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The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme · 58 of 159 · tr. Franz Hartmann

Chapter 6 (part 11)

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. 138:1 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." 139:1 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.
Themes
◆Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

The Spirit of God is described as actively breathing into man, indicating a dynamic divine presence.

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◆Logoscosmology

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

The reference to the Spirit of God breathing into man parallels the concept of a divine ordering principle animating existence.

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◆Tripartite Soulanthropology

Division of the human being into three principles: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body/matter (hyle or soma).

The text distinguishes between the soul, the spirit, and the natural man, hinting at layered human composition.

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◇Body As Obstacleanthropology

The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.

[auto] Natural man is described as made out of the world and a child of nature, implying material existence limits spiritual realization.

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◇Cosmic Dualismtheology

Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.

[auto] The passage contrasts natural man/world with spiritual man/God as opposing ontological states.

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◇Divine Lighttheology

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

[auto] Light is used as a primary metaphor for the divine capacity to perceive and be perceived.

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◇Divine Sparkscosmology

Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.

[auto] It describes nothing immortal in man except God, implying a divine fragment within that must be awakened.

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◇Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

[auto] Salvation or immortality is attained through the awakening and knowledge of the divine within rather than external means.

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◇Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

[auto] The text explicitly states that only he in whom is light can see the light, highlighting an internal divine luminosity.

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◇Kingdom Withinanthropology

The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.

[auto] The core message is that divinity resides in man and God is known through man, locating the divine realm internally.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

[auto] Knowing God in and through man suggests a merging or identification of the human self with the divine.

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◇Pneumatic Electsoteriology

A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons.

[auto] A clear distinction is drawn between the natural man (child of nature) and the true spiritual man (son of God).

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◇Return To Sourcesoteriology

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

[auto] Regeneration in the spirit and awakening of the divine imply a return to a primordial or higher state of being.

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◇Self Knowledgesoteriology

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

[auto] The passage emphasizes attaining self-consciousness of immortality through the awakening of the divine within man.

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◇Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

[auto] The statement that nothing immortal in man except God suggests an essential identity between the divine and the awakened human.

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Related passages · 8 parallels
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 47
“Section 14 14. For man, and especially the Sage, is not the Couplement of soul and body: the proof is that man can be disengaged from the body and disdain its nominal goods. It would be absurd to think that happiness begins and ends with th…”
Both passages discuss the distinction between the natural/physical and spiritual aspects of humanity, emphasizing the need for spiritual awakening or disengagement from the body to achieve higher states of being or happiness.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 385
“Section 6 6. It is easy to show that if the Soul were a corporeal entity, there could be no sense-perception, no mental act, no knowledge, no moral excellence, nothing of all that is noble. There can be no perception without a unitary perci…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the human soul and its relationship to divinity or immortality. They both emphasize that the true essence of a person is spiritual and divine, contrasting with the mortal, natural body.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 399
“Section 15 15. (20) Thus far we have offered the considerations appropriate to those asking for demonstration: those whose need is conviction by evidence of the more material order are best met from the abundant records relevant to the subj…”
Both passages emphasize the divine nature within the human soul and the need for purification or regeneration to recognize this divinity. They share the concept that the true essence of the soul is divine and immortal, but this is obscured by worldly or bodily influences.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 403
“Section 3 3. The Human Soul, next; Everywhere we hear of it as in bitter and miserable durance in body, a victim to troubles and desires and fears and all forms of evil, the body its prison or its tomb, the kosmos its cave or cavern. Now th…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the soul and its relationship to divinity and immortality, emphasizing the divine spark within humans and other beings. They share the concept of a higher, spiritual nature that transcends the natural or physical state.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 512 (part 1)
“Section 4 4. We are told that number is Quantity in the primary sense, number together with all continuous magnitude, space and time: these are the standards to which all else that is considered as Quantity is referred, including motion wh…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the soul and its connection to a higher, divine reality. They emphasize the idea that the true essence of the soul is not merely a reflection or image of the divine but is inherently connected to it, with the potential to attain higher states of being or consciousness.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori)|INTRODUCTIONj
“The body is in the soul, the soul is in the mind, the mind is in God. The life of the soul is the true life of the man. Of all his various faculties, that which rules all, that which exalts our nature, is Thought. By means of it we rise…”
Both passages emphasize the divine spark within humanity and the process of awakening or elevating the soul to recognize this divine nature. They share a mystical perspective on the relationship between the human soul and the divine, though they come from different traditions.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVII (part 4)
“"It is not the Adam of dust (of Chapter II) who is thus made in the divine image, but the Divine Androgyne (of Chapter I), or Adam Kadmon." ADAM KADMON is HUMANITY, or humankind— Homo Sapiens —the SPHYNX, i.e., "the being with the body of a…”
Both passages explore the concept of the divine within humanity, emphasizing the distinction between the natural and spiritual aspects of man. They both suggest that the divine element in man is what connects him to a higher reality or consciousness.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXIII (part 11)
“He does not come to believe merely; but he sees and knows that the cosmos, which to the self-conscious mind seems made up of dead matter, is in fact far otherwise—is in very truth a living presence. He sees that in-stead of men being, as i…”
Both passages discuss the divine nature within humans and the potential for spiritual awakening or regeneration. They emphasize the idea that the divine element in man leads to the realization of immortality and a higher understanding of the cosmos.