The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme · 77 of 159 · tr. Franz Hartmann
Chapter 8 (part 5)
Thus the earth is filled with hunger after the stars and after the spiritus mundi , so that they have no peace." ( Clavis , 110.) "The earth is turning around because she has both fires, the hot and the cold fire, and that which is below always desires to rise upwards towards the sun, because she receives spirit and power only from the sun.
Therefore she is turning.
The fire, her desire for light, is turning her, for it wishes to be ignited, and to have a life of its own.
Having nevertheless to remain in death, still it desires after the life above and attracts the latter, and opens its centre for ever to receive the tincture and fire of the sun." 1 ( Threefold Life , xi.
5.) The four elements are actually only qualities of the true one element, which is hidden behind the external four elements.
"That which we call at present four elements are in fact not elements, but merely qualities of the one true element." ( Three Principles , xiv.
54.) "The quintessence is a paradisiacal substance in the celestial world, but enclosed in the external world; that is to say, not imprisoned therein, but only rendered invisible." ( Clavis Specialis .) "Fire, air, water, and earth have issued from the centre of nature, and consisted in the ignition of one substance.
Since that ignition took place they appear in four forms, which are called 'elements;' but they are still interiorly, and in reality there exists, only one.
There are not four p.
174 elements in heaven, but only one; but all four states are contained therein." ( Threefold Life , v.
105.) From this superterrestrial basis have proceeded the external terrestrial elements.
There was first separated from it the fire, next the air, then the water, and finally the element of earth.
1 "The four forms which are hidden within the one true element have become active by means of the ignition or excitation of the lower principles, and they now appear in their external substance comprehensible to the creatures." ( Threefold Life , v.
105.) "From the fire originates the air, and from the air the water, and from the water earth; i.e.
, a substance which is of an earthly nature, and thus the elements are merely an external manifestation of the inner eternal element and an ignited smoke of the latter." ( Mysterium , vii.
19.) The elements having issued from their original unity, strongly desire each other, but at the same time there are dissensions and strifes among them.
"The four elements are only qualities of the one in-differentiated element.
Therefore there is a great anxiety and desire among them.
They constitute interiorly only one sole principle, and therefore they instinctively long one after the other and each seeks for the inner principle within each other." ( Clavis , 106.) "After from the one element, which has only one single will, the four elements had originated, which are now existing in one single body, there is among them much strife and dissension.
Heat is against cold, and p.
175 fire against water; the air is against earth, and each causes the death and breaking-up of the other." ( Signature , xv.
4.) In many of the products of the earth—for instance, in many of the minerals—the true essence seems to be entirely hidden in death; but in others, especially in the noble metals and precious stones, it still manifests its brightness.
1 "It seems strange to the reasoning mind, if we observe the earth with its solid rocks and its rough and harsh appearance, that big rocks and stones have been created, whereof a part is useless, and which are only an obstacle for the creatures of this world." ( Mysterium , x.
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.
References to tincture, ignition, noble metals, and precious stones reflect alchemical transformation processes.
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.
External terrestrial elements proceed from a superterrestrial basis, reflecting an inner structure in outer form.
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.
The elements strongly desire each other and instinctively long for the inner principle within one another.
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 outlines a sequence where fire, air, water, and earth proceed from a superterrestrial basis or center of nature.
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
[auto] The earth is described as constantly desiring to rise upwards towards the sun and attract life from above, indicating a cosmic journey back to the source.
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.
The elements are depicted as remaining in death while desiring the life above, indicating a state of exile.