OF THINGS, CHAPTER II.

of Nature, with three forms in the original source German: Urstand; the foundational state of being, as in the first Principle Principle: a fundamental source or beginning it is Spirit, in the second it is Love, and in the third Principle it is Substance. And these three forms in the third Principle are called Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt. Understand it thus: Sul in the first Principle is the free Will, or the desire within the Nothingness to become Something; it exists in Freedom outside of Nature. Phur is the longing of that free desire, and within itself—in the phur as in the longing—it creates a Substance. And this same substance is harsh because of its attraction, and it leads itself into three forms, as mentioned above, and proceeds into the fourth form. From the fire within the phur, the origin of both the eternal and the external Nature is understood; for the hardness is a mother of the sharpness of all beings and a container of all substance. From the Sul, as from the desire of freedom, the dark anguish becomes a shining Light; and in the third Principle, as in the external kingdom, the Sul is the Oil of Nature, within which the Life burns.

Now, however, the phur as the longing is not separated from the Sul; it is one Word, and it is also one understanding, one substance. Yet it divides itself into two properties: into Joy and Sorrow, into Light and Darkness. For it creates two worlds: a dark fire-world in the harshness, and a light fire-world in the desire of Freedom; for the desire of Freedom is the sole cause that the Fire shines.