The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme · 3 of 159 · tr. Franz Hartmann
Chapter 1 (part 3)
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) Himself.
All preaching and teaching is in vain if it is mere p.
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 comes 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 moreover, 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." ( Aurora , Preface, 99.) "Oh, how near is God to all things.
Nevertheless, no thing can comprehend Him unless it be tranquil and surrenders to Him its own self-will.
If this is accomplished, p.
40 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 Redeemer the Christ, and also the Holy Ghost." ( Menschwerdung , 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 without 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.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Divine Lighttheology
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
Jesus Christ is described as the Light and Truth, and a spark of light is said to be hidden within man.
All passages →Divine Sparkscosmology
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
[auto] The text explicitly states there is a 'spark of the light and the power of God' hidden within man and refers to a 'precious jewel... hidden within the centre'.
All passages →Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage explicitly states that real spiritual knowledge comes only from the awakening of the spirit rather than books or letters.
All passages →Inner Lightanthropology
The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.
The passage identifies Jesus Christ as the Light and Truth residing within man and mentions a spark of light hidden inside.
All passages →Kingdom Withinanthropology
The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.
The author asserts that heaven, earth, and God Himself are present within man.
All passages →Living Godtheology
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
The text emphasizes a living faith and the power of Christ acting within teachers and listeners.
All passages →Logoscosmology
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The Word is mentioned as a medium through which Christ acts, though distinguished from mere historical belief.
All passages →Mystical Unionsoteriology
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The passage claims the true self is the Spirit of God, implying a union between the human and the divine.
All passages →Rejection Of Hypocrisyethics
Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance.
Preaching is called vain if it is mere talk without the power of Christ acting within.
All passages →Return To Sourcesoteriology
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The goal is to lead men from historical belief to a living faith in Jesus Christ Himself.
All passages →Self Knowledgesoteriology
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
The text contrasts imaginary knowledge from books with self-knowledge derived from within one's own self.
All passages →Unity Of Beingtheology
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The statement that God is in man and the true self is the Spirit of God suggests a fundamental unity of divine and human essence.
All passages →Related passages · 15 parallels
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 426
“Section 10 10. We have shown the inevitability of certain convictions as to the scheme of things: There exists a Principle which transcends Being; this is The One, whose nature we have sought to establish in so far as such matters lend them…”
Shared concept: Logos — The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 19 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 325 THE IMPARTIALITY OF SCIENTIFIC DENIALS.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] § III.
PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE AND DIVINE THOUGHT.
"As it would seem irrational…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|The Human Body in Symbolism-j
“When humanity has completed its physical evolution, the empty shell of materiality left behind will be used by other life waves as steppingstones to their own liberation.
The trend of man's evolutionary growth is ever toward his own essent…”
Shared concept: Self Knowledge — The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 3 (part 7)
“Herbert Spencer has of late so far modified his Agnosticism, as to assert that the nature of the "First Cause,"* which the Occultist more logically derives from the "Causeless Cause," the "Eternal," and the "Unknowable," may be essentially…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 489
“Section 11 11. Similarly any one, unable to see himself, but possessed by that God, has but to bring that divine- within before his consciousness and at once he sees an image of himself, himself lifted to a better beauty: now let him ignore…”
Shared concept: Kingdom Within — The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XX
“Omitting, therefore, these things, we may reasonably adduce a second cause, assigned by you, of the above mentioned particulars: viz. “ that the soul says and imagines these things, and that they are the passions of it, excited from small i…”
Shared concept: Gnosis Direct Knowledge — Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone. (derived)
western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXII (part 13)
“Then the understanding of such a man receives from the Holy Spirit the highest and hidden mysteries which according to the divine Paul, neither the human eye can understand nor the human reason comprehend unaided.
(Ii Corinthians ii, 9).…”
Shared concept: Divine Light — The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|The Mysteries and Their Emissaries-a
“DID that divine knowledge which constituted the supreme possession of the pagan priestcrafts survive the destruction of their temples?
Is it yet accessible to mankind, or does it lie buried beneath the rubbish of ages, entombed within the…”
Shared concept: Gnosis Direct Knowledge — Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone. (derived)
western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi)|3. The Triangle Of Solomon-c
“These shells, envelopes petrified or carnified, were such an expression possible, are the source of errors or of evil, which connects with the heaviness and hardness of animal envelopes.
In the book Zohar , and in that of the Revolution of…”
Shared concept: Divine Sparks — Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Tarot of the Bohemians (Papus)|Page 34
“THE MOON. THE MOON. 18. צ 18th Hebrew letter (Tzaddi). ORIGIN OF THE SYMBOLISM OF THE EIGHTEENTH CARD OF THE TAROT. The hieroglyphic idea connected with the Tzaddi is the same as that of the Teth (9th card); but it chiefly signifies a term…”
Shared concept: Divine Sparks — Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XXI
“Is, therefore, what you add in the third place more true; viz. “ that there is a certain mixed form of hypostasis, consisting of our soul and divine inspiration externally derived ?” Consider this then more accurately, lest we should be dec…”
Shared concept: Inner Light — The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection. (derived)
renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|Second Dialogue-g
“For the ultimate and final end of this sport, is to arrive at the acquisition of that fugitive and wild body, so that the thief becomes the thing stolen, the hunter becomes the thing hunted; in all other kinds of sport, for special things,…”
Shared concept: Divine Sparks — Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 55 (part 8)
“He who knows the doctrines of Esoteric Budhism, (or Wisdom), though so imperfectly sketched hitherto, will see clearly the allegory contained in the above.
Its more philosophical meaning will be better understood if the reader thinks caref…”
Shared concept: Divine Sparks — Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 63 (part 9)
“xiv.) Again: -- " The Heavenly rupa (Dhyan Chohan) creates ( man ) in his own form ; it is a spiritual ideation consequent on the first differentiation and awakening of the universal ( manifested ) Substance ; that form is the ideal shadow…”
Shared concept: Divine Sparks — Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 63 (part 12)
“But, as the Stanza has it: " the inner man (the conscious Entity) was not.
" This "Conscious Entity" Occultism says, comes from, nay, in many cases is, the very entire essence and esse of the high Intelligences condemned, by the undeviatin…”
Shared concept: Divine Sparks — Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source. (derived)