THE TEACHINGS OF JACOB BOEHME, A ROSICRUCIAN OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

A STUDY OF HIS VIEWS AND SOME EXTRACTS FROM HIS WRITINGS BY FRANZ HARTMANN, M.D.

Jacob Boehme, “the god-taught philosopher” and greatest German mystic of the sixteenth century, was a poor and uneducated shoemaker; nevertheless he wrote a great many books, and his writings have furnished the foundations upon which most of the greatest German philosophers have built the systems of their philosophies, a fact that can be explained by the circumstance that his writings contained great palpable truths, which came to him not from hearsay or the reading of books, but were revealed to his inner consciousness by the divine light of spiritual illumination.

He was not what is usually called a “spiritual medium”; his knowledge was his own and his enlightenment due to the growth and culture of his soul. He was a Rosicrucian of the highest order, as is also indicated by the Rosicrucian emblems by which his portrait is surrounded.

Boehme was born in the year 1575 at Alt-Seidenburg, a place near the town of Goerlitz in Germany, the son of poor parents. In his youth he herded cattle, was then sent to school, where he learned to read and to write, and entered as an apprentice a shoemaker’s shop.

There he was visited by what appears to have been an Adept, who told him that he would be a great man and that the world would wonder about him; after giving him some good advice regarding his future conduct, the visitor disappeared.

This event made a great impression upon Boehme’s mind. He led a very pious life, studied the Bible, meditated and prayed, and in the year 1610 his third illumination and initiation into the divine mysteries took place.

Beginning from this date up to the time of his death in 1624 he wrote some thirty books full of divine revelations regarding God and the angels, heaven and hell, and the secrets of nature.

His writings are not merely of a scientific kind, but they are full of a truly religious spirit; and he used to say to those who merely wanted to "know": "Of what use to me is a science, which is not at the same time a religion?” meaning: What would it benefit me to merely seek for the gratification of my scientific curiosity concerning that which belongs to the mysteries of divinity, if I were not shown the way to arrive at that state of divinity in which I can myself experience these mysteries and enjoy divine life?

The growth of the intellect ought to be accompanied by the elevation of the mind and the expansion of the soul.

His teachings were too deep to be understood by the bigoted, arrogant and narrow-minded Protestant clergy of the town in which he lived; and as he claimed that man could attain salvation without the intervention of priests, ceremonies and vicarious atonement, he roused the jealousy of the head parson, and became an object of his hatred and severe persecution.

This “servant of Christ” used his influence with the authorities to get the poor shoemaker banished from the town. He had to flee to escape imprisonment in a dungeon; but public opinion was in his favor, the citizens insisted on having him recalled, and brought him back the next day. The hatred of the clergy, however, continued until the time of Boehme’s death, which took place on November 20, 1624.

His enemy, the head parson, Gregorius Richter, refused a decent burial to the body; and as the City Council of Goerlitz, in constant fear of the infuriated priest, were uncertain what to do, the corpse remained unburied for many days, until it was finally laid to rest in a solemn manner by the intervention and order of the Catholic Count Hannibal; but the parson pretended to be sick, and did not attend.*

(*Read my book: The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme, Kegan Paul, 1891.)

Boehme’s writings are not merely of a "religious” kind; that is to say, they do not merely appeal to the emotions; they are highly scientific; but the science contained therein is "occult,” because it requires for its understanding a higher state of consciousness than the ordinary one of the physical brain and the higher power of perceiving and grasping spiritual truths.

Therefore the writings of Boehme are at the present time read by only few people and understood by still fewer. The mortal mind knows nothing about the things which belong to the Higher Self; it is blind in the Kingdom of God. Boehme says:

« These writings transcend the horizon of intellectual reasoning and their interior meaning is beyond the realm of scientific speculation and argumentation; their comprehension requires the mind to be in a godlike state, capable of being illumined by the spirit of truth. »

(Letters, xviii. 9)

The absence of this higher perception and the non-realization of the divine nature of man prevents material science from entering the kingdom of eternal truth.

« Science cannot abolish faith in the all-seeing God, without worshipping in His place the blind intellect. »

(Four Contemplations)

But in speaking about "faith” he does not refer to a dead faith in the veracity of some dogma or to a blind religious emotion, but to the true living power of faith in God, whose wisdom pervades the universe with its glory.

« The true faith is that the spirit of truth within the soul enters with its will and aspiration into that which one does neither see nor feel. »

(Four Contemplations, 85)

Real occult knowledge therefore does not arise from any external or internal objective observation; but it is the interior revelation of the light of eternal truth within the self-consciousness of the human soul.

« The true understanding (of occult truths) is born of God.  It is not the product of the schools in which human science is taught.  I do not treat intellectual acquisitions with contempt, and if I had obtained a more elaborate education it would surely have been an advantage to me, while my mind received the divine gift; but it pleases God to turn the wisdom of this world into foolishness, and to give His strength to the weak, so that all may bow down before Him. »

(Forty Questions, xxxvii. 20)

It would be erroneous to suppose that Jacob Boehme was what is usually called a “spiritual medium,” writing mechanically under the influence of some astral entity and not understanding the source of his inspirations.

He, like H. P. Blavatsky and other initiates of that kind, understood well enough the truths that were revealed to him by his “Master,” whenever he opened his mind to the light of the Higher Self; but when his consciousness resided within his lower self, these high truths naturally appeared beyond his grasp.

« I say it before God and testify to it before His judgment seat, where everything must appear, that I in my human (mortal) self do not beforehand know what I shall have to write; but whenever I am writing the Spirit dictates to me what to write, and shows me everything in such a wonderful clearness, that I often do not know whether or not I am with my consciousness in this or in another world.

The more I seek the more I find, and I am continually penetrating deeper; so that it often seems to me as if my sinful person were too low and unworthy for the reception of a knowledge of such high and exalted mysteries; but in such moments the Spirit unfolds his banner and says to me: Behold I in this shall thou live eternally and be crowned therewith. »

(Letters, ii. 10)

This, however, is the experience of every trained occultist or great genius, and it proves the existence of a double nature in man, or, perhaps, to express it more correctly, of two opposite poles of the human soul, each having its own special qualities, sensations and powers; the one for ever striving to rise upwards towards the kingdom of the spirit, the other being attached to matter and gravitating downwards to the realm of the illusions of sense.

Real occult knowledge can therefore only be attained by uniting one’s consciousness with that of one’s own divine nature. No one can know the kingdom of God unless he enters it, and as this kingdom is the kingdom of love in which there is no room for selfish desires or self-gratification, it is open only to those who have (at least temporarily during states of religious exaltation) abandoned all thoughts of self or the acquisition of personal advantages, be they intellectual or material.

The true occultist is he who lives in the spirit of truth, the spirit of truth being alive and conscious in him. The real occultist should not wish to attain spiritual knowledge or power for the purpose of gaining material profits; he should not wish to become celebrated or renowned, but rather wish that his knowledge should be taken away from him, unless it would lead to the glorification of the Higher Self, the divinity in humanity.

« I have never desired to know anything about divine mysteries, neither did I understand how I might seek or find them.  I sought for nothing except the heart of Christ (the centre of divine wisdom), and I earnestly asked God for His Holy Spirit and mercy, that He might bless and conduct me and take away from me all that could avert me from Him, so that I might not live in my own (personal) will, but in His. While engaged in such earnest seeking, the door was opened to me, so that in one quarter of an hour I saw and learned more than if I had studied for many years at the universities. »

(Letters, xii. 6, 7)

In the light of truth that belongs to the Higher Self, the desires and illusions of the carnal mind disappear like the mist before the rays of the rising sun. If the lower self could absorb some of this spiritual light and imprison it within the carnal mind, there would arise the danger of its desecration by the misuse of divine powers.

This would lead to black magic and eternal perdition. Divine powers ought to be employed solely in the service of God; that is to say, in the service of that which is good and useful for humanity and the whole creation

« Hundreds of times have I prayed to God, begging Him to take away from me all knowledge, if it did not serve for His glorification and for the amelioration of the condition of my brothers, and that He should retain me only in His love. But the more I prayed, the more the internal fire within my body became ignited, and in such a state of ignition I did execute my writings. »

(Letters, xii. 60)

« Above all, examine yourself for what purpose you desire to know the mysteries of God and whether you are prepared to employ that which you receive for the glorification of God and the benefit of your neighbor. Are you ready to die entirely to your own selfish and earthly will, and do you earnestly desire to become one with the Spirit?  He who has no such high purpose is not fit to receive such divine knowledge. »

(Clovis, ii. 3)

Thus Jacob Boehme, like every true occultist, insists upon the necessity of self-sacrifice, by which the “mystical death” is attained and that spiritual regeneration takes place, which leads to the birth of new faculties and the awakening of the higher powers which lie dormant within the soul.

The school through which an occultist has to p>ass consists in a constant battle of the higher nature with the lower one, not by a mere suppression of the lower, but by a rising of the mind above the region of the lower, by means of which the victory is obtained.

Thus it will be seen that not everybody is ripe for a thorough understanding of Boehme’s writings. It is said that “to him who desires nothing for himself, everything shall be given.” But the majority of researchers seek something for themselves, and many read books on occult subjects merely for the purpose of criticizing them or to see whether they contain something that agrees with their own prejudices or views.

Others cling all their life blindly to the coat-tail of some accepted authority, and only few can stand upon their own legs.

The final object of the real occultist is not to become a blind believer in the doctrines of somebody or to be called a follower of this or that teacher; but to travel oneself the path shown by the sages, and the study of their writings is a means of opening the mind and rendering it capable of the self-perception and realization of divine truth. Therefore Boehme says in regard to the reading of his books:

« He who reads them and does not understand them should not throw them aside, imagining that they can never be understood. He should try to change his win and elevate his soul to God, asking Him for grace and understanding, and then read again.

He win then perceive more truth than he did before, until at last the power of God will manifest itself in him, and he will be drawn into the depths of divine knowledge, into the supernatural (spiritual) foundation, into the eternal unity of God. Then will he hear actual but inexpressible words of God, which will lead him through the divine radiation of the celestial light, existing even within the grossest forms of terrestrial matter, and from thence back again unto God, and the Spirit of God will search all things in and with him. »

(Clavis, Preface, 5) *

(* “He who sees me (the universal spirit) in everything, is the true seer.” Bhagavad Gita, c. xiii. 27.)

If we take a cursory glance at the teachings of Boehme (a detailed examination not being practicable within the limits of this article), we find that they fully harmonize and are even identical with those of modem theosophy, although their mode of expression differs from that of H. P. Blavatsky and her followers. They all agree in regard to the unity of the All and that the visible universe is not anything essentially different from the Deity, but a manifestation of His creative power. The Godhead itself is unknowable to the mortal mind.

« We are ourselves only parts of the whole, and we can conceive and speak only of parts, but not of the whole. »

(Threefold Life, ii. 66)

« I advise the reader, whenever I am speaking of the Godhead and its great mystery, not to conceive of what I say as if it were intended to be understood in a terrestrial sense. I am often forced to give terrestrial names to that which is celestial, so that the reader may form some conception and by meditating about it penetrate within the inner foundation. »

(Grace, iii. 19)

« Within the groundlessness (Non-Being) there is nothing but eternal tranquility, an eternal rest without beginning and without end.  It is true that even there God has a will, but this power can be no object of our investigation.  We conceive of this will as constituting the foundation of the Godhead.  It has no origin (in any outward thing), but conceives itself within itself. »

(Menschwerdung, xxi. 1)

« God is the will of eternal wisdom and the wisdom generated from Him is His revelation. This revelation takes place through a threefold spirit. First by means of the eternal Will in its aspect as the Father; next by means of the same eternal Will in its aspect as divine love, the Son, the centre or heart of the Father, and finally by means of the Spirit, the power issuing from Will and Love: the Holy Spirit. »

(Mysterium magnum, i. 2, 4)

This is the great Mystery of the triunity of the Godhead, the threefold aspect of the creative Spirit.

« Within the groundlessness (the Absolute) the divine Will conceives within itself the desire to manifest itself.  This desire or love is the power conceived by the Will or Father; it is the Son, heart or seat (the first foundation within the non-foundation or groundlessness), the first beginning within the Will. The Will is outspoken by means of this conceiving itself, and this issuing of the Will in speaking or breathing is the Spirit of Divinity. »

(Mysterium, i. 2)

According to Boehme, the universe has no existence separate from its creator, the divine Word.  It is comparable to a mirror in which the triune Spirit beholds its own image.

« Wisdom stands before God like a mirror or reflection wherein the Godhead sees its own self and the wonders of eternity, which have neither a beginning nor an end in time. She is like a mirror of the Godhead, and like any other mirror she merely keeps still; she does not produce an image, but simply conceives it. »

(Menschwerdung, i. 1, 12)

All natural things have their prototypes in the higher invisible worlds; each material thing is an expression of an idea, a materialized idea.  Man likewise is such a product of thought, and before he assumed his present material state his body was of an ethereal kind.

« In the creatures of this world we find everywhere two states of being united in one; first, an eternal spiritual being, and secondly, one that has a beginning and is consequently temporal and corruptible. Behold a tree. Outwardly it has a hard and rough shell, seemingly lifeless; but the body of the tree has a living power, which breaks through the hard bark and generates branches and leaves, which, however, all are rooted in the body of the tree.

Thus it is with the whole body of this world, wherein also the holy light of God appears to have died out, because it has withdrawn into its own principle and therefore it seems dead, although it still exists in God.  Love, however, again and again breaks through this very house of death and generates holy and celestial branches in this great tree, which root in the light. »

(Aurora, xxiv. 7)

« Primitive original man in his paradisiacal state was a spiritual being, his body was indestructible and luminous;  divine love illumined his interior, as the sun illuminates the world. The spiritual man (comparable to a sphere of pure light and intelligence) kept the external one imprisoned within itself and penetrated it.  Thus a piece of iron glows and becomes luminous if penetrated by the heat of a fire; so that it seems as if it were the fire itself; but when the fire is withdrawn or becomes extinct, only the dark black iron appears. »

{Mysterium, xvi. 7)

The mind of paradisiacal man was innocent and pure, unsophisticated and like that of a child. There was in him no knowledge of evil and consequently no knowledge of good, no avarice, pride, or anger; but a pure enjoyment of love. Then came the desire for the assertion of individualized existence, which was followed in the course of ages by his descent into matter and his fall into generation.

In his godlike divine state he had the power over all things, because all things existed in him and there was nothing external that could have done him any injury; his rule extended into heaven and all over the lower world, over all the elements and the stars. Fire, air, water or earth could not injure him, his body could pass through rocks, and all that lived stood in awe of him. But for all that man, though being endowed with great splendor, did not yet enjoy true similarity with God.

While at one with the universal spirit, his consciousness and the extent of his powers were universal; but the more he became individualized and his spirit imprisoned within the evermore narrowing shell created by his delusion of self and separateness, the more did the sphere of his consciousness become restricted and the extent of his powers limited. He lost his ethereal condition and fell into a material state.

« The angelic image then became entirely hidden. The creatures (elementals) obtained power in man.  There are persons who live in the quality of a snake, and are full of cunning and poisonous malice; others live in the quality of a toad or a dog, a bear or wolf; or one may have in him the quality of some amiable tame animal.  All men are outwardly formed in the human image; but within the quality is seated the animal. »

(Grace, vii. 3, 4)

Formerly man procreated himself, being male and female in one; but as he became more material a division into the male and the female sex took place.  Formerly his will and thought were in full harmony; but now they became divided.

« If God had made man for this earthly, corruptible, poverty-stricken, sickly and animal life, He would not have put him into Paradise. If He had originally intended that mankind should procreate themselves like the brutes, He would have made them into men and women already at the start. »

(Mysterium, xviii. 3)

It would require too much space to enter into an examination of Boehme’s description of the "Seven Qualities" or principles of eternal nature; it must suffice to say that they are the seven powers called into existence by the action of the Word (Logos), and they correspond to the seven Tattwas of Indian philosophy. Boehme states them as follows:

1.   Desire (Will or Spirit).

2.   Motion.

3.   Sensation.

4.   Life (Consciousness or Fire).

5.   Love (Sound).

6.   Intelligence (Light).

7.   Wisdom (Substantiality or Corporeity).

« The first three principles are merely qualities conducive to life; the fourth is life itself; but the fifth is the true spirit, having within itself all the powers of divine wisdom. »

(Grace, iii. 26)

The seventh principle is the state of being wherein all the other principles manifest their activity like the soul in the body. It is called Nature, and also the essential eternal wisdom or body of God, and in it all the celestial figures take form. From it arises all beauty, all joy. If this spirit (in everything) did not exist, God would not be perceptible.

« Wisdom is the substantiality of the spirit.  The spirit wears it as a garment and becomes revealed thereby. »

(Threefold Life, v. 50)

Thus it appears that man's perfection consists in getting divine wisdom revealed in him.  If this takes place his nature becomes transformed, and this is called the “spiritual regeneration of man.”  It is brought about by divine wisdom becoming manifested in man, so that his whole being becomes filled with God and luminous, as the darkness becomes luminous and disappears when it is filled with light.

We behold the external world with its stars and the four elements wherein man and all creatures live. This is not God and is not called God; God dwells therein, but the essence of the external world does not comprehend Him.

”Eternally the light shines into darkness; but the darkness comprehendeth it not.”

Nature is not God, neither can man in his aspect as a product of nature become God. We cannot in our human selfhood enter into the Godhead, but that which in man is divine may become manifested in him.  Man has a threefold aspect. In one aspect he dwells continually in the higher worlds, the kingdom of light, and is a member of the body of Christ; in another aspect he is surrounded by the powers of darkness and subject to their influence, and in still another aspect he is like an animal made of mortal flesh.

Nevertheless there are not three men in one human being; he is only one.  His spiritual regeneration does not depend on his being learned and on his scientific acquisitions; but there must be an intense inward desire to become one with the highest aspect of himself, to have that highest ideal realized within himself, so that it may take substantiality and form within and become his own real self.

« If the soul is to receive actual advantage and fruition from prayer, then must her will turn away from all creatures and terrestrial things and stand in her purity before God. Let not the flesh with its desires cooperate in your meditation or prayer, for earthly desires may not be introduced into that which is divine. »

(Prayer, xxxiv)

The only Yoga practice worthy of any consideration is that in which no selfish thought or purpose prevails.  All practices, such as prayers or ceremonies, the forming of “circles,” holding meetings for communion of thoughts, for the purpose of obtaining some selfish or material object, even if it were only for the purpose of attaining psychic powers or with a view to seek for one’s own salvation is a misuse of divine powers and a crime, leading ultimately to “black magic” if not to physical disease, insanity or moral destruction.

"Only the pure in heart can see God.”

« Prayer is the union with God effected by the sacrifice of one’s personal will.  The will necessary to pray is far too weak to accomplish anything while it originates in some personal desire; but if it is acted upon by the divine power within, it becomes fiery, strong, and God Himself is acting in it. »

(Prayer, xxix)

To beg is not praying.  If one begs God for some personal favor to obtain some advantage, one loves one’s advantage better than God.

The process of spiritual regeneration or adeptship is not the work of a moment. The regenerated inner man is not a mere spirit or bodiless soul, but a substantial being clothed with light. Spiritual regeneration, just like physical growth, has its stages of development.

Within the earthly man of flesh a new spiritual man is born with divine powers of perception and a divine will, killing day by day the lusts of the flesh and causing the inner heavenly world to become manifest in the external world, approaching gradually the divine state. No one, however, should imagine himself secure even after having attained to spiritual regeneration, for he may lose it again.

The soul during her terrestrial life is fettered by .three fearful chains; the first is the influence of the dark world, whose centre is the delusion of self from which arise selfish desires; the second is the devil of ambition with its consequent vices (pride, envy, avarice, anger, intolerance, etc.), and the third and most dangerous is the lust of the corruptible mortal flesh and blood which is full of evil inclinations, together with the region of the stars (the astral plane) wherein, as in an immense ocean, the soul is floating, and which causes her to become daily infected and inflamed in sin.

« The poor soul is so much blinded as not even to recognize the heavy chains by which she is bound.  If the outer man could have his eyes spiritually opened, he would be terrified on seeing the horrible influences and shapes by which this world is surrounded. »

(Incarnation, xi. 6)

To those who have some knowledge of a higher state of existence, life in this material, mortal and corruptible body is not an object of joy or very desirable, and the object of our life upon this earth should be to die continually in regard to our sense of separation and isolation and to live only in the love of God and to labor in His service for the benefit of all creatures.

Jacob Boehme does not advocate the belief in a personal universal God, nor in a personal universal devil, which would involve a contradiction in terms, because personality implies limitation and a limited being cannot be universal; but he has a great deal to say about good and evil angels and spirits, and beings in whom the principle of evil will has become manifest and who are therefore the personal representations of evil or devilish powers, such as lust, pride, avarice, envy, hatred, malice, etc.

God and the Christ, angels and devils reside within ourselves. Like attracts like; we cannot behold an angel or devil, unless there is something angelic or devilish in us. The devil (in man) is not suffering from any pain coming from the outside; the cause of his suffering is in himself.

« The four lower principles without the eternal light are hell. »

(Threefold Life, ii. 50)

« That which malicious persons of this world do in their malignity and falsehood is also done by the devils in the world of darkness. »

(Six Theosophical Points, ix. 18)

« Each person that causes suffering to another is the other’s devil. »

(Threefold Life, xviL 10)

The possession of a physical body is man’s protection against becoming a devil.

« God causes the soul to enter into flesh and blood, so that she may not so very easily become capable of receiving and becoming subject to the powers of evil. Many a soul would become a devil in her malignity if it were not that external life did prevent it. »

(Forty Questions, xvi. 12)

When the soul leaves the physical body at the time of death this protection is lost and man remains still a being having a twofold aspect, namely, as a celestial spirit according to the divine principle in him, and secondly as a super sensual but nevertheless material being, according to his astral body. Each of these essences now gravitates towards the plane to which it belongs according to its qualities.

From these opposite tendencies or attractions results the rupture or division of the principles and the judgment of the soul. If the higher tendencies prevail, the soul will leave behind all that is selfish and impure in her nature and gradually rise to the higher planes, to serve God in His holy temple; if the lower tendencies preponderate, she will not be able to pass through the door. After death man remains in that state which he has acquired here.

« When the external kingdom of this world deserts the soul, she will, according to her nature, either enter the dark realm or the kingdom of light. To whatever plane she has surrendered herself during her earthly existence, therein she will remain after the external kingdom has departed from her. »

(Mysterium, xv. 24)

« Here in this life of the soul is the balance.  If she is evil, she can be reborn in love; but when the balance breaks and the scale has turned, then will she be in that principle which is prevailing in her. »

(Forty Questions, xxiii. 10)

« During her terrestrial life the soul can change her w ill; but after the death of the body there remains nothing within her power by which she can change her will. »

(Tilken, i. 267)

« If the spirit remains unregenerated within its original principle there will appear after the rupture of the form such a creature as corresponds to the character acquired during terrestrial life. If, for instance, during life you have acquired the envious disposition of a dog, your animal soul (kama-rupa) will assume the shape of a dog. »

(Incarnation, xi. 6)

« The godless soul is filled with her own infamy, and there is no room in her for the saving power of divine love. She is, then, like a person dreaming of being in great distress and anguish. Not being able to free herself from the delusion of self, she cannot find relief anywhere, and seeing no help she despairs and surrenders herself to her selfish desires. Whatever folly she has carried out in her life, she now enacts it there. »

(Threefold Life, xviii. 10)

But if a man has a constant aspiration for that which is noble and divine, and if this desire overcomes his evil tendencies, and if he is ready to leave behind him everything for the sake of God, he will not die eternally, but the terrestrial kingdom will pass away from him, it having been to him only an obstacle and hindrance, and he will assume a luminous body and become filled with joy.

(The Occult Review, July 1911, p.9-20)