The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme · 117 of 159 · tr. Franz Hartmann

Chapter 11 (part 8)

Neither is God measurable, and there has no place of residence been discovered in Him, unless He should establish for Himself such a dwelling in one of His creatures; but even then He remains a whole apart from and beyond such a created being." ( Menschwerdung , i.

8.) In this respect Christ may be likened to the sun, who is also immeasurable in his aspect as a power, but which is nevertheless existing as a separate body in space.

"We may compare the sun to Christ in His aspect as p.

240 a created being, and the whole depth of space may be compared to the Father.

If we then see that the sun shines within the whole depth of space, and sends his heat and power everywhere, we cannot then say that within the depth the power and light of the sun is nowhere outside of the body of the sun; for if the light and substance of the sun were not everywhere, space could not receive the power and light of the sun.

It requires two powers or principles of a similar nature to be receptive of each other.

The depth (of space) contains its light, but hidden (latent).

If it were the will of God, the whole depth would all be sun." ( Menschwerdung , i.

8.) "As the sun shines through all the external world, causing everything to become more powerful and fertile, and as nevertheless the world and the sun are (in their corporeal centres) to be distinguished from each other, so Christ, as a manifested Sun, shines out of (the depth of) Jehovah or Jesus, in the created humanity of Christ.

Jehovah is the eternal divine Sun, and within that Sun has been hidden to all creatures the great Love-Sun of Christ, as a heart in the centre of the Holy Trinity; but by the moving of the Godhead He has become revealed as a holy Sun of divine love." ( Stiefel , ii.

422.) "The sun illumines the world; but this would not be possible if there were not within the depth a similar state of being as that which constitutes the sun.

Likewise the corporeity of Christ is all the fulness of the heavens, as a created being in the person and without the person; but (both) exist in one spirit and one power as one, and not in a state of duality or as two things separated from each other." ( Tilk .

ii.

251,) 1 This unlimited, celestial (state of) being of the Redeemer is nevertheless lower than the Godhead.

"When the Word enters into the one pure element, p.

241 the virginal matrix, it does not become separated from the Father, but remains eternally, and is everywhere present in the heaven of the element wherein it entered, and wherein it has become a new creature, called a 'god.' This very new creature is naturally not born from the flesh and blood of the (physical) virgin, but of God, out of His element (the celestial virgin), and in the power of the Holy Trinity, which remains therein eternally in its fulness.

But the corporeity of the element of that created being is lower than the Godhead, for the Godhead is spirit, and the holy element is born out of the Word from eternity.

Thus the Lord has entered into the servant, whereof all the angels in heaven are filled with surprise.

It is the greatest miracle that has occurred from all eternity, because it is against (human) nature, and could only have been accomplished by divine love." ( Three Principles , xviii.

42.) 1 Footnotes 224:1 The Logos is everywhere, and did not enter from any external locality.

Likewise the body of the sun is everywhere, although it manifests its light only in one locality in the sky.

Themes

◆Alchemical Workpraxis

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 transformation of the element into a new creature called 'god' reflects alchemical transmutation.

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◆Birth Of Word In Soulanthropology

Eckhart's signature doctrine that the Father eternally begets the Son in the ground of the soul; the human interior as the actual site of the divine generative act, distinct from inner_light's static indwelling.

The Word enters the virginal matrix/element to become a new creature without separation from the Father.

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◆Cosmic Sympathycosmology

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 text states it requires two powers of similar nature to be receptive of each other.

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◆Emanation Hierarchycosmology

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.

There is a distinction between the Father (depth) and Christ (sun) sending power into space, suggesting a flow of divinity.

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◆Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

The great Love-Sun of Christ is described as hidden to all creatures until revealed by the moving of the Godhead.

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◆Infinite Cosmoscosmology

The doctrine of the universe as boundless and without center or circumference, populated by innumerable worlds — Bruno's rejection of the closed Aristotelian sphere; the divine and the cosmos as ontologically infinite.

The text refers to the 'whole depth of space' and an 'unlimited, celestial (state of) being'.

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◆Inner Lightanthropology

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

The depth of space is described as containing light that is hidden or latent within it.

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◆Living Godtheology

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

The Godhead is described as 'moving' and actively revealing itself through love.

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◆Microcosm Macrocosmcosmology

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.

Christ as a created being is compared to the sun shining within the depth of space representing the Father.

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◆Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

The text asserts that the corporeity and spirit exist 'not in a state of duality or as two things separated'.

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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.

The text suggests that if God willed, the whole depth could become sun, implying a potential ontological unity.

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◇Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

[auto] The text defines God by negation, stating He is not measurable and has no discovered place of residence.

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◇Correspondencecosmology

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 relies on analogies between the sun/space and Christ/Father to explain divine relationships.

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◇Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

[auto] God's residence is undiscovered unless established, and the depth contains light that remains hidden or latent.

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◇Divine Lighttheology

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

[auto] The passage centrally employs the sun and its light as a metaphor for Christ's power and God's pervasive presence throughout space.

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◇Divine Simplicitytheology

The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.

[auto] God is described as remaining a whole even when establishing a dwelling in a created being.

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◇Ein Softheology

The infinite, unknowable aspect of the divine prior to and beyond all emanation; the hidden root from which the Sephirot unfold.

[auto] The Father is compared to the whole depth of space, representing an immeasurable, infinite source beyond emanation.

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◇Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

[auto] It posits that God can establish a dwelling place within one of His creatures.

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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.

[auto] Christ is likened to the sun that mediates the Father's power and light into the depth of space.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] The passage describes God establishing a dwelling within a creature while remaining whole apart from it.

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◇Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

[auto] The text presents the paradox of God dwelling in a creature yet remaining wholly apart and beyond it.

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◇Theosis Deificationsoteriology

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.

[auto] The passage describes the new creature born of God as being 'called a god' through the Word's entry.

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Related passages · 19 parallels

◆neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter IXa

“I consider you, therefore, as asking, for it is your inquiry, “ Why, since the Gods dwell in the heavens alone, there are invocations by theurgists of terrestrial and subterranean Gods? ” For 45 what you assert in the beginning is not true…”

Both passages discuss the omnipresence and immanence of divine beings, comparing them to the sun's light that permeates all space. They explore the relationship between the divine and the created world, emphasizing the unity and interconnectedness of all things.

◆neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter VIIIf

“Thus they recognised things supreme in such as are subordinate, and the subordinate in the supreme: in the celestial regions, terrene properties subsisting in a causal and celestial manner; and in earth celestial properties, but according t…”

Both passages explore the relationship between divine and created beings through the metaphor of the sun. They discuss how the divine (God, Christ, or celestial properties) interacts with and is reflected in the created world (plants, stones, or human beings), emphasizing the interconnectedness and mutual sympathy between the divine and the natural.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 98

“Section 8 8. Now: given a light of this degree, remaining in the upper sphere at its appointed station, pure light in purest place, what mode of outflow from it can be conceived possible? Such a Kind is not so constituted as to flow downwar…”

Both passages explore the relationship between a divine entity and its manifestation in the physical world, using the metaphor of light and the sun to describe the interplay between the divine and the created. They both emphasize the unity and distinction between the divine and its manifestations.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 250 (part 1)

“Section 18 18. The Ideal Principle possessing the Intellection [= Idea, Noesis] of Magnitude- assuming that this Intellection is of such power as not merely to subsist within itself but to be urged outward as it were by the intensity of it…”

Both passages explore the relationship between an immaterial principle (Ideal-Principle in Plotinus, God in the second passage) and material existence. They discuss how the immaterial principle interacts with and influences the material world without being constrained by its limitations.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 264 (part 2)

“This brings us to the fact that, in a certain sense, the Movement, the orbit of the universe, may legitimately be said to measure Time- in so far as that is possible at all- since any definite stretch of that circuit occupies a certain quan…”

Both passages discuss the concept of the immeasurability and transcendence of divine entities. Passage A explores the idea of time and movement in relation to the universe, while Passage B discusses the immeasurability of God and Christ, drawing parallels with the sun. Both texts use analogies to explain the relationship between the divine and the created world.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 267

“Section 1 1. Supposing we played a little before entering upon our serious concern and maintained that all things are striving after Contemplation, looking to Vision as their one end- and this, not merely beings endowed with reason but even…”

Both passages explore the omnipresence and nature of divine or cosmic principles. Passage A discusses the omnipresence of Time and Soul in the Kosmos, while Passage B discusses the omnipresence of God and Christ in creation, drawing parallels with the sun's light and heat.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 309

“Section 22 22. May we think that the mode of the soul's presence to body is that of the presence of light to the air? This certainly is presence with distinction: the light penetrates through and through, but nowhere coalesces; the light is…”

Both passages explore the relationship between a non-physical entity (soul or God) and physical reality, emphasizing that the non-physical entity is not contained within the physical in a spatial sense. They both reject the idea of the non-physical being limited by physical space or form.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 312

“Section 25 25. Now comes the question, equally calling for an answer, whether those souls that have quitted the places of earth retain memory of their lives- all souls or some, of all things, or of some things, and, again, for ever or merel…”

Both passages use the analogy of light (sun) and its presence in space (air) to explain the relationship between divine and created beings. They both describe a form of presence that is pervasive yet distinct, illustrating the interaction between the divine and the material world.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 331

“Section 11 11. The administration of the kosmos is to be thought of as that of a living unit: there is the action determined by what is external, and has to do with the parts, and there is that determined by the internal and by the principl…”

Both passages explore the concept of divine perfection and unity, using celestial metaphors (stars and the sun) to illustrate the immutable and omnipresent nature of the divine. They share a mystical perspective on the interconnectedness of the divine and the cosmos.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 372

“Section 6 6. We return, then, to the question whether there could be light if there were no air, the sun illuminating corporeal surfaces across an intermediate void which, as things are, takes the light accidentally by the mere fact of bein…”

Both passages explore the nature of light and its relationship to its source and medium. They both suggest that light is not dependent on a medium like air for its existence and operation, drawing a parallel between light and divine or spiritual acts.

9 more

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 376

“Section 1 1. Perceptions are no imprints, we have said, are not to be thought of as seal-impressions on soul or mind: accepting this statement, there is one theory of memory which must be definitely rejected. Memory is not to be explained a…”

Both passages use the metaphor of light and the sun to explain the nature of divine presence and activity. They describe how the light or divine essence emanates from a source and permeates space, yet remains inherently connected to its origin.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 602

“Section 12 12. Think of a sound passing through the air and carrying a word; an ear within range catches and comprehends; and the sound and word will strike upon any other ear you may imagine within the intervening void, upon any that atten…”

Both passages discuss the omnipresence and nature of the divine, emphasizing that the divine is not contained within a physical place but is present in all of creation. They share a mystical perspective on the unity and universality of the divine being.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 603

“Section 13 13. But how account, at this, for its extension over all the heavens and all living beings? There is no such extension. Sense-perception, by insistence upon which we doubt, tells of Here and There; but reason certifies that the H…”

Both passages discuss the nature of divine presence and the relationship between the divine and created beings, emphasizing the idea that the divine is not fragmented or localized but is present in its entirety in all things.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 608

“Section 1 1. The integral omnipresence of a unity numerically identical is in fact universally received; for all men instinctively affirm the god in each of us to be one, the same in all. It would be taken as certain if no one asked How or…”

Both passages discuss the nature of a transcendent, immaterial principle (the One in Plotinus, God in the Christian mystical text) that is indivisible and not subject to spatial limitations. They both emphasize the unity and wholeness of this principle, which is beyond the physical realm.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 613

“Section 6 6. The Intellectual Beings, thus, are multiple and one; in virtue of their infinite nature their unity is a multiplicity, many in one and one over many, a unit-plurality. They act as entire upon entire; even upon the partial thing…”

Both passages discuss the concept of an indivisible, omnipresent principle that transcends physical dimensions and extension. Plotinus describes the soul as an indivisible entity present at every point in the universe, while the second passage discusses God's omnipresence and the nature of Christ as a manifestation of divine love that is everywhere present.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 707 (part 1)

“Section 3 3. What then must The Unity be, what nature is left for it? No wonder that to state it is not easy; even Being and Form are not easy, though we have a way, an approach through the Ideas. The soul or mind reaching towards the fo…”

Both passages discuss the omnipresence and transcendence of the divine, emphasizing that God is not confined to any specific place but is the essence of all existence. They explore the nature of the divine as both immanent and transcendent, using metaphors and philosophical reasoning to convey these concepts.

◆platonism|Plato: Timaeus|Section 1w

“in space ], grasping existence in some way or other, or it could not be at all. But true and exact reason, vindicating the nature of true being, maintains that while two things [i.e. the image and space] are different they cannot exist on…”

Both passages explore the relationship between the divine and the material world, discussing the nature of existence and the role of a higher power in shaping the physical realm. They both use analogies involving light and space to illustrate complex metaphysical concepts.

◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori)|Fifth Dialogueb

“There is a sun whose rays extend to the back of the earth, and there is a legend which says: "Idem semper ubique totum." Cic . I perceive that the interpretation of it will be difficult. Tans . The more excellent the meaning the less obv…”

Both passages use the metaphor of the sun to explain a divine or mystical concept. In Passage A, the sun's influence on the earth is likened to the effect of a divine object on an enthusiast, while in Passage B, the sun is compared to Christ and the divine love, illustrating the omnipresence and influence of the divine.

◆western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi)|4. The Tetragramb

“The Great Magical Agent is the fourth emanation of the life-principle, of which the sun is the third form - see the initiates of the school of Alexandria and the dogma of Hermes Trismegistus. In this way the eye of the world, as the ancien…”

Both passages explore the concept of divine immanence and transcendence through the metaphor of the sun. They describe how the divine presence permeates the universe, using solar imagery to illustrate the relationship between the divine and the created world.