The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme · 74 of 159 · tr. Franz Hartmann
Chapter 8 (part 2)
31.) "This terrestrial world is based upon the world of darkness, and if the good bad not been also embodied therein, there would be in it no other doing than that of the world of darkness; but this is prevented by the divine power and by the light of the sun." 1 ( Six Theosophical Points , ix.
17.) "This world is rooted in evil and good, and there can be neither one of them without the other.
But the great misfortune in it is that evil is preponderating therein over good, and the wrath stronger than love, and this is due to the sin of the devil and of man, who excited nature by their perverted desires, so that the world is now powerfully qualified in wrath, acting like a poison within the body." 2 ( Mysterium , xi.
15.) That the darkness has obtained so much power in this world is not the fault of God, but it is due to Lucifer, who corrupted the primordial creation, and who in consequence of Adam's fall is now still more enabled to act within the dark element of nature.
3 "Within all nature there is a continual wrestling, battling, and devouring, so that this world may truly be called a p.
167 valley of sorrow, full of trouble, persecution, suffering, and labour; for when the spirit of creation went into the middle, it had to form the world from the midst of the kingdom of hell." ( Aurora , xviii.
112.) "Nature, up to the day of judgment, has two inherent qualities; one is lovely, celestial, and holy, and the other one wrathful and hellish.
The good quality works with great diligence for the purpose of producing good fruits under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and likewise the evil quality labours for the purpose of producing evil fruits, receiving power and incitement thereto by the devil." ( Aurora , Preface, x.
10.) "The devil resides in this world, and he continually infests external nature; but he has his power only in the wrath, in bitter desire." 1 ( Menschwerdung , i.
2, 4.) God acts with the holy power of his inner world against the corrupting power of Lucifer, but the external world is not thereby changed in its own particular essence.
2 "The inner world, the world of light, dwells in the external world, and the latter receives power from the former.
She blooms in the external power, but this power knows nothing of it." ( Six Theosophical Points , vi.
2.) "The powers of eternity work through the powers of time, like the sun that shines through water, while the water does not apprehend the sun, but only receives the heat; or, like a fire, which glows in the iron, but the iron remains iron nevertheless." ( Mysterium , xii.
20.) p.
168 "The spiritual world is hidden within the visible elementary world, and acts through the latter, and by means of the separator , or the soul of the outer world, it shapes itself in all things according to the character and quality of each thing; but the visible being receives the invisible one not in its own power, neither does the external thing become changed into the inner one, but the inner power merely takes shape therein, as we may see if we observe the growth of herbs, trees, and metals." ( Contemplations , iii.
19.) "We see that the earth has a great hunger and desire after the power and the light of the sun, and likewise the external being craves for the interior one.
[auto] The description of wrath, darkness, and evil preponderating over love aligns with the definition of the principle of cosmic disorder and falsity.
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 passage uses analogies like the sun shining through water to illustrate how eternal powers work through temporal ones without changing their essence.
Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.
[auto] The passage explicitly states the world is rooted in both evil and good, which exist in opposition yet interdependence, forming the fundamental structure of reality.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
The text mentions that nature has two qualities 'up to the day of judgment', indicating a final cosmic verdict.
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 attributed to the sin of the devil and man corrupting nature rather than being an independent ontological principle.