The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme · 65 of 159 · tr. Franz Hartmann
Chapter 7 (part 7)
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 darkness.
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 p.
153 him; he must be obedient to me, for I have all nay 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 Principles , xi.
33.) Adam, making 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 according to its own kind, would enter into their own accord, 2 and that in this way the spirit would taste and recognise that which was good and evil." ( Tabulæ Principiæ , 68.) "The soul of Adam fell in love with the creation of the formed word in its differentiation, and not being conscious 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 p.
154 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 therefore nature formed for him a tree that was like the corrupted 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, paradisiacal 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 p.
155 [paragraph continues] Moses (wisdom) calls it the tree of knowledge of good and evil." ( Mysterium , xvii.
The transformation of base substance — outer matter or the inner soul — into a purified, perfected, or 'gold' state; the magnum opus as both laboratory practice and spiritual allegory.
The text references 'Mercury' and the transformation of qualities (heat/cold) within the tree.
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.
The qualities in the tree of temptation manifest the terrestrial qualities within Adam, reflecting internal states externally.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
Adam's internal desire directly influences the external formation of the tree.
A secondary creator deity—often ignorant or malevolent—responsible for fashioning the material world, distinct from the supreme transcendent God.
The 'Kingdom of Wrath' claims ownership of Adam and seeks to manifest power through him, acting as a secondary creative force distinct from the Heart of God.
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.
The text describes principles issuing 'out of my fountain' and distinguishes three kingdoms (God, Wrath, World) with varying power.
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.
Evil is characterized as 'perverted desire' and a separation from harmony rather than an independent substance.
Transgressive knowing acquired against divine prohibition — the Watchers' teaching of metallurgy, sorcery, and cosmetics in 1 Enoch, the Gnostic Eve narratives, the Promethean mytheme; explicitly contrasted with gnosis_direct_knowledge, which is salvific.
[auto] The passage details the 'tree of knowledge' which was 'prohibited to Adam by God' yet desired for tasting qualities in separateness.
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.
[auto] The passage explicitly states 'Adam was the heart in nature' and describes mutual indwelling of members between Adam and the World.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
[auto] The narrative describes the soul entering into 'differentiation' and going 'out of their harmony' from the unity of God.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The Heart of God desires to reside in Adam, who bears the divine image and likeness.