Concerning the three principles of the divine essence / by Jacob Boehme, translated by John Sparrow, revised by C. J. B., with an introduction by Dr Paul Deussen, Professor of Philosophy in the University of Kiel.

  • Jakob Böhme
Date:
1910
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Concerning the three principles of the divine essence / by Jacob Boehme, translated by John Sparrow, revised by C. J. B., with an introduction by Dr Paul Deussen, Professor of Philosophy in the University of Kiel. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to make it well-nigh unrecognizable. Yet the under- lying idea ever breaks through, namely, that the peculiar essence of the first three forms, and, through these, of the others, is a hunger, a desire, a will which in the fourth form becomes fire, the origin of life, and that therein also the forms of light and love have their foundation. “The wi-ath is the root of all things.” “ And if the will be in darkness, it is then in the “ anguish; for it desires (to be) out of the dark- “ ness .... and excites the root of the tire .... and “ dwells in the broken [burst] darkness, in the light, in “ sweetness and joy in itself ” {Three Principles, xxi. 13, 16). The fourth form, the fire, is the centrum naturae] it is the pivot between the kingdom of light and that of darkness, between love and anger, between good and evil; it is the turning-point whence the will may exer- cise its sway in either direction, be it backward into the darkness, or forward into the world of light and divine love. “It is free, and has the choice between both of these.” The freedom of the will—Boehme develops this theme in connection with Biblical tradition and through a highly spiritual treatment of the same—leads to the fall, which consists in a breaking away of self-will from the divine will. The fall of Adam is preceded by that of Lucifer. The latter was created the mightiest angel in heaven; but instead of setting his “imagination in the light of God,” and to “ walk in God,” he attempted, on the strength of his free-will, to measure himself against God, “triumph over the divine birth and lift himself alx>ve the Heart of God,” and thereby “he removed himself out of God’s love into God’s anger,” inclined himself towards “ the dark world with the kingdom of phantasy,” went out of the light, became limited to the first forms, which without the eternal light, constitute the Abyss, the anger of God and hell. “The foundation of hell is from all eternity, but was
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