The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme · 39 of 159 · tr. Franz Hartmann
Chapter 5 (part 3)
105 "From 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 apprehensibility, originates from the seventh spirit, and the generating powers in that body are the seven spirits." ( Aurora , xvi.
15.) 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 we 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.
1.) "In heaven, in the spiritual world, are the same qualities as there are in the terrestrial world; but they p.
106 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.
10.) The objects existing in the ideal, but nevertheless perfectly real world, are as far above those existing in the external world as tile ideal conceptions of a great genius are above what he can possibly execute by his hands.
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The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
[auto] The text explicitly states that heaven has the same qualities as the terrestrial world, merely manifested in a superior state, reflecting the 'as above, so below' principle.
Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.
[auto] The text establishes a fundamental opposition between the divine light and the fiery, dark matrix, as well as between the terrestrial and celestial worlds.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
[auto] The passage centrally describes the 'light of God' as lovely and clear, contrasting it with the dark matrix and describing celestial fire as sweet and mild.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The creation of worlds is attributed to the 'divine Will acting upon the images existing in the bosom of eternal Wisdom'.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
A flow is described from God through the matrix to angels and subsequently to terrestrial and celestial worlds.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
Terrestrial fruits are described as 'dead, dark, bitter' compared to celestial forms, suggesting evil is a degeneration or lack of the higher form.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The text emphasizes that spiritual perceptions must be opened to perceive the inner world, implying salvation or understanding through direct inner knowledge.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
Angels are described as having the seven spirits within themselves, mirroring the generation in the Godhead.