The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme · 155 of 159 · tr. Franz Hartmann
Chapter 14 (part 8)
, in the heavenly essentiality (Devachan)—cannot be disturbed by anybody, unless they should wish it themselves, in case that they were very favourably inclined towards some particular soul in harmony with their own.
They do not trouble themselves about terrestrial things, unless it be for the glorification of God.
In that case they will be indefatigable in revealing things in a magical way." ( Forty Questions , xxvi.
22.) In regard to the intercourse between mortals and that class of spirits Boehme says in a letter:— "You are asking questions of things which I cannot know, because for that purpose I would have to be myself within the departed soul, and the spirit of that soul would have to be my own; but as we are all having one body and one spirit in Christ, therefore all of us may see in Christ out of one spirit and enjoy His knowledge.
Thus our soul is in relationship with the souls of the dead.
They cannot come to us, but we may penetrate unto them." ( Forty Questions , xxv.
1.) Fully sanctified souls are in possession of an enormous amount of self-knowledge; others have less.
"The soul which in this body has entered into the new birth and penetrated to God through the doors of p.
304 the depth has great wisdom and knowledge, even as regards the heavens; for she has come from the womb of the virgin, wherein have been unfolded the eternal miracles of God, and the splendour of the Holy Trinity shines out of her.
But we err if we attribute great wisdom to a soul that has hardly escaped from the clutches of the devil, after having left a world wherein she cared nothing about divine wisdom, but merely followed her own desires." ( Three Principles , xix.
61.) It is an absurdity to believe that the departed souls of God, the saints, could petition God in regard to our necessities, or argue the case with Him, or that they could put into motion the eternal and infinite mercy of God.
"The departed souls do not petition God on our behalf.
Why should they do so?
Our salvation does not depend on their begging, but on our entering.
If any one puts his will into God, then will God help him.
His arms are outstretched by day and night for the purpose of aiding man.
Should then a soul be so presumptuous as to make out of God an over-severe Judge, unwilling to receive a converted sinner?" ( Forty Questions , xxvi.
23.) It is explainable that the souls of deceased saints have performed what is called "miracles;" but this did not take place after the manner in which it is commonly believed, but by a conjunction of the faith (will) of the living with the faith of the departed.
"We do not deny that (as it is taught by Popery) great departed saints have appeared to many persons and performed miracles.
This is true, although it is now denied by many; but it belongs to a different A B C (to another department of occult science) than is known to those who affirm it, or to those who deny." ( Forty Questions , xix.
63.) p.
305 "The reason why our forefathers have sometimes appeared after death in some wonderful manner is to be found in the faith of the living; for faith is a power that may move mountains.
The faith of these living persons was still good and pure, and they did not worship their bellies or adore earthly show.
Therefore their faith penetrated into heaven; i.e.
, into the one element, to the saints.
Thus one faith grasped the other; for the saints also were reacting upon that strong faith, especially those saints who while upon the earth had converted many to God.
Thus some wonderful works have been accomplished by invoking their memory." ( Three Principles , xviii.
80.) "One faith grasps the other.
In Western Hermetic Qabalah, the specific harmonizing cosmic force symbolised by Tiphareth, the central Sephira of the Tree of Life — the equilibriating, compensating, healing, redeeming, and purifying factor of the universe, recognised by the occultist as one power among the hierarchy of supreme cosmic forces rather than assigned the exclusive position it holds for the Christian mystic. Distinct from logos (the ordering principle through which the universe was created, not this specific mediating/healing Sephirotic force) and trinity (a claim about the Godhead's internal three-personed structure, not a single emanation's function within a tenfold system).
Christ functions as the mediating and unifying principle through which all souls share one body and one spirit, enabling mutual knowledge and penetration to the departed, serving as the harmonizing cosmic force.
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.
Miracles are explained by a conjunction of the faith of the living with the faith of the departed.
Eckhart's Abgeschiedenheit/Gelassenheit — radical letting-go of will, image, and grasping that opens the soul to God; distinct from inner_silence (quietness) and from material renunciation, and adjacent to Sufi tark and Buddhist non-grasping as a practice rather than a metaphysical claim.
Salvation requires putting one's will into God rather than following one's own desires.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The passage emphasizes God's active role in aiding man and His readiness to receive a converted sinner.
A non-physical dimension of reality, interpenetrating the physical world, populated by forces, beings, and forms ordinarily imperceptible to physical senses and instruments, that can affect embodied life without being seen — Dion Fortune's 'mind-side of nature,' the astral plane of Western esotericism broadly construed. Distinct from astral_light (a specific transmitting medium or fluid operating within this realm, not the realm itself), pleroma (the divine fullness at the summit of a cosmic hierarchy, not a parallel plane coextensive with ordinary life), and animism (particular indwelling spirits bound to specific natural objects, not the general unseen dimension itself).
The passage extensively describes the heavenly realm (Devachan), the souls of the departed, and the 'one element' into which faith penetrates, all constituting a non-physical dimension populated by beings that can affect embodied life.
The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire.
Faith is equated with will ('the faith (will) of the living') and described as 'a power that may move mountains,' making cultivated volition the primary instrument of spiritual operation and the mechanism by which the living connect with the departed.
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
[auto] The passage explicitly states that fully sanctified souls possess an enormous amount of self-knowledge and contrasts this with those who lack divine wisdom.
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 soul that enters the new birth has the splendour of the Holy Trinity shining out of her.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
The text mentions souls revealing things in a magical way through the conjunction of faith.