Jacob Boehme
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Contents
Jacob Boehme- "THE TEUTONIC THEOSOPHER"
This short file contains a selected words of Boehme from the book called, THE SUPERSENSUAL LIFE, that I found on the net. Perhaps with some influence by Eckhart, this ordinary man in his background resembles Myokonin of Japan in many ways. (More of his background is found in the teutonic theosopher section of this file.) Although his ‘God’ is a name different from ‘Amidha Buddha’, equating ‘God’ to Love/compassion, and surrendering of self to receive ‘God’ is the same.
Compared to some approaches as found in Zen and/or Theravada, Boehme provides us a different flavor of to describe what ‘his’ awakened life is. Yet, as found in the following, the essence seems to be identical in my eyes. Interestingly, even the notion of ‘nothingness’ and non-duality which is more commonly found in Mahayana Budhism is shared by him. Also, the way of surrendering, and the way for the breakthrough to throw away one’s sense of self give me the same process I am familiar with, not to mention the world of bliss.
Because of wordiness to my taste – compared to Zen, I did not read but skimmed only a book or two after this. But, to close the loop between Boehme and Myokonin, it may be quite interesting to compare Boehme with Myokonin to see how similar or different they are. As Boehme points, with will (of God), the door will open. Good luck on your journey!
- Kio Suzaki (August, 2003)
"Except ye be converted, and become as little Children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."
For thou hast received Nothing for thine own, and art Nothing to all Things; and all Things are as Nothing to thee.
Our Conversation is in Heaven"; and also, "Ye are the Temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." So then True Christians are the very Temples of the Holy Ghost, Who dwelleth in them; that is, the Holy Ghost dwelleth in the Will, and the Creatures dwelleth in the Body.
thou standest in a daily dying from the Creatures, and in a daily ascending into Heaven in thy Will; which Will is also the Will of thy Heavenly Father.
thou shalt have continual Cause to hate thySELF in the Creature, and to seek the Eternal Rest which is in Christ
"In Me ye may have Rest, but in the World ye shall have Anxiety; In Me ye may have Peace, but in the World ye shall have Tribulation."
If thou dost once every Hour throw thyself by Faith beyond all Creatures, beyond and above all sensual Perception and Apprehension, yea, above Discourse and Reasoning into the abyssal Mercy of God, into the Sufferings of our Lord, and into the Fellowship of His Interceding, and yieldeth thySELF fully and absolutely thereinto; then thou shalt receive Power from above to rule over Death and the Devil, and so subdue Hell and the World under thee: And then thou mayest subsist in all Temptations, and be the brighter for them.
Sweetness whereof no Tongue can express
There is no other Way for thee that I know, but to present the Body whereof thou complainest (which is the Beast to be sacrificed) "a living Sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God" ((surrender))
It would not take that as any Harm done to it, but would rather rejoice that it is become worthy to be like unto the Image of our Lord Jesus Christ, being transformed from that of the World: And it would be most willing to bear that Cross after our Lord; merely that our Lord might bestow upon it the Influence of His sweet and precious Love. ((Like Myokonin!))
Be that unto it, even as unto our Lord Christ, when He was reproached, reviled and crucified by the World; and when the Anger of God so fiercely assaulted Him for our Sake. Now what did He do under this most terrible Assault both from without and from within? Why, He commended his Soul into the Hands of his Father, and so departed from the Anguish of this World into the Eternal Joy. Do thou likewise; and His Death shall become thy Life. ((Christ was a Myokonin – so to speak!))
It would penetrate into itself; it would sink into the great Love of God; it would be sustained and refreshed by the most sweet name JESUS; and it would see and find within itself a new World springing forth as through the Anger of God, into the Love and Joy Eternal. And then should a Man wrap his Soul in this, even in the great Love of God, and clothe himself
whether the Body be in Hell or on Earth, all is alike to him; for whether it be there or here, his Mind is still in the greatest Love of God; which is no less than to say, that he is in Heaven.
And so shalt thou be able to stand under every Temptation, and to hold out to the End by the Means hereof in the Course of Life above the World, and above Sense. In this Course thou wilt hate thyself; and thou wilt also love thyself; I say love thyself, and that even more than ever thou didst yet.
In loving thyself, thou lovest not thySELF as thine OWN; but as
given thee from the Love of God thou lovest the Divine Ground in thee; by
which and in which thou lovest the Divine Wisdom, the Divine Goodness, the
Divine Beauty; thou lovest also by it God's Works of Wonders; and in this
Ground thou lovest likewise thy Brethren. But in hating thySELF, thou hatest
only that which is thine OWN, and wherein the Evil sticks
close to thee. ((As in repentance and bliss in Myokonin))
And this thou dost, that so thou mayest wholly destroy that which thou callest thine;
as when thou sayest I or MYSELF do this, or do that. All which is wrong, and a
downright Mistake in thee; for nothing canst thou properly call thine but
the Evil SELF, neither canst thou do any Thing of thyself that is to
be accounted of. This SELF therefore thou must labor wholly to destroy
IN THEE, that so thou mayest become a Ground wholly Divine. There is,
there can be no SELFishness in Love; they are opposite to each other. Love,
that is, Divine Love (of which only we are now discoursing) hates all Egoity,
hates all that which we call I, or IHOOD; hates all such Restrictions and Confinements,
yea even all that springs from a contracted Spirit, or this evil SELF-hood,
because it is a hateful and deadly Thing.
If Love dwelt not in Trouble, It could have Nothing to love; but when Its Substance which It loves, namely, the poor Soul, is in Trouble and Pain, Love hath thence Cause to love this, Its own Substance, and to deliver it from its Pain; that so the Soul,itself, may by the indwelling Love be again Beloved. Neither could any one know what Love is, if there were no Hatred; or what Friendship is, if there were no Foe to contend with. Or in one Word, for Love to be known It must have Something which It might Love, and where Its Virtue and Power may be manifested, by working out Deliverance to the Beloved from all Pain and Trouble. ((Finite and Infinite))
The Virtue of Love is NOTHING and ALL, or that Nothing visible out of which All Things proceed; Its Power is through All Things; Its Height is as high as God; Its Greatness is as great as God. Its Virtue is the Principle of all Principles;
God is Love, and Love is God. Love being the highest Principle, is the Virtue of all Virtues; from whence they all flow forth. Love being the greatest Majesty, is the Power of all Powers, from whence they severally operate; and It is the Holy Magical Root, or Ghostly Power from whence all the Wonders of God have been wrought by the Hands of his elect Servants, in all their Generations successively. Whosoever finds It, finds Nothing and All Things.
in that I said, Its Virtue is Nothing, or that NOTHING which is the BEGINNING of All Things, thou must understand It thus; when thou art gone forth wholly from the Creature, and from that which is visible, and art become Nothing to all that is Nature and Creature, then thou art in that Eternal One, which is God Himself.
Thou shalt then see also in
all the Works of God, how Love hath poured Itself into all Things, and penetrateth
all Things, and is the most inward and most outward Ground in all Things -
inwardly in the Virtue and Power of every Thing, and outwardly in the Figure
and Form thereof. ((The same as the Buddha nature))
there is a certain Greatness and Latitude of Heart in Love, which is
inexpressible; for It enlarges the Soul as wide as the whole Creation of God.
And this shall be truly experienced by thee, beyond all Words, when the Throne
of Love shall be set up in thy Heart.
He that findeth it, findeth a Supernatural Supersensual Abyss,
which hath no Ground or Byss to stand on, and where there is no Place
to dwell in; and he findeth also Nothing is like unto It, and
therefore It may fitly be compared to Nothing; for It is deeper than
any Thing, and is as NoThing with respect to All Things,
forasmuch as It is not comprehensible by any of them. And because It is NoThing
respectively, It is therefore free from All Things;
It hath been the BEGINNING of All Things; and It ruleth All Things. It is also the END of All Things; and will thence comprehend All Things within Its Circle. All Things are from It, and in It, and by It. If thou findest It, thou comest into that Ground from whence All Things are proceeded, and wherein they subsist; and thou art in It a KING over all the Works of God.
This Partition is the Creaturely Will in thee; and this can be broken by nothing but by the Grace of SELF-DENIAL, which is the Entrance into the True Following of Christ, and totally removed by Nothing but a perfect Conformity with the Divine Will.
melt down thine OWN Will,
There is Nothing more required of thee at first, than not to resist this Grace, Which is manifested in thee; and Nothing in the whole Process of thy Work, but to be obedient and passive to the Light of God shining through the Darkness of thy Creaturely Being, which reaching no higher than the Light of Nature, comprehendeth It not.
have both the Eye of Time and Eternity at once open together, and yet not to interfere with each other.
that which is below being made subservient to that which is above; and that which is without to that which is within. Thus there will be no Danger of interfering; but all will go right, and every Thing abide in its proper Sphere.
so that the sensual and rational Life will hence be brought into the most perfect Order and Harmony.
((Process here is not so convincing to me. But see **** coming up later))
Cease but from thine own Activity, steadfastly fixing thine Eye upon one Point, and with a strong Purpose relying upon the promised Grace of God in Christ, to bring thee out of thy Darkness into His Marvelous Light. For this End gather in all thy Thoughts, and by Faith press into the Center, laying hold upon the Word of God, which is infallible, and which hath called thee. Be thou then obedient to this Call; and be silent before the Lord, sitting alone with Him in thy inmost and most hidden Cell, thy Mind being centrally united in itself, and attending His Will in the Patience of Hope.
thou must consider that there are in thy Soul two Wills, an inferiour Will, which is for driving thee to Things without and below; and a superiour Will,
there are likewise two Eyes in the Soul, whereby they are severally directed; forasmuch as these Eyes are not united in one single View, but look quite contrary Ways at once. They are in a like Manner set one against the other, without a common Medium to join them. And hence, so long as this Double-sightedness doth remain, it is impossible there should be any Agreement in the Determination of this or that Will.
if I can but enter into the Will of my LORD, and abide therein, I am safe, and may both attain to the Light of God in the Spirit of my Soul, and see with the Eye of God, that is, the Eye of Eternity in the Eternal Ground of my Will; and may also at the same Time enjoy the Light of this World nevertheless; not degrading but adorning the Light of Nature; and beholding as with the Eye of Eternity Things Eternal, so with the Eye of Nature Things Natural, and both contemplating therein the Wonders of God, and sustaining also thereby the Life of my outward Vehicle or Body.
((Buddhist approach is more into the subconscious and that is the place where the breakthrough has to be connected to. The Christianity idea including this seems a bit unclear except the notion of faith. The idea of meditation somehow did not come into the picture even though Boehme may have gone through the same experience. Myokonin also do not explain the specific process, except earnest will, perhaps. Technique has its own weakeness, but meditation technique can help Christians given certain understanding of the Law, e.g., you have to let go.))
God is a Spirit; dwell in the Spirit, work in the Spirit, pray in the Spirit, and do every Thing in the Spirit; for remember thou also art a Spirit, and thereby created in the Image of God.
But by no Means consent to the Tempter, nor yield to the Lusting of thy Flesh against the Spirit. For in so doing thou wilt infallibly obscure the Divine Light in thee; …..; thy Will shall be chained in Earthliness, and shall sink through the Anguish into Darkness and materiality; and never shalt thou be able to reach the still Liberty, or to stand before the Majesty of God.
((This may be seen like shila-morality in Buddhism so that negative mind condition is not created that brings suffering.))
let it enter by naked Faith into the Light of the Majesty; and so receive by pure Love the Light of God, and attract the Divine Power into itself,
((The wisdom is something that if you try, you cannot get it… Condition: confess, let go, surrender))
be in earnest.
Where is the Hardship in this? Thou hast Nothing to care for, Nothing to desire in this Life, Nothing to imagine or attract. Thou needest only cast thy Care upon God, who careth for thee, and leave Him to dispose of thee according to His Good Will and Pleasure, even as if thou hadst no Will at all in thee.
((In my words, try not to try…))
When the Will imagineth after Somewhat, then entereth it into that Somewhat, then presently that same Somewhat taketh the Will into itself, and overcloudeth it, so that it can have no Light, but must dwell in Darkness, unless it return back out of that Somewhat into Nothing. For when the Will imagineth or lusteth after Nothing, then it entereth into Nothing, where it receiveth the Will of God into itself, and so dwelleth in Light, and worketh all its Works in that Light. ((Enter into Nothing! As in the koan of Mu. This is the koan of Boehme as well as his psycho-analysis.))****
Will into Nothing,
Delay not therefore to enter in by this Gate,…..((into)) Supersensual Ground,
Here is the Virtue and Power of the Love of God displayed. Here is the Height and Depth; here is the Breadth and Length thereof manifested, as ever the Capacity of thy Soul can contain. By this thou shalt come into that Ground out of which all Things are originated, and in which they subsist;
Where Man dwelleth not, there It hath Its Seat in Man. ((As in the case of Myokonin, you cannot escape from Love.))
It is the resigned Ground of a Soul, to which NoThing cleaveth.
There where the Soul hath slain its OWN Will, and willeth no more any Thing as from itSELF, but only as God willeth, and as His Spirit moveth upon the Soul, shall this appear. Where the Love of SELF is banished, there dwelleth the Love of God.
((Not necessary logically, but experientially witness the work being done in life/world/universe.))
If thou goest about to comprehend It, then It will fly away from thee; but if thou dost surrender thyself wholly up to It, then It will abide with thee, and become the Life of thy Life, and be natural to thee.
Upon this entire Surrender and Yielding up of thy Will, the Love of God IN THEE becometh the Life of thy Nature;
thou art dead indeed as to thySELF, but art alive unto God.
Never couldst thou with all thy seeking, have apprehended It; but It hath apprehended thee. Much less couldst thou have comprehended It. But now It hath comprehended thee; and so the Treasure of Treasures is found.
The Soul here saith, " I have Nothing, for I am utterly empty and stripped of every Thing; I can do Nothing, for I have no Manner of Power, but am as Water poured out; I am Nothing, for all that I am is no more than an Image of Being, and only God is to me I AM;
Herein now that it is that so very few find this most precious Treasure in the Soul,
No verily. Men seek and find not, because they seek It not in the naked Ground where It lieth; but in SomeThing or Other where It never will be, neither can be.
((The same good ol’ Paradox as found in Zen koan, Meditation))
They seek It in their OWN Will, and they find It not. They seek It in their Self-Desire, and they meet not with It. They look for It in an Image, or in an Opinion, or in an Affection, or a natural Devotion and Fervour, and they lose the Substance by thus hunting after a Shadow.
The Love may offer Itself; but It cannot abide where the Self-Desire attracteth or imagineth. That Will which attracteth Nothing, and to which Nothing adhereth, is the only Will capable of receiving It, for It dwelleth only in Nothing as I said, and therefore they find It not.
((Precisely!))
And when this Enkindling is made in thee, then the Love doth so exceedingly rejoice in thy Fire, as thou wouldst not for all the World be out of It; yea, wouldst rather suffer thyself to be killed, than to enter into thy Something again.
Its Flame hence also will be so very great, that It will never leave thee, though It should even cost thee thy temporal Life; but It would go with thee in Its sweet loving Fire into Death;
((Burning the self is not an easy task for everyone to undertake…Yet, there is no choice.))
Where the Way is hardest, there go thou; and what the World casteth away, that take thou up. What the World doth, that do thou not; but in all Things walk thou contrary to the World. So thou comest the nearest Way to that which thou art seeking.
((Negation is counter intuitive.))
walk thou only in the right Way,
((Like a horn of rhino. - The
Buddha/Suttanipata.))
It is brighter than the Sun; It is sweeter than any Thing that is called sweet;
Jacob Boehme, "chosen servant of God," was born in Alt Seidenburg, Germany, in 1575.
John Wesley, in his day, required all of his preachers to study the writings of Jacob Boehme; and the learned theologian, Willam Law, said of him: "Jacob Boehme was not a messenger of anything new in religion, but the mystery of all that was old and true in religion and nature, was opened up to him," — "the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God."
Born of poor, but pious, Lutheran parents, from childhood, Jacob Boehme was concerned about "the salvation of his soul." Although daily occupied, first as a shepherd, and afteward as a shoemaker, he was always an earnest student of the Holy Scriptures; but he could not understand "the ways of God," and he became "perplexed, even to melancholy, — pressed out of measure." He said: "I knew the Bible from beginning to end, but could find no consolation in Holy Writ; and my spirit, as if moving in a great storm, arose in God, carrying with it my whole heart, mind and will and wrestled with the love and mercy of God, that his blessing might descend upon me, that my mind might be illumined with his Holy Spirit, that I might understand his will and get rid of my sorrow . . .
"I had always thought much of how I might inherit the kingdom of heaven; but finding in myself a powerful opposition, in the desires that belong to the flesh and blood, I began a battle against my corrupted nature; and with the aid of God, I made up my mind to overcome the inherited evil will, . . . break it, and enter wholly into the love of God in Christ Jesus . . . I sought the heart of Jesus Christ, the center of all truth; and I resolved to regard myself as dead in my inherited form, until the Spirit of God would take form in me, so that in and through him, I might conduct my life.
"I stood in this resolution, fighting a battle with myself, until the light of the Spirit, a light entirely foreign to my unruly nature, began to break through the clouds. Then, after some farther hard fights with the powers of darkness, my spirit broke through the doors of hell, and penetrated even unto the innermost essence of its newly born divinity where it was received with great love, as a bridegroom welcomes his beloved bride.
"No word can express the great joy and triumph I experienced, as of a life out of death, as of a resurrection from the dead! . . . While in this state, as I was walking through a field of flowers, in fifteen minutes, I saw through the mystery of creation, the original of this world and of all creatures. . . . Then for seven days I was in a continual state of ecstasy, surrounded by the light of the Spirit, which immersed me in contemplation and happiness. I learned what God is, and what is his will. . . . I knew not how this happened to me, but my heart admired and praised the Lord for it!"
At the age of twenty-five, Boehme was given another great illumination, in which the Lord let him see farther into "the heart of things, . . . the true nature of God and man, and the relationship existing between them." Ten years later "the divine order of nature" was opened up to him, and he was inspired to write what the Lord had revealed to him.
From 1612 to 1624, he wrote thirty books, "My books are written" Boehme said "only for those who desire to be sanctified and united to God, from whom they came . . . Not through my understanding, but in my resignation in Christ . . from him have I received knowledge of his mysteries. God dwells in that which will resign itself up, with all its reason and skill, unto him . . . I have prayed strongly that I might not write except for the glory of God and the instruction and benefit fo my brethren."
Jacob Boehme’s persecutions and suffering began with the publication of his first book, "Aurora," at the age of thirty-five. then not withstanding five years of enforced silence, banishment from his home town, and an ecclesiastical trial for heresy, his "interior wisdom" began to be recognized by the nobility of Germany; but at this time, at the age of forty-nine, Boehme died, "happy," as he said, "in the midst of the heavenly music of the paradise of God," in Silesia in 1624.
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