May God help that it shall be as you say. 
Amen.” 
This took place on a Friday, blit on the next Sunday, 
on the 20th of November, 1624, before 1 a.m., Boehme 
called his son, Tobias, to his bedside, and asked him 
whether he did not hear beautiful music, and then he 
requested him to open the door of the room so that the 
celestial songs could better be heard. Later on he asked 
what time it was, and when he was told that the clock 
struck two, he said, “ This is not yet time for me, in three 
hours will be my time.” After a pause he again spoke, 
and said, “ Thou powerful God Zabaoth, save me accord- 
ing to Thy will.” Again he said, “ Thou crucified Lord 
Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me, and take me into Thy 
kingdom.” He then gave to his wife certain directions 
regarding his books and other temporal matters, telling 
her also that she would not survive him very long (as, 
indeed, she did not), and, taking leave from his sons, he 
said, “ Now I shall enter the paradise.” He then asked 
his eldest son, whose loving looks seemed to keep Boehme’s 
soul from severing the bonds of the body, to turn him 
round, and, giving one deep sigh, his soul gave up the body 
to the earth to which it belonged, and entered into that 
higher state which is known to none except those who 
have experienced it themselves. 
Jacob Boehme’s enemy, the bigoted head-parson, 
Gregorius Bichter, refused a decent burial to the corpse 
of the philosopher, and, as the City Council of Goerlitz, 
again in fear of the priest, were wavering and uncertain 
what to do, it was already decided to take the body for 
burial to a country place belonging to one of Boehme’s 
friends, on which occasion, undoubtedly, a row would 
have taken place, and the ceremony been disturbed by the 
populace, whose prejudices were aroused by the clergy; 
but at the appropriate time the Catholic Count Hannibal 
von Drohna arrived, and ordered the body to be buried 
in a solemn manner, and in the presence of two of the 16 
LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
members of the City Council. This took place accord- 
ingly, but the parson pretended to be sick, and took 
medicine so as to avoid being obliged to hold the funeral 
sermon, and the clergyman who gave the sermon in his 
place, although he himself had given absolution and the 
sacrament to Boehme shortly before the latter died, began 
his speech by expressing his great disgust at having been 
forced to do so by order of the Council. 
Some friends of Boehme, in Silesia, sent a cross to be 
put on his grave, but it was soon destroyed by the hands 
of some bigot, who imagined to please God by insulting 
the memory of a man who was obnoxious to the priests, 
but who had done more to bring to mankind a true 
knowledge of God than priestcraft ever did in modern 
or ancient times. This cross was very ingeniously cut 
with occult symbols. On the top there was a flaming 
cross, with a Hebrew inscription signifying IH S VII, 
and twelve golden rays. Below this there were the 
initials of his favourite motto and a picture of a child 
sleeping and resting upon a skull, signifying the regenera- 
tion by means of the mystic death. Then followed an 
inscription saying, “ Here rests the body of Jacob Boehme, 
born out of God, died in IH S V H, and sealed by 
the Holy Spirit.” At the right of that inscription there 
was a representation of a black eagle upon a mountain, 
stepping upon a large coiled snake, while holding with 
its right claw a palm leaf and in its beak the branch of 
a lily. On this picture was written Vidi. On the left 
side there was the representation of a lion, with a golden 
cross and crown. With the right hind leg that lion stood 
upon a stone in the shape of a cube, and with the left 
upon a globe; but in its right paw it held a flaming 
sword, and in the other a burning heart with the inscrip 
tion Vici. Below the above-described inscription there 
was another picture, of oval shape, representing a lamb 
with a bishop’s mitre and staff, standing near a palm 
tree, next to a flowing spring, in a field covered with LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
17 
various flowers. Below this was inscribed Veni. The 
meaning of these three words is: In mundum Veni; 
Satanam descendere Vidi; Infernum Vici. Vivite mag- 
nanimi. Finally, upon the lower part of the cross there 
were inscribed the last words spoken by Boehme: Now 
I shall enter the paradise. 
In his exterior appearance Boehme was little, having 
a short, thin beard, a feeble voice, and eyes of a 
greyish tint. He was deficient in physical strength; 
nevertheless there is nothing known of his having 
ever had any other disease than the one that caused 
his death. But, if Jacob Boehme wTas small in body, 
he was a giant in intelligence and a powerful spirit. 
His hands could accomplish no greater works than to 
write and to make shoes, but the power of God having 
become manifest in that apparently insignificant organism 
and compound of elements and spiritual principles which 
represented the man Jacob Boehme on this terrestrial 
globe, was strong enough to overthrow, and is still over- 
throwing, the most petrified and gigantic superstitions 
existing in his own and subsequent centuries. His 
“ Spirit ” is still battling with the powers of darkness, 
and the Light which was kindled in the soul of poor 
little Jacob Boehme is still illuminating the world, grow- 
ing larger and brighter from day to day in proportion as 
mankind becomes more capable of beholding it and of 
receiving and grasping his ideas. His spirit, or to speak 
more correctly, the Spirit of Truth as manifested through 
the writings of Jacob Boehme, is gradually bringing life 
into old dry-bone theology, killing clericalism and bigotry, 
superstition and ignorance, the giant monsters which have 
been devastating the world for ages past, and to whom 
more victims have been sacrificed than have died by the 
hands of the god of war, by pestilence, and drugs. The 
thinking part of humanity is beginning to see that there 
is a vast difference between the true spirit of Christian 
religion, and the external form in which it is represented 18 
LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
to the vulgar mind. Even the better class of clergy— 
that is to say, those who are not fully absorbed in the 
dogmatic opinions which were engrafted into their minds 
in their schools, but who dare to seek for self-knowledge 
in God—know that a clinging to the external forms of 
religion prevents the mind from penetrating into their 
depths and grasping the spirit that produced these forms, 
and which is one and the same in all great religions; 
for the truth is universal, external, and only one; it is 
the learned ones who take a multiple aspect of it, and 
regard it through manifold coloured glasses. 
As to the practical application of this doctrine, Jacob 
Boehme says: “ If we allow our mind to brood over 
earthly desires, our mind will be captivated by them ; but 
if we spiritually rise above the world of earthly desires 
and sensations, the world of light will captivate our will, 
the terrestrial world will lose its power of attracting our 
consciousness, and we will enter the divine state of 
God. The realm of matter and darkness is the realm of 
anguish, contention, and suffering; the realm of the Spirit 
is the kingdom of light, joy, peace, and happiness. There 
is no human being who would desire to be immersed in 
material pleasures, if he were able to comprehend and 
realise the joys of the spiritual state. But if the fire of 
the soul is not illumined by the divine light, the will of 
the soul cannot enter that state, but remains in darkness. 
The superficial reasoner believes that there exists no 
faculty of seeing except by the exterior eye, and if that 
sight has departed there is an end of seeing. It is very 
unfortunate if the soul can only see through the external 
mirror of the eye. What will such a soul see if that 
mirror is broken ? She will be in darkness, and only per- 
ceive the lurid lightnings which are kindled by her own 
anguish and despair. As long as the soul is connected 
with the body she may behold the divine light in its 
modifications as manifested through the intermediate 
action of the terrestrial sun, and the sun is the source of LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
19 
all her terrestrial joys. Thus the terrestrial sun becomes 
her God, she mistakes the effect for the cause; she is 
drawn away from the source of the real and eternal light 
and sinks into darkness. But if the divine eternal light 
is received in the soul, it kindles a fire therein which 
illuminates the whole substance of the soul, so that the 
latter becomes luminous, and a mirror, or eye, in which 
the light of God is reflected. Let, therefore, each man 
examine himself, and see which of the three worlds is 
master over him, the world of light, the world of illusions, 
or the world of darkness. Let him search his own soul, 
to see whether the four elements of evil, ambition, anger, 
envy, and avarice, are the rulers therein, or whether uni- 
versal charity, benevolence, kindness, meekness, and good 
will prevail, and let him not grow weak in his battle with 
the lower elements, so that the Spirit of God may be 
victorious in him. He who consciously carries the divine 
image of God will not die when his physical body dies, 
nor will he lose any of the attributes which his soul has 
acquired during its life in the physical body. The world 
of sood and the world of evil are both contained within 
the world of man. Whatever we make of ourselves, that 
must we be in the future; whatever we awaken within 
ourselves will live in orrselves; in whatever direction we 
struggle, there shall we receive our guide.” 
Jacob Boehme was in possession of remarkable occult 
powers. He is known to have spoken several languages, 
although no one ever knew where he had acquired them, 
they having probably been learned by him in a previous 
life. He also knew the language of nature, and could call 
plants and animals by their own proper names. He was 
endowred with psychic faculties, which enabled him to 
“ psychometrically ” see the past and “ clairvoyantly ” 
look into the future. Many anecdotes are told of him 
in regard to these powers, of which the following may 
serve as a specimen: One day a dissolute nobleman 
railed at Boehme, calling him a false prophet and daring LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
him to tell anything which he had not learned in the 
ordinary way. Boehme asked to be left in peace; but as 
the nobleman continued his offensive language, Boehme 
at last told him his own past private history, mentioning 
a great many villanous things which that nobleman had 
done in secret. He also predicted that this person would 
soon come to an untimely end. Thereupon that noble- 
man flew into a rage, and while he admitted that what 
Boehme said was true, he bestrode his horse and hurried 
away. On the next morning he was found dead in the road, 
having been thrown from his horse and broken his neck. 
Boehme’s favourite motto was—“ Our salvation is in 
the life of Jesus Christ in us.” 
This alone is sufficient to show the true character of 
the Christianity of Boehme, who did not look for salva- 
tion from a dead and historical person, but from the 
living Jesus, made alive by the Christ within himself; 
or to express it in other terms, by the higher Manas (the 
inind) becoming self-conscious in the light of the Atma- 
Buddhi (the spiritual soul). 
When asked for his autograph, he frequently used to 
write the following— 
“ He to whom time is the same as eternity, 
And eternity the same as time, 
Is free from all contention.” 
A similar saying is— 
“ He to whom sorrow is the same as joy, 
And joy the same as sorrow, 
May thank God for his equanimity.” 
Among tlie most prominent followers and successors of 
Jacob Boehme might be named many celebrated theolo- 
gians and philosophers, such as Dr. Balthasar Walther, 
Abraham Frankenberg, Friedrich Krause, and even the son 
of Boehme’s worst enemy, Bichter of Goerlitz, who pub- 
lished eight books containing extracts of Boehme’s works. 
Boehme’s works were translated into different languages, LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
21 
and attracted the attention of Charles I. of England, who, 
after reading his “Answers to Forty Questions,” exclaimed, 
“ God be praised that there are still men in existence 
who are able to give from their own experience a living 
testimony of God and His Word.” Johannes Sparrow, 
in the years 1646—1662, produced a translation in Eng- 
lish of Boehme’s works, and Edward Taylor another 
during the reign of James II. A third translation was 
published in 1755 by William Law', and many authors 
(the great Newton included) are said to have drawn largely 
from Boehme’s works. His prominent disciples, however, 
and the ones most capable of grasping his ideas, seem to 
have been Thomas Bromley (1691) and Jane Leade (died 
1703), the founder of the society of Philadelphians (if 
comprising under that name all persons who have entered 
a certain stage of development can be called the founding 
of a society). 
Henry Moore, Professor at Cambridge, was requested 
to examine the books of Jacob Boelime, and to report 
against them. He examined them; but his report turned 
out differently from wbat had been expected; for 
even if he, on account of his own engrafted theological 
ideas, was not fully able to comprehend Jacob Boehine, 
and misunderstood him in many ways, nevertheless, he 
pronounced himself in his favour, and said that he who 
treated Boehme with contempt could not be otherwise but 
ignorant and mentally blind; adding that Jacob Boehme 
had undoubtedly been spiritually wakened for the purpose 
of correcting those false Christians who believed merely 
in an external Christ without regard whether or not they 
had the Spirit of Christ within themselves. 
For the instruction of those who believe that the pre- 
sent may learn a lesson from the experience of the past, 
we must prominently mention the name of Johann George 
Gichtel, a pious man, and one of the greatest disciples of 
Boehme, a man of great insight and power. 
He was a deep thinker, leading a blameless life. In LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
1682 he republished Boehme’s writings, and added to 
them many valuable engravings, with explanations, show- 
ing great profundity of thought and spiritual knowledge. 
By exposing the faults of the clergy, he made them his 
enemies. He wanted to reform them by force. Several 
times he was put into prison, and once he was even pub- 
licly exposed in the pillory in consequence of his sincerity. 
He established a society called the “ Angelic Brothers,” 
and in which every member was supposed to have actu- 
ally renounced the world and entered into a state of 
angelic perfection. These “Angelic Brothers” were to 
be free from all human imperfections, and so situated as 
not be pestered with terrestrial cares. They were sup- 
posed not to be inclined to marry, and not to do any 
manual labour; but to live in continual contemplation 
and prayer, and by penetrating to the centre of good to 
abolish all evil, so that the wrath of God might be extin- 
guished within the souls of all men, and universal love 
and harmony prevail everywhere. They were to depose 
the clergy, and in their place to be true priests, after 
the order of Melchisedec, taking upon themselves the 
Karma of all men and the sin of the world for expiation 
and redemption. Thus, this otherwise well-meaning man 
forgot that the organisation of an angelic brotherhood 
would require, above all, the acquisition of angels to con- 
stitute its membership. Such angels are not easily to be 
found, and if they were to be found, they would require 
no external organisation. Nevertheless, Gichtel’s society, 
although being presumably neither angelic nor divinely 
wise, is said to have done a great deal of good, and Henke, 
a church historian, writes that they especially were tole- 
rant, and never condemned any person on account of his 
belief or opinions, and that they never boasted, but 
silently accomplished many good works. 
The followers of Jacob Boehme were not always left 
in peace. There will be theological and other bigots as 
long as ignorance exists in the world. Such persons, LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
23 
incapable of understanding the spirit of Boehme’s teach- 
ings, imagined them to contain heresies, and, in 1689, 
Quirinus Kuhlmann, a follower of Boehme, was burned 
alive at the stake at Moscow, because he had been too 
free in expressing his opinions regarding the iniquities of 
the clergy of those times. 
All the arguments which the enemies of Jacob Boehme 
have ever put forward consist merely in the application 
of vile epithets, such as “ Fool! Atheist! Swine ! Shoe- 
patcher! Crank! Hypocrite! ” and phrases such as the 
following: — 
“ Boehme’s sect is truly devilish, and the vilest excre- 
ment of the devil; it has the father of lies for its origin; 
the devil had possession of Boehme, and grunted out of 
his mouth.” (Johann Trick.) 
“ We have no desire to climb up the ladder of dreams 
created by Boehme. To do so would be to tempt God 
and lead us down to perdition.” (.Delitsch.) 
“ The -writings of Jacob Boehme contain as many 
blasphemies as there are lines. They have a fearful 
odour of shoemaker’s pitch and blacking.” {Richter.) 
“ The shoemaker is the Antichrist.” {Richter.) 
“ We ask who deserves belief ? The word of Christ 
or the prejudiced shoemaker with his dirt ? ” {Richter.) 
“ The Holy Ghost has anointed Christ with oil, but 
the villain of a shoemaker has been daubed over with 
dirt by the devil.” {Richter.) 
“ Christ spake about important things; but the shoe- 
maker speaks about things that are vile.” {Richter.) 
“ Christ taught publicly; but the shoemaker sits in a 
corner.” {Richter.) 
“ Christ used to drink good wine; but shoemakers 
drink whisky.” {Rev. Gregorius Richter.) 
The above will be sufficient as specimens of the theo- 
logical arguments of those times. However laughable 
they may appear at the present time, there was a serious 
aspect attached to them for Jacob Boehme and his sue- 24 
LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
cessors. Hobius, of Hamburg, a follower of Boehme, bad 
to leave the city for fear of being assassinated by the 
rabble, whose fury was excited against him by the 
bigoted parson, Rev. J. Frederic Mayer; and Abraham 
Hinkelman, from the same cause, died of grief; while 
Job. Winkler, a theologian, who had refused to express a 
contempt for Jacob Boehme, was saved from his perse- 
cutors by the protection offered him by the king. 
On the other hand, there were many of the more en- 
lightened theologians who stood up in defence of Boehme 
and his doctrines ; foremost of all John Winkler, John 
Mathaei, Frederick Brenkling and Spencer, and especially 
so Gottfried Arnold, the author of a history of churches 
and heretics. The wise can find wisdom in everything, 
even in the prattle of a child ; but the fool sees his own 
image in everything, and therefore the great historian 
Mozhof (1688) sees in Jacob Boehme a saint and a sage; 
while F. T. Adelung, who wrote a book on human folly, 
denounces him and Theophrastus Paracelsus as fools. 
The so-called “ Rationalists,” and the great bulk of the 
theologians, combined with each other to fight against 
that which they were unable to understand, while Johann 
Salomo Samler, a self-thinking man and capable of 
entering into the spirit of Boehme, calls the writings of 
Boehme “ a fountain of happiness and spiritual know- 
ledge, from which everyone may drink w7ithout having 
the order of his external life disturbed thereby.” 
Among those who were pre-eminently capable of grasp- 
ing Jacob Boehme’s ideas, we will only mention the great 
theologian, Frederic Christop Oetinger, Pastor Oberlin and 
Louis Claude de St. Martin, the “ Unknown philosopher,” 
■who translated some of his works into French. Many 
other persons, whose names are well known in history, 
and wTho had more or less penetrated to the fountain of 
truth, such as Henry Jung Stilling, Friederich von ITar- 
denherg, Friederich von Schlegel, Novalis, Heinrich Jacobi, 
Schelling, Goethe, Franz Baader, Hegel, and many others LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
25 
might be named; but all this proves nothing. The value 
of the truth cannot be made to depend on the recom- 
mendation or certificate of any person, however great an 
authority he may he ; it is beyond all praise. The reason 
why men have so much difficulty in seeing the truth is 
because it is so simple that even a child can behold 
it; but the minds of the worldly-wise are complicated, 
and they seek for complexity in the truth. Let, there- 
fore, those who wish to enter the spirit of the doctrines 
of Jacob Boehme dismiss their own prejudices, and open 
their eyes to the light. Those who are able to see it 
will see it; while to those whose eyes are closed the 
writings of Jacob Boehme will be a sealed book, and it 
will be advisable for them to learn first the lesson taught 
by terrestrial life before they attempt to judge about the 
mysteries of the life in the Spirit of God. 
From the fountain of the interior life in man springs 
that mysterious power to see and to feel the truth which 
is called “ intuition.” It is the power to perceive at 
once by the sense of touch and interior sight things that 
belong to the spirit. It is not the understanding, and 
there is no sense in speaking of the “ reliability ” or the 
“ fallibility ” of the intuition ; it is spiritual perception, 
and as in outward life we must be able to see a thing, and 
to feel it by means of the touch, before we can have any 
true knowledge about its external qualities, likewise in 
the contemplation of spiritual things we must be able 
interiorly to perceive the object of our investigation 
before we can understand what it is. 
The writings of Jacob Boehme are all in accord- 
ance with the statements contained in the Christian 
Bible, and this circumstance will at once prove to be 
an obstacle in the way of those who have no un- 
derstanding for the internal meaning of the Bible 
accounts, and may frighten them away from giving any 
attention to his works. The Bible, which, in an external 
sense, was formerly credulously believed and accepted by 26 
LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
the pious and ignorant, is now universally disbelieved 
and laughed at by the “ enlightened ” portions of ration- 
alistic humanity; and very naturally so, because the 
rationalistic specimens of mankind are not enlightened 
enough to see the delicious fruit within the indigestible 
shell; they do not know that behind these tales, full of 
absurdity, there is hidden more wisdom than in all the 
philosophical books of the world. They know nothing 
about the inner life, the Soul-life, of this world, and that 
the personalities, which are as dramatic actors introduced 
to us in the Bible, represent actual living and conscious 
powers, which may or may not have become objectified 
and represented in terrestrial forms on the terrestrial 
plane. If, departing from the pseudo-scientific stand- 
point, which regards the world as being made up of a 
conglomeration of self-existent, individual entities, we 
look at the world, and especially at our solar system, as 
being unity, indivisible in its essential nature, but mani- 
festing itself in a multitude of appearances and forms of 
life, the history of the Bible will cease to appear to us as 
the history of persons that lived in olden times, and 
whose lives and adventures can have no serious interest 
for us at the present time; but the history of the evolu- 
tion as contained in the Bible will be understood to 
mean the history of the evolution of Man—i.e., Adam, 
the king of the earth, whose body is as great as our 
solar system; the history of the universal Man, in whom 
we all exist; who has become material and degraded; 
but was again redeemed and spiritualised by the awakening 
within him of the immortal life and light of the Christ. 
When or at what time a descent of divine Logos took 
place is a question which may be left to the decision 
of the historian and theologian ; to me it is sufficient to 
know that there is a divine element in humanity, by 
means of which humanity may be redeemed from mate- 
rialism and ignorance and be brought to realise again 
its originally divine state. Moreover, each human indi- LIFE OF JACOB BOELIME. 
vidual constitutes for itself a little world wherein are 
contained all the powers, principles, and essences that 
are said to exist in the great world, the solar system 
wherein we live. In each of these little worlds the 
great work of redemption which is described in the Bible 
as having taken place in the great world is continually 
going on. Bor ever the divine Spirit descends into the 
depths of matter within our corporeal being, and, by the 
power of light and love of Christ within the soul, over- 
comes the lurid tire of the wrathful will within for the 
purpose of re-establishing in man the divine image of 
God. For ever the Christ is born amidst the animal 
elements in the constitution of man, teaching the intel- 
lectual powers therein; crucified on the cross, in the 
centre of the four elements, and resurrected in those who 
do not resist the process of their own regeneration, 
whereby they may attain life in the Christ. It is a 
process eternally repeating itself; but that in regard to 
our world it had a beginning in time, as it has a timely 
beginning in every individual being upon the earth, 
seems to be self-evident, for if “ Adam had never fallen 
in sin ”—that is to say, if the universal consciousness 
constituting the foundation of our solar system had never 
sunk into a material state—there would have been no 
occasion for redeeming it by awaking within it a con- 
sciousness of a higher kind; neither can it be supposed 
that the world is perfect now, and has always been and 
remained perfect, because we see that it is not perfect, 
and if it were so, the work of evolution would be useless 
and come to an end. 
This work of evolution and redemption is going on 
continually everywhere. Downwards shines the light of 
the sun and upwards spring the fountains that come 
gushing from the womb of the earth. Thus the light of 
the Spirit comes from the sun of divine wisdom, the 
sacred Trinity of Will and Intelligence and its manifesta- 
tion ; and from the depths of the human heart up-wells 
2 7 28 
LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
the light of love, overruling the arguments of the intel- 
lect that has been misguided by external appearances. 
The seed is put into the earth, not for the purpose of 
finding its final object in enjoying itself in the earth, but 
to gradually die and become transformed while it lives; 
to die as a seed, while developing into a plant, whose 
body is raised out of the dark earth into the light and 
air, and whose form bears no trace of the original form 
of the seed; nor has the seed been put into the ground 
to die and to rot before becoming a plant. Thus the 
spiritual regeneration of man is to be effected now, and 
while he lives in the body, and not after that body, which 
is necessary for such a transformation to take place, has 
died and is eaten up by worms or destroyed by fire. 
When the seed ceases to be a seed, it becomes a plant. 
When man, the medium between an intellectual animal 
and a god, ceases to be an animal, he becomes a god. 
This takes place when the universal God, the Christ, begins 
to live in him. Then the illusions end, and the interior 
truth becomes revealed. Not in books, nor in opinions, 
nor in the vagaries of metaphysical speculations, but in 
the living Truth itself is the Light to be found. 
Thus prepared, we may take up the study of Boehme’s 
doctrines. These doctrines all culminate in the one point 
that man should accomplish the will of God, and the 
question therefore arises, “ What is the will of God ? ” 
To this Jacob Boehme answers: “ We ourselves are 
God’s will for evil and good. Whatsoever of these is 
manifested in us, we are that ourselves, whether it be in 
hell or in heaven.” The life of man is a form of the 
divine will, and to do the will of God means, therefore, 
to become godlike and divine, by trying to realise one’s 
own highest ideal in thoughts, words, and deeds. “ God 
must become man, and man must become God. Heaven 
must become one with the earth, and the earth must 
become a heaven, so that her will may become the will 
of heaven.”—{Signature, x. 48.) To express this in other LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
29 
words, we may say, “ The universal will in its action in 
man must become divine, so that man may become con- 
scious of being in possession of divine powers. The 
earthly mind of man must have awakened within itself 
the divine light of the spirit, so that a heaven may be 
created within the mind.” The doctrines of Jacob Boehme, 
therefore, are not so much intended to teach us what we 
should know or what we should do, but they are to aid 
us to realise the all-important fact what we must be. 
He himself says in the introduction to one of his books 
as follows:— 
“ God-loving reader ! If it is your earnest and serious 
will and desire to devote yourself to that which is divine 
and eternal, the reading of this book will be very useful 
to you; but if you are not fully determined to enter the 
way of holiness, it would be better for you to let alone 
the sacred names of God, wherein His supreme sanctity 
is invoked, because the wrath of God may become 
ignited within your soul. This book is written only for 
those who desire to be sanctified and united with the 
Supreme Power from which they have originated. Such 
persons will understand the true meaning of the words 
contained therein, and they will also recognise the source 
from which these thoughts have come.” 
One of the most enlightened critics of Jacob Boehme 
jsays, in regard to his book on divine mysteries :— 
“ This book is a treasure-box wherein all wisdom has 
been hidden from the eyes of the fool; but to the children 
of light it is always open. Ho one will clearly under- 
stand it unless he has the key necessary for that pur- 
pose, and that key is the Holy Ghost. He who is in 
possession of that key will be able to open the door and 
to enter and see the mysteries of divinity, divine magic, 
angelic cabala, and natural philosophy. That key opens 
the door of divinity, and, like a lightning flash, it illu- 
minates the darkness of material conditions; for its 
imperishable spirit is contained within all things. The LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Spirit alone can teach the soul of man from what depths 
the truths contained in this book have originated, for the 
purpose of glorifying the divinity in nature and man.” 
And, again, he says:— 
“ The spirit of man is rooted in God; the soul of man 
in the angelic world. The spirit is divine, the soul 
angelic. The body of man is rooted in the material 
plane; it is of an earthly nature. The pure body is a 
Salt; the soul a Fire; the spirit is Light. Spirit and 
soul have been eternally in God and breathed by God 
into a pure body. This pure body is a precious treasure 
hidden within the rock. It is contained in matter doomed 
to perish; but it is neither material nor mortal itself. 
It is the immortal body spoken of by St. Paul. These 
things are mysterious, sealed with the seal of the Spirit, 
and he who desires to know them must be in possession 
of the Spirit of God. It is this Spirit that illuminates 
those minds w7ho are His own, and wherever it is to be 
found, there will the eagles—the souls and the spirits— 
collect. No animal man, living according to his seiisual 
attractions and animal reasoning, will understand it; be- 
cause it is above the reach of the senses, and above the 
reach of the semi-animal intellect; it belongs to the holy 
mountain of God, and the animal touching that mountain 
must die. Even the sanctified soul rising up to that 
mountain must bare her feet and leave behind that which 
is attached to her as a creature. She must forget her 
personality, and not know whether she is in or out of the 
body. God knows it. These things are sacred. They are 
written for children; to animals we have nothing to say.” 
Let, then, the reader pray; not with his moufii nor 
with mere words, but with his spirit—that is to say, let 
him open his heart to the influence of the power of God, 
and by the power of the Divine Will rise up to that 
universal realm of Light from which Jacob Boehme re- 
ceived his illuminations. It is the realm of the living 
Word which was in the beginning, and by whose power LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
the world was created; the Christ that continually whis- 
pers consolation to the despairing and dying soul; the 
heart and centre of God, of which the material sun that 
fills our terrestrial world with light and life is merely a 
symbol, an outward representation. Then shall we see 
the internal world filled with a supernal and living light, 
incomparably superior to that of the physical world, and 
in that world we shall find God and the Christ and the 
holy Spirit of Truth revealed, together with all the angels 
and mysteries, truly and satisfactorily beyond the possi- 
bility of being disputed away; because we shall not then 
need to be taught by mere letters or words, but by the 
truth itself, and learn what it is, and not what it appeared 
to be to another, because we shall then ourselves be one 
with the Truth, and know it by the knowledge of self. 
In the year 1705 the saintly Gichtel wrote: “Who- 
ever in our time wishes to bring forth anything funda- 
mental and imperishable, must borrow it from Boehme. 
Boehme’s writings are a gift of God, and, therefore, not 
every kind of reason can apprehend them; therefore, 
you must not be satisfied with mere reading and rational 
speculation, but beseech God to give you His Holy Spirit, 
that shall lead you into all truth.” 
These prophetic words, quoted in Mrs. A. J. Penny’s 
excellent essay on the way how to study Jacob Boehme’s 
writings, have been fully verified by the succeeding events ; 
for every great philosopher that has come before the 
public since that time seems to have received his inspir- 
ation from Boehme’s books. Even the great Arthur 
Schopenhauer, one of the most admired modern philo- 
sophers, whose works are praised by many who would 
treat with contempt the works of Boehme, which they 
have never studied, was a follower of Boehme, and his 
writings are fundamentally nothing but an exposition of 
Boehme’s doctrines from the point of view of Mr. Schopen- 
hauer, who misunderstood Boehme in many respects. 
Schopenhauer likewise says about Schelling’s works:— 32 
LIFE OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ They are almost nothing except a remodelling of 
Jacob Boehme’s ‘Mysterium Magnum,’in which almost 
every sentence of Hegel’s book is represented. But 
why are in Hegel’s writings the same figures and forms 
insupportable and ridiculous to me, which in Boehme’s 
works fill me with admiration and awe ? It is because 
in Boehme’s writings the recognition of eternal truth 
speaks from every page, whilst Schelling takes from him 
what he is able to grasp. He uses the same figures of 
speech, but he evidently mistakes the shell for the fruit, 
or at least he does not know how to separate them from 
each other.” (Handschriften, Nachlass, p. 261.) 
It would be too tedious to produce a collection of 
what the various modern philosophers in different nations 
have said about the writings of Jacob Boehme; the only 
way to form a correct estimate about him is to enter into 
his spirit and to see as he saw. We will, therefore, in 
conclusion, merely quote the words of Claude de Saint 
Martin: “ I am not young, being now near my fiftieth 
year ; nevertheless, I have begun to learn German merely 
for the purpose of reading this incomparable author.” 
. . . . “ I am not worthy to unloose the shoestrings of this 
wonderful man, whom I regard as the greatest light that 
has ever appeared upon the earth, second only to Him 
who was the Light itself.” . . . “ I advise you by all 
means to throw yourself in this abyss of knowledge 
of the profoundest of all truths.” . . . “ I find in his 
works such a profundity and exaltation of thought, and 
such a simple and delicious nutriment, that I would con- 
sider it a waste of time to seek for such things in any 
other place.” (Letters to Kirchberger.) 
If we once become acquainted with the writings of 
Jacob Boehme, we shall be filled with surprise that not 
every lover of truth knows these books, and considers 
them his most valuable and useful treasure in spiritual 
literature. THE 
DOCTRINES OF JACOB BO EH ME. 
“ 0ur Whole doctrine is nothing else but an instruction to show how man 
may create a kingdom of light within himself. ... He in whom this 
spring of divine power flows, carries within himself the divine image and the 
celestial substantiality. Iu him is Jesus born from the Virgin, and he will 
not die in eternity.” (Six Points, vii. 33.) “ Not I, the I that I am, know these things ; but God 
knows them in me.” {Apology, Tilken, ii. 72.) CHAPTER I. 
INTROD UCTION. 
“ Science cannot abolish faith in the all-seeing God, without worshipping 
in His place the blind intellect.” 
“ The true faith is that the spirit of the soul enters with its will and 
desire into that which it does neither see nor feel." (Four Complexions, 85., 
It is self-evident that if we wish to attempt a contem- 
plation of that which is divine and eternal, we must 
first of all not refuse to believe in the possibility that 
something divine and eternal exists or may reveal itself 
in the constitution of man. This spiritual principle in man 
is superior to the animal and reasoning man; superior 
to the material body, and superior to the arguing intellect; 
it does not need to reason and guess ; it perceives and 
knows. Being superior to the intellect, it cannot be con- 
ceived intellectually; but it can be perceived by man if 
he rises above the animal and intellectual plane to the 
consciousness of his own divine spirit; or to express it in 
the language of Boehme, if he attains self-knowledge in 
Christ. The animal instincts in man belong to the animal 
nature in man, his intellectual faculties belong to his 
intellectual nature, but that which is divine in him belongs 
to his God, his own true and real and permanent self. 
Merely theoretical speculation in regard to the things 
that belong to the Spirit in man is therefore entirely 
inadequate for their true understanding, and is not 
divine wisdom; it can only lead to the formation of 
theories and opinions about it, which may or may not be 
true, but which do not constitute real knowledge, while 
true wisdom is the result of practical experience, 36 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
attainable in no other way than by entering the divine 
state. In other words, it is the knowledge by which 
God in “ man ” knows His own self. 
Most surely the attainment of this divine state is 
not the result of fancy’s flights, of pious dreaming, or 
of allowing the imagination to run away with one’s self. 
There is nothing more positive, real, and practical than 
the consciousness of being a man, and to find one’s centre 
of gravity in the dignity which arises from true manhood; 
or in other words, from the knowledge of being a living 
temple wherein resides the power of one’s own immortal 
self. 
Every state of knowledge has its uses in the sphere to 
which it belongs and not to any other. Jacob Boehme 
says:— 
“ I do not say that man should not investigate natural 
sciences, and gain experience in regard to external things. 
Such a study is certainly useful to him ; but man’s own 
reasoning should not be the basis of his knowledge. Man 
should not have his conduct guided merely by the light 
of external reasoning, but he should, with all his reason- 
ing and with his whole being, bow in deep humility 
before God.” (Calmness, i. 35.) 
As long as a man does not recognise the existence of 
a divine principle within his own self, it will be of little 
use for him to philosophise and speculate about the attri- 
butes of the Divinity in the universe; he cannot know 
the Holy Ghost as long as the Spirit of Holiness is not 
active within himself. 
“ Natural man knows nothing about the mystery of 
the kingdom of God, because he is outside and not within 
the state of divinity, as is daily proved by the action of 
the philosophisers who are disputing about the attributes 
and the will of God, and who nevertheless do not know 
God, because they do not listen to the word of God 
within their own souls.” {Letters, xxxv. 5.) INTRODUCTION. 
37 
External man judges according to his external reason- 
ing. Man, depending entirely on his external perceptions, 
and having neither belief nor confidence in anything 
except what he sees with his bodily eyes, knows only that 
which he sees with those eyes, and is not aware that 
there is anything superior to that. 
“ When external reason beholds the things of this 
world, and how misfortunes befall the pious as well as 
the godless, and that all things are doomed to death and 
destruction—if it moreover perceives that there seems to 
be none to save the virtuous from trouble and grief, but 
that he, like the wicked, sorrowfully enters the valley of 
death, then man’s reason thinks that all things are due to 
hap-hazard, and that there is no God to take care of 
those that are suffering.” (Contemplation, i. i.) 
If there is no proof of the existence of a benevolent 
God to be found within the world of phenomena, there is 
likewise no divine self-knowledge to be obtained by the 
superficial reading of Holy Writ, nor by an external study 
of the Bible, or conceiving of its contents from a merely 
historical point of view. Neither will listening to ser- 
mons be productive of self-knowledge, if he who preaches 
or he who listens has not the living Spirit of Truth 
within himself. 
“ All those who desire to speak of or teach divine 
mysteries ought to be in possession of the Spirit of God. 
Man should recognise within himself the divine light of 
the truth, and in that light the things which he desires 
to represent as being true. He should never be without 
such a divine self-knowledge, and not make the force of 
his arguments to depend merely on external reasonings 
or literal interpretations of the Bible.” (Menschwerdung, 
i- i, 3 ) 
“ What would it benefit me if I were continually 
quoting the Bible, and knew the whole book by heart, 
but did not know the Spirit that inspired the holy men 38 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
who wrote that book, nor the source from which they 
received their knowledge ? How can I expect to under- 
stand them in truth, if I have not the same spirit as 
they ? ” (Tilk. ii. 55.) 
Spiritual truths are above and beyond intellectual 
reasoning, and can, therefore, not be intellectually ex- 
plained. They can at best be represented by allegories 
and pictures such as may induce men to give way to 
exalted thoughts, and thus to acquire a higher state of 
perception. 
“ The children of God spake as they were made to 
speak by the Holy Spirit. Therefore their words remain 
a mystery to the men of earth; and even if the latter 
imagine that they understand them, nevertheless they 
see only the external meaning.” (Letters, xi. 40.) 
“ In all things received by mere hearsay, without self- 
perception, there still remains a doubt as to whether that 
which one has heard is actually true; but that which is 
seen by the eye and understood by the heart carries con- 
viction with it.” (Three Principles, x. 26.) 
It should never be forgotten that speculative philo- 
sophy and theosophy are two entirely different, if not 
opposite things, and those who clamour for intellectual 
explanations of spiritual truths that are beyond intel- 
lectual reasoning have an entirely wrong conception of 
the meaning of the term “ Theosophy.” 
“ The true understanding must come from the interior 
fountain and enter the mind from the living Word of 
God within the soul. Unless this takes place, all teach- 
ing about divine things is useless and worthless.” 
{Letters, xxxv. 7.) 
“ I do not wish to divert men from the Word as it is 
written and taught; but my writings are intended to 
lead them from a merely historical belief to a living 
faith, even to Jesus Christ (the Light and Truth) Him- 
self. All preaching and teaching is in vain if it is mere INTRODUCTION. 
39 
talk, and if the preacher or teacher has not the power of 
Christ, if not Christ Himself by means of the Word acts 
within those that teach and within those that listen.” 
{Richter, 45.) 
By studying a book we may at best imagine what the 
author believed ; but such an imaginary knowledge is not 
self - knowledge. Real spiritual knowledge conies only 
from the awakening of the spirit. 
“ I am not collecting my knowledge from letters and 
books, but I have it within my own self; because 
heaven and earth with all their inhabitants, and more- 
over, God Himself, is in man.” {Tilk. ii. 297.) 
The essential man is not limited by the visible physical 
form of his material body ; his spiritual substance extends 
as far as the stars. His true self is the Spirit of God, 
wherein are existing all worlds. 
“ The spirit of man has not merely come from the 
stars and the elements, but there is hidden within him 
a spark of the light and the power of God. It is not 
empty talk if Moses (Genesis i.) says God created man 
in His own image. To be His own image created He 
him.” {Aurora, Preface, 96.) 
The divine Spirit, once awakened in the consciousness 
of man, knows all things by the knowledge of its own 
self. 
“ The soul searches into the Godhead, and also into 
the depths of nature ; for she has her fountain and origin 
in the whole of the divine Being.” {Aurora, Preface, 
98.) 
“ As the eye of man reaches the stars wherefrom it 
has its primitive origin, likewise the soul penetrates and 
sees even within the divine state of being wherein she 
lives.” (Avrora, Preface, 99.) 
“ Oh, how near is God to all things. Nevertheless, no 
thing can comprehend Him unless it be tranquil and sur- 
renders to Him its own self-will. If this is accomplished, 40 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
then will God be acting through the instrumentality of 
everything, like the sun that acts throughout the whole 
world.” {Mystery, 45.) 
“ Why is it that we cannot see God ? This world and 
the devil (perverted good) within the wrath of God are 
the cause that we cannot see with the eyes of God. 
There is no other impediment. If any one says, ‘ I can 
see nothing divine,’ let him understand that flesh and 
blood and the craftiness of the devil (perverted desires) 
are to him an obstacle and an impediment. If he were 
to enter the new life, if he were to step below the cross 
of Christ, he would then be sure to see the Father and 
his Eedeemer the Christ, and also the Holy Ghost.” {Men- 
schwerdung, ii. 7.) 
Let those would-be philosophers who reject God and 
that which is divine remember that there can be no 
divine wisdom without something divine, and that man 
can become divine in no other way than through the 
power of Divinity. 
“ There is no spark of divine life in him who is with- 
out God. For this it is not God who is to blame, but 
the person himself. Such persons have themselves, and 
by their own will, entered into that state, and have 
themselves drowned their higher consciousness, while the 
precious jewel, although unknown to them, is still hidden 
within the centre. Let them, therefore, again go out with 
their will from their wilful ignorance or malignity and 
enter again into the will of God.” {Menschwerdung, 3, 
5-) 
All this goes to show that it is useless and vain to 
seek for divine wisdom, meaning a true realisation of 
eternal truth in outward things, in external observations, 
in the reading of books, or in the sayings of the sages, 
if we do not recognise the truth that exists within our 
own self. All dependence placed upon external things 
and persons or gods outside of our own true self, is INTRODUCTION. 
41 
merely idol-worship and deceptive if we do not recognise 
the God that exists within ourselves. The words, “ Thou 
shalt worship no strange gods or idols, but have only 
one God,” mean, Thou shalt have faith and confidence 
and trust in no other God than in the one whose temple 
you are, and who resides within your own self. 
“ God,” according to Boehme, is “ the will of eternal 
wisdom.” To become strong in God is to become strong 
in that will which renders one wise. This is the true 
faith, of which Boehme says that “ it is not merely a cer- 
tain method of thinking, or a belief in certain historical 
occurrences, but the receiving of the spirit and the power 
of Christ within one’s self.” (Letters, xlvi. 39.) 
“ This light and this power of Christ arises in His 
children within their interior foundation, and illumines 
the whole of their life. Within that foundation is the 
kingdom of God in man.” (Communion, v. 18.) 
But what is it that prevents man from recognising God 
■within his own self ? What hinders him from seeing 
the light of the truth, and hearing the voice of the Divin- 
ity ? To this Jacob Boehme answers, “ Thy own hear- 
ing, willing, and seeing prevents thee from seeing and 
hearing God. By the exercise of your own will you 
separate yourself from the will of God, and by the exer- 
cise of your own seeing you see only within your own 
desires, while your desiring obstructs your sense of hear- 
ing by closing your ears with that which belongs to 
terrestrial and material things. It overshadows you so 
that you cannot see that which is beyond your own 
human nature and supersensual. But if you keep quiet, 
and desist from thinking and feeling with your own 
personal selfhood, then will the eternal hearing, seeing, 
and speaking become revealed to you, and God will see 
and hear and perceive through you.”—(Supersensual Life, 
1-5.) 
Here it may be asked by some, “ Is it then necessary 42 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
for us, if we want to attain divine wisdom, that we should 
sit down, and think, and feel, and do nothing at all ?” 
Those who ask such a question do not realise that, as 
there is a region below all feeling and thought, in which 
man resembles an animal, if not a corpse, there is also 
another state, beyond all speculative thought, a state 
of divine being. Not a state in which man imagines 
himself to be divine, but a condition in which the will 
of man, having stripped off all that is earthly, becomes 
divine and absorbed in the self-consciousness of divinity. 
“The only true way by which God may be perceived 
in His word, His essence, and His will, is that man arrives 
at the state of unity with himself, and that—not merely 
in his imagination, but in his will—he should leave every- 
thing that is his personal self, or that belongs to that 
self, money and goods, father and mother, brother and 
sister, wife and child, body and life, and that his own 
self should become as nothing to him. He must sur- 
render everything and become poorer than a bird in the 
air that owns a nest. Man must have no nest for his 
heart in this world. Not that a person should run away 
from his home, and desert his wife, child, or relatives, 
commit suicide, or throw away his property, so that he 
may not be therein corporeally; but he should kill and 
annihilate his self-will, the will that claims all these things 
as its possessions. He should surrender all this to his 
Creator, and say with the full consent of his heart, Lord, 
all is Thine! I am unworthy to govern it, but as You 
have placed me therein, I shall do my duty by surrender- 
ing my will wholly and entirely to You. Act through me 
in what manner You will, so that Thy will shall be done 
in all things, and that all that I am called upon to do 
may be done for the benefit of my brothers, to whom I 
am serving according to Thy command. He who enters 
into such a state of supreme resignation enters into divine 
union with Christ, so that he sees God Himself. He 
speaks with God and God speaks with him, and he thus INTRODUCTION. 
43 
knows what is the Word, the Essence, and the Will of 
God.” (Mysterium, xli. 54-63.) 
“ Follow my advice, and leave off your difficult seeking 
for the knowledge of God by means of your selfish will 
and reasoning; throw away that imaginary reason, which 
your mortal self thinks to possess, and your will shall 
then be the will of God. If He finds His will to be 
your will in His, then will His will become manifest in 
your will as in His own property. He is All, and what- 
ever you wish to know in the All is in Him. There is 
nothing hidden before Him, and you will see in His own 
light.” (Forty Questions, i. 36.) 
All of one’s own seeking and investigating of divine 
mysteries in a spirit of selfishness is useless and vain. 
The self-will cannot comprehend anything of God, because 
that will is not in God but external to Him. The will 
in a state of divine tranquillity comprehends the divine, 
because it is an instrument of the Spirit, and it is the 
spirit wherein the will is tranquil that has the faculty 
of such a comprehension. There are many things, un- 
doubtedly, that may be investigated and learned and 
comprehended in a spirit of selfishness, but the concep- 
tion thus formed by the mind is merely an external ap- 
pearance, and there is no understanding of the essential 
foundation.” (Signature 15, 33.) 
To express the above in other words, we might say 
that the selfish will of man, being limited, cannot con- 
ceive the universal will of God; it must give up its 
selfishness and limitation, to become one in the Spirit of 
God and understand its own self. Neither can the self- 
will know even a part of God, because God is one and a 
Unity, and cannot be conceived in parts. 
“ The will should strive after or desire nothing but the 
mercy of God in the Christ; it should continually enter 
into the love of God, and not permit anything whatever 
to turn it away from that object. If external reason 44 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
triumphs and says, ‘ I have the true knowledge/ then 
should the will make that carnal reason bow down to 
the earth, and cause it to enter into the highest state of 
humility, and always repeat to it the words, ‘ You are 
foolish. You have nothing whatever except the mercy 
of God.’ Into that mercy you must seek to penetrate 
and to become entirely nothing within yourself, and step 
out of all of your own selfish knowing and desiring, 
regarding it as an entirely impotent thing. Then will 
the natural self-will enter into a state of helplessness, 
and the Holy Spirit of God will take a living form 
within yourself and ignite the soul with its flame of 
divine love. Thus the high knowledge and the science 
of the Centre of all being will arise and appear. The 
human selfhood will then follow in its perceptions the 
Spirit of God, tremblingly and in the joy of humility, 
and become able to see what is contained in time and in 
eternity. Everything is near to a soul in that state, for 
the soul is then no longer her own property, but an 
instrument of God. In such a state of calmness and 
humility should the soul then remain, like a fountain 
remains at its own origin, and she should without ceasing 
draw and drink from that well, and nevermore desire to 
leave the way of God.” (Calmness, i. 24.) 
As the worm, crawling in the dust of the earth, can- 
not rise like the eagle above the clouds, so the self- 
willing thought of man, wandering in the labyrinth of 
conflicting opinions, does not enter the realm of eternal 
truth. But when man attains freedom by giving up 
self-will and selfish desires—or, to express it in other 
words, when by means of the Christ (eternal Light and 
Truth) he arrives at that state of oneness (at-one-meut) 
with God, which renders his soul godlike and divine, he 
then also receives in the Christ a true and essential 
knowledge of God and of Nature. 
“ As soon as the newly-regenerated man becomes 
manifest, will he attain real knowledge. As the INTRODUCTION. 
45 
external man sees the external world, likewise the re- 
generated man sees the divine world wherein he dwells.” 
{Letters, xxvii. 3.) 
This spiritual world, wherein the regenerated ones 
consciously live, is not an imaginary or illusive world, 
but perfectly real; neither has it anything in common 
with the vulgar conceptions of heaven, which are merely 
the products of fancy. 
“ It is to be regretted that men are led so blindly by 
those that are blind, and that the truth is stopped from 
manifesting itself to us in its glory and purity by our 
conceptions of external pictures and forms; for when the 
divine power in all its splendour becomes manifest and 
active within the interior foundation of the soul to such 
a degree that man earnestly desires to depart from his 
godless ways and to sacrifice his whole being to God, 
then will the whole of the triune Deity be present within 
the life and the will of the soul, and the heaven, wherein 
God resides, will be open to her.” {Mystery, lx. 43.) 
This is the only wTay in which a knowledge of God 
can be attained, and there is no other way. 
“ Christ says: The Son of Man does nothing except 
what he sees that the Father is doing. If the Son of 
Man has become our body and His spirit our own, shall 
we then not be able to know God ? If we live in the 
Christ the Spirit of Christ will see through us and in us 
whatever it desires, and that which the Christ desires we 
will see and know in Him. The world of the angels is 
easier and more clearly comprehensible to the regenerated 
man than the terrestrial world. He also sees into 
heaven, and beholds God and eternity.” {Menschwerduny, 
ii- 7, 3-) 
“ Our seeing and knowing is in God. He reveals to 
every one in this world as much as He wills, and as much 
as He knows will be useful to him. We are not in pos- 
session of our own selves. We know nothing of God. 46 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
God Himself is our knowing and seeing. We are nothing, 
so that He may be All in us. We should be blind and 
deaf and mute, and know nothing and know of no life 
of our own, so that He may be our life and our soul, 
and that our work may be His.” (Menschwerdung, ii. 
7, 9) 
Seen in this true light, how foolish appear the prac- 
tices of those who seek to obtain spiritual power and 
greatness by their speculations and mental efforts, without 
the light of God. It is well known that the light of the 
sun does not shine upon the earth because we desire it to 
shine, neither can we attract the sunlight to us. All we 
do is to step out of the darkness, or climb to the top of 
the mountain which rises above the clouds. Likewise 
the sunlight of divine wisdom does not enter the mind 
because the mind wills it to enter; but if our soul rises 
up to the mountain of the true faith, whose top reaches 
above the clouds of fear and superstition, and idle specu- 
lations and conflicting opinions, then will that light come 
to us by its own sweet grace, and without any merit or 
effort on our part to attract it. 
The low cannot produce the high ; neither can anything 
give birth to something higher than that which it con- 
tains. Neither animal nor reasoning man can create 
God, but the lily-bud of divinity unfolds itself in man by 
its own power. The divine man creates himself outside of 
man’s willing. He is a god, and therefore self-created 
and self-existent; he does neither grow greater nor lesser; 
he is what he is; all that he requires is the conditions 
necessary for his revealing himself, and this condition is 
a pure will and a mind undisturbed by passions and idle 
thoughts, a heart full of calmness and peace. 
Few indeed are the persons capable of entering into 
such a state of humility that divine and eternal truth 
can manifest itself in them without being distorted by 
selfish thoughts and desires. Not that not all human INTRODUCTION. 
47 
beings have not within themselves the inherent capacity 
for seeing the divine image that exists within themselves ; 
but the truth is so simple and uncomplicated that it 
will not he accepted by those whose ways are com- 
plicated, and who therefore seek for complexity every- 
where. 
Jacob Boehme was of a simple and unsophisticated 
nature. Having received but little external education, 
there was not for him the necessity of unlearning ingrafted 
errors, and erasing misconceptions and acquired prejudices 
from his mind. Leading a pure life, his soul was like a 
clear mirror, in which he could perceive the image of the 
Godhead reflected therein, and his mind was like an 
unsoiled page, whereon the word of truth was plainly 
written. Nevertheless he, like all other persons similarly 
situated, had to overcome a certain amount of illusion 
arising from external observation, and from the reflec- 
tions of the generally prevailing ideas within his own 
mind. He says :— 
“ Before I knew that which I deeply know now, I, like 
others, thought that there was no other true heaven than 
that which as a blue circle encloses the world high above 
the stars; thinking that God had a separate existence 
therein, and that He was ruling this world by means of 
His Holy Spirit. But after I had met with many a hard 
obstacle in following out this theory, I fell into a state 
of deep melancholy and grief in beholding the great 
depth of this world, the sun and the stars, the clouds, 
rain and snow, and in fact the whole of creation. I com- 
pared all that with the little speck called ‘ man/ and how 
insignificant he is before God, if compared with this great 
work of heaven and earth.1 Finding, moreover, that there 
is good and evil in all things, in the elements as well as 
1 At that time Boehme, like other persons, mistook his terrestrial 
personality for his real self, because he had not yet learned to know 
the God within his own heart, and therefore he felt the insignificance 
of the former, if compared with the grandeur of the universal power of 48 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
in creatures, and that in this world the wicked meets 
with the same fate as the pious, having good and ill luck; 
furthermore, that barbarous people occupy the best coun- 
tries of the world, and are more favoured by fortune than 
those that are pious, I became very melancholy and 
dejected, and could find no consolation in Holy Writ, 
although I knew the Bible from beginning to the end. 
Perhaps it may be that the devil played a part in all that, 
for I often had heathenish thoughts, of which I will, how- 
ever, say nothing at present.1 
“ When my spirit, full of sorrow, earnestly, and as if 
moving in a great storm, arose in God, carrying with it 
my whole heart and mind, with all my thoughts and 
with the whole of my will, and when I would not cease 
to wrestle with the love and mercy of God unless His 
blessing descended upon me—that is to say, unless He 
illumined my mind with His Holy Spirit, so that I could 
understand His will and get rid of my sorrow, then the 
light of the Spirit broke through the clouds. While in 
my zeal I powerfully stormed against the portals of hell, 
as if I had more strength than was in my possession, and 
willing to risk even my life (all of which would have 
been impossible to me without the aid of God); then 
after some hard fights with the powers of darkness, my 
spirit broke through the doors of hell, and penetrated even 
into the innermost essence of the newly-born Divinity, 
where it was received with great love, such as is offered 
by a bridegroom welcoming his beloved bride. 
“ No words can express the great joy and triumph 
which I then experienced, neither can I compare this 
gladness to anything except to a state in which life is 
God manifested in nature, until at last he awoke to a realisation of the 
fact that the universal God and the God within his heart were one, and 
that his own personality was merely one of millions of similar instruments 
or organisms through which God is manifesting His power. 
1 The “ devil ” and the “ powers of darkness ” are the perverted fiery 
will, with his evil productions, originating from Lucifer, the “ Dhyan- 
Chohan ” of evil; the greatest angel before he fell. INTRODUCTION. 
born in the midst of death, or with a resurrection of the 
dead. While in that state, my spirit immediately saw 
through everything, and recognised God in all things, 
even in herbs and grasses, and it knew what is God and 
what is His will. Then very soon my will grew in this 
light, and received a strong impulse to describe the 
divine state.” {Aurora, xix. 4.)1 
49 
Truly, none can enter the kingdom of heaven (mean* 
ing spiritual self-knowledge and unspeakable joy) than 
he who is reborn in the Spirit; but no one can be reborn 
unless he die3 entirely to all sense of self-will, and he 
then ceases to be a person and becomes pure joy, pure 
knowledge itself. 
If this truth is once realised, if it is known that a 
limited personality, subject to the conditions of time and 
space, cannot embrace infinite wisdom and joy, then it 
appears self-evident that all the attempts for the attain- 
ment of divine wisdom, as long as one clings to self, must 
necessarily be unsuccessful. In fact no one should seek 
for spiritual knowledge for the purpose of rendering him- 
self knowing and wise, but he should strive after dying 
within the Christ—that is to say, to become entirely one 
with divine truth, so that it is not any longer “ he ” who 
lives, but the truth living in him. He should not wish 
to become celebrated or renowned or self-satisfied, but 
rather pray that his knowledge should be taken away 
from him, unless it would lead to the glorification of 
God in him. In short, he should not wish to become 
anything, but he should be all knowledge, all joy, wisdom, 
and glory itself. Boehme says— 
“I have never desired to know anything about divine 
mysteries, neither did I understand how I might seek or 
find them. I sought for nothing except the heart of 
1 “ Rejoice and be glad, and praise the Lord above all; for His name 
arises in glory above all the mountains and hills. It grows up like a sprout 
and performs great miracles. Who will hinder it?” (Apologia.) THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOETIME. 
Jesus Christ (the centre of truth), wherein I might hide 
myself and find protection from the fearful wrath of 
God, and I asked God earnestly for His Holy Spirit and 
mercy, that He might bless and conduct me, and take 
away from me all that could avert me from Him, so that 
I might not live in my own will but in His. While 
engaged in such an earnest seeking and desiring, the 
door was opened to me, so that in one quarter of an hour 
I saw and learned more than if I had studied for many 
years at the universities.” {Letters, xii. 6, 7.) 
“ I am not a master of literature nor of arts, such as 
belong to this world, but a foolish and simple-minded 
man. I have never desired to learn any sciences, but 
from early youth I strove after the salvation of my soul, 
and thought how I might inherit or possess the kingdom 
of heaven. Finding within myself a powerful contrarium, 
namely, the desires that belong to the flesh and blood, I 
began to fight a hard battle against my corrupted nature, 
and with the aid of God, I made up my mind to over- 
come the inherited evil will, to break it, and to enter 
wholly into the love of God in the Christ. I therefore 
then and there resolved to regard myself as one dead in 
my inherited form, until the Spirit of God would take 
form in me, so that in and through Him I might conduct 
my life. This, however, was not possible for me to ac- 
complish, but I stood firmly by my earnest resolution, 
and fought a hard battle with myself. Now while I was 
wrestling and battling, being aided by God, a wonderful 
light arose within my soul. It was a light entirely 
foreign to my unruly nature, but in it I recognised the 
true nature of God and man, and the relation existing 
between them, a thing which heretofore I had never 
understood, and for which I would never have sought.” 
(Tilk. 20-26.) 
The realisation of the truth that we are nothing, but 
that God is all, constitutes the beginning of the true INTRODUCTION. 
faith, which forms the basis of true knowledge and the 
first step on the road to spiritual unfoldment. 
To wish, to will, to desire, to know, to do nothing ex- 
cept what God desires, wills, wishes, knows, or does in 
and through man is true resignation; it is the deepest 
humility for the carnal mind, while at the same time it is 
the glorification of God in man, and therefore the highest 
attainable state. 
“ I am continually waiting for my Redeemer, willing 
to submit myself entirely to Him, whatever He may do. 
If He wants me to know a certain thing, then do I want 
to know it; but if He does not, then am I not desirous 
of knowing it. In Him I have put my will, my know- 
ledge, my science, my desiring and doing.” (Letters, viii. 
60.) 
“ Hundreds of times have I prayed to God, begging 
Him to take away from me all knowledge, if it did not 
serve for His glorification and for the amelioration of the 
condition of my brothers, and that He should only retain 
me within His love. But the more I prayed the more 
the internal fire within myself became ignited, and in 
such a state of ignition did I execute my writings.” 
{Letters, xii. 6o.) 
This interior illumination of the mind by the light of 
eternal Truth alone, and not any other state or condition, 
is that which constitutes the true theosophy. Therefore 
true theosophy does not consist in intellectual learning 
of any kind, nor in morality, nor in being pious or virtu- 
ous, nor in belonging to any Church or society, nor in 
humanitarianism, or in anything that can be accomplished 
by man, but theosophy is the self-knowledge of God in 
man, the illumination of the mind by the light of the 
Christ, the eternal Truth itself. Such theosophy is not 
as some have claimed, “ a branch of theology,” nor any 
system of thought, nor a certain school, in which here- 
tofore unknown secrets are divulged, but it is divine 52 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
wisdom itself, without any other qualification. It is be- 
yond all merely human conception, inconceivable to the 
reasoning intellect, and can therefore not be explained. 
It is itself the most secret thing, which can be known 
by no one except by him who has experienced it; neither 
do those that live entirely within the realm of animality, 
or within that of the speculating intellect, believe that 
such a state is possible, and in fact it is unattainable for 
any person; because he who enters into it, ceases to be 
a person, except in regard to his external appearance and 
form—that is to say, all sense of personality is lost to 
him, and has ceased to exist in the field of his inner 
consciousness. 
It is therefore unnecessary to repeat that this state can- 
not be entered by the exercise of the self-will of animal 
man; neither can it be produced by him by means of 
any intellectual study; nor is it dependent on his social 
condition, or education, profession, or external qualifica- 
tions in life, but it comes to man solely and alone by the 
mercy and grace of God. It means the presence of the 
divine light, and that presence depends on nothing else 
than on that presence itself. Boelime says— 
“ It pleases the Supreme to reveal His secrets by 
means of the foolish, who are looked upon by the world 
as being nothing; so that it may be seen that their 
knowledge does not come from these fools, hut from Him. 
Therefore I ask you to regard my writings as being those 
of a child in which the Supreme has manifested His 
power. There is in them so much, that no kind or 
amount of argumentation and reasoning can comprehend 
or grasp it; but to those that are illumined by the 
Spirit their understanding is easy and merely child’s 
play.” {Letters, xv. io.) 
“ The understanding is born of God. It is not the 
product of the schools in which human science is taught. 
I do not treat intellectual learning with contempt, and 
if I had obtained a more elaborate education, it would INTRODUCTION. 
53 
surely have been an advantage to me, while my mind 
received the divine gift; but it pleases God to turn the 
wisdom of this world into foolishness, and to give His 
strength to the weak, so that all may bow down before 
Him.” {Forty Questions, xxxvii. 20.) 
The reasoning intellect has nothing to do with origi- 
nating perceptions, but is used for the purpose of bringing 
the ideas received from the clear perception of truth into 
a requisite form; and as the mind is then in a higher than 
the normal condition, it often happens that on returning 
to the lower state it does not understand, and perhaps 
not even remember, the ideas which it expressed during 
that time. . 3 
“I say it before God, and testify before His judgment- 
seat, where everything must appear, that I in my human 
self do not know what I shall have to write ; but whenever 
I am writing the Spirit dictates to me what to write, and 
shows me all in such a wonderful clearness, that I often 
do not know whether or not I am with my consciousness 
in this world. The more I seek the more I find, and I 
am continually penetrating deeper; so that it often seems 
to me as if my sinful person were too low and too un- 
worthy for the reception of knowledge of such high and 
exalted mysteries; but in such moments the Spirit un- 
folds His banner and says to me, ‘ Behold ! in this shalt 
thou live eternally, and be crowned therewith. Why art 
thou terrified V ” {Letters, ii. io.) 
“ I might sometimes perhaps write more elegantly, and 
in a better style, but the fire burning within me is driving 
me on. My hand and my pen must then seek to follow 
the thoughts as well as they can. The inspiration comes 
like a shower of rain. That which I catch I have. If 
it were possible to grasp and describe all that I perceive, 
then would my writings be more explicit.” {Letters, 
x- 45-) 54 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
From this it appears that truly inspired writings are 
quite different from those produced by ordinary medium- 
ship ; because in the former instance the seer perceives 
the truths which he is to express, while in the latter case 
the medium is either an unconscious machine, or feels an 
inspiration without knowing the nature of the source from 
which that inspiration comes. 
It is also not to be supposed that any person, as long 
as he inhabits a physical body, and is to a certain ex- 
tent dependent on external conditions, should be at all 
times in that superior spiritual state necessary to realise 
fully the eternal glory of the kingdom of God; but that 
there must necessarily be a return of the lower state of 
consciousness. Boelime says— 
“As the lightning-flasli arises within the centre, and 
disappears again in a moment, so it is with the soul. 
When during her battle she penetrates through the clouds, 
she sees the Godhead like a flash of light; but the clouds 
of sin soon gather again around her and cover her sight.” 
{Aurora, xi. 76.) 
“ The soul has her origin partly from nature and 
partly from God. There is good and evil in nature ; 
and man, by means of his sinful tendencies, has become 
subject to that which is fiery in nature, so that his soul 
becomes daily and hourly spotted with sin. Therefore 
the power of the soul to recognise eternal truth is not 
perfect.” {Aurora, Preface, 100.) 
“ As long as God watches over me with His protecting 
hand, I understand that which I have written ; but when- 
ever He becomes hidden before me, I then no longer 
recognise my own work, and this proves to me the im- 
possibility of penetrating into the mysteries of God 
unless by the aid of His Spirit.” {Letters, x. 29.) 
If the carnal mind cannot understand the language of 
the Spirit, how then could that mind arrive at a true 
recognition of the truth by its own reasoning, that reason- INTRODUCTION. 
55 
ing leading at best only to an opinion of what the truth 
cannot be, but not to a perception of what it is ? Those 
who wish to understand such writings must enter into 
the spirit of the author. Mere reasoning will not serve 
the purpose. 
“ These writings transcend the horizon of intellectual 
reasoning, and their interior meaning cannot be grasped 
by speculation and argumentation; but it requires the 
mind to be in a godlike state, and illumined by the 
Spirit of Truth.” (Letters, xviii. 9.)1 
“ If any one desires to follow me in the science of the 
things whereof I write, let him follow rather the flights 
of my soul than those of my pen.” (Three Principles, 
xxiv. 2.) 
This flight into the regions of eternal freedom is im- 
possible for him who is bound by the chains that are 
forged by the illusion of “ self,” and is therefore un- 
attainable to those who seek for a knowledge of God 
with the object of gratifying their curiosity, or with any 
other selfish object in view. 
“ Above all, examine yourself for what purpose you 
desire to know the mysteries of God, and whether you 
are prepared to employ that which will be received for 
the glorification of God and to the benefit of your neigh- 
bour. Are you ready to die entirely to your own selfish 
and earthly will, and do you earnestly desire to become 
one with the Spirit ? He who has no such high pur- 
poses, and merely seeks for knowledge for the gratification 
of self, or that he may be looked upon as something great 
by the world, is not fit to receive such knowledge.” 
(Clavis, ii. 3.) 
1 “ If you once understand the true meaning of what I have written, you 
will then be released from the conflict of opinions and possess self-know- 
ledge ; but, as a matter of course, this is not to be accomplished by the 
mere reading of the letters, but by the living power of the Spirit of 
Christ. ” (Apologia.) 56 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Neither is such a state attained without a hard fight 
against the powers of darkness. 
“ If any one desires to follow me, let him not be 
intoxicated by terrestrial thoughts and desires, hut 
girded with the sword of the Spirit, because he will 
have to descend into a terrible depth, even into the midst 
of the kingdom of hell. It indeed requires hard labour 
to fisfht with the devil between heaven and hell, as he 
is a powerful lord. During such battles I have often 
made many bitter experiences, which filled my heart 
with sorrow. Often the sun has disappeared from my 
sight, but then he rose again, and the oftener the sunset 
occurred, the more beautiful, clear, and magnificent was 
the sunrise.” (Aurora, xiii. 20.) 
He who desires nothing for himself, to him every- 
thing shall be given. The infinite cannot be made 
to contract, to be comprehended by the finite mind of 
man; but let the mind of man expand by the power of 
the Spirit, and become conscious of its infinity, and it 
will then conceive of infinite truth. 
“ Spiritual knowledge cannot be communicated from 
one intellect to another, but must be sought for in the 
Spirit of God. Truly theosophical writings will even 
to the intellect convey here and there a ray of recogni- 
tion ; but if the reader is found worthy by God to have 
the divine light kindled within his own soul, then will 
the inexpressible words of God be heard by him.” 
(Letters, lv. 8.) 
“ He who reads these writings and cannot understand 
them, should not throw them aside, imagining that they 
can never be understood. He should seek to change his 
will, and elevate his soul to God, asking Him for grace 
and understanding, and then read again. He will then 
perceive more truth than he did before, until at last the 
power of God will manifest itself in him, and he will be 
drawn down into the depths, into the supernatural foun- INTRODUCTION. 
57 
dation—that is to say, into the eternal unity of God. 
Then will he hear actual but inexpressible words of God, 
which will conduct him through the divine radiation of 
the celestial light, even within the grossest forms of 
terrestrial matter, and from thence back again unto God; 
and the Spirit of God will search all things in and with 
him.” (Claris, Preface, 5.)* 
1 This may perhaps be also expressed in the following words:—It is 
not the mortal intellect, but the divinity in man, which is in possession of 
divine knowledge. ... A man knowing nothing of God, and having no 
faith in the power of anything divine, which may become revealed in him, 
cannot be in possession of divine self-knowledge ; but if man, by being 
obedient to the law, enters into a state of harmony and union with God, 
then may God become revealed in him, and the mind being penetrated by 
the light of the divine spirit, man may partake of the knowledge of divi- 
nity. In this way he may learn all about everything in the three king- 
doms ; for the Spirit of God pervades the All. Occult knowledge, therefore, 
does not consist in gathering information or opinions from books anti 
authorities, but its foundation is the recognition of the divine will in 
man. CHAPTER II. 
THE UNITY OF THE ALL. 
“ We are all one body in Christ, and have all the Spirit of Christ within 
our reach. If, then, we enter into the Christ, we may see and know 
everything by the power of His Spirit.” (Forty Questions, xxvi. 5.) 
That which is finite cannot conceive of the infinite; 
that which has a beginning cannot conceive of that which 
is without beginning and without an end. Who has 
measured space ? Has it an end ? and if so, what is 
there beyond the utmost limits of space ? But if there 
is no end to space, does not thought lose itself in seeking 
to penetrate into its depths ? We cannot conceive 
of infinite space, but we can conceive of limited forms, 
which are space rendered objective; and in describing 
a form we describe space in a certain state or condition. 
Likewise, we cannot describe that which exists eternally 
in God, nor the eternal processes continually taking 
place within the divine life, in any other way than by 
speaking of them as if they had a beginning in time, and 
by using terrestrial terms, all of which are necessarily 
inadequate to produce a conception of that which cannot 
be conceived by the terrestrial mind, because it is in- 
finitely above all terrestrial things. 
“ I cannot describe to you the whole of divinity as it 
were in a circle, because God is immeasurable ; neverthe- 
less the Godhead is not inconceivable to the spirit resting 
in the love of God. Such a spirit may grasp eternal 
truth, one part after another, and in this way it may 
end in perceiving the whole.” (.Aurora, x. 26.) 
“ If I am to make comprehensible the eternal genera- 
tion, unfolding, or evolution of God out of His own self, THE UNITY OF THE ALL. 
59 
I cannot speak otherwise than in a devilish (knowingly 
erroneous) manner, making it appear as if the eternal 
Light had ignited itself in the darkness, and as if the 
Godhead had a beginning. In no other way can I 
instruct you, so that you may form an approximate con- 
ception of it. There is nothing first and nothing last in 
this generation and evolution, nevertheless in describing 
it I have to put one thing after another.” {Aurora, 
xxiii. 17-3 3.) 
“ We do not mean to say that the Deity had a be- 
ginning ; we merely wish to show the way in which the 
Godhead has revealed itself by means of nature. God 
has no beginning in time ; He has an eternal beginning 
and an eternal end.” {Signature, iii. 1.) 
“ The Godhead is an eternal hand, which cannot perish. 
It generates itself from eternity to eternity, and the first 
therein is always the last, and the last the first.” 
{Three Principles, vii. 14.)1 
That •which is subject to the conditions of time may 
conceive of temporal things; only that which is eternal 
in man can realise the existence of the eternal. 
“ We cannot speak the language of the angels, and 
even if we were to speak it everything would appear 
to the inhabitants of this world as if it did refer to 
created beings, and before the terrestrial mind it would 
represent itself as terrestrial. We are ourselves only 
parts of the whole, and we can conceive and speak only 
of parts, but not of the whole.” (Threefold Life, ii. 66.) 
“ I advise the reader, whenever I am speaking of the 
Godhead and its great mystery, not to conceive of what 
I say as if it were intended to be understood in a 
1 God is unchangeable, and has no beginning in time; the “ beginning ” 
refers only to the manifestation of His power in nature. Nature resembles 
a continually revolving wheel, wherein forms in which the power of God 
becomes manifest are born and die. The death of one form is the birth 
of another. Thus life is born out of death ; but that which produces life 
and causes death is eternal. 60 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
terrestrial sense, but to regard it from a higher point of 
view, in a supernatural aspect. I am often forced to give 
terrestrial names to that which is celestial, so that the 
reader may form a conception, and by meditating about 
it penetrate within the inner foundation.” {Grace, iii. 19.) 
God is self-existent, self-sufficient, infinite Will, having 
no origin. That Will, by conceiving of its own self, 
thereby creates a mirror within its own self. The same 
takes place in the microcosm of man. By conceiving of 
his own self man creates a mirror in which he “ feels ” 
his own self, and thereby he becomes self-conscious and 
realises his existence as an individual being. 
“ Within the groundlessness (that which by some 
writers is called the ‘ Non-Being ’—a term without any 
meaning) there is nothing but eternal tranquillity, an 
eternal rest without beginning and without an end. It 
is true that even there God has a will, but this will can 
be no object for our investigation, as to attempt to investi- 
gate it would merely produce a confusion in our mind. 
We conceive of this will as constituting the foundation of 
the Godhead. It has no origin, but conceives itself within 
itself.” (Menschwerdung, xxi. I.) 
“ Divine Intelligence is a free will. It never origi- 
nated from or by the power of anything. It is itself, 
and resides only and solely within itself, unaffected by 
anything, because there is nothing outside or previous 
to it.” (Mysterium, xxix. i.) 
“ Eternal Freedom has the will, and is itself the will. 
In the will there is a desire to do or an impulse to wish 
something. There is nothing besides that will towards 
which that impulse could be directed. The will there- 
fore sees within itself as within eternity; it sees what it 
is itself, and thereby creates within itself a mirror.” 
{Forty Questions, i. 13.) 
By this eternal mirroring, or God seeing Himself THE UNITY OF THE ALL. 
61 
within Himself, divine self-consciousness—that is to say, 
the self-knowledge of God, or in other words, divine 
wisdom, exists. The eternal Will, in its aspect as the 
Father, eternally conceives of itself as the Son, and, so 
to say, re-expands as the Holy Spirit The same process 
on a minor scale takes place in the microcosm of man: 
for if he finds himself within himself by penetrating to 
the boundless abyss within himself, he then finds in 
the self-consciousness of his own manhood that power 
and strength by whose expansion his will and thought 
become powerful to act even at unmeasured distances. 
Therefore it is said, that the deeper we lower ourselves 
and enter within our own centre, diving down into the 
groundless foundation of our own soul, even so deep 
that the sense of our own personality is completely lost, 
the higher shall we be exalted into the realm of divine 
and universal being. 
“ God is the will of eternal wisdom, and the wisdom 
eternally generated from Him is His revelation. This 
revelation takes place through a threefold spirit. First, 
by means of the eternal Will, as such, in its aspect as the 
Father ; next, by means of the eternal Will in its aspect 
as divine love, the centre or the heart of the Father; 
and finally, by means of the Spirit, the power issuing 
from the will and the love.” (Mysterium, i. 2, 4.) 
“ The Father Himself H the will of the groundlessness 
(the Absolute). This will conceives within itself the 
desire to manifest itself to itself. This love or desire is 
the power conceived by the will or Father within itself-— 
that is to say, the Son, heart, or seat (the first foundation 
within the non-foundation or groundlessness), the first 
beginning within the will. The will is outspoken by 
means of this conceiving itself, and this issuing of the 
will in speaking or breathing is the Spirit of the 
Divinity.” 1 (.Mysterium, i. 2.) 
1 The possibility of a being conceiving of its own self is experienced by 
its awakening to a consciousness of its own self. 62 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ The first inconceivable will without any origin gene- 
rates within itself the one eternal God—a conceivable 
will, it being the son of the causeless will, but equally 
eternal with the former. This other will is the sensitivity 
and conceivability of the primordial will, by means of 
which that which is nothing finds itself to be something. 
By so doing the inconceivable causeless will issues by 
means of that which it has eternally found, and enters 
into a state of eternal meditation about its own self. The 
first causeless will is called the eternal Father; the con- 
ceived and generated will of the groundlessness is its 
inborn Son ; the issue of the fathomless will by means 
of the conceived Son is the Spirit. Thus the one will 
of the Absolute, by means of the first eternal and begin- 
ningless conception, manifests a threefold activity, but 
nevertheless remains only one undifferentiated will.” 
{Grace, i. 5-12.) 
This eternal mirroring, 'or God beholding Himself 
within Himself, may be called divine imagination. It 
is as infinite as the triune Spirit, beholding itself in that 
infinite mirror of divine wisdom, but it remains a merely 
passive power in regard to the active will. In the same 
sense the mind of a man is not the man himself, and the 
imagination of a man is or should be subject to his will; 
while a man without the power to think or imagine is 
unthinkable, and could not exist as a human being. 
“ The first activity in God is divine contemplation or 
wisdom, by means of which the Spirit of God, with the 
outbreathed powers, plays as with one uniform power. 
This internal imagination is neither great nor little; it 
has neither beginning nor an end, but it is infinite, and 
its formative power is without limits.” {Grace, i. 14.) 
God, in His aspect as the father or creative will, is 
therefore the active or male element in creation; while 
divine wisdom, the mother, is the passive productive 
principle, having no will whatever of her own, but THE UNITY OF THE ALL. 
63 
acting entirely according to the will of the father in her. 
It is true that the will of the father could produce 
nothing if it were not for the presence of the mother in 
whom the forms are evolved—or, to express it in other 
words, He could not create anything if He had not the 
wisdom to do so; but all the wisdom in the world creates 
nothing unless it is made active by the will. 
“Wisdom stands before God like a mirror or reflection, 
wherein the Godhead sees its own self and all the great 
wonders of eternity, which have neither a beginning nor 
an end in time, but whose beginning and end is eternal. 
Wisdom is a revelation of the holy Trinity; but this is 
not to be understood as if she were revealing herself to 
God by her own power or choice, but the divine centre, the 
heart and essence of God, becomes revealed in her. She 
is like a mirror of the Godhead, and like any other mirror, 
she merely holds still; she does not produce an image, 
but merely conceives it.” {Menschiverdung, i. i, 12.) 
That which the father eternally desires to give, the 
mother eternally desires to receive. 
Life is male, the earth, or “ matter,” is female. The 
earth does not cause a seed to grow, hut the seed planted 
into the earth carries within itself the power to grow ; 
the earth merely furnishes the material which the life 
in the seed extracts from the earth. Likewise the mother 
does not create the child, but merely furnishes the 
materials required by the creative spirit existing within 
the child, and which, before it is born, attracts from the 
organism of the mother that which it needs, comparable 
to the way in which, after the child is born, it draws 
its nutriment from the mother’s breast.1 
1 Terrestrial men and women are male and female organisms, in which 
the active and passive elements of creation are manifesting themselves in 
their external expression. Each man has in him male and female elements. 
A woman in whom merely the principle of will were active, without the 
presence of thought, would be nothing but an accumulation of blind force. 64 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ Wisdom is the outspoken word of divine power, 
knowledge, and sanctity, an antithesis of the unfathom- 
able unity in essentiality, wherein the Holy Spirit forms 
and imagines. She is passive, but the Spirit of God is 
active, like the soul in the body.” (Clavis, v. 18.) 
This eternal Trinity is inconceivable in its aspect as a 
spiritual potentiality, in the same sense as a fire is in- 
conceivable if it does not burn; but as the burning fire 
reveals itself by means of the light and the heat, likewise 
the divine power reveals itself in a threefold aspect in 
eternal nature. 
“ The threefold Spirit is a unity, an only being; or to 
speak more correctly, not a being, but eternal Season; 
consequently a mystery comparable to the intelligence 
of man, which is also incomprehensible.” (.Mysterium, 
i- 5-) 
“ God in His primitive aspect is not to be conceived of 
as a being, but merely as the power or the intelligence 
constituting the potentiality for being—as an unfathom- 
able, eternal will, wherein everything is contained, and 
which, although being itself everything, is nevertheless 
only one, but desirous of revealing itself and to enter into 
a state of spiritual being. This takes place by means of 
the fire in the desire of love, i.e., in the power of the 
light.” {Mysterium, vi. I.) 
“ Here we have not yet cause to say that God is three 
persons, but He is threefold in His eternal evolution. 
He gives birth to Himself in trinity; and in this eternal 
unfoldment He is nevertheless an only being, neither 
Father, nor Son, nor Spirit, but only the eternal Life or 
God. The Trinity will become comprehensible in His 
eternal revelation only when He reveals Himself by 
A man without any female element, i.c., without any will, would be like 
a mirror full of images, but incapable to produce anything. The true 
woman, in the ideal marriage of the soul, has no other thought than that 
of her husband ; neither does the true man will anything that is not com- 
patible with the desire of his wife. THE UNITY OF THE ALL. 
65 
means of eternal nature—that is to say, in the light by 
means of the fire.” (Mysterium, vii. 9—12.) 
“ Within the stillness of eternal freedom the Father 
does not yet appear as a father. He appears as such 
only when He is desirous to create, and conceives within 
Himself the will to generate nature within Himself.” 
(Threefold Life, iv. 64.) 
We cannot conceive of a man without a body of some 
kind, nor of a universal God without a universal nature. 
The very essence which constitutes “ man ” is will and 
intelligence manifesting itself in a human form. God be- 
gins to exist as a being only when He is manifesting 
Himself in nature. From all eternity has God thus 
been revealing Himself to Himself; and the cause of 
this self-revelation rests first of all in the will of God in 
the Trinity and in the longing of eternal wisdom. 
“ Of eternity we cannot speak otherwise than as of a 
spirit, for everything was spirit in the beginning; but it 
has also from all eternity evolved itself into being.” (Men- 
schwerdung, i. 2.) 
“ That which is tranquil and without being, resting 
within itself, does not contain darkness, but is a calm, 
clear, lucid happiness. This then is eternity without 
anything else, and means above all God. But as God 
cannot be without being, He conceives within Himself a 
will, and this will is love.” (Threefold Life, ii. 75.) 
“ The whole of the divine Being is in a state of con- 
tinual and eternal generation comparable to the mind of 
a man, but immutable. There are continually thoughts 
born from the mind of man, and from them arises desire 
and will. From desire and will originates action, and 
the hands do their work, so as to render it substantial. 
Thus it is with eternal evolution.” (Three Principles, 
ix- 3 5-) 
“ At first the will is as thin as a nothing, and therefore 
it desires and longs to be something, and to become 66 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
manifest to itself. This nothingness causes the will to 
enter into a state of desire, and this desire is an imagina- 
tion. The will beholding itself in the mirror of wisdom 
causes its own image to appear within the groundlessness, 
and thus it creates a foundation in its own imagination.” 
(Menschwerdung, ii. i.) 
“ Wisdom, the eternal virgin, the playmate of God to 
Ilis honour and joy, becomes full of desire to behold 
the wonders of God that are contained within herself. 
Owing to this desire, the divine essences within her 
become active and attract the holy power, and thus she 
enters into a state of permanent being. By this she does 
not conceive of anything within herself; her inclination 
is resting in the Holy Spirit. She merely moves before 
God for the purpose of revealing the winders of God.” 1 
(Three Principles, xiv. 87.) 
The possibility of such an “ external ” or corporeal 
revelation of God rests in the divine magic power, which 
exists within the divine life itself. It is the power of 
the magic will to produce that which it desires. 
“ The magic power is the Spirit desirous for being. 
It is essentially nothing but will, but it enters into 
existence. It is the greatest mystery ; it is above nature, 
and forces nature to assume forms according to the form 
of its will. It introduces the foundation into the abyss 
of the groundlessness, and changes nothing into something. 
It is the mother of eternity and of the essentiality of all 
beings. In it are contained all the forms of the latter. 
It is not the intellect, but it acts according to the will 
of the intellect. It is not majesty, neither the power 
itself, but a desire entering into the dark nature (matter) 
and proceeding by means of that dark nature into the 
1 Thus divine wisdom in man does not speculate or “ draw logical con- 
clusions,” neither is it dependent for knowledge on communications received 
from anybody ; but it is the power of the true living faith, i.e., the power 
of the spirit of man to grasp spiritual truths existing within its own self. THE UNITY OF THE ALL. 
67 
fire, and through the fire into light. Through this magic 
power the wonders of the number Three become revealed 
by means of nature.” {Six Mystical Points, v. 1—11.) 
“ The corporeity of God results from His essentiality. 
This essentiality is not spirit, but it appears like irnpo- 
tency if compared with the power wherein the Three 
resides. This essentiality is the element of God, wherein 
is life but no intelligence.” {Threefold Life, v. 53.) 
A thesis presupposes the antithesis. In the One there 
exists no relation. Tiiere can be no consciousness mani- 
fest without something to be conscious of, and without 
that which is to be conscious. Without nature there 
could be no freedom of nature; without the positive 
there could be no negative; without the dark basis of 
fire there could be no light. 
“ The One has nothing within itself which it could 
possibly desire, neither can such a unity feel its own self. 
This is possible only in a state of duality.” {Tkeosophi- 
cal Questions, iii. 3.) 
“ If everything were only one, that one could not 
become manifest to itself. If there were no anguish 
joy could not be known.” {Mysterium, iv. 22.) 
“ God introduces His will into nature for the purpose 
of revealing His power in light and in majesty, to consti- 
tute a kingdom of joy. If there were no nature originat- 
ing within the eternal unity, there would be nothing else 
but eternal tranquillity. Nature entering into a state of 
pain, the tranquillity becomes changed into motion, and 
the powers become audible as the word.” {Grace, ii. i6d 
“ The One, the * Yes,’ is pure power, and the life and 
the truth of God, or God Himself; but God would be 
unknowable to Himself, and there would be in Him no 
joy or perception, if it were not for the presence of the 
* No.’ The latter is the antithesis or the opposite to the 
positive or the truth; it causes the latter to become re- 
vealed, and this is only possible by its being the opposite 68 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
wherein eternal love may become active and perceptible.” 
(Theosophical Questions, iii. 2.) 
“ If there is to be a light, there must be a fire. The 
fire produces the light, and the light renders the fire 
manifest; it receives the nature of the fire within itself 
and resides in the fire.” (Mysterium, xl. 2.) 
“ Joy enters the state of desire for the purpose of pro- 
ducing a fiery love, a realm of happiness, which could 
not exist in the tranquillity.” (Signature, vi. 2.) 
“The majesty of God could not become revealed in 
power, joy, and magnificence, if it were not for the 
attraction caused by desire. Likewise there could be no 
light, if desire were not entering and overshadowing, 
and thereby creating a state of darkness, which grows 
until the ignition of the fire takes place.” (Grace, 
ii. 14.) 
Relative good cannot exist without relative evil, and 
evil cannot exist without good. The fire can no more 
exist without the light than the light without the fire. 
No multiplicity is possible without the unity. Each 
requires and therefore desires the other. 
“ Light and darkness are opposed to each other, 
but there is between them a link, so that neither of 
them could exist without the other.” (Threefold Life, 
ii. 86.) 
“ In God there are two states, eternally and without 
end—namely, the eternal light and eternal darkness. 
The light is God, and in the darkness there would be 
no pain if it were not for the presence of the light. The 
light causes the darkness to long for the light and to 
suffer anguish therefor.” (Three Principles, ix. 30.) 
“ The will having issued from the state of unity (by 
assuming a position, as it were, against the unity in 
desiring its own self), enters as a state of desire, and 
this desire is magnetic—that is to say, indrawing; but 
the unity as such is outflowing ; it seeks to issue out- THE UNITY OF THE ALL. 
69 
wardly, so as to become revealed. The will having 
issued from the state of unity, desires to enter within 
itself, so as to attain sensation in the unity, and that 
thereby the unity may attain sensation in the will.” 
(Theosophical Questions, iii. 9.) 
“ The light-life has its own motion and impulse, and 
likewise the fire-life ; but the latter generates the former 
and the former is the lord of the latter. If there were 
no fire, there would be no light and no spirit; and if 
there were no spirit to breathe upon the fire, the latter 
would be extinguished and darkness would rule. Each 
of the two would be nothing without the other; both are 
mutually dependent upon each other.” (Forty Questions, 
i. 62.) 
There is, however, no equality between this duality, 
for the unity is superior to the multiplicity, freedom to 
nature, light to fire; the higher always rules the lower. 
“ The will as such is an insensible life, but it finds 
the desire, and in willing to desire it constitutes itself in 
a being. The will is superior to the desire, for although 
the desire is an exciting cause for the will, the will is a 
life without a cause and it is also intelligence. It is 
therefore, lord over desire. It rules the life of the desire 
and uses it as it pleases. This eternal will-spirit we 
know to be God, but the active life of the desire is 
eternal nature.” (Inner Mystery, i. i ; iii. 2.) 
“ God is from eternity Power and Light, and is there- 
fore called God according to that, but not according to 
the fire-spirit. In regard to the latter, we speak of it 
not as God, but as ‘ the wrath of God ’ and the consum- 
ing part of His power. The light of God has also the 
quality of the fire, but in it the wrath is changed into 
love; hate and bitter pain into mild beneficence and 
sweet desire or satisfaction.” (Menschwerdung, i. 5-16.) 
“ The fountain of love is a clasping and keeping of 
the stern wrathfulness, an overcoming of the harsh 70 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
power, because meekness takes away the rule of the 
acrid and hard power of the fire. The light of peaceful- 
ness keeps the darkness imprisoned and resides in the 
darkness. The stern power desires only wrathfulness 
and imprisonment in death; but the mildness issues like 
a sweet growth, it blossoms out and overcomes death, 
giving eternal life.” (Threefold Life, ii. 92.) 
“ When love becomes revealed in light by means of 
the fire, it streams over nature and penetrates her, like 
the sunshine penetrating an herb or fire penetrating 
through iron.” (Clavis, viii. 36.) 
To understand the above it is only necessary to realise 
these things within one’s own being. To the speculating 
intellect they will for ever remain a mystery. 
Not in the trunk, the root, the branches, or the leaves, 
but only in the flower of a plant, can be found the germ 
that produces the fruit or seed from which a new plant 
of a similar kind may grow. Likewise, not in the pas- 
sions of man, nor in his intellectual acquisitions, but 
only in the spiritual efflorescence of his soul, exists the 
germ for the new-born being capable of obtaining con- 
sciousness of its own immortality. CHAPTER III. 
THE SEVEN PROPERTIES OR QUALITIES OF 
ETERNAL NATURE.1 
i. h <L n. $ v iii. s ? 
iv. O 
v. ? <? vi. iz $ vii. i \ 
When the Eternal One, in its aspect as a Trinity and with 
reference to divine wisdom, reveals itself on the seven 
planes of existence, this revelation constitutes seven 
different rays or states of eternal nature, comparable to 
the sevenfold scale of colours, tunes, chemical substances, 
&c., all of which are seven different forms in which the 
fundamental one is manifesting itself. Of these seven 
forms or sourcive states of eternal nature, the first and the 
seventh refer to the Father, the second and sixth to the 
Son, the third and fifth to the Holy Spirit, while the 
fourth represents the balance in which exists the division 
between spirit and matter. 
“ The eternal Essence, being desirous of revealing 
itself to itself (to attain self-consciousness), had to con- 
ceive within itself a will; but as within itself there 
was no object for its will or desire, except the powerful 
Word, which in the tranquil eternity did not exist, the 
seven states of eternal nature had to be born from 
1 If it is asked how it is possible that Jacob Boehme knew anything 
about the invisible spiritual processes taking place in the universe, the* 
answer is that the spirit of man is one and universal, and he who knows 
his own divine self knows the whole of the universe. Seen from the 
spiritual point of view, the universal cosmic processes in the body of 
universal nature are internal processes taking place within the organism 
of macrocosmic man, mirrored forth and eternally repeated in the micro- 
cosm of the individual. The history of the universe is the history of a 
man. 72 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
within. From these, then, proceeded, from eternity to 
eternity, the powerful Word, the power, the heart, and 
the life of the tranquil eternity and its eternal wisdom.” 
{Threefold Life, iii. 21.) 
“ The first and the seventh quality must be regarded 
as one, likewise the second and sixth, and also the third 
and the fifth ; but the fourth is the object of division. 
The first then refers to the Father, the second to the 
Son, the third to the Holy Spirit.” {Claris, ix. 75.) 
By means of tlie manifestation of these seven qualities 
of eternal nature the infinity of divine being does not 
become limited; they are merely seven different forms in 
which the power of God is manifesting itself, and the 
existence of each of these seven properties depends on 
that of the rest. 
“ If I speak of the seven states of eternal nature, it is 
not to be understood as if there were a limitation of the 
Godhead in regard to object and measure. Its power 
and wisdom is without end, without measure and un- 
speakable.” (Mysterium, vii. 17.) 
“Do not imagine these seven spirits to be standing 
one by the side of the other, comparable to the stars, 
which are seen side by side in the sky ; they are all 
seven like only one spirit. Likewise the body of man 
has many organs, but each organ partakes of the power 
of the rest. {Aurora, x. 40.) 
In the same sense we speak of the bones and flesh, the 
arteries and veins and nerves of a body, all of which go 
to make up only one organism. Likewise a picture is 
made up of many different colours, of which each has a 
certain individuality of its own, while the sum total is 
necessary to form one individual picture. 
“ As the organs of a man’s body love one another, 
so do the spirits in divine power. There is nothing but 
longing, desiring, and fulfilling, and each triumphs and 
rejoices in the other.” {Aurora, ix. 37.) THE SEVEN QUALITIES. 
73 
They are like seven living and conscious rays con- 
tained within the original colourless ray, and broken into 
seven different tints by their passage through “ matter.” 
“ You must know that one spirit alone cannot generate 
another, but the birth of one spirit results from the co- 
operation of all the seven. Six of them always generate 
the seventh, and if one of them were absent the others 
could not be there.” {Aurora, x. 21.) 
“ All the seven spirits of God are born one in another. 
One gives birth to the other; there is neither first nor 
last. The last generates the first, as well as the first the 
second, the third the fourth, up to the last. They are all 
seven equally eternal.” {Aurora, x. 2.) 
“ If I am sometimes describing only two or three as 
being active in the generation of another spirit, I am 
doing so on account of my weakness, because in my 
degenerate mind I cannot retain the impression of the 
action of all the seven in their perfection. I see all 
the seven; but when I begin to analyse what I see, I 
then cannot grasp all the seven at once, but only one 
after another.” {Aurora, x. 22.) 
These seven properties are never transformed one into 
another; each retains eternally its own specific essentiality. 
The relations into which they enter with each other serve 
for the purpose of their mutual glorification; so that they, 
when they meet each other like strains of sweet harmonies 
in God’s eternal nature, appear like flaming lights of life 
and joy. Thus matter is never transformed into spirit, but 
illumined and glorified by the latter, while the spirit 
obtains its corporification from matter, and is thus 
enabled to become manifest. 
Likewise ignorance is never transformed into know- 
ledge, nor death into life; but an ignorant person may 
become wise if illuminated by the light of wisdom, and a 
body in which life is inactive may be made living if the 
activity of life is aroused therein. 74 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ Each of these principles is strongly defined in regard 
to its nature, nevertheless there is no antipathy between 
them. They are all rejoicing in God as one only spirit. 
Each loves the other, and there is nothing amoug them 
but joy and happiness. Their evolution is an eternal one 
and never any other.” (Aurora, x. 51.) 
“ The higher they become exalted, and the more they 
become ignited, the greater will be their joy in the king- 
dom of light.” (Mysterium, v. 6.) 
“ Each quality of the spirit desires the other, and when 
it acquires its object it becomes as it were changed into 
that other; but its own quality is thereby not lost, it 
merely adapts itself to the other, and manifests another 
kind of anguish (consciousness), but both retain their 
own special qualities.” (Threefold Life, iv. 8.) 
Thus the darkness is illumined by the light, but it 
never becomes light itself, nor can the light become dark- 
ness. The light shineth eternally into darkness, but the 
darkness comprehendeth it not. 
“ Each of these divine forms of life desires to govern ; 
each has a will of its own. Without that there could be 
no sensibility nor perceptibility, but only eternal tran- 
quillity. Neither, however, of them is pressing forward 
to make itself manifest more than the rest, but all are in 
perfect harmony with each other.” (Stiefel, ii. 348.) 
“ When the fourth principle enters into the first, all 
the spirits intermingle their light, triumph, and rejoice. 
They then arise all one within the other, and evolve each 
other as if moving in circular motion; and the light in 
the midst of them begins to shine and renders them 
luminous. Their harsh quality then remains hidden like 
a kernel in a fruit. As a sour or bitter unripe apple by 
ripening in the sun becomes changed, so that it acquires 
an agreeable taste, but nevertheless retains the qualities 
that constitute it an apple, likewise the Godhead retains 
its own essential qualities, but they become manifest in a 
sweet and agreeable manner.” (Aurora, xiii. 80.) THE SEVEN QUALITIES. 
75 
“ All the seven principles are spiritual within eternal 
nature, and appear there in a clear, crystalline, translu- 
cent substantiality.” {Grace, iii. 40.) 
“ The seven candlesticks in Saint John’s Revelation 
refer to the seven spirits in the Godhead, also the 
seven stars. The seven spirits are in the centre of the 
Father—that is to say, in the power of the Word. The 
Word changes the wrathfulness into sweet joy and shapes 
it into a crystalline ocean; therein the seven spirits 
appear in a burning form, like seven luminous torches.” 
{Threefold Life, iii. 46.) 
A variety of colours is necessary to make up a picture, 
to represent an idea, and although the idea represented 
by the various colours is only one, nevertheless each 
colour retains its essential qualities. The various organs 
of the human body manifest various powers, nevertheless 
they all go to make up one manifestation of life. The 
various planets have each one its own special qualities, 
nevertheless they go to make up one world. Likewise 
each of the seven forms remains what it is, but their 
manifestations differ widely according to the planes and 
conditions under which they are manifesting themselves. 
The First Quality begins when God, for the purpose of 
revealing His majesty,allows His eternal nature to contract 
within herself, whereby a state of darkness and cor- 
poreity is created. 
“ The first quality is the desire. It is comparable to 
magnetic attraction, and therefore the comprehensibility 
of the will. The will conceives of itself as something. 
By this act of impressing or contracting it overshadows 
itself and causes itself to become darkness.” (Clavis, 
viii. 38.) 
“ In this state there is no active life or intelligence; 
it is merely the first principle of substantiality, or the 
first beginning of the becoming.” (Three Principles, 
vii. 11.) 76 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ In eternity beyond nature there can be no darkness, 
because there is nothing that could produce it. The will 
by desiring contracts and becomes substantial. Thus 
darkness is created within the will, while without that 
desire there would be nothing but eternal stillness with- 
out substantiality.” {Forty Questions.) 
“ Desire is an acrid, astringent, attracting (contract- 
ing) quality. It is an active power, and without it there 
would be nothing but tranquillity. It contracts and fills 
itself with itself; but that which it attracts constitutes 
nothing but darkness, a state which is more compact than 
the original will, the latter being thin as nothing, but 
it then becomes full and substantial.” (Threefold Life, 
ii. 12.) 
The fact of this contractive power of desire, by which 
the will is rendered substantial, corporeal, and heavy, is 
experienced by every one who feels the weight of sorrow 
caused by some unfulfilled desire weighing upon his soul, 
while freedom from desire, and consequently from care, 
renders the heart (the will) light and ethereal. 
Simultaneously with the appearance of the first enters 
the Second Form, namely, motion. Matter and motion 
are co-eternal, and neither of them can exist without the 
other. There could be no contraction without motion, 
neither would there be any expansion if there were no 
desire to contract. With the beginning of action reaction 
begins. There is then a duality of manifestation of the 
eternal One. From this duality of action, having its 
source in the One, results the manifestation of relative 
life. 
“ Motion divides the attracted desire and causes dif- 
ferentiation, thereby awakening the true life.” (Claris, 
viii. 30.) 
“From this results sensitiveness in nature, and herein 
is the cause of differentiation. Hardness (solidity) and 
the motion of life are opposed to each other. Motion THE SEVEN QUALITIES. 
77 
breaks up the solidity (expands), and by means of 
attraction it also causes hardness (contracts).” {Tabulae 
Princip., i. 34.) 
“ Desire, being a strong attraction, causes the ethereal 
freedom, which is comparable to a nothing, to contract 
and enter into a state of darkness. The primitive will 
desires to be free of that darkness, for it desires the 
light. The will cannot attain this light, and the more 
it desires for freedom the greater will be the attrac- 
tion caused by the desire.” {Six Theosophical Points, 
i* 33.) 
“ There must be an opposition, for the will desires not 
to be dark, and this very desire causes the darkness. 
The will loves the excitement caused by the desire, but 
it does not love the contraction and darkening. The will 
itself does not become dark, but only the desire existing 
in it. The desire is in darkness, and therefore a great 
anguish results within the will, as its desire for freedom 
is strong, but by this desire it causes itself to become 
still more harsh and dark.” {Forty Questions.) 
Eliphas Levi expressed a corresponding truth by saying, 
“ The will accomplishes that which it does not desire.” 
A selfish desire for heaven defeats its own object. 
The Third Quality, called into existence by the action 
and reaction of the absolute One, calls sensation into 
existence; or, to express it in other words, absolute 
consciousness, by manifesting itself, becomes relative. 
Nothing new is thereby created, only that which already 
was begins to exist. This relative consciousness is called 
“ anguish ” by Boehme. 
“ The third quality, the anguish, is evolved in the fol- 
lowing manner:—The hardness is fixed, the motion is 
fugitive; the one is centripetal, the other centrifugal; 
but as they are one, and cannot separate from each other 
(nor from their centre) they become like a turning wheel, 
in which one part strives upwards and the other one in 78 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
a downward direction. The hardness furnishes substan- 
tiality and weight, while the ‘ sting ’ (desire in motion) 
supplies spirit (will for freedom) and fugitive life. All 
this causes a turning around and within and outwardly, 
having nevertheless no destination where to arrive. 
That which the attraction of the desire causes to become 
fixed is again rendered volatile by the aspiring for free- 
dom. There then results the greatest disquietude, com- 
parable to a furious madness, from which results a terrible 
anguish.” {Mysterium, iii. 15.) 
The truth of this every one experiences within his 
own self, because as long as man is nailed to the cross 
of terrestrial life, there is a continual battle raging 
in him between his higher and lower impulses, or 
between his ideal aspirations and his material self- 
interests. 
“ The more the first principle gathers its hardness for 
the purpose of arresting the second principle, the stronger 
does the action of that principle grow, and the stronger 
is the raging and breaking. The sting refuses to be 
subdued, but the will (from which it originates) holds on 
to it with great strength, and it cannot follow its impulse. 
It strives upwards and the will strives downwards, for the 
acerbity indraws, rendering itself heavy. Thus the one 
strives to rise upwards, and the other to sink downwards, 
while neither of them can accomplish its object, and 
thus eternal nature becomes like a revolving wheel.” 
(Menschwerdung, ii. 4.) 
This macrocosmic battle has its counterpart in the 
microcosm of man. There is in him also the con- 
tinual fight between matter and spirit, between desire 
and renunciation, between the desire for existence and 
the will for that freedom which cannot be found before 
even the desire for freedom itself is at rest. 
These three first forms or qualities, wherein the 
activity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are THE SEVEN QUALITIES. 
79 
represented, or to express it in other words, through 
which the quality of will and intelligence becomes re- 
vealed, are sometimes alluded to under the names of 
“ salt,” “ sulphur,” and “ mercury.” 
“ The first three principles are not God Himself, but 
only His revelation. The first of these three states, being 
a beginning of all power and strength, originates from the 
quality of the Father ; the second, being the source of 
all activity and differentiation, comes from the quality 
of the Son ; and the third, being the root of all life, 
originates in the quality of the Holy Spirit.” {Grace, 
vi. 9.) 
“ The ancients said that in sulphur, mercury, and 
salt are contained all things. This refers not so much 
to the material as to the spiritual aspect of things, 
namely, to the spirit of the qualities wherefrom material 
things grow. By the term ‘ salt ’ they understood the 
sharp metallic desire in nature; ‘ mercury ’ symbolised 
to them the motion and differentiation of the former, by 
means of which each thing becomes objective and enters 
into formation. ‘ Sulphur,’ the third quality, signified the 
anguish of nature.” {Claris, 46.) 
The true divine life wherein the substantiality of divine 
Trinity is revealed is rendered possible only by means 
of the Fourth Quality, called the lightning-flash, whose 
ignition is caused by the desire of eternal nature and by 
the longing of eternal freedom. 
“ The fire is originally darkness, hardness, eternal cold- 
ness and dryness, and there is nothing in it except an 
eternal hunger. How then does it become actual fire ? 
The Spirit of God, in its aspect as the eternal light, 
comes to the aid of the fire-hunger. The hunger itself 
originates from the light, because when the divine power 
mirrors itself in the darkness, the latter becomes full of 
desire after the light, and this desire is the will (of 80 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
eternal nature). But the will or the desire in the dry- 
ness cannot reach the light, and therein consists the 
anguish and the craving for light. This anguish and 
craving continues until the Spirit of God enters like a 
flash of lightning.” (Three Principles, xi. 45.) 
This ever-turning “ wheel of Ixion ” is represented by 
the Cross, the “Tree of Life.” Free is the spirit of man 
before he enters this valley of suffering, but after he 
enters he is nailed to the cross of his own personal desires. 
Man himself is the “ Cross,” and he creates a cross for 
himself, from which there is no liberation until he dis- 
covers the true spiritual Cross by entering into the realm 
of light through the power of the fire, which means that 
his spirit breaks through the bonds of matter and becomes 
again free. 
“ Freedom by means of the eternal will grasps the 
darkness, and the latter reaches out for the light of free- 
dom but cannot attain it. It imprisons itself by means 
of its own desire within itself, and causes itself to 
be darkness. From these two—namely, the dark im- 
pression and the desire for light or freedom which is 
directed towards the former, there results then in the 
former darkness the lightning-flash, the primitive con- 
dition of the fire. But freedom being a nothing, and 
therefore inapprehensible, it cannot retain the impres- 
sion. Therefore the impression surrenders to freedom, 
and the latter devours the dark nature of the former. 
Thus freedom governs within the darkness, and is not 
comprehended by it.” {Signature, xiv. 22.) 
“ Eternal unity or freedom, per se, is of infinite loveli- 
ness and mildness, but the three qualities are sharp, pain- 
ful, and even terrible. The will of the three qualities longs 
for the mild unity, and the unity longs for the fiery founda- 
tion and sensibility. Thus one enters into the other, and 
when this takes place the lightning-flash appears, com- 
parable to a spark produced by the friction of flint and THE SEVEN QUALITIES. 
81 
steel. Thereby the unity attains sensibility, and the 
will of nature receives the mild unity. Thus the unity 
becomes a fountain of fire, and the fire penetrated by 
desire, like a fountain of love.” (Clavis, ix. 49.) 
Thus the light conquers the darkness, but does not 
destroy it; it merely becomes victorious over it and con- 
sumes it in a manner comparable to that of the assimila- 
tion of food by the organism which conquers and consumes 
that food by means of the fire of life. 
“ When the spiritual fire and light has become ignited 
in the darkness (it having, however, burned from all 
eternity), the great mystery of divine power and know- 
ledge becomes eternally revealed therein, because in the fire 
all the qualities of nature appear exalted into spirituality. 
Nature herself remains what she is, but her issue— 
namely, that which she produces, becomes spiritualised. 
In the fire the dark will is consumed, and thereby 
issues the pure fire-spirit, penetrated by the light-spirit.” 
(Clavis, ix. 64.) 
When this great internal revelation takes place, the 
internal senses are then opened to the direct perception 
of spiritual truth. There will then be no more necessity 
for drawing conclusions of any kind in regard to such 
unknown things, because the spirit perceives that which 
belongs to its sphere in the same sense as a seeing per- 
son sees external things. 
“ Behold how all life in the external world attracts its 
food to itself. Thus you may recognise how life origi- 
nates from death. There can be no life unless that 
from which life is to issue is broken up in its form. 
Everything has to enter into the state of anguish to 
attain the lightning-flash, and without this there will be 
no ignition.” (Menschwerdung, ii. 5.) 
This, then, is the beginning of the manifestation of 
God as the principle of fire and the principle of light. 
The Godhead, as such, the will of the Trinity willing to 82 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
enter from the groundlessness into Trinity, is not yet a 
principle, and has no beginning, but is the beginning 
itself of itself. 
“ If a thing becomes that which it has not been before, 
this does not constitute a principle; a principle is there 
where a form of life and motion begins, such as has 
not existed before. Thus the fire is a principle, and 
also the light which is born from the fire, but which, 
nevertheless is not a quality of the fire, but has a life of 
its own.” (Six Theosophical Points, ii. i.) 
In the fire there is represented the division of the 
two aspects in which God is manifesting Himself— 
namely, as God and as Nature; also the division between 
the sweet life in love and the life in wrath. 
“ As the sun in the terrestrial plane transforms acer- 
bity into concord, so acts the light of God in the forms 
of eternal nature. This light shines into them and out 
of them; it ignites them so that they obtain its will 
and surrender themselves to it entirely. They then 
give up their own will and become as if they had no 
power at all of themselves, and are desirous only for the 
power of the light.” (Six Theosophical Points, v. 3.) 
By the union of fire and light the third principle 
attains substantiality. 
“ If the Godhead according to the first and second 
principle is to be regarded only as a spirit aud without 
any conceivable essentiality, there is in it nevertheless 
the desire to evolve a third principle, wherein rests the 
spirit of the two first principles, and wherein it will 
become manifest as an image.” (Six Theosophical Points, 
i. 25.) 
“ The fire receiving within itself the essence of desire 
as its food, so that it may burn, renders a joyful spirit 
and opens the power of the mild essentiality in the light.” 
(Six Theosophical Points, i. 57.) 
“ The fire, drawing within itself the mild essentiality THE SEVEN QUALITIES. 
83 
of the light, there issues from it, by means of the wrath 
of death, the mild spirit that was enclosed therein, 
and which has within itself the quality of nature.” (Tilk., 
i. 171.) 
When the power of the light becomes revealed it 
manifests its activity first of all in the Fifth Quality, 
which is evolved by means of the preceding four as sweet 
love, or a luminous water-spirit. 
“ The first three principles are merely qualities con- 
ducive to life, the fourth is life itself, but the fifth is the 
true Spirit. Whenever this power has been evolved from 
the fire, it lives within all the others and changes them 
all into its own sweet nature, so that painfulness and 
enmity cannot be found therein in any shape whatever.” 
{Tabidee Principce, i. 46.) 
“ The fifth quality is the true love-fire, which in the 
light separates from the painful fire, and wherein divine 
love appears as a substantial being. It has within itself 
all the powers of divine wisdom; it is the trunk or the 
centre of the tree of eternal life, wherein God the Father 
becomes revealed in His Son by means of the speaking 
Word.” {Grace, iii. 26.) 
In the Sixth Quality the divine powers, still united, 
and therefore undifferentiated and not manifest in the 
fifth, become differentiated and audible. 
“ The sixth form of eternal nature is intelligent life 
or sound. The qualities being all in a state of equi- 
librium in the light (the fifth), they now rejoice and 
acquire audibility. Thereby the desire of the unity 
enters into a state of (conscious) willing and acting, per- 
ceiving and feeling.” (Tabulae Principce, i. 48.) 
“ To constitute audible life, or the sound of the powers, 
hardness and softness, compactness and thinness and 
motion are required. To constitute the sixth principle 
there are therefore required all the other qualities of 84 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
nature. The first form furnishes hardness, the second 
motion; by means of the third division takes place. 
The fire changes the harshness of the conceived essence 
by consuming it into a spiritual being, representing mild- 
ness and softness, and this becomes formed into sound, 
according to the qualities which it contains.” (Mysterium, 
v. 11.) 
This sound of course is not to be compared to terres- 
trial audible sound. 
“ In the light of God the kingdom of heaven (the 
consciousness of the spirit), sound is very subtle, sweet, 
and lovely, so that if compared with terrestrial noise, it 
is like a perfect stillness. Nevertheless in the realm of 
glory it is indeed comprehensible sound, and there is 
a language which is heard by the angels—a language 
which is, however, only partaking of the nature of their 
world.” (Mysterium, v. 19.) 
The third principle reappears in the seventh, and therein 
consists the “ resurrection of the flesh.” 
“ The Seventh Principle is the corporeal comprehension 
of the other qualities. It is called ‘ Essential Wisdom ’ 
or the ‘ Body of God.’ The third principle appears in 
the seven forms of nature in so far as they have been 
brought into comprehensibility in the seventh. This 
principle or state of being is holy, pure, and good. It 
is called the eternal uncreated heaven or the kingdom 
of God, and it is outspoken from the first principle, of 
the dark fire-world and from the holy light-flaming love- 
world.” (Grace, iv. io.) 
“ The seventh form is the state of being wherein all 
the others manifest their activity, like the soul in the 
body. It is called Nature, and also the eternal essential 
wisdom of God.” (Tabulae Principal, i. 49.) 
“ The seventh spirit of God is the body, being born 
from the other six spirits, and in it all the celestial 
figures are taking form. From it arises all beauty, all THE SEVEN QUALITIES. 
85 
joy. If this spirit did not exist God would be imper- 
ceptible.” {Aurora, xi. 1.) 
“ Wisdom is the substantiality of the spirit. The 
spirit wears it as a garment, and becomes revealed there- 
by. Without it the form of the spirit would not be 
knowable; it is the corporeity of the spirit. To be 
sure, it is not a bodily, tangible substance, like the bodies 
of men, but has nevertheless substantial and visible 
qualities which the spirit per se does not possess.” {Three- 
fold Life, v. 50.) 
There is no language to describe the beauty and 
splendour of divine wisdom. Whatever there is of 
magnificence perceptible in this terrestrial world exists 
in the celestial world in a far superior state, in eternal 
spiritual perfection. 
“Earthly language is entirely insufficient to describe 
what there is of joy, happiness, and loveliness contained 
in the inner wonders of God. Even if the eternal Virgin 
pictures them to our minds, man’s constitution is too 
cold and dark to be able to express even a spark of it in 
his language.” (Three, Principles, xiv. 90.) 
Neither are these superterrestrial pictures mere 
shadows or creations of fancy. 
“ Just as the earth continually produces plants and 
flowers, trees and metals, and beings of various kinds, 
one always more glorious, stronger, and more beautiful 
than the rest; and as on our terrestrial plane one form 
appears while others perish, there being a continual 
working and evolving of forms, likewise the eternal 
generation within the holy mystery continually takes 
place in great power; so that, in consequence of this 
perpetual wrestling of spiritual powers, one after another 
divine fruits appear by the side of each other, all and 
each of them in the radiance of beautiful colours. All 
that whereof the terrestrial world by which we are sur- 
rounded is merely an earthly symbol, exists in the celes- 86 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
tial realm in exquisite perfection in a spiritual state. 
It does not exist there merely as a spirit, a will, or a 
thought, but in corporeal substantiality, in essence and 
power, and appears inconceivable merely in compari- 
son with the external material world.” {Signature, 
xvi. 18.) 
This beauty the divine and essential wisdom, the 
eternal Virgin, does not produce by her own power; but 
by the power of God that acts within her. She herself 
is without any will of her own. 
“ Not wisdom, but the Spirit of God, is the centre, 
or the discloser. As the soul is manifesting herself 
in the body by means of the flesh, and as the latter 
would have no power if it were not inhabited by a living 
spirit, likewise the wisdom of God is the corporeity of 
the Holy Spirit, by means of which He assumes substan- 
tiality, so as to manifest Himself to Himself. Wisdom 
gives birth, but she would not do so if the Spirit were 
not acting within her. She brings forth without the 
power of the fire-life; she has no ardent desire, but her 
joy finds its perfection in the manifestation of the God- 
head, and therefore she is called a virgin in chastity and 
purity before God.” (T'dlt., ii. 64.) 
Divine wisdom exists only by means of the Trinity, 
and the latter can be revealed only by forming eternal 
nature within its own body. 
“ The light and the power of the sun disclose the 
mysteries of the external world by the production and 
growth of various beings. Likewise God, representing 
the eternal Sun, or the one eternal and only Good, would 
not reveal Himself without the presence of His eternal 
spiritual nature, wherein alone He can manifest His 
power. Only when the power of God becomes differen- 
tiated and relatively conscious, so that there are individual 
powers to wrestle with each other during their love-play, 
will be opened in Him the great and immeasurable fire of THE SEVEN QUALITIES. 
87 
love by means of the forthcoming of the Holy Trinity.” 
{Grace, ii. 28.) 
The Father, ruling the first principle, the fire, gene- 
rates eternally the Son, the light, by means of the seven 
forms of eternal nature; and the Son, revealing Himself 
in the second principle as the light, for ever glorifies the 
Father. 
“ The eternal will, the Father, conducts His heart, 
His eternal Son, by means of the fire into great triumph, 
into His kingdom of joy.” {Grace, ii. 21.) 
“ When the Father speaks His Word—that is to say, 
when He generates His Son—which is done continually 
and eternally, that Word first of all takes its origin in 
the first or acrid quality, where it becomes conceived. 
In the second or the sweet quality it receives its activity; 
in the third it moves; in the heat it arises and ignites 
the sweet flow of power and the fire. Now all the 
qualities are made to burn by the kindled fire, and the 
fire is fed by them ; but this fire is only one and not 
many. This fire is the true Son of God Himself, who 
is continuing to be born from eternity to eternity.” 
{Aurora, viii. 81.) 
“ The Father is the first of all conceivable beings, but 
if the second principle were not becoming manifest in 
the birth of the Son, He would not be revealed. Thus the 
Son, being the heart, light, love, and the beautiful and 
sweet beneficence of the Father, but being distinct from 
Him in His individual aspect, renders the Father recon- 
ciled, loving, and merciful. His birth takes place in the 
fire, but He obtains His personality and name by the 
ignition of the soft, white, and clear light, which He is 
Himself.” {Three Principles, iv. 58.) 
“ The Son is perpetually born from eternity to eternity, 
and shines perpetually into the powers of the Father 
while these powers are continually generating the Son.” 
{Aurora, vii. 33.) 88 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
The Holy Spirit, manifesting Himself in the third 
principle, issues eternally from the Father and the Son, 
and in and with Him issues the splendour of God’s 
majesty. 
“ The Eternal Father becomes manifest in the fire, the 
Son in the light of the fire, and the Holy Spirit in the 
power of the life and the motion that issues from the fire 
and the light.” {Signature, xiv. 34.) 
“ The Holy Spirit reveals the Godhead in nature. He 
extends the splendour of the majesty, so that it may be 
recognised in the wonders of nature. He is not that 
splendour itself, but its powder, and He introduces this 
splendour of the majesty into the substantiality wherein 
the Godhead is revealed.” {Threefold Life, iv. 82 ; 
v. 39-) 
Thus the holy Trinity is everywhere, manifesting itself 
in and through the seven qualities of eternal nature. 
“ We Christians say that God is threefold, but one in 
essence, and this is misunderstood by the ignorant as 
well as by the half learned, for God is not a person 
except in Christ. He is an eternally generating powTer 
and the kingdom wfith all beings.” {Myst. magn., vii. 5.) 
“ He is generating Himself in a threefold aspect, and 
in this eternal generation there is nevertheless to be 
understood only one essence and generation; neither 
Father, nor Son, nor Spirit; but only the one eternal 
Life, or Good.” {Myst. magn., vii. 1 1.) CHAPTEE IV. 
CREA TION. 
Everything we see in nature is manifested truth ; only we are not able to 
recognise it as such, unless the truth is manifest within ourselves. 
God is the supreme, fundamental, universal, self-existent 
eternal cause; absolute and unimaginable glory, perfec- 
tion, goodness, beauty, magnificence, and splendour. He 
created everything out of His own self, as there was 
nothing but Himself to create from. It is, therefore, 
logical to suppose that the first powers which He created 
and which were nearest to Him must have been divine 
and spiritual, all lower existences being more remote 
from His supreme state, belonging to a more “ material ” 
condition of creation. The same may be observed in 
man. His thoughts are nearer to his divine centre and 
self than his muscles and bones, and the realm of his 
soul is nearer to his spirit than his material body, and 
the more holy his thoughts the more will they be capable 
to communicate with the God in him. Boehme says:— 
“ God has created the holy angels, not by means of any 
substance foreign to His own self, but out of His own self, 
out of His power and eternal wisdom.” (.Aurora, iv. 26.) 
Truly, if there was or is nothing but God, it follows 
that God is the All, and that there is nothing which is not 
God. Nevertheless, those creations of God which are in 
a certain sense remote from the divine centre are not 
divine, and therefore not God. 
“ It is said that God is everything, that He is in heaven 
and earth, and also the external world, and such an 
assertion is true in a certain sense; because everything 90 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
originates in and from God. But of what use is such a 
doctrine, which is not a religion ? Such a doctrine was 
accepted by the devil, who wanted to be manifest and 
powerful in everything.” (Tillc., ii. 140.) 
Such a system of Pantheism may satisfy the rational- 
istic reasoner, who has no power of spiritual perception, 
but true divine knowledge has nothing to do with such a 
Pantheism nor with rationalistic Theism. It does not admit 
of a confounding of the terms “ God ” and the “ world.” 
The universe is not identical with God, neither is the spirit 
of man identical with his body. Not even the Christ is 
identical with God, in so far as He has become human. 
“ The external world is not God, and will not be God 
in all eternity. The world is merely a state of existence 
wherein God is manifesting Himself.” (Stief., ii. 3 16.) 
God is not man. 
“ There will always a distinction have to be made 
between the Godhead and humanity, between the human 
will and the will of God.” {Stief., ii. 95.) 
The moon has no light of her own; she merely reflects 
the light of the sun. Nevertheless the light coming from 
the moon is not equal to sunlight. Likewise man’s will 
and consciousness is derived from God; but for all that 
it is only human, and not divine. 
“ If a man says of himself, ‘ I, the living word of God 
in this my holy flesh and bone, say and do this or that,’ 
he then dishonours the sacred name of God. This is 
also against the doctrines of the Bible; for whenever the 
intellect of a man was selected for the purpose of pro- 
phecy, the prophet did not say, ‘ I, Mr. So-and-So, say this 
or that,’ but he said, * Thus speaks the Lord ! ’ This means 
that the Lord speaks in and through such a man, and the 
latter is His medium and instrument.” (Stief., i. 84.) 
A man can never be God; not even Christ in nis 
human aspect made ever any such claims. CREATION. 
91 
“ Christ never said, ‘ I, in my human selfhood, am the 
voice of God, I am speaking as God, in or with God/ &c.; 
but He said, ‘ The words which I speak are the Father’s, 
who lives in me ’—that is to say, who lives in my human 
or natural self.” (Stief., i. 94.) 
To the blind reasoner God is an universal blind and 
unconscious power ; the god existing within the imagina- 
tion of the narrow-minded sectarian is equally narrow ; 
but to the enlightened, God is a personal (individual) 
God and all-loving Father, residing within His own holy 
omnipotence, superior to all that can be conceived. 
“ Do not imagine God to be a blind power, existing 
and moving in, or beyond, or above heaven, having neither 
reason nor knowledge, comparable to the sun, who runs 
around in his orbit, sending out light and heat re- 
gardless whether it benefits or harms the earth and her 
creatures. Ho! Hot thus is the Father; but He is an 
omnipotent, all-wise, and all-knowing God, in Himself 
good, kind, and merciful, joyful, and even joy itself.” 
(Aurora, in. 1 1.) 
“ If you consider the depth of heaven, the stars, the 
elements, and the earth, you will, of course, not grasp with 
your eyes the pure and clear Godhead, although God is 
there and within it; but if you rise up in your thoughts 
and direct your mind to God, who in His holiness rules 
within the All, you are then penetrating through heaven 
and grasping the very sacred heart of God Himself.” 
(Aurora, xxiii. 11.) 
God is not subject to the law of evolution, but the law 
has its foundation in Him. God as a Spirit, eternally 
perfected within Himself, did not need to create for the 
purpose of perfecting Himself. There is no being who 
can perfect itself by its own power, or give to itself any- 
thing which is not within its reach. The growth of a 
plant and the unfoldment of the human soul requires the 
presence of a superior power. A God capable to grow 92 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
would presuppose the presence of a superior God from 
which to draw power. Only that which descends from 
above can rise again upwards, as is symbolised by the 
double interlaced triangle. 
“ Before the time of the creation of heaven, the stars, 
the elements, and also before the creation of the angels, 
there was nothing but Deity, reproducing itself for ever 
sweetly and lovely, and conceiving of its own image.” 
{Aurora, xxiii. i 5.) 
“ God did not create for the purpose of perfecting 
Himself, but to reveal Himself to Himself in great joy 
and magnificence. This joy did not begin with the 
beginning of creation, but it has been from all eternity a 
subjective state in God.” (Signature, xvi. 2.) 
God did not make the world out of something intel- 
lectually conceivable or out of something that was not 
Himself; neither does a man create the images which 
constitute his thoughts out of anything outside of his own 
mind. Before creation took place it was resting (sub- 
jectively) like a seed in His own completion and per- 
fection, comparable to the imagination of a man whose 
mind rests in a peaceful slumber, while for all that the 
divine spirit in him is self-conscious. 
“We cannot truly say that this world has been made 
out of something.” {Signature, xiv. 7.) 
“ We cannot reasonably suppose any formation or 
differentiation to have existed in the eternal One from 
which, or according to which (formation) something 
could have been made ; for if such a form, or predispo- 
sition to making a form, had existed, there would have 
been another cause, besides God, from which the form 
would have resulted, and then there would have been 
something else (another god), and not the one only and 
eternal God.” {Baptism, i. 1.) 
“ Creation is nothing else but a revelation of the all- 
essential, unfathomable God, and whatever exists in His CREA TION. 
93 
own eternal evolution, which is without a beginning, is 
also in that creation. But the latter is in regard to God 
what an apple that grows upon a tree is to the tree. The 
apple is not the tree, but grows out of the power of the 
tree. Likewise all things have their origin in divine 
desire, and that desire caused them to enter into being. 
In the beginning there was nothing to produce them, 
except the mystery of eternal generation (evolution).” 
(,Signature, xvi. i.) 
“ Imagine a mother (a womb) having the seed within 
herself. As long as she contains the seed as such, it 
belongs to herself, but when it becomes a child then is the 
seed not hers, but it is the property of the child. Thus 
it is with the angels. They have all been configurated 
out of the divine seed; but after this has been done, 
each one has its own corporeal being to itself.” (Aurora, 
iv. 34-) 
“ The reason why the eternal and unchangeable God 
has created the world is an unfathomable mystery ; it can 
only be said that He did it in His love.” (Hamberger.) 
God, being pure knowledge, does not require to have 
recourse to reasoning, for the purpose of attaining an 
object; He being Himself His own subject and object, 
self-sufficient and eternal. We can, therefore, only say 
that He creates; because He is an ever-flowing fountain 
of love, in the same sense as the sun shines; because he 
is an everlasting source of light. 
“ How it came to happen that God stirred to produce 
creation, while He Himself is unchangeable, cannot be 
discovered, and an attempt to do so would merely pro- 
duce a confusion of mind.” (Menschwerdung, i. 2, 5.) 
“ We cannot tell how it happened that that which 
stood eternally in the essentiality of God entered into 
motion, because there is nothing that could have caused 
God to move, and the will of God is eternal and un- 
changeable. We can only say that the Three was 94 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
desirous of having children of its own kind.” {Forty 
Questions, i. 273.) 
The world could not have been made as it exists now, 
directly out of the purely divine state of being. In its 
material aspect it is material and not spiritual. God 
is unchangeable and independent of external conditions 
(which do not exist for Him); but the manifestations of 
His power change according to the conditions that are 
caused by their mutual relations. Thus the light of the 
sun remains always the same; but it gives various hues 
to the flowers, according to their own individual qualities. 
“No creature can issue from the purely divine state 
of being, because this state has neither cause nor begin- 
ning, nor can it be brought into a beginning.” {Grace, 
viii. 45.) 
“ Within the light and the heart of God, as such, there 
can be nothing created; because the light is the end of 
nature and has no quality. Therefore it cannot change 
or be made into anything, but remains for ever the same 
in eternity.” {Three Principles, x. 41.) 
Nevertheless it is the Triune God that created all 
things out of eternal nature. We may say that the 
world, as we know it, is constituted entirely of forms of 
heat, or of motion, or of electric conditions, or light, &c., 
&c. All this is true in so far as it refers to the relations 
which it bears towards ourselves. All these powers are 
only modes of manifestation of one primordial and origi- 
nally divine power, namely, the will of God acting in His 
own eternal wisdom. 
“ The eternal Triune God created all things by and 
through the eternal Word out of His own self, namely, 
out of His two aspects or qualities ; out of eternal nature, 
the fury or wrath, and out of His love; by means of 
which the wrath or “ nature ” was pacified. Thus He 
created them, and caused them to enter into existence.” 
{Stief., ii. 33.) CREATION. 
95 
“The Father, being primordial Will, speaks out all 
things by means of the Word, out of the centre of freedom ; 
but the issue from the Father by means of the Word is 
the spirit of the power, and this spirit gives form to that 
which has been outspoken, so that it appears as a spirit.” 
(Threefold Life, ii. 63). 
This magic power, or “ Word,” has been in God from 
all eternity, and as such it is God and the “ Christ ” in 
its purely divine aspect. 
There is not any time during which “ God goes to 
sleep ” or loses His self-consciousness; neither does the 
idea to create come to Him from some outside influence; 
but God beholds the universe from all eternity in His 
wisdom as a mirror, and by the act of creation He pro- 
jects into objectivity (so to say) the image existing sub- 
jectively in Him. It is, therefore, Nature and not God 
that goes to rest during the “nights of creation,” in the 
same sense as the body of a man goes to sleep, while his 
spirit remains self-conscious in its own sphere. 
“ Wisdom is a divine imagination, wherein the ideas 
of the angels and souls have been seen from eternity ; not 
as substantial, actual creatures, but non-essential, like the 
images in a mirror.” (Clavis, x. 5.) 
“ The likeness of God, having been seen in the wisdom 
of God from all eternity, and in which God created Man, 
was without life and substantiality before the beginning 
of the time of this world. It was merely a reflection of 
the image wherein God saw how He would be in an 
image.” (Stief, ii. 123). 
“ Man has not been from eternity; but only like a 
shadow stood the image, wherein God in His wisdom 
knew all things from eternity, in the mirror of His own 
wisdom.” {Stief., ii. 143.) 
The will of God is only one; but by its action within 
eternal nature a great many divine powers are produced. 96 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
The ideas existing in the universal mind are innumerable, 
and therefore there is the possibility of innumerable dif- 
ferent forms coming into existence by the action of the 
divine will. There is, however, nothing fully perfect 
besides the Godhead, and consequently there exist on all 
planes beings of different states of perfection, and capable 
to become more perfect by means of the will of God, 
which is the law of evolution. 
“ The kinds of creatures are as varied as are the 
eternal thoughts in the wisdom of God.” (Three Prin- 
ciples, ix. 37.) 
“ As the divine powers are manifold, even innumer- 
able, so there is a differentiation of ideas and a difference 
among the angels; in consequence of which some appear 
like kings or rulers and others as servants.” (Theosophic 
Questions, v. 9—12.) 
“ There being nothing perfect except the divine Three, 
consequently all things differ from one another, and like- 
wise the angels have different qualities.” (Threefold Life, 
v. 90.) 
These “ angels ” (good or evil) are living and conscious 
powers existing in nature. Neither the power of God nor 
any angel, or devil or creature of any kind, can have any 
existence outside of Nature, i.e., outside of the dark fire- 
ground, the will of God, out of which everything is born. 
“No created spirit can exist without the fire-world. 
Even the love of God could not exist, if not the wrath 
of God, or the world of fire, were existing in Him; for 
the wrath or the fire of God is a cause of light, strength, 
power, and omnipotence.” (Stief. ii. 4.) 
“ The wrath (the fire) is the root of all things and the 
origin of all life ; in it is the cause of all strength and 
power, and from it are issuing all the wonders (manifes- 
tations of power). Without that fire there would be no 
consciousness, but everywhere a mere nothing.” (Three 
Principles, xxi. 14.) CREA TION. 
97 
“No being can be born unless it lias within itself the 
fiery triangle, i.e., the first three natural forms.” {Grace, 
ii. 38.) 
Every form is the product or manifestation of a power 
which is building up such forms. Without the presence 
of such a power there could be no manifestation of it; 
neither can any form exercise or know any power except 
that which resides therein. 
Therefore a being incapable of any emotion would be 
unable to rise above the sphere of emotions; a being 
without any energy to commit evil would have no energy 
to accomplish anything good. 
The foundation from which all powers and ideas 
spring is eternal; but the created beings as such have a 
beginning in time. 
“Everything has been from all eternity, but merely 
as ideas, and not as corporeally existing things. Only 
incorporeal spirits existed (as ideas) in eternity, as in a 
world of magic, where one thing contains the other in 
potentiality.” (Forty Questions, xix. 7.) 
“ The creation of the angels has a beginning, but not 
that of the powers whereof they have been created. The 
latter are co-eternal with the eternal beginning.” {Mys- 
terium, viii. 1.) 
“ In eternity, in eternal Will, there was a nature, but 
it existed therein only as a spirit, and its essentiality 
was not manifested except in the mirror of that Will, i.e., 
in eternal wisdom.” {Signature, xiv. 8.) 
“ The mysterium magnum is the chaos wherefrom 
originates good and evil, light and darkness, life and 
death. It is the foundation or womb wherefrom are 
issuing souls and angels and all other kinds of beings, and 
wherein they are contained as in one common cause, 
comparable to an image that is contained in a piece 
of wood before the artist has cut it out.” {Claris, vi. 23.) 
In the soul of man exists potentially the whole of the 98 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
universe—heaven and hell, God and the devil, angels and 
spirits, the whole of the celestial, terrestrial, and infernal 
kingdoms, with all their powers and essences; but unless 
these powers become manifested as forms (created beings 
on the spiritual, astral, or terrestrial plane), they can have 
no existence recognisable to his internal senses. 
Creation was an act of the free will of God, and not 
induced by any inferior cause. The will of God would 
not be divine if it were not free. It is itself the law, 
and therefore not subject to “natural law,” or the law of 
mechanics. Creation took place by means of God un- 
folding His eternal nature, whereby through His active 
love or desire He caused that which heretofore had been 
in Him merely as a spirit (subjectively) to become sub- 
stantial and corporeal (objective). 
“ The created world was before the mysterium magnum, 
for all things were then in a spiritual condition in wisdom, 
as in a continual play or wrestle of love. The one only 
Will conceived this spiritual form into the Word, and 
permitted the intelligence (the separate consciousness— 
i.e., the acrid and astringent quality), to act without 
restraint, so that each power could enter or build itself 
a form according to its own specific quality.” (Grace, 
iv. 12.) 
“ The eternal Mind is always desirous for the power, 
and the power is the astringency, and the astringency is 
the contraction, attraction, or the eternal fiat, which creates 
and renders corporeal that which the eternal Will desires 
in its own benevolence. The Will desires by means of the 
keen fiat to bring into substantiality (render objective) 
that which it beholds in eternal Wisdom.” ( Three Prin- 
ciples, xiv. 74.) 
Thus the divine spirit in man, by means of the 
thoughts of the latter, brings the powers which exist in 
his microcosm into shapes which are objective to him, and 
which form the soul world wherein he resides. CREA TION. 
99 
Creation could, however, become actually complete 
only by means of the activity of all the seven divine 
spirits. It is therefore true that in one sense it was not 
God, the primordial Cause, that directly created the 
world, but the elohims or “ powers ” that created it by 
means of the power received from the fundamental causa- 
tion. 
“ The universe with all its beings has been created 
out of eternal nature, out of the seven spirits of eternal 
nature.” (Threefold Life, iii. 40.) 
“ Whenever anything is born out of the divine Essence, 
it is brought into form, not merely by one spirit, but by 
all the seven.” (Aurora, x. 4.) 
“ When the Godhead stirred for the purpose of creat- 
ing a world, it softly moved within the acrid quality 
and contracted the latter within the divine sal-nitre.” 
{Aurora, xiii. 94.) 
In the formation of beings, their own spirit co-operates 
with the universal Spirit. The universal Life could not 
produce a tree out of the four elements if there were not 
a seed containing the qualities necessary to grow into a 
tree. Nevertheless, by the expression “ their own spirit,” 
it is not to be understood as if these spirits were anything 
essentially different from God. They are merely individual 
centres, receiving their power from the universal Fountain 
of love. 
“ Originally the spirit is a magic gush or outburst of 
fire and desires for substantiality—that is to say, * form.’ 
This is then caused by that desire, and constitutes the 
corporeity of the spirit, and the spirit is then called a 
created being.” (Tilk. i. 186.) 
Every human being has within himself the capacity to 
create, but not every one has that power developed. Every- 
body can imagine, but not every one is artist enough to 
bring the objects of his imagination into an external ob- 
jective form by painting or sculpture. Likewise every THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
one has good and evil powers within himself, but not 
every one has his spiritual strength sufficiently developed 
to create of them living and conscious forms. 
“The centre of each thing is spirit, co-existing with the 
Word. The separation (differentiation) of a tiling (by 
which it distinguishes itself from other things) is in the 
quality of its will, by means of which it assumes a form 
or state of being according to its own essential (predomi- 
nating) desire.” (Letters, xlvii. 5.) 
“ Even to-day the act of creation still continues, and 
it will not end until the judgment of God arrives. Then 
will that which has grown in the holy tree of life become 
separated from the unholy thistles and thorns.” (Three 
Principles, xxiii. 25.) 
“ Whether or not God will create something more out 
of His will after the end of this time is not perceptible 
to my spirit, for it does not penetrate deeper than within 
its own centre wherein it lives, and therein is the para- 
dise and the kingdom of heaven.” (.Principles, ix. 41.) CHAPTER V. 
THE ANGELS. 
“If you wish to hear the Holy Ghost speak out of the mouth of another 
you must first enter yourself with your will hrto the spirit of holiness.” 
—Jacob Boehme. 
It is perfectly useless to attempt to enter into theoretical 
speculations for the purpose of trying to find out whether 
or not the doctrines of Jacob Boehme in regard to that 
which transcends the reasoning power of man are true or 
not. Logic can never supply the place of perception ; 
it can only teach us what a thing cannot be, but it does 
not enable us to see what it is. The only way to con- 
vince ourselves whether there is a divine state of exist- 
ence and celestial powers is, by the aid of God, to seek 
within ourselves for these powers which Jacob Boehme 
describes. If we succeed we shall then know the Holy 
Trinity and the archangels ; in the meantime a considera- 
tion of Boehme’s doctrines may serve to destroy the 
erroneous conceptions which hinder us from seeing the 
truth as it exists in ourselves. 
God (the divine primordial Will) by becoming objec- 
tive to Himself, and thereby constituting Himself a created 
being, assumed a threefold aspect, which gave rise to 
three different self-conscious divine powers, called “ arch- 
angels,” representing the three types of the Holy Trinity. 
The angels or powers are called Michael, Lucifer, and 
Uriel.1 
1 Whether we call them by those names, or whether we adopt the 
names by which they are called in other theologies, will be of no conse- 
quence, and not alter the fact that such powers exist. 102 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ God, constituting Himself a created being, assumed 
the aspect of such a being in regard to His trinity; and 
as this trinity is the greatest and highest in God, also 
He created three princes of angels (divine reflections 
of His own image) which are superior to all others.” 
(Aurora, xii. 88.) 
“ Michael represents God the Father.1 This is not to 
be understood as if he were God the Father Himself; 
but there is among the created beings (the angels) one 
who represents God the Father. The circle or space 
wherein he with his angels is created is his kingdom, and 
he is a beloved son of God, a joy for his Father. You 
ought not to compare him with the heart or the light of 
God, which is in the totality of the Father, and which, 
like the Father Himself, has neither beginning nor end. 
This prince is a created being, and has (as such) a 
beginning; but he is in God the Father, and bound to 
Him in love. Therefore he wears upon his head the 
crown of honour, power, and strength, and except God 
Himself in His trinity, there can be nothing found in 
heaven that is higher, or more beautiful or powerful, than 
he.” (Aurora, xii. 86.) 
“As Michael has been created after the type and 
beauty of God the Father, so was Lucifer created after 
the type and beauty of God the Son, bound to Him in 
love, and his heart was resting in the centre of light, as 
if he were God Himself.” (Aurora, xii. ioi.) 
“ The third king, Uriel, is formed after the type and 
character of the Holy Spirit. He is a magnificent and 
beautiful prince of God, and also bound up in love with 
the other princes, as in one heart.” (Aurora, xii. 111.) 
From the three result the seven, according to a law 
that is manifesting itself eternally on all planes of exist- 
ence. There are seven qualities or properties revealed 
in the life of God; there are seven natural qualities, 
1 Jehovah. THE ANGELS. 
103 
and there are likewise seven high angels besides the 
former three, after which follow innumerable subdivisions 
of angels and spirits, occupying different ranks on the 
ladder of eternal progression. 
These “ angels,” “ thrones,” and “ dominions ” we find 
also in the Hindu mythology, although under different 
names. It ought to be kept in mind that “myths” are 
not “ fables.” Myths are representations of actualities 
clothed in a fabulous form. Their kernel is true, even if 
the shell in which it is clothed is an illusion. 
“There are seven principal qualities in the divine 
Power, wherefrom the centre of God is born, and like- 
wise there are some powerful princes of angels created, 
each one, according to his main quality, being a ruler in 
the army to which he belongs. Each of them, is next to 
his king or archangel, the chieftain of other subordinate 
angels.” (Aurora, xii. 7.) 
“ God has also called into existence other princes of 
angels, corresponding to the seven spirits, such as Gabriel, 
Raphael, &c.” (Aurora, xii. 88.) 
“We have to consider especially seven high princely 
divisions in three hierarchies, according to the fountain 
of the seven qualities of nature, each of these forms ulti- 
mating in one throne.” (Grace, x. 24.) 
Although these self-conscious powers or angels are 
differentiated, each class and each individual having its 
own special characteristics, nevertheless they originate 
all from one common root, and in so far as they have 
remained faithful to their Creator, they are united by 
the most powerful love and harmony, and mingle with 
each other like the individual tones constituting one 
grand accord in creation. 
“ The angels have among themselves only one love- 
will. Neither of them envies the other on account of his 
beauty, but they are in regard to each other like the 
spirits of God. They love each other, and neither of 104 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BO EH ME. 
them imagines himself to surpass another in beauty ; but 
each rejoices in the beauty and loveliness of the rest.” 
{Aurora, xii. 17). 
“ When the spirits of God arise in their divine glory, 
they cannot be bound in such a manner as would pre- 
vent them from intermingling with each other, and the 
angels are not limited by the locality in which they 
reside. The spirits of God perpetually rise within each 
other, and in their eternal generation they enjoy a con- 
tinual exchange of love. Thus the holy angels move 
within each other and go with each other in all the 
three kingdoms, whereby each one receives from the 
other beauty of form, loveliness and virtue, and supreme 
happiness; but each one retains the position belonging 
to him (his centre of gravitation) which in his aspect as 
a created being has been assigned to him as his own 
special property.” {Aurora, xii. 57.) 
All the angels have been created out of the fire and 
the light; each of them is therefore a complete being, 
having within himself all the seven qualities in various 
stages of unfoldment. In the evolution of the seventh 
the corporeal body is formed, because the third quality 
reappears in the form of the seventh. This reappearance 
of the third within the seventh constitutes the “ resur- 
rection of the flesh.” Not in a dead and putrefied corpse, 
but in the living soul, does that resurrection take place. 
“ When God created the angels, the principle of fire 
and light became manifest. Their spirit or life-anguish 
(consciousness) has its origin in the fire. From thence 
it passed through the light, and became there the anguish 
of love, by which the wrath was extinguished.” (Men- 
schwerdvng, i. 3—10.) 
“ The angels have all been created in the first prin- 
ciple, formed and corporified by the moving Spirit, and 
illumined by the light of God.” (Three Principles, 
iv. 67.) THE ANGELS. 
“ Prom all eternity the light of God was lovely, sweet, 
and clear ; but when God moved to create, the matrix 
(the foundation), with its fiery, dark, acrid and bitter 
qualities, became manifest; for the angels have been 
created out of that matrix into the light, and rendered 
corporeal by the moving Spirit.” {Aurora, v. 24.) 
“ Each angel has the power of the seven primitive 
spirits within himself.” {Aurora, xii. 8.) 
“ The body of the angels—that is to say, its apprehen- 
sibility, originates from the seventh spirit, and the gene- 
rating powers in that body are the seven spirits.” 
{Aurora, xvi. 1 5.) 
The body of the angels is the incorporated spirit of 
nature, and it encloses the seven other spirits. They 
generate themselves in that body, as is also the case in 
the Godhead.” {Aurora, iii. 30.) 
If the terrestrial world which wre know is corporeal to 
us, having been thrown into objectivity by the power of 
the divine Will acting upon the images existing in the 
bosom of eternal Wisdom, there is no reason why the 
same Will should not have called into existence in the 
same way a superterrestrial, supersensual, and celestial 
world, whose subjects will be as real and corporeal to 
its inhabitants as the objects in our world are corporeal 
to us. 
“ There is a life superior to life in this world in 
eternity. The spirit of this world (the terrestrial mind) 
cannot conceive of its nature. It has within itself all 
the qualities of this terrestrial life, but not in such 
inflamed essences as the latter. Truly, it also has a fire, 
and a very powerful one, but it burns in a different 
way; it is sweet, mild, and without pain; it does not 
consume, but causes majesty and living splendour, and 
its spirit is pure love and joy.” (Threefold Life, viii. i.) 
“ In heaven, in the spiritual world, are the same 
qualities as there are in the terrestrial world; but they 106 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
are there not manifested in such a furious (gross) form, 
but in a superior state, like darkness that is absorbed by 
light.” (Mysterium, x. 7.) 
As the eyes of the blind are unable to see the objects 
of the external world, so those whose spiritual perceptions 
have not been opened will be unable to perceive the 
objects existing within the inner world. 
There are objective products in that celestial world 
which appear there as “ natural ” as ours appear on the 
terrestrial plane; but as the celestial world is far more 
refined, glorious, and beautiful than the terrestrial world, 
those products must also be superior to any that can be 
found upon this earth. 
“ The celestial powers, by their interaction, generate 
trees and bushes, whereon grows the beautiful and lovely 
fruit of life. Likewise, by means of these powers, there 
arise various flowers of beautiful celestial colours and 
exquisite odour, in a similar manner as in this perverted 
and dark terrestrial valley various kinds of trees, shrubs, 
flowers, and fruits grow, and as the earth produces 
beautiful stones, silver, and gold. All these external 
forms are symbols of the celestial generation. Nature 
labours very diligently with the degenerated and inert 
earth, for the purpose of producing celestial forms and 
kinds ; but she produces only dead, dark, bitter, cold, 
and evil fruits. In heaven there are no such dead, hard, 
wooden trees as in the terrestrial sphere, but spiritual 
growths. Nevertheless we speak, not symbolically, but 
of real, actual plants, and this is to be taken in no other 
than in a literal sense.” {Aurora, iv. I o.) 
The objects existing in the ideal, but nevertheless per- 
fectly real world, are as far above those existing in 
the external world as the ideal conceptions of a great 
genius are above what he can possibly execute by his 
hands. THE ANGELS. 
107 
The realm which formerly was governed by Lucifer em- 
braced our earth and the whole depth of the starry sky. 
The realms of Michael and Uriel are equal in extent to 
the former, and exist beyond the starry sky. 
“ What Boehme says about the extent of the kingdoms 
of Michael and Uriel is not to be taken in an external 
terrestrial sense. The realm of Lucifer before his rebel- 
lion was immaterial like the others, and only afterwards 
descended into materiality and terrestrial relations to 
space.” {Hamberger.) 
“ The whole locality of this world, the depth of the 
earth and above the earth, up to the sky and the created 
heaven itself, which we see with our eyes, but which, 
nevertheless, we cannot comprehend with our senses—all 
this space is one kingdom, wherein Lucifer was the ruler 
before his fall; but the other two kingdoms, that of 
Michael and Uriel, exist beyond the created heaven 
(space) and are equal to the former realm.” (Aurora, 
vii. 7.) 
“The angels are God’s instruments in governing the 
world, and as such they not only glorify the celestial 
nature wherein they rule, but they also dominate over 
the terrestrial world and its individual regions.” 
They rule the world according to the principle of 
divine wisdom which is manifested in and through them, 
and not, like man, according to their notions or smartness 
or policy. They execute the will of God, and not any 
will of their own. 
“ God the eternal One rules all things by means of the 
activity of the angels. The power and the action is of 
God ; but they are His instruments.” (Theosophical Ques- 
tions, vi. 7.) 
“ That which the angels will and desire is brought into 
images and forms by means of their thoughts.” {Theo- 
sophical Questions, vi. 9.) 
They are full of the will of divinity, and therefore 
their thoughts are rendered effective by that will, and do THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
not vanish like the superficial fancies of man, fed by his 
imaginary self-will. 
“ Whenever the celestial melody of the angels begins to 
sound, there are arising within the divine sal-nitre vari- 
ous worlds of growths, figures, and magnificent colours.” 
(Aurora, xii. 24.) 
“Each country has its princely guardian spirit, with 
its legions. Likewise there are angels governing the 
four elements—fire, water, air, and earth.” (Mysterium, 
viii. 9.) 
If man knew the beauties of the spiritual world by 
which he is surrounded, and which he may see when he 
awakens from the dream of external life by becoming 
self-conscious in the spirit, his interest in the affairs 
of this mundane existence would be diminished to a con- 
siderable extent. Such a knowledge, however, is only 
attainable to those who are capable of entering the in- 
terior state, and has nothing to do with the dreams of the 
visionary who revels among the products of his own fancy. 
St. Martin says: “ There ” (in the higher world) “ it is 
not like in our dark dwelling-place, wherein sounds can 
only be compared with sounds, colours with colours, and a 
substance only with that which is directly related to it. 
There all things are more closely related with each other. 
There the light is sounding ; melody produces light; colours 
have motions, because they are living, and the objects are 
all at once sounding, transparent, moving, and can pene- 
trate each other.” 
The belief in guardian angels is not a fable. Man is 
surrounded by good and by evil, self-conscious and in- 
visible powers, which may influence him for good or for 
evil. His soul is the battle-field where the combat be- 
tween devils and angels takes place, and he is free to side 
with the one or the other, as is beautifully described in 
the “ Bhagavad Gita.” The evil influences are easily 
attracted if we merely remain passive to their power; but THE ANGELS. 
109 
the spirit of holiness cannot enter unless unholiness is 
chased away. In this battle against evil the angels are 
always ready to assist man in an invisible manner against 
the temptations of the “ devils,” provided that he is willing 
to receive such an aid. 
“ The external nature of this world cannot comprehend 
the nature of heaven. Both are compared with each 
other, like death compared with life. We cannot see the 
angels according to our external nature, neither can they 
be with us externally; but they reside internally with us. 
Whenever we battle with the devil they ward off his 
blows, and thus they take under their protection the soul 
that aspires for that which is holy.” (Aurora, xix. 30.) 
“Know that the devil often fights with the angels. 
When the soul of man is secure in God, then the devil 
desires to enter; but he is stopped, so that he cannot do 
what he wills. Whenever the soul imagines, and lustful 
desires begin to arise, then is the devil victorious.”1 (Three- 
fold Life, xiv. 13.) 
“ Each principle is attracted by, knows, and loves that 
which is like unto its own self. The principles existing 
within the periphery are acting upon their corresponding- 
principles in the centre. Love acts upon love, hate upon 
hate; good is attracted by good, and evil by evil. If 
there is no evil desire active in man, evil influences can- 
not take root in his soul. The devil is the poorest of all 
creatures. He cannot move a leaf upon a tree unless the 
wrath is contained therein.” (Theosophical Points, v. 18.) 
Man without any principle could know nothing; it is 
always a certain principle in him that recognises its cor- 
responding principle in nature. A man without love can- 
not know what love is. Neither can any one recognise 
the Christ, or be recognised by Him, unless he has the 
Christ within his own soul. 
1 Therefore no man can resist, successfully resist the devil by fighting 
him on the same level, nor can any one overcome temptations in the end 
except by rising above them. THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
The self-will, i.c., the will of God perverted in a created 
being, is the “fire-life” of the latter and the cause of its 
anguish. All the angels have originally been created 
out of the light; but for the purpose of remaining 
therein they had to give up to God their fire-life, and 
not rise up in their self-will against the Lord. 
“Each angel who wishes to live in the light and power 
of God must give up the selfhood of the dominion of 
the fire within the desire; he must surrender himself 
and all that belongs to him to the will of God; he must 
die in regard to his self-will, and unfold in the light of 
love as a fruit of divine love, so that the will-spirit (the 
spiritual will) of God shall rule his life.” (Stief. ii. 49.) 
“ The devil was an angel, and it would have been his 
duty to put his imagination (faith) into the light of God. 
In that case he would have received the divine substan- 
tiality in his imagination, and his light would have remained 
luminous. The fire-fountain would have remained in 
that essence and quality, and he would have remained an 
angel.” (Tilk. i. 187.) 
Thus those who crave for intellectual knowledge, while 
deserting the basis of the true knowledge of God, will 
ultimately become the victims of their own conceit, and 
turn into devils. 
In the recognition of good and evil rests the freedom 
of choice. This knowledge is attained by means of 
the fourth form. If that quality has awakened in a 
being, then may the latter go ahead in a forward direction 
either toward absolute good or evil until the orbit is 
reached, where the attraction of one or the other ceases 
to act. As long as this limit is not reached, a being may 
either enter the divine love-will, or turn in the opposite 
direction, and sink within the lower qualities of nature. 
“ In the lightning flash, the fourth form of nature, is 
the origin of life, and it attains perfection in the con- 
stancy of the fire. Here, in the object of division, is the THE ANGELS. 
111 
spirit born, and this spirit can either go backwards and 
enter with his imagination into his mother, the dark 
world, or move forward, and by means of death sink into 
the anguish of the fire, and then bloom out into life. 
He is free, and therefore either of these two ways is 
within his choice.” (Theosophical Points, vii. 2.) 
Every being is free and responsible only according to 
the degree of its knowledge; not its intellectual know- 
ledge, but according to that which is the result of the 
experiences of its spirit—its “ conscience.” 
“ In the principle of fire is the turning-point. There 
the will may move in whatever direction he chooses. If 
it desires the “Nothing,” i.e., freedom, it must sacrifice 
itself to the fire, and sink in the death of that principle.1 
Then the Father, the eternal Will to nature, will put it 
into the will of the Son ; where for the great deal 
which that being lias given, it will receive all; but 
not to its own honour, but for the glorification and power 
of God. When this is accomplished, God in such a man 
is his will and his doing, and his fire becomes a light 
and a clear mirror; but if he does not will to do so, but 
wishes to be himself a master, and to possess multiplicity 
for his own self; then must he enter into the severe 
astringency, into the world of darkness, and cannot con- 
duct himself in his principles higher than up to the fire, or 
rather only up to the lightning flash. He remains in 
darkness, because only freedom outside of nature can 
supply the light and the clearness.” (Theosophical 
Points, vii. 6). 
The fourth form is the object of division after the 
death of the body, and the centre of consciousness will 
be either with the higher part or the lower, according to 
the preponderance of either good or evil. The higher 
1 To “desire the Nothing” does not mean to become unconscious of 
everything, like a man when he goes to sleep, but it means “ contentment,” 
and a state of perfect rest and happiness found in the self-consciousness of 
being and possessing the All. 112 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
consciousness enters the light; the lower consciousness 
continues to exist in its own hell-fire and self-created 
suffering. God “ redeems ” man by redeeming Himself 
from man’s animal elements, to which he is tied during 
the terrestrial life of the personality. 
Lucifer could have retained his state of celestial life; 
it was by his own will that he surrendered himself to 
the wrath of nature. 
“ The life of the eternal creature was in its bemnnins 
entirely free, because it was in the appropriate har- 
monious temperature. The angels were created for 
heaven, and even if the world of darkness with the 
realm of phantasy was contained therein, it was in latent 
condition, and not manifest. By the action of the free 
will in the fallen angels the world of darkness became 
objective in them; because they were inclined towards 
phantastry (speculation), and consequently the latter took 
possession of them and arose in their essence.” (Grace, 
iv. 45.) 
“ One should not think that King Lucifer could not 
have remained that which he was. He had before him 
the light of the majesty, just like the other throne angels. 
If he had contemplated therein, he would have remained 
an angel; but because he acted according to his own 
selfish will, he is now an enemy of the love of God, and 
of all holy angels.” (Menscliwerdung, i. 217.) 
He knew the will of God, and nevertheless acted in 
opposition to it, and therefore he did not become merely 
an idiot, but a devil. 
“ The realm of illusion has been from eternity, and 
gave cause to the angels’ fall; it presented the conditions 
without which such a fall from the angelic state could 
not have taken place; but Lucifer entered into it by 
his own free will, and without any coercion.” (G-race, 
vi. 2.) 
“ Lucifer had within himself the fire and the light. He THE ANGELS. 
113 
was free. Why then did he imagine (project his con- 
sciousness) into the fire ? The light and the power of God 
did not draw him into the fire, but the wrath of nature. 
Why did his spirit consent?” (.Menschiverdung, i. 5.) 
“ The fiery lust, which was strong in Lucifer, incited 
him. Likewise the darkness (matter) wanted to become 
created (objective) in him.” (Mysterium Magnum, ix. 9.) 
The very divine beauty, and the high power and au- 
thority with which Lucifer was invested, incited him to 
attempt to rise above God, instead of surrendering himself 
to Him in humility,1 and thus he stimulated the activity 
of his sourcive spirits (latent principles) in an unnatural 
manner. 
“ When the kingly body of Lucifer became corporified 
(organised), and his spirits (principles or qualities) began 
to become qualified and generated (unfolded), the lightning 
flash of life arose in his heart, and the spirit went from 
the heart back again into all the veins of his (organising) 
body, inflaming all the seven spirits. Thus he stood, a 
divine king, in transcendent clearness.” (Aurora, xiv. 4.) 
His condition may be compared to that of a man who 
uses the powers which are given him for the purpose of 
enabling him to rise up to the kingdom of God to feed 
his own passions. 
“When Lucifer saw that he was so very beautiful, and 
when he realised his high birth and great power, the spirit 
which he had generated in himself (i.e., his own free will) 
arose and became desirous to triumph over the divine 
birth, and to exalt itself above the heart of God.” (Au- 
rora, xiv. 13, 32.) 
“ When Lucifer was in such a kingly form, and placed 
in such high glory, he ought to have moved in God as 
God moved in him; but this he did not do, for after his 
1 True humility does not consist in self-abasement, but in the entire sac- 
rifice of one’s lower self, whereby the power and the majesty of God 
become revealed in man. 114 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
sourcive spirits were endowed with such a glorious light, 
they were filled with so much joy that they revolted 
against the natural right (the law), and desired a still 
higher, prouder, and more magnificent qualification than 
God Himself. Then it happened that the acrid quality 
contracted her essence to such a state of hardness that 
the sweet water therein became exsiccated. Simultaneously 
(with that) the lightning flash was so glaring that it be- 
came intolerable to the rising spirits, because it went into 
the acrid quality in such a terrible manner, as if it wanted 
to burst them asunder with great joy.” (Aurora, xiii. 116.) 
It must not be supposed that God created an especial 
pain for the purpose of punishing Lucifer for his sinful 
conceit; but Lucifer himself inaugurated a hell for him- 
self by turning away from God and exciting the lower 
natural qualities. 
“ God did not create a hell or a special state of suffer- 
ing wherein to torment the creatures that deserted Him ; 
but as soon as the devils went out of the light and 
attempted to rule by the power of fire over the beatitude 
in the heart of God, in the same moment they were out- 
side of God and in the four lower qualities of eternal 
nature. Thereby they were kept imprisoned in the abyss 
of hell.” (Threefold Life, ii. 53.)1 
“ The devil is not affected with any pain coming from 
the outside, but (the cause of all suffering) is in himself. 
This is the hell wherefrom he is created, and the light of 
God is his eternal dishonour, because he is the enemy of 
God, and no longer in the light of God.” (Three Prin- 
ciples, iv. 36.) 
“The foundation of hell was from eternity; however, 
it was not manifest, but hidden until it became awakened ” 
(Theosophical Questions, xv. i.) 
1 Hell is created in man by the awakening of his lower qualities, whereby 
they attain self-consciousness and self-will, and refuse to obey the divine 
will in man. THE ANGELS. 
“ The four lower principles without the eternal light 
are the abyss, the wrath of God, and hell. Their light 
is the terrible lightning-flash, wherein they must awaken 
themselves.” (Threefold Life, ii. 50.) 
“ The acrid and stern desire moved in Lucifer, awaken- 
ing the sting and the desire of anguish. Thus the beautiful 
star overshadowed its own light and perished, and its 
legions acted as he did.” (Mysterium, ix. 10.) 
Neither could Lucifer’s legions have acted in any other 
way, became it was his will acting in them. They are 
parts of himself. 
All the forms of nature are warring furiously against 
each other in Lucifer, being in a state of implacable 
animosity towards each other. They generate in him a 
proud and dark monster, instead of a son of God, united 
with Him in love. 
“If the spirits arising (in Lucifer) would have inter- 
acted peacefully and according to the will of God, they 
would have generated a son within themselves who 
would have been like the Son of God and His beloved 
brother; but when they arose in a state of keen igni- 
tion, they generated a self-conceited, triumphant son, who, 
according to the first quality, was hard, harsh, cold, 
and dark; and according to the second, of a bitter, burn- 
ing, fiery appearance. The sound in him was a hard 
fire-sound, and in the place of love there was proud 
enmity. Thus in the seventh form of nature there 
appeared a proud monster which fancied to be above God 
and that there was no equal to it. Love was grown cold ; 
the heart of God could not touch this perverted being. 
Whenever that heart, full of benevolence and loveliness, 
moved to meet it, the heart of the monster appeared dark, 
cold, hard, and fiery.” 1 {Aurora, xiii. 40-47.) 
1 The same is the case with every one who turns away from the light 
and seeks the darkness, until at last he becomes identified with the dark* 
ness, and can no longer separate himself from it. 116 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ The acrid quality was the first murderer, for seeing 
that he was generating a beautiful light, he contracted 
still harder than God had created him. The second 
quality, as the second murderer, went with great 
strength into the acrid one, as if he wanted to rend its 
body to pieces. The heat, being the third murderous 
spirit, killed its mother, the sweet water. The sound 
arose so furiously that it sounded like a clap of thunder; 
it intended thereby to prove its own new divinity, and 
the fire arose like a terrible glare of lightning. Thus 
the whole body became a dark valley, and there was no 
comfort nor help. Love turned into enmity, and the 
angel of light became a black and dark devil.” (Aurora, 
xiv. 19-25.) 
As the saint becomes identified with God, so the 
wicked may become identified with the devil. Either of 
the two is an “ incarnation ” of that principle which has 
attained self-consciousness in him. 
Lucifer having conceived a will entirely opposed to 
the divine, and intending to put his own products in the 
place of the formations of God, not only God, but also 
the pure angels, especially Michael with his legions, 
separated from him. 
“ Lucifer saw creation and knew its foundation. There- 
upon he also wanted to be a god, and to rule in all things 
by the power of fire. He wanted to bring into form his 
own thoughts, and not that which the Creator desired. 
Thus he became an enemy of God, and desired to destroy 
what was formed by the action of God for the purpose of 
putting in its place his own effects and figurations.” 
(Theosophical Questions, x. i.) 
“ Lucifer having left the harmony of God, the holy 
name of God separated from him and remained in its 
own unity; but Lucifer remained in the qualities of the 
central fire which he had awakened within himself.” 
(Theosophical Questions, x, 6.) THE ANGELS. 
117 
“ The dark realm of phantasy and the creature which 
is constituted by the fallen angels is only one thing, one 
will, one being; and as this rebellious will did not want 
to reside and rule solely in the phantasy, but wanted to 
rule also in the holy power wherein it stood at first, 
the holy power repelled it out of itself and hid itself 
away before it—that is to say, the inner heaven shut 
it out of its own state, so that it could not see God. 
Thus it died to the kingdom of goodwill.” {Grace, 
iv. 46.) 
“ When Lucifer proved to be such a tyrant and cor- 
rupter of all that is good, the whole army of heaven 
turned against him, and he likewise turned against every- 
thing. Then the battle began, and the arch-prince 
Michael with his legions fought against him, and the 
devil with his legions conquered not; but was driven 
away from his position as one who has been conquered.” 1 
{Aurora, xvi. g.) 
The separation of Lucifer from the world of light was 
a total separation, but not a local one in the ordinary 
sense of this word. 
“ The world of light knows nothing of the devils, and 
the devils know nothing about the w’orld of light except 
that they once belonged to it.” {Theosophical Points, 
v. 2.) 
“ Heaven is in hell, and hell is in heaven, and never- 
theless there is neither of them revealed to the other. 
Even if the devil were travelling for many hundred 
thousands of miles, for the purpose of going to heaven, 
he would nevertheless always remain in hell. Thus the 
angels do not see the darkness; they see only the light 
of divine power ; but the devils see only the darkness of 
the wrath of God.” {Mysterium, viii. 28). 
1 It must not be supposed that the good angels “made up their minds ” 
to fight Lucifer, but this separation was according to natural laws, in the 
same sense as water is opposed to fire. 118 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Every being is in that state which constitutes its own 
consciousness. 
The hellish being has not yet attained completion in 
its development. The existence of the terrestrial world, 
in whose evil parts the evil spirits reside and work, is an 
obstacle to that. 
As man loses his knowledge of God, he correspondingly 
loses his power for evil A man cannot become a com- 
plete devil until he attains Godlike knowledge and cor- 
responding powers. 
“ As the devils, led by conceit and wantonness, ignited 
themselves, they have now been entirely cast out from 
the generation of light, and cannot conceive or compre- 
hend it in all eternity. Nevertheless the dwelling of 
Lucifer is not yet completed, because in all things in 
this world there are love and wrath still residing together, 
and wrestling and battling with each other. Still those 
things or beings realise not the wrestling of light, but 
merely the wrestle of wrath.”1 (Aurora, xviii. 32.) 
“ The hellish being is not yet fully manifest; the 
devils will have to wrait for a still greater judgment. 
The sun and the water keep their kingdom still hidden 
unto the day of reckoning, and therefore the devils have 
so much fear of the judgment day.” (Theosophical 
Questions, xiii. 15.) 
“ There are always two kingdoms (states) to be dis- 
tinguished in the elements. In one of these rules the 
love that issued from God, and in the other His wrath. 
The devils reside only in the realm of wrath, where they 
are enclosed within eternal night, and they cannot come 
in contact with the good powers of the elements.” (Tlieo- 
sophical Questions, xiii. 7.) 
1 The good which we receive is not recognised, because it causes no 
pain. No one complains about receiving more blessings than he merits ; 
but the deserved evil which we receive causes suffering, and the unmerited 
evil is keenly resented. THE ANGELS. 
119 
The evil spirits are especially inimical to man; but 
they cannot injure him if his will is directed towards the 
divine, and if he does not permit himself to be captured 
by evil desire. 
No man, except he who is regenerated in the spirit, is 
free and his own master. It is always either divine or 
diabolical influences acting through him; but he is en- 
dowed with a certain amount of divine reason to choose 
either the one or follow the other. 
“ If we leap into earthly desire, we shall be captured 
by it, and then will the anguish of the abyss be lord over 
us. But if by the power of our will we ascend beyond 
this world, then will the world of life capture our will, 
and God will be our Lord.” (Theosophical Points, vi. 5.) 
“Let no man think that it is in the power of the 
devil to tear from his heart the w*orks produced by the 
light. He can neither see them nor understand what 
they are. Therefore, even if in the most external genera- 
tion the devil rages and storms, as long as you do not 
yourself transfer the products of wrath into the light of 
your heart, your soul will be safe from being injured by 
the devil, he being deaf and blind in the light.” {Aurora, 
xix. 97.) 
Lucifer anticipated the misery which he was bringing 
upon himself ; but his knowledge was only a “ science ”— 
that is to say, it was not a condition fully realised by his 
experience; it was rather of a theoretical character than 
actual self-knowledge, and having lost the spiritual power 
of faith to aid him to maintain his position, this “science” 
was not sufficient to keep him from his fall. Moreover, 
he was curious to attain something entirely new. 
“ Did then Lucifer not know of the judgment of God 
and the fall ? Yes, he knew it well; but he had this 
knowledge not in his feeling (he did not realise it as an 
actual experience); it was with him merely a science, an 
intellectual conception.” (Mysterium, ix. 9.) 120 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ Lucifer knew that he was not God, and he also knew 
the extent of his power; but he wanted some entirely 
new experience, he wanted to be higher than God, and to 
elevate his power over all kingdoms, and over all of the 
Godhead.” {Aurora, xiv. 14.) 
God also knew, in His eternal wisdom, that the fall 
of Lucifer would take place. 
“ In eternal wisdom, or, to speak more correctly, in 
eternal nature, the fall of the devil (and also of man) 
has been perceived even before the world was created.” 
{Three Principles, ix. 22.) 
“ The image of the created being has been seen in wis- 
dom according to its aspects in wrath and love. Herein 
also has the Spirit of God, issuing eternally from the 
the light and the fire of the Father, foreseen the fall— 
namely, that this image, if shaped into a corporeal being, 
would be attracted by the wrath, and lose its divine 
splendour.” (Stief. iii. 58.) 
Although God foresaw that fall, nevertheless it could 
not be prevented. 
“ It may be asked why God did not restrain Lucifer from 
his evil desire ? But how could this have been done ? 
If this being of fire would have been led into still more 
mildness and love, his glorious light would then have 
become still more manifest to him, and his fiery self-will 
would thereby have increased. Should He educate him 
by punishing him ? It was already Lucifer’s purpose to 
excite within himself the magic foundation, and to play 
with the centre of the qualities.” {Mysterium, ix. 14.) 
Lucifer wanted to know the darkness, and had no desire 
for the light. Man must know evil for the purpose of 
becoming able to realise the good, after which he returns 
to the latter; but as everything seeks for its own corre- 
sponding principle, he in whom evil has become paramount 
will remain in evil. THE ANGELS. 
121 
“ Behold a thistle or a nettle. The more sunshine and 
power they receive, the more stings will they produce. 
Thus, if God pours His love into the devil, the products 
of the devil are anger and hate.” (See Grace, iv. 37.) 
An end of the hellish torment1 is inconceivable. Such 
an end would involve either a change of Lucifer’s pride 
into humility, or a destruction of the whole work of 
creation. 
“ If Lucifer were again to become an angel, to become 
such he would have to draw again from the unity and 
love of God; his fire-life would have to be consumed by 
love, and to be changed into humility; but this the hellish 
foundation (the will) in the devils refuses to permit.” 
(Theosophical Questions, vii. 5.) 
“ The hellish essence, having an eternal foundation, the 
will cannot perish, unless the whole of creation would 
cease to exist and eternal nature in her own loveliness be 
extinguished. But in this case the kingdom of joy would 
be equally lost.” (Theosophical Questions, v. 3.) 2 
1 The word “ torment ” means here not necessarily “ pain,” but “ con- 
sciousness.” The “devil” does not suffer as long as he is in his own 
element. 
2 That which has become self-conscious in evil cannot be changed into 
good without first becoming unconscious of its own evil self; but if the 
being is wholly evil, such a complete death would also prevent the possi- 
bility of its becoming conscious of good. CHAPTER VI. 
THE RESTORATION OF NATURE AND THE 
GENERATION OF MAN. 
“ If we speak about heaven and the birth of the elements, 
we are then not telling of things that are far away or 
foreign to us, but of that which is taking place within 
our own self, and there is nothing nearer to us than this 
birth, for we are therein as in our own mother. If we 
speak of heaven, we then speak of our home, of our own 
country, wherein the illumined soul can see, even if that 
country is hidden before the eyes of the body.” (Prin- 
ciples, vii. 7.) 
The Mosaic account of creation was never intended to 
be a history of the creation of the world from the begin- 
ning, but it is a history of the renewal or the restoration 
of the natural world that was formerly ruled by Lucifer, 
and which was thrown into disorder and convulsion by 
his desertion from God, 
“ Before the times of the wrath there were in the 
locality of this world the six sourcive spirits generating 
the seventh in a sweet and lovely manner, as is even 
now done in heaven, and there was growing therein not 
even a spark of wrath. All that was contained therein 
was light and clear, needing no other light, for the foun- 
tain of love within the heart of God was illumining 
all. Nature was then very ethereal, and everything 
therein stood in great power. But as soon as in nature 
the war with the proud devils began, everything took 
another shape and mode of action. The light became ex- 
tinguished in the external generation, and therefore the 
heat became imprisoned in corporeity and could no THE RESTORATION OF NATURE. 
123 
longer generate its own life. From this cause death then 
entered into nature, and nature degenerated. Conse- 
quently another creation of light had to be inaugurated, 
and without that the earth would have had to remain in 
eternal death.”1 (Aurora, xvii. 2 ; iv. 15.) 
Everything in nature was to bloom out and become 
newly-born, as may be seen by beholding minerals and 
stones, trees, grass, and herbs, and animals of various 
kinds, and although all these formations were perish- 
able and not pure in the sight of God, nevertheless 
God intended to extract from them at the end of this 
time their heart and kernel, and to separate them from 
the wrath and death, and then that which had thus been 
regenerated was to bloom eternally, and to bear again 
celestial fruits outside of and beyond the locality of this 
world.”2 (Aurora, xxiv. 25.) 
“ The same sal-nitre ” (the material basis or foundation), 
“ which at the time of the ignition of the wrath perished 
in death, has at the time of regeneration been raised 
in the flash of fire. It has not become anything new, 
but merely another form of corporeity, which is now in 
a state of death ” (existing relatively to us as gross 
matter).3 (Aurora, xxii. 80.) 
The outcast spirits, having produced in nature a state of 
ignition, God gathered together the essence of that nature, 
and thereby He withdrew it from the reach of those powers, 
putting a stop to their insolence by means of water.4 
1 “ Lucifer ” is to be regarded not as a separate being within this world, 
but as a power penetrating the whole of the visible universe, in the same 
sense as that universe may now be regarded as being the body of universal 
spiritual man. 
2 In other words, the tendency of the spiritual principle is to spiritualise 
and illumine everything by becoming active therein. 
3 In the same sense the power of a seed to develop into a tree may 
remain latent for many years until the conditions present themselves for 
its manifestation. 
4 Thus the fire of passion is subdued in man by the “ water ” of eternal 
life distilled from humility, which baptizes the soul and tranquillises the 
turbulent elements. THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
124 
“ The outcast spirits were still in the quality of the 
Father, and therefore they ignited the quality of nature 
by means of their imagination, so that the celestial 
substance became earth and stones, and the sweet spirit 
of the water a burning sky. After this the creation 
of this world took place.” {Menschwerdung, i. 2-8.) 
Creation could not take place as long as all the ele- 
ments were in a state of revolution; only after the 
“ Spirit of God moved upon the waters of the deep ” 
could the divine Word take form. 
“ When the eternal Word moved, because of the malice 
of Lucifer, and for the purpose of expelling this evil guest 
from his residence into eternal darkness, the essence was 
rendered compact (coagulated). God was not willing to 
leave the manifested powers, wherein Lucifer ruled as a 
prince, any longer in his command, but he caused them 
to enter into a state of coagulation and spued him out 
therefrom.” (Mysterium, x. 13.) 
“ Therein consists the fall of Lucifer, that he awakened 
the mother of fire and wanted to rule over the benevo- 
lence in the heart of God. This fire is now his hell; but 
this hell God has captured by means of heaven—i.e., the 
mother of water. For while the locality of this world 
was to burn on his account in the fire, God moved to 
create, and created the water. From this has resulted 
the ocean and the unfathomable watery depth. So it 
was at Sodom and Gomorrha, for when their sin was 
great and the devil resided therein, desirous of maintain- 
ing his power, God permitted that the prince of this 
world ignited those five kingdoms with fire and sulphur. 
But while the devil imagined to be lord in that place, 
and to have there his dwelling, God thought of breaking 
his pride; He caused water to come there, and thus He 
extinguished his glory.”1 {Threefold Life, viii. 24.) 
1 This goes to show the intimate relations existing between the spiritual 
and the material worlds. There is a “ spiritual ” and a “ material ” water, 
both of which are merely manifestations of the one element. THE RESTORATION OF NATURE. 
125 
By His creative will, full of love, God caused the 
light to arise, and thus He directed the power of dark- 
ness downwards into the depths. Thus, when the soul 
of man rises up to eternal freedom, the powers of dark- 
ness disappear in the abyss below. 
“ The wrath did not touch the heart of God; but His 
benevolent love issues from His heart, penetrating into 
the most external generation of wrath, and extinguishing 
the latter. Therefore He said, Let there be light.” 
(Aurora, 85.) 
“When God spoke, Let there be light, the holy power 
which was conceived together with the wrath, moved, 
and the power of the devil was entirely withdrawn from 
him in its essence.” (Mysterium, xii. 14.) 
“ Thus the darkness remained within the quality of 
the wrath in the substance of the earth, and within the 
whole depth of this world ; and in the substance of light, 
the light of nature from heaven—i.e., out of the fifth 
essence, arose that whereof the constellation was created. 
This essence is everywhere, in the earth and above the 
earth.”1 {Aurora, xii. 15.) 
By means of this new creation of the light, the new 
life had begun to stir everywhere; but this creation, in 
accordance with the number of the divine spirits which 
were active thereby, arrived at a state of perfection only 
on the seventh day.2 
“When God spoke the word, Let there be light, 
the essence, the being within the quality of the light, 
stirred not only within the earth, but also within the 
whole depth, in great power; wherefrom on the fourth 
1 The same takes place within the heart of man when his mind becomes 
illumined by the light of divine wisdom that arises from the divine centre 
in him. 
2 The seventh “ day ” for our planet is always and nevertheless it has 
not yet arrived, because the six days belong to time and the seventh to 
eternity. 126 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
day the sun was created—that is to say, ignited.” 
Mysterium, xii. 13.) 
“ When God stirred to create this world, it was not 
that only one part moved and the other one rested, but 
there was all in motion at once.” {Aurora, xxii. 122.) 
“ This motion lasted during six lengths of days and 
nights, when all the seven spirits of God were in com- 
plete and moving generation, and also the heart of all 
spirits, and the sal-nitre of the earth turned around 
in that time six times within the great wheel.” (Aurora, 
xxi. 123.) 
“ The day’s works refer to the seven qualities, six of 
them belonging to the actual regiment, but the seventh, 
or the essentiality, is that wherein the others are resting; 
for these qualities have been spoken out by God and 
rendered visible.” {Mysterium, xii. 2.)1 
On the second day a separation took place in the 
power of the light, of the external material from the 
inner immaterial water, and the firmament (that which 
is firm) was put in the middle between these two. 
“ The water of life became separated from the water 
of death; but in such a way that in the time of this 
world they are linked together like body and soul. 
But the heaven, having been made from the middle-part 
of the water, is like an abyss between the two, so that 
the conceivable water is a death, but the inconceivable 
one is the life.” (Aurora, xxi. 7.) 
“ The water upon the earth is a degenerated and deadly 
being, like the earth herself. This material water, 
contained within the most external generation, has been 
separated from the inconceivable one.” {Aurora, xx. 
27.) 
“The water above the firmament is in heaven, and 
1 The six “ days ” are the activities of the seven forms of eternal nature, 
the seventh is their centre or rest, or the “ temperature.” In the seventh, 
“ God ” appears as the “ Christ.” (See Grace, iii. 39.) THE RESTORATION OF NATURE. 
127 
the water below the firmament is the material water.” 
(Mysterium, xii. 24.) 
“ The firmament is the connecting link between time 
and eternity. God calls it ‘heaven,’ and makes a dis- 
tinction between the waters; which is to indicate that 
heaven is in the world, but not the world in heaven.” 
(Mysterium, xii. 23.) 
Thus the mind of man is the connecting link between 
the celestial and terrestrial state. Heaven and happi- 
ness may be in his mind, but not his mind in an external 
heaven. 
The spiritual and the material water are not separated 
from each other in an external manner, or according to 
locality, but wherever there is the material water, there 
is also the spiritual one, and it comes to aid the former. 
“ When I behold the external water, I am forced to say, 
‘ Here in the water below the firmament is also contained 
water from above the firmament.’ But the firmament is 
the middle, and the link (dividing line) between time 
and eternity, so that neither one of them is the other. 
By means of the external eyes, or the eyes of this world, 
I see only the water below the firmament; but the w’ater 
above the firmament is that which God in Christ has 
instituted for the baptism of regeneration.” (Mysterium, 
xii. 26.) 
“All the water in this world is degenerated, and 
therefore the upper water must come to the aid of the 
earth, and extinguish her fire and pacify her, so that the 
true water may be born.” (Aurora, xx. 33.) 
Divine inspiration must come to the aid of the mate- 
rial thought, so that heavenly thoughts may be born. 
On the third day the fiery and the watery essence, the 
firmament of heaven and the earth, entered again in 
conjunction, and from this there were born grasses and 128 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
herbs and trees, and at the same time there were also 
formed gold and silver and ores of various kinds.1 
“ On the second day God separated the watery and 
the fiery mercury from each other, and called the fiery 
one the firmament of heaven. Then in the spirit of 
external nature there originated a male and a female 
kind—namely, in the fiery Mercury the male, and in the 
watery the female one.” (Claris, 86.) 
“ On the third day the fiery and the watery Mercury 
have again entered in conjunction and mixture, and then 
the sal-nitre gave birth to grasses and herbs and trees.” 
(Claris, 88.) 
“ After God had put heaven between the love and the 
wrath, for the purpose of discernment, there on the third 
day love penetrated through heaven into the wrath. 
Then the old and deadened body began to stir and to 
feel the anguish of generation; for love is ardent, and it 
ignited the fountain of fire, and the latter caused a 
friction in the acrid and cold quality of stiffened death, 
until on the third day the acrid quality became heated, 
and thus the acrid earth became moveable. (Aurora, 
xxv. 29). 
“ When the light contained in the sweet water pene- 
trated through the acrid spirit, the lightning flash, having 
become ignited in the water, in the acrid, hard, and dead 
quality, it caused motion in everything, and thus came 
movability (life) into existence, not only in the heaven 
above the earth, but also at the same time within the 
earth. Then there began life to be generated in all 
things, and from the earth were produced grass, herbs, 
and trees, and within the earth there were formed silver, 
gold, and metals of various kinds.” {Aurora, xxi. 132 ; 
xx. 6.) 
1 Three is the number of form, and therefore on the third “day,” and 
by means of the third principle, three dimensional forms (there can be no 
other) came (and continue to come) into objective existence. THE RESTORATION OF NATURE. 
129 
As the light could be active only in the corrupted 
essence, there being none other, the products formed 
thereby were of a mixed kind, half good and half 
evil. 
“ When the light appeared again within the external 
conceivableness, the Word brought forth life out of death, 
and the corrupted sal-nitre produced fruits again; but 
this had to take place in a certain relation to the depraved 
state existing in the wrath, and as the external forthcom- 
ing of those fruits took place from the earth, they had to 
become evil and good.” (Aurora, xxi. 19.) 
Before the ignition of the sun and the stars took place* 
nature was resting as in a state of death, and the forma- 
tions proceeding from her were devoid of the living, 
growth-producing power. 
“ Until the third day after the ignition of the wrath of 
God in this world, nature remained in anxiety, and was a 
dark valley in death; but on the third day, when the 
of the stars became ignited in the water of life, the 
life broke through death, and the new generation began.” 
(Aurora, xxiv. 41.) 
“ In the earth there is above all the acrid quality. 
This contracts the sal-nitre and solidifies the earth, causing 
it to become a corporeal being, forming therein also bodies 
of various kinds, such as rocks, metals, and manifold roots. 
When this is formed it has nevertheless no life to enable 
it to grow and expand. But when the heat of the sun 
acts upon the soil, various formations prosper and grow in 
the earth.” (Aurora, viii. 41.) 
Likewise the material and earthly elements in man 
have no power themselves to rise superior to their own 
nature. This they can do in no other way than by the 
power of the Divine Spirit. 
Now the eternal light of God shone into the darkness 
of this world and ignited the heat in the firmament or 130 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
heaven, and thus out of the fire arose the light—that is 
to say, the sun and the starry sky. 
“ After the heaven had been made, for the sake of dis- 
tinction between the light of God and the corrupted body 
of this world, the latter was a dark valley and without 
light, and all the powers were captured, as if in death, 
and very uneasy until they became kindled in the midst of 
the whole body. But when this took place the love in 
the light of God broke through that heaven of division 
and ignited the heat.” {Aurora, xxv. 68.) 
“God, the eternal light and the eternal will, shines 
within the darkness, and the darkness has captured the 
(.will (received its activity). In this will arises now the 
anxiety, and in this is the fire, and in the fire the light. 
Thus from the fire the stars have been produced, and 
from the power of the heavens the sun.” (Three Principles, 
viii. 22.) 
All this takes place in a corresponding manner during 
the spiritual regeneration of man. 
Thereby divine Wisdom has manifested itself, not in an 
entirely pure, and therefore not permanent and immutable 
manner, but nevertheless as in a clear mirror, and it thereby 
drove the devil backward deep into his darkness. 
“ On the fourth day God, out of His eternal wisdom, 
created the lord of the third principle (the visible world), 
the sun and the stars. Herein is now truly seen the 
Godhead and the eternal wisdom of God, as in a clear 
mirror. This being, visible before our eyes, is not God 
Himself, but a God in the third principle, which will 
ultimately return to his ether and take an end.” (Three 
Principles, viii. 13.) 
“ God has made a solid foundation (firmament) called 
‘ heaven,’ between the most external and the most internal 
generation, between the clear Godhead and corrupted 
nature, through which one must break if one wants to go 
to God. Of this foundation it is said {Hiob. xiv. 1 5) that THE RESTORATION OF NATURE. 
131 
even the heavens are not pure before God, but on the 
day of judgment the wrath shall be swept therefrom.”1 
(Aurora, xx. 41.) 
“At the time of creation another light, the sun, was 
awakened in this world, it having been corrupted by 
Lucifer, and thereby the splendour of the devil was taken 
away. Thus he has been shut in like a prisoner into the 
darkness between the realm of God and the realm of this 
world, so that he has no longer anything to rule over in 
this world, except in the Turba, wherein is awakened the 
wrath and anger of God.” (Menschwerdung, i. 2.) 
The sun has been revealed by means of the soul of the 
world, and is made of the influences of all the stars. He 
is also the life of all the stars. Thus the sun of divine 
Wisdom in man is representing the collective knowledge 
which man has gathered from his experiences, having 
as a basis his own divine self-consciousness. Without 
that self-consciousness in God all his intellectual acqui- 
sitions are merely vapoury, and will pass away. 
“ In the soul of the external world, and by means of 
it, God has awakened a king, or, as I would wish to 
call it symbolically, a natural deity, together with six 
councillors, to be his assistants, namely, the sun and the 
six other planets, which were spoken out of the seven 
qualities from the locus (seat or centre) of the sun. The 
sun receives his splendour from the tincture of the fire- 
world and the world of light, and is manifested as a 
revealed point in relation to the world of fire.” {Mysterium, 
xiii. 16.) 
“ In the death in the centre—that is to say, in the body 
or the corporeal substance of the earth, God has awakened 
the tincture, its lustre, splendour, and light, wherein is 
contained the life of the earth; but to the depth above 
1 Man judges himself. According to his conscience will turn the 
scales of the balance. The judgment-day appears when the judging spirits 
awaken in him. 132 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
the centre He has given the sun, which is a tincture of 
the fire, and which, with its power, reaches into the free- 
dom outside and beyond nature, and from which nature 
receives its splendour. He is the life of the whole circle of 
stars, and all these stars are His children. Not that he 
contains their essences, but their life arose from his centre 
in the beginning.” (Threefold Life, iv. 27.) 
“ The sun is the heart of all the powers in this world, 
and is configurated from the powers of all the stars, 
while, on the other hand, he illuminates and vivifies all 
the stars and powers in this world.” (Aurora, vii. 42.) 
Thus the divine principle in man furnishes the intel- 
lect with light and life in the same sense as the sun 
reflects his light upon the moon. An intellect which 
has been deserted by God will perish after its accumu- 
lated strength is exhausted. Only that which God knows 
in us remains permanent. 
“ The sun is in the midst of the depth, and is, so to 
say, the light or heart of the stars, extracted from all 
their powers by the power of God, and brought into form 
Therefore is he the clearest light of all, and by his lustre 
and heat he ignites all the stars, each one according to its 
own special quality and power.” (Threefold Life, vii. 40.) 
“ This is not to be understood as if by calling the sun 
the centre we meant to say that all the stars were 
originated from a central point, called the ‘sun.’ The 
sun is the centre of the powers of the stars, and the 
cause why they move in their essence. He unfolds their 
powers and puts his power into them, and this power 
constitutes their heart.” (Mysterium, xi. 32.) 
Especially have the seven planets become objective by 
means of the snn, and in accordance with and corre- 
sponding to the seven forms of nature.1 
1 All the illumined philosophers of the past speak of only seven planets, 
and if we accept the possibility of spiritual perception and agree that this THE RESTORATION OF NATURE. 
133 
“ As the sun is the heart of the life and an origin 
of all the spirits in the body of this world, likewise 
is Saturn a beginning of all corporeity and tangibility. 
Thus he does not derive his beginning and descent from the 
sun, but his origin is the earnest, acrid, and severe anxiety 
of the whole body of this world.” (Aurora, xxvi. i.) 
“ When the light became ignited, the conquered power 
in the astringency became Mercury” {Three Principles, 
viii. 24.) 
“ Mercury is an agitator, sound-maker, ringer; but he 
has not yet the true life. The latter originates in the fire. 
Thus he desires the fierce and storming essence, to cause 
fire to appear, and this is Mars.” {Threefold Life, ix. 78.) 
“ When the sun became ignited, the terrible fire-flash 
went from the locality of the sun in an upward direction 
like a furious stroke of lightning, and this became Mars. 
He is now there as a tyrant, a raging element, a mover 
of the whole body of this world, so that all life takes its 
origin of him.” {Aurora, xxv. 72.) 
“ As soon as the spirits of motion and life, by means 
of the ignition of the water, arose from the locality of the 
sun, mildness, being the basis of the water, penetrated, 
endowed with the power of light, in a downward direction, 
after the manner of meekness, and from this the planet 
Venus came into existence.” {Aurora, xxvi. 19-33.) 
“ When the fiery terror was captured by the light, the 
light, by its own power, and being a mild, exalting life, 
penetrated still higher upwards into the depth, until it 
arrived in the hard and cold seat of nature. There it 
remained, and from that power the planet Jupiter came 
into existence.” {Aurora, xxv. 76—82.) 
“ The seventh form is Luna, wherein are contained the 
qualities of all the six forms. She is, so to say, the cor- 
perception was true, then there can be no more than seven original planets 
in our solar system, and the remaining two may be looked upon as excres- 
cences, or shadows, as would also appear from the maleficent influence of 
at least one of these, which is known to astrologers. 13 4 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
poreal being of the other forms, all of which throw into 
her their desire by means of Sol. That which Sol (the 
sun) is spiritually becomes corporeal in Luna (the moon).” 
{Signature, ix. 24.) 
After the world of stars had begun to exist, the sidereal 
life appeared by the power of the former—that is to say, 
that living organisms were produced, representing, so to 
speak, “ stars of the various elements.” 
“ The firmament of heaven, having been made from the 
medium of the water, this generation penetrates through 
the external, congealed generation—that is to say, through 
death, and brings forth the sidereal life, such as animals 
and men, birds, fishes, and worms.” (Aurora, xx. 60.) 
“ After God had unfolded the stars and the four ele- 
ments, there were produced creatures in all the four 
elements, such as birds in the constellation of the air, 
fishes in the constellation of the water, animals and four- 
legged beings in the constellation of earth, and spirits in 
that of the fire.”1 (Mysterium, xliv. 1.) 
These creatures received their spirit from the stars, or 
rather from the spirit of this world, but their body they 
received from the earth. According to the predominance 
of the fiery or the watery form, there resulted also an 
antithesis of sex. 
“ By the power of His word, Fiat, God caused all 
beings to come forth from the matrix of nature on the 
fifth day, all according to their qualities; the fishes in 
the water, the birds in the air, the other animals upon 
the earth. They received their corporeity from the 
fixedness (rigidity) of the earth, and their spirit from the 
Spiriius Mundi.” {Grace, v. 20.) 
1 For explicit details regarding the inhabitants of the elemental world 
see Paracelsus. The existence of such beings will become more comprehen- 
sible if we remember that the universe is an organised unity, and that each 
form therein, whether it is visible or invisible to us, is nothing but a rela- 
tive expanse of manifestation of the consciousness that resides in the All. THE RESTORATION OF NATURE, 
“ All creatures have been created of the life below and 
the life above. The matrix of the earth gave the body, 
and the stars the spirit.” (Threefold Life, xi. 7.) 
“ As the spirit of the stars, or the spirit in the fire- 
form, by the power of its longing, became mixed with 
the watery one, there resulted two senses from one and 
the same essence. The one, the male, in a fiery, and 
the other, the female, in a watery shape (state).”1 (Three 
Principles, viii. 43.) 
Finally, man was created, and out of him there was to 
come forth a celestial army, and in the midst of the time 
its king, in the place of the outcast Lucifer. 
“ God willed to create an angelic army. Thus He 
created Adam, and he was to generate out of his own 
body creatures of his own kind; but in the midst of the 
time there was to be born out of the body of a man the 
King of all men, and He was to take possession of the new 
kingdom as a ruler over these created beings, in the place of 
the degenerated and outcast Lucifer.”2 (Aurora, xxiv. 18.) 
Man, however, was to surpass the angels (in perfection), 
for he was to be a complete image of divine glory, while 
the angels have been created out of only two principles. 
1 All this refers not only to beings such as are visible to us, but likewise 
to such that exist on other planes of creation, and which can therefore not 
be seen with our eyes. There are male and female elemental beings, moll 
and dur accords in music, positive and negative forces in all departments 
of nature, from the spiritual down to the most material plane. In all crea- 
tures the will is the executing and female, corporifying, and the imagina- 
tion the superintending, directing, male element. 
2 In regard to the “ stuff out of which man is made,” Theophrastus Para- 
celsus says : “ It is an extract of all beings that exist in heaven and upon 
the earth, of the souls of all things, all creatures, spirits, elements, and minds, 
attracted to a focus by means of the spiritual centre residing within each 
form. It is the quintessence of all things, and man is a microcosm, differ- 
ing from the macrocosm only in so far as in his constitution the things 
which constitute the macrocosm appear in another image, order, or shape. 
In him are all the potencies and qualities that exist in the universe, active 
or latent. His terrestrial substance is from the earth, his mental faculties 
from the universal mind, his worldly wisdom is from the light of nature; 
but the divine wisdom in him belongs to God.”y 136 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ Adam was to he a perfect symbol of God, created out 
of the eternal Magia, the substance of God; he was to 
be something made out of the nothing, out of the spirit 
—the ideal—into the body.” (Menschwerdung, i. 5.) 
“ The angels are created out of two principles, but the 
soul, with the body of the outer life, out of three prin- 
ciples. Therefore man is higher than the angels, pro- 
vided that he remains in God.” (Forty Questions,!. 263.) 
“We human beings are a far greater mystery than the 
angels, and we shall surpass them in celestial wisdom. 
They are fire-flames, illumined by the light of God, but 
we attain the great fountain of meekness and love which 
is welling up within the holy essentiality of God.”1 
(Menschwerdung, i. 5.) 
Man comprises all three principles: the principle of 
darkness or fire, from which originates his soul; the 
principle of light, from which his spirit originates; and 
the third principle, which is the basic element of his body. 
“ In the life of man there are three states to be dis- 
tinguished from each other—hist, the innermost, that is to 
say, God toeing eternally hidden within the fire ; secondly, 
the middle part, which from eternity has stood as an 
image or likeness in the wonders of God, comparable to a 
person seeing himself in a mirror; thirdly, has this living 
image received still another mirror in creation wherein to 
behold itself, namely, the spirit of the external world, or 
the third principle, which is also a form (state) of the 
Eternal.” (Threefold Life, xviii. 4.) 
“The darkness in man longing for light is the first 
1 In studying the “ anatomy ” and “ physiology ” of the inner man, it 
will be necessary to remember that, in dealing with anthropology and 
cosmology from a spiritual point of view, we must be able to discard from 
our mind all the vulgar conceptions of what is usually called “ matter ” by 
that science which deals merely with external appearances, and we must 
look upon all things as being manifestations of an universal consciousness, 
acting upon internal or external planes of existence, while the visible form 
is nothing but a passing apparition. THE RESTORATION OF NATURE. 
principle; the power of the light the second; and the long- 
ing power which attracts and becomes full (substantial), 
and whereof the material body grows, is the third prin- 
ciple.” (Three Principles, vii. 26.) 
“The soul, or the first principle, is founded on the fire 
of eternal nature ; the spirit, or the second principle, roots 
in the light; and the body is the third principle, or the sub- 
stantiality of the visible world.”1 (Tabulce Principice, 65.) 
Adam was to rule over all nature, and therefore his 
body was taken from all the powers of the external world ; 
but the third principle, as well as the first one, appeared 
in him subject to the second, the light. 
“ If you will behold your own self and the outer world, 
and what is taking place therein, you will find that you, 
with regard to your external being, are that external 
world. You are a little world formed out of the large 
one, and your external light is a chaos of the sun and the 
constellation of stars. If this were not so, you would not 
be able to see by means of the light of the sun.”2 (Mys- 
terium, ii. 5.) 
“ If man, as the image of God, is to rule over the fishes 
and fowls, the animals, and the whole of the earth, as 
well as over the essence of all the stars, then must he be 
out of all three, for each spirit can rule only in his mother, 
wherein he originated.” (Mysterium, xiv. 8.) 
“ Terrestrial man had in his constitution the kingdom 
of this world, but there were not ruling in him the four 
elements (separately); but they were in one, and the ter- 
restrial order of things was hidden in him. He was 
1 Man is made out of will and imagination ; in other words, “ fire ” and 
“light.” The manifestation of fire and light (thought) produces that 
which appears to us as “ substance ” or “ form.” 
2 It is not “ man ” in the abstract who recognises anything. It is always 
a certain principle, having become active in him, that recognises its own 
counterpart in external nature, when it comes in contact with it. Only 
he in whom is light can see the light; only the element of love can feel 
love ; only the divinity in man can know God in and through man. THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
to live in celestial state, and although everything was 
stirring (alive) within him, nevertheless he was to rule 
over the terrestrial anguish (external consciousness) by 
means of the celestial quality (inner consciousness) of 
the other (second) principle, and to retain dominion over 
the kingdom of the stars and elements by means of the 
Paradisiacal quality.” {Menschwerdung, i. 2.) 
Man must rise, not merely in his imagination, but with 
his will, above all that which is earthly, sensual, or merely 
intellectual, if he desires to be a power in the kingdom of 
the Spirit. Thus will the ideal become real to him. 
“Adam’s body (the ethereal body of aboriginal man) 
was created out of the four elements of external nature, 
and out of the (essences of the) stars, by means of the 
eternal Fiat. Thus he was in possession of divine and 
terrestrial essentiality; but the terrestrial one was in the 
divine one like consumed or impotent (latent). The sub- 
stance or the matter from which the body was made or 
created contained itself also the first principle within itself, 
but it was not stirring therein.” (Menschwerdung, i. 3, 15.) 
“ As God resides within Himself and penetrates through 
all His works, incomprehensible to the latter, and without 
His being affected by anything, likewise His image (man) 
originated from the pure element. He also was created 
in this world; but the kingdom of this world was not to 
comprehend him, but he was to rule powerfully in this 
world by means of the essences from the pure element.” 
(Three Principles, xxii. 15.) 
The expression that God created man from a clod of clay 
is not to be taken in any other sense than that God, by 
means of desire, drew together all the terrestrial qualities.1 
1 Therefore Theophrastus Paracelsus says : “ Natural man is made out of 
the world, and not the world out of him. He is a child of nature, and 
has all of his mother’s qualities in himself, neither more nor less, But 
the true spiritual man is a son of God. Natural wisdom is not divine, 
but divine wisdom is above all.” THE RESTORA TION OF NA TURE. 
139 
“ If Moses says that God created man out of a clod of 
clay, and that he breathed into him the living breath, 
this is not to be understood as if God had acted in a per- 
sonal manner—standing there like a man and taking up 
a lump of earth and making a body out of it; but the 
Fiat, that is to say, the desire of the Word, was contained 
within the eternally-perceived model of man, which stood 
in the mirror of wisdom, and it drew the Ens (the prin- 
ciple) of all the qualities of the earth (matter) into a 
body, and this was the quintessence made out of the four 
elements.” {Grace, v. 27.) 
But the essence of the soul, being rooted in that whole, 
did not become manifest in man before God awakened it 
by the breath of His word.1 
“The sourcive spirits within the whole could not be- 
come immediately ignited by the soul, for the soul was 
only as a seed within the whole, hidden away with the 
heart of God in His heaven, until the Creator expanded 
the whole by His breath. Then the sourcive spirits 
ignited the soul, and then body and soul were living at 
once. The soul truly possessed her life before the body 
existed; but it was within the heart of God, hidden 
within the whole in heaven, and was nothing but a holy 
seed, a centre of power in God.” (Aurora, xxvi. 126.) 
Neither does at this present day the soul of man mani- 
fest divine life as long as the Spirit of God is only mov- 
ing upon the surface and does not stir within the depths. 
1 And thus at this very day each person who has not yet begun to be 
regenerated in the spirit is in the same condition in which Adam was 
before the Spirit of God breathed in him. Man’s soul resembles a seed 
containing the potency of conscious immortality in an unconscious state. 
There is nothing immortal in man except God, and by the awakening of 
that which is divine in him attains the self-consciousness of his own 
immortality. CHAPTER VII. 
M A N. 
“ God created man in His own image. Male and female (in one) 
created He them.” 
Man in his cosmic aspect is a being very superior to 
that which is commonly looked upon as a “ man,” and 
which is described in books on anthropology, anatomy, &c. 
Such external sciences deal only with the grossly material 
body of external terrestrial man, while the essential 
body of macrocosmic and microcosmic man is beyond the 
reach of external observation. In the study of man as a 
cosmic being there are three subjects to be considered, 
although the three are only three aspects of one. These 
three subjects are God, Nature, and Man, and neither 
one of them can be understood in its inner essence with- 
out an understanding of the other two. External science, 
“ natural philosophy,” and theology seek to separate them. 
They regard man as a being separated, distinct, and inde- 
pendent of nature, and nature as something independent 
of man; while of God they know nothing, and regard 
the divine power, which is the cause of all life, as if it 
were something external to nature and man, and beyond 
their reach. For this reason the “ man ” of modern science 
has become an unnatural being, without any conceivable 
object for his existence, and nature is to him an organism 
evolved by accidence and subject to no other than 
mechanically acting law. The divine, spiritual, creative, 
and hidden powers in man and in nature are entirely 
removed from the field of perception of the “ rationalist.” 
Man, as a whole, may be conceived of as a planetary MAN. 
141 
spirit, a self-conscious, luminous sphere of unimaginable 
extent; as, in fact, at present the mental sphere of man 
has no defined limits ; it reaches as far as his thoughts 
can go. He was created for the purpose of being the 
image of God. The glory of God was residing in him, 
and he was penetrated by the light of divine love. 
In man is contained everything, God, and the Christ, 
and the angels, the celestial and terrestrial kingdoms, 
and the powers of hell. Outside of him is nothing of 
which he can conceive; he can know nothing except 
that which exists in his mind. No god or devil, no 
spirit or any power whatever, can act within man unless 
it enters into his constitution. Only that which exists 
in him has existence for him. 
Without a realisation of this fact the mysteries of 
religion will remain incomprehensible. It may be inte- 
resting and amusing to speculate about all the different 
gods and celestial hosts that go to make up the Pantheons 
of the various nations, but such a study does not consti- 
tute real knowledge. Only when man’s spiritual percep- 
tions are unfolded and he attains divine knowledge of 
self, then will he know the Christ and all the celestial 
powers whose aggregate goes to make up the kingdom of 
God existing within himself. 
“ The Spirit of God resides from eternity to eternity 
only in heaven—that is to say, in His own essence, in 
the power of the majesty. When it became inbreathed 
into the image of man, then was heaven in man ; for 
God willed to reveal Himself in man, as in an image 
created after His own likeness, and to manifest the great 
wonders of His eternal wisdom.” (Stiefel, i. 36.) 
“ Simultaneously with the introduction of His divine 
image, Adam received also the living word of God (spiri- 
tual intelligence) to furnish food for his soul.” {Menschwer- 
dung, i. 3, 24.) 
“ God created Adam to (enjoy) eternal life in Paradise 
in a state of paradisiacal perfection. Divine love illumined 142 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
his interior, as the sun is illuminating the world.” {Stiffel, 
i. 36.) 
“ In Paradise there is perfect life without disturbance, 
and a perpetual day, and the paradisiacal man is clear 
like transparent glass, and he is fully penetrated by the 
light of the divine sun.” 1 {Signature, xi. 51.) 
His body likewise appeared luminous, because its 
terrestrial substance was absorbed in the celestial essence. 
It radiated a pure, divine light.2 
“ The inner holy corporeity of the pure element pene- 
trated through the four elements and kept the Limns of 
earth—that is to say, the external sulphuric (terrestrial) 
body within itself as in a state of absorption. Never- 
theless, that body was actually present, but in such a way 
as darkness dwells in light, so that the darkness cannot 
manifest itself on account of the light.” (Mysterium, xvi. 6.) 
“ All the qualities of the inner and holy body, together 
with the external ones, were in primordial man attuned 
in one harmony. Neither of them lived in its own state 
of desire; but they had their desire in the soul wherein 
the divine light was manifest. This, the divine light 
radiated through all the qualities, and produced in them 
an equal, harmonious temperature.” (Mysterium, xvi. 5.) 
“ The inner man kept the external one imprisoned 
within itself and penetrated it in a manner comparable 
to iron, which glows if it is penetrated by fire, so that it 
seems as if it were itself fire. But when the fire becomes 
extinct, then does the black, dark iron become manifest.” 
{Mysterium, xvi. 7.) 
1 The term “Paradise” means a state of purity and innocence and 
happiness, but not necessarily knowledge. Man had to learn to know 
evil so as to be able to realise good. 
2 His thoughts and will were pure, and therefore his spirit (the union of 
will and thought) manifested itself in producing a pure and luminous form, 
not burdened with the gross material elements which form at present the 
bodies of human beings. Then, as now, his body was the product of his 
own thoughts. MAN 
“The pure element penetrated through the external 
man and overpowered the four elements; moreover, the 
power of the heat and the cold was in the flesh. But as 
the light of God was shining therein, they were in equal 
harmony, so that neither one of them became manifest 
before the other. Thus God the Father is called a wrath- 
ful, jealous God and a consuming fire, and He is all that 
in regard to His qualities; but of these qualities nothing 
becomes manifest in His light.” (Stiefel, xi. 75.) 
“ Primordial man in Paradise, being fixed therein, was 
in a state such as time is before God and God in time. As 
time is a spectacle before God, likewise the external life 
of man was a spectacle before the inner and holy man, 
who was the true image of God.” (Mysterium, xvi. 8.) 
In the same sense the Bhagavad Gita says that the 
true self, the God, Atma, or “ Christ,” is not a partici- 
pator, but merely a spectator in that which concerns the 
external illusion. 
“ The inner body was a dwelling-place of the Godhead, 
an image of divine substantiality. In that body the soul 
had her meekness, and her fire was rendered mild thereby, 
for she received there the love and meekness of God.” 
(Tilk., i. 233.) 
Owing to this resemblance to God, Adam’s will and 
thoughts were as one. His mind was pure and uncom- 
plicated, childlike, unsophisticated, and devoted to God; 
he did not need to speculate about the unknown, because 
he had the power to perceive that which he wanted to 
know. He enjoyed the perception of divine and terres- 
trial things.1 
“ The mind of Adam was innocent like that of a child, 
playing with the wonders of its Father. There was in 
him no self-knowledge of evil will, no avarice, pride, 
1 Logical proof is only useful as long as we are blind in regard to the 
nature of a thing After that thing has become a of ourselves and 
we perceive it, no more proof of its existence will be required. THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
envy, anger, but a pure enjoyment of love.” {Threefold 
Life, xi. 23.) 
“ When Adam was created in Paradise, there his life 
was burning like a flame of pure oil. Therefore his per- 
ception was celestial, and his intelligence was surpassing 
and comprehending things beyond nature.” {Signature, 
vii. 2.) 
“ The inner man stood in heaven; his essences were 
the Paradise; his body was indestructible. He knew 
the language of God and the angels, and the language of 
nature, as may be seen by Adam giving names to all 
creatures, to each according to its own essence and 
quality.” {Forty Questions, iv. 7.) 
“ Adam, after having been created by God, was in 
Paradise in a state of joy and glorification, beautiful and 
filled with knowledge. God then brought before him, as 
the lord of the world, all the animals, so that he might 
behold them, and give a name to each according to its 
special essence and power. And Adam knew that he 
was within every creature, and he gave to each its appro- 
priate name. God can see into the hearts of all things, 
and the same could be done by Adam.” 1 {Three Prin- 
gles, x. 17.) 
In this state of godlike being he had power over all 
things; for all things existed in him and he in all, 
and there was nothing that could have done him any 
external injury. To express it in other words, all things 
existed subjectively in his mind, as they now do in ours, 
but his mind was his “ body,” and where the centre of 
his consciousness was, there was his “ form.”2 
1 Adam was in harmony with creation and as one with all nature. 
Therefore he could experience the feelings of all beings in nature within 
himself, and express them accordingly. 
2 Even now man is still there where his consciousness exists; but as 
his physical body is too gross to follow the movements of his thoughts, the 
body becomes unconscious whenever his consciousness concentrates itself 
at another place. MAN. 
“ As God is a Lord over all, so man in the power 
of God was to be a lord over this world.” (Menschwer- 
dung, i. 4, 7.) 
“ The soul in the power of God penetrates through all 
things, and is powerful over all. as God Himself; for 
she lives in the power of His heart.” (Three Principles, 
xxii. 17.) 
“ As gold is incorruptible in the fire, so man was sub- 
ject to nothing, only to the One God dwelling in him, 
and manifested in him by the power of His holy being.” 
{Mysterium, xvi. 12.) 
“ Everything was subject to Adam; his rule extended 
into heaven and over the earth, and in all elements and 
stars. This was because divine power was manifested 
in him.” 1 (Mysterium, xvi. 2.) 
“ The will-spirit of man penetrated through all crea- 
tures, and was injured by none, because none could grasp 
it. No creature can apprehend the power and light 
of the sun in its own will, but must remain passive to 
become penetrated by it; thus it was then the case with 
the will-spirit of man.” {Grace, vii. 2.) 
“ Before his fall, man could rule over the sun and the 
stars. Everything was in his power.2 Eire, air, water, 
and earth could not tame him; no fire burned him, no 
water drowned, no air suffocated him ; all that lived 
stood in awe of him.” {Threefold Life, xi. 23.) 
“ No heat, no cold, no sickness, nor accident, nor any 
fear could touch or terrify him. His body could pass 
through earth and rocks without breaking anything in 
them ; for a man who could be overpowered by the ter- 
restrial nature, or who could be broken to pieces, would 
not be eternal.” 3 {Menschwerdung, i. 2, I 3.) 
1 This was the divine Man, out of whom the world was created, while 
the natural man is a product of the world. 
2 Because everything was within his own will, within himself. 
3 This celestial Adam has not died, but still exists in all of us ; but on 
account of our state of degeneration, caused by the attraction of the lower 
principles, we have forgotten our own divine nature. 146 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Likewise that nature which surrounded him, and which 
is called Eden, was illuminated by the celestial light, 
and it was thereby exalted to paradisiacal magnificence. 
“ Adam was in Paradise, that is to say, in the tem- 
perature. Thereby he was placed in a certain locality, 
namely, in that where the holy world was blooming out 
through the earth and bearing the fruits of Paradise.” 
{Grace, v. 34.) 
“ ‘ Eden ’ means the locality, but ‘ Paradise ’ is the out- 
flowing or the life of God in divine harmony.” {Letters, 
xxxi. 28.) 
“ In Paradise the substance of the divine world pene- 
trated the substance belonging to time, comparable to 
the power of the sun penetrating a fruit growing on 
a tree, and endowing it with such qualities as render it 
lovely to the sight and good to the taste.” {Mysterium, 
xvii. 5.) 
“ Thus the holy divine world was predominant through 
all the three principles of the human quality, and there 
was an equal accord, and no enmity or opposite will was 
manifest betwixt the principles.”1 {Mysterium, xvii. 20.) 
There were in Paradise all the products which we meet 
in the terrestrial world, but they were there in a state 
of ethereality and of supernatural beauty. This para- 
disiacal beauty was, however, not manifested in all parts 
of the world. 
“ In Paradise there are growths, the same as in this 
world, but not in (terrestrial) tangibility. There Heaven 
is in the place of the earth, the Light of God instead of 
the sun, and the Eternal Father in the place of the 
power of the stars.” (Three Principles, ix. 20.) 
“ The Paradise is not anything corporeal or tangible 
in a terrestrial sense, but its corporeity and tangi- 
bility is like that of the angels. It is there a clear, 
1 It was Adam’s own state of feeling and thinking that created an Eden 
for him, and thus each human being creates his or her own Paradise. MAN. 
visible, substance, as if it were material, and it is actually 
“ material; ” but it is formed only out of the power, with- 
out any addition of terrestrial matter, and it is, there- 
fore, perfectly transparent.” {Three Principles, ix. 18.) 
“ The tangible world, or nature, before the time of the 
wrath of God, was thin, ethereal, lovely, and clear, so 
that the sourcive spirits could look through everything 
and penetrate it. There were therein neither terrestrial 
rocks nor earth, and there was no created light needed, 
such as it is now; but the light was generated in all 
things in the midst of each thing, and everything was in 
the light.” (Aurora, xviii. 29.) 
“ The whole world would have been all Paradise if it 
had not been corrupted by Lucifer. But as God knew 
that Adam was going to fall, it bloomed out in only one 
place, wherein man might find a suitable dwelling-place, 
and be fortified therein.” (Mysterium, xvii. 7.) 
“ God saw and knew that man was going to fall, and 
therefore the Paradise did not bloom and bear fruits in 
the whole of the world by means of the earth, although 
it was manifest everywhere, but only in the Garden of 
Eden, wherein Adam was tempted, did it become revealed 
in its full magnificence.”1 {Letters, xxxix. 28.) 
For all that, man, although having been endowed with 
great splendour by the Creator, did not yet enjoy true 
similarity with God.2 
“ In Adam was manifest the kingdom of grace, the 
divine life, because he lived in the temperature (harmony) 
of the qualities, but he did not know that God was 
1 This Paradise (Deva-loca or Devachan) is described in Eastern books 
as an “ illusion ; ” but it is no more an illusion to its inhabitants than the 
dream called “terrestrial existence” is an illusion to us. On the contrary, 
it is far more permanent and beautiful than this terrestrial world. 
2 He could not enjoy similarity with God, because he did not possess 
divine self-knowledge. To attain this knowledge of self he had to eat 
from the tree of the self-knowledge of good and evil, and then return to 
his original divine state. 148 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
revealed in him. Likewise his self-will did not know 
that which is good, because it had as yet experienced 
no evil. How could there be any joy where no sorrow 
is known ? ” (Grace, ix. 1 5.) 
“The soul was in her own essence from eternity, but 
as a created thing she was formed to represent the image 
of God at the time of the creation of the body. Neverthe- 
less she is per se not yet the true image, but only an 
essential fire for its production.” (TilJc., i. 81.) 
“ The soul of man, which has been breathed into him 
by God, is from the Eternal Father; but with that she has 
not yet attained the birth of the Son, wherein is the end 
of nature, and from which no created being issues.” (Three 
Principles, ix. 13.) 
Man can attain real similarity to God and perfect 
beatitude only by decisively willing to put his will into 
the Son, as the Heart or Light of the Father. 
“ God has the eternal and unchangeable will to 
generate His Heart and his Son, and thus the soul 
should put her immutable will into the heart of God. 
Then would she be in heaven and Paradise, and enjoy the 
inexpressible happiness of God the Father, which He 
enjoys in the Son, and she would hear the inexpressible 
words in the heart of God.”1 (Three Principles, x. 14.) 
“ Adam was conceived in the love of God and born 
into this world. He was in possession of a divine substan- 
tiality, and his soul was of the will, the first principle, 
the quality of the Father. This will should be directed, 
together with the imagination, into the heart of the 
Father, that is to say, into the Word and the Spirit of 
love and purity. Then would man’s soul retain the sub- 
1 This the soul can surely not do by seeking for the Son or the Heart of 
God in anything outside of her own sphere, and with which she is in no 
way related. Therefore the meaning of the words, “Thou shalt worship 
only one God,” is “Thou shalt have faith in no other God except the one 
who is seeking to reveal Himself within your own conscience, and not 
worship any strange idols, such as exist in the imagination of men.” MAN. 
149 
stance of God in the Word of Life.” (Menschwerdung, 
i. 10, 2.) 
“ The living soul, from the eternal will of the Father, 
was breathed into man, and this will has no other purpose 
than to give birth to His only Son.1 Of this will God 
the Father infused into man, and this is the eternal soul 
of man. The soul ought to put her. regenerated will 
into the eternal will of the Father, in the heart of God. 
Then will she receive the power of the heart of God and 
also His holy eternal light, wherein arises the Paradise 
and the celestial kingdom and eternal joy.” (Three Prin- 
ciples, xxvi. 16.) 
“If the soul sinks her will into the meekness, i.e., 
the obedience of God, she becomes a fountain of the 
heart of God, and receives divine power, and all her 
essences become angelic and joyful. Then her harsh 
essences will also be useful to her, and appear to her 
more mild and useful, than if they had already originally 
been entirely sweet and mild.” (Three Principles, xiii. 
31-) 
It was within his power to decide, and he was free to 
do so, because there was in him not only the principle 
of light, but also the fire-principle,—not only perception, 
but will. 
“ The light and the power of the light is a desire, and 
wants to come in possession of the noble image made 
after God’s likeness, because it lias been created for the 
world of light. Likewise the dark world or the craving 
wrrath desires the same, for man has all the worlds within 
himself, and there is a great battle taking place in man. 
That principle with which he identifies himself with in 
his desire and his will, will rule in him.” (TUk., i. 
38i.) 
“ As the soul is essential and her very substance is a 
1 God being a unity, has no other will or object in view than to give 
birth to His Son, i.e., to manifest His outspoken Word as wisdom in man. THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
150 
desire, it is clear that she is in two kinds of Fiat. The 
first is her own soul-property; the other belongs to the 
second principle, issuing from the will of God in the soul. 
The soul desiring for God for the purpose of forming her- 
self in His image and likeness, this desire of God acts 
as a Fiat in her own centre; for the desire of God wants 
to possess the soul. On the other hand, she herself desires 
to possess the centre in the power of the fire, wherein 
the life of the soul originates.” {Eye, vii.) 
“ The will of the soul is free, and she can either sink 
into nothing within herself and conceive of herself as 
the nothing, when she will sprout like a branch out of 
the tree of divine life, and eat of the love of God; or she 
may in her own self-will rise up in the fire and desire to 
become a separate tree.”1 {Forty Questions, ii. 2.) 
There existed in man also the third principle, wherein 
resides sensual desire. He was not endowed with this 
principle for the purpose of surrendering himself to it, 
but that he might introduce it into the light of God, and 
glorify Him by means of that light.2 
“ Man was a mixed individuality, and destined to be 
an image according to the inner, and also according to 
the outer world; but as the symbol of God, he was to 
rule with the inner consciousness over the external one.” 
{Menschwerdung, i. 3, 13.) 
“ When man remains in harmonious order, so as not 
to let one world into the other, he is then the like- 
ness of God; but the image or the mirror of the world 
1 The spiritual will of man is free ; not so the will of semi-animal man, 
for freedom depends on the extent of knowledge. When man’s knowledge 
becomes divine, then will his will be free—wholly free. 
2 Man requires the material (animal) element in him to endow him with 
strength to rise above it by the power of God. Man may be regarded as a 
god crucified within an animal. The god furnishes him with wisdom, the 
animal with strength. We are to overcome the animal in us by the power 
of divine wisdom. He who has nothing to overcome can gain no victory. 
We cannot rise above a thing as long as we have not attained its highest 
level. MAN. 
of light he should surely introduce into the external 
world.” (Six Theosophical Points, vi. 12.) 
“ The constellation (the astral influences) of the macro- 
cosm should not be permitted to rule over man; but he 
has his own constellation (the spirit, the idea) within 
himself, which is capable of becoming attuned to the har- 
mony of the rise and evolution of the divine world within.” 
(Letters, i. 8.) 
“ All of man’s desire should have been placed into the 
light; then would the light have shone within his essence 
and desire, and filled everything as with one will.” (Tilk., 
i. 542.) 
“ The soul of Adam could have ruled powerfully over 
the external principle if she had entered again with her 
will into the heart of God, into the word of the Lord.” 1 
(Forty Questions, iv. 2.) 
Thus it was intended that, by means of the instru- 
mentality of man, the paradisiacal splendour should be 
continually spread out and increased over terrestrial 
nature, and that all the hidden treasures of nature should 
be uncovered. 
“ The external world is also of God and belonging to 
God, and man has been created therein, so that he may 
bring again the external into the internal one ; the 
end into the beginning.” (Letters, xi. 18.) 
“ Adam was also created in the external quality, so 
that he may manifest in forms and execute in works 
that which had been perceived in eternal wisdom.” (Mcn- 
schwerdung, i. 4.) 
“ Man has been created in Paradise, for it was out- 
blooming through the earth, and from the earth of 
Paradise was Adam’s body created, because he was a 
lord of the earth, and it was his destiny to unfold the 
1 It would be foolish to worry about what Adam ought or ought not 
to have done. The meaning is, that we who have “Adam” in us should 
enter now with our will into the will of God. 152 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
wonders of the earth. If it had not been for that pur- 
pose, God might have endowed him with an angelic 
body; but in that case the substantiated being with 
its wonderful qualities would not have been unfolded.” 1 
(Menschwerdung, ii. 12.) 
But while in Adam all the three principles were origi- 
nally in unity and harmony, there was attracting him 
outwardly in a powerful manner, not only the heart of 
God, but also the devil and the kingdom of the terrestrial 
world.2 
“ Man stood in three principles, and they were in 
equal concordance in him, but not outside of him ; for 
the dark world had a desire different from that of the 
world of light, and likewise the external world had a 
desire differing from that of the dark world and from the 
world of light. Thus the image of God was betwixt 
three principles, which all of them in their desire were 
conducive to that image. Each of them wanted to 
become manifest in Adam—to have him within its own 
regiment or as a ruler, and to manifest its wonders 
through him.” (Mysterium, xvii. 34.) 
“ Everything attracted Adam and wanted to take pos- 
session of him. The heart of God wanted to have him 
in Paradise and to reside in him, for it said, ‘ He 
is my image and likeness.’ The kingdom of wrath 
wanted him, for it said, ‘ He is mine ; for he has issued 
out of my fountain, out of the eternal mind of the dark- 
ness. I will be in him, and he shall live in my power; 
I will manifest through him strong and great power.’ 
Finally, the kingdom of the world likewise said, ‘ He is 
mine, for he bears my image; he lives in me and I in 
1 If primordial man had never fallen from his purely spiritual state and 
“ refused to create,” he would never have learned to know the wonders of 
creation, the unfoldment of the third principle. The external world, as 
we know it, was created by Adam’s fall. 
2 The “devil” means spiritual will perverted. If it is perverted in a 
personal being, then will there be a personal devil. MAN 
him; he must be obedient to me, for I have all my 
members (organs) in him and he has his members in 
me, and I am greater than he. He shall be my steward, 
and manifest my power and wonders.’” 1 {Three Prin- 
ciples, xi. 33.) 
Adam, mating a perverted use of the freedom granted 
to him, allowed his lower qualities to be awakened to an 
evil desire—that is to say, to a desire for the terrestrial 
world, which is divided within itself. 
“ In primitive man before the fall, the qualities for 
differentiation and self-enjoyment were in equal will- 
power, and their desire was introduced into the unity of 
God. This the devil begrudged to them, and he deluded 
the seven qualities of life by awakening within them a 
perverted desire, persuading them that it were good, and 
that they would become wise, if the qualities, each accord- 
ing to its own kind, would enter into their own accord,2 
and that in this way the spirit wmuld taste and recognise 
that which was good and evil.” (Tabulce Principles, 68.) 
“ The soul of Adam fell in love with the creation of 
the formed word in its differentiation, and not being con- 
scious of the power of distinguishing, she entered into 
lust, into differentiation.” {Grace, vi. 33.) 
“ The soul wanted to know how it would be if the 
temperature were to become separated—that is to say, 
divided, as heat and cold, moisture and dryness, hardness 
and softness, acridity and sweetness, bitterness and that 
which is sour; she wanted to taste these and the other 
1 God (Christ), nature, and the devil (Antichrist — i.e., Christ per- 
verted) are seeking to attain self-consciousness in man. Man’s conscious- 
ness is, therefore, continually changing, and in reality not his own. Only 
when the principle of either good or evil has become self-conscious in 
man, and he has become identified with it, will he know his true imper- 
sonal self. Only then will he be a free and responsible agent. 
2 It was his desire that the lower qualities should become conscious in 
himself, each according to its own nature. 154 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
qualities all in their separateness, although it had been 
prohibited to Adam by God.”1 {Grace, iii. 34.) 
Owing to this perverted desire, there grew in him the 
tree of temptation, wherein the terrestrial qualities, as 
such, became manifest.2 
“ Adam’s spirit was lusting after terrestrial fruit, such 
as was of the nature of the corrupted earth, and there- 
fore nature formed for him a tree that was like the cor- 
rupted earth; for Adam was the heart in nature, and 
therefore his spiritual soul aided in the formation of that 
tree, of which he desired to eat.” (Aurora, xvii. 20.) 
“ The tree of temptation grew by the power of the 
hunger after self-knowledge of good and evil. It should 
not be said that it was any other kind of a product than 
the rest of such trees; only there was manifest in it the 
terrestrial desire for conscious evil and good ; while the 
other trees and plants were penetrated by the holy, para- 
disiacal Mercury, so that in them the qualities were in 
equal accordance, and heat and cold were not separately 
manifested in them.” (Stiefel, ii. 80.) 
“ In the tree of self-knowledge of good and evil there 
were the qualities in the curse, such as is the case at 
present—that is to say, each of them was manifest in 
itself, and seeking to preponderate. They had gone 
out of their harmony, and thus all the three principles, 
each separately, were manifest in that tree. Therefore 
1 This is the difference between life in the terrestrial and life in the 
celestial states of nature, that the former is differentiated into forms, each 
of which loves to live in the consciousness.of its own illusive self—i.e., in 
a state of isolation and separatedness, and enjoying its own qualities ; 
while in the celestial state the individual powers intermingle, each living, 
so to say, in the consciousness and enjoying itself in the life of the other, 
while all strive towards unity and rest in it, like a tree, whose many 
branches and leaves receive their life all from one common trunk. 
2 This “tree of temptation ” is still growing in every human being, as is 
represented in the allegorical “ Adam.” The lower qualities in man still 
strive for outward manifestation, and can be overcome in no other way 
than by his rising above them into the higher ones. MAN. 
155 
Moses (wisdom) calls it the tree of knowledge of good 
and evil.” (Mysterium, xvii. 15.) 
The forthcoming of the tree of temptation is not to 
be wondered at, because Adam was endowed with great 
powers, and an earthly form as a protection to him 
against the powers of hell.1 
“ Eeason (man’s reasoning) says, ‘ Why did God per- 
mit Adam to draw the tree of temptation out of the 
earth by means of his imagination ? * Christ said, ‘ If 
you have faith as big as a mustard-seed, and you say to 
the mountain : throw thyself into the sea ; it shall be done 
as you say.’ The soul-spirit (spiritual soul) was produced 
out of the divine omnipotence, out of the centre of eternal 
nature, wherefrom all beings have been created. Why 
should it then not be powerful ? It was a fire-spark out 
of God’s power, but after it had been gathered into a 
created being (individualised as an organism) it gave way 
to its own selfish desire, and broke away from the whole, 
and thus it caused corruption unto itself. The soul- 
power, before vanity entered, was so strong as not to be 
subject to anything, and would be so now, even this very 
day, if the understanding had not been taken away.” 
(Mysterium, xvii. 41.) 
“ Divine prevision recognised that the devil was going 
to winnow mankind, and to introduce them into evil 
desire; and therefore God put before them the tree of 
life, and of the knowledge of good and evil, by means of 
which the breaking up (the death) of the external body 
was inaugurated. He did this lest man should long after 
the centre of the dark world.”2 (Mysterium, xvii. 38.) 
1 It is self-evident that man can attain knowledge of a thing only by 
giving attention to it. In doing so, he directs his consciousness to it. 
Man’s consciousness became centred within the lower principles constitut- 
ing the sensual world, and thereby it lost its seat and centre of gravity in 
the Supreme. If it had not been for this attraction which the material 
world exercised upon man, he might have sunk still lower, and approached 
absolute evil, the kingdom of Lucifer. 
2 “Adam would have fallen into the unfathomable abyss of hell, if, 156 
THE DOCTRINES. OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Formerly Adam belonged to the celestial world and to 
eternity; but now, the image of God having begun to 
pale in him, he sank into the terrestrial state, and thereby 
into impotency and sleep. 
“ A reasonable person will easily perceive that there 
could be no sleep in Adam as long as he was in the 
image of God, for at that time he was such an image as 
we shall be in the resurrection of the dead. We shall 
then not need the elements, neither the sun nor the 
moon, and also require no sleep; but our eyes will be 
open to see always and eternally the glory of God.” 
{Three Principles, xii. 17.) 
“ The image of God does not sleep. Xn it there 
is no time. With sleep, time became manifest 
in man. He fell asleep in the angelic world, and 
awoke relatively to the external world.”1 (Mysterium, 
xix. 4.) 
“ After Adam had been overcome, the tincture, wherein 
the beautiful virgin had previously dwelt, became terres- 
trial, faint, ahd feeble. The powerful source of the 
tincture, wherefrom the virgin had her power, without 
being subjected to sleep, left Adam and went into its 
own principle.” {Three Principles, iii. 8.) 
“ Thus Adam became a victim of Magic, and now his 
magnificence was gone. Sleep signifies death and sur- 
render. The terrestrial realm had conquered him and 
ruled over him.” {Menschwerdung, i. 5.) 
“ After the lust of the spirit of this world had con- 
quered in Adam, he fell asleep. Then his celestial body 
became flesh and blood, and his strong power became 
rigid bones. Then the celestial virgin went into the 
besides the celestial state, which in consequence of his sin became per- 
verted into a hellish one, there had not been still another, namely, the 
terrestrial region ” (Bamberger). 
1 God (divine self-consciousness) never sleeps ; it is only nature in man 
that causes him to sleep and wake alternatively. No man is fully awake 
and self-conscious as long as he has not found his own god. MAN. 
celestial ether, into the principle of power."1 {Three 
Principles, xiii. 2.) 
This impotency was to be a means of salvation for 
Adam, and moreover there was given to him the terres- 
trial woman in the place of the celestial virgin, who had 
passed away from him.2 This was done to save him 
from arriving at a still greater depth of degradation.3 
“ When Adam left God and entered into selfishness, 
God permitted it to happen that a deep sleep fell upon 
Adam. If it had not been for that circumstance, he 
would in his selfishness even have become a devil by the 
power of the fire.”4 (Stiefel, ii. 363.) 
“ When the devil saw that lust resided in Adam, he 
acted still more powerfully upon the Sal-nitre in Adam, 
and infected it still stronger. Then it was time that the 
Creator should build him a wife, who afterwards indeed 
caused the sin to be acted out, and who ate of the evil 
fruit. Otherwise, if Adam had eaten of the tree before 
the woman was made out of him, he would have fared 
still worse.” (Aurora,, xvii. 2 1.) 
Therefore woman (spirituality) is, and will always be, 
the saviour of man. 
The woman was extracted from all the powers of 
Adam. Relatively to her substance, she was formed out 
1 The “ history of Adam ” is nothing else but the history of mankind 
as a whole. Its truth may be recognised by every one capable of self- 
examination. 
2 Adam having lost the power to recognise the true woman, the eternal 
virgin within himself, it was necessary that he should have an external 
objective substitute to whom he might be attracted, so as to stimulate 
his power to love ; which would have entirely died out without such an 
object, or would have degraded him still lower by turning into desire for 
still lower beings in the scale of evolution. 
3 From such a degradation may have resulted the tribe of the monkeys 
descended from aboriginal man. (See Secret Doctrine, by H. P. Blavatsky.) 
4 The “Sa!-nitre" means the fiery material element in man, wherein 
reside his sensual attractions ; in other words, his Kama-rupa. 158 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
of a “ rib,” which at that time had not yet degenerated 
into stiff bone.1 
“ Eve has been extracted from Adam, not as a mere 
spirit, but entirely substantial. It should be said that 
Adam received a cleft, and that the woman is bearing 
Adam’s spirit, flesh and bone.” (Three Principles, 
xiii. 14.) 
“ Reasoning says, ‘ If Eve has been made out of a rib 
of Adam, she must be very inferior to man.’ This is, 
however, not so, but the Fiat, in its aspect as sharp 
attraction (the first quality), took her from all essences 
and qualities of each power of Adam.” 2 (Three Prin- 
ciples, xiii. 18.) 
“ Adam’s body had not yet received hard bones and 
osseous substance. This took place only when Eve tasted 
the apple and gave to Adam to eat thereof.” “ It is 
true that the infection and the terrestrial death were 
already in him as a tendency and deadly disease, but 
the ‘ bones ’ and ‘ ribs ’ were nevertheless still power and 
strength, and thus Eve was created out of that power 
or strength which (later on) was to become rib.”3 (Three 
Principles, xiii. 13.) 
Eve was not misshaped. She lived with Adam in 
1 The woman is made out of the more refined and spiritual essences of 
man ; for this reason woman even to-day is more refined and intuitional 
than man ; while the organisation of the body and also the mind of the 
male is on the whole more gross and material; and he reasons where 
woman perceives. There were not all the female elements removed from 
man in the creation of the woman. If man had no such elements in him 
he would be a brute. Neither could any woman be visible and tangible 
and man’s associate if she had none of the male and grossly material 
elements of Adam in her organisation. 
2 It was a part of the higher and more celestial elements which left 
“Adam ” at the time of the creation of “Eve.” 
3 It may be well to remember that at the time of Jacob Boehme it was 
considered a crime to disbelieve even in the literal and external interpre- 
tation of the Bible allegories, and that his explanations would have been 
incomprehensible and unacceptable if his expressions had not been such 
as to correspond with those of the Bible. MAN 
Paradise; but the pure likeness of God was then in 
neither of them. 
“ Eve was not misshapen, but very lovely ; nevertheless 
she too bore the signs (of corruption), and could not be 
anything more than a wife of Adam. Both were still 
in Paradise, and if they had not eaten from the tree, 
but turned to God by changing their imagination, they 
would have remained in Paradise.” (Three Principles, 
xiii. 36.) 
“ Adam and Eve had still a paradisiacal consciousness, 
but it was mixed with terrestrial desire. They were 
naked, and had animal organs for procreation; but they 
did not know this, neither were they ashamed of them, 
for the spirit of the great world had not yet obtained rule 
over them before they had eaten of the terrestrial fruit.” 
(Menschwerdung, i. 6, 15.) 
“ No one can truly say that Eve, before coming iu con- 
tact with Adam, had been a pure and chaste virgin, be- 
cause, as soon as Adam awoke from his sleep, he saw her 
by his side. He soon imagined into her (fell in love with 
her). He took her unto himself and said, 1 This is flesh 
of my flesh and bone of my bone. She will be called 
woman, because she has been taken from man. Eve like- 
wise began to put her imagination into Adam, and each 
one ignited the desire of the other. Where, then, is the 
pure chastity and virginity ? Is this not animal ? Has 
not the external image become an animal ? ”1 (Forty 
Questions, xxxvi. 6.) 
God had ordered mankind not to eat from the fruits of 
the tree of temptation; but the devil thought of inducing 
them to disobey the command, and they were, moreover, 
1 Woman in all departments of life is a saviour of man. Even the most 
degraded woman may be a saviour for still more degraded man, by keeping 
alive in him a feeling for an ideal—a low ideal, it is true, but one that 
keeps him from sinking into still lower depths, and which may become 
more refined. The mission of woman to save man ceases only when man 
has found the celestial virgin within himself. 160 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
incited to do so by the spirit of the world, and by their 
own perverted desire. 
“ The holy-speaking Word of God, after the Trinity of 
the unfathomable Godhead, gave to the fiery intelligence 
of the soul the command, ‘ Eat not of the tree of know- 
ledge of good and evil; or, if you do that, you will die in 
the image of God on the same day.’ That is to say, ‘ the 
fiery soul will lose her light, and thereby mortality, the 
quality of the dark world, from the centre of the first 
three principles, will creep forth and manifest itself in 
the tree, and swallow up the Kingdom of God therein.’ ” 
{Grace, vi. 17.) 
“ When Adam and Eve were in Paradise as man and 
woman, being still in possession of a celestial essence, 
although the latter was mixed (with materiality), the 
devil would not suffer this to be so, for his envy was 
great. Then, after Adam had been brought to fall and 
deprived of his angelic form, and seeing that Eve was his 
wife, the devil thought that they might generate children 
in Paradise and remain therein. He then made up his 
mind to seduce them to eat of the forbidden fruit, so that 
they might become earthly thereby.” {MenscJwerdunj, 
i. 7.) 
“ Adam was urged on by the power of the tree, which 
was also within himself, so that one lust infected another. 
He was also urged by the spirit of the great world, so 
that his strength became overpowered.” (Three Prin- 
ciples, xi. 40.) 
For the purpose of seducing mankind, the devil availed 
himself especially of the services of the serpent, which, 
being a living symbol of the tree of temptation, caused 
them to imagine that, by eating the forbidden fruit, they 
would become godlike.1 
“ The devil introduced his poisonous imagination into 
1 The “ serpent ” is the astral light, in whose folds and temptations the 
will of man is entangled. MAN. 
the human quality. Therefrom resulted in man the 
ardent desire to eat of evil and good, and to live in the 
self-will; that is to say, his will left the harmony of 
unity and went into the multiplicity qf the qualities. 
The devil, by means of the serpent, represented to him 
that he would become like God, and that his eyes would 
open; which then actually took place in the fall, so that 
they could now recognise, taste, see, and feel evil and 
good.”1 {Mysterium, xvii. 37.) 
“ The devil mixed lies and truth together, and said to 
the first human beings that they would be like God. His 
meaning was that they would be so, according to the 
first principle of wrath; but about the Paradise he said 
nothing.” (Three Principles, xvii. 96.) 
“ The substance of the snake, its celestial aspect, was a 
great power, as there was likewise a great celestial power 
in the devil, for he was a prince of God. Thus he intro- 
duced his cunning and lies into a strong state of will, for 
the purpose of making illusions therewith as his own 
god.” (Mysterium, xx. 16.) 
“ The imagination of the devil poisoned the substance 
of the serpent, so that the latter, in consequence of the 
division of its powers that formerly were in paradisiacal 
unity, formed itself into a serpent. Thus he used the 
snake as his instrument.” 2 {Letters, xxxix. 21.) 
“ The snake was a living symbol of the tree of tempta- 
tion. The tree of temptation was in mute power, and the 
serpent was in a living power, and the serpent attached 
itself to that tree, being of its own nature.” 3 {Mysterium, 
xx. 20.) 
After Adam had introduced his perverted desire into 
1 Evil desires always enter the heart of man silently and worm-like, until 
the soul becomes entangled therein as in the folds of a serpent. 
2 The serpent is not himself the devil, but the devil is the evil will that 
causes the serpent to move. 
3 There is no mortal man to whose tree of life the serpent of desire is 
not attached during his terrestrial existence. 162 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Eve, the latter was the first to be seduced to fall away 
from God.1 
“The lust originated in Adam, but thereupon this per- 
verted desire began to be excited in the woman.” (Stiefel, 
ii- 375-) 
“ Eve was lusting after the fruit of the tree of know- 
ledge of good and evil, but there was the prohibition 
before her, and she was afraid of God, and did not want 
to act against the prohibition. Then the devil entered 
into the substance and cunning of the snake, and turned 
this power and craftiness around, so that Eve could see 
and know that the serpent was very artful and cunning. 
She clung to the forbidden tree, and it did her no harm; 
but she looked at the serpent and fell in love with his 
cunning and cleverness, also with his agility and artful- 
ness, and she lusted to eat of the tree. The serpent 
advised her to do so by the sound and voice of the devil, 
and pretended that he derived his cunning and artfulness 
from the tree.” (Mysterium, xx. 22.) 
“ The devil told her that the fruit would do her no 
harm, but that the eyes of her understanding would be 
opened, and she would be like God. She thought it 
would be a good thing to be a goddess, and she con- 
sented ; and in consenting she fell from the divine har- 
mony, from the peace in God, and from divine faith, and 
entered with her desire into the serpent and into the 
cunning, the desire, and vanity of the devil.” 2 (Myste- 
rium; XX. 2 5.) 
While the devil was desirous directly for the fire-life, 
1 If woman represents the will and man the intellectual power of man- 
kind as a whole, it naturally follows that the will was seduced by the desire 
before the intellect followed in its track. If the intellect had become 
seduced first, it would have become separated from the “woman,” and man 
would have become a clever fool, an intellectual maniac, an unspiritual but 
cunning scientist, without any soul or faith—a “ materialist.” 
2 Actual “sin” begins only where there is a knowledge of evil. A 
mere evil desire does not constitute “ sin ” as long as the desire has not 
the consent of the intellect. MAN. 
163 
man at first was only desirous after the terrestrial things, 
hut thereby his lust of pride began to arise. 
“ The devil went with his imagination into the fiery 
foundation, but Adam into the watery quality.” (Signa- 
ture, vii. 4.) 
“ Unlike Lucifer, Adam did not actually desire to 
awaken the first principle ; his desire was rather to taste 
good and evil—that is to say, the vanity of the earth.” 
(Mysterium, xviii. 31.) 
“ In the external part of the soul originated the ter- 
restrial lust to eat of the manifold qualities ; but in 
the interior fiery part of it originated lust for pride, to 
know evil and good, and to be like God.”1 {Mysterium, 
xviii. 30.) 
Thus the first act of the great drama ended, and a god 
became a man. In the second act He rises again upward 
toward His former divine state, no more innocent and 
ignorant of evil, but taught by experience, knowing and 
wise, a conqueror over “ matter,” and a true Lord over all. 
1 The more man seeks for the object of his existence in external and 
sensual things, the more will he depart from his spiritual faith or point of 
gravitation from his own divine centre or God. He becomes experienced 
in external and superficial things, and loses sight of that which is real 
and divine. His external knowledge, which after all is only imaginary, 
as it deals only with passing illusions, awakens his pride and self-conceit; 
he begins to assert his personality against immortality ; he becomes cruel, 
and selfish, and passionate; and unless he be redeemed by the awakening 
of spirituality within himself, he will end in awakening in him the “ fiery 
foundation,” the principle of evil, the “ devil.” Instead of the Christ, 
Lucifer will be revealed in him. CHAPTEE VIII. 
NATURE, OR THE THIRD PRINCIPLE. 
“ The godless seeks for God outside of his own self, and the Christless 
sectarians seek for a personal Christ in history ; but the man of God 
and the true Christian know God and Christ within their own soul.” 
“We surely believe in a personal and historical Christ; but only after 
Christ has become personal in a man will he realise the true nature 
and vocation of Jesus the son of Jehovah.”—Johannes. 
The image of everything that ever existed was in the 
light at the time when God began to create a new 
world. The external world, to which Adam had become 
subjected in consequence of his degradation, has its 
origin in God’s eternal nature and its prototype in His 
wisdom, wherein it was spiritually contained from the 
beginning. We may compare the external world to the 
imagery seen upon a screen, upon which it has been 
projected by the light of a magic-lantern. The images 
represent the world, the pictures on the slide the ether, 
and the light itself is the Spirit of God. 
“ The third principle, the spirit and torment of this 
world, has been hidden from eternity in eternal nature, 
and was discovered by the light-flaming spirit in God’s 
wisdom and the divine tincture. Then the Godhead 
moved according to the nature of the producing mother, 
and the great Mysterium was born, wherein was con- 
tained everything that is within the power of eternal 
nature. This, however, was only a Mysterium, and had 
no resemblance to any created being. There everything 
was as if (mixed) together, like a cloud of dust.” 1 (.Men- 
schwerdung, i. I, 10.) 
1 The external consciousness was hidden within the internal one, in the 
same sense as the character of a tree is hidden within the seed. NATURE, OR THE THIRD PRINCIPLE. 
165 
“ If we rightly consider the creation of this world and 
the spirit of the third principle, or the spirit of the great 
world with its stars and elements, we find therein the 
qualities of the eternal world as if in a state of mixture; 
wherein Deity willed to manifest the eternal wonders 
that were hidden, and to bring them into objective exist- 
ence.” (Six Theosophical Points, ii. 6.) 
“ The external world, in being born (coming into 
objectivity), makes for itself a new principium or begin- 
ning. The generatrix of the temporal is a reproduction 
of the eternal generatrix, time originates in eternity, and 
even here eternity, with its wonderful production, appears, 
in its powers and capabilities, in an especially temporal 
form and shape.”1 (Mysterium, vi. 10.) 
In this external world, called the third principle, there 
are manifest two powers—the holy divine power and 
the power of the darkness. The latter is even prepon- 
derating. 
“ The third principle, or the visible elemental world, 
is an issue of the first and second principles, which is pro- 
duced by the motion and outbreathing of divine power 
and divine will. In it is figured the spiritual world accord- 
ing to light and darkness, and brought into a created 
(objective) condition.” (Tabulce Principice, 5.) 
“ The external world has been outbreathed from the 
holy and from the dark world. It is, therefore, evil and 
good, and in love and wrath; but, compared with the 
spiritual world, it is only like a smoke or a fog.” (Myste- 
rium, iii. 10.) 
“ The word moved the Fiat in all forms of eternal 
nature, in harmony with the world of light and the world 
1 We find the same fundamental law in all departments of nature. A 
new world is only a “ nebular spot,” a dust of cosmic matter, as long as it 
has not formed an organised centre. Likewise man resembles a “ nebula ” 
of unlimited extent, of which only the organised kernel (the physical body) 
is visible; and so man begins to exist as a spiritual being only when the 
universal Spirit takes form within his soul. 166 
THE DOCTRINES OF JOCOB BOEHME. 
of darkness; so that the desire after the quality of both 
worlds entered into being. This caused good and evil to 
originate in the essentiality, and thereby was created the 
external visible world, with stars and elements as a par- 
ticular life.” (Stiefel, i. 31.) 
“ This terrestrial world is based upon the world of 
darkness, and if the good had not been also embodied 
therein, there would be in it no other doing than that 
of the world of darkness; but this is prevented by the 
divine power and by the light of the sun.” 1 (Six Theo- 
sophical Points, ix. 17.) 
“ This world is rooted in evil and good, and there can 
be neither one of them without the other. But the great 
misfortune in it is that evil is preponderating therein over 
good, and the wrath stronger than love, and this is due 
to the sin of the devil and of man, who excited nature 
by their perverted desires, so that the world is now 
powerfully qualified in wrath, acting like a poison within 
the body.” 2 (Mysterium, xi. 15.) 
That the darkness has obtained so much power in this 
world is not the fault of God, but it is due to Lucifer, 
who corrupted the primordial creation, and who in con- 
sequence of Adam’s fall is now still more enabled to act 
within the dark element of nature.3 
“Within all nature there is a continual wrestling, battling, 
and devouring, so that this world may truly be called a 
1 The visible sun in the sky is the exterior manifestation of an invisible 
spiritual power. As the visible sunlight dries up swainps and destroys 
impurities, so is the spiritual sunlight opposed to the evil influences 
that arise from the astral plane. 
2 Nature exists in universal man, and he is existing in her. Nature 
receives her consciousness from man, and as the will in him has become 
tinctured with evil desires, so nature—the product of his imagination— 
became tinctured with evil likewise. 
3 Neither Christ, nor “ Lucifer,” nor “ the Antichrist,” is, as the vulgar 
interpretation has it, outside of the soul of the world, but a power active 
within the latter, in the same sense as a man’s disease does not exist 
outside of his own body, but within it. NATURE, OR THE THIRD PRINCIPLE. 
167 
valley of sorrow, full of trouble, persecution, suffering, and 
labour; for when the spirit of creation went into the 
middle, it had to form the world from the midst of the 
kingdom of hell.” (Aurora, xviii. 1 1 2.) 
“ Nature, up to the day of judgment, has two inherent 
qualities; one is lovely, celestial, and holy, and the other 
one wrathful and hellish. The good quality works with 
great diligence for the purpose of producing good fruits 
under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and likewise the 
evil quality labours for the purpose of producing evil 
fruits, receiving power and incitement thereto by the 
devil.” (Aurora, Preface, x. 10.) 
“ The devil resides in this world, and he continually 
infests external nature; but he has his power only in the 
wrath, in bitter desire.” 1 (Menschwerdung, i. 2, 4.) 
God acts with the holy power of his inner world against 
the corrupting power of Lucifer, but the external world 
is not thereby changed in its own particular essence.2 
“ The inner world, the world of light, dwells in the 
external world, and the latter receives power from the 
former. She blooms in the external power, but this power 
knows nothing of it.” (Six Theosophical Points, vi. 2.) 
“ The powers of eternity work through the powers of 
time, like the sun that shines through water, while the 
water does not apprehend the sun, but only receives the 
heat; or, like a fire, which glows in the iron, but the iron 
remains iron nevertheless.” (Mysterium, xii. 20.) 
1 If it had not been for Lucifer’s seduction and Adam’s fall, primordial 
man would have remained for ever in blissful ignorance of the lower 
qualities, in a spiritual state, which he could not have fully enjoyed, 
because he did not know its opposite, namely, suffering. Thus the devil 
brought suffering into the world, and is therefore man’s benefactor ; pro- 
vided that man learns by the experience afforded to him in this way, and 
does not become absorbed by evil, but conquers it. 
2 If it were not for the omnipresent and superior power of good, there 
would be no possibility for man to conquer his evil desires. This absolute 
good is the One, without which the Two (relative good and evil) could not 
exist. 168 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ The spiritual world is hidden within the visible ele- 
mentary world, and acts through the latter, and by means 
of the separator, or the soul of the outer world, it 
shapes itself in all things according to the character and 
quality of each thing; but the visible being receives 
the invisible one not in its own power, neither does the 
external thing become changed into the inner one, but the 
inner power merely takes shape therein, as we may see 
if we observe the growth of herbs, trees, and metals.” 
(Contemplations, iii. 19.) 
“We see that the earth has a great hunger and desire 
after the power and the light of the sun, and likewise the 
external being craves for the interior one. Thereby it 
receives the form of the latter as a light and power, with- 
out, however, being able to grasp the interior spirit itself; 
for the spirit does not dwell in the exterior, but has pos- 
session of its own self in its own interior state.” 1 (Six 
Theosophical Points, vi. 9.) 
God exercises this blissful power especially by means 
of the sun, who, being a true image of the divine heart 
of love, illuminates all the visible world, and restrains the 
wrath of the dark world. 
“ The Godhead, the divine light, is the centre of all 
life, and likewise in the manifestation of God the sun is 
the centre of life.” (Signature, iv. 17.) 
“ God the Father generates love by means of His 
heart, and the sun symbolises His heart. He is in the 
external world a symbol of the eternal heart of God, 
which gives to all beings and existences their power.” 
(Signature, iv. 39.) 
i The earth, like every other cosmic body, is a form of manifestation 
of will, and has a sensation of its own. Every part of the earth strives 
for the full enjoyment of the beneficent sun-rays, and when arriving 
at the meridian it would fain stand still, as if in mute adoration and wor- 
ship of the glory of the celestial orb, but is pushed on by those parts that 
follow. Thus every part alternatively embraces the sunlight and sinks 
again into darkness once during the daily revolution of our planet. NATURE, OR THE THIRD PRINCIPLE. 
169 
“ God gave to the external world the light, by the out- 
breathing of His power through the rays of His light, and 
with the sun and the moon He rules within the things of 
this world. The stars take their light from the out- 
poured radiance of His light, and by means of this 
very light God ornaments the earth with beautiful plants 
and flowers, and makes glad everything that lives and 
grows.” (Prayer, xlvii.) 
“ This world has a natural God of its own, namely, the 
sun; but he takes his being from the fire of God, and 
this again from the light of God. Thus, tlie sun gives 
his power to the elements, and they give theirs to the 
creatures and herbs of the earth.” (Six Thcosojphical 
Points, v. 13.) 
“ The abyss of hell is in this world, and the sun is the 
only cause of the existence of water, and of the fact that 
the depth above the earth is lovely, pleasing, mild, and 
delightful.” (Threefold Life, vi. 36.) 
“ All that is powerful in the essence of the holy world 
is hidden in the wrath and curse of God in the quality of 
the dark world; but it blooms by means of the power of 
the sun and the light of external nature through the curse 
and the wrath.”1 (Mysterium, xxi. 8.) 
As the sun rules over all the terrestrial world, he must 
be present in his essence and power everywhere in that 
world. 
“The sun is not very different from water, for water 
has the quality and essence of the sun. Without that 
the water would not receive the light of the sun. Although 
the sun is a body having a form, nevertheless the essence 
1 The world is the body of universal man ; the spiritual sun is his heart, 
and the moon is the symbol of his imagination (or fancy). The true mean- 
ing of Boehme’s writings, like those of the Bible, will only be understood 
if we cease to look upon the cosmos from our limited personal point of 
view, and, by becoming identified in our consciousness with the All, realise 
that the All is our Self. 170 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
of the sun is also in water, but not manifest. In fact, 
we recognise that the whole world is all sun, and the 
locality of the sun would be everywhere if God would 
want to ignite it and cause it to become manifest, for all 
existence begins in the light of the sun.” 1 (Six Theoso- 
phical Points, vi. 10.) 
“ If God would ignite the light by means of the heat, 
the whole world would be sun (manifest), for the power 
of the sun is everywhere, and before the body of the sun 
existed the whole locality of the world was as shining as 
the sun is at present, but not so insupportable, but mild 
and delightful.”2 (Aurora, xxv. 63.) 
The planets are also ruled by the sun, from which they 
receive their powers, and they communicate these powers 
in their turn to terrestrial objects. 
“ The sun is the centre of the constellation (solar sys- 
tem), and the earth is the centre of the elements. Both, 
if compared with each other, are like spirit and body, or 
like man and woman. But the constellation has still 
another woman, wherein it breeds out its substance, 
namely, the moon, she being the wife of all the planets, 
but especially of the sun.” 3 (Mysterium, xi. 31.) 
1 It may be remarked that at the time of Jacob Boehme it was not 
generally known that the sun has a hydrogen atmosphere, nor that water 
was composed of oxygen and hydrogen, the most combustible gas. 
2 The same doctrine applies to the light of the spirit. The Christ- 
spirit is everywhere; but it is not manifest in every person. Little would 
it benefit the blind to know of the light merely from hearsay. Little 
would it profit the “ Christian ” if he knew of a historical Christ, and 
could not perceive the glory and majesty of the Atma Buddhi within his 
own soul. Boehme says :— 
“ The light and the power of Christ arises within His children in the 
interior foundation and illumines the whole course of their life. Within 
this fountain of light is the kingdom of God in man. He who is not 
in possession of it cannot bring it into himself by means of any creed, 
opinions, or theories ; but if he possesses it, then from that fountain will 
arise many streams of pure love.” (Communion v. 18.) 
3 So with the mind of man, it being the “constellation of stars, thoughts, 
and mental powers w’herein he lives,” he receives its light from the divine NATURE, OR THE THIRD PRINCIPLE. 
171 
“ As the stars, full of desire, draw unto themselves the 
power of the sun, likewise the sun penetrates also power- 
fully into the stars, so that they receive their light from 
the power of the sun. The stars then send again their 
ignited power as their product into the elements.” {Grace, 
ii. 26.) 
But as the stars have their origin from the world of 
light and from the world of darkness, not only the good, 
but also the evil, existing in the terrestrial world comes 
from them. 
“With the creation of the constellation good and evil 
became manifest, for in them is manifest the wrathful 
fiery power of eternal nature, as well as the power of the 
holy spiritual world, as an outbreathed essence. Thus 
there are many dark stars which we cannot see, and there 
are many shining ones which we see.” 1 (Mysterium, x. 
36.) 
“ The evil, like the good, in all things comes from the 
stars; and as the creatures upon the earth are in their 
qualities, likewise are also the stars.” (Aurora, ii. 2.) 
“ All that lives and exists is awakened and brought to 
life by the stars, for they are not only fire and water, but 
they also possess hardness and softness, sourness and 
sweetness, bitterness and darkness, even all the powers 
of nature, and everything that is contained in the earth.” 
(Threefold Life, vii. 46.) 
“ The constellation is the cause of all arts and science, 
also of all order and harmony in this world, because it 
awakens the trees and metals, enabling them to grow. In 
the earth is everything that is contained within the stars ; 
sun that shines in the centre of his own being. There are thoughts of 
which we are conscious, and others which remain hidden until they are 
called forth by that power which rests in the spirit of man. 
1 This is also asserted in Sinnett’s Esoteric Buddhism. Ideas have their 
regular revolutions in the mental world, comparable to the planets in the 
sky. They arise and disappear from the mental horizon of the individual, 
and also from that of humanity as a whole, according to cosmic laws. 172 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
the constellation ignites the earth, and all this taken to- 
gether is only one spirit.”1 {Threefold Life, vii. 48.) 
In their relations to the earth and the elements, the 
stars act the part of a higher, living, and, so to say, male 
power. 
“ The stars are a quintessence, a fifth form of the ele- 
ments, and, so to say, the life of the four.” {Threefold 
Life, vii. 45.) 
“The starry sky rules in all creatures as it were in 
its own property. This sky is the man, and ‘ matter,’ or 
the watery form, is his wife, who gives birth to what 
heaven creates.” 2 {Three Principles, \ii. 33.) 
“ The upper desires the lower and the lower the higher. 
The hunger of that which is above is directed powerfully 
to the earth, and the hunger of the earth strives for that 
which is above. Thus, compared with each other, they 
are like body and soul, or like man and woman, generat- 
ing children with each other.” {Grace, v. 19.) 
But it must be understood that there is a distinct life 
in the earth. This is proved by her products, and also 
by her desire for the sun, in consequence of which she is 
continually turning around.3 
“ If you behold the earth and the rocks you will 
acknowledge that there is a life in them; for if this were 
1 To realise the nature of the relation existing between the macrocosm 
and the microcosm, it is necessary that man should learn to realise his own 
existence as a macrocosmic being. Without such a practical realisation, 
a merely theoretical study of such mysteries is difficult, and of little use. 
2 All material forms are nothing but ultimate expressions of ideas, 
shaped into forms by thought and caused to grow and become objective 
by the power of will which is inherent in everything. 
3 There is only one universal life ; but its action becomes differentiated 
and modified in each individual form by the qualities of the latter. It 
then becomes therein, as it were, a distinct and separate life, differing not 
in essence but in quality from that of other forms. This individual life 
constitutes the individuality of the form. The external expression which 
results from the action of this individual life constitutes the personality. NATURE, OR THE THIRD PRINCIPLE. 
not so, there would be in them neither gold nor silver, 
and neither herbs nor grasses.” (Aurora, xix. 57.) 
“ Each being desires the other. That which is above 
desires that which is below, and the lower desires the 
higher. Thus the earth is filled with hunger after the 
stars and after the spirilus mundi, so that they have no 
peace.” (Claris, 110.) 
“ The earth is turning around because she has both 
fires, the hot and the cold fire, and that which is below 
always desires to rise upwards towards the sun, because 
she receives spirit and power only from the sun. There- 
fore she is turning. The fire, her desire for light, is turn- 
ing her, for it wishes to be ignited, and to have a life of 
its own. Having nevertheless to remain in death, still 
it desires after the life above and attracts the latter, and 
opens its centre for ever to receive the tincture and fire of 
the sun.”1 (Threefold Life, xi. 5.) 
The four elements are actually only qualities of the 
true one element, which is hidden behind the external 
four elements. 
“ That which we call at present four elements are in 
fact not elements, but merely qualities of the one true 
element.” (Three Principles, xiv. 54.) 
“ The quintessence is a paradisiacal substance in the 
celestial world, but enclosed in the external world ; that 
is to say, not imprisoned therein, but only rendered in- 
visible.” (Claris Specialis.) 
“ Fire, air, water, and earth have issued from the centre 
of nature, and consisted in the ignition of one substance. 
Since that ignition took place they appear in four forms, 
which are called ‘ elements; ’ but they are still interiorly, 
and in reality there exists, only one. There are not four 
1 If the whole world is a manifestation of consciousness, there can be 
nothing absolutely unconscious in it. Each thing has its own state of 
consciousness, but is not necessarily therefore self-conscious or aware of its 
own qualities. If it were so, the world would be a hell. 174 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
elements in heaven, but only one; but all four states 
are contained therein.” {Threefold Life, v. 105.) 
From this superterrestrial basis have proceeded the 
external terrestrial elements. There was first separated 
from it the fire, next the air, then the water, and 
finally the element of earth.1 
“ The four forms which are hidden within the one true 
element have become active by means of the ignition or 
excitation of the lower principles, and they now appear in 
their external substance comprehensible to the creatures.” 
{Threefold Life, v. 105.) 
“ From the fire originates the air, and from the air 
the water, and from the wTater earth; i.e., a substance 
which is of an earthly nature, and thus the elements are 
merely an external manifestation of the inner eternal 
element and an ignited smoke of the latter.” {Mysterium, 
vii. 19.) 
The elements having issued from their original unity, 
strongly desire each other, but at the same time there 
are dissensions and strifes among them. 
“ The four elements are only qualities of the one in- 
differentiated element. Therefore there is a great anxiety 
and desire among them. They constitute interiorly only 
one sole principle, and therefore they instinctively long 
one after the other and each seeks for the inner principle 
within each other.” (Clavis, 106.) 
“ After from the one element, which has only one 
single will, the four elements had originated, which are 
now existing in one single body, there is among them 
much strife and dissension. Heat is against cold, and 
1 The same order may be observed in the microcosm of man. First 
comes the desire, which is of a fiery nature ; then the idea, which is still 
airy and indefinite, but which becomes concrete as a thought by the aid 
of the “watery element,” and ultimately there results the act or the 
material corporification. NATURE, OR THE THIRD PRINCIPLE. 
fire against water; the air is against earth, and each 
causes the death and breaking-up of the other.” (Signa- 
ture, xv. 4.) 
In many of the products of the earth—for instance, 
in many of the minerals—the true essence seems to be 
entirely hidden in death; but in others, especially in the 
noble metals and precious stones, it still manifests its 
brightness.1 
“ It seems strange to the reasoning mind, if we observe 
the earth with its solid rocks and its rough and harsh 
appearance, that big rocks and stones have been created, 
whereof a part is useless, and which are only an obstacle 
for the creatures of this world.” (Mysterium, x. i.) 
“ The terrestrial consciousness corrupted the celestial 
one, and the former became the Turba of the latter. 
Likewise, the Fiat made the earth and stones out of the 
eternal essentiality.” (Menschwerdung, i. 9.) 
“ But in the earth we find still another tincture hidden 
away which is like the celestial one, especially in the 
precious metals.” 2 (Six Theosophical Points, vi. 2.) 
“ Gold is nearly related to the divine substantiality 
or celestial corporeity. This would be seen if we could 
dissolve the dead body of the gold and cause it to become 
a volatile, active spirit, but this is only possible by means 
of the power of God.”3 (Signature, iii. 39.) 
“As far as precious stones are concerned, carbuncles, 
rubies, delphines, onyx, &c., they have their origin there 
where the flash of light arose within love. This flash is 
born in meekness, and is the heart in the centre of the 
1 In the mineral kingdom precious stones may be compared to the eye 
in the animal realm, in so far as the same is said to be the mirror of the 
soul; i.e., of the interior quality. 
2 All forms are expressions of originally spiritual powers, and the quali- 
ties of such powers are more manifest in precious stones than in any other 
material substance. 
3 For this reason it requires the possession of divine power to practise 
alchemy. It is a divine and not merely a “natural” science. 176 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
sourcive spirits. Therefore are such stones so mild, 
lovely, and at the same time so powerful.” 1 {Aurora, 
xviii. 17.) 
As it is in regard to the mineral kingdom, so it is in 
regard to the vegetable and animal kingdoms. There the 
power of death has also penetrated into everything; but 
there also are formations existing which show a relation- 
ship with the paradise. 
“ Before the fall the paradise was efflorescing through 
all trees and through all the fruits which God created 
for man. But when the earth was cursed, the curse 
penetrated into all fruits, and now everything became 
good and bad. In all things was death and rottenness, 
which formerly was only in the one tree, called the tree 
of knowledge of good and evil.” {Threefold Life, ix. 15.) 
“ The fruits of the earth are not entirely in the wrath 
of God, for the incorporated word, being immortal and 
imperishable, was blossoming out again in the body of 
death, and produced fruits from the mortified body of the 
earth.” {Aurora, xxi. 24.) 
“ Some animals, especially the tame ones, are closely 
related to the one element; others, especially the fero- 
cious ones, have more relationship with the four ele- 
ments.” {Three Principles, xviii. 10.) 
“ There are poisonous animals and worms grown out of 
the wrathful quality, and formed after the centre of the 
dark world. They love to dwell only in the dark, and 
hide themselves away from the sunlight. Furthermore, 
there are many creatures which the spiritus mundi has 
formed out of the realm of phantasy, such as monkeys 
and certain animals and birds, who like to play pranks 
and torment and disturb other creatures, so that one is 
the enemy of the other, and they are all fighting against 
each other. O11 the other hand, there are also good and 
1 For the true signification and magic powers of precious stones see 
‘ In the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom.” NATURE, OR THE THIRD PRINCIPLE. 
177 
kind creatures, made after the type of the angelic world, 
such as the tame animals and birds: among them, how- 
ever, there are also bad qualities to be found.” {Grace, 
v. 20.)1 
In each external thing there is hidden an eternal and 
imperishable something, which issues again in an ethereal 
form out of the degraded body of the terrestrial substance.2 
“ In each external thing there are two qualities, one 
originating from time and the other one from eternity. 
The first or temporal quality is manifest, the other one 
hidden.” (,Signature, iv. 17.) 
“ In the beings of this world we find everywhere two 
beings in one—first, an eternal, divine and spiritual being, 
and then one that has a beginning, and is natural, tem- 
poral, and corruptible. The outbreathed desire—that is 
to say, the love of the divine power for nature, where- 
from nature and self-will have originated—is longing to 
get rid of the natural perverted self-will, and is destined, 
at the end of time, to be free of the illusion thus 
acquired, and to be brought into a clear, crystalline 
nature.” (Contemplations, i. 30.) 
“ Behold a tree. Outwardly it has a hard and rough 
shell, appearing dead and encrusted; but the body of 
the tree has a living power, which breaks through the 
hard and dry bark and generates many young bodies, 
branches, and leaves, which, however, all are rooted in the 
body of the tree. Thus it is with the whole house of 
this world, wherein also the holy light of God appears 
to have died out, because it has withdrawn into its 
principle, and therefore it seems dead, although it still 
exists in God. But love ever again and again breaks 
1 For description of the elementals inhabiting the astral plane see Para- 
celsus. * 
2 The spiritual being is the one that is not subject to the dissolution 
of the physical form, but “ reincarnates ” periodically; that is to say, it 
creates for itself again other forms in which it may find to a certain 
extent an outward expression. (Compare Myster. Mayn., 29, 45.) 178 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
through this very house of death and generates holy and 
celestial branches in this great tree, and which root in 
the light.” {Aurora, xxiv. 7.) 
All these external formations proceed from the fire-life 
by means of the tincture and the oily, spiritual quality, 
which manifests its power and activity in contrast with 
the elements.1 
“ Each thing is like a fire. However, the torture of 
the fire is not a true life, but the tincture that originates 
from the fire.” {Threefold Life, viii. 18.) 
“As the spirit is in a thing, so is the tincture, for 
the tincture issues from the spirit and is its delight.” 
{Three Principles, xiii. 45.) 
“Where a desire exists there is a fire, for the fire 
desires substantiality, so that it may have something to 
consume. It cannot make for itself any substantiality, 
but it makes a tincture, and that tincture produces the 
substantiality.” {Threefold Life, viii. 33.) 
“ The tincture produces all colours, because it intro- 
duces the quality of fire and light into the water. Thus 
it also transforms water into blood.” {Six Mystical Points, 
i- 5-) 
“ The oily quality is in stones, metals, herbs, trees, 
animals, and men. The deadly quality is in the earth, 
in water, fire, and air. Those four qualities are, in fact, 
like a dead body ; but the oil therein is a light or a life, 
wherefrom results the desire or the growth, the outbloom- 
ing from this deadly quality. The oily quality could 
not, however, be a life if it were not in the anxiety of 
death. The latter arouses the former, and renders it 
movable, because the oily quality desires to fly from the 
anxiety, and to issue from thence, and thereby the growth 
1 In other words, each thing is an expression of will-power. The will 
alone, however, does not constitute its true consciousness; the latter 
results from the action of the will upon the imagination. NATURE, OR THE THIRD PRINCIPLE. 
is caused. Thus death itself has to be a cause of life and 
motion.” {Signature, viii. 5.) 
179 
The external appearance or signature of things is a 
symbol of what they actually are in their inner essence, 
or of what principle is preponderating in their character, 
and therein is the basis of the language of nature. 
“ All the external visible world, in all its states, is a 
symbol or figure of the internal spiritual world. That 
which a thing actually is in its interior is reflected in its 
external character.’’ (Signature, ix. i.) 
“ That principle which in the spirit of its action is 
superior to the rest, engraves its character principally 
upon the corporeal being, and the other qualities are 
only secondary additions to it, as may be seen in all 
living creatures.” (Signature, ix. 4.) 
“ The inner form characterises man, also in his face. 
The same may be said of animals, herbs, and trees. Each 
thing is marked externally with that which it is inter- 
nally and essentially. For the internal being is con- 
tinually labouring to manifest itself outwardly. Thus 
everything has its own mouth for the purpose of revealing 
itself, and therein is based the language of nature, by 
means of which each thing speaks out of its own quality, 
and represents that for which it may be useful and good.” 1 
(Signature, i. 11 — 17.) 
1 See Magic, White and Black. CHAPTER IX. 
GENERA TION. 
‘Let every Brahman, with fixed attention, consider all nature, both 
visible and invisible, as existing in the Divine Spirit. For when he 
contemplates the boundless universe in the Divine Spirit, he cannot 
give his heart to iniquity.”—Manu. 
God evolves the centre of light from eternity to eternity 
within Himself, and likewise there is in the soul of man 
a desire to penetrate into the second principle and to 
live in the light of God.1 
“The soul in its substance is a magical gush of fire 
from the nature of God the Father. She is an ardent 
desire for the light. Thus, God the Father very strongly, 
and from all eternity, desires his heart, the centre of 
the light, and He generates it in His desiring will out 
of the quality of the fire.” {Four Complexions, ii.) 
“ God makes also the second principle in His love, 
wherefrom He generates from eternity to eternity His 
eternal word and heart, and the spirit ignites the bond of 
nature, and renders it luminous in the love and the life 
of His heart by the power of the light. Likewise the soul 
of man desires to penetrate into the second principle, and 
to still its hunger with the power of God.” {Threefold 
Life, i. 11-i 3-) 
But if the soul, as has been the case with Adam, does 
1 It is the principle of light in man that causes him to seek for the light, 
and to desire that it should become manifest. If man were something 
entirely different from God, and had consequently nothing divine in him, 
he would be an atheist, incapable of conceiving of justice or truth, and 
have neither any desire nor understanding for that which is divine. GENERA TION. 
181 
not surrender her will to God, then will the divine idea 
not become annihilated, but is rendered inactive in man. 
“ The soul has the seven qualities of the inner spiritual 
world (modified) according to nature; but the spirit is 
without any qualities; it is outside of nature and in the 
unity of God. By means of its fiery nature the spirit 
becomes manifest in the soul, because it is the true like- 
ness of God, an idea wherein God Himself acts and 
resides, provided that the soul enters with her desire into 
God and surrenders her will to Him. If this does not 
take place, then will that idea, namely, the spirit, be mute 
and inactive, like a picture in a mirror that has faded 
and is without substance, as was the case with Adam in 
his fall.” (Tabulce Principce, 66.) 
“ It should not be supposed that the celestial Ego of 
man had become a nothing. It has remained in him, 
but in his (personal) life it was then like a nothing. It 
was then hidden in God and inconceivable to man, and 
without (manifested) life.” (My sternum, xx. 28.) 
“The essence of the soul, that issued from the un- 
fathomable will, has not died. Nothing can destroy it. 
It remains for ever a free will. But it lost the divine 
state, wherein was burning the light of God and the fire 
of His love. Not that the latter has become a nothing, 
although within the created soul it became like nothing 
(unmanifested), and unconscious; but the holy power, 
that is to say, the spirit of God, which was the active 
life therein, became hidden.” (Grace, vi. 2.) 
If the soul thus permits her true light and life to be 
extinguished, then it naturally follows that her opposite 
power, the principle of wrath, becomes perceptible (con- 
cious) in her.1 
“ As the word or heart of God takes its origin in the 
light of the majesty, in the eternal fire-tincture of the 
1 In proportion as the will of man is not controlled by reason, that will 
becomes unreasonable and follows its lower impulses. 182 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Father, likewise is this the case with the image of the 
soul. The true image of God resides in the light of the 
soul-fire, and the fiery soul must draw that light from 
the love-fountain in God, in His majesty, by means of 
her imagination in God, and surrender of her self-will to 
God. If the soul does not do this, but imagines within 
herself, in her own fierce forms or states conducive to 
the fire-torture (passion), and not in the fountain of love, 
then will her self-torture arise from her harshness, acridity, 
and bitterness, and the image of God will be swallowed 
up in the wrath (the dark fire).” {Eye, xiii. 1 5.) 
“ The soul is per se a fire-torture, and contains within 
herself the first principle, the harsh acridity, which has 
for its object the fire. If from this birth (evolution) of 
the soul is withdrawn the mildness and love of God, or 
if she becomes infected with very strong matter (gross 
material desire), she will then remain a severe harshness, 
consuming itself, and nevertheless continually generating 
new hunger within her own will.” {Menschwerdung, i. 2.) 
Thus has man, by his withdrawal from God, attracted 
unto himself the wrath of God and opened for himself 
the kingdom of hell, and he now forms in himself hellish 
figures.1 
“ After Adam had lost the pure and beautiful image, his 
soul stood then only in the quality of the Father; that is 
to say, in eternal nature, which, apart from the light of 
God, is a wrath and a consuming fire.” (Tilk. i. 285.) 
“ By means of the fall there was in man a door opened 
in the wrath of God, namely, hell. The jaws of the devil 
were opened, and thereby was inaugurated the realm of 
illusion.” {Grace, vii. 7.) 
1 To express this in other words, we may say that the will of man 
ceased to act within his own higher nature, i.e., the celestial virgin of 
divine wisdom, wherein his power was united to sweetness, and became 
active within the lower and animal elements of his constitution, so that 
brute passion took the place of divine self-conscious will. This animal will 
produces corresponding animal images in his soul. GENERA TION. 
183 
“ If we investigate the substance of the soul and its 
essences, we find that it is the most harsh thing in man; 
it is fiery, acrid, and bitter. If it entirely loses the 
virgin of divine power who accompanies it, and from 
which the light of God (in the soul) is born, it then 
becomes and is a devil.” (Three Principles, xiii. 30.) 
“ After man had entered the realm of his selfish en- 
joyment and turned his will away from God, he then 
began to produce hellish figures, such as cursing, blas- 
pheming, and lying.” (Prayer, 53.) 
“We, the poor children of Eve, have to feel within 
ourselves, in great suffering, sorrow, and misery, how the 
wrath moves, guides, and torments us, so that we now no 
longer walk together in the love of God, but, full of poison, 
envy, murder, and animosity, we persecute each other, we 
denounce, dishonour, and vilify, wishing to one another 
death and all kinds of evil, and enjoying each other’s 
misery.” (Tilk. i. 4.) 
“ That which malicious persons of this world do in 
their malignity and falsehood is also done by the devils 
in the world of darkness.” (Six Theosophiccil Points, 
ix. 1 8.) 
“ Each person causes suffering to another, and is there- 
fore the other’s devil.” (Threefold Life, xvii. 10.) 
God has, however, given to man protection, so that he 
may not so easily become a devil, and He did this by 
causing him to enter into external terrestrial life.1 
“ God caused the soul to enter into flesh and blood, so 
that she may not so very easily become capable to receive 
the wrath. Thus (during her terrestrial existence) she 
1 If man’s imagination were not excited by the pictorial representations 
which the objects of the surrounding world call forth in his mind by 
means of his external senses, but if his mental activity were restricted 
to forming images by its own power, his fiery will, from which the recogni- 
tion of his divine bride has departed, would cause him to become self- 
conscious in evil. For this reason asceticism without divine wisdom leads 
to the acquisition of the powers of black magic. 184 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
enjoys herself in tbe mirror of the sun', and is glad in her 
sidereal essence.” (Six Theosophical Points, vii. 19.) 
“ Not without cause has God breathed into the nostrils of 
Adam the external spirit, the external life. Adam might 
have become a devil, like Lucifer, but the external mirror 
prevented it.” (Forty Questions, xvi. 2.) 
“ Many a soul in her malignity would become a devil 
within one hour if the external life did not prevent it, 
so that her complete ignition cannot take place.” (Forty 
Questions, xvi. 12.) 
“ In examining our own selves we find that, on the 
whole, the external spirit (our human nature) is very 
useful to us. Many souls would become corrupted if the 
animal spirit did not hold captive the fire and present 
to the fire-spirit terrestrial, animal occupation and joy, 
wherein it may amuse itself until it obtains again a 
glimpse of its nobler image, and begins to seek for it 
again.” (Forty Questions, xvi. 10.) 
“ If the matter of this world (the imagery of external 
nature) were broken, as it will be broken one day in the 
future, the soul would have stood in eternal death, in the 
darkness. The beautiful creature (the living image) would 
then have been captured by the realm of hell, and the 
devil would have been triumphing over it.” (Threefold 
Life, viii. 38.) 
As the soul of man became captured by the spirit of 
this world, and as she allowed its tincture to enter 
within herself, the terrestrial qualities necessarily arose 
(became pre-eminently active) in him.1 
“ The poor soul of Adam was made captive by the 
spirit and principle of this world, and allowed the tinc- 
ture of this world to enter within her.” (Threefold Life, 
viii. 63.) 
1 Man became an organism wherein the powers of nature are acting, 
and in identifying himself with nature he began to enjoy and to suffer 
with her. GENERA TION. 
185 
“ That in which the imagination of the spirit enters 
becomes expressed in the corporeal form by means of the 
impression of the spiritual desire. Therefore God com- 
manded Adam, when he still was in Paradise, not to eat 
with his imagination from the tree of self-knowledge of 
good and evil, so that he should not sink into suffering 
and death and die to the kingdom of heaven, as has 
actually occurred.” 1 {Baptism, i. 22.) 
“ The terrestrial quality, which formerly was in Para- 
dise in an unmanifested condition, manifested itself by 
means of the desire of the soul. From this resulted 
heat and cold, the poison-life of all adversities, and 
the supremacy of the body, so that the beautiful image 
of Heaven and Paradise faded out of sight.” {Stiefel, 
ii. 83.) 
The bodies of the first human beings were of a 
spiritual, celestial nature; but, in consequence of eating 
of the forbidden fruit, they became terrestrial and 
material. 
“ God had given to man a body constituted of pure, 
essential power, after the nature of the soul, and which, 
if compared with the grossly terrestrial substance, may 
be looked upon as being a spiritual body.” (.Mysterium, 
xvi. 3.) 
“ The body of the first human beings was of a celestial 
kind; but when they ate of the terrestrial fruit and 
absorbed it into the bodies the temperature separated, 
and the terrestrial body became manifest according to all 
its qualities.” {Grace, vii. 5.) 
“ When Eve reached out for the tree and broke the fruit, 
she did it through the earthly livius and through the will 
of the soul, which desired knowledge from the centre of 
nature. In eating actually of the fruit, her body’s essence, 
1 Man’s constitution resembles a garden, wherein all kinds of seeds, 
good and evil, are sown. Those which he cultivates or permits to glow 
will become predominant in him. 186 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
i.e., the human essence, took in the essence in the tree.” 1 
{Mysterium, xx. 29.) 
Man hereby lost the life in eternity, and became sub- 
ject to death.2 
“We cannot say of man that in the beginning he was 
enclosed in time. In Paradise he was embraced in eter- 
nity. God created him in His image ; but when he fell he 
became subject to the limitation of time.” (Grace, vii. 5 i.) 
“Time has a beginning and an end, and as the will 
with its desire has surrendered itself to the temporal guide, 
the body dies and perishes therefore likewise.” (Signa- 
ture, v. 9.) 
“ After the fall man with his interior body lived only 
in time; the precious gold of heavenly corporeity, which 
should tincture, penetrate and bless the external body, 
had lost its colour.” 3 (Signature, v. 8.) 
Moreover, the powers of animal life have gained so much 
room in man, and become preponderating in him to such 
an extent, that in his external essence he has become an 
animal himself.4 
1 If “ Eve ” had not plucked the fruit from the tree of knowledge for 
“ Adain,” that is to say, if he had not desired it merely in his imagina- 
tion, but plucked the fruit himself by entering therein with his own 
fiery will, the consequences would have been still more disastrous to him. 
The universal man (Adam) would then have become a devil, instead of 
a semi-animal human being. 
2 This does not mean to say that the true divine and immortal man 
did lose his immortality ; but man in his aspect as a human being became 
unconscious of his immortality, and is now seeking for external proof for 
the purpose of becoming convinced that there may be something immortal 
in him. 
3 The more of man identifies itself with the body and its lower prin- 
ciples, the more of him will die. That part of man which identifies 
itself with the immortal part within becomes immortal with the latter. 
Man should, therefore, not identify himself in thought and will with the 
lower elements in his constitution, but employ the powers of the latter 
for the unfoldment of his spirituality. 
4 As the whole of the animal kingdom exists in macrocosmic man, like- GENERA TION. 
187 
“ Man was not, like the animals, created from evil and 
good (out of the merely terrestrial substance). If he had 
not eaten of evil and good there would not be in him the 
fire of the wrath ; but now he has also an animal body.’' 
{Aurora, xviii. 109.) 
“ Before the sin the celestial image penetrated wholly 
the external man, clothing him with divine power. The 
animal element was then not manifested in him; but 
when that image, formed of the celestial essence, paled 
and disappeared, then the poor soul, formed out of the 
first principle, found herself surrounded by the animal 
body, naked and bare.” {Mysterium, xxi. 15.) 
“ After Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of self- 
knowledge of good and evil, they soon became ashamed, 
because in their ethereal form there had grown up such a 
gross animal, made of common flesh and hard bones and 
animal bowels. The animal being had swallowed up the 
celestial state, and arisen in them as a creature foreign to 
their true nature, such as they had not known heretofore.” 
{Mysterium, xxiii. 1.) 
“ Let no one imagine that man before the fall had 
animal organs of reproduction, neither did he have bowels 
such as he has now. Such uncleanliness does not exist 
within the Holy Trinity, nor within Paradise; it belongs 
to the earth. Originally man was created an immortal 
being and holy, like the angels.” {Three Principles, 
x. 7.) 
“ By means of the fall man, in regard to his external 
body, became the animal of all animals; that is to say, he 
became the animal image of God, wherein the word of 
God became manifested in an earthly manner. Thus he 
became a master and king of all animals; but neverthe- 
wise the representative forms or germs of all animals exist in the animal 
soul of microcosmic man, and they grow and become predominant in him 
according to his predominant animal tendencies or desires. They are the 
elementals which take possession of godless man and render him subser- 
vient to their will. 188 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
less only an animal; endowed, however, with a higher 
intellect than the merely animal forms.” {Grace, vii. 6.) 
The senses of man also became of an earthly and 
animal nature, so that he is no longer able to perceive 
God and that which is divine.1 
“ When man left the Paradise and entered into another 
generation, namely, into the spirit of this world, into the 
quality of the sun, the planets and elements, then his 
paradisiacal perception became extinct.” (Three Prin- 
ciples, xiv. 2.) 
“ After the fall man became degraded to an animal state 
of being, so that Heaven, Paradise, and divinity became 
a mystery to him.” (Menschwerdung, i. 2, 14.) 
“ The serpent (of desire) said to Eve, ‘ You will not 
die ; but your eyes will be opened, and you will be like 
God.’ It is true that her earthly eyes became opened, 
but her celestial eyes became closed.”2 (Stiefel, i. 44.) 
Mail’s will and mind were captured by the spirit of 
this world, and are now held by one or another element, 
as is shown by the power of the temperaments. 
“ The soul entered with Adam into a strange habita- 
tion, namely, within the spirit of this world. There are 
actually four dwellings in which that precious jewel is 
imprisoned. Of these four there is always one especially 
manifest in a person, and not all four, according to the 
four elements which are within each man, and of which 
always one predominates in the life of a person. These 
1 If man were truly to realise his own divine state, there is no 
power that would retain him against his will in his semi-animal body. 
He would then be the god which in the course of ages he aspires to 
become. 
2 In the same sense, the more we cling to merely external pursuits, the 
more are we liable to lose the power of the true recognition of internal 
truth, and for this reason we usually find the least amount of spirituality 
and intuition among those that are very learned. The more we close our 
eyes and speculate, the less shall we become capable to see. GENERA TION. 
189 
four states, forms, or temperaments are called the choleric, 
the sanguine, phlegmatic, and melancholy temperament. 
In the choleric one is the nature and quality of the fire 
manifested, in the sanguine that of the air, in the phleg- 
matic the nature of water, and in the melancholic the 
quality of the element of the earth.” {Four Complexions, 
i. 6.) 
Man’s enjoyment and desire is now turned away from 
the divine, and directed towards that which is earthly 
and animal. 
“ The angelic image in man became entirely destroyed 
both as to mind and senses, as we may plainly see at 
present, both thoughts and senses are shaped by an animal 
will, and it is very difficult for them to arrive at a state 
in which they love God and justice.” (Grace, vii. 36.)1 
“ After the fall the creatures (elementals) obtained 
power in man and arose in him. There are persons who 
live in the quality of a snake, and are full of cunning 
and poisonous malice; others live in the quality of a toad 
or a dog, a bear or a wolf; or one may have in him the 
quality of some good and tame animal. All men are out- 
wardly formed in the human image, but within the quality 
is seated an animal.” 2 (Grace, vii. 3, 4.) 
1 If the senses of man were educated to love that which is true and 
divine, then would the inner realm become opened to their perception, and 
man would know “supersensual things.” 
2 Every character, when it is to be expressed, finds its expression in a 
certain form. All the animals in this world are incarnations of certain 
characters, and likewise the qualities of animal man are expressed in his 
animal soul (on the astral plane) in corresponding animal forms. The 
above assertion of Jacob Boehme is, therefore, not a mere figure of 
speech ; but the animal soul of every human being resembles a menagerie 
composed of different animals, which may be seen by those that are 
gifted with the astral perception, and according to the quality of the will 
of man, whereon these animals live, some become sick and die, while 
others are born and grow. The conditions of these animal elementals in 
the constitution of man are some of those causes of his bodily ills of 
which modern medical science is entirely ignorant. 190 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Man’s present anirftal method of reproducing himself 
originated in his fall, as is proved by Eve having been 
projected from Adam at a later period of time, and also 
by the inherited sense of shame in regard to the organs 
of generation. 
“ If God had created man for this earthly, corruptible, 
poverty-stricken, sickly, and animal life, He would not 
have put him into Paradise. If He had originally in- 
tended that mankind should procreate themselves like 
the brutes, He would have made them into men and 
women already at the start.” (Mysterium, xviii. 5.) 
“ The poor degraded soul is ashamed of the possession 
of animal organs of generation, and of the way in 
which impregnation takes place. Does not every one feel 
this ? If we had been created beastlike in Adam, why 
should we be ashamed of our beastliness ? Why is it 
that the soul is ashamed of the monstrosity of her out- 
ward body, and of its animal method of procreation ? ” 
(Tilk. i. 608.) 
If there had occurred no sin, man, being the living 
image of God, and therefore possessing the power to 
create, could have produced his equals out of his own 
self without the existence of severed sexes. 
“ The sum of all mankind constitutes the one original 
Adam. God created him alone, and left it to him to pro- 
duce other beings. He should have surrendered his self- 
will entirely to God, and with God generated other men 
out of himself, and in conformity with himself.” (.Mys- 
terium, lxxi. 31.) 
“ Adam was a complete image of God, male and female, 
and nevertheless neither of them separately, but pure like 
a chaste virgin. He had in himself the desire (power) 
of the fire and the light, the mother of love and wrath, 
and the fire in him loved the light, receiving from it 
calmness and beneficence; while the light in him loved 
the fire as being its life, in the same sense as God, in His GENERA TION. 
191 
quality as Father, loves the Son and the Son loves the 
Father.” (Stiefel, ii. 351.) 
“ Adam was man and wife in one individuality. How- 
ever, he must not be considered as having been a woman 
in the usual sense of this word, but as a pure, chaste, 
virginal power. That is to say, he had within himself 
the tincture or spirit of fire, and also that of water, and he 
loved himself and God. He could generate in a virginal 
state, and procreate by means of his will and out of his 
own substance, without any pain or laceration.” (Three- 
fold Life, ii. 24.) 
“ If man had withstood the temptation one human 
being would have been born from another, in the same 
way as Adam in his virginal state was projected into 
objectivity as a human being and image of God, because 
that which is of the Eternal can also procreate (multiply) 
itself according to the law of eternity.” (Threefold Life, 
xviii. 7.) 
These descendants of man would have issued one from 
the other, and one would have surpassed the other in his 
qualities and dignity before God.1 
“ It is unnecessary to know whether, if man had re- 
mained in his original state, all (future) individuals would 
have been the products of one individual, or whether they 
would have been produced one from another; but in 
seeking within the depth, in the centre, I find that one 
would have come from the other. In the course of time 
they would have differed in their qualities; some would 
have grown to be superior to others, as is the case at pre- 
sent where not all men are equals, but some have more 
genius and intelligence than others.” (Menschwerdung, 
i- 5, 4-) 
But now, after the generative powers, which were for- 
1 This is the way in which the “personalities” mentioned in the Book 
Genesis were “ begotten.” 192 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
merly united in man, appear in a state of separation in 
males and females, each sex seeks within the other the 
child that is to be generated, and strongly desires to unite 
with the other.1 
“ In the beginning of creation all was born from one 
being, and a separation of sex took place later on. There- 
fore each sex strongly desires the other, as is seen in the 
process of procreation.” (Three Principles, viii. 40.) 
“ There is now a strong sexual desire in all creatures. 
The male spirit seeks for the beloved child in the female, 
and the female seeks for it in the male.” (Three Prin- 
ciples, viii. 44.) 
“ The water-mother strongly desires for the fire-mother, 
and seeks for the child of love. Likewise the fire-mother 
seeks for it in the water-mother, and therefore both sexes 
have a strong desire to mingle with each other.” (Three 
Principles, viii. 42.) 
This desire, wherein the two sexes are burning in re- 
gard to each other, is an abomination before God; hut 
if it is governed by faithfulness and orderly conjugal love, 
it is patiently tolerated by the Lord.2 
“ Conjugal sexual cohabitation is not sinful, because it 
is in accordance with man’s human nature. It is incited 
by the power of nature, and tolerated in divine patience 
by the spiritual soul.” (Stiefel, ii. 409.) 
“ Lust, however, without being ennobled by faithful 
conjugal love, is merely an animal and sinful desire; and 
if you seek in marriage only the gratification of sexual 
lust, }rou are then not superior to an animal.” (Three 
Principles, xx. 64.) 
1 Since the “woman” has issued from man, his manner of reproduc- 
tion has necessarily become an external and animal one, and will continue 
to be so until the true divine marriage has taken place, by which the will 
of man becomes again one with the goddess of wisdom. 
2 Each sex seeks within the other that of which it is itself deficient, 
and therefore, seen from the spiritual point of view, all sexual “love” may 
be regarded as a manifestation of selfishness. GENERATION. 
193 
“ Beware, 0 man, as to how you use the sexual animal 
desire ! It is an abomination before the Lord (the divine 
Being in man), whether it be within or outside of legalised 
wedlock; but true lawful love and faithfulness hides the 
desire before the sight of God.” {Three Principles, xx. 65.) 
“ If a couple generate children, their imagination or 
desire (during the sexual act) is not holy, but the noble 
part of the soul is ashamed of it. There are even animals 
that are ashamed of that act. Even in its best aspect 
the performance is disgusting before the sanctity of that 
which is divine, it having been caused by sin in conse- 
quence of primordial man’s degradation, but being patiently 
submitted to by that which is divine in man, because it is 
a necessity of his present animal state.” 1 {Stiefel, ii. 396.) 
It is an error to suppose that one person is a descen- 
dant from others merely as far as his corporeal form is 
concerned. The human soul is likewise generated in 
that manner. If the heart were absent even the body 
could not come into existence.2 
“ The soul is not every time created anew and breathed 
into the body, but she is reproduced according to human 
natural law, like a branch growing out of the trunk of 
a tree, or as a kernel or seed that is sown. Thus the 
soul is sown that it may grow to be a spirit and body.” 3 
{Forty Questions, x. 4.) 
1 “Sin” is that which constitutes a disobedience against the will of 
God, which is also the law of nature. He who resists the law of nature 
without being able to rise above his own animal nature commits a crime 
against nature, and therefore against God. But if we rise above our 
animal plane into the higher regions of feeling and thought, then shall 
we be no longer affected by the laws that govern that animal nature, and 
no resistance will be needed, as the desires of the flesh do not affect the 
spirit that is not identified with the flesh. 
2 Here Jacob Boehme evidently refers to the human soul, the Manas, 
and not to the Buddlii, or spiritual soul, which overshadows each new in- 
carnation. 
3 The spiritual soul in man has its origin in God, and its individual 
qualities are gathered from the efflorescence of its experiences in previous 194 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ The souls of men, all taken together, are as only 
one soul, for they have all been generated out of one 
soul.” 
“ The soul is a cause of the existence of all the mem- 
bers necessary for the life of man, for without the soul 
no organ would come into existence to live in the life of 
man.” (Three Principles, xiv. 14.) 
“ The heart is the true origin of the soul, and in the 
interior blood of the heart (the will) is the soul, the fire, 
while in the tincture the soul is its spirit (its light); 
the spirit floats above the heart, and communicates 
itself to the body and to all of its organs.” {Forty Ques- 
tions, xi. 3.) 
In so far as by the connubial act a soul is generated, 
there is in it even something of a paradisiacal nature.1 
“ While Adam remained in the love of God, and the 
woman (the female principle) in him was a chaste virgin, 
the tincture of the fire (in him) could have experienced 
much joy in the embrace of the tincture of the light con- 
tained (in him); but the present external body is not 
worthy of enjoying such an intercourse with the kingdom 
of delight, wherein the life of the soul is sown. Only the 
inner essences, which originate (directly) from the Eternal, 
are capable of participating in such happiness; external 
animal man merely gratifies an animal desire, and knows 
nothing of the delight of the (spiritual) essences. If, 
however, the (external and internal) tinctures intermingle, 
then there is therein something (a sensation) belonging 
incarnations; but the human and animal soul are the products of the 
mental and astral influences acting through the bodies of the parents ; 
while the visible material form is made of the elements of the earth. 
1 The highest sensual pleasure which human beings can possibly enjoy 
is experienced by them during the connubial act; but as this act con- 
stitutes the exercise of the highest power which is still within man’s 
dominion, namely, the power to create a being like unto himself, there- 
fore this power should not be prostituted for baser motives, such as the 
gratification of sensual desire. GENERA TION. 
to Paradise; but the earthly essence (lust) soon becomes 
mixed therewith.” (Menschwerdung, i. 7, 6.) 
“ The desire for conjunction in men and women results 
from the separation of the fire and light-tincture in Adam. 
These principles in their own essence are still much more 
noble and pure than the flesh. It is true that they are 
now separated, and do not contain the true life; but they 
are full of desire for that true life, and when they again 
meet with each other in the unity of all being, they then 
awaken the true life to which their desire is directed. 
They want to be again that which they were in the 
image of God when Adam was man and woman.”1 
{Stiefel, ii. 388.) 
“ When the two tinctures are brought together into 
one, then the quality of the eternal kingdom of joy, the 
highest desire and its fulfilment, becomes manifested. If 
this could be done in purity, and without the admixture 
of that which causes disgust, then would it all be holy; 
but even the sulphur (the terrestrial element) of the seed 
is a cause of disgust in the sight of true holiness.” {Stiefel, 
ii. 402.) 
During the connubial act a divine interaction takes 
place; but there are also influences coming from the 
terrestrial and the satanic worlds. More epecially is 
the nature of the child dependent on the quality of its 
parents.2 
1 In the male is represented especially the fiery essence (the will or 
obstinacy), in the female the essence of light (spirituality or gentleness). 
The sexual distinctions, however, do not belong to the external body 
exclusively, but to the inner man, of whom the outer man is not always 
a correct image, because there are other factors besides the true soul 
entering in his formation. Therefore it sometimes happens that the sex 
of the external body does not seem to correspond to that of the inner 
man. We meet with male persons apparently inhabited by a female 
soul with female tastes and tendencies, and vice versa; and in such 
persons there are sometimes manifest apparently inexplicable sexual 
perversities. 
8 It should always be remembered that man’s constitution is not the 196 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ The will called into action during the connubial act 
is threefold. Firstly, there arises between the parents 
of the child the animal desire to commingle, and during 
the commingling the centre of love becomes opened, 
even if they were otherwise dissatisfied with each other. 
That love then participates in the qualities of the one 
element, and this element with paradise; but the paradise 
is before God.” (Three Principles, xv. 30.) 
“ On the other hand, the external seed has also its own 
essences, and they participate in the qualities of the ex- 
ternal elements. These external elements participate in 
the qualities of the external planets, and they are con- 
nected with external wrath and malice; while the latter 
are connected with the abyss of hell, and that abyss 
belongs to the devils.” (Three Principles, xv. 31.) 
“ If a branch grows out of a tree, its form approximates 
that of the tree. Thus, if a mother produces a child, the 
child is formed in her own image.” (Forty Questions, 
v. 1.) 
“An evil tree cannot produce good fruits. If both 
parents are bad and in the power of the devil, a soul in- 
clined to evil will be sown. It would be well for parents 
to remember this fact. You are saving up money for 
your children, but if you would furnish them with a good 
soul, that would be more useful to them.”1 {Forty Ques- 
tions, x. 7—9.) 
result of the action of only one principle, but of three, manifesting them- 
selves in the seven qualities of eternal nature, in seven different forms, 
and that, therefore, his external body is not the expression of only one 
principle, but of three. His spirit is from the innermost fountain, his 
soul from the internal world, his body from external nature. 
1 The absence of words in modern languages for expressing internal 
facts in a comprehensible manner leads to a continual confusion of terms. 
Thus the term “ soul ” refers here not to the divine soul that originates 
directly from God, nor to that part of man which becomes reincarnated 
(the Karana Sarira), but to the “inner man” (the Manas and lower 
lsencippri). Unless this distinction of the various aspects of man is kept 
in mind, we are always exposed to mistaking the leaves of the tree of life for 
the branches, and the branches for the trunk, and the trunk for the roots. GENERATION. 
“ To the extent in which the parents have the essen- 
tiality of God connected with their own souls will the 
seed not be introduced into the Turba; for Christ says, 
* A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.’ ” {Forty 
Questions, x. 5.) 
197 
Each soul, however, is an individual being, and there- 
fore a child born from bad parents can again turn to God, 
or the reverse of this may take place.1 
“Although the soul is a branch from the tree, she 
is, nevertheless, an individual being. Therefore a child, 
after being born, has a life of its own, and the centre of 
nature is within its own power.” (Forty Questions, vi. 2.) 
“ Even if a child has good parents, it may afterwards 
enter into the Turba. Likewise a child born of evil 
parents may become converted by means of its imagina- 
tion, and enter into the Word of the Lord. This rarely 
takes place, but it is nevertheless possible. God throws 
no soul away, unless the soul throws herself away. Each 
soul judges 'herself.” 2 (Forty Questions, x. 6—8.) 
1 Each soul constitutes an individual, but for all that not an independent, 
part of the tree of life. The trunk (Christ) remains, brit the leaves (the 
personalities of men and women) drop off. The branches (the individual 
human spirits) grow from year to year, and by the power of the sap 
which the branches receive through the trunk they produce new leaves 
(personalities) every spring. Thus it is not the Christ, i.e., the divine, 
man, who becomes reincarnated; neither do the same identical leaves 
reappear upon the same tree, but the spirit of man (his higher Manas) 
through the power of Christ (the Atma-Buddhi) produces new personalities 
in whom is expressed the power which the spirit receives from God. 
2 Each soul is receptive of good and evil influences, but especially to 
such as are predominant in her own nature. Whether or not a soul will 
inherit the desire or power to overcome the evil in her own constitution, 
or whether she will be more inclined to evil, will depend on the Karma 
acquired by her in previous incarnations. CHAPTEE X. 
THE CHRIST. 
“ The inner element which holds the whole body of this world has become 
the eternal body of Christ; for the whole of Divinity in the word and 
heart of God has entered therein in eternity ; and the same Divinity 
has become a created being; but such a creature, as can be every- 
where, like Divinity itself.” (Princ. xxiii. 20.) 
“ Without special divine aid, humanity would have gone 
to eternal perdition on account of the sin.” 1 (Hamberger.) 
“ Adam would have been lost eternally if the heart of 
God with the word of promise had not entered his soul, 
awakening the spiritual hope which maintained him.” 
{Forty Questions, viii. 5.) 
“ If the divine principle of love were not still pervad- 
ing all nature in this terrestrial world, and if we poor 
created beings had not with us the warrior in the battle, 
1 This does not mean to say that any extracosmic God worried or 
“studied” about finding a method by which he might save mankind; 
but the “ Heart ” of God moved, because its own love caused it to move. 
“ God is threefold in His personal aspect, and willed to move three 
times, according to each of these aspects, but not in eternity. At first 
there moved the centre of nature in the Father, for the purpose of creating 
the angels, and through them the world. The second time the quality of 
the Son moved, whereby the Heart of God became Man, and this will 
never take place again in eternity ; but whenever it now takes place, it 
will occur merely through this only (universal) Man (Divinity in Humanity), 
who is God, manifesting Himself through and in many. For the third 
time, and at the end of the world, God will move in the name (quality) 
of the Holy Spirit, when the world will return into the Ether (Akasa), 
and then its dead will be resurrected.” (Threefold Life, vii. 22.) 
This may perhaps be expressed in other words by saying : At the first 
impulse the latent will became active, at the second move the latent 
wisdom or light, and at the third move or impulse the third principle will 
enter from the latent state into activity. THE CHRIST. 
199 
we would all be sure to perish in the horror of hell.” 1 
(Aurora, xiv. 104.) 
God, on account of His infinite mercy, desired to aid 
mankind.2 
“ God desires that all mankind shall be saved. He 
does not desire the death of the sinner, but that he 
become changed, and turning again to God, find life in 
Him.” (Three Principles, Preface, i. 6.) 
“(Superficial) reasoning represents God as an un- 
merciful being, and teaches that He has thrown His 
wrath upon man, and cursed him to death, because He 
found disobedience in him. But you should not believe 
this. God is love and goodness, and in Him there is no 
angry thought. Man would be all right if he had not 
punished himself.” (Three Principles, x. 24.) 
There was no other way to save mankind, except that 
the Son or the Light of God should enter into them.3 
“ When the soul went out of the light of God and 
entered into the spirit of this world, then began the tor- 
1 Whether such an event took place some 1900 years ago or at any 
other date may be left to the historian to find out. At all events, the 
Bible account is a description of the redemption of the world from 
spiritual ignorance by the entering of a ray of the light of God, and 
likewise of the spiritual regeneration of man. The external “ Christian ” 
Church, with its ritualism, is based upon a belief in a person of Jewish 
history, who died and left his powers in the hands of the clergy. The 
religion of the living Christ is based upon the recognition of an eternal 
process going on in the macrocosm of nature and in the microcosm of 
man. To the externally-reasoning “ liberal ” Christian, Jesus of Nazareth, 
whether He ever existed or not, represents the type of an ideal man, a 
teacher who, by example and words, taught men virtue. To the internal 
perception of the seer He is the type of the personification of the divine 
Logos in man. 
2 The expression “God” is here not to be taken as the primordial 
absolute Will, but as God in His aspect as the Father. 
3 God never went outside of universal man, neither did His light be- 
come extinguished in him. In its macrocosmic aspect the “ re-entering ” of 
that light may be compared to a ray of light in the centre of a body pene- 
trating to the periphery. In its microcosmic aspect it is comparable to the 
life giving power of the sun, awakening the life in an individual organism. 200 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEIIME. 
merit of the first principle. She saw and felt herself no 
longer in the kingdom of God, until the heart of God came 
and appeared between her and that kingdom, so that 
she could enter therein and become regenerated.” (Three 
Principles, ix. 6.) 
“ There was no other salvation for the divine image in 
man unless divinity had moved according to the second 
principle, i.e., according to the light of eternal life, and by 
the power of love rekindled the substantiality (of the soul) 
that was imprisoned in death.” (Menschwerdung, i. 11,2 2.) 
“ The soul has separated her will from the will of the 
lather and entered into the lust of this life. There could 
have been no other way of redemption, except that the pure 
will of the Father should again enter into her substance and 
bring her again into the state which she formerly occupied, 
so that her will would be directed again into the heart 
and light of God.” (Three Principles, xxii. 67.) 
“ If the soul was to be aided, the heart of God with 
its light, and not the Father Himself, had to enter her, 
for in the Father she was anyhow; but she was turned 
away from the entrance to the generation of the heart 
(the beginning of the divine self-consciousness) of God, 
and her desires were directed towards this external 
world.” 1 (Three Principles, xxii. 68.) 
The preparations for that redemption were already- 
made before the creation of this world, as the name of 
Jesus was embodied in man.2 
1 The true Christ is, therefore, neither an “Adept” nor a “Mahatma,” 
nor a Reformer, a mortal person, nor anything whatsoever that differs 
from God, but he is Divinity itself manifesting itself in Humanity, 
and thereby saving mankind as a whole, and each individual person sepa- 
rately considered, from ignorance and suffering, to the extent as mankind or 
such an individual person receives Him (the light) in him or her. The 
redemption from spiritual darkness depends on the presence of the redeem- 
ing power of the spiritual light within the darkness itself. 
2 As the future regenerated Man, the second Adam was contained 
hidden within the first Adam ; likewise the name of Jesus was hidden in 
the name of Jehovah, the latter being Himself Universal Man. THE CHRIST. 
201 
“ The name of Jesus embodied itself into the tincture 
of the soul in Paradise when Adam fell, and even before 
Adam was created; as Peter mentions in his first letter 
(i. 20), where he says that we have been provided for in 
Christ, even before the foundation of the world was laid.” 
{Menscliiverclung, i. 8. 1.) 
“ The name Jesus was incorporated into the image of 
eternity as a future Christ, that it may become a re- 
deemer of men, and out of the dying in the wrath 
regenerate them again into the pure being of divine and 
paradisiacal power.” (Stiefel, ii. 74.) 
“ The word which God spoke in regard to the power 
that was to bruise the head of the serpent, was a spark 
of love from the divine heart of God, and therein has 
the Father from eternity seen and elected humanity. 
In this spark of divine love-light the whole world was 
to live, and Adam was already therein while his creation 
took place, as is also expressed by Paul (Eph. i. 13), 
where he says that man was elected in Christ before the 
foundation of the world was made.” 1 (Three Principles, 
xvi. 107.) 
As long as Adam had not ceased to resemble God, 
the Eedeemer within him did not render Himself per- 
ceptible. This, however, took place immediately after 
the fall.2 
“ From all eternity stood the name Jesus in immov- 
able love in man as the image of God. But when the 
1 Christ (Atma-Buddhi) being Divinity in Humanity, there can be no 
other Redeemer than He, because man cannot be saved from mortality 
in any other way than by becoming immortal; nor can he become 
immortal unless he does become divine. (“ That which is unclean cannot 
enter the kingdom of cleanliness.”) The reason why the divine Logos, 
in its aspect as the “ Christ ” or Redeemer, is not spoken of as an “ it,” but 
as “He,” is evidently because the Word, by becoming human in man, 
naturally assumed the qualities of man. 
2 There was no occasion for the voice of conscience to speak in “ Adam ” 
as long as he had not acted against the Law. 202 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
soul lost the light, then the Word spoke the name of 
Jesus into what was movable; into the faded ens of the 
heavenly world’s substance.”1 {Grace, vii. 34.) 
“ Before the fall Adam received the divine light out 
of Jehovah; that is to say, out of the one only God, 
■wherein was hidden the name of Jesus. But during the 
time of suffering when the soul fell, God manifested the 
treasure of His glory and holiness, and by means of the 
living voice of the Word He incorporated Himself with 
the divine fire of love into the eternal image, representing 
the banner of the soul, which she was to follow as a 
guide. But if she was not able to penetrate therein, 
being as one dead relatively to God, nevertheless the 
divine breath penetrated into her, and warned her to 
stop her evil activity, so that its voice might again 
begin to become active within the soul.” {Grace, 
vii. 32.) 
“ As Adam manifested in himself the centre of wrath, 
God instituted opposition to evil, and manifested in 
him the power that bruises the heel of the serpent, which 
heretofore, at the time when sin had not yet appeared, 
had been hidden (latent) in the power of God, and in 
Jesus as the love of God, in divine unity.”2 (Stiefel, 
ii. 161.) 
The power of the future Redeemer became first of all 
active in Eve.3 
“ The in-speaking of the devil, wherefrom evil will 
originated, took place in Adam while he was still man 
and woman, and yet neither the one nor the other, but 
an image of God. From Adam it penetrated into Eve, 
1 From all eternity there was in man latent the power of becoming 
divine ; but that power did not act as long as there was no cause to incite 
it to do so. This cause was created by the second moving of the funda- 
mental will (of God). 
2 “Jesus” means “ Wisdom.” Divine wisdom is love. 
3 Woman, being on the whole more refined, more submissive and intui- 
tional than man, is also more receptive for the germ of true spirituality. THE CHRIST. 
who began to sin. Then occurred the in-speaking of 
God, and this took place at first in Eve as the mother of 
all mankind, and opposed itself through her to the con- 
sciousness of sin that had begun to be manifested in 
Adam.” {Grace, vii. 47.) 
“ Not in the tincture of man, which represents the 
fiery essence, did the word of promise desire to become 
incorporated, but in the tincture of the light, in the 
virginal centre, which was to generate magically in 
Adam, in the celestial substance of the holy generatrix, 
because in that tincture of light the fiery soul-essence 
was weaker thau in the fiery nature of man.” {Mystc- 
rium, xxiii. 43.) 
“Not through Adam’s- fire-tincture was this event 
to take place, but in and through Adam’s light-tincture, 
wherein the love was burning that had become separated 
from him to constitute woman, the mother of all man- 
kind. It was she in whom the voice of God promised 
again to introduce the living, holy substance from heaven, 
and to generate anew and in divine power the faded 
image of God that was contained therein.”1 {Grace, 
vii. 18.) 
203 
This, however, did not take place in her terrestrial 
body, but in her celestial essence, which on account of 
the sin had weakened. 
“ When God said, ‘ I will put enmity, and the seed of 
the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent,’ then the 
holy voice went from Jehovah into the weakened celestial 
substance of the woman for the purpose of introducing 
therein a new living and celestial state, and to conquer 
the kindled wrath of God by means of the most exalted 
divine love, whereby the monstrosity and its desire should 
1 Whether a person is of the male or the female gender, it is always in 
his or her female elements (in the intuitive faculties, and not in the fiery 
will), that the divine and redeeming power of the love-light becomes 
first manifest. 204 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
be entirely killed and exterminated.” (Mysterium, xxiii. 
29, 37-) 
“ The voice of God, speaking to Eve, entered into the 
seed of the woman; but the true woman was the eternal 
virgin, and this virgin became revealed by the power of 
the voice speaking into her in the name of Jesus, which 
(name) had evolved from Jehovah, and promised that in 
the fulness of time the holy, celestial love-essence would 
again be introduced into the weakened image.” 1 {Grace, 
vik 33-) 
From Eve, out of whom the Saviour as an incarnation 
was to issue in the fulness of time, the blissful power 
radiated and expanded over the whole of humanity.2 
“ God spoke into the image of Adam, that had become 
weakened relatively to its divine life, His holy word, 
‘ The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the 
serpent.’ By the action of this voice the destitute soul 
regained a divine life, and this very voice (inner con- 
sciousness) was perpetuated from man to man as the 
covenant of mercy.” {Grace, vii. 16.) 
“ Christ was perpetuated in all men as a glowing spark 
of divine light, according to the quality of the true image, 
and as a potentiality (or seed of immortal being), but, as 
a matter of course, hot in the external flesh of the terres- 
trial world, but within the second principle.” (Stiefel, ii. 
318.) 
“ The word that had been incorporated in the seed of 
Eve became perpetuated from man to man in his celestial 
part as a sound (conscience) or spark of the divine and 
1 The “seed of woman” is the universal female principle, the celestial 
image which finds its reflection and representation in terrestrial woman, 
upon the earth. For this reason woman is more beautiful than man. 
Beauty in a male results from the presence of the female principle of 
beauty in him, combined with his strength. Strength (rigidity) without 
mildness (harmony) cannot be beautiful. 
2 “Eve” means the celestial woman, the vehicle of the divine spirit, 
wherein the divine will moves, in a terrestrial aspect. THE CHRIST. 
205 
holy fiery light, until the time when Mary was awakened, 
when the time for the fulfilment of the covenant had 
arrived and the doors of the closed chamber were opened.” 1 
(Mysterium, xxiii. 3 1.) 
This event could not take place earlier on account of 
the great depth of human corruption, but in the minds 
of those that were willing to submit to divine mercy 
this power resisted Satan, and even awakened prophets 
among them.2 
“ Christ remained in Adam and Eve as a divine mys- 
tery, and did not take human substance in them. He re- 
mained motionless until the time (for His manifestation) 
arrived; only then He moved within the seed of the 
woman.” (Stiefel, 448.) 
“ The seed of the woman received its anointment by 
means of the motion of the name of Jesus only in Mary, 
but not in Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Isaac, Jacob, and 
David. The ancient prophets did not know Christ in 
their seed, and that He had moved within their carnal 
seed, but only within their spirit and soul, within their 
1 Jesus of Nazareth represents the incarnation, personification, and 
fruition of the divine Logos in man. Likewise Mary represents the per- 
sonification of the celestial virgin-mother, the universal celestial kingdom 
which furnishes the conditions necessary for the unfoldment of divinity 
in humanity. 
2 It is obvious that, as Universal Man became more and more differ- 
entiated in His external forms as individual powers or human beings, the 
original power contained in Him must also have remained in all His 
successors; but as there may be millions of seeds of a plant while only 
one of them finds the conditions necessary to grow into perfection, like- 
wise the Atma was in all human beings, but not active in their material 
nature, while in Mary it is represented as having begun to stir and to 
become incorporated in visible form, manifesting itself outwardly and 
externally as an incarnation of divine power. If we apply the rules 
laid down in the Secret Doctrine, the appearance of the Christ—i.e., the 
incarnation of the divine Word, or the awakening of the Divinity in 
Humanity—would have had to take place during the middle of the 
fourth race in the fourth “ round.” 206 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
desire for faith (spiritual knowledge).”1 (Stiefel, ii. 
453-) 
“ The (astral) soul of Adam and Eve and of all human 
beings was still too rough, unmanageable, and impregnated 
by the first principle. Therefore the Word and the bruiser 
of the head of the serpent did not enter into form within 
their souls ; but it stood within the mind to oppose the 
devils and the kingdom of hell with those that were 
willing to surrender themselves to it.” (Three Principles, 
xviii. 26.) 
“ The saints of God being prophets, and prophesying 
in the spirit of Jesus, all spoke aiming at the cove- 
nant, i.e., out of the promised Word, which was again 
to move within the flesh; that is to say, that the Word 
was contained within the weakened interior image, and 
unfolded itself, and indicated to the external man what 
was to happen to him in the future, when it would mani- 
fest itself, and destroy therein death and the loathsome- 
ness resulting from the battle taking place within the 
forms of life.” 2 {Stiefel, 385.) 
As our progenitors (in tlieir terrestrial aspect) were 
1 “Adam” is the trunk of the tree representing humanity. He is the 
primordial man, or the collectivity of the first “ anthropoid beings ” (spirits ; 
—not apes), which were of an ethereal kind. 
“ Abel ” and “ Cain ” are the two branches of that tree. 
“Cain” represents the external, sensual realm; “Abel” the super- 
natural—i.e., transcendental kingdom. 
“ Enoch ” means the outbreathing of life and reconceiving of it within 
itself, such as constitutes contemplativeness. 
“Noali,” the end in the beginning ; the “ Word” that enters from the 
end into the beginning. 
“ Isaac ” is the prototype of the kingdom of grace. 
“Jacob,” the uprising and consolidation of the spiritual will coming from 
the fiery will. 
“David,” the power of grace arising from the submission of one’s per- 
sonal will to one’s divine will. (Compare Mysterium Magnum.) 
2 The “ Christ,” the light, existed therein essentially, but not substan- 
tially. It was a state of feeling, but not of understanding. It may be 
compared to the heat in a body, which renders the body hot; but not 
luminous, until the ignition takes place. THE CHRIST. 
20 7 
governed by external reasoning, Eve believed that in 
giving birth to Cain the bruiser of the head of the ser- 
pent had already come into the world.1 
“ Hear and see what was Adam and Eve’s desire before 
and after the fall. They desired the terrestrial kingdom, 
and Eve’s mind was directed to terrestrial things. When 
she gave birth to Cain she said, * I have the Man, the Lord.’ 
She thought that he was the one whose heel was to bruise 
the head of the serpent, and that he was to drive the 
devil away. She did not think that it was for her to die 
to her own false, earthly, and fleshly will, and to be reborn 
in a divine will. Such a (selfish) will she carried within 
her seed, and Adam likewise, and from that resulted the 
will in the soul-essence.2 The tree produced a branch 
of its own nature, for Cain’s thoughts were bent upon 
becoming a lord of this earth. As Cain saw that Abel 
was higher in the love of God than he, his free animal 
will arose for the purpose of killing Abel, for he cared 
only for the possession of the external wTorld, and to be 
lord therein, while Abel was seeking only for the love of 
God.” (Mysterium, xxvi. 23.) 
As an antithesis to Cain, there tvas born to Adam 
another son, namely, Abel, who was not so much an image 
of his earthly as rather of his celestial essentiality, that 
had been restored to a certain extent by divine mercy.3 
“ After the fall Jehovah spoke the name of Jesus in 
Adam into an actual life ; that is to say, he manifested it 
in the celestial being that had been weakened on account 
of the sin. In consequence of this in-speaking, there was 
awakened out of the spiritual death or state of dying, into 
1 “ Eve,” the soul of the world, had not yet become spiritually enlight- 
ened enough to produce a divine being. 
2 “Eve imagined that in Cain she had produced Jehovah, the future 
King of the external world ; and likewise the apostles supposed that Christ 
was going to establish an external kingdom.” (Three Principles, xx. 50.) 
3 It should be remembered that these allegorical names do not refer to 
individual men, but to states of the universal mind. 208 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
which Adam had sunk, a divine desire once more, and 
this awakened desire was the beginning of faith. This 
very desire separated itself from the quality of the false 
desire, and formed an image, and thus Abel came into 
existence; but Cain was the product of Adam’s soul- 
quality, according to his earthly lust.” {Grace, ix. 101.) 
Thus Abel on the whole, and especially on account of 
his forcible death which he suffered, represented an anti- 
type of the Redeemer. 
“ Relatively to his external human state, Abel was 
also sinful; but in his interior the angelic world 
and image of Paradise began to bud. Then the in- 
terior man put his heel upon the monster-serpent of false 
desire, and on the other hand the monster-serpent stung 
the heel of his angelic will.” (Mysterium, xxviii. 2.) 
“ The killing of Abel’s external body by Cain symbol- 
ises that the external man must be mortified in the 
wrath of God. The wrath must kill and consume the 
external image that has grown in the wrath, but from 
its death springs forth the eternal life.” {Mysterium, 
xxviii. 14.) 
“ Abel, representing an antitype of Christ, who was 
to suffer death for humanity, had to pass through death 
without having produced fruits or branches; for the 
fruit which Christ was to generate was the tree of 
humanity, that was to be reborn in the spirit, but not 
new branches of the old one. Thus Abel, as the anti- 
type of Christ, was to produce no new branch from his 
loins.” {Mysterium, xxix. 22.) 
In the place of Abel, Adam was to produce a third 
son, namely, Seth, in whom was to be perpetuated the 
line of generation from which the Saviour was to be born 
in the flesh.1 
1 “ Seth ” is a ray of love-light escaping from the fiery will. (Mystcrium 
Magnum, xxix. 24.) THE CHRIST. 
“ Adam, by means of his Eve, was to produce still 
another branch from the tree of life, a son, who would be 
in his image similar to Adam and like himself, namely, 
Seth; (a race) wherein a ray of the love-will is perceived 
within the fiery will; being, however, still imprisoned 
by the essence of the external world, the corrupted house 
of (matter which afterwards became) flesh.” (Mysterium, 
xxix. 24.) 
“In Seth the line of the covenant was perpetuated, 
wherein Christ was to manifest Himself relatively to 
the tree of humanity.” (Mysterium, xxix. 26.) 
209 
To Cain also was shown the mercy of the Lord, who 
protected him against his hellish enemies, so that he 
might repent.1 
Cain was afraid that the spirits (elementals) that had 
influenced him to commit murder would kill him. To 
prevent this God decreed that whoever should take away 
Cain’s life should be punished eternally through the 
seven qualities of the world of darkness.” {Mysterium, 
xxix. 55, 58.^ 
“ By the command, ‘ Upon him who kills Cain ven- 
geance shall be sevenfold,’ the terrible avenger, the abyss 
of hell, was driven away from Cain, so that he did not 
fall a victim to despair. Cain had departed from God, 
but nevertheless the kingdom of heaven was before him, 
so as to enable him to turn and enter into repentance. 
God did not want to reject Cain, but merely his wicked 
murder and his false belief.” (Three Principles, xx. 1.) 
Cain and his descendants, however, preferred to give 
themselves up to mundane desires and occupations, 
while the generation of Seth entered into divine con- 
templation. 
1 If “ Cain ”—i.e., the external “ church,”—had been annihilated, there 
could have been no further progress therein. The destruction of the 
intellect would make an end to all prospects of its becoming spiritual. 210 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ Cain was made of flesh and blood, and understood 
not these words about eternal death ; but being assured 
that no one would kill him, he became again glad, and 
began to turn to terrestrial arts; not only to agricultural 
pursuits, but also to working the metals.” (Three Prin- 
ciples, xxi. 5.) 
“ From the descendants of Cain resulted the arts as a 
wonder of divine wisdom acting in and through nature, 
but in Seth the Word entered into spiritual contempla- 
tion.” (Mysterium, xxx. 2.) 
In the descendants of Noah—Sem, Ham, and Japhet 
—are represented the mental tendencies of the three 
principal races of mankind before the flood.1 
“ After the first terrestrial world of human quality 
had been drowned in the flood, its form became recon- 
stituted again in Noah and his three sons.” (Mysterium, 
xxiv. 30.) 
“ Sem represents the world of light; Japhet the world 
of fire, wherein, however, the light is visible. Japhet 
also represents an image of the Father, and Sem that of 
the Son; but Ham is an image of the external world.” 2 
(Mysterium, xxxi. io.) 
From these fundamental directions result the different 
1 “ Sem," the outbreathing of divine power. 
“ Ham,” a breath from the centre of nature, conceived within the 
" flesh.” 
“ Japhet,,” the will penetrated by light. 
2 In regard to the Bible allegories Boehme says :— 
“ The written Word is only an instrument wherewith the Spirit leads. 
The Spirit must be alive in the literal form. Without this there can be 
no divine teacher, but only teachers of letters ; only reciters of stories.” 
(Regeneration, viii. 6.) 
“ Christ alone is the Word of God, teaching by means of His children 
and members the way of truth. The literal Word is merely a guidance 
and symbol, a testimony to illustrate and represent objectively to man 
what Christ has done (and is doing) for us; so that we may draw and 
conceive our faith therein ; but then we should enter with our desire into THE CHRIST. 
211 
fates of these races, such as they were already predicted 
by Noah. 
“ The configuration of Sem descended upon Abraham 
and Isaac, for there the Word of the covenant was 
manifested and contained within the sound ; but Japhet’s 
configuration went through the wisdom of nature in the 
realm of nature, and from that originated the heathen 
(intellectual but unspiritual people) who were giving 
(pre-eminently) attention to the light of nature (natural 
things). Thus Japhet—that is to say, the destitute, im- 
prisoned soul, belonging to eternal nature—lived within 
the “ huts ” of Sem—i.e., within the covenant—for the 
light of nature lives in the light of grace, constituting a 
form or a conceived state of the unformed light of God. 
Ham’s descending line overshadowed animal man, formed 
from the Limus of the earth, wherein is the curse, and 
from that resulted the sodomitic semi-animal race, that 
pays attention neither to the light of nature nor to that 
of grace in the covenant.” (.Mysterium, xxxiv. 14.) 
“ Noah said, ‘ Praised be the God of Sem, and Japhet 
shall live in the huts of Sem.’ Here by the expression 
‘ God of Sem ’ is meant the holy Word in the covenant, 
and how it would manifest itself, that the Japhites or 
heathen—that is to say, those who lived only by the light 
of nature—would come to the light of grace that was 
manifested in Sem, and thus enter into the ‘huts of 
Sem ’ and live therein. But Ham, the spirit of fleshly 
lust, was to become a servant of the children of light, 
according to his quality and selfhood, because the chil- 
dren of God were to force him to become submissive to 
the living Word, into Christ Himself, and become ourselves bom to life 
therein.” (Mysterium, xxviii. 53). 
“ Babel does not like to hear it if it is taught that Christ Himself has 
to be the teacher within the human spirit. They call upon the written 
Word, and say that if they teach that, then would the Spirit be poured out. 
Oh yes ! All right! I claim the same thing. If the Word is taught in 
the spirit and power of Christ, then is this so.” (Mysterium xxviii. 51). 212 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Him and take away his scoffing self-will.” 1 (Mysterium, 
xxxiv. 3 i.) 
The name of Abraham had not a terrestrial meaning, 
and in this, as in many other respects, he was an anti- 
type of Christ.2 
“ The great name which God was to give to Abraham 
in his seed was not to be taken in an especially terres- 
trial sense ; for Abraham was upon this earth like a 
stranger, owning no principality or kingdom. He was 
to be in the promised seed and blessing a stranger upon 
the earth, and therein resembled Christ, whose king- 
dom was likewise not of this world.”3 (Mysterium, 
xxxvii. 23.) 
Nevertheless the sons of Abraham represent the same 
antithesis as those of Noah and Adam. 
“ Isaac was not made entirely of celestial essence, 
but of both—namely, of Abraham’s Adamic essence and 
of the word conceived of faith, or the substance of 
Christ; but Ishmael was only of Adam’s own nature 
according to the corrupted quality, and not from the 
conceived word of faith, which was acting with superior 
strength upon Isaac.” 4 (Mysterium, xl. 13.) 
1 Those are the favoured people of God in whom lives the light of 
Christ, and not those who exclaim, “ Lord ! Lord ! ” using the name of 
Christ in vain, while the devil is occupying their souls. Boehme says :— 
“ All beings are created out of the Father. The Father is in all and 
maintains everything. He gives to all life and substance, and the Son is 
in the Father and gives to all things power and light. He is our light, 
and without Him we cannot know God. How can we, then, say anything 
about Him ? If we wish to speak of Him truthfully, we must speak out 
of His Spirit, because He testifies of God.” (Threefold Life, xi. 90.) 
2 “ Abraham,” a collection of people—i.e., of minds—in whom spiritu- 
ality has become manifest. (See Mysterium Magnum, xli. 1.) 
3 This again goes to show that Boehme’s conception of these intracosmic 
powers and processes had nothing in common with the narrow views of 
orthodox “ Christianity,” which sees in those Biblical personifications 
nothing but terrestrial men and women. 
4 These representations of intracosmic powers, personified in the Bible, THE CHRIST. 
213 
The same may be said about the sons of Isaac, in 
whom there is plainly represented an image of the first 
and the second Adam, and of the final conquest of the 
first by the second.1 
“ Esau and Jacob both, and also the races descending 
from them, have originated out of one seed. The former, 
coming solely out of the Adamic nature, was the greater 
one, and comparable to the first man whom God created 
in His own image, which image, however, became cor- 
rupted and died relatively to God. The other one 
(Jacob) came also from the same Adamic nature; but 
in that nature was the realm of grace in the essence of 
faith, constituting a conqueror. Even if the latter was 
inferior according to the Adamic nature, nevertheless 
God was (more) revealed in him, and therefore the greater 
one was to serve and be subject to the smaller one. It 
is not shown that Esau became subject to Jacob, but the 
story represents to us a spiritual symbol, showing how 
the kingdom of nature in man was to become subjected 
and to be made to submit in humility to the kingdom 
are all to be found in the theogonies of the “heathen,” although under 
different names. 
“The saints in their teachings and writings did not all use the same 
words, but what they taught and wrote was all out of one spirit.” (Three 
Principles, xxvi. 19). 
“ The Spirit of Christ in His children is not bound to a certain form, so 
that He could say nothing but what is found in the writings of the apostles; 
but as the Spirit was free in the apostles, and as they did not all use the 
same expressions, but were all teaching in one spirit and foundation, each 
one as he was influenced by the Spirit to speak, likewise the Spirit of Christ 
still speaks out of His children, and needs no previously prepared formula 
of the literal Word, but itself reminds the spirit of man of that which is 
contained within the letter. ” (Mysterium, xx\iii. 52). 
“ You need not be surprised that reason is manifesting itself in many 
different forms, in one in a way different from that of the other, and that 
the children of God do not all speak the same language and words. Each 
one speaks out of the wisdom of the mother, whose number is without 
beginning and without end. Their aim is the heart of God, wherein they 
all meet. This, then, is the test by which you must know whether the 
spirit speaks out of God or out of the devil.” (Threefold Life, v. 73.) 
“Esau," gross, sensual nature. (Mysterium Magnum, iv.) 214 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
of grace ; how it should become entirely submerged in 
divine humility, and out of that humility become regene- 
rated.” (.Mysterium, lii. 29.) 
“ Upon Esau followed Jacob as the image of Christ, 
conceived in the essence of faith and clinging to Esau’s 
heel. The Adamic image created by God had to be born 
first of all and to live eternally, but not in its gross 
and animal state of existence. With the expression of 
‘Jacob holding on to Esau’s heel’ is symbolised that 
the other Adam, namely, Christ, should be born after the 
first Adam, and grasping him from behind, draw him 
back from the direction of his own self-will into the first 
matrix, wherein nature originated, so that he might be 
newly born.” (Mysterium, lii. 37.) 
“ Esau was born of holy parents, and represented an 
image of corrupted nature only in regard to his state of 
separation. God separated also the image of Christ from 
the same seed of Esau’s parents (as Jacob), and put it 
before him as a contrast to his brother (Esau). Moreover, 
Jacob by his gift and humility excited the greatest 
compassion in Esau, and therefore we should not con- 
demn Esau.” 1 {Grace, ix. 12 1.) 
More important than these opposites are those of the 
descendants of Japhet, because they selected for them- 
selves false gods from the powers of nature, and were 
now led by them by means of oracles. 
“ The idolatry of the heathen consisted in their de- 
parting from the one only God and turning to the magic 
generation of nature, selecting false gods from the powers 
of nature.”2 {Mysterium, xi. 6.) 
1 Evidently all these Bible allegories represent cosmic processes which 
have actually taken place in the history of the world. They are, so to 
say, the genealogy of Humanity, in which at the fulness of the times the 
Divinity became manifest. 
2 The “ heathen,” then, seem to be those prehistoric races that were 
cultivating magic arts. THE CHRIST. 
215 
“ The heathen worshipped the planetary system and 
the four elements, because they knew that these ruled the 
external life of all things. Thus by means of their intel- 
lectually conceived word they entered into the likewise 
conceived and formed (manifested) word of nature. On 
the other hand, the spirit of the formed word of nature 
became a part of themselves, and thus one intellect moved 
the other. The human intellect moved the intelligence 
within the soul of the external world as far as the desire 
of the latter is concerned, and by means of this intelli- 
gence (residing within the astral light or the mind of the 
external world) the prophetic spirit out of the Spirit of 
God indicated to them how in future times the formed 
word of external nature would manifest itself in the up- 
building and in the destruction of kingdoms, &c. Out 
of this soul of the world the heathen received answers 
by means of their images and idols, because their faith 
which they very powerfully introduced into them moved 
them; and this has therefore not all been accomplished 
by the devil, as it is supposed by those who, knowing 
nothing about the mystery, make the devil responsible 
for everything, while they are ignorant of what either 
God or the devil is.” {Mysterium, xxxvii. 10-13.) 
Those heathen who led a pure and blameless life 
arrived at a knowledge of the symbols of celestial things 
by means of their ability to see within the mirror of 
external nature.1 
“ The heathen remained within their own magic, but 
1 “ The mysteries of nature were not so deeply hidden to those (pre- 
historical) peoples as they are to us, because they were not so deeply 
hidden (immersed) in materiality and sin. Therefore they knew the re- 
lationship between the paradisiacal (ethereal) forms of nature and their 
corporeal visible embodiments. They knew the qualities and the true 
nature, not only of animals, but likewise of plants and minerals. Man him- 
self was the heart of all beings, and he created them. He could therefore 
give to each its appropriate name, as if he were in these things himself, and 
(felt and) experienced their conditions himself.” (Three Principles, xxi. 8.) 216 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
those who went out from the desire of corruption and 
entered into the light of nature, because they did not 
know God, but who, nevertheless, lived in purity, these 
heathen were the children of the free will, and in them 
has the spirit of freedom unfolded great wonders, as may 
be seen in the works of wisdom which they left behind 
them.” (Terrestrial and Celestial Mysterium, viii. 9.) 
“ In those heathen that were highly intellectual in the 
light of nature the interior holy realm was mirrored, and 
although the true divine intelligence was closed to them, 
and although they beheld merely an external reflection, 
nevertheless at the restoration of all beings, when the 
veil will be removed, they shall live in the huts of 
Sem.” (.Mysterium, xxv. 24.) 
Not only in the “ Israelites ” (in spiritually awakened 
races), but also in the “ heathen ” (in those races that 
lived on a more material plane) was active the power 
of the Redeemer (the Word), that had been spoken into 
Eve, and thereby into all mankind. 
“ Adam issued from the one only God, and entered 
into a selfhood, into ignorance, and he led us all with 
him into that ignorance (or misunderstanding); but then 
came the grace out of the same one and only God, and 
is offering itself to all those that are ignorant, to the 
heathen as well as the Jews.” (Mysterium, lxx. 78.) 
“ The heathen were not out of that seed of Abraham 
with which God made a covenant; but the first covenant, 
the word that had been in-spoken in mercy, was as a 
foundation in them. Therefore, says Paul (Pom. ix. 24), 
that God had not called and elected merely the Jews in 
their covenant, but also the Gentiles in the covenant of 
Christ, and that He called ‘ My people ’ and My ‘ be- 
loved ’ those that did not know Him, and who, not know- 
ing Him, were not His people in an external sense. The 
proposition of grace, which had incorporated itself by 
means of the in-speaking in Paradise after the fall, was THE CHRIST. 
217 
contained in them, and according to that God called them 
His beloved ones. Only the children of wrath must be 
excepted, because in them the incorporation of the name 
of Jesus does not take place, but only the incorporation of 
wrath. The latter, however, never extends over whole 
races, but merely over such individuals among them as 
are like thistles among the wheat.”1 (Grace, x. 24.) 
Before the Bedeemer appeared in the flesh His re- 
conciling and blissful power was participated by man by 
means of sacrifices. 
“ Before the incarnation of Christ mankind became 
1 Thus it appears that a person’s true Christianity does not depend on 
his or her being learned in regard to theology, nor in subscribing to a cer- 
tain creed or belief, nor in going through certain ceremonies, but in their 
being penetrated by that principle of love and wisdom which constitutes 
the Christ. 
“ It is very deplorable to see the world revile and storm, blaspheme and 
denounce, whenever the gifts of God manifest themselves in mankind in 
different ways, and if they have not all the same quality of knowledge. 
What can a man take if it is not generated within him ? This (the quality 
of his understanding) is not a matter of his choice, but as his heaven (his 
mental constitution) is, so will God become revealed to him.” (Letters, 
i. 14.) 
“ We ought not to persecute each other on account of the difference of 
the gifts given to us, but rather rejoice in love towards each other, seeing 
that the wisdom of God is so inexhaustible, and we should think thereby 
of the future, and what would become of us if all knowledge were to 
become manifest only from one and within one single soul.” {Grace, 
xiii. 21.) 
“ If there were even a thousand persons well taught by God and regene- 
rated in the Spirit of Christ assembled together, and if each of them had 
his own particular gift and self-knowledge in God, nevertheless they would 
all be one in the root of Christ, and each of them would be desirous only 
for the love of God in Christ ; for which one of the disciples would exalt 
himself above his own Master ? If, then, we are one body in Christ, why 
should one member dispute with another about the food ? If the mouth 
that desires eats, all the members receive strength, and each member has 
its own office to unfold the wonders of God_ We do not all use one and 
the same expression, but we all have only one spirit in Christ. To each 
one is given that which he ought to unfold in God, so that the great 
mysteries of God may become manifest, and the wonders that are in His 
wisdom from eternity be revealed.” (Threefold Life, xvi. 24.) 218 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
redeemed by means of the incorporated word and name 
of Jesus. Those who directed their will in (and to) God 
have received the word of promise, because the soul was 
accepted therein. Thus the whole law in regard to sacri- 
fice is nothing else but an antitype of the manhood of 
Christ. That which Christ did as man, when by means 
of His love He reconciled the divine wrath, the same 
was (symbolically) done by means of the blood of the 
animals. The word of promise was within the covenant, 
and in the meantime God conceived of a figure (symbol), 
and by the power of the covenant He caused Himself to 
be reconciled symbolically, for the name of Jesus was 
within the covenant, and by means of the imagination it 
reconciled the fury and wrath within the nature of the 
Father.” (Menschwerdung, i. 7, 12.) 
“ The sacrifices were symbols of the object which 
God had proposed unto Himself. The divine imagina- 
tion saw through the object of the covenant the animal 
blood wherein Israel performed the sacrifice. Man had 
become earthly, and therefore God put before Himself 
the object to a covenant of mercy, so that His imagina- 
tion might not enter into the terrestrial consciousness 
of man, and that His wrath-fire might not be ignited 
with the earthliness and the sins of mankind.”1 {Title. 
i. 289.) 
This reconciliation (or atonement) could surely not 
result from the merely external act of sacrificing ani- 
mals, but by means of the faith that accompanied it. 
This faith required an external action or form wherein 
to become conceived. 
“ All sacrificing without faith and divine desire is an 
1 Surely an internal and spiritual God could want no other sacrifices 
than internal and spiritual ones. The animals in man, the snake of envy, 
the peacock of vanity, the ox of self-will, &c., had to be killed, so that 
God could manifest Himself in the purified soul. Any external sacrifice 
could at best be a symbol of the internal one. THE CHRIST. 
abomination before God, and does not reach the gate 
of divine glory; but if man enters therein with the 
power of faith, he surrenders to it his free will, and 
desires by that means, and through its instrumentality, 
to enter into the eternal free will of God.” (Mysterium, 
xxvii. 13.) 
“ Why did the two brothers (Cain and Abel) wish to 
sacrifice to God, while atonement is only to be found 
within the earnest desire for the mercy of God, in prayer 
and in man’s persuading himself to depart from his own 
evil will, to change and to repent, and by bringing his 
faith and hope into the mercy of God ? The free will of 
the soul is as thin as a nothing, and although within its 
(material) body it is surrounded by something (substan- 
tial), nevertheless its own conceived essence is in a state of 
false desire on account of the sin. If, then, this free will, 
with its (accompanying) desire, is to proceed towards God, 
it will have first to issue from its own illusive something, 
and whenever it issues from thence it is then naked and 
impotent, and again within the original nothing. If the 
will desires to go with or to enter into God, it must die 
to its own selfhood and leave that (illusive) self; and 
whenever the will leaves that self it is then like a nothing, 
and can therefore not act, strive for, or accomplish any- 
thing. If it wants to show its power, it must be within 
something wherein it may conceive and form itself, as is 
the case with Faith ; for if there is to be an active faith, 
then that faith must conceive of something (have some 
object) wherein it may act. Even the free will of God 
conceived itself within (has for its object) the internal 
spiritual world, and acts through the latter. Thus the 
free will of the soul of man, having its origin from the 
abyss (the primordial, unfathomable will), must conceive 
itself into something, so as to become manifest and to 
move before God.” (Mysterium, xxvii. 1, 4—6). 
219 
The earthly and impure substance of the victim was to 220 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
be destroyed by the fire, but this fire was not of a ter- 
restrial but of a celestial kind.1 
“ The spirit of man has issued from God, and has gone 
from God (the Eternal) into time, and within the tem- 
poral it has become impure. Now it will have to leave 
its impurity, and by means of the sacrifice enter again 
into God.” (Mysterium, xxvii. 34.) 
“ Adam’s body has been created out of the Limus of 
the earth, and also out of the Limus of the heaven of 
holiness ; but the Limus of heaven, wherein the free will 
could conceive itself into a celestial form and move, act, 
think, and pray before God, was weakened in Adam, and 
therefore the two brothers ignited (sacrificed) the fruits 
of the earth. Cain brought of the fruits of the earth 
(matter), but Abel of the first-born of his flocks (of the 
spirit), and these they ignited by means of fire." (Myste- 
rium, xxvii. 7.) 
“ An animal medium, namely, the flesh of animals, 
was to come within the holy (will-)fire of Moses, because 
man had become of an animal nature, so that the animal 
nature, by means of the wrath-fire of the Father, may 
become consumed, and that the love-fire might ignite the 
fire of the human soul by means of the desire introduced 
within the victim. Thus the desire of God in the Word 
perceived the desire of man through the fire; for in the 
(divine) fire was consumed the animal vanity in the will 
of man, by means of the wrath, and then the purified 
human will, with the incorporated paradisiacal grace, 
entered as a sweet odour into the love-fire of God.” 
(Communion, i. 31.) 
“ Although wood and animals have been used at the 
sacrifices, nevertheless the fire used thereby was not pro- 
duced by external means, but originated from the highest 
1 Such animal sacrifices are still taking place, whenever man kills his 
sensual desires and sacrifices them upon the altar of his soul. Then the 
animal symbols in his astral light are destroyed by the magic fire of his 
spiritual will. THE CHRIST. 
221 
tincture, of the paradisiacal foundation. This holy fire 
consumed the victims by means of the imagination and 
ignition of God, and thus the human will, that had been 
introduced therein, and which was still clinging to the 
earthly condition, was (and still is) purified in the fire 
and redeemed from sin. The grossness of the elements 
was to be consumed, and out of the consummation by 
fire was to issue the true, pure, beautiful, and spiritual 
image that had been created in Adam, and which, while 
it was contained within the fire of divine wrath, could 
now be made to appear in its clearness by means of this 
holy fire.” (Baptism, ii. 2, 16.) 
Within this holy fire, wherein was represented the 
light of the Christ and also the reconstitution of man to 
his true state of being, man was to enter with his mind, 
and thereby become reunited with God. 
“ At the times of the Old Testament the at-one-ment 
by sacrifice took place by means of the holy fire, which 
was a symbol of the wrath of God that was to consume 
the sin together with the soul. The Fathers quality in 
wrath was manifest in that fire, and the Son’s quality 
in love and meekness introduced itself into the w’ratli. 
They sacrificed the flesh of animals, but they introduced 
their imagination and prayer to the grace of God.” 
(Baptism, i. 2, 23.) 
“ There was an animal quality, the animal soul, that 
originated from the planets, attached to the mind of man, 
in consequence of which their prayer and will was not 
pure before God, and therefore the wrath-fire of God 
consumed this animal vanity of men by means of the 
sacrifice ; but the conceived image of grace went with 
the prayer into the holy fire. Thus the children of Israel 
were reconciled with God and relieved of their sins in a 
spiritual manner, and with respect to a future fulfilment, 
because Christ was to come and to take up the human 
state, and to enter into God as a sacrifice to His wrath- 222 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
fire, and thus to change the wrath into love.” 1 (Baptism, 
ii. 25.) 
“ The victim, the wood, the smoke, were all terrestrial, 
and likewise was man earthly, as far as his external body 
is concerned; but after the sacrificial object was ignited 
(by the magic fire) it became of a spiritual nature, for 
from the wood issued the fire, which accepted and con- 
sumed the object. From this consummation resulted the 
smoke of the fire, and was followed by the light, and this 
light was the symbol wherein entered the imagination 
of man and that of God, which produced a conjunction 
of both.” (Mysterium, xxvii. 29, 30.) 
“ God desired to smell (during the sacrifice) nothing 
except the will of man, that is to say. the human life, 
which before the time of this world was within the word 
of God—not yet as a created being, but as a power—and 
which was breathed into the created image. This it was 
that was “ smelled ” by God by means of the sacrifice, and 
within the essence of Christ or the grace, that had been 
spoken into man, and it readjusted the will by means of 
grace in the fire, so that the will became again divine. 
At the same time it made one fire out of the combination 
of the human life-fire and the divine love-fire, and there- 
with was constituted a true sacrifice of sin and restitution, 
because the sin was sacrificed to the fire of divine wrath, 
to be consumed therein.” (Communion, i. 32.) 
“ The sacrifices of the children of God, especially the 
first fathers after Adam, were nothing but symbols, wherein 
was represented how the (animal) soul was sacrificed 
within the wrath-fire of God and transformed therein 
into a love-fire; that is to say, that she was to enter 
into a state of death and dying in regard to self-will, 
and that thus her false willing would be consumed, and 
that she would issue into a clear light, through the fire 
1 If the light of wisdom, the Son, enters the fiery will, the Father, then 
does the Son become one with the Father, and the wrath of the Father 
becomes reconciled and changed into that light which is love. THE CHRIST. 
223 
and by means of the in-spoken grace, and enter into a 
new birth; not dark, but clear and radiant. Further- 
inore was it to signify how the poison introduced within 
the soul by the serpent would have to be eliminated, 
like the separation of smoke from the fire, so that 
the latter appears as a clear shining splendour, and no 
longer imprisoned (latent), as is the case in wood (before 
it is ignited). Thus the children of God represented to 
themselves the process of regeneration by means of the 
sacrifice through fire, and imagined the bruiser of the 
serpent’s head within the fire; how in the fire of the 
soul He would transform the wrath-fire of God into a 
fire of light and love, and how the enmity wrould become 
separated from the soul, and the soul be transformed into 
an angel by means of the death of Christ and the entering 
of the love of God into that fire.” (Baptism,, i. 2, 10.) 
Thus the faithful “Israelites” (the children of light) 
received, within the blissful covenant and in the flesh of 
the sacrifice symbolically, the flesh and blood of the Christ. 
“ The soul, that is to say, the mouth of faith within 
the soul, took in the sweet divine grace at the time of 
the sacrifice, not as a substance, but in power (spiritually) 
and in the foreknowledge of future fulfilment, when those 
powers were to become manifest in the flesh. Thus 
the body ate of the blessed bread and flesh, wherein 
was the power of grace, i.e., the imagination of the 
covenant. Thus the ‘Jews’ ate of the flesh of Christ 
and drank His blood symbolically, for the power had 
then not yet become flesh and blood; but they enjoyed 
therein the word of grace that afterwards became human.” 
(Communion, i. 34.) 
“ The animal flesh which was sacrificed to the Lord 
and afterwards eaten was sanctified for man, because the 
imagination of God entered therein, and therefore Moses 
called it a holy flesh, and there was also a holy bread.” 
{Communion, i. 33.) CHAPTEE XI. 
INCARNATION—THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. 
The doctrine of the incarnation of Christ, or, to express it in other words, 
of the awakening of the germ of divine self-knowledge in man, is so 
grand, that it is impossible to form a conception of it as long as we 
occupy a narrow-minded, personal, or sectarian point of view. If we 
desire to feel the power of the universal Redeemer within our heart, 
we must allow our mind to expand and embrace in our love all that 
is divine, noble, and ideal in humanity. 
In considering the contents of the following chapter it 
will be especially recommendable to keep in inind the 
great occult maxim, that it is below as it is above, and 
that everything above has its corresponding part below; 
so that the great processes taking place in the macrocosm 
produce corresponding processes on the microcosmic plane, 
and that which exists eternally in heaven (the spiritual 
plane) seeks to be embodied and represented in terres- 
trial forms upon the earth. It is also well to remember 
that completion is attained only by the reappearance 
of the third principle in the seventh ; that is to say, by 
the spiritualisation of matter and the acquisition of form. 
A being or power belonging to an entirely ideal plane 
cannot produce any direct reaction in the grossly mate- 
rial state of existence, no more than a tree can grow out 
of the idea of a tree existing within the mind, but it 
needs a material seed or kernel to serve as a material 
focus for the attraction and distribution of material prin- 
ciples. For similar reasons it was necessary that the 
Logos1 should actually become flesh and enter the human 
1 The Logos is everywhere, and did not enter from any external locality. 
Likewise the body of the sun is everywhere, although it manifests its light 
only in one locality in the sky. INCARNATION—THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. 
225 
state so as to produce a fundamental and radical change 
in the will of humanity by starting a new activity of 
light and love in its very centre or heart. 
This process is beautifully and allegorically described 
in the New Testament. 
In the configuration of the person of our Eedeemer 
there are to be distinguished three factors: the eternal 
generation of the Son of God, His birth as a celestial 
Man, and, finally, His being incarnated as a terrestrial 
person.1 
“ Christ is greater than any angel in heaven, because 
He has a celestial human body; He also has the eternal 
celestial bride, the virgin of divine wisdom, and, finally, 
the Holy Trinity in His possession. We can truly say 
of Him that He is an individuality in the Holy Trinity 
in heaven, a true man in heaven, and an eternal king in 
this world, a lord of heaven and of the earth.” {Three 
Principles, xxii. 86.) 
“ The Word, or the second person in the Godhead, 
has been from eternity in the Father, and by becoming 
1 All disputes about the uature of Christ only prove that the disputants 
are not Christians, because if they were true followers of the Christ they 
would have the living Christ within themselves, and know His true 
nature. The misunderstandings of the “ Christians ” regarding the Christ 
arise from the fact that they regard Him as something external and 
incompatible with human nature ; neither will any merely theoretical 
research regarding this mystery lead to any satisfactory result. The only 
way in which this matter can be settled for once and for ever is that those 
who have doubts about the divinity of Christ succeed in raising Him from 
His tomb within their own souls, when He will become revealed to them. 
“Each one desires to be a child of God in his knowledge, and neverthe- 
less disobedience and unfaithfulness are as great in one people as they are 
in another. A belief that Christ has once been born and died for me and 
arisen from death does not make me a child of God. The devil knows 
that also; but it is of no use to him. I must clothe myself in Christ 
by means of the desire of faith ; I must enter myself into His obedience, 
His incarnation, His suffering and death ; I must myself arise in Him 
and adopt the obedience of Christ. Only in this way can I be a Christian, 
and not in any other way.” (Mysterium, li. 43). 226 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
incarnated in humanity it did not change its nature 
and become something else, but remained in the Father, 
in its centre and seat, as it had been from eternity. 
The other (second) formation took place in a natural 
manner at the time of the annunciation by the angel 
Gabriel,1 when the virgin said to the angel, ‘ Let it be 
done as you say.’ The fulfilling of this Word was 
effected in the celestial element, as was the creation of 
the first Adam before the fall. The third formation 
took place simultaneously with the second, and at once, 
as when a terrestrial seed is sown whereof a child 
grows.” (Three Principles, xviii. 45.) 
“ The holy Spirit of God formed the celestial, angelic 
substantiality within the one element by means of the 
virgin ; but the planets and elements of this world formed 
the external man, providing him with a natural body 
and soul exactly like that of other human beings, and 
both in one person. Thereby each form had its own 
particular state of perception and sensation, and the divine 
state did not mingle in such a manner (with the terres- 
trial form) as to cause the former to be diminished, but 
remained what it was (before the incarnation took place), 
and that which it was not it became (by means of the 
incarnation), but without any separation, differentiation, 
or division of the divine being. Thus the Word remains 
in the Father, the created being of the holy element re- 
mained before the Father, and the natural human state 
was attained in this world in the womb of the virgin 
Mary.” 2 (Three Principles, xx. 86). 
1 “‘Gabriel,’ an angel or god of sound, an internal, sourcive spirit.” 
(Aurora, xii. 86.) 
2 There is no doubt that, as some will have it, the legend of the descent 
of the Redeemer is the description of an astrological process ; but this 
theory, far from disproving the incarnation of divine wisdom into a human 
form, confirms it; because that which takes place in the macrocosm pro- 
duces corresponding effects in the microcosm. In man is the sun, the 
moon, the stars, and the whole of the zodiac. In the microcosm is repre- 
sented every part of the macrocosm in its material and spiritual aspect. INCARNATION—THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. 
22 7 
Those who regard Christ as being not a person, and 
who claim that Mary was an eternal virgin and not born 
from terrestrial parents, are in error.1 
“ Those err who say that Christ is not a created being. 
As far as His divinity is concerned, He is certainly not 
a created being; but relatively to His celestial state, re- 
garding which He says that He had come from heaven 
and was still in heaven, He is there both a creature 
in human nature, and without humanity an uncreated 
being.” {Letters, ii. 54.) 
“ There are some who have said that the virgin Mary 
was not a terrestrial being, and not the daughter of 
Joachim and Anna, because Christ is called the seed of 
the woman, and would therefore have to be born from 
an entirely celestial virgin. If this were so, it would 
serve very little to us poor children of Eve, as we have 
become earthly and are carrying our souls in earthly 
tabernacles.”2 (Menschwerdung, i. 8. 1.) 
“ It has been said that Mary was an eternal virgin 
of the Holy Trinity, and that from her Christ had been 
born ; because, according to His own testimony, He did 
not come from human flesh and blood, but from heaven. 
It is true that our Lord said that He had come from God 
and was to return to God, and that no one would go to 
heaven except the Son of Man, coming from heaven and 
being in heaven ; but in thus saying He spoke evidently of 
When man sees the external sun rise in the outer world, the sun in him 
arises and gives joy to his heart. Any individual person, or also humanity 
as a whole, may become either a god or a devil incarnate. 
1 Christ, or the Universal Logos, is not a personality in the usual accep- 
tation of that term, but becomes personal if personified in man. Like- 
wise the celestial virgin is personified in woman, in the same sense as the 
light of the sun becomes individualised in a flower, a diamond, or precious 
stone. 
2 “ Outside of a body the spirit cannot remain in its perfection, for as 
soon as it is separated from the form it loses its rule. The body is the 
mother of the spirit. In the body the spirit is born, and receives therein 
its power and strength. If it is separated from the body it still remains 
a spirit, but loses its ruling power.” (Aurora, xxvi. 50.) 228 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
His human aspect, and not merely of His divinity ; for the 
eternal God could not have been the Son of Man, neither 
could a son of man come out of the Trinity ; but if it 
had been possible to redeem man by means of a foreign 
soul brought down from heaven, where would then have 
been the necessity for God to enter into our (human) 
shape and to be crucified therein.”1 (Three Principles, 
xxii. 61.) 
If Christ had brought a foreign soul with Him from 
heaven, and not taken a human soul from His mother 
Mary, He would have been foreign to us, and could 
not have become our Redeemer. 
“ It is not true, as some say, that Christ has taken a 
soul unto Himself from the Word in the eternal virgin 
Mary, so that Christ was coming from God and the 
soul in His human nature had a beginning.” (Mysterium, 
lvi. 19). 
“ Christ is not only a seed that came from heaven, 
so as to have no other quality received from man except 
a human covering (body). If He had not a human 
nature He would not be the Son of Man, neither would 
He be my brother.” (Tilk. i. 245.) 
“ The soul of Christ is a creature like our own soul, 
and He has received it from humanity and in the body 
of Mary. Therefore w7e rejoice eternally that the soul 
of Christ is our brother and the body of Christ is 
our body in regenerated man.” (Three Principles, 
xxiii. 30.) 
“ What would it benefit me if Christ had brought 
with Him a strange soul ? Nothing! But I rejoice that 
He has introduced my soul into the holy Ternary. Now 
can I truly say, ‘ The soul of Christ is my brother, and 
the body of Christ is the nutriment of my soul.’ ” (Three 
Principles, xxii. 78.) 
1 And the divinity in man continues to be crucified in him until the self- 
will is dead and the Christ arisen in His own light. INCARNATION—THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. 
229 
But if Christ had come only from a terrestrial virgin 
He would not have come from above, and would not have 
been pure. 
“ Christ said to the Jews, ‘ I am from above, but you 
are from below; I am not of this world, but you are of 
this world.’ If He had become human in an earthly taber- 
nacle, and not in a pure, celestial, and chaste virgin, such 
as Mary had become in consequence of her having been 
blessed, He would have been of this world.” (Menschwer- 
dung, i. 9, 20.) 
“ All that is born from the flesh and blood of this world 
is impure, and a pure virgin cannot be born in this cor- 
rupted flesh and blood; but Christ has been received and 
born without sin from a pure virgin.” 1 {Three Principles, 
xxii. 36.) 
According to the external flesh, Mary descended from 
Joachim and Anna; but she was also the daughter of the 
covenant, and as such she was blessed (penetrated) by the 
virgin of wisdom.2 
“ Mary was generated from the seed of Joachim and 
Anna in the same manner as other human beings are 
1 The Christ can never be born or revealed in any impure soul. A soul 
wherein regeneration is to take place must be an immaculate virgin, having 
no intercourse with any external god; but executing the will of God 
dwelling within herself. 
2 “ Ana ” is the Chaldean name for the astral light (see Secret Doctrine). 
“In the language of nature the name ‘Mary’ means ‘salvation from 
this valley of sorrow.’ ” (Principles, xviii. 37.) 
No man can be saved without the grace of Mary, i.e., without the pre- 
sence of that which is noble, exalted, saving, and sanctifying in him. 
“ Human reason can understand nothing about the kingdom of Christ, 
nor about His person or office, because the testament of Christ is celestial, 
and human reasoning is terrestrial; the latter seeks Christ in time, while 
He can only be found in eternity.” 
“All misunderstanding is caused by the circumstance that the heaven 
wherein Christ is seated to the right of God is not understood, and be- 
cause it is not known that this heaven is in this world, and this world 
rooted in heaven. They are both one in the other, like day and night.” 
{Baptism, i.) 230 
THE'DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
generated; but she was blessed among women, so that in 
her the eternal virgin became revealed.” (Threefold Life, 
vi. 7 2.) 
“ Mary, in whom Christ became man, was truly the 
daughter of Joachim and Anna, according to the external 
flesh, and generated out of their seed; but in regard to 
the will she was the daughter of the covenant of pro- 
mise, the object of the covenant, wherein the same became 
accomplished.” (Mcnscliwerdung, i. 8. 2.) 
“ The pure and immaculate virgin in whom God was 
born is before God, and an eternal virgin. She was pure 
and without blemish even before heaven and earth were 
created; and this pure virgin became incorporated in 
Mary, so that it rendered her a new being within the 
holy element of God. Therefore she was blessed among 
women, and the Lord was with her, as was said by the 
angel.” (Three Principles, xxii. 38.) 
The celestial virgin did not become terrestrial in Mary 
(or enter into her mechanically from the outside); but 
the omnipresent celestial virgin became revealed (un- 
folded) within Mary’s innermost being.1 
“We cannot say that the celestial virgin, when she 
entered into Mary, became terrestrial by the order of God, 
but we say that the soul of Mary took hold of the celes- 
tial virgin, and the latter adorned the soul of Mary with 
the pure garment of the holy element, a pure, regenerated 
human being, and therein has Mary received the Saviour 
of the world, and given birth to Him in this world.” 
(Three Principles, xxii. 44.) 
“No other woman, ever since the time of Adam, be- 
came clothed with the celestial virgin except Mary; but 
1 The spiritual soul does not become an animal soul in man ; neither is 
the former a separate entity to be put into the latter; but as the vibra- 
tions of light awaken corresponding vibrations within the ether that is in 
darkness, so the divine harmony existing in the spiritual soul of the universe 
awakens corresponding harmonies in the soul of man. INCARNATION—THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. 
231 
this took place in the soul-principle, and not in the ter- 
restrial flesh.” {Forty Questions, xxxvi. 1 2.) 
“ Mary received the celestial token which was un- 
known to nature, and which was also unknown to her 
in her external womanhood, namely, the celestial virgin, 
and in that virgin she received the Word of the Eternal 
Father.” {Three Principles, xxii. 43.) 
By means of this unfolding or state of bliss the Word 
was enabled to take up the human state in Mary, and 
thus the celestial virgin that had become weakened in 
Adam became again strong and substantial in her. 
“The Word of promise, which was before the Jews as an 
antitype, or as an image in a mirror, wherein the wrath- 
ful Bather imagined and wherewith He extinguished His 
wrath, began to move essentially, as it had not moved 
from eternity; for when the angel Gabriel brought to 
Mary the message saying that she should become preg- 
nant, and when she expressed her willingness, saying, 
“ Let it be done to me as you said,” then the centre 
of the Holy Trinity moved itself; that is to say, the 
eternal virginity which was lost by Adam, became opened 
in her in the Word of life. The fire of divine love in 
Mary’s being, in the virginal essence that had been cor- 
rupted in Adam, was again restored.” {Menschwerdung, 
i. 8, 3. 4.) 
“ The Word, that stood in the virgin of wisdom and sur- 
rounded by eternal wonders, entered again, out of great 
love to our image, which had been destroyed in Adam, and 
it became human in Mary in consequence of the benedic- 
tion.” (Forty Questions, xxxvi. 10.) 
“ The eternal virgin, being without substance, entered 
also into the incarnation, and thus the true soul was 
received out of the essences of Mary. In this way 
the eternal virgin came into substantiality, for she 
received the human soul within herself.” (Threefold 
Life, vi. 75.) 232 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Mary could not by her own power put herself in pos- 
session of that celestial blessing, but it came to her by 
divine grace and in the power of the Holy Spirit. 
“ The true being of humanity, that had died and disap- 
peared (become latent) in Adam, awoke again to life in 
Mary, and thus she became highly exalted and like man 
before the fall. This, however, did not take place by her 
own power, but by the power of God. If the centre of 
God had not moved within her, she would not have been 
different from all other daughters of Eve.” (Menschwer- 
dung, i. 8. 5.) 
“ Mary is called a holy and pure virgin merely with 
reference to the celestial virgin that had taken possession 
of her, and clothed her with the pure element of Paradise. 
Mary did not obtain possession of this state by her own 
power, as is shown by the angel saying to her, ‘ The Spirit 
of God will come over you, and you will be overshadowed 
by the power of the Supreme; therefore the Holy One 
that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of 
God.’” (Three Principles, xx. 41.) 
“ The words of the angel, ‘ The Spirit of God will come 
over you, and you will be overshadowed by the power 
of the Supreme,’ means: The Holy Spirit shall open the 
closed centre within, in the moribund seed, and the 
Word of God will enter with living and celestial sub- 
stantiality within that which had been closed in death, 
and become one flesh with it.”1 (Three Principles, 
xxii. 41.) 
It is certain that the soul of the Kedeemer could issue 
from Mary only on account of her being of a character 
full of humility aud in accordance with the will of 
God; and it is furthermore certain that she spiritually 
1 Perhaps the same idea might be approached by saying: The divine 
harmony underlying the original order of nature, which was thrown 
into confusion by the action of an evil will within the seven qualities of 
eternal nature, created a centre of harmony within the soul of Mary, 
which, expanding from within outwardl}', rendered her whole nature har- 
monious and spiritual. INCARNATION—THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. 
enjoys a high state of glorification for having had the 
qualifications necessary for becoming the mother of the 
Eedeemer. 
“ The first thing that a child (in the womb) receives is 
the tincture of its mother. Thus it was in the case of 
Christ. When the angel announced to Mary the coming 
incarnation of Christ, it was the mother’s will, and the 
tincture which received the Limbus of God and impreg- 
nated her, belonged to her. If, then, the soul of the 
child is in the Holy Trinity, do you then not think that 
its glorious light beautifully illuminates the mother, and 
does not that mother rightfully put her feet upon the 
Moon,1 as being exalted above all that is of an earthly 
nature ? She gave birth to the Eedeemer of the world 
without any carnal commingling, and from her issued the 
body which attracts all members, namely, the children of 
God in Christ, i.e., the children of Light.” (Three Prin- 
ciples, xviii. 93—98.) 
Mary, however, was not deified. In spite of all her 
greatness she could only through her Son become perfect 
and inherit heaven.2 
“ The Word which was promised by God in the garden 
of Eden came to bloom in the life-light of the virgin; and 
when the angel Gabriel, by order of the Eather, came to 
give to it an impulse by means of the message, it then 
entered into the one element of the chaste virgin, but 
1 The sunlight of wisdom (self- knowledge and self-perception) is supe- 
rior to all that is merely imaginary, fanciful, and illusive. Wisdom sees 
the illusion, but is not captivated by it. 
2 No soul can become divine or deified by merely contemplating God as 
if He were something foreign to herself. God must become substantial 
and corporified in her. The mere idealist is satisfied with enjoying in his 
imagination the beauty of the ideal, but does not embody it within him- 
self. The so-called “ realist ” is satisfied with what he believes to be real, 
and acquires nothing better than what he already has. The true Christian, 
i.e., the “ ideo-realist, ” seeks to realise the ideal, so that it becomes a 
part of himself. 234 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
not so entirely within her soul and body so as to deify 
her person.” (Three Principles, xviii. 89.) 
“ The virgin Mary entered into great perfection, like 
the star of the morning, which is more glorious than the 
rest of the stars. She attained perfection and beatitude 
through her Son, Jesus Christ.” (Three Principles, xviii. 
88.) 
“ The virgin Mary did not become deified. Christ 
Himself says, ‘Ho one goes to heaven except the Son 
of Man, who came from heaven and is in heaven.’ All 
others have to attain heaven through Him. Christ is 
their heaven, and the Rather is the heaven of Christ.” 
(Three Principles, xviii. 89.) 
The external kingdom of this world did not become 
separated from the virgin; but it lost its power over 
her. The quality of her inner life communicated itself 
to her physical body. 
“ When God moved in Mary as His object, then was 
she highly blessed, and in that benediction of the Re- 
deemer she became impregnated. How, it is known that 
the seed of man communicates its qualities to the body. 
When the divine life entered into the essence of the seed 
(power) of Mary, her whole body, which was then sur- 
rounding the body of the (divine) image, became highly 
blessed, and quickened by this wonderful moving of God. 
The external kingdom of this world was then not sepa- 
rated from Mary, she was still imprisoned therein; but 
the tincture of her blood became kindled with the divine 
tincture; i.e., with the tincture of the seed; communi- 
cating its qualities to the corporeal form.” (Tilk. i. 
33I-) 
“ The soul of Mary became surrounded by the divine 
living substantiality, not relatively to her terrestrial but to 
her celestial nature, so that the terrestrial state was merely 
supplementing her being. Her soul, with the Word of 
life that became human in her, was to pass with it through INCARNATION—THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. 
the death and 'wrath of the Father into the celestial con- 
sciousness, and thus her external human nature had to 
die in regard to earthly life, so that she could live in 
God. But because she has been blessed, and has carried 
in her womb the object of the covenant, that which was 
celestial in her consumed her terrestrial part.” (Mcn- 
schwerdung, i. 9, 18.)1 
The Saviour had to receive earthly essences from Mary, 
and He became in her, in the normal way, a terrestrial 
man.2 
“ The virgin comprised Christ as a mother her child. 
She gave to him natural essences, such as she had inherited 
from her parents, and these essences from her flesh and 
blood he received to the element, and became therein 
a living soul.” (Three Principles, xviii. 90.) 
“The living Word that dwelt within the eternal 
virgin attracted to itself the flesh of Mary—that is 
to say, the essences from the corporeal body of Mary 
—and thus there grew in nine months a complete 
human being with soul, spirit, and flesh.” (Threefold 
Life, vi. 79.) 
“ The life of Christ did not begin to stir immediately 
at the time of conception, or in any supernatural manner, 
but this took place at the proper natural time, as is the 
case with all the children of Adam. Thus in nine months 
he grew to be a complete human being, and was born 
like all other children of Adam. He might have caused 
himself to be born magically, but if this had been done 
he would not have been in this world in a natural 
manner.” (Menschwerdung, i. 10.) 
In Christ, as the son of Mary, there were united all 
the three principles, but without commingling with each 
1 The Manas became absorbed in the Buddhi. 
2 “God lives also in man.” (Threefold Life, xi. 106.) Each human 
being (if he is not godless) carries God and the Christ, the Holy Spirit, the 
virgin Mary, together with the angel Gabriel and all the rest of the angels 
and spirits within himself. It is, therefore, of little use to seek for all 
that in history. We can find it nowhere except within ourselves. 236 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
other, so that, in spite of His terrestrial body, He remained 
nevertheless free from sin. 
“ Christ in Mary accepted all the three principles, 
but in divine order, and not intermingled, such as they 
became in Adam, who, by means of his imagination, in- 
troduced the external realm into the internal realm, into 
the soul-fire, in consequence of which the light became 
extinguished. He (Christ) had on Himself the soul- 
essence, or the first principle, the substance of the 
image of the second principle, and finally the external 
form, i.e., the third principle.” (Tilk. i. 336.) 
“ Christ took from Mary the interior seed that had 
been weakened in Adam, and to this was attached the 
external seed of the flesh, but so that they did not mix 
with each other, neither were they separated; but they 
were relatively to each other like God, who dwells in 
the world, while the world nevertheless is not God.” 
(Stiefel, ii. 204.) 
“ Christ did not by means of His external body pro- 
duce sin and dishonour. Ho, this cannot be; but He 
has taken upon Himself as a burden the sin which 
we have inherited from Adam, and which He was to 
carry as if He were Adam, while He still was not 
Adam.” (Stiefel, ii. 499.) 
“ Christ did not take upon Himself the awakened and 
conceived vanity (selfishness) which the devil introduced 
into the flesh by means of his imagination, and which 
caused the flesh to sin; but He .took the awakened 
forms of life (principles) which from a state of harmony 
had issued, each one in its own desire. Therein He 
took upon Himself our sin and disease, and death and 
hell; but only for the purpose of tincturing them by 
His love, by means of His celestial blood which He had 
poured into our external human nature, and this was to 
change hell into heaven, and to introduce the human 
qualities again into divine harmony.” (Regeneration, 
iii. 11.) INCARNATION—THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. 
2 37 
Still less has the innermost essence of the Lord, the 
eternal Word, ever mingled with His terrestrial body; it 
did not even mingle with His human soul.1 
“ God has become revealed within the external seed 
(principle) of Mary, for Christ did not differ while upon 
the earth from other human beings in form, substance, 
or external appearance. In that external seed He did 
not take up divinity; His external form was mortal, and 
He annihilated death therein.” (Stiefel, ii. 203.) 
“ Christ truly attracted to Himself our human essences 
while in the body of the virgin Mary, and He has be- 
come our brother (thereby). But the human essences 
cannot apprehend His eternal divinity; only the new 
man, born in God, conceives of it as the body apprehends 
of the soul.” (Three Princijjles, xxii. 48.) 
“ The soul and the Word are not one or one being. 
The soul is born from the centre of nature, from the 
essences, and belongs to the body, for she issues from 
the essences of the body, and attracts to herself the 
body ; but the Word is from the centre of the majesty, 
and draws the majesty unto itself.” (Threefold Life, 
vi. 83.) 
The Word and the soul are not standing separately 
side by side, but the latter is penetrated and illumined 
by the former.2 
1 The divine spirit, i.e., the spiritual consciousness of each or any indi- 
vidual person upon this earth, never was, is, or will be imprisoned, incar- 
nated or reincarnated, or absorbed in any material mind or person. It 
for ever remains in heaven, i.e., in its own celestial state. The mind and 
the body are merely reflections of the light of the spirit as it shines into 
“ matter.” The true Man is in heaven ; his shadow walks upon the earth. 
2 Whenever I speak of the man Christ, and of what a triune God and 
man He is, I make a distinction between the human creature, that came 
from us human beings, and the triune Divinity, the revealed word of the 
power and omnipotence. Not that they are separated from each other, 
but the Spirit of God is higher than the being to which that Spirit gives 
birth in it3 outbreathed word. I do not say that the sweet and beloved 
Christ is the man, but it is the holy sunshine in the flame of love in the 238 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ The soul and the Word are not standing side by 
side like two persons, but the Word penetrates the soul, 
and out of the Word shines the life-light; whereby, 
however, the soul remains free to herself. A red-hot 
iron is in itself dark and black, but the fire penetrates it, 
so that it becomes luminous. There has no change hap- 
pened to the iron itself; it remains iron and the heat 
remains heat; one is as free as the other, and neither 
one is the other. Thus has the soul been put into the 
fire of divinity, so that divinity may penetrate and 
illuminate the soul, and dwell therein and conceive of 
her, although the soul cannot conceive of divinity ; never- 
theless she does not become transformed. Divinity con- 
ceives the soul and endows her with the power of 
majesty.” {Threefold Life, vi. 83.) 
Christ did not become human merely within the virgin 
Mary, but also in an unlimited celestial manner. 
“ While Christ lived upon the earth His external form 
was limited like our own bodies, but the internal man 
was immeasurable.” (Three Principles, xxiv. 88.) 
“ The Word has become humanity everywhere ; that is 
to say, everywhere became unfolded the divine substan- 
tiality wherein our eternal humanity exists. We ought 
to exist in the same corporeal substantiality in eternity, 
wherein exists the virgin of God, and we must clothe 
ourselves with the virgin, for Christ has clothed Himself 
with her.” (Menscliwerdung, i. 8, 12.) 
“ The whole angelic world is the substantiality of 
Christ according to His celestial essentiality, ‘ created ’ 
in regard to the personality of humanity, but outside of 
it is uncreated and eternal.” {Letters, xii. 56.) 
The celestial and unlimited corporeity of our Ee- 
deemer is incomprehensible to the reasoning intellect; 
man ; for whenever I see a holy Christian man stand or walk I do not say, 
“ Here stands or walks Christ; ” but I say, “ Here stands and walks a 
Christian man in whom shines the sun of Christ.” (Stief. 421.) INCARNATION—THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. 
239 
but it is nevertheless logical to accept it, because in 
Christ the infinite God became man.1 
“ Reason says: * The body of Christ is in one place ; 
how then can it be everywhere ? It is a creature, and 
one creature cannot be in every place at once.’ But 
listen, dear Reason. ‘ When the Word of God became a 
human being in the body of Mary, was it then not also 
(at the same time) high above the stars ? While it was 
at Nazareth was it then not also at Jerusalem and every- 
where ? Or do you think that God, while He became a 
man, had been confined to His human form V This is 
an impossibility, and thus, while God became man, His 
humanity was everywhere where His divinity existed.” 2 
{Three Principles, xxiii. 8.) 
“ Christ has not become man solely in the body of the 
(terrestrial) virgin Mary (in that sense), as if His divinity 
or divine essentiality had been captured, imprisoned, or 
seated therein. As little as God, who is the fulness of 
all things, resides in one place alone, so little has God 
moved in only one small portion (of the Word) ; for He is 
not differentiated, but everywhere one and a whole, and 
wherever He becomes manifest there He is manifest as 
a whole. Neither is God measurable, and there has no 
place of residence been discovered in Him, unless He 
should establish for Himself such a dwelling in one of 
His creatures; but even then He remains a whole apart 
from and beyond such a created being.” {Menschwer- 
dung, i. 8.) 
In this respect Christ mav be likened to the sun, 
who is also immeasurable in his aspect as a power, but 
which is nevertheless existing as a separate body in 
space. 
“We may compare the sun to Christ in His aspect as 
1 It is universal and nevertheless individual, like that of a god. 
2 This would be like imagining that the trunk of a tree was dwelling 
within the leaves. 240 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
a created being, and the whole depth of space may be 
compared to the Father. If we then see that the sun 
shines within the whole depth of space, and sends his 
heat and power everywhere, we cannot then say that 
within the depth the power and light of the sun is 
nowhere outside of the body of the sun; for if the light 
and substance of the sun were not everywhere, space could 
not receive the power and light of the sun. It requires 
two powers or principles of a similar nature to be recep- 
tive of each other. The depth (of space) contains its 
light, but hidden (latent). If it were the will of God, 
the whole depth would all be sun.” (Menschwerdung, 
i. 8.) 
“ As the sun shines through all the external world, 
causing everything to become more powerful and fertile, 
and as nevertheless the world and the sun are (in their 
corporeal centres) to be distinguished from each other, 
so Christ, as a manifested Sun, shines out of (the depth 
of) Jehovah or Jesus, in the created humanity of Christ. 
Jehovah is the eternal divine Sun, and within that 
Sun has been hidden to all creatures the great Love- 
Sun of Christ, as a heart in the centre of the Holy Trinity ; 
but by the moving of the Godhead He has become revealed 
as a holy Sun of divine love.” (Stiefel, ii. 422.) 
“ The sun illumines the world; but this would not be 
possible if there were not within the depth a similar state 
of being as that which constitutes the sun. Likewise 
the corporeity of Christ is all the fulness of the heavens, 
as a created being in the person and without the person; 
but (both) exist in one spirit and one power as one, and 
not in a state of duality or as two things separated 
from each other.” (TilJc. ii. 251.)1 
This unlimited, celestial (state of) being of the Re- 
deemer is nevertheless lower than the Godhead. 
“ When the Word enters into the one pure element, 
1 The universal life and the individual life are only one principle. INCARNATION-THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. 
241 
the virginal matrix, it does not become separated from the 
Father, but remains eternally, and is everywhere present 
in the heaven of the element wherein it entered, and 
wherein it has become a new creature, called a ‘god’ 
This very new creature is naturally not born from the 
tiesh and blood of the (physical) virgin, but of God, out 
of His element (the celestial virgin), and in the power 
of the Holy Trinity, which remains therein eternally in 
its fulness. But the corporeity of the element of that 
created being is lower than the Godhead, for the Godhead 
is spirit, and the holy element is born out of the Word 
from eternity. Thus the Lord has entered into the ser- 
vant, whereof all the angels in heaven are filled with sur- 
prise. It is the greatest miracle that has occurred from 
all eternity, because it is against (human) nature, and 
could only have been accomplished by divine love.” 
(Three Principles, xviii. 42.) 1 
1 “You must not seek for any historical knowledge in our writings. It 
is not possible to see God with earthly eyes, and therefore it is impossible 
for an unillumined mind to comprehend heavenly thoughts and perceptions 
in its terrestrial vehicle. Like can be grasped only by like.” (Princ. 
Appendix, 30.) CHAPTEE XII. 
REDEMPTION. 
‘ God lives also in man. Therefore if we are but seeking and loving our 
own (true) self, we then love God. That which we do to each other 
we are doing to God. He who seeks and finds his brother and sister 
has sought and found God. We are in Him all one body with many 
members, each of which has its own functions.” (Threefold Life, 
xi. 106.) 
It was the will of God, by means of becoming Himself 
human, to reinstate man, who in consequence of his sin 
had become degenerated into an earthly being, into the 
glorious state in which he had been created originally. 
As this statement, on account of the old theological 
ideas which it is liable to awaken in the mind, will pro- 
bably be misunderstood, we will attempt to express its 
meaning in different terms. God, the will of eternal 
wisdom, willed that His wisdom should become manifest 
in a human form, because the universal man, having be- 
come absorbed by the attractions of the sensual plane, had 
lost that divine state of consciousness which renders pos- 
sible the perception of divine truth. As it is only the 
truth in man that can know universal truth, and as this 
principle of truth had become inactive in him, it was 
necessary that the Christ (the Truth, the Life, and the 
Light) should become active in him, and by rendering 
man truthful, self-conscious, and living within the light, 
reinstate him in his former position which he occupied 
in the macrocosmos before he sank into materiality and 
degradation1. 
1 If we take of the history of redemption the ordinary theological view, 
and regard it as the work of an extracosmic God, getting offended and REDEMPTION. 
“ The spirit of this world has captured the body 1 and 
rendered it earthly, so as to cause body and soul to be 
corrupted. Thus we are no longer in possession of the 
pure element necessary for the formation of a (pure) body, 
but an outgrowth of the four elements in combination 
with the influence of the stars. This body does not be- 
long unto the Godhead. God does not unfold Himself 
within an unclean body, but only in holy (regenerated, 
interior) man, in the pure image which He created in the 
beginning. There was then nothing else to be done than 
to regenerate that image by means of the heart and light 
of God.” (Three, Principles, xxiii. 2 1.) 
“ Man must again go out of the spirit of the planets 
and elements and enter into a new birth, into the life of 
God. This the soul cannot accomplish by her own power, 
and therefore the life of God out of love and mercy came 
to us into the flesh and took our human soul again unto 
itself, into the divine life, into the power of the light; so 
that in this life we may enter into a new birth and pene- 
trate unto God.” (Threefold Life, i, 17.) 
“ To the human spirit (as such) it was impossible to 
issue from the torment of anguish and enter into the 
region of heaven, and therefore God had to come again 
into humanity and aid the human spirit in bursting the 
doors of the darkness, so that it may enter within them 
(clothed) in divine power.” 2 (Threefold Life, xxi. 21.) 
243 
angry, and becoming reconciled by having his son killed by man, it be- 
comes at once absurd and incredible ; but if we look at it in its true light, 
namely, as an allegory describing an intracosmic process going on in the 
body of macrocosmic and microcosmic man, it then becomes intelligible. 
It was not an outside deity, but the divine will, active within the heart of 
humanity, that willed that humanity should be saved by the awakening of 
the divine will in man, and the same process takes place even now in 
the organism of every individual on entering from spiritual darkness into 
light. 
1 The term “ body,” as a matter of course, does not refer to the visible 
form of earth, which is merely an instrument for its inner inhabitant, 
but to that principle of which that form is an external expression. 
2 In other words, there is no other way of restoring the order except by 
means of its restoration. 244 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ Christ came for the purpose of healing the injury 
which Adam had suffered when he died relatively to the 
celestial kingdom. He came to awaken the inner man 
who had disappeared in Adam, and to regenerate him in 
His power, and to bruise for ever the serpent’s head of 
wrath and falsehood, (that is to say) to kill the (selfish) 
terrestrial will.” {Stie/el, ii. 168.) 
To effect this reconstitution the direct action of God 
upon humanity would not have been sufficient. With- 
out the incarnation a real union of God and man, and 
a resurrection of the latter from death, would not have 
been possible.1 
“ It was the will of God to transmute humanity, after 
it had become earthly, again into the celestial quality, to 
turn the human earth (material element) into heaven, to 
make out of the four elements only one, and to transform 
the wrath of God in human quality into love. But the 
wrath of God, having become ignited in man, was a power 
of fire and fury, to resist which, and to transform it into 
love, it was necessary that love itself should enter into 
the wrath and surrender itself wholly to it. It was 
not enough for that purpose that God should remain 
in heaven (in His own divine self-consciousness), and 
look lovingly down upon humanity. This would not 
have subdued the power of the fury and wrath, neither 
would they have entered into a state of love.” {Signature, 
xi. 7.) 
“ In the holiness of God the human essence could not 
have been conceived without the presence of an appro- 
priate medium; the will was separated from it. There- 
fore God became man, so that He might endow or bless 
humanity with His divinity, and that He may become 
conceivable to us.” {Baptism, ii. 36.) 
1 If the light shines merely upon the surface, it then does not penetrate 
into the depths. The will had to become active within the flesh. This 
divine will is love, which is substantial and not a mere dream. REDEMPTION. 
“ Before the incarnation took place, the Word could 
redeem the soul, so that she could stand the test before 
the Father in the fire; but not (the test) in the love 
and delight before the light of the Holy Trinity. A 
rising from the tomb was not thus to be accomplished. 
If man was to be raised from the tomb, the Word had 
first to become man.” 1 (Three Principles, xvi. 35.) 
“ The pious have clothed themselves in Christ before 
His incarnation in the covenant of promise, not in sub- 
stance, but merely in power; not in the flesh, but merely 
in the spirit.” (Stiefel, ii. 442.) 
245 
In consequence of sin the power of death had become 
a ruler, and therefore the Eedeemer entered Himself into 
death for the purpose of conquering it, and to obtain for 
us again the fulness of divine life.2 
“ In consequence of the sin there was no salvation for 
man ; if the eternal Word and heart of God had not 
become human and entered into the third principle, into 
the human flesh and blood, taking upon itself (the state 
of) a human soul, and entering into the death of the des- 
titute s6ul, whereby it could take away from death its 
power and from hell its terrible sting, and thus conduct 
the soul out of death and redeem her from hell.” (Three- 
fold Life, viii. 39.) 
“ Adam’s soul had turned from God and died relatively 
to the essentiality of the light. Thus the second Adam 
brought the soul again into the fire, i.e., into the foun- 
tain of wrath, and ignited again the light in death. Then 
shone the light again into the darkness, and death died 
itself, and for the wrath or hell there was created a 
plague.” (Tilk. i. 513.) 
1 The tombs from which man must arise are error, passions, and 
temptations. 
2 The light could not have redeemed the darkness in any other way 
than by entering therein ; neither could anything entirely spiritual and 
unsubstantial have acted upon matter. 246 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ As we had gone out from the freedom of the angelic 
world and entered into the dark torture, therefore the 
power and the word of the light became man, and led 
us out of the darkness and through death in the fire 
into the freedom of divine life, into the divine essen- 
tiality. Therefore Christ had to die and to enter into 
the divine essentiality through hell and through the 
wrath of eternal nature, and to open a road for our 
soul through death and through the wrath, on which 
we may enter with Him by means of death into divine 
life.” (Menschwerdung, i. 3, 7.) 
“ When the two kingdoms, the wrath of God and the 
love of God, were battling with each other, then appeared 
Christ as the hero. He willingly surrendered Himself to 
the wrath (to the suffering caused by the lower principles 
that had been awakened to consciousness in consequence 
of the sin), and He extinguished it by His love. He came 
from God into this world and took our soul into Himself, 
so that He might take us out of the earthly state into 
Himself and lead us thus into God. He regenerated us 
within Himself, so that we would become capable of living 
again in God, and that we should put our will into Him. 
In Him He led us to the Father, into our first home; 
that is to say, into the Paradise which Adam had left.” 
{Menschwerdung, i. 1 1. 6.) 
“ The Word took our own flesh and blood into the 
divine essentiality, and broke the power which held us 
imprisoned in the wrath of death and fury. It broke that 
power on the Cross ; that is to say, in the centre of nature 
(the fourth natural form, whose symbol is the Cross), and 
ignited again in our soul (that had become dark) the 
burning white liglit-fire.” {Menschwerdung, ii. 6, 9.) 
“ Christ sacrificed our human image to the wrath of 
His Father, to be swallowed up in death, and introduced 
His life into death; but He manifested His love in that 
life which death had devoured, and thus He brought 
that life out of death by means of His love (with wdiich REDEMPTION. 
247 
it had become one and immortal). As a seed sown into 
the earth must die (as such and relatively to its form) 
within the earth, and as by means of this dying a new 
body grows, so the corrupted body of Adam had to be 
sacrificed to death and to the wrath, and out of the 
death and wrath issued the body of the love of God.” 
(Mysterium, xxviii. 17.) 
The conquest of the power of death took place, in a 
certain sense, already at the time of the overcoming of 
the temptation of the Redeemer, which, like that of Adam, 
was caused by the envy of the devil, but in which the 
devil was conquered by the Lord.1 
“Adam was to take possession of the kingly throne of 
Lucifer, because the latter had turned away from God. 
From this results the great envy and the spite of the devil 
against mankind. From this also originates the tempta- 
tion of Christ in the wilderness, because Christ was to 
take possession of the throne which the devil claimed, to 
break his power, and to become his judge who was to 
reject him eternally.” {Grace, vi. 13.) 
“ All that which had seduced Adam, and wherein he 
became imprisoned as in the death of darkness, was offered 
to the Saviour at the time of temptation.” {Signature, 
vii. 46.) 
“The temptation is the hard fight in the garden of 
Eden, in which Adam fell; but the new warrior came out 
of it victorious, and remained conqueror.” {Three Prin- 
ciples, xii. 91.) 
“When Christ withstood the temptation in the place 
of Adam, then the newly introduced celestial Ens broke 
the sword in the death of the external body of Christ, and 
by means of the holy substance it brought the external 
body, which He had taken up in Mary and out of her 
1 Little would it benefit man to believe that another person overcame 
his temptations, while he himself would succumb to his own. He who 
conquers that which is mortal in him conquers death. 248 
THE DOCTRINES OF JA COB BOEHME. 
seed, through that sword of the wrath and into the holy 
state. In this very power the external body became 
raised from the dead, and conquered both death and the 
fiery sword.” (Mysterium, xxiv. 24.) 
The first factor in the temptation was that Christ was 
requested to take earthly food instead of celestial nutri- 
ment, and that He should thereby gratify the desire of 
His body.1 
“ After the Spirit of God had led Christ into the wil- 
derness, then was the devil permitted to approach Him 
in the kingdom of wrath and to tempt the second Adam 
as he had tempted the first one. There was then no 
earthly food or drink, and the soul of Christ knew very 
well that she was in God, and that she could make terres- 
trial bread out of stones, as there was no other bread 
there. But she did not desire to eat with her celestial 
body terrestrial but celestial bread, and to leave the ter- 
restrial body to its hunger, because the divinity in Christ 
said, ‘ Eat of the word of the Lord and you will issue from 
the earthly man and rest in the kingdom of heaven; live 
in the new man, and then the old one will be dead for 
the sake of the new.’ However, the devil spoke to the 
soul: ‘ Thy earthly body is hungry, and as there is no 
bread, therefore make thou bread out of stones.’ Then 
1 The first temptation which meets every one on the road to regeneration 
is the hunger of the lower qualities in him. 
“ The first cause of real temptation is the transcendent abundant love 
of God. The human will refuses to submit itself entirely to the exquisite 
grace which offers itself out of divine love, and seeks for its own self and 
for the love of that self which belongs to that which is impermanent. 
It loves itself and the state of this world better than God. Here man 
is tempted by his own nature, which in her centre stands outside of the 
love of God, in anguish, combativeness, and dissension, and in which the 
devil puts his perverted desires for the purpose of leading man away 
from the sublime grace and love of God. Here the dragon within the 
soul turns its eyes in vanity towards the world, and shows to her the glory 
and beauty of this world, and derides her because she desires to become 
another creature. He puts before her the kingdom wherein she exists and 
wherein she has her foundation.” (Letters, xliii. 3.) REDEMPTION. 
249 
the strong soul in Christ stood there as a warrior and 
said, ‘ Man lives not alone of bread, but of each word that 
passes through the mouth of God. Thus he rejected the 
terrestrial bread and life, and put his imagination into 
the word of God and ate of it. Then was the soul alive 
in the kingdom of heaven, but the body like one dead ; 
that is to say, it became the servant of heaven and lost 
its powerful rule (over the soul).” (Three Principles, xxii. 
100-105.) 
Furthermore, the devil thought of turning the Redeemer 
away from the divine will by exciting the spirit of vanity.1 
“ After the soul of Christ had received the heavenly 
bread, it was to be seen whether she would now arise in 
the power of the fire of vanity, or, full of humility, behold 
only the heart and the will of God, and surrendering her- 
self to it, become an angel of meekness. Herein is seen 
the cunning of the devil, because he quotes the Scripture 
and says, ‘ The angels will carry him upon their hands.’ 
This passage has been misapplied, because it did not refer 
to the physical body, but to the soul. This he wanted to 
introduce into pride, so that it should rely upon being 
carried by the angels; but the Redeemer said, ‘ It is also 
written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. ’ Thus 
he overcame the pride of the devil and entered into the 
humility and love of His celestial Father.” (Three Prin- 
ciples, xxii. io8.) 
1 The second temptation for the regenerated is spiritual pride. 
“ The second temptation is, that the soul, after having tasted of divine 
love, and having once been illumined, desires to have that light in her 
possession, and to act therein in her own power. The fiery nature of the 
soul ought to be transformed into a love-fire, and she ought to give up her 
natural right. This she does not like to do, but looks about, prefers to 
see herself in her own power, which she, however, does not find. Then 
the soul begins to doubt the power of grace, for she sees that she has to 
desert therein her natural desire and will. She then trembles, and will 
not sacrifice to the divine will the rights conferred upon her by nature 
and die in the divine will; and she imagines the light of grace, which 
acts without such a fierce power, to be a false light.” (Letters, xliii.) 250 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Finally, he offered to the Saviour the rule over the ex- 
ternal world ; but the Lord did not accept it from the 
hands of the devil, but from His celestial Father.1 
“ After the devil had thus failed twice, he came for- 
ward with the last powerful temptation (saying) that 
he would give to Him the whole world if He would fall 
down and worship him. Adam already had been anxious 
to come into possession of this world, and he wanted to 
make it his own; but in doing so he departed from God, 
and became himself captured by the spirit of this world. 
Now the second Adam had to submit to this tempta- 
tion of the first Adam. It was to be tried whether the 
soul would remain -within the new, holy, and celestial 
man, and live in the grace of God or in the spirit of this 
world. But the soul of Christ said to the devil, ‘ Depart 
from me, Satan! for it is written, Thou shalt worship 
the Lord thy God, and serve Him alone! ’ Thus the 
valiant warrior conquered, and the devil had to depart; 
and thus all that is earthly has been overcome by the 
Christ. Now the Lord is higher than the moon,2 and 
takes all the power in heaven and hell, and is Master 
over death and life. He now began His sacerdotal king- 
dom with signs and miracles. He changed water into 
wine, made whole the sick, the blind seeing, and enabled 
the lame to walk, and even awakened the dead to life. 
He now sat in the chair of David, and was the true 
priest in the order of Melchisedec.” (Three Principles, 
xxii. 3.) 
But tlie victory which the Redeemer had gained over 
Satan at the time of the temptation could not be sufficient 
for the purpose of the redemption of mankind. To that 
1 In the regenerating man the third temptation is, that the soul thinks 
of employing the spiritual powers which she has acquired for purposes 
which are not divine, namely, for awakening the sourcive spirits of the 
lower qualities, and thus of raising her head higher than God, as was the 
case with Lucifer. 
2 The sun of wisdom is higher than the moon of imagination. REDEMPTION. 
251 
end the complete transmutation, consequently the (bodily) 
death of the Lord, had to take place.1 
“When Christ was born the heaven existed within 
the earth—of man ; but this was not sufficient. The two 
worlds were to wrestle with each other. Therefore came 
the temptation, and as the divine world conquered, the 
great wonders (of the spiritual world) became revealed in 
the external human world. All this, however, could still 
not be sufficient, because the human quality was still 
active in her selfhood (self-consciousness) within the 
movable wrath. It was necessary that the human state 
should be transmuted into the celestial one, and for that 
there was no other way than that the name of Jesus in 
divine love and celestial essentiality would give itself 
wholly to be devoured by the wrath. Thus the Son was 
obedient to the wrathful Rather, even unto the death on 
the Cross.” (Signature, ii. 12—17.) 
The physical death as well as the temptation of the 
Redeemer was caused by Satan, who for that purpose 
excited the animosity of the mundane and clerical 
authorities against the Lord.2 
“ Christ said that He was a king of love and Son of 
God, having come to save His people from sin. The 
devil then thought that he would lose his kingdom, and 
the authorities thought, ‘ If this is a king and Son of God, 
our supremacy will be at an end; ’ while the clergy said 
to themselves, £ He is much too insignificant for us; we 
want a Messiah who will give us temporal power and 
1 Thus in each individual man the overcoming of the temptations on 
this or that occasion is not sufficient for permanent salvation; for as 
long as the germ of evil exists, it may sprout again. Final safety is 
attained only after the battle, when the root of the evil is torn out of the 
heart. 
2 A more modern way of expressing it would be: When the disciple 
becomes an accepted “ Chela," his evil Karma begins to assert itself. In 
other words, the awakening of a new life in an organism stimulates also 
the lower qualities therein, whether it be a man, a people, or a whole 
world. 252 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
glory; one who will make us rich in the world and give 
us high places in society, so that we shall have all the 
honour of this world. This man we will not have ; He is 
far too poor for us, and if we were to follow Him we 
might lose the favour of the mundane authorities. We 
will remain in our glory and power, and do away with 
this king of beggars and with His kingdom of love.’ ” 
{Signature, x. 78.) 
By means of His corporeal death, the wrath, or that 
which was in antagonism to celestial magnificence, was to 
be taken away from the external being of the Bedeemer.1 
“ The human fire-life exists in the blood, and therein 
rules the wrath of God. Therefore another kind of blood, 
one that was born from the love-essence of God, had to 
be brought within the wrathful human blood. Both, how- 
ever, had to enter together into the wrath of death, and 
thus the wrath of God had to be extinguished in the 
divine blood. Therefore external human nature had to 
die in Christ, so as to exist no longer in the quality of 
the wrath; so that the power of the celestial blood, 
namely, the speaking Word, may alone live in external 
human nature, and rule in its own divine power in ex- 
ternal and internal man; that is to say, that the sense of 
the I (the selfishness or illusion of isolation and separate- 
ness) cease to exist in humanity; that the Spirit of God 
should be all in all, and the personality only His instru- 
ment living in humility.” (Signature, ii. io.) 
“ In the external flesh of the Itedeemer was contained 
the evil part which came to the surface in Adam when 
he died relatively to God. Now this evil product was to 
be received again within the love of God, as Isaiah said 
of Christ, ‘ He took all our sins upon Him/ Now* the 
cursed Adam was hanging at the Cross as a curse, but 
Christ redeemed him by His innocently suffering pain 
i When that which is mortal in man dies, that which is immortal in 
him returns to freedom. REDEMPTION. 
253 
and shedding of blood. Adam’s body died on the Cross, 
and Christ, born of Jesus and the sanctified seed of the 
woman, tinctured (blessed) him with His dear blood of 
love.” (Stie/el, ii. 494.) 
“ The inner man Christ took our sins upon Him, and 
left the body, whereon He had laid the curse of God, 
hanging at the Cross as a curse of God. Thus He died, 
and in His death He spilt His blood, the blood of the 
holy man, into the essence of the external man, wherein 
death resided. But when this holy blood entered into 
death (with the external essence), then became death 
terrified at this holy life, and the wrath became terrified 
by the love, and went dowrn into its own poison, as if 
killed or annihilated.” (Stie/el, ii. 205.) 
By means of this spiritual death the Lord was to 
sacrifice entirely to His celestial Father not only the 
human self-will (this having been already accomplished 
at the temptation), but also His holy love-will.1 
“ When the speaking Word of God in human quality 
arrested itself in the Redeemer, then the essentiality 
which had died in Adam, but became alive again in the 
Christ, called out together with the soul, ‘ My God! my 
God ! why hast Thou forsaken me ? ’ This means that 
the wrath of God had entered through the quality of 
the soul into the image of the divine essentiality, and it 
had absorbed within itself the image of God, because it 
■was this image that was to bruise within the fiery soul 
the head of the wrath of God, and to change its fiery 
1 Thus every one should sacrifice to God all of his actions, his 
thoughts, and will ; he should not do anything out of his own power, but 
out of the power of God (after he once knows that power). As the 
physical body, except in a state of disease (such as spasms, epilepsy, &c.), 
does not perform any motions except such as originate in the will of the 
person, likewise the regenerated acts only as he is made to act by the God 
in him. Mortal and sinful man cannot perform anything really good by 
his own power; to attempt it would be a presumption and arrogance ; 
for all that is good belongs to God; man is merely an instrument for 
divine power. THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
power into the eternal sun-life. As a candle dies in the 
burning, and as from this dying issues light and power, 
so out of the dying and death of Christ there was to 
arise the eternal divine sun in human quality. Thus 
there was to die in this case not only the selfhood of 
human quality, i.e., the self-will of the soul relatively to 
(its desire to) live in the power of the fire, and to be lost 
in the image of love, but this very image of love had to 
enter itself into the wrath of death, so that all would 
sink down in death, and by means of death and perfect 
humility, and in the will and mercy of God, become 
raised again in paradisiacal substantiality, so that the 
Spirit of God might be all in all.” {Signature, xi. 87.) 
In consequence of this sacrifice of the whole of His 
will, the human soul-life of the Redeemer did not become 
annihilated, but it entered thereby entirely into the divine 
will.1 
“The humanity of Christ gave itself up as a sacrifice 
to the wrath of the Father, entering entirely into His fire- 
essence ; but the love-spirit of God defeated the wrathful 
essence of the fire, so that it could not consume humanity 
(the human quality). It merely took away from humanity 
its self-will, and brought it again into the first universal 
will, wherefrom the will was (originally) given to man. 
Thus that same will came again into the will of the Father 
as into its first root (fountain or origin).” (Mysteriunn, 
xxxix. 24.) 
“ The doctrine that Christ died a natural death in His 
human quality must not be understood as if meaning that 
His created soul had died, and still less that He had 
perished in His aspect as a divine being, or relatively to 
His celestial essentiality and celestial tincture. He only 
died relatively to His selfhood, i.e., relatively to the will 
1 If the self-will is entirely sacrificed to the divine will in man, then 
does man’s will not thereby become annihilated, but is itself rendered 
divine. REDEMPTION. 
255 
and regimen of the external world which ruled in man. 
He died relatively to the self-will and to the self-powers 
of the created selfhood. All this He gave up entirely 
into the Father’s hands as being the end of nature, the 
great mystery of the Father; but not so that it should be 
dead, but so that the Spirit of God should be therein all 
its life, and the divine regimen exist in the personality 
of Christ.” (Signature, xii. 1.) 
Neither did the external being of the Eedeemer become 
lost by His corporeal death, but it entered thereby into 
its true and exalted substantiality.1 
“ When Christ died He did not throw away the body 
which had been in His possession while upon the earth, or 
left it to be consumed by the four elements, thus keeping 
(or taking up) a body entirely foreign (to the terrestrial 
form); but He merely laid aside the suffering (the exter- 
nal consciousness) of this world, and clothed Himself in 
immortality, so that His body might live in divine power, 
and not in the spirit of this world.” (Three Principles, 
xxv. 53.) 
“ Christ assumed indeed earthly, substance, but in His 
death—that is to say, as He overcame death—the divine 
being caused the earthly state to disappear and took away 
from it its supremacy. Not that Christ had laid aside 
something (which He did not), but so that the external 
being was conquered and, so to speak, consumed.” 
(Menschwerdung, i. 8, 1 1.) 
“ The true essentiality in Christ did not take away the 
earthly consciousness, but entered into the latter as its 
lord and conqueror. The true life was to be led first 
1 However gratifying it may be for the curious seeker in history to 
know whether or when such an event has actually occurred in the history 
of the Jewish nation, such a historical belief would be of little benefit to 
him if he could not realise within his own inner consciousness that the 
death of his mortal nature cannot cause any loss to that which is immortal 
in him. 256 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
into death and the wrath of God. This took place on 
the Cross, on which occasion death became destroyed 
and the wrath imprisoned and extinguished by love, and 
thus conquered.” (Menschwerdung, ix. 16.) 
“When Jesus broke up death in (His) humanity and 
took away the sense of self, He did then not throw 
away the human quality wherein dwelt death and the 
wrath of God, but He now accepted them to the fullest 
extent; that is to say, He only now took the external 
realm within the interior one.” (Signature, xi. 41.) 
“ The external active and feeling life, wherein the wrath 
of God was burning, died, but not in such a way that it 
would have become a nothing,but it descended into nothing; 
that is to say, in this case, into the will of God, into His 
acting and feeling. Thereby it became free of the will of 
the external world, which will is evil and good, and it 
lived no longer within the world and the constellations 
with the four elements, but after the nature of the Father 
and within the pure and divine element. Thus the true 
human life came to occupy again the position which 
had been lost by Adam, and entered again into Paradise.” 
(Signature, xii. 5.) 
The earthly being of the Eedeemer was sanctified by 
His celestial blood, and thereby it was prepared for the 
resurrection.1 
“ When Christ poured out His celestial blood, then 
the fiery desire kindled in humanity became transformed 
into a love-desire, and out of the anguish of death there 
was born a joy and strength of divine power.” (Signa- 
ture, xi. 5.) 
“ When the Son of God poured out His holy blood 
in Christ, then did the poison of the wrath in Adam’s 
1 The earthly body is those elements in the terrestrial man the ulti- 
mate expression of which is his visible form. 
“ There are two beings (natures) in man. The spirit-life is directed 
inwardly, and the natural life acts in an outward direction.” (Text. v. I.) REDEMPTION. 
257 
flesh, soul, and spirit, which He took upon Himself, 
become sanctified and transformed into love. Thus the 
enmity ceased then and there, and God became Immanuel; 
that is to say, man with God and God with man. Then 
the flesh of Adam became tinctured and prepared for 
the resurrection.”1 {Stiefel, ii. 209.) 
By the power of the glorification at which the Redeemer 
arrived through His entering into death He overcame the 
power of hell, so that now the life again issued from death.2 
“ It is erroneous to suppose that the soul of Christ had 
left the body and had travelled down to hell, and that it 
had there, in divine power, attacked the devils and bound 
them with chains, and thus destroyed hell. It is rather 
to be understood that at the moment at which Christ laid 
off the kingdom of this world His soul entered into death 
and the wrath of God, and thus was the wrath reconciled 
in love. Thus the devils and all the godless souls in the 
wrath were imprisoned within themselves, and death was 
broken up; but the life sprang forth through death.” 
(Three Principles, xxv. 76.) 
“ Death was wrestling with the external (life of) man, 
and thought that now the soul would have to remain in 
the Turba; but there was a stronger power within the 
soul, namely, the Word of God. This Word captured death 
and destroyed it, and extinguished the wrath. It was a 
great poison to hell when the light entered within it, and 
thus the Spirit of Christ imprisoned the devil, and led 
him out of the soul-fire into the darkness, and locked him 
up in the darkness, in wrathful harshness and bitterness.” 
{Forty Questions, xxxvii. 13—15.) 
1 The “flesh of Adam” is as invisible to us as the spiritual body 
of Christ. That which we see with our external eyes is merely an 
appearance. 
2 Whenever the light of Christ in the soul of man penetrates within 
the interior foundation of his fiery will, then is that will changed into 
sweet love, and the soul enters into freedom from the bondage of self. 258 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BO EH ME. 
“ By the power of the celestial tincture God ignited 
the fire that had become dark within the essence of the 
soul, so that henceforth that fire began to burn in white, 
clear, and majestic power, in light and glory, and thus 
the wrath of God became extinguished in the essence of 
the soul and was made into love.” (Tilk. ii. 259.) 
“ The soul of Christ came with the light of God into 
the wrath, and then the devils trembled; for the light 
imprisoned the wrath, so that it became a paradise, 
while the wrath remained in hell. The light closed up 
the principle of hell, so that no devil is permitted to show 
himself in the light. He is also blind relatively to it, and 
the light is his terror and shame.” (Three Principles, 
xxv. 79.) 
Thus, in consequence of the bodily death of Christ, the 
holy ones of olden times who had longed for His coming 
attained resurrection.1 
“ The holy ones, having put their faith into the Mes- 
siah, received now the pure element for a new body, ac- 
cording to the promise. For, as the promised hero entered 
through life into death, their souls clothed themselves in 
the body of Christ as in a new body, and lived in Him 
through His power. These were the holy fathers and 
prophets who in this world had been anointed in the 
power of the Word of God with the bruiser of the ser- 
pent’s head, and who by its power had prophesied and per- 
formed miracles. They now became alive in the power 
of Christ.” (Three Principles, xxiv. 52.) 
“ The fathers of the Jews had known Christ not in the 
flesh, but only in His prototype, and they had clothed 
themselves therein only in its power by means of the first 
1 If the purified soul of man enters into the divine fountain from which 
she originated, bringing with her the light which she has gathered unto 
herself during her terrestrial existence, then will this be like adding 
new fuel to the fire, and a new effulgence of light and glory will take 
place in the soul of the world. REDEMPTION. 
259 
incorporated covenant and word; but now they clothed 
themselves in His substance, for all those who had put 
their faith in Him, and had clothed themselves in the 
covenant in spirit, in these the covenant was then filled 
with celestial substantiality. Thus there were many 
who were raised with Him after His resurrection, and 
they caused themselves to be seen at Jerusalem, in testi- 
mony that they had been raised up in Christ.” (Grace, 
x. 45.) 
This conquest of hell and death was accompanied 
by certain phenomena upon the earth, indicating the ap- 
proaching destruction of the whole terrestrial world.1 
“ As the prisons of the dark world were to be destroyed 
in the death of Christ, the earth trembled and the sun 
became darkened, which symbolised that, as now the eter- 
nal light had been born anew, the temporal light would 
have to cease to exist.” {Grace, vii. 8.) 
“ When the earth received the blood of Christ she 
trembled and shook, for the wrath of God was now con- 
quered in her, and there entered into her the living blood 
which had come from heaven out of the substantiality of 
God.” (Menschwerdung, i. io.) 
“ The wrath of the Father had to consume in death the 
life of Christ; but when the wrath had swallowed up 
the life in death, then the holy life of the deepest love of 
God moved in the death and wrath and swallowed up the 
wrath. Then the earth began to tremble, and the rocks 
burst and the tombs of the holy ones opened.” (Mys- 
terium, xxviii. 123.) 
“ After the Father had brought again the soul of the 
Redeemer, that had entered into His wrath, into love— 
1 Likewise in each individual man will the terrestrial light disappear 
from his view when the Christ has arisen in him ; for the Christ Him- 
self is the Light, and surpasses the light of external nature. If that 
divine light arises in man, then will the celestial spirits that have been 
dormant in his soul arise and move and rejoice. THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
that is to say, into the image from Paradise, which had dis- 
appeared—then the world trembled in the terror of death 
as with a terror of joy, and that joy entered into the dead 
bodies of those that had hoped for the coming of the 
Messiah, and awakened them to life. It was this very 
terror that tore the curtain in the Temple, namely, the veil 
of Moses, which hung before the clear face of God, so that 
man could not see God.” {Signature, xi. 71.) 
The body in which Christ Himself arose from the 
dead was paradisiacal and divine, and could not be appre- 
hended by anything of an earthly nature; but as the 
terrestrial body was absorbed therein, therefore the Lord 
could make Himself visible to His disciples.1 
“ The body in which Christ became raised from the 
dead could not be stopped or arrested by rocks or stones. 
It passes through all things without breaking anything; 
it takes hold of this world, but this world cannot lay hold 
of it. Nothing can make it suffer, for in it is all the ful- 
ness of the Godhead.” (Three Principles, xxv. 87.) 
“ There was no necessity for the removal of a stone to 
liberate the body of the Lord from the tomb. This took 
place merely to show to the Jews the folly of their imagin- 
ing that they could withstand God, and also for the sake 
of the weak faith of the disciples, so that they might see 
that Christ had in truth been raised up.” (Three Prin- 
ciples, xxv. 85.) 
“ Although Christ not always walked visibly among 
His disciples, nevertheless He showed Himself often 
visibly, tangibly, and substantially to them in the shape 
of the body which He had occupied while upon this 
earth, and which the new body had absorbed, but which 
1 Neither will any one’s physical body, wherein the inner man is 
imprisoned as in a tomb, offer any obstacles for the prisoner to escape, 
after the latter has been raised from the darkness of ignorance into the 
light of spiritual self-knowledge. Then will the inner sight of the soul 
be opened and the rock be rolled away. Then may the inner man go out 
and visit his disciples. REDEMPTION. 
261 
it had the power to represent again.” (Three Principles, 
xxiv. 97.) 
The heaven wdierein the Redeemer has entered after 
His resurrection is the fulness of divine power, by means 
of which He is Lord over the terrestrial world and over 
the world of hell.1 
“ The internal foundation of this world, whereof the 
four elements have originated, is heaven, and in this 
internal power Christ rules as true God and Man in 
the external world. When He says, ‘To Me has been 
given all power in heaven and upon the earth,’ and also, 
‘ I am with you every day unto the end of the world ; ’ 
and furthermore, if it is said of Him, ‘ He shall rule over 
His enemies until they are all made to be a footstool 
under His feet,’ all this refers to His internal kingdom, 
because He rules within the internal and over and above 
the external and terrestrial, and likewise over the hellish 
world.” (Baptism, ii. 1, 29.) 
Thus the Bible history of the life of Christ and the 
miracles which He performed, is a description of the 
processes taking place within the inner life of the 
regenerated. In Jesus Christ we behold the antitype 
of the one and only Redeemer of the world, as a whole, 
and of every separate individual. Every object or 
person we see in the world is nothing but a symbol of 
existing ideas ; every event taking place in external life 
is the outcome of invisibly acting forces. The historical 
correctness of the occurrences described in the Bible 
may be questioned, but what they describe are facts 
known to those who have experienced them themselves. 
The truth of the religion of Christ does not depend 
on the verification of external historical events; for true 
1 Man, having become one with the Christ in Humanity, will necessarily 
partake of His powers in Divinity. The will of the Father is then his 
own, and in the Son he rules as a Lord over the spiritual kingdom, and 
through the inner world over the external one. 262 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
Christianity is based neither upon a knowledge of cos- 
mology nor upon history, but upon love. 
“ The innermost ground in man is Christ; but not 
according to man’s human nature, but according to His, 
the divine quality in His celestial essence, which He has 
regenerated. The second ground is the soul, i.e., eternal 
nature, wherein Christ (the light) becomes revealed; and 
the third ground is the external man, out of the limus 
of the earth with the stars and the four elements. In 
the first ground is the active life of divine love; in the 
second is the natural fire-life of the created soul, wherein 
God is called a fiery God; and in the third is the creation 
of all the qualities wherein Adam stood in the tempera- 
ture, and which was objectified in the fall.” {Grace, iv. 
37-) 
“ ‘ Christ ’ means a penetrator; the act of taking away 
the power of the wrath ; the illumination of the darkness 
by light; the transmutation (in the soul of man), by 
which the gladness of love rules over the lust of the fire 
in its wrathful aspect; the superiority of light over dark- 
ness.” (,Signature, vii. 32.) 
To “ love Christ ” means simply to love the divine 
light of wisdom and truth, and is practised by being 
obedient to divine law.1 
1 “ Why does the soul torment herself and strive in her own power and 
will, thus augmenting her torture ? The more anxious she is, the greater 
will be her pain, and she acquires no rest. A dying plant does not begin 
to sprout and obtain sap by its own power, and likewise the soul cannot 
by her own power attain the kingdom of God. She ought to do nothing 
but abandon her own selfish will, then the evil qualities become weak, 
and her will returns to the one from which she came in the beginning. 
Here God will send His supreme love to meet her ; that love which has 
been revealed in humanity, in Jesus Christ.” (Illumined Soul, 46.) CHAPTER XIII. 
REGENERATION. 
“ Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not of those things ? ” 
—John iii. 10. 
“ Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross 
daily, and follow Me.”—Luke ix. 23. 
No man can attain spiritual self-knowledge without being 
spiritual, because it is not intellectual man that knows 
the Spirit, but the divine Spirit that attains self-know- 
ledge in man. 
“ Christ said, ‘ Unless you become like children, you 
will not see the kingdom of God.’ And again He says 
(John iii.), ‘ Unless a person is born of the water and 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God; for 
that which is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is 
born from the Spirit is spirit.’ It is clearly shown in the 
Bible that the carnal natural man does not conceive of 
the Spirit of God. That Spirit is to him a foolishness, 
and he cannot comprehend it.” 
“ It is self-evident, and requires no further proof, that 
we are all made up of flesh and blood, and that we are 
mortal. Nevertheless, we are taught that we are temples 
of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. We are also 
taught that Christ must take a form in us, and that He 
will give us His flesh as our nutriment and His blood for 
us to drink. He says that he who does not eat the flesh 
of the Son of Man will have no eternal life. Therefore 
we ought to seriously consider what kind of a man is 
wdthin our own self similar to God and capable of becom- 
ing divine.” (Regeneration, i.) 264 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ For that which is made of mortal flesh will again 
return to earth. In it dwells the vanity of this world. 
It is desirous for that which is not of God, and it cannot 
be said to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. Much less 
can there take place a spiritual regeneration of this ter- 
restrial flesh, because it dies and becomes dissolved, and 
is a dwelling for sins. But the true Christian is born out 
of Christ, and that which is regenerated is a temple of 
the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.” {Regeneration, i.) 
For the purpose of understanding the process of the 
spiritual regeneration of man it is useless to cling to a 
merely historical belief in a Christ supposed to have died 
for the purpose of paying our debts to an angry God, but 
it is necessary to eat of the flesh and drink of the blood 
of the living Christ within ourselves; that is to say 
that we must allow our soul to become filled with the 
divine substantiality of the body of Christ, and experience 
the paradisiacal power of Christ therein. 
“ To produce a true Christian it is not sufficient to be 
satisfied with a merely historical or scientific belief in a 
Son of God who is said to have once lived upon the earth. 
It is not that we are to be rewarded by some external 
God attributing righteousness to us on account of our con- 
fessing such a belief, but the recognition of divine truth 
must be born within us and received by us in a child-like 
manner. As the flesh is bound to die, so the life and the 
will of our sinful nature must die, and we must become 
like a child that knows nothing, but clings (instinctively) 
to the mother who gave it birth. And thus the will of 
the Christian must die to its own self-willing and self- 
assertion, and become like a child in Christ. Then, if 
the will and desire of the soul is directed only to its 
source, there will arise from the Spirit of Christ a new 
will and obedience in divine justice, out of the death of 
the self-will, and not the sinful will.” (Regeneration, i.) REGENERATION. 
265 
To form a correct conception of the regeneration of man, 
and of what kind of a being it is which is to be brought 
to life in us, we must learn to know what is eternity 
and time, light and darkness, good and evil, and especially 
the origin and the generation of man. We shall then find 
that man is of a threefold aspect. In one aspect he 
dwells continually in heaven, and is a member of the 
body of Christ; in another aspect he is subject to the 
powers of darkness, and in his third aspect he is made of 
mortal flesh. Nevertheless there are not three men in 
one human being, but he is only one. 
It is nowhere stated that God is a temple of man, and 
that we can enter into Him with our human selfhood, 
however refined that selfhood may be. The spiritual re- 
generation of man is brought about by the divine power 
of God entering and becoming self-conscious in man, so 
that his whole being becomes filled with God as the dark- 
ness becomes filled with light. 
“We behold the eternal world with its stars, and the 
four elements wherein man and all creatures live. This 
is not God, and is not called ‘ God.’ God dwells therein, 
but the essence of the external world does not compre- 
hend Him. Likewise the light shines into the darkness, 
and the darkness comprehendeth it not.” 
“ God dwells in the world and fills everything ; never- 
theless He possesses nothing. The light dwells within 
the darkness, but does not own it; day dwells in night 
and night in the day, time in eternity and eternity in 
time; and so it is with man. He is himself time, and 
lives within it according to his external aspect, and 
likewise the external world is existing in time; but the 
inner man is eternity, and spiritual time and world, such 
as is created in light according to the love of God, and in 
darkness according to His wrath. His spirit lives in 
that principle -which is manifest in him, either in dark- 
ness or in the light. Each of these dwells within itself; 
neither possesses the other; but if one enters within the 266 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
other and desires to possess the other, then will the other 
lose its supremacy and power. If the light becomes 
manifest in the darkness, then the darkness ceases to be 
darkness; and if the darkness arises within the light, 
then the light and its power will be extinguished. 
“ The eternal darkness of the soul is the kingdom of 
hell; the eternal light in the soul is her heaven. Man, 
therefore, is created of, and lives in three worlds. One is 
the world of eternal darkness that arises from the centre 
of nature—eternal nature—wherein is born the fire as the 
eternal torment; the other world is the world of eternal 
light, wherein resides happiness and the Spirit of God. 
It is in this world of light wherein the Spirit of Christ 
assumes human substantiality. The third world wherein 
man lives, and from which he was generated, is the ex- 
ternal visible world, with its four elements, and the visible 
stars.” {Regeneration, i.) 
Now the question may be asked, “ By what means can 
man effect the process of his spiritual regeneration ? ” The 
answer is, that man, not being a god, can accomplish 
nothing whatever of that kind by his own will or power, 
and that it can only be accomplished by the unmerited 
grace of the god in him. No one can give unto himself 
anything which he does not possess ; neither can any man 
attract unto himself by an exercise of his will the sun- 
shine. All that man can do is to employ the powers 
which he has received from God for the purpose that 
there may be no impediment created by his self-will 
which might prevent the action of the Holy Spirit within 
his own soul. To accomplish this he must rise by the aid 
of the divine Spirit within himself above the inferior ele- 
ments within his own nature, and thus surrender his whole 
self-will to God, an act which is expressed in the original 
meaning of the word “ prayer.” 1 
1 In the German language the word Gebet (prayer) originates from 
geben (to give), and means, therefore, a gift or sacrifice to God. It does REGENERATION. 
267 
“ Spiritual regeneration does not depend on learning 
and scientific knowledge ; but there must be an intense 
and powerful earnest, a great hunger and thirst for the 
Spirit of Christ. Mere science is not faith; the latter is 
the intense hunger and thirst for that which I desire, so 
that it becomes formed into an image within me, and by 
grasping it in my imagination it becomes my own pro- 
perty. This hunger and desire moulds the substance of 
Christ, it being the celestial substantiality, into the weak- 
ened image, wherein the word of the power of God is the 
active life. 
“ If, then, the soul partakes of this celestial nutriment, 
she becomes kindled by the great love that dwells in the 
name Jesus. Then her anguish becomes converted into 
great joy and a real sun arises within her, while she 
becomes regenerated into another will. Then takes place 
the marriage of the Lamb, of which the mouth-Christians 
talk so much without understanding the meaning.” {Re- 
generation, iv.) 
“ In the name of Jesus, God has opened a door for 
us to His ear, whereby we may hear God actually speak 
within us, as in His mercy He speaks to us through this 
opened portal of thought. Again, the soul speaks through 
this door to God within herself, and during this inspeak- 
ing she is nourished, restored, illumined, and renewed by 
the outspeaking of God.” {Prayer, xxxi.) 
“ If the soul is to receive actual advantage and fruition 
from prayer, then must her will turn away from all 
creatures and terrestrial things and stand pure before 
God. Let not the flesh with its desires co-operate (in 
prayer) so that earthly desires may not be introduced 
into the divine effect in the soul.” {Prayer, xxxiv.) 
not imply the offering of selfish petitions or the asking for personal favours. 
However, if we give ourselves fully to God, and are accepted by Him, we 
then become, as it were, a part of God, and consequently a partaker of 
His divine powers. It would then be easy for us to grant our own desires, 
if in that divine state there could be room for personal desires of any kind. 268 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BO EH ME. 
“ Every prayer which does not find and take (what it 
asks) is cold and insipid, and is obstructed by temporal 
terrestrial things; that is to say, the soul does then not 
approach God in purity. She does not want to sacrifice 
herself entirely to God, but clings to terrestrial loves 
which hold her imprisoned so that she cannot attain the 
kingdom of God.” (Prayer, xviii.) 
No man can truly pray in spirit and in truth by his 
own power, because only that which is divine can enter 
into relation with the Divine. True prayer is not a 
mere wishing or desiring, but an action within the power 
of the omnipotent God. 
Prayer is the union with God effected by the sacrifice 
of the personal will. It is, therefore, the only “ Yoga 
practice ” worthy of serious attention.1 
“ The will necessary to accomplish prayer is far too 
weak as long as it is in our own powers that we pray, but 
if acted upon by divine power it becomes awakened, 
fiery, and full of desire. Within this desire God Himself 
is acting. Thus does man speak with God in truth, and 
God speaks in truth with the soul of man.” (Prayer, 
xxix.) 
“ He who truly prays co-operates with God internally, 
while externally he produces good fruit.” (Prayer, xxiv.) 
“ Mere word-prayer without exaltation of thought and 
divine desire is only an external thing, a mere repeating 
of words. Nothing pleases God except that which He 
does Himself.” (Prayer, i. 2.) 
Christ says (Matt. vii. 21): “ Not all who say, Lord! 
Lord! will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who 
do the will of My Father in heaven.” It would seem 
self-evident that no being inferior to the Father in heaven 
can possibly do the will of the Father, because no one 
can do the will of God unless he is in possession of 
1 True prayer is the bringing of will, thought, and word into one A by 
the power of the Spirit of God. REGENERATION. 
269 
God’s will, and thus one with God. Therefore he who 
wants to pray truly or to practice “ Yoga” must enter 
into heaven; that is to say, into the celestial state of 
will. 
The new life which is accorded to man by means 
of his regeneration in the power of faith and prayer is 
not a mere spirit, but corporeal and substantial. The 
“ body of the resurrection,” even if it is invisible to 
mortal eyes, is far more durable and indestructible than 
any imaginable physical form. 
“ While Christ eats the faith and the prayer of our 
soul, the human faith, together with the prayer and 
praise of God, become corporeal in the word of the power, 
and this new being is then one with the substance of the 
celestial corporeity of Christ, the eternal body of Christ.” 
{Mysterium, lxx.) 
“ The poor imprisoned soul, shut up within the dark- 
ness of death, is a hungering magical fire, which attracts 
from the incarnation of Christ the reopened substantiality 
of God, and out of this swallowing or nourishing she pro- 
duces a body similar to Divinity. Thus, then, the poor 
soul will be clothed with a body of light, comparable to 
the fire in a burning wick.” (Letters, xi. 21.) 
“ The new man is not a mere spirit, but he lives in 
flesh and blood, comparable to gold in a rock, which is 
not merely spiritual, but has a body ; not only such a 
body as that of the gross rock, but a body which can stand 
the test of the fire.” (Menschwcrdung, i. 14.) 
The creation of this new body is the beginning of the 
union of man with divine glory, but it is not the per- 
fection of it. The process of regeneration, like that of 
physical generation, has its stages of development. Upon 
the baptism by “ water ” follows that of the “ blood,” and 
finally that of the “ fire.” 
“ By means of the introduction of the divine will man 
becomes reunited to God and reborn in his emotional 270 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
nature. He then begins to die relatively to the selfish- 
ness of the false desire (in him) and to be regenerated 
in new power. There is then still attracted to him the 
carnal quality, but in the spirit he walks with God, and 
thus there is born within the earthly man of flesh a new 
spiritual man with divine perceptions and with a divine 
will, killing day by day the lust of the flesh, and by 
divine power rendering the world—i.e., the external life 
—heavenly, and causing heaven—i.e., the inner spiritual 
world—to become visible in the external world, so that 
God becomes man and man God, until finally the tree 
reaches its perfection, when the external shell will drop 
off, and it then stands there as a spiritual tree of life in 
the garden of God.” (Mysterium, Supplement, viii.) 
This imbibing of the “ Elixir of Life ” no man can 
accomplish by his own mortal power. All he can do is 
to render himself receptive for the divine power. The 
rest is done by the Spirit of God. 
The new life of the regenerated is during his terres- 
trial existence continually exposed to great dangers, 
arising from three sources, namely, from the selfishness 
of human nature, from the devil (evil will), and from 
the desires of the mortal flesh and blood. 
“No one should imagine himself to be secure after 
having once obtained the crown of pearls, for he may 
lose it again. The soul is during her terrestrial life 
fettered by three fearful chains. First, by the severe 
wrath of God, the abyss and dark world, which is the 
centre of the created life of the soul, whose innermost 
root is desire. The second chain is the fiery longing of 
the devil for the soul, in consequence of which he tempts 
the soul and incessantly seeks to throw her from her rest 
in divine truth down into vanity—i.e., into pride, avarice, 
envy, and anger ; and these evil propensities he continu- 
ally seeks to fan the fire in the soul, and thus the will 
of the soul is made to turn away from God and to enter REGENERATION. 
271 
into selfishness. But the third and most dangerous chain, 
to which the whole of the soul is tied, is the corruptible, 
vain, earthly, and mortal flesh and blood, which is full 
of evil desires and inclinations, together with the star 
region (astral plane), wherein, like in a great ocean, the 
soul is floating, and which causes her to become daily 
infected and inflamed in sin.” (Three Principles, xxv. 7.) 
There is a continual danger for the soul of sinking 
back into the acrid root of her existence, and at the 
same time she is continually exposed to the aggressions 
of the devil. 
“ If a person is in the anxiety of enmity, and the sting 
of death and anger is moving in him, so as to render 
him avaricious, envious, angry, and irritable, he ought 
then not to remain in that evil essence, but stop to 
consider and draw (from the eternal fountain) another 
will, namely, the will to go out of malice and enter 
into the freedom of God, wherein is perpetual rest and 
peace. If then his anguish tastes the freedom, then will 
the torture of the anguish become terrified, and in this 
terror death will be broken up; for this terror is of 
great joy and consists in a kindling of the life of God. 
Thereby the branchlet of pearls appears, and this now 
stands in trembling joy, but also in great danger ; for 
death and the torture of anguish are its root; as also 
the anguish in external nature has the quality that out 
of evil, i.e., out of the anguish, the great life is born. 
Out of a manure, for instance, a beautiful green branch 
grows, it having, of course, a constitution, odour, and 
state (life) different from that which produced it.” 
(.Menschwerdung, xi. 8.) 
“ The poor soul is so much blinded as not even to 
recognise the heavy chains wherewith she is bound. The 
whole world is full of traps set by the devil for the purpose 
of capturing her. If the outer man could have his eyes 
(spiritually) opened he would be terrified. Whatever a 272 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
man sees or touches, therein is a devil’s trap, and if 
the Word of the Lord, having become human, were 
not occupying the middle, the devil would capture and 
devour all souls.” 1 (.Menschwerdung, xi. 6.) 
“ As long as earthly man lives the soul will be in 
continual danger, for the devil is at enmity with her, 
and shoots his rays with a false imagination into the 
spirit of the stars and elements, and he therewith reaches 
out after the soul-fire, and desires to poison it with an 
earthly and devilish desire. Then must the noble image 
(in the inner consciousness in man) stand up in defence ; 
much fighting for the crownlet of the angels is then 
required, and there often arises doubt and unbelief 
within the old Adam.” (.Menschwerdung, xi. 6.) 
“ Even after the precious jewel is sown it does not 
immediately become a tree. Often the devil blows over 
it, and wishes to exterminate the mustard-seed. Many 
storms has the soul to suffer. Often she is deluded with 
sin, and everything seems to be against her. You must 
continually battle against the devil. Then will the pearl- 
tree grow like grass in storm and rain; but when it 
becomes big and brings forth flowers, you may then be sure 
of obtaining the fruit.” (Three Principles, xxiv. 37.) 
The new life of the Spirit unfolds itself within the 
innermost being, and the terrestrial man is only rarely 
pervaded by the divine luminosity. 
“ Not the mortal soul, but the inner (spiritual) soul 
from the eternal Word of God is to be married to Sophia. 
1 Here it may be useful to remark that if a person cannot perceive these 
dangers of the devil which are lurking in everything, it would be folly for 
him to imagine all sorts of dangers in his own fancy, whereby he would 
merely create for himself innumerable fears and perplexities, and become 
afraid of the world, instead of superior to it. The main point for the 
seeker of divine enlightenment is, and remains, to put his “ point of gravi- 
tation” into the divine self-reliance, and remember that he who has found 
his true dignity and manhood in God is superior to the devil, and there 
is nothing in the universe which could give him just cause for fear. REGENERATION. 
273 
The external soul is wedded to the constellation (mental 
functions) and elements. This external soul only rarely 
obtains a glance at Sophia, for she has death and 
mortality within herself. After this time she is to be 
again transformed into the first image which God created 
in Adam.” {Mysterium, lii. 13.) 
“ While the mortal house exists our soul does not 
dwell in the fountain of God, so as to apprehend that foun- 
tain in her selfhood. The sun shines through a glass 
and renders it luminous; nevertheless the glass does not 
become the sun. It merely remains (for a while) in 
the light and power of the sun, and the latter shines in 
and through its substance. Thus it is with the soul in 
her terrestrial state.” {Mysterium, lii. 3.) 
“As fire glows in hot iron, so are the rays of the 
Holy Spirit sometimes penetrating the other principle; 
namely, the new man penetrates the old one. But 
as iron, whether within or without the forge, always 
remains iron, likewise it is with the terrestrial man. 
He undoubtedly has to become a servant for the inner 
man, whenever the latter penetrates him with his glow- 
ing divine fire; and he is willing that this should be so 
as long as the glow of that fire is within him, but he 
cannot transform himself into the interior kingdom. ‘ The 
external flesh and blood,’ says Christ, ‘ shall not inherit 
the kingdom of heaven.’ It shall and must dissolve, like 
the husk of the kernel sown into a field.” (Stiefel, i. 24.) 
Only rarely, but especially in the moment of rege- 
neration, there is within the human self the living 
sensation of a celestial existence. 
“No one must ever think that the tree of the Christian 
faith can be seen or known in the kingdom of this 
world. External man does not recognise it, and even if 
it happens that the Holy Spirit manifests itself in the 
external mirror, so that the external life is glad and 
trembles for joy, and thinks that now it has received the 274 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
esteemed guest, and that it would now believe, never- 
theless there is no perfect duration therein; for the 
Spirit of God does not remain constantly within the 
terrestrial mind. It wants to have a clean vessel, and 
whenever it returns into its principle—this being the 
true image—then the external being becomes doubtful 
and full of fears.” (Menschwerdung, cxi. 8.) 
“ The soul puts on her wreath; but it is again taken 
away from her and put aside. Thus it is with a crown 
with which a king has been crowned, and which is after- 
wards kept in the treasury. This is done to the soul 
because she is still surrounded by a house of sin; so 
that if she should fall again, her crown may not become 
soiled.” (Repentance, i. 27.) 
The first and greatest danger for the new-born being 
arises from pride; as is illustrated in the New Testa- 
ment, for hardly is the new-born Saviour laid in the 
cradle, standing between the ox of self will and the ass 
of ignorance in the stable, represented by the animal 
constitution of man, when the king of pride (Herod) 
finds his kingdom endangered, and seeks to kill the 
child, which is to become the ruler in the new Jerusalem 
within the consciousness of man.1 
“ The enlightened children of God are threatened by a 
great danger; namely, in many of them who enjoyed the 
great sight of the holiness of God, wherein the triumph 
of life is attained, carnal reason mirrors itself therein and 
seeks to intrude its selfishness into the interior centre 
from whence the light shines. From this results miser- 
able pride and self-conceit; and selfish reason,—being, 
moreover, nothing but a reflection of the eternal light, 
—fancies itself to be more than that. It thinks that 
it may now do as it pleases, and that, whatever it 
does, it is the will of God doing it in it, and it believes 
itself to be a prophet. Nevertheless it enters no- 
1 See “ Jehoshua, the Prophet of Nazareth.” REGENERATION. 
275 
where except within its own self, and moves within its 
own desire, whereby the centrum naturce soon begins to 
arise. Then the devil of flattery comes forward, and man 
becomes drunk with self-conceit, persuading himself that 
it is God who compels him to act as he does. Thus he 
ruins the good beginning, during which the light of God 
began to shine within nature, and then the light of God 
departs from him. There is then nothing left but the 
light of external nature within the creature, but self- 
assertion puts itself therein and fancies that it is the 
original light received from God.” 1 {Calmness, i. 8.) 
Within the human constitution the old terrestrial and 
the new celestial states are dwelling together, and this 
necessarily causes within the regenerated a continual 
battle during the term of his terrestrial life. This battle 
between the higher and the lower consciousness, between 
earthly desires and celestial joy, is experienced by every 
one, but it is especially marked in those in whom, on 
account of a higher degree of spirituality, the spiritual 
sensitiveness is more keen. 
“ Not in the terrestrial essence does G-od become mani- 
fest in us, but in the true image that became weakened 
in Adam; but the external thing clings to the internal, 
the inner man manifests the divine mystery, and the 
external one the external mystery or the mirror of won- 
ders. From this results the battle in the new-born man. 
The new man wants to be lord, for he perceives the divine 
world ; but the terrestrial man is opposed to him, and 
wants to rule also, for he perceives the external world.” 
{Forty Questions, xvii. 14.) 
1 The human intellect, in its relation to the divine spirit, may be com- 
pared to the moon that receives her light from the sun. In either case 
the former is merely a reflection, while in the latter rests the true light. 
Thus there are many who mistake the reflection for the true light and 
their own fancies for the wisdom of God, and from this arises that self- 
conceit which is never more repulsive than if found among those who boast 
of being the servants of God. 276 
THE DOCTRINES OF JABOB BOEHME. 
“ The cause of the antagonism between the flesh and 
the spirit can easily be found without much seeking, for 
the inner spirit has the body of God, born from the sweet 
essentiality, and the external spirit has the body of the 
fiery mirror of wrath, which continually seeks to awaken 
wrath; namely, the great wonders which are in the 
Arcanum in the sternness of the soul. The inner love- 
spirit protests and will not let the external spirit arise 
and fire the soul; because it would cause it to lose its 
own happiness and form, which would then be destroyed 
by the wrath.” (Forty Questions, xvii. 14.) 
“ There are two kinds of will to be distinguished in 
the constitution of man. One arises within the lily and 
grows in the kingdom of God; the other sinks into the 
darkness of death and desires for the earth, she being its 
mother. This latter will continually battles against the 
lily, and the lily flies from its roughness. A sprout 
grows from the earth, and thus the substance of which it 
is formed flies from the earth and is attracted towards the 
sunlight until it becomes a plant or a tree. So does 
the divine Sun draw the human lily, i.e., the new man 
in his power, out of the substance of evil, until he finally 
becomes a tree in the kingdom of God. He then lets 
the evil tree or the husk wherein the new tree grew drop 
mto the earth, its mother, for which that husk was long- 
ing.” (Menschwerdung, xi. 8.) 
Trees do not grow in the air, but require the dark soil 
and manure to take root and draw nutriment from the 
earth, and likewise the inner man requires the outer one 
for the purpose of gaining experience and self-knowledge. 
“ In the rough rock precious gold may be found grow- 
ing, and the roughness of the rock aids it to grow, 
although the roughness is not like the gold. Likewise 
the terrestrial body must aid in generating Christ within 
itself, even though that body is not Christ, and never 
will be Christ in eternity.” (Grace, viii. 94.) REGENERATION. 
2 77 
“ We are of an earthly nature, but we have also a 
celestial existence within the terrestrial one. During 
our temporal life both are mixed with each other, but 
they do not act upon each other ; each one is merely the 
dwelling of the other, as is the case with gold-bearing 
rock. The rock is not the gold, but merely its vehicle. 
The roughness of the rock is not that which produces 
gold, but this is done by the tincture of the sun acting 
therein.”1 (Menschwerdung, i. 14.) 
In this battle between the terrestrial and celestial 
nature we need not be aggressive, but merely on the 
defence. This means that it is useless to resist evil or 
to combat it by remaining on the same level with it. 
We render ourselves free from the conflict by rising 
above the place of contention, and this rising is accom- 
plished by surrendering ourselves to the Supreme; or, to 
express it in other words, we conquer the flesh by sacri- 
ficing ourselves to the eternal spirit in Christ. 
“ Adamic man may live in Paradise according to the 
inner element which is unfolded within his mind, pro- 
vided he does not permit himself to be affected by malice 
and surrenders himself fully to the heart of God. Then 
will the virgin within the inner element receive him and 
illumine his heart, so that he may master the Adamic 
body.” (Three Principles, xv. 20.) 
1 There are many “Christians,” “Buddhists,” &c., who imagine that 
they could attain the apex of perfection if they were only getting rid of 
their physical body. Some even go so far as to object to having a soul. 
Surely the Divinity per se does require neither a physical body nor a soul 
to be self-existent and eternal; but man requires all this to enable the 
light of Divinity to become revealed in him. Without that, man, even 
if he could continue to be, would be unconscious of his existence; a 
spirit without knowing or experiencing anything about it. Immortality is 
not attained by merely fancying oneself to be immortal; neither can there 
be much satisfaction for man to believe that God is immortal as long as he 
is godless himself. Gautama himself could not have become a “ Buddha ” 
—i.e., an enlightened soul—if he had not been in possession of a soul which 
could be enlightened. This divine soul is the body of Christ. 278 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“We are always exposed to temptations, but we can 
be victorious in Christ who has conquered, for His soul 
is our soul and His flesh is our flesh, provided that we 
trust in Him and surrender ourselves to Him entirely, 
as Christ surrendered Himself to His Father.”1 {Forty 
Questions, i. 10.) 
Far easier is it to overcome the desire for evil than to 
destroy it after it has become embodied by being enacted. 
“ Desire is the introducing (of the will) into a thing, 
and from the desire results the formation of a corporeal 
being (in the astral plane). Therein is hidden the source 
of sin. It is far easier to ward off the desire than to 
destroy the body (formed by the act). The latter is far 
more difficult. Therefore it is advisable to turn away 
one’s eyes from evil desire, so that the tincture (the life- 
principle) may not enter the essence and the mind be 
filled with that whereby the desire becomes substantial 
and which will require a (forcible) breaking up.” {Three 
Principles, xx. 28.) 
“ It is far better to demolish the desire than to de- 
molish afterwards the substance with great pains. If the 
1 The very same idea is expressed in the Bhagvcul Gita, where man is 
advised to seek to realise that he is one with Krishna, and having realised 
it, he will be no longer a partaker, but merely a spectator, in the battle, 
which after all does not concern the Divinity in him, his own real self. 
No man can, however, identify himself by his own human power with 
Krishna or Christ; this always requires the presence and the power of 
Christ or Krishna Himself. In other words, it requires, as Boehme ex- 
presses it, “ the grace of God, which, however, can be found within every 
person who ceases to desire evil.” (Mysterium, lxi. 57.) 
Boehme says : “ No man can make himself a child of God, but he must 
throw himself entirely into a state of complete obedience to God. Then 
will God make him His child. He must be dead (to all sense of self), then 
will God in the Christ live in him.” (Tills. i. 398.) 
“No man can by his own power raise himself into the light which is 
extinct within his will, but he may enter the ground that produces the light 
and wherein is hidden neither evil nor good, because he is himself that 
foundation (cause). If he then, in his imagination, sinks himself into the 
abyss, he is then already there, and in this abyss is his pearl (the celes* 
tial jewel).” (Grace, ii. 43.) REGENERA TION. 
279 
free will already in the beginning (of a desire) destroys 
the desire, so that it does not become substantial, then is 
the physician (for the cure of that disease) already born, 
and there will not be needed such great earnestness as will 
be required by him who wants to come out of the com- 
pany of the monsters which he has created, and who will 
have to destroy the being which he has brought into 
shape within his own soul.”1 (.Mysterium, xxiv. 25.) 
If men were realising their true nature as vehicles of 
the divine spirit, they would see the utter folly of their 
craving for that which is agreeable or useful for the 
material self alone, without benefiting the spirit. From 
a spiritual point of view, external pleasures which are 
not instructive are not merely worthless, but actually an 
impediment to the attainment of our permanent treasure ; 
because in strengthening the ties which bind us to matter 
they loosen the link that connects us with heaven. 
“ It is the greatest folly for man to crave for things 
which are not his own (but which are merely attractive 
to the being with which he is connected during his earthly 
career), and to introduce into his desire that which in- 
fects him with disease, and which even ultimately drives 
him away from God, excluding him in body and soul 
from his celestial state.” (Mysterium, xxiv. 16.) 
“ He who wants to become a master over himself and 
a celestial citizen must not be a great sleeper, nor fill his 
abdomen with an abundance of food or drink, wherefrom 
the elements of the devil begin to qualify; but he must 
be temperate, sober, and wakeful, like a warrior before 
the enemy, for the wrath is continually against him, and 
1 This may be expressed in other words by saying that desire gives rise 
to the formation of a thought, and this thought is made alive by the will, 
and obtains substantiality and the right to live by being acted out. It is 
easier to avoid creating such an Elemental than to kill it after it has 
been created; because such a being is a part of our own self, and its 
destruction involves suffering. 280 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
he has enough to do to defend himself (without creating 
artificial obstacles).” (Six Theosophical Points, x. 23.) 
“ Over-eating and intoxication cause sin, because the 
pure will which emanates from the fire-life becomes im- 
prisoned and drowned in desire, so that it is rendered 
impotent in the battle.” 1 (Six Theosophical Points, cxi. 29.) 
As the power of the inner man over the outer man in- 
creases, the former changes the qualities of the latter to 
a certain extent. Nevertheless the physical body cannot 
be completely changed into the spiritual body of Christ, 
it being far too gross for that purpose. As long as it 
exists in the physical world it will be burdened with 
physical substance. 
“We must continually die in Christ and continually 
kill the man of sin within us, so that the new man may 
live; but we cannot entirely destroy the former; we can 
merely keep him imprisoned, and continually pour into 
his fiery essence water from the mildness of God.” (Stiefel, 
i 63.) 
“ The will, if it goes straight forward, is faith, and as 
such it can give the body another shape, according to the 
external spirit; for the inner man is the lord of the outer 
one; the latter has to obey the former, and the inner one 
can put the outer one into another figure, but not per- 
manently.” (Forty Questions, vi. 10.) 
“ If man enters into regeneration he may succeed in 
subjecting the external man to his power to such an 
extent that the latter must do that which he does not 
desire, because the former takes away the strength of the 
latter, and penetrates him ; but as the gold dwells in a 
coarse rock, and nevertheless the coarseness of the rock 
does not become gold, so the earthly man does not become 
God.” (Stiefel, i. 59.) 
1 Here it may be remarked that it will hardly be sufficient to have 
merely a theoretical knowledge of the uselessness of material attractions 
to cure the desire for them. In this, as in all other cases, there can be no 
true self-knowledge except that which arises from practical experience. REGENERATION. 
“ The inner man continually kills the outer one by means 
of the love and sweetness of God, so that the external one 
cannot introduce into the soul-fire his earthly poisonous 
desire, which is infected by the devil; but the external 
man cannot be entirely destroyed, for if this were to take 
place the kingdom of this world would depart from him 
entirely.” (Stiefel, i. 51.) 
“ Even if Christ is born in us, nevertheless we cannot 
say, in speaking of ourselves as a whole, ‘ I am Christ,’ 
for the external man is not Christ. We can only say 
honestly, ‘ I am in Christ, and Christ has become human 
in me.’” {Stiefel, i. 54.) 
Tor the great majority of people the celestial inner 
man is either not perceived at all, or assumes a merely 
vague and nebulous appearance; but there are others who 
are aware of the divine qualities of the inner man, and 
wdio desire to enter into harmony with him, but they are 
often so constituted as to he powerfully attracted by the 
outer life, and they do not know how to overcome the 
external and sinful man of flesh. 
“ Sometimes a person is externally so badly constituted 
by the influence of the stars as to experience much trouble 
therefrom. Whenever he stops to consider, he then enters 
within himself and abstains from sin. Nevertheless he 
does not know how to get rid of the outer malicious man.” 
{Three Principles, xx. 83.) 
In external nature we see that the more the sunlight 
and rain favour a field the richer will be the vegetation 
growing thereon, not only in regard to wholesome plants, 
but also in regard to such as are noxious. Thus the 
power of the spiritual sun, acting within the soul of man, 
will cause the germs therein, whether good or evil, to 
sprout and grow. For this reason persons endowed with 
great spiritual power are sometimes inclined to evil prac- 
tices, while there are others leading a blameless life merely 282 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
because they have no power or virtue in them, neither for 
evil nor good. 
“ Many of the saints that were driven on by the Spirit 
of God went afterwards from that state of submission again 
into selfishness; namely, to their own reasoning and self- 
will.” (Calmness, i. 34.) 
During our terrestrial life it is not possible for us to 
become entirely rid of the old sinful Adam, but we should 
continually try to live above his plane ; that means to say, 
we should maintain our point of gravitation in God. 
“ Man’s life during his present existence is like a 
turning wheel, which suddenly turns uppermost what 
was below. It kindleth itself in every substance and 
defileth itself thereby; but it is purified in the water of 
meekness, wherein moves the heart of God, and out of 
that its fire-life may evolve celestial substance.” (Six 
Mysterious Points, ii. 13.) 
“ Our whole life ought to be a continual repentance, 
because it is also a continual chain of sin. Truly the 
noble lily-branch, newly born in Christ, does not sin; 
nevertheless the terrestrial man sins in body and soul, 
and seeks to spoil the noble flower.”1 (Stiefel, xi. 537.) 
“ A true Christian hates the will of the flesh and rejects 
it. He is continually his own accuser, and considers 
himself unworthy, and with his whole heart will he 
wish to enter into the mercy of God. He will never 
boast and say, ‘lama Christian; ’ but he will strive to 
enter into the mercy of God and desire His grace, so that 
he may become a true Christian. His whole life is a con- 
tinual repentance, and he continually desires to grasp 
1 True “repentance” does not consist in fancying oneself to be sorry on 
account of the consequences to be expected from sins committed in the 
past, or in worrying about what has been done and cannot be undone now, 
while perhaps the heart still craves to sin again ; but it consists in a turn- 
ing away from that which is sinful and evil, and in forming the firm 
resolution to sacrifice and surrender oneself, faults and all, to the immu- 
table will of God. (Compare True Repentance, i.) REGENERATION. 
283 
divine grace as that grace grasps him.” {Communion, 
iv. 27.) 
No Christian should contemplate his own holiness, or 
fancy himself to be better than others; but he should 
rather realise his own unworthiness, and regret the per- 
verted state of himself and of humanity as a whole. 
“ No one should want to know his state of holiness 
while he lives in this world, but he should keep on draw- 
ing the sap of Christ from his own tree, and leave it to 
that tree to brinf* forth from him whatever branch or 
O 
bough it may choose.” (Stiefel, cxi. 345.) 
“ An earnest Christian does not wish to know his own 
sanctity; he sees only his imperfections, in which the 
devil battles against him. His imperfections are always 
before him, but his sanctity he does not know while he 
lives in this world. That sanctity is hidden by Christ at 
the foot of His Cross, so that the devil may not perceive 
it.” (Threefold Life, xv.) 
“A real Christian loves truth and justice, and hates 
hypocrisy.” {Communion, iv. 228.) 1 
The new-born internal and spiritual life is benefited 
by trouble and suffering. 
“ To the pious, light arises out of darkness and day out 
of night. For them fortune results from misfortune, and 
out of the curse and malice of this world there grows for 
them a paradise. Paul says, ‘ To those who love God, all 
things are for the best.’ ” (Mysterium, lxvi.) 
“ Whenever God leads His children into trouble and 
anguish, they are then every time to produce a new 
branch on the tree of faith. Whenever the Spirit of 
God appears it always presents a new out-growth, of 
which the noble image is exceedingly glad.” (.Men- 
schwerdung, cxi. 8.) 
1 No man can truly realise his own .unworthiness so long as the light 
has not become active in him. 284 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
The conditions by which man is surrounded during his 
terrestrial life may not permit the effect of his spiritual 
unfoldment to become fully manifest during that time, but 
at the time of the death of the physical body, when the 
obstacles presented by the flesh disappear, then will the 
inner man enjoy his perfections. 
“ The celestial kingdom in the saints is active and con- 
scious within their faith, whereby their will surrenders 
itself to God; but the natural life is surrounded by flesh 
and blood, and is related to the contrarium in the wrath of 
God. Thus the soul is often in anguish when hell rushes 
upon her, and desires to manifest itself in her; but she 
sinks within the hope of divine grace, and stands like a 
beautiful rose among the thorns, until at the death of the 
body the kingdom of this world drops away from her. 
Only then, when there is nothing more to hinder it, will 
she become truly manifest in the love of God.” {Super- 
sensual Life, xxxix.) 
The object of our life should be to die continually in 
regard to our human selfhood, and to live only in the love 
of God, labouring in His service. Thereby our activity 
will become blessed.1 
“ I am not rejoicing because I am living within my 
own sense of self, but because in my selfhood I am in the 
death of Christ and am dying perpetually, and I wish to 
die entirely in regard to my selfhood, and to leave it en- 
tirely in God, so as to be nothing whatever except an in- 
1 We cannot labour in the service of God without dying to our human 
selfhood. To “labour in the service of God ” does not mean that, for in- 
stance, “I, parson, or professor, or author So-and-so, in my human per- 
sonality, considered as something separate and distinct from God, could 
with my human smartness render a service to some outside god, or please 
him, or advise him what to do ; ” but it is God Himself rendering the ser- 
vice to Himself through our instrumentality, provided that by rising above 
all conception of self and personality we become identified with Himself. 
For this reason all clerical assumption and pretence, by which is assumed 
an authority apart from that of the God to whom they profess to serve, is 
repulsive to the religious instinct of man. REGENERATION. 
285 
strumeut of God, and know nothing any more about my 
(separate) self.” (Stiefel, xi. 527.) 
“ Wherever self dwelleth not, there love has her 
dwelling. In the tranquillity at the bottom of the soul, 
where she dies as to her own selfhood, and where she 
does not will anything except what God wills (in her), 
there love resides. To the extent in which the self-will 
is dead within itself, to the same extent is the place oc- 
cupied by love. In the place which formerly was the 
seat of self-will there is now nothing, and wherever 
there is nothing there the love of God is solely active.” 
[Supernatural Life, xxviii.) 
“A true Christian knows himself to be a servant of 
God, whose duty it is to attend to the works of God pro- 
perly. He is not his own property, and the terrestrial 
body which he inhabits is not his true home. He may 
seek and plant, cultivate, strive and act as he pleases, hut 
he is always aware that he is doing it for God, and that 
he will have to render account for it. He should always 
remember that among these wrorks he is a stranger, a 
guest, and a servant.” {Signature, xv. 44.) 
“ He who hopes to perform something perfect and good, 
wherein he may rejoice eternally and enjoy it, let him 
come out of his egoism and self-will and enter into sub- 
mission within the will of God. Even if the terrestrial 
desire for selfhood clings to him in his flesh and blood, 
if only the soul-will is not infected by that desire for self, 
then will that self not be able to produce anything; for 
the (inner) will of the soul, resting in submission to God, 
continually destroys the essence of the self-assertion, and 
thus the wrath of God cannot reach her. If the wrath 
should reach that essence, then the submitted will, rises 
up in its power therein, and stands there in shape before 
God as a production of victory that will inherit the in 
fancy.”1 (Calmness, xi. 1.) 
1 If the saints or “adepts” are often addressed as “children,” this is 
not a mere invented figure of speech, without any adequate cause, but has 286 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
It is self-evident that no terrestrial possessions of any 
kind will benefit the spirit, but the acquisition of such 
possessions will not be an obstacle for us, provided that 
we possess them, and do not permit ourselves to be 
possessed by them. 
“ Dear soul, if you desire the light of God, and also 
the light of this world, if you desire to feed your body 
(and mind), and (at the same time) to seek for the mys- 
teries of God, do as God Himself does. One of the 
eyes of your soul looks into eternity, the other one into 
nature. The latter goes on continually seeking in desir- 
ing and creating one mirror after another. Let that be so. 
It must be so, for God wills it. But the eye for eternity 
must not be turned (away from God) into desire; but by 
means of that eye you should seek to turn the other one 
towards you, and not let it turn away from you; i.e., not 
let it turn away from the eye that looks into freedom. 
Put one will into that which you are doing, thinking that 
you are a servant in the vineyard of God; i.e., into the 
Eternal. Sink your will every hour into humility before 
God; then will your image walk in humility with your 
will in the majesty of God, and be illumined perpetually 
by the triumphant light of God.” (Forty Questions, xii. 28.) 
All terrestrial fortunes or misfortunes with which we 
may possibly meet do not concern our real divine self, but 
merely the personality with which we are connected dur- 
ing our earthly life. This personality is given us for the 
purpose of gaining experience, be it good or evil, and 
therefore we should always be satisfied and remain con- 
tented in God. 
“ Ultimately all things must be one and the same to 
man. He is to become one with fortune and misfortune, 
with poverty and riches, joy and sorrow, light and dark- 
a deep signification ; for no one can inherit the kingdom of heaven, i.e., 
divine self-knowledge, unless he becomes like a child that of itself knows 
nothing in the realm of the spirit. REGENERATION. 
287 
ness, life and death. Man is then to himself nothing, for 
he is dead relatively to all things in his will. God is in 
all and through all, and nevertheless He is nothing in 
regard to all, and nothing can comprehend Him. Every- 
thing becomes manifest through Him, and He Himself is 
everything. Nevertheless he has nothing (objectively), 
because that which is before Him is nothing in His com- 
prehension, for it does not comprehend Him. Likewise 
will this be the state of a person according to his sub- 
mitted will if he entirely surrenders himself to God. 
Then will his will drop back into the unfathomable will 
of God, wherefrom it came in the beginning, and it will 
then be in the form of the unfathomable will, wherein 
God resides and wills.” (Mysterium, lxvi.) 
“The will, surrendered to God, says, ‘Lord, if Thou 
wishest me to be imprisoned or in misery, I shall willingly 
be so. If Thou takest me to hell I will go with Thee, 
for Thou art in heaven. If I have only Thee, what should 
I care for either heaven or hell ? Even if my body and 
soul were to perish, I shall remain in Thee and Thou in 
me. In possessing Thee, I have all that I want. Use 
me as Thou wilt.” {Mysterium, lxvi.) 
By conquering the terrestrial desire and entering into 
submission to Christ, we shall attain the internal power 
over external nature, first over our own and afterwards 
over “ outside ” nature, the latter being, after all, also 
within God, our own divine self. 
“If you rule merely externally (by external means) 
over all creatures, you are then with your will in an ani- 
mal quality, and your rule is of an external kind, dealing 
only with forms. Your desire will then be carried into 
the animal essence, which will infect and capture you, 
and you will receive animal qualities. But if you leave 
that which merely relates to forms, you will become 
superior to it, and able to rule over all creatures within 288 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
the foundation wherefrom they have been created.” {Super- 
sensual Life, viii.) 
“ If you allow nothing to enter your desire, you will 
then be free from all things and possess power over all. 
You have then nothing within your receptivity, and are 
as nothing to all things, and all things will be nothing to 
you, in the same sense as God rules over all things and 
sees them nil; but there is nothing that comprehends 
Him.” {Supersensual Life, ix.) 
“ By your own power you cannot attain such a tran- 
quillity that no creature can touch you. You must give 
yourself completely into the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and surrender to Him all your own willing and desiring, 
so that you desire nothing without Him. Then will you 
be in this world and in its qualities, as far as your body 
is concerned. With your will you will be at the foot of 
the Cross of Christ, and with your will you will walk in 
heaven, at the goal from whence all creatures come, and 
to which they all return.” {Supersensual Life, ix.) 
The celestial body is formed by means of the terrestrial 
body. . There is no regeneration after the body has died. 
“ The soul proper is nothing corporeal.; but the body in 
the tincture grows either celestial or infernal. It is not a 
tangible body in an external aspect, but a power-body; 
the body of God; the celestial body of Christ.” {Forty 
Questions, vii. 18.) 
“ After this life there is no regeneration, for the four 
elements with their principles have departed.’ {Three- 
fold Life, i. I.) CHAPTER XIV. 
DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. 
“ The mystic death is the beginning of eternal life. ” 
Man is a product of three worlds His spirit is of God, 
his soul from the constellation of the astral elements, his 
body from the elements of the terrestrial plane. In each 
of these aspects he partakes of the attributes of the prin- 
ciple from which he has originated. As a spirit he is, 
and has been, and will always be, immortal; and is even 
now in heaven, from which he has never departed. As 
a product of the astral plane, he is subject to the condi- 
tions existing therein, while his physical form must dis- 
solve again into the elements to which it belongs. With 
whatever of these three states man identifies himself, that 
state will be his own. 
“ God willed to become manifest in all three prin- 
ciples, but the order did not remain as it was originally 
instituted. The middle went into the exterior, and 
the exterior into the middle. This is not the order 
of eternity, and therefore the external and the inner 
principles must become separated.” (Threefold Life, 
xviii. 3.) 
“ The life which we receive in the body of our mother 
is merely from the power of the sun, the stars, and the 
elements, which not only organise the body of the child 
and endow it with life, but which also bring it to light 
and nourish and nurse it during the whole term of its 
life. They likewise distribute to it fortune and misfor- 
tune, and finally they cause it to die and to decompose.” 
(Three Principles, xiv. 4.) THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
290 
“ Behold what you are. Dust of the earth ; a corpse. 
Your life is subject to the stars and elements. It is they 
who rule you according to their qualities, and they endow 
you with talents and arts; but when their period and 
constellation under which you have been conceived and 
born is ended, then they will forsake you.” (Menschwer- 
dung, xi. 6.) 
“ The corporeal essences return to the earth; the ele- 
mental spirit, the air, returns to the air; the water and 
blood are received by the terrestrial water and earth, and 
there remains nothing of the external man. He has then 
ceased to exist. He had a beginning and he had an end.” 
(Threefold Life, xviii. 8.) 
“At death the four elements separate from the one 
element. Then the tincture, together with the shadow of 
that which constituted the man, goes into the ether and 
remains within the root of that element from which the 
four elements were born, and from which they emanated.” 
(Three Principles, xix. 14.) 
After the death of the physical form man remains 
still a being of twofold aspect; namely, as a celestial 
spirit, according to the divine principle in him (of which 
he may or may not be conscious); and secondly, as a 
supersensual, but nevertheless material being, according 
to his astral body. Each of these essences now gravi- 
tates to the plane to which it belongs according to its 
qualities. From this double but opposite tendency results 
the rupture or division of the soul and the judgment. 
“ When a person in this world dies, he then comes 
before the angel who in his sword carries death and life, 
the love and the wrath of God. There his soul has to 
pass through the judgment at the portals of Paradise. If 
she has been captured by the wrath of God she will not 
be able to pass through the door, but if she is a child of 
the virgin and born of the seed of the (celestial) woman, 
she will then pass through. Then will the angel cut away DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. 
291 
from her nature that which has been generated by the 
serpent, and the soul will then serve God in His holy 
temple in Paradise, waiting there for the resurrection of 
her (celestial) body.”1 {Mysterium, xxv. 2.) 
Daring liis terrestrial existence man can remain con- 
sciously in the three worlds, and by the power of the will 
with which he is endowed penetrate into either one or the 
other; but after the separation of the soul from the body 
has taken place, he can continue to exist as an individu- 
ality only in one of these worlds, either within the realm 
of divine light or within the power of the fire; because 
together with his physical body he loses the power of 
self-government. He can then no longer follow his 
own will, but has to go where he gravitates. 
“ There are three principles in the constitution of man, 
either of which he may unfold during his terrestrial 
existence; but after the body is disorganised, he then 
lives only in one principle and cannot evolve the other. 
In eternity he must remain in that state of conscious- 
ness which he has acquired here.” {Three Principles, 
Supplement, x.) 
“ There are not three separate souls in man, but only 
one. This soul stands in three principles; namely, the 
realm of the wrath, the realm of the love of God and the 
kingdom of this world. When the air of the external 
kingdom of this world deserts the soul, then will she 
become manifest in either the dark realm of fire or in 
the holy kingdom of light, which is the kingdom of the 
love-fire, the power of God. To whatever plane she has 
1 It will hardly be necessary to state that this is not to be taken in an 
external and superficial sense, as if the soul were waiting for the resurrec- 
tion of that physical body which has then already been decomposed and 
passed into other organisms according to its constituting elements; but, 
like all other writings of occult nature, this has to be taken in an internal 
spiritual meaning, which we must seek to grasp with the spirit rather than 
with the sceptical brain. It refers to the unfoldment of the third prin- 
ciple, which remains latent in the soul during that state. 292 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
surrendered herself during her earthly existence, therein 
she remains after the external kingdom has departed 
from her.” (Mysterium, xv. 24.) 
During his terrestrial life man may live either in 
heaven or hell, or come out of one of these states and 
enter the other, because he can then govern his will by 
means of his intellect; hut after the death of the body 
the function of the brain necessary for that purpose exists 
no longer, and then the soul is not able to change her 
will. She therefore becomes absorbed entirely into that 
principle which has obtained ruling power within her own 
nature. For this reason, it is of paramount importance 
for man to seek to unfold during his terrestrial life the 
love of God; i.e., the appreciation of the ideal and the 
will to realise all that is noble and good within his soul, 
so that it will act as his guiding star in eternity. 
“ Man is in this world already in heaven or hell, 
wherever he corporeally may be. If his spirit is in 
harmony with God, he is then spiritually in heaven and 
his soul is in God. If he spiritually dwells in the wrath, 
he is then already in hell and in company of all the 
devils.” {Aurora, xx. 86.) 
“ Here in the life of the soul is the balance. If she is 
evil, she can be reborn in love ; but when the balance 
breaks and the angle has turned, then will she be in that 
principle which is prevailing in her.” {Forty Questions, 
xxiii. io.) 
“During her terrestrial life the soul can change her 
will, but after the death of the body there remains 
nothing within her power by which she can change her 
will.” {Tilk. i. 267.) 
“ Whatever the soul during her terrestrial life receives 
within her will, and wherewith she becomes entangled, 
that she will take in her will with her after the death of 
the body, and she can no more rid herself of it, because 
she has then nothing but that wherein she has entered, DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. 
and which now constitutes her very self. But during 
terrestrial life she may destroy that wherein she has 
become entangled in her will.” (Threefold Life, xii. 25.) 
If during terrestrial life the will of the soul has become 
anti-Christian—that means to say, perverted into an evil 
spirituality—then will the evil nature of the soul likewise 
be perverted and anti-Christian, and this perverted essence 
will manifest itself in the other life as a shape and a 
power for evil. 
“ In so far as a person remains in a will foreign to his 
true nature, and does not want to be cured of it by 
entering into the holy Word, this foreign being will 
take substance in him and hold the celestial essence in 
subjection ; so that the latter remains, as it were, im- 
prisoned after death and cannot reach the kingdom of 
God, and from this results eternal death.” (Mysterium, 
xxiv. 13.) 
“ Each one needs only to examine his own quality and 
see in what direction he is carried by his will. He will 
then know to what kingdom he belongs, and whether he 
is actually a man (in the image of God), as he fancies 
himself or pretends to be, or a creature of the dark world, 
an avaricious dog, a vain peacock, a lewd monkey, or a 
poisonous snake. If, then, the essence of the four ele- 
ments departs from him at death, there will remain in 
him nothing but the internal poisonous and evil conscious- 
ness.” {Six Theosophical Points, vii. 37.) 
On account of tlie want of plasticity of the matter 
composing the physical body, the animal characteristics 
predominant in such a person become never fully ex- 
pressed in his external appearance during his terrestrial 
life ; but the soul is more plastic, and being likewise a 
product and expression of her internal character, she will 
after the death of the body assume the form of that 
animal or monster whose character is dominant in her. 294 
■THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“ If the spirit remains unregenerated within its 
original principle, then will there appear at the rup- 
ture of the form such a creature as corresponds to the 
quality of the will (character) acquired during terrestrial 
life. If, for instance, during life you have the envious 
disposition of a dog, begrudging everything to everybody, 
then will this dog-character find its expression in a cor- 
responding shape after the death of the body ; for accord- 
ing to it the (animal) soul takes (assumes) her shape, and 
this kind of will remains with you in eternity, for the 
doors of the depths that lead to the light of God are 
then closed before you.”1 (Three Prmciples, xvi. 50.) 
If the soul is devoid of the divine light, then will 
the four lower qualities of eternal nature become active 
in her and torment her in various ways. 
“If you have not during your terrestrial life enlight- 
ened your soul, and the eternal spirit that has been 
given to you by supreme good, in the light of God, so 
that the spirit has become reborn in that light, in divine 
substantiality, then will the soul in the Mysterium 
return to the centre of nature, and enter into the 
quality of the anguish of the four lower forms of 
eternal nature. There she will then be in the company 
of all the devils, and be forced to devour that which she 
has stirred up.” (Menschwerdung, xi. 6.) 
“ If the soul-fire has not become substantiated in the 
1 There are not animals enough in the world to represent all the com- 
binations of evil characters which may be formed within the soul of man; 
neither could such monstrous shapes exist in the physical plane, on account 
of anatomical and physiological laws; but in the hellish world, where the 
human element becomes mixed with the animal essence, all kinds of 
monsters, half human, half animal, may be found. The horrors of hell are, 
therefore, not mere inventions of poets and visionaries, but there is no 
reason why they should not actually exist. Certainly, from the point of 
view of the divine spirit, all forms are merely illusive, and as long as man 
is rooted within that spirit he may recognise them as such ; but for the 
godless they are horrible realities, as real as the images of the terrestrial 
world appear to us. DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. 
295 
Spirit of God, nor sought for that substance in its desire, it 
is then a dark fire, burning in great anguish and terror, 
because there are in its constitution then only the four 
lower qualities of nature. If the will has nothing of the 
divine power of true humility, there can then be no 
entering of it within itself into the life by means of 
death; but the soul is then like a furiously turning 
wheel, seeking continually to rise and continually sink- 
ing down on the other side. There is in that state 
surely a kind of fire, but not a combustion, for there 
rules the severe harshness and bitterness. The bitter- 
ness seeks the fire and wants to increase it; but the 
acridity keeps it imprisoned, and thus it results in a 
terrible anxiety and resembles a turning wheel, turning 
perpetually around itself.” {Forty Questions, xviii. 14.) 
“ The four forms of the original state of nature are 
the source of universal anguish. Each person feels that 
according to the quality of his Turba, one in one way 
and another in another. The avaricious soul, for instance, 
suffers from cold ; the angry soul from heat; the envious 
soul experiences bitterness; the conceited is continually 
flying and dropping into an abyss.” {Forty Questions, 
xviii. 21.) 
Moreover, there is within the consciousness of the soul 
the memory of past deeds, misdeeds, and the reproaches 
of those whom she has injured, and as in that subjective 
condition all these subjective images are seen objectively, 
the soul lives in the miseries which she has created. In 
addition to this, the curses of the living (being projections 
of will) reach the soul and cause her to suffer. 
“ All sins are objective to the soul in her tincture. 
If she remembers the kingdom of heaven—which she, 
of course, does neither see nor know—she then sees 
the causes why she is suffering; for she has created 
these causes herself. There are within her tincture 
all the tears of those whom she has injured, and they 
are fiery, stinging, burning, and gnawing, and cause an THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
eternal despair within the essences, and an inimical will 
towards God.” (Three Principles, xix. 24.) 
“ There the master will have to render account to his 
servants, if he has given them a bad example and caused 
them to enter the way of evil. Then will the poor soul 
cry out in despair against her master ; for all this is 
objective before her in the tincture.” (Three Principles, 
xxiv. 30.) 
“ If a godless person has left behind a great deal of 
falsehood and deceit, so that the tincture of hell is 
invoked over his tomb, then will that curse penetrate to 
his soul. This (curse) he will have to eat; for it is 
his food, sent to him by the living. To send such curses 
does not, however, belong to the children of God; for 
by cursing another, man casts seed into hell—into the 
wrath of God. Let every one beware, for he will reap 
that which he sows.” (Forty Questions, xxiv. 4.) 
During terrestrial life the voice of the conscience 
can he drowned in the turmoil of external life, and the 
recollection of evil deeds be driven away by allowing 
oneself to become immersed in sensual pleasures; but 
after death it does no longer depend on the will of the 
soul whether or not to remember the past, and her remorse 
is intensified to an enormous extent, by the absence 
of all external distractions. Moreover, the desire for 
gratifying her evil instincts still exists in her, but there 
are no means for such a gratification. 
“ During terrestrial life the godless feels the presence 
of hell within his false conscience, but he does not 
understand it; for he still lives in earthly vanity, 
wherewith he amuses himself, and which causes him 
pleasure and lust. Moreover, his external life is in pos- 
session of the light of external nature, and his soul 
revels therein; so that the internal pain cannot become 
manifest. But when the body dies, the soul can no 
longer enjoy such protection and temporal pleasure. In DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. 
297 
addition to this, the external light will have been extin- 
guished for her. Then will she be in an eternal craving 
after such vanity as she indulged in during her life on 
the earth; but she can attain nothing except her own 
false conceived will. She has now too little of that of 
which she formerly had too much, and with which she 
nevertheless was not satisfied. She would gladly commit 
still more evil, but has nothing whereby she can accom- 
plish it, and thus she enacts all that within her own self.” 
(Supernatural Life, xxxix.) 
Now the godless soul is filled with her own infamy, 
and there is no room in her for the saving power of 
faith. 
“ Man’s own sins, his depravity and vices in rejecting 
God, are his hell-fire, which gnaws in him eternally. 
His mockeries are now before his eyes, and he does not 
dare to let even one good thought enter into his soul; for 
the good is to him like an angel, and on account of his 
great wickedness he cannot touch it with his soul, much 
less see it through her; but he must now eat his 
mockery, together with all his vices and sins for ever 
within himself, and he must despair eternally.” 1 (Three 
Principles, xxiv. 29.) 
“ The godless are free. There is nothing imprisoning 
them. They may go down as far as they like; there 
will everywhere be the abyss and the darkness, and they 
are always in the same place. The deeper they desire 
to go the deeper will they fall, and nevertheless they 
will arrive nowhere, because there is no bottom or 
end.” (Forty Questions, xxxiv. 5.) 
Every being can live only in that element to which 
it belongs. A fish suffers in the air and a man under 
water. Likewise the divine light of God is painful 
1 The word “eternally ” does not mean a succession of periods of time 
without any end, but a state in which there exists no conception of time. 298 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
to the devils in hell, and appears to them in an angry 
aspect. 
“ God also dwells in the abyss of the godless soul ; 
but He is not recognisable to her in any other way 
than as a wrath, and this is the meaning where it is 
written—‘ With the saints Thou art holy, and with the 
perverted art Thou perverted.’ ” (Mysterium, lx. 44.) 
“ The same eternally generating and speaking word 
speaks in heaven—i.e., in the power of the light—as holy 
wisdom (delight); but in hell, in darkness, it manifests 
itself as the flames of torment.” (Mysterium, lxi. 31.) 
As the godless soul finds nowhere relief or aid, she 
ultimately surrenders herself fully to the devil; that 
means to say, to her own evil will.1 
“ The soul is like a person dreaming of being in great 
anguish and torture, and that he is seeking for relief 
everywhere without being able to find it. He then de- 
spairs, and seeing no help he surrenders himself to his 
driver (to the interior impulse that is driving him on), 
that the latter may do with him as he chooses. Thus 
the abandoned soul falls into the power of the devil, 
where she can neither follow nor is permitted to follow 
her own inclinations; but whatever the devil does, she is 
compelled to do also. Thus she becomes an enemy of 
God, and would fain rise in pride and fire over the princely 
throne of the angels. While on earth and in her physical 
body she used to make a fool of herself, and now she 
1 To the child of God, God is not anything objective, but exists within 
His own centre. Terrestrial man, in search of God or salvation, ultimately 
arrives, through disappointment and suffering, at the realisation that God, 
the true life and the truth, can be found for him not anywhere excepting 
within his own divine self. He then seeks for God within himself, and in 
finding Him he becomes identified with Him and is God. Likewise the 
godless soul, seeking for relief and comfort in external things or beings, 
ultimately returns within her own self, and finding no good within her, 
she necessarily identifies herself with her own evil will, and becomes a 
devil. DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. 
299 
remains a fool and a trickster, and whatever folly she 
has carried on in this life she now enacts it there. The 
same foolery is her treasure, and therein is, as Christ 
says, her heart and her will.” (Threefold Life, xviii. 10.) 
Nevertheless the devilish soul does not find full satis- 
faction in evil, for she trembles continually in fear of the 
judgment day, and the only gratification she finds is in 
her resistance to God, and in encouraging and supporting 
the evil deeds and inclinations of mankind. 
“ The pain of the condemned (self-condemned) souls, 
which they suffer until the judgment day, is like that of 
an imprisoned convict who continually listens, and when- 
ever something stirs thinks that the executioner is 
coming to submit him to justice and give him what he 
deserves. These souls have a perverted conscience, which 
tortures them; their sins are always before their eyes; 
they see all their injustice and frivolity, their conceit 
and the misery which they have caused, their scorn 
and arrogance, hut now their self-confidence flies away.” 
{Forty Questions, xxii. 17.) 
“ The most depraved souls, however, are very daring. 
They deny God and curse Him, and are His worst enemies. 
They lie to themselves, saying that they are in the right, 
and they rebel against God, and want to rise above Him 
and perform miracles.” (Forty Questions, xxii. 21.) 
“ The condemned soul enters magically into the godless 
essence and enjoys it, and she teaches persons in dreams 
how to perform all kinds of mischief, for she is serving 
the devil. If a wicked person (earnestly) desires some- 
thing, the devil is willing to serve him, for he can act 
more easily through the soul of a human being than if he 
is left to himself.” (Forty Questions, xxvi. 18.) 
Thus we have now considered the fate of those unfor- 
tunate souls who have become self-conscious in evil; or, 
to express it in other words, whose spirituality has become, THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB B.OEHME. 
as it were, imprisoned within their lower qualities, and 
who are often spoken of as “ black magicians ” of varying 
degrees, from a simply malicious soul who performs vil- 
lainous deeds for the mere sake of the enjoyment she 
hopes to experience from it, up to the devil incarnate, 
who has acquired occult knowledge and uses his spiritual 
powers for evil or selfish ends. But the condition of 
those who have during their terrestrial life found no in- 
ternal pleasure in evil, but have fought against their evil 
desires, and striven to aid the good in them to conquer 
their evil propensities, is very different from the former 
when they depart from this world. 
“ If the inner will daily and every hour battles against 
the evil qualities with which it is afflicted, if it quenches 
them and does not permit them to take substance in it, 
while at the same time those evil qualities hinder the 
person, so that he cannot act always according to his 
good will, such a man may believe and know for cer- 
tain that the fire of God is glowing in him and seeking to 
become light; and whenever the evil body with its evil 
conditions is broken up, so that it can no longer hinder 
the glowing spark from burning, then will the divine fire 
in its essence burst into a flame, and the divine image 
will be reconstituted according to the strongest quality 
which that person has introduced into his desire.” (Six 
Theosophical Points, vii. 41.) 
“ If a person has a constant desire for God, and if his 
desire is so powerful as to enable him to break up and 
turn into mildness the evil essences whenever they begin 
to burn in him; if he can resign everything that in this 
world glitters and allures; if he can do good for evil; if he 
is powerful enough to give to the needy all that belongs 
to his externals, be it money or goods ; and if he is ready 
willingly to desert everything for the sake of God, and to 
enter into a state of misery with the certain hope for the 
eternal; if in him arises divine power, so that he may 
awaken therein the kingdom of joy and taste God; such DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. 
301 
a person carries within himself the divine image with the 
celestial essence even during his terrestrial life, the image 
wherein Jesus is born of the virgin. He will not die 
eternally, but merely let the terrestrial kingdom pass 
away from him, it having been in this life to him an 
opposition and hindrance, wherewith God has (not filled 
but) merely covered him.” (Six Theosophical Points, 
vii. 44.) 
Such souls are during this terrestrial life, and still 
more after the death of the body, filled with the light 
and the power of God. This light moderates the action 
of the fiery will still active in them, the blessings of their 
good deeds surround them, the hope for still greater glori- 
fication is their life, and from the trouble and persecution 
which they have suffered there arises for them pure joy. 
“ The principle of the father wherein the soul has her 
basis is a burning fire, giving light, and in this light rests 
the noble image of God. This light moderates the burning 
fire by means of the substantiality of love, so as to render 
it beneficent for nature and life.” {Letters, viii. 78.) 
“ Those earnest souls that have worked the wonders 
of God in His will at the foot of the Cross, having 
received the body of God, i.e., of Christ, and who have 
walked therein in justice and truth, all their doings also 
follow them in their strong will and desire, and they 
experience inexpressible joy in the love and mercy of 
God, by which they are continually surrounded. The 
wonders of God are their nutriment; they are living in 
glory, power, strength, and majesty such as is beyond all 
description.” (Threefold Life, xviii. 12.) 
“ The blessed souls are rendered happy by the works 
which they have performed while here, and those who 
have suffered much persecution for the sake of the truth 
will behold the wreath of victory which is to crown 
their new body on the judgment day. There takes place 
in them a continual uprising of joy whenever they con- 302 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
template the future. As their deeds have been varied, 
so is their hope. A day-labourer having gained much 
is glad of the reward. Thus it is there. A joyful 
consciousness abides in them. All the scorn to which 
they were submitted and all the accusations that have 
been falsely brought forward against them are to them 
a great honour of victory. Their frequent prayers, good 
thoughts, and good works in behalf of their neighbours 
are the nutriment which they take until the time when 
their (celestial) body will eat of the fruits of Paradise.” 
{Forty Questions, xxii. 4.) 
“ He who aids the degraded blesses himself, for he 
wishes him everything good, and prays to God to bless 
him in body and soul. Thus his desire and blessing 
returns to the giver in the Mysterium and surrounds him, 
and follows him as a good work born in God. This is 
the treasure which man takes with him ; his earthly 
treasures he will have to leave behind.” {Menschwerdung, 
cxi. 4.) 
There is no man without sin, and as he is followed to 
the other side of the grave by all of his works, his sins go 
with him, but if he has known how to obtain forgive- 
ness for his sins, then his happiness will not be infringed 
upon by them.1 
“ Man is followed by all of his works, and he has them 
eternally before his eyes and lives therein, unless he has 
out of his malice and falsehood been newly born by the 
blood of Jesus Christ. If so, he will then break through 
the earthly and hellish image and enter into an angelic 
1 This “ forgiving of sin ” has a meaning very different from that which 
is commonly accepted. Nobody can forgive the sins of another man ; the 
sinner himself must free himself of his sins. 
“ Sin is like a shell, out of which the new man grows, and he then 
throws the shell away. This is called * forgiveness,’ because God (in man) 
gives that which is sinful away.” (Menschwerdung, xi. io.) 
“Nobody can forgive sins except Christ in man. Whenever Christ 
lives in man, there is the absolution.” (Grace, xiii. n.) DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. 
303 
one, and come into another kingdom, to which his imper- 
fections cannot follow him, and thus will the image of 
God be.restored out of the terrestrial and hellish form.” 
{Three Principles, xvi. 47.) 
The departed blessed souls trouble themselves neither 
about that which belongs to hell nor about terrestrial 
matters of any kind. Their existence resembles that of 
a man enjoying a happy dream. 
“ The rest of the soul is like that of one who rests 
in a sweet sleep.” {Forty Questions, xxix. i.) 
“ Those happy souls that are resting in Abraham’s 
bosom, in Christ—i.e., in the heavenly essentiality 
{Devachan)—cannot be disturbed by anybody, unless 
they should wish it themselves, in case that they were 
very favourably inclined towards some particular soul in 
harmony with their own. They do not trouble them- 
selves about terrestrial things, unless it be for the 
glorification of God. In that case they will be inde- 
fatigable in revealing things in a magical way.” {Forty 
Questions, xxvi. 22.) 
In regard to the intercourse between mortals and that 
class of spirits Boehme says in a letter:— 
“ You are asking questions of things which I cannot 
know, because for that purpose I would have to be 
myself within the departed soul, and the spirit of that 
soul would have to be my own; but as we are all 
having one body and one spirit in Christ, therefore all 
of us may see in Christ out of one spirit and enjoy His 
knowledge. Thus our soul is in relationship with the 
souls of the dead. They cannot come to us, but we may 
penetrate unto them.” {Forty Questions, xxv. 1.) 
Fully sanctified souls are in possession of an enormous 
amount of self-knowledge; others have less. 
“ The soul which in this body has entered into the 
new birth and penetrated to God through the doors of 304 THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
the depth has great wisdom and knowledge, even as 
regards the heavens; for she has come from the womb 
of the virgin, wherein have been unfolded the eternal 
miracles of God, and the splendour of the Holy Trinity 
shines out of her. But we err if we attribute great 
wisdom to a soul that has hardly escaped from the 
clutches of the devil, after having left a world wherein 
she cared nothing about divine wisdom, but merely 
followed her own desires.” (Three Principles, xix. 61.) 
It is an absurdity to believe that the departed souls 
of God, the saints, could petition God in regard to our 
necessities, or argue the case with Him, or that they 
could put into motion the eternal and infinite mercy of 
God. 
“ The departed souls do not petition God on our 
behalf. Why should they do so ? Our salvation does 
not depend on their begging, but on our entering. If 
any one puts his will into God, then will God help him. 
His arms are outstretched by day and night for the 
purpose of aiding man. Should then a soul be so 
presumptuous as to make out of G-od an over-severe 
Judge, unwilling to receive a converted sinner ? ” (Forty 
Questions, xxvi. 23.) 
It is explainable that the souls of deceased saints 
have performed what is called “ miracles; ” but this did 
not take place after the manner in which it is commonly 
believed, but by a conjunction of the faith (will) of the 
living with the faith of the departed. 
“We do not deny that (as it is taught by Popery) 
great departed saints have appeared to many persons 
and performed miracles. This is true, although it is 
now denied by many; but it belongs to a different 
ABC (to another department of occult science) than is 
known to those who affirm it, or to those who deny.” 
(Forty Questions, xix. 63.) DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. 
“ The reason why our forefathers have sometimes 
appeared after death in some wonderful manner is to 
he found in the faith of the living; for faith is a power 
that may move mountains. The faith of these living 
persons was still good and pure, and they did not worship 
their bellies or adore earthly show. Therefore their faith 
penetrated into heaven; i.e., into the one element, to the 
saints. Thus one faith grasped the other; for the saints 
also were reacting upon that strong faith, especially 
those saints who while upon the earth had converted 
many to God. Thus some wonderful works have 
been accomplished by invoking their memory.” (Three 
Principles, xviii. 80.) 
“ One faith grasps the other. The faith of the living 
caught that of the saints, and the faith performed the 
miracle. Faith can overthrow mountains. It could 
destroy the world, if God were so to direct it.” 1 (Forty 
Questions, xxvi.) 
In the above we have considered two different classes 
of human spirits or souls; namely, those in whom the 
principle of darkness and evil has become manifest, and 
who ultimately become identified with that principle 
which is called “ the devil,” and we have also inves- 
tigated the fate that awaits those in whom the principle 
of light, or good, becomes manifest; but there is to be 
met a vast number of souls in whom the division of 
good and evil, within the fourth form of eternal nature 
has not yet taken place, and who are in that state which 
is called Kama loca in the East and Purgatory in the 
West, although the meaning commonly attached to these 
terms is not quite identical. 
“ The souls in which doubt and faith are mixed have 
1 If there is nobody living to-day able to perform a miracle by the 
power of faith, this does not disprove that the true living faith is a spiritual 
power, capable of manifesting all the qualities that are claimed for it, but 
it is, rather, suggestive of the degraded state of the present generation. 306 THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEIIME. 
their basis neither in heaven nor in hell, but they 
stand in the middle of the portal, where fire and light 
become separated from each other. They are held by 
the Turba. Many a soul is held there for a considerable 
time ; the wrath, however, cannot devour the little spark 
of faith which the soul possesses, and has ultimately 
to release her. What (suffering) this implies, I leave 
those to experience who remain wilfully in sin to the 
end, and then wish to be saved.” (Forty Questions, 
xxiv. 5.) 
“ It is not possible to describe what kind of a purgatory 
such a soul will have to pass through before, by means 
of her little spark (of love), she can enter (into eternal 
life). The world would not believe such a descrip- 
tion ; the world is too clever, and likewise too blind, to 
understand it. People cling for ever to the letter. I wish 
to God that no one would have to pass through that 
experience; I would then gladly keep still and say 
nothing about it.” {Forty Questions, xviii.) 
A soul from which the higher principles have entirely 
departed will, of course, suffer nothing, because she has 
no (spiritual) intelligence. Such an entity is merely an 
astral corpse, which is no more affected by the destruc- 
tive influence of the astral elements than the unconscious 
physical body by its own decomposition; but if there is 
still any spiritual intelligence left in that astral form, it 
will then have to pass through a painful and forcible 
separation. 
“ Many a soul will, after taking leave of this world, 
have to remain for a considerable time in purgatory, if 
she has stained herself with gross sins, and if she has 
never truly entered into regeneration, but merely tasted 
of it to a certain extent, as is sometimes the case with 
persons that are here loaded with temporal honours and 
power, in which case personal claims being substituted 
for justice, malice, but not wisdom, is the judge. DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. 
307 
When the hour of death approaches and the conscience 
awakens, such a soul trembles in great fear of hell, and 
would like to be saved; but there is only very little of 
the saving power of faith within her, while before her 
is nothing but injustice and falsehood, earthly lust, and 
the tears and sighs of the down-trodden. Her desire 
turns to a certain extent towards God, but the sins she 
committed are in her way, and there arises in her a great 
doubt and unrest. Many a soul then clings to the saving 
power as it were by a thin thread. When, then, death 
actually takes place, and separates the soul from the 
body, the poor soul will then cling to that thread and 
refuse to let go her hold of it, but all her essences are 
still deeply immersed in the wrath of God; she is tor- 
tured by her gross sins, and the thread of faith (the 
umbilical cord) of the new-born being is very feeble.1 
Therefore when the bridegroom says ‘ Come ! ’ the poor 
soul answers, ‘ I cannot; my lamp is not yet ready ; ’ but 
she clings to the thread and puts her imagination into 
the heart of God, and thus she becomes ultimately 
redeemed by the suffering of the Christ (in her) from the 
pool of putrefaction ; i.e., from her fearful sins that are 
burning in the wrath of God and wherein she is im- 
mersed.” {Three Principles, xix. 41.) 
A soul that has gathered her divinity around herself 
like a garment of light and cut loose from all earthly 
attractions will have no desire to return to the earth 
and takes no interest in terrestrial affairs, which in fact 
she has forgotten, like a person who forgets his external 
circumstances after he goes to sleep; but a soul still held 
captive by the terrestrial essence or state may reappear 
among mortals in her sidereal (astral) body for the pur- 
pose of seeking gratification for some personal wish. Such 
souls sometimes return for the purpose of asking the 
living to aid them with prayer. 
1 Such souls are called “ sutratma’s ” (thread souls) in Eastern books. 308 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
“"When a person dies the external body becomes de- 
composed and returns to that of which it has been formed, 
but the soul born from eternal nature, and having been 
introduced into the Adamic essence by the Spirit of God, 
cannot die ; for she has not originated in time, but from 
the eternal generation. If the soul has introduced her 
will into temporal things, she has then conceived of the 
quality of those things in her desire, and holds to them 
magically, as if she were possessing them corporeally. 
Of course she cannot keep the elementary (physical) body, 
but she may retain her sidereal body until it has been 
consumed by the constellation (the astral elements). Thus 
it happens sometimes that persons after death are seen 
in their houses, in their own body, but that body is cold, 
dead, and stiff, and the soul-spirit attracts it only by 
means of the astral spirit, until the (physical) body is 
decomposed.” (Letters, xxii. 8.) 
“ Souls that have not yet reached heaven have still the 
human state, with its deeds, clinging to them, and there- 
fore many a soul of that kind returns in her sidereal 
form and haunts her house, and is seen in human form. 
She may then ask for this or that, and think to be able 
to obtain the blessing of the saints for her rest (by means 
of the prayers she asks), and she may likewise concern 
herself about children or friends. All this, however, 
does not last any longer than until her astral spirit has 
been consumed, and then she will enter into rest. After 
that all her sorrow and trouble is over, and she has then 
no more knowledge of it; only that she sees it in the 
wonders, in the magia (of the spirit).” (Forty Questions, 
xxvi. 8.) 
“ Christ says, ‘ Wherever your treasure is, there is your 
heart.’ Thus it has often happened that unfortunate souls 
have reappeared in their community and asked for help by 
of prayer, and that they fancied that in this way they 
might find relief. Out of such facts the doctrine of the 
purgatory has originated.” (Threefold Life, xii. 24.) DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. 
309 
As a matter of course, no dead soul can be made alive 
by prayer, neither can mere lip-prayer or any empty 
ceremony aid the soul in freeing herself from the bonds 
of matter, but the living may aid the “ dead,” and espe- 
cially the dying, by means of true prayer; i.e., by an 
exercise of the spiritual will (divine aspiration) in them. 
Thus prayer may aid them to combat the powers of dark- 
ness, provided that the prayer of those persons is earnest 
and full of faith. 
“ We acknowledge that the community of Christ has 
great pow7er in redeeming a soul, provided that they do 
their work earnestly, as it used to be done among the 
primitive Christians, when there were still saintly per- 
sons and saintly priests in existence. They surely did 
succeed, but not those who assert that they carry the 
keys and could let souls out of purgatory according to 
their pleasure and according to the amount of money 
received for it. For such persons, it would be better if 
they were never given any money, so that they would 
not cling to it with their desire.” (Forty Questions, 
xxiv. 12.) 
“ The prayer of the living for the dead may be useful 
in so far as those who pray are truly Christians (in their 
hearts), and in a state of regeneration. If the poor soul 
has not become entirely brutalised into a worm or an 
animal, but if she still enters into God with her desire, 
and is therefore still connected with Him by the thread 
of regeneration, and if the soul-spirit of those who pray, 
together with the poor soul herself, turns in fervent love 
towards God, then will the former aid the latter to wrestle 
with the elements of darkness and to burst the chains of 
the devil. This is especially possible at the time of the 
separation of the spirit from the body, and eminently so 
in the case of parents, children, or blood relatives ; for 
among those who are related with each other by blood 
the tinctures enter easier into the necessary harmony (co- 
vibration), and then the spirit is more willing to enter  THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB EOEHME. 
310 
into the battle, and there is then more facility of con- 
quering than if only strangers are present. All this is, 
however, useless unless these persons are themselves in 
the state of regeneration, for one devil cannot destroy 
another devil. If the soul of the dying is entirely sepa- 
rated from that which links her to Christ, and if she 
reaches not by her own efforts for the thread, then will 
the prayers of the others avail nothing.” (Three Principles, 
xix. 55.)1 
1 The bond that connects the soul with the divine state is the power of 
spiritual love. If at the time of death there is only a thread of that power 
strong enough to attract the soul to the Divinity, then will the soul tear 
herself loose from her sinful self and enter into heaven ; and therefore it 
is written that the sins of the woman (the soul) were forgiven, because she 
had loved much. An ignorant man, having the love of God in his heart, 
will gain eternal life according to the degree of his love and enlighten- 
ment ; but he who has much enlightenment, but without any love, is a 
child of the devil. 
“ The ways of God are different from the ways of man. That which 
man loves, therein God hides Himself.” (Myster. Magn., lvii. 17.) CHAPTEE XY. 
CONCLUSION. 
“For a long time efforts have been made to transform a whore into a 
virgin, but thereby her whoredom has only been ornamented and 
increased. If this whore is to perish, then all the sects will have to 
perish, together with the animal whereupon she rides, for they are 
all only images of the whore.” (Myster. Magn., xxxvi. 69.) 
“ Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus.’ 
IIe who has grasped the meaning of the writings of Jacob 
Boehme, of which the foregoing pages are merely a con- 
densed review or summary (written for the purpose of 
encouraging the study of his works) will not ask for a 
corroboration of the truth of his doctrines by man-made 
authorities, but he will find that corroboration in Christ. 
On the other hand, he who is not able to open his own 
eyes to the perception of eternal truth, and to see the 
divine light by the power of that divine light within 
himself, will always be in doubt, no matter how many 
books he reads. Thus the perplexed “ freethinker,” 
imagining that he can find divine wisdom somewhere 
else except in wisdom itself, and the benighted “secta- 
rian,” who seeks for Christ in some external Church, 
outside of Christ, are like the blind, stumbling about 
in the dark, seeking for the truth in external things, in 
books and authorities, but not in the truth itself. They 
may read one book to-day, and if it is according to their 
taste, imagine it to be true; and to-morrow perhaps they 
wrill get hold of some other book in which contrary asser- 
tions are presented, and if they appear more plausible to 
them than those of the first, they will reject the former THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
and swear to the truth of the latter, until at some future 
day perhaps still another book is accepted by them, still 
more plausible than the rest. 
“ I say it openly and publicly, that all that is patched 
together out of fancies and opinions, wherein a person 
has not divine self-knowledge, but from which he merely 
draws conclusions, is nothing but Babel, and not wisdom; 
for the work has to be done, not by seeming and fancy, 
but by self-knowledge in the Holy Spirit.” (Epistl. 
xi. 39.) 
“ Of this we complain about Babel, that they are so 
blind, and have so little knowledge of God. They have 
thrown away Magia and philosophy, and accepted the 
Antichrist. How they are devoid of understanding. 
They have a science, but no real knowledge. They have 
broken the mirror and are looking through spectacles.” 
(Forty Questions, xxi. 16.) 
What, then, it is asked, is poor humanity to believe ? 
Is there no way by which they may determine what is 
true and what false ? Are they to accept the doctrines 
of the “ Christian ” Churches or “ esoteric Buddhism,” or 
some Eastern theology, or the doctrines of those that are 
called “ theosophists; ” or shall they reject everything, 
read nothing, and care for nothing except their temporal 
comforts ? 
To this we would answer, that there is no salvation 
anywhere except in the Christ; that is to say, in eternal 
truth itself. Ho one can actually know what is and what 
is not true as long as the truth is not alive and conscious 
within himself. Ho one can know divine wisdom unless 
lie is a god. It is said that we may test all things and 
keep that which is best; but to be able to judge of what 
is best in the end we have to be ourselves in intimate 
connection with the Best; i.e., we must be in possession 
of God. We cannot judge between wisdom or folly if 
we are not wise; we cannot know what is really good if 
we depart from the foundation of eternal Good. CONCLUSION. 
“ The spirit of this world does not know its own self, 
unless it be that another light shines into that spirit— 
a light wherein the mind may rest and know its own self.” 
{Threefold Life, v. 28.) 
“ The touchstone of the Christian is his love towards 
God and mankind.” {Threefold Life, xiii. 42.) 
“ Learn to know the guide from the inner world and 
also the guide from the outer wTorld, so that ye may 
know the magic school of both worlds. Then will your 
mind be free from delusions, for in delusion there is no 
perfection. The spirit must be capable of grasping the 
mystery. The Spirit of God must be the guide in man’s 
desire. Without that man will be merely in the external 
mystery, in the external heaven of the constellation, 
which also frequently strongly kindles and drives the 
human soul; but he has not the divine magic schooling, 
such as exists only in a simple and childlike mind.” 
{LJjjistl. xi. 62.) 
“The external guide works and shines merely in the 
mirror; but the inner one lights up the essential being, 
and this it could not do unless guided by the Spirit of 
God. Therefore he who knows the celestial school is 
with God, and will be a Magus, without doing much effort, 
if he is held by God and driven on by the Holy Spirit.” 
{Epistl. xi. 62.) 
313 
No one, except he who lives in the light and in 
whom the light is a living reality, can know or perceive 
light. To him who is and has always been immersed 
in darkness every theory about the nature of light is 
nothing more than a theory. This is true alike in 
regard to the external sunlight as it is in regard to the 
light of the spirit. The external light of the sun is the 
cause of all external life, activity in all terrestrial beings, 
and the spiritual divine light is the life of the soul. The 
realm of that light is the only true and infallible, but 
unknown, Church of Christ, wherein alone salvation can THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
be found, and there is no other Church possessing the 
power of redeeming mankind, because that “ Church ” is 
not a system wherein the qualities of the light are de- 
scribed, but the light itself, and only the light can over- 
come the darkness; the darkness cannot redeem itself. 
That light can only be found in itself, but not in the dark- 
ness, where it has not become manifest.1 
The “ true Church of Christ ” means the spiritual and 
divine aspect of humanity as a whole, and to whatever 
denomination, “ Christian ” or “ unchristian,” a person may 
belong externally, if he has found the true light of the 
Christ, i.e., his own conscience, within himself, then is he 
a member of the true Church of Christ, and a member of 
the inner circle,” an “ initiate ” and “ adept; ” but if he 
has not found the Christ within himself, then all his titles 
and pretensions are worthless and ridiculous. 
This light is the Atma-Buddhi, eternally shining into 
the Manas (mind). It is the light of Buddha, because 
without that light Gautama could not have become a 
“ Buddha,” i.e., “ enlightened.” It is the light of Jesus 
of Nazareth, for without that light the germ of divinity 
that sleeps within the peaceful corner, the mystic 
“ Bethlehem ” within the soul of man, that child could 
not become Christ. It is the light of every human 
being, for it is the centre and the sun of his own eternal 
1 “ Abel is the fundamental church representing God. The church of 
Cain is to be converted through Abel. Therefore God has not rejected 
the church of Cain in so far as not to be willing to receive any member 
thereof; but the true church is like a lamb among the wolves on account 
of the wolfish natures of the members usually composing that church.” 
(Three Principles, xx. 89.) 
“How blind are those who imagine that they are not permitted to 
touch the great mystery, and that this could only be done by man-made 
priests. Wherever true Christians are assembled, there is the temple of 
God.” “You are all on good terms with the church, but no one is willing 
to enter the temple of Christ. Nevertheless there is no other salvation 
than to enter out of death into life. Unless you do so you will for ever 
remain in darkness.” (Threefold Life, xi. 81.) CONCLUSION. 
life, tlie fountain of all his knowledge, for only in that 
light rests the recognition of eternal truth. 
“ The will of God is open to every man, by whatever 
name the man may be called. ... Of what use are 
creeds and opinions to him who has attained self-know- 
ledge ? Opinions are not the Spirit of Christ that gives 
life, but the Spirit of Christ gives testimony to our spirit 
that we are children of God. He is in us, and we do 
not need to seek for Him in opinions.” (Threefold Life, 
xi. 82.) 
“ You need not hunt for any place or locality to 
find the Holy Ghost; for as the sun rises and shines 
until it sets, so the Christ shines into all places and 
hidden corners from the beginning of His humanity unto 
eternity. The community of Christ is everywhere and 
in all countries, wherever men and women avoid sin and 
enter into the will of God.” (Threefold Life, xi. 88.) 
Humanity resembles a tree, of which Christ is the 
trunk, the individual souls the branches, and the ever- 
changing personalities that successively appear upon the 
earth are the leaves. Within the trunk all are one. The 
branches differ in their shapes; some are big, others 
small, and grow bigger from year to year. But the leaves 
drop off in the autumn and grow again in the spring; 
they may rustle and stir in contrary directions when the 
wind blows, they may have separate and opposite interests 
to fight for, but the tree remains one. The tree may live 
without the individual leaves, but the leaves cannot con- 
tinue to exist without the tree. Only within the trunk of 
the tree, and not in any separate association of leaves, can 
we find the source of our life and our origin and know our 
true nature. Therefore Boehme is continually advising us 
to strive for that trunk of our tree of life, and for that foun- 
tain of eternal light and life. He who seeks in Boehme’s 
book for information to gratify his curiosity is usually 
disappointed, because Boehme does not profess to teach 316 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
anything outside of Christ, or to supply us with any know- 
ledge which we may not find within ourselves, if we seek 
like him within the interior fountain. He even protests 
against wanting to-know anything that is not in Christ, 
and says that such things as cannot be found in Christ 
are worthless and vain. 
“Christ” means the Way and the Truth; it means Eternal 
Life for humanity and for every individual. No one would 
ever think of seeking for the source of his own life any- 
where except within his own inner soul, for the univer- 
sal life awaits him only in so far as it is active within 
himself. 
Nevertheless this is exactly that which the inhabitants 
of Babel are not willing to see.1 They seek for God 
everywhere except within the Divinity that is dormant 
within themselves. They dream of some God in the sky 
whom they expect to come and to save them, while they 
neglect to save themselves. They seek for information 
from books, but never listen to the voice of that Word 
by whose power the All was created, and which speaks 
within their own hearts. 
This want of understanding in regard to the true 
Bedeemer of mankind is the cause of all social troubles 
with which mankind is at present afflicted, because they 
cannot see that all true salvation must come from within 
and not from without, and that merely external reforms 
are of little value as long as the selfishness of man, which 
is the root of all evils, is not reformed within. 
The fact that the sacred name of Christ has been and 
is continually misunderstood, misapplied, and prostituted 
by “ Christians ” and “ anti-Christians,” by bigots and 
rationalists, does not change the truth of His being the 
spiritual light of the world, and the spiritual light within 
the soul of every individual being, man, woman, or child. 
1 Every one thinks he does not belong to Babel, but Babel is as big as 
the world. CONCLUSION. 
To seek for the Christ within one’s self (not in dreams 
and visions), but within one’s own inner consciousness, 
and to practise the power of clinging to Him, exclusively 
of other thoughts and desires, a practice which requires 
the continual exercise of repelling all that is vulgar and 
low, is the only “ practical occultism ” worthy of any 
attention. 
All the accusations brought forth, either justly or un- 
justly, against the Christian Churches, all the vilifications 
and maledictions hurled against Church authorities, have 
never had as much effect upon the true Church of Christ 
as a breath of air would upon a leaf, for while the external 
Church, with its desire for temporal power and authority, 
will for ever remain the great courtezane, riding upon the 
beast created by her pride and selfishness, the spiritual 
Church of Christ rests in eternal tranquillity safely in 
God. This Church is inaccessible to aggressions of any 
kind from external sources, because it is divine, internal, 
and invisible. All the faults for which the “ Christian 
Church ” has been blamed, all the innocent blood that 
she has spilled in the abused name of Christ, all the 
curses which those Churches have loaded themselves 
with by their misdeeds, have nothing to do with the 
true Church of Christ, they belong to the devil parading 
under the garb of a saint. The history of bigotry is 
not the history of what ought to be properly called the 
Christian Church; it is the history of human ignorance, 
villainy, and superstition. Such corruption has nothing 
to do with true Christianity, any more than a wart upon 
a man’s body has to do with the man’s intelligence. Sects 
and sectarians are not the Church, the external body 
of Christ. They are the necessary effects of unnatural 
causes, and as such they must exist until the mental and 
spiritual darkness of the world is dissolved by the light 
of the Truth, which is, and always will be, the only 
Redeemer of man. When this light once penetrates into 318 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
all the depths of the soul, then will the darkness cease 
to exist, and as man will thereby come into possession of 
real self-knowledge, there will be nothing that he does 
not know, for man himself will then be the Truth, the 
Christ; the All having been swallowed up by the Christ 
in Him who is the Lord1 of all. Therefore Boehme 
says:— 
“ The Man-Christ (man having become Christ by Christ 
becoming man) is Lord over all, and comprehends within 
Himself the whole of divine existence. There is then no 
other place where we can recognise God except within 
the substance of Christ (in us), because in Him re- 
sides substantially the fulness of Divinity.” (iQuestions, 
i- i 5 3-) 
“All that God the Father is, and all that is in Him, 
will then appear within me (in man) as a form, an image 
of the essence of the divine world. All colours, powers, 
and virtues of His eternal wisdom will be manifest in me 
as His true image. I shall myself be the manifestation 
of the spiritual divine world and an instrument for the 
Spirit of God, wherein He plays with Himself. I shall 
be His stringed instrument and celestial harp, and not 
only “ I,” but all my co-members in the gloriously con- 
structed stringed instrument of God.” {Signature, xii.) 
This means that when the Divine Light (the Atma- 
1 “A thing which is a unity, having only one will, does not fight against 
itself; but if there are many different kinds of will in one thing, each of 
them then wants to go its own way. If one will is the Lord over the others, 
having them entirely in his power, then does the complex of the thing 
constitute only one being, for the many wills are obedient to their lord. 
Thus life is a cause of trouble, for it exists in many different wills, each 
essence having a will of its own which may be put into action. Thus the 
life of man is its own enemy, one form fights the other, and this is the 
case not only in man, but in all creatures ; it be then, that the forms of 
life obtain a mild, lovely Master, to whose power they must obey. He can 
break their self-will and power. This Lord is the light of life, the master 
over all the qualities. He can tame them all, and they love to submit to 
him, for the light gives them mildness and power. They give their will to 
the life-light, and it endows them with mildness.” (Six Points, iv. 4.) CONCLUSION. 
319 
Bucldhi or “Christ” in humanity) becomes fully manifested 
within the mind {Manas) in man, then will the man 
{Manas) be illumined by it, and be itself that Light, Atma- 
Buddhi Manas or Christ. Thus, when man enters the true 
Church, i.e., the spiritual realm of divine light of wisdom, 
then will that light of divine wisdom penetrate him, and 
man, having become all “mind,” will be rendered self- 
luminous and self-knowing thereby. All that prevents 
man from entering into that state is his selfish will and 
egoism, and therefore when man, relatively to his own 
selfish will (constituting his own terrestrial self), has 
become entirely helpless, as if nailed to a cross, and if his 
selfish will has died upon that cross, then will take place 
his glorious resurrection as a divine being, even as the very 
Christ Himself. Then will his former illusion, whereby he 
imagined himself to be an isolated being and a thing sepa- 
rate from the rest of humanity, have passed away, and 
he will recognise the God in him, and himself as that 
God, living in the Light that pervades the All, and being 
himself the All, and with arms outstretched upon the 
cross of life, drawing to his heart every human being by 
the power of divine love. 
This divine love is neither a chimera nor a dream, nor 
the belief in it a superstition, but it is the most sub- 
stantial reality; for it is the very essence of that of 
which the world has been created. Its beauty can be 
perceived by man in everything by means of what is 
beautiful in himself, and it is tangible to the soul touched 
by it. It is not confined in gross material bodies, but 
superior to everything. It is self-existent and free, and 
causes the soul, the light, to arise out of the dark fiery 
will, comparable to a beautiful plant growing out of the 
dark soil. It is not an unconscious mechanical force or 
attraction, but divine will and self-consciousness, in other 
words, the Spirit of God. 
The realm of this divine love-light is the only true 
church, outside of which no salvation can be found, 320 
THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. 
neither by scientific acquisitions nor by anything that is 
inferior to divine love. The true divine self of every 
human being is a member and an inhabitant of that 
church, and he who severs his connection with it throws 
away his own life. 
Science says that each thing has an aura of unknown 
extent wherein the qualities of that thing are revealed, 
and the same truth may perhaps be more correctly ex- 
pressed by saying that each thing and each being is a 
part of an individual power of unknown size, possessing 
certain qualities, and having evolved a form or organism, 
wherein some of these qualities have become manifest. 
Thus our visible material bodies are only a manifestation 
of a part of the true man living in the kingdom of light. 
The real man is an inhabitant of heaven, it is merely his 
shadow which walks in mortal form upon the earth. 
Not to identify ourselves with the shadow, but to attain 
the knowledge of our celestial self, is the object of this 
terrestrial life. 
This recognition of one’s own divine self no mortal 
being can attain by his or her own power, because only 
that which is immortal in man can recognise itself as 
being immortal. Without the presence of eternal truth 
that truth cannot be recognised, nor can, in the absence 
of light, the darkness illumine itself. 
It is therefore not sinful man, the shadow, that can 
know the true light, the Christ; but Christ recognising 
His own divine image in man. Thus Christ lives in the 
sanctuary of man, and all that is capable in man of 
recognising the Christ in him, lives in the Christ; but 
if man has attained that state in the Christ, he will then 
cease to be merely a man, but free of the illusion of self, 
he will know himself to be God. He will then no longer 
desire to attain, or to become something, but rest in his 
own divine self-consciousness, knowing his shadowy self 
to be nothing but a delusion, and his divine self All in 
the Christ. APPENDIX. 
Apparitions. 
“ The soul originates from three principles; she lives therefore 
in a threefold anguish, and is held by three ties. The first tie 
links her to eternity and reaches within the abyss of hell (the 
fiery will); the second is the kingdom of heaven /The third 
is the region of the stars with the elements. The third 
kingdom is not eternal, but has a certain period of existence; 
nevertheless it is this kingdom that causes the man to grow 
up, endowing him with manners and will, and desires relating 
to good and to evil. It gives him beauty, riches and honours, 
and makes him a terrestrial god. It is with him unto the 
end of his time, and then it departs and as it aided him to 
obtain life, so it aids him in death, and cuts him loose from 
the astral soul. 
“ First the four elements break away from the one element, 
and thus the activity in the third principle ceases; and this is 
the most terrible thing, that the four elements are broken up 
within themselves. Then the tincture with the shadow (of 
what was man) enters into the other, and with this the shadow 
remains in the root of the element from which the four 
elements were born, and from which they issued. This break- 
ing up alone is the suffering and the pain; it is the destruction 
of the sensitive house of the soul. 
“ But if the essences of the soul in the first principle have 
been so much attached to the ways of this world that they 
have desired only for the lust of the latter, for temporal 
honour, power, and pomp; the will, the soul, i.e., the essences 
out of the first principle, still retain the astral essences as their 
most precious treasure, and desire to dwell therein; but as 322 
APPENDIX. 
these essences are now deprived of their mother, the four 
elements, they become gradually consumed in the essences of 
the first principle. 
“Then will the soul in her astral garment, floating within 
the doors of the depth, experience great uneasiness owing to 
her earthly state, and by the-power that belongs to her astral 
constitution she may reappear in the shape of her former 
corporeal body, asking for this or for that, such as has been 
her desire before she passed away, and seeking to obtain rest; 
and she may also go about haunting places and trying to 
manifest 'her presence at night, according to her sidereal spirit, 
making noises of various kinds. 
“ That with which she has clothed herself during life, this 
will be her garment. If it is luxury, lust, ambition, riches, 
malevolence, anger, lies, or the illusions of the world, then will 
the strong power of the essences out of the first principle hold 
on to these things by means of the sidereal spirit, and render 
it active according to the astral quality. The sidereal spirit 
restlessly clings to that for which it desires; as is said by 
Christ, ‘ Where your treasure is, there is your heart.’ There- 
fore it often happens that the ghosts of dead persons are seen 
going about in great unrest. That with which the soul has 
clothed herself here in the body (in her will and thought), that 
constitutes her anguish, and according to her anguish will be 
her shape and form in the astral state, until this state and 
anguish is consumed. Her eternal dwelling-place is the deep 
abyss without end or number, and the works which she per- 
formed here are embodied in the forms in her tincture, and 
follow her. 
“There is no light neither from this world nor from God, 
but the ignition of her own fire is her light, it being the 
terrible flash of her wrath and inimical. The kind of the an- 
guish of such souls differs according to the quality of that with 
which the soul has burdened herself. For such a soul there is 
no help; she cannot enter into the light of God; and even 
if St. Peter had left a thousand keys upon the earth, neither 
of them would unlock the door, for she has severed the bond 
that connected her with Divinity.” (See Three Principles, xix. 
and foil.) APPENDIX. 
323 
“ It is written that it is very difficult for a rich man to 
enter into the kingdom of heaven. This does not refer to the 
possession of wealth, but to one’s vain and avaricious life; 
for while man grows fat, God is forgotten. None ought to 
imagine that he is blessed because he is poor. If he is an un- 
believer and godless, he is then in the kingdom of the devil, 
in spite of his poverty. Neither ought the rich man throw 
away his money or give it to the spendthrift, thinking 
thereby to gain eternal bliss. The kingdom of God is in 
truth, justice, and love towards the needy. It condemns none 
who properly uses that which he has. You must not lay 
down your sceptre and go into a corner and lament. This is 
only hypocrisy. You can be of service to the law of justice 
and to the kingdom of God better if you keep your sceptre 
and protect the oppressed and weak, and work for right and 
justice; not according to your avarice, but in the love and 
fear of God.” (Principles, xxv. 74.) 
Asceticism. 
Astral Spirit. 
“ All that we think and do and desire in our external being 
is the work of the spirit of this world acting within our con- 
stitution ; for the body is nothing but the instrument of that 
spirit wherewith it works, and, like all other instruments that 
are born of the spirit of this world, it will ultimately break and 
be decomposed. Therefore no man shall despise or condemn 
another man if the latter has not the same qualifications as 
he; for the natural heaven (the constellation) builds up each 
man according to the nature of the ruling influences. It gives 
to every person his or her ways and manners and shape, and 
also his desires and instincts, and this cannot be taken away 
from the external man as long as the external heaven does not 
break up his animal constitution. But if the external man 
does not do that which the spirit of the external world desires 
in him, but is forced to depart from that which is false 
and illusive; then such a power does not come from the 
external heaven, but from the new-born man within, he being 
from eternity, and battling with the earthly man; and often 
he gains a victory over the latter.” (Three Principles, xxv. 6.) 324 
APPENDIX. 
Atonement. 
“ If you wish to follow the path (of light), you must use 
great earnest. It must not be mere talk or pretence, while 
the heart is far away ; for in this way you will attain nothing. 
You must gather together your whole mind, with all your 
senses and reason, into one single will, if you wish to become 
reformed, and to come out of your abominations. You must 
put your sense into God, into His charity, with full confidence 
and assurance, and then you will attain it. And if the devil 
in you says, ‘ It cannot be; you are too great a sinner; ’ let 
not this terrify you; for he is a liar and the father of doubt. 
“There are not more than two kingdoms moving within 
you. One is the kingdom of God, wherein is Christ, desiring 
you; the other is the kingdom of hell, wherein is the devil, 
and he desires you also. Then will the poor soul have to battle, 
for she is in the middle. Christ offers to her the new robe, 
and the devil the cloth of sins; and whenever you have a good 
thought or desire for God, and wish to enter into the true 
atonement (becoming one with the Divine), that thought is 
most certainly not from yourself, but from the love of God, 
and the noble virgin is calling to you to come, and not to 
desist in your efforts. But if on this way you are met by your 
great sins, that seek to detain you like mountains, so that 
you can find no peace in your heart; then is this most surely 
the work of the devil, who causes you to think that God is not 
willing to listen to you. Let not in such moments anything 
detain or terrify you; for the devil is your enemy. It is 
written that if your sins were as red as blood, if you truly 
repent, they will become wdiite as snow.” (Principles, 
xxiv. 34.) 
“ Thus the precious jewel is sown; but remember well, it 
does not immediately grow into a tree. Often will the devil 
brush over it and seek to uproot the mustard-seed; the soul 
will often have to weather heavy storms, and be covered with 
the shadows of her sins. But if you constantly battle against 
the powers of evil, then will the tree grow and blossom, and 
you will obtain the fruit.” (Comp. Three Principles, xxiv. 
37-) APPENDIX. 
325 
The Cross. 
The cross with the image of a dying person nailed thereon 
is the symbol of regeneration and initiation. It reminds the 
true follower of Christ that he must pass through the mystic 
death and become regenerated in the spirit before he can 
enter into the glory of eternal life. The cross represents 
terrestrial life, and the crown of thorns the sufferings of the 
soul within the elementary body, but also the victory of the 
spirit over the elements of darkness. The body is naked, to 
indicate that the candidate for immortality must divest him- 
self of all desires for terrestrial things. The figure is nailed 
to the cross, which symbolises the death and surrender of 
the self-will, and that it should not attempt to accomplish 
anything by its own power, but merely serve as an instru- 
ment wherein the Divine will is executed. Above the head 
are inscribed the letters : 
L 1ST. R. J. 
whose most important meaning is : 
In Nobis Regnat Jesus. 
(Within ourselves reigns Jesus.) 
But the signification of this inscription can be practically 
known only to those who have actually died relatively to the 
world of desires, and risen above the temptation for personal 
existence ; or, to express it in other words, those who have 
become alive in Christ, and in whom thus the kingdom of 
Jesus (the holy love-will issuing from the heart of God) has 
been established. 
To the cynic, sophist, and fool this symbol will be incom- 
prehensible, and in the hands of the bigot and hypocrite it 
is a token of his disgrace, and a testimonial of his own god- 
lessness and self-condemnation. 
“The external world or the external life is not a valley 
of suffering for those who enjoy it, but only for those who 
know of a higher life. The animal enjoys animal life; the 
intellect the intellectual realm; but he who has entered into 
regeneration recognises his terrestrial existence as a burden 
and prison. With this recognition he takes upon himself 
the Cross of Christ.” (Epistles, ii. 34.) 326 
APPENDIX. 
Death. 
“ The holy and heavenly man, hidden in the monstrous 
(external) man, is as much in heaven as God, and heaven is 
in him, and the heart or light of God is begotten and born 
in him. Thus is God in him and he in God. God is nearer 
to him than his bestial body. 
“ The animal body is not his own native country, wherein 
he is at home; the true man, regenerated and new-born in 
Christ, is not in this world, but in the paradise of God; and 
although he is in the body, nevertheless he is in God. And 
although the animal body dies, nevertheless nothing happens 
to the new man, but he comes forth out of the contrary will 
and torment-house into his native country. There needs to 
be no removing to any distance or place, whither he may have 
to go, that it might be better with him, for God is everywhere 
revealed in him.” (The Epistles, xxv. 13.) 
Doubt. 
“ The nothing wherein the devil resides. Doubt is the 
negation of that faith which is God. It is the outcome of 
selfishness and of that blindness which causes man not to 
recognise the possession of what he already has.” (See 
Threefold Life, xiv. 41.) 
God. 
“God is eternal unity, the unmeasurable one good, having 
nothing before or after it that could possibly endow it with 
something or move it. It is without any inclinations or 
qualities, without any beginning in time, within itself only 
one. It is purity itself, without any contact; requiring 
neither place nor locality for its dwelling, being at once out- 
side of and within the world. Into its depth no thought can 
penetrate, neither can its greatness be expressed in numbers, 
for it is infinity itself. All that can be counted or measured 
is natural or figurative, but the unity of God cannot be 
defined. It is everything, and has been recognised as good, APPENDIX. 
327 
and is called ‘ good,’ because it is eternal mildness and 
beneficence within the sensitivity of nature and creature, 
the sweetest love. For the unity in its aspect as good issues 
out of itself, introducing itself into willing and moving. 
There the unity lives and penetrates the willing or moving, 
and the willing and moving experiences the mildness of the 
unity. This is the foundation of love in the unity, of which 
Moses says, ‘The Lord our God is an holy God, and there 
is no other besides Him.’” (Theos. quest, i. i.) 
Humility. 
“ God is the centre of man, but he resides only within 
himself, unless the spirit of man becomes one spirit with him ; 
in which case he will become manifest in human nature, in 
soul, mind and desire, whereby he becomes perceptible to 
the inner senses of man. The will sends the senses into God, 
and God impresses the senses and becomes one being with 
them. Then the senses carry the power of God to the will, 
and the will receives them joyfully but tremblingly; for it 
recognises itself as being unworthy knowing that it comes 
from an unsteady dwelling. Thus it receives that power by 
sinking down before God and out of its triumph arises a 
sweet humility. This is the true essence of God, and this 
conceived essence within the will is the celestial body, and 
is called the true and just faith, which the will has received 
in the power of God. It sinks within the mind and resides 
in the fire of the soul.” (Menschw. x. 8.) 
Jesus Christ. 
“In the fifth quality the glory and majesty of God becomes 
manifest as the light of love. It is written that God resides 
in a light into which none can enter. This means that no 
created being has ever been born out of the central fire of 
love, for it is the most holy fire, and even God Himself in 
His Trinity. Out of this holy fire has emanated the JAH, 
a ray of the sensitive unity. This is the dear name of 
Jesus, redeeming the poor soul from the wrath-fire, and in 
taking up human nature, giving itself up to the central fire 
of God in the soul, in the wrath of God within the soul; 328 
APPENDIX. 
kindling her again with the love-fire, and uniting her with 
God.” (Theos. quest, iii. 25.) 
“ Christ is he that is regenerated of human quality; 
the mother of regeneration, the anointed one.” (See 
Stief., 19.)1 
Man, Terrestrial and Celestial. 
“ The virgin says : I have something against you. I have 
raised you up from among the thorns. When you were a wild 
animal, I have configured in you my own image. But the 
wild animal is among the thorns: this I will not take unto 
my bosom. You are still living within your wild animal. 
When the world takes that animal, because it belongs to it, 
then will I take you. Thus each one will take its own belong- 
ings. Why do you therefore love so much that wild animal 
which causes to you nothing but sorrow ? You cannot take it 
with you. It does not belong to you, but to the world. Let 
the world use it as it may, but remain you with me. It will 
be only a little while; then will your animal break, and you 
will be rid of it, and remain with me. How will you then 
rejoice, if you think of that animal, which afflicted you day 
and night, and of which you are then free. As a flower grows 
up out of the earth, so do you rise up out of your wild animal. 
You say, ‘ I am your animal; you are born in me.’ 
Listen, my animal! I am greater than you. When you was 
to become, I was your constructor. My essences are out of 
the root of eternity; but you are of this world. You will 
break; but I remain eternally in my power. Therefore I 
am far nobler than you. You live in the wrath ; but I will 
put my fearful wrath into the light, into eternal joy. My 
works are in power, while yours remain as shadows. When 
I am once rid of you, I will then never accept you again as 
my animal; but (I take) my new body which I am regenerat- 
ing within the deepest root of the holy element.” (Principles, 
xxi. 69.) 
Nature. 
“ Lift up your mind in the spirit, and see that the whole of 
1 Jesus represents the Logos and Christ the Karana sharira in Eastern 
terminology. APPENDIX. 
329 
nature, with all the powers therein, with its depth, width, and 
height, heaven and earth, and all that is therein and above 
the heavens, is the body of God, and the powers of the stars 
are the arteries in the natural body of God in this world.” 
{Aurora, ii. 16.) 
“Nature is not God, no more than the body of a man is 
man. Nature is the echo and image of eternal nature, made 
manifest by the power of the Word.” (Tabulae Principice, li.) 
Path. 
“ Neither in the sky, nor upon the earth, or among the 
stars or the elements, can we find any way by which we may 
enter into rest. We behold merely the entrance into life, and 
next to that its end, when our body will be borne back to the 
earth and all our works, labour, and sciences, and glory will be 
inherited by another, who also troubles himself for a while 
with such things, and then follows us (into death). This 
continues from the beginning of the world unto its end. 
During our misery we can never know where our spirit 
remains while the body breaks and becomes a corpse, unless 
we are new-born out of this world ; so that although we live in 
this world in our body, nevertheless we dwell in our soul and 
spirit in another eternal, perfect, and new life. Therein a 
new man will be found in our spirit and soul, and therein 
shall and will he live eternally. Only in this new form will 
we learn to know what we are and where our true home is.” 
(.Principles, xxii. 5.) 
Planets. 
The seven planets refer not only to certain visible stars, 
but to the seven qualities of eternal nature, namely— 
1. Saturn—Astringency; darkness. 
2. 1/ Jiipiter—The active desire within the astringency. 
3. $ Mars—The fiery strength. 
4. Q Sun—The light of nature. 
5. $ Venus—The beginning of substantiality. 
6 5 Mercury—Life; sound ; the verbum fiat. 
7. C Luna—Moon ; corporeity. 330 
APPENDIX. 
“ If the first three qualities have their superiority in the dark 
principle, then will the other qualities be dormant in their 
centres; and all the seven are then evil, as follows :— 
1. Saturn—Avarice. 
2. Jupiter—Cunning. 
3. Mars—Anger. 
4. Sun—Pride. 
5. Venus—Lewdness. 
6. Mercury—Envy. 
7. Luna—The flesh. 
“ If the three first qualities have their superiority in the 
principle of light and are born out of the dark centre, then 
will they have in them the nature of light. They will then 
all the seven be good, as follows: — 
1. Saturn—Charity. 
2. Jupiter—Wisdom. 
3. Mars—Meekness. 
4. Sol—Humility. 
5. Venus—Chastity. 
6. Mercury—Beneficence. 
7. Luna—The substantiality of the body of Christ.” 
Principle. 
“ A principle (beginning) is nothing else but a new birth, 
a new life. There is only one principle in which is eternal 
life, namely, the eternal divinity, and this would not become 
manifest if God had not created within himself creatures, 
such as men and angels, who know the indissoluble band, and 
how the birth of eternal light in God takes place.” (Prin- 
ciples, v. 6.) 
“ God had no other material out of which to create any- 
thing, except his own essence. But God is a spirit, intangible, 
and having neither beginning nor end. His depth and great- 
ness is everything. A spirit does nothing except that it rises, 
and stirs, and moves, and gives birth to its own self. In its 
birth there are especially three forms—bitterness, astringency, 
and heat; but in these three forms there is neither a first, nor 
a second, nor a third; but they are all three only one, and APPENDIX. 
each one gives birth to the other and to the third.” {Prin- 
ciples, 1. 3.) 
Sex. 
“ The male is the head, and has in him the upper regiment 
with the tincture of the fire, and in his tincture he has the 
soul that desires for Venus as its corporeal matrix. The soul 
longs to have spirit and body, and this has the matrix of 
woman. But the lower regiment is the female one, and her 
regiment stands in the Moon; for the Sun gives the heart, 
and Venus the tincture, not of a fiery, but of a watery kind. 
The spirit furnishes the air, and its tincture is not in the heat. 
“ The female desires the male, and the Moon longs for the 
Sun; for she is of a material nature, and desires a celestial 
heart. Thus the female matrix desires for the heart of man 
and for his tincture the soul; for the soul is eternal good. 
Thus exists sexual desire among all creatures, and they wish 
to mingle with each other. The body does not understand 
this, neither is it understood by the air-spirit; but the two 
tinctures, the male and the female ones, know it well.” (Three- 
fold Life, ix. 106.) 
SorniA. 
“The fiery soul, pure as clear gold, and tested in the fire 
of God, is the husband of the noble Sophia, for she is the 
tincture of the light. If the tincture of the fire is perfectly 
pure, then will Sophia be united with it, and thus Adam 
receives again the most noble bride that was taken away from 
him during his sleep, and will take her into his arms. This is 
neither a man nor a woman, but a branch on the pearl-tree 
standing in God’s paradise. But how the bride receives her 
groom in his clear and bright fire-quality, and how she gives 
him the kiss of love, this will be understood only by him who 
has been at the marriage of the Lamb. To all others it will 
be a mystery.” (Mysterium Magnum,, xxv. 14.) 
Substantiality. 
“ If you boast of being a Christian, why do you then not 
believe Christ’s words when he said, ‘ I am with you even to 332 
APPENDIX. 
the end of the world; ’ and furthermore, that he will give us 
his body for food and his blood to drink? You say, ‘Christ 
has gone to heaven; how then could he be in this world ? ’ 
Perhaps you agi’ee that he is present with us in his Holy 
Spirit. But what would become of the new-born man in you 
if he were fed only by spirit, this being merely food for the 
soul ? Each life eats of its own mother. The soul is spirit, 
and eats spiritual food; the new-born man eats of the pure 
element, and the external man of the outcome of the four 
elements. 
“ What wfill it benefit the (ethereal) body if the soul eats of 
the pure divinity ? for you know that the soul and the body 
are not one and the same thing. The soul is spirit, and needs 
spiritual food. Or do you think that you can feed the new 
man with earthly food ? If so, you are then still far from the 
kingdom of God.” (Principles, xxiii. 6.) 
Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury. 
“ The word Sul means and is the soul of a thing; for in 
the word Sulphur it is the oil or the light, which is born from 
the syllable Phur. It is the beauty or goodness of a thing; 
its love or best beloved. In a creature it is the intelligence 
and sense, and it is the spirit born from the syllable Pliur. 
The word or syllable Phur is Prima Materia, entering into 
the third principle within itself, the Macrocosm wherefrom 
the elemental (terrestrial) kingdom or essence is born; but 
in the first principle it is the essence of the innermost genera- 
tion, wherefrom God the Father from eternity gives birth to 
his Son. In man it is also the light born from the sidereal 
spirit within the other centre in the Microcosm, but in the 
Spiraculum it is a soul-spirit in the inner centre. It is the 
light of God, which alone possesses that soul which is in the 
love of God, for it is kindled and breathed upon by the Holy 
Spirit.” (Three Principles, ii. 7.) 
“ Sal is Prima Materia, astringency. In the strong 
astringency arises the bitterness; for in the powerful attrac- 
tion arises the uneasiness of the spirit. For instance, if a 
person becomes angry, his spirit attracts that which causes 
him to become embittered and trembling; and if he does not APPENDIX. 
333 
resist and put it down, then the fire of wrath becomes kindled 
in him, so as to make him burn in malice. Then in his mind 
and soul this becomes substantial and a being.” (Three 
Principles, i. 9.) 
“ Mercury, an astringent bitter fire—sulphur—water; the 
most terrible of all states; but you must not imagine it to 
be a Materia or a tangible thing; it is spirit and the source 
of the first beginning of nature.” (Three Principles, i. 10.) 
“ It comprehends all the four qualities wherein arises the 
life; but it has its beginning not in the centre, like Phur, 
but according to the fire-flash within the terror of the dark 
quality.” (Threefold Life, ii. 42.) 
Word. 
“The whole power of the Father speaks out of all the 
qualities the Word, i.e., the Son of God. The same word, 
or the same sound, spoken by the Father issues out of the 
Salniter, or the powers of the Father, and out of the Father’s 
Mercurius or sound. Thus the Father speaks the word out of 
himself, and the same sound is the glory of all his powers; and 
after it is spoken out, it is no longer contained within the 
powers of the Father, but sounds and rings in the whole of 
the Father in all powers. This power outspoken by the Father 
has such a strength that the sound of the word immediately 
and rapidly penetrates through the whole depth of the Father, 
and this strength is the Holy Spirit; for the outspoken word 
remains as a glory or majestic command before the king • but 
the sound, issuing through the word, executes the command of 
the Father which he has spoken out through the word, and in 
this is the birth of the Holy Trinity. The same takes place 
in an angel or man. The power in the whole of his body has 
all the qualities as in God the Father.” (Auror. vi. 2.) 
“ In the spirit of the word is to be understood the whole of 
Divinity, with all its powers and effects, and with its whole 
essence; its uprising, penetrating, and changing; the whole 
action and the whole generation.” (Auror. xix. 72.) 
“Thus every creature has its own centre for its out-speaking, 
or the sound of the formed word within itself, both the 
eternal and temporal beings; the unreasoning ones as well as APPENDIX. 
man; for the first Ens has been spoken out of the sound of 
God, by wisdom, out of her centre into the fire and light, and 
has been formed into the fiat, and entered into ‘ compaction. ’ 
The Ens is out of the eternal, but the compaction is out of the 
temporal ; and therefore in everything there is something 
eternal hidden in time.” (Mysterium Magnum, sxii. 2.) 
“ In that quality in which each word in the human voice in 
the act of outspeaking forms and manifests itself, either in the 
love of God, as in the holy Ens, or in the wrath of God; in 
the same quality will it be taken up again therein after it has 
been spoken out. The false word becomes infected by the 
devil, and sealed up for (future) detriment, and is received 
within the Mysterium of the wrath, as in the quality of the 
dark world. Each thing returns with its Ens to that where- 
from it has originated.” (Mysterium Magnum, xxii. 6.) 
“The word is near to thee, even within thy heart and lips, 
and God himself is the word which is in thy heart and lips.” 
(Three Principles, iv. 10.) INDEX. 
Abel, 207, 314. 
Absolute, 61. 
Absolution, 302. 
Abyss, 115, 278, 297. 
Adam, 135, 190. 
Alchemy, 175. 
All, 89. 
Angels, 89, 96, 101. 
Anguish, 77, 294. 
Animals, 178. 
Antichrist, 293. 
Antithesis, 67. 
Astral body, 290, 293, 306, 308. 
Astral spirit, 134, 151, 171, 243, 290. 
Astringency, 75, 98. 
Atheism, 180. 
Atonement, 278. 
Attraction, 109, 172. 
Babel, 312, 316. 
Balance, 292. 
Baptism, 269. 
Battle, 266, 275, 277. 
Being, 65. 
Beginning, 97, 122. 
Belief, 8, 37, 263, 312, 315. 
Bible, 65. 
Body, 84, 269, 277, 280, 288, 293. 
Books, 12, 311. 
Cain, 207, 314. 
Celestial body, 142. 
Celestial marriage, 273, 
Celestial world, 85, 105. 
Chaos, 97. 
Children, 285. 
Christ, 27, 88, 170, 198, 225, 262, 
281, 312. 
Christian, 9, 264, 281, 285. 
Christianity, 5, 217, 317. 
Church, 9, 313. 317- 
Clericalism, 284. 
Colours, 178. 
Communion, 267, 269. 
Confession, 8. 
Conscience, hi, 296. 
Consciousness, 77, 112, 173. 
Contentment, 286. 
Corporeity, 99. 
Creation, 66, 89. 
Creatures, 96, 294. 
Cross, 253. 
Crown, 253. 
Cure, 269. 
Darkness, 68, 75, 79, 125, 166, 266. 
Dangers, 271, 274. 
Days, 126. 
Death, in, 160, 186, 255, 284, 
289, 307. 
Desire, 69, 75, 271, 278. 
Devachan, 303. 
Devil, 109, 115, 152, 167, 183, 247, 
270, 294, 298. 
Divinity, 58. 
Division, in. 
Dreams, 299. 
Duality, 67, 69, 76. 
Earth, 129, 170, 172. 
Eden, 146. 
Ego, 181. 
Element, 172. 
Elementals, 134, 186, 189, 278, 293. 
Elementary body, 138, 185, 280, 
290. 3 36 
INDEX. 
Elements, 108, 173. 
Elixir of life, 270. 
Elohims, 99. 
Ens, 139. 
Eternity, 65, 76, 165, 186, 297. 
Eve, 157, 202. 
Evil, 166, 186. 
Evil spirits, 119, 294. 
Evil spirituality, 293, 299. 
Evolution, 91. 
Existence, 77. 
Faith, 35, 40, 47, 51, 207, 219, 
267, 304. 
Fall of Lucifer, 116. 
Fall of man, 155, 187. 
Father, 61, 87, 91. 
Fiat, 98, 150. 
Fire, 68, 79, 81, 104, 221, 295. 
Firmament, 127. 
Flood, 124. 
Forgiveness, 302. 
Form, 97, 228, 293. 
Freedom, 60, 78, 81. 
Free will, 98, no, 149. 
Genekation, 73, 122, 180. 
Gichtel, 22. 
God, 4, 40, 58, 69, 89, 198, 265, 
298. 
Good and evil, 165, 171, 176. 
Goodness, 285. 
Gold, 175, 277. 
Grace, 52, 283. 
Groundlessness, 61. 
Guardian angels, 108. 
Guide, 313. 
Heaven, 108, 117, 202. 
Hell, 112, 114, 160, 257, 292. 
Hell-fire, 295. 
Historical belief, 241. 
Holiness, 285. 
Holy Spirit, 88, 273, 315. 
Humility, 46, 49, 113, 205. 
Illumination, 2, 48, 51, 273. 
Image, 136, 141, 182, 275, 301, 
318. 
Imagination, 62, 96, 183. 
Immaculate conception, 230. 
Immortality, 70, 139, 186, 255. 
Impregnation, 197. 
Incarnation, 204, 224. 
Indifference, 286. 
Inner man, 144, 177, 263, 281. 
Inspiration, 54. 
Intuition, 53. 
Jehovah, 200, 240. 
Jesus, 200, 204, 240. 
Judgment, 118, 131, 290, 299. 
Jupiter, 133. 
Knowledge, 35, 49. 
Language of nature, 179. 
Law, 91, 98. 
Life, 63, 76, 172, 298. 
Life eternal, 269, 289. 
Light, 68, 74, 79, 81, 104, 125, 
180, 199, 301, 313. 
Lightning flash, 79, 113. 
Lily, 276. 
Logic, IOI. 
Lord, 319. 
Love, 69, 83, 93, 168, 191, 244, 310, 
319* 
Lucifer, 102. 
Luna, 133. 
Magic, 66, 99, 215, 313. 
Man, 39, 90, 135, 140, 265, 289. 
Mars, 133. 
Mary, 204, 227. 
Matter, 63, 73. 
Mediumship, 54, 90. 
Memory, 295. 
Mercury, 79, 128, 133. 
Mind, 96, 98. 
Miracles, 304. 
Misfortune, 286. 
Monsters, 293. 
Moon, 168, 170, 275. 
Mother, 63. 
Motion, 76. 
Mysterium magnum, 97. 
Mystic death, 264, 270, 280, 284, INDEX, 
337 
Nature, 65, 84, 122, 164. 
Nothing, 60, 92. 
Object of life, 284. 
Occultism, 317. 
Oil of life, 178. 
One, 67, 92. 
Pantheism, 90. 
Paradise, 142, 176. 
Pearl, 270. 
Perception, 53, 81, 137, 188. 
Perfection, 91, 118. 
Personality, 52, 88, 172, 286. 
Philosophy, 31. 
Planets, 131, 170. 
Pleasure, 279. 
Power, 287. 
Prayer, 266, 268, 308. 
Precious stones, 175. 
Pride, 274. 
Principle, 81, 109. 
Procreation, 190. 
Prophets, 90. 
Purgatory, 305. 
Qualities, 71. 
Quinta essentia, 172. 
Reasoning, 38, 93, 101, 274. 
Redemption, 112, 198, 228, 242, 
316. 
Regeneration, 46, 263, 288. 
Reincarnation, 177, 197. 
Religion, 18. 
Renunciation, 288. 
Repentance, 282. 
Resignation, 40. 
Responsibility, III. 
Restoration of nature, 122. 
Resurrection, 84, 104, 258, 269. 
Revelation, 66, 81, 86, 92. 
Richter, 23. 
Sacrifice, 42, 217, 255. 
Sal-niter, 123, 157. 
Salt, 79. 
Salvation, 300. 
Saturn, 133. 
Science, 36, 90, 119, 312. 
Sectarians, 9, 311, 317. 
Self, 39, 90, 99, 284. 
Self-consciousness, 61, 95, 265 
Self-control, 291. 
Self-esteem, 283. 
Self-knowledge, 36, 81, 263, 312, 
318. 
Self-will, 43, no, 264. 
Sensation, 77, 168. 
Senses, 188. 
Separator, 168. 
Serpent, 160, 291. 
Service, 284. 
Seth, 207. 
Seven, 71, 102. 
Seven qualities, 71. 
Seven spirits, 99. 
Seventh day, 125. 
Sex, 134, 190. 
Sexual intercourse, 192. 
Signature, 179. 
Sin, 278, 295, 302. 
Sleep, 156. 
Sol, 134, 291. 
Son, 199, 225, 228. 
Sophia, 271. 
Soul, 148, 180, 183, 193, 262, 269, 
292. 
Sound, 83. 
Sourcive spirit, 71. 
Spirit, 64, 73, 85, 99, 194, 277, 289. 
Spiritual body, 185, 260, 269, 288. 
Spiritual consciousness, 237, 263, 
273- 
Spiritual intercourse, 303, 307. 
Spiritual knowledge, 45, 57, 81, 
303> 312- 
Spiritual world, 45. 
Saint Martin, 32, 108. 
Stars, 171. 
Submission, 287. 
Substantiality, 82, 85, 269, 279, 
295- 
Suffering, 285. 
Sulphur, 79. 
Sun, 126, 131, 168, 240. 
Teachers, 8. 338 
INDEX. 
Temperament, 188. 
Temperance, 279. 
Temptation, 153, 247. 
Theism, 90. 
Theory, 36, 31 r. 
Theosophy, 38, 51, 55, 312. 
Thread souls, 307. 
Three, 102, 128. 
Three dangers, 271. 
Three principles, 136, 197, 291. 
Three substances, 79. 
Three temptations, 248. 
Three worlds, 19, 152, 266, 289, 291. 
Third principle, 82, 84, 104, 150, 
164. 
Time, 186. 
Tincture, 131, 178, 194, 203, 2S8, 
295- 
Torment, 294. 
Touchstone, 313. 
Transformation, 73, 168. 
Tree of life, 177, 197, 315. 
Tree of knowledge, 154. 
Tree of temptation, 154. 
Trinity, 64, 71, 88, 101, 225. 
Turba, 295. 
Two eyes, 286. 
Unfolding, 98, 272. 
Unity, 58, 72.- 
Venus, 133. 
Yeil of Moses, 260. 
Victory, 278, 301. 
Virgin, 85, 204, 227, 229. 
Virtue, 282. 
Water, 123, 126, 169. 
Water-spirit, 83. 
Wheel of evolution, 77. 
Whoredom, 311. 
Will, 60, 90, 95, 276, 280, 287, 
293- 
Will of God, 149, 287. 
Wisdom, 61, 66, 84, 304. 
Woman, 63, 157, 162, 202. 
Word, 65, 87, 95, 165, 204, 225, 
238. 
World, 85, 90, 94, 107, 164. 
Worship, 148. 
Wrath, 69, 94, 96, 125, 176, 18 r, 
298. 
Writings of Boehme, 12, 63. 
THE END.