CHAPTER 3: Of the Center of the Eternal Nature. 9

...where the h Feeling and Understanding. sensing and understanding life first arises; and the hidden God reveals himself. For without Nature, he is hidden from all creatures, but in the Eternal and Temporal Nature, he is perceived and revealed.

19. And this manifestation is first i Or brought to pass. achieved by the awakening of the powers, specifically by the three previously mentioned properties: Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt. Within these is the oil, in which life has its vital being and beauty, k Text: burns and shines. life and luster. The true life is first revealed in the fourth Form: namely, in the Fire and Light. In the fire, the Natural life is manifest, and in the light, the Spiritual Oil. In the power of the light, the divine understanding life is revealed.

20. Reader, pay attention and take note: in this description of Nature, I do not mean either the Eternal or the Temporal Nature alone. I only show you the temporal Nature so that you may understand the Eternal, for the temporal is expressed or spoken forth out of the Eternal. Therefore, do not insert or claim literal Böhme warns against interpreting his spiritual alchemy as literal animal husbandry or physical farming. calves, cows, or oxen, as is the habit of irrational reasoning in Babel Babel refers to the "City of Confusion," Böhme’s term for the fragmented and worldly state of academic and religious scholarship..

21. First, know this: the Divine understanding introduces itself into fire so that its Eternal Lubet original: "Lubet"; a term derived from the German 'Lust,' meaning God's innate delight, longing, or inclination to manifest might be majestic and l Or a light. luminous. The Divine understanding receives no external influence into itself, nor does it need any for its own being. The All does not need the Something. The Something is only the play of the All, with which the All creates harmony and plays. So that the TOTAL, or All, might be revealed to itself, it introduces its will into properties. Thus, as a creature, we will write of the properties—that is, of the revealed God—and how the All (the immense, unfathomable, eternal understanding) reveals itself.

22. Secondly, the unfathomable and divine understanding introduces itself into an intense Fire-will and Life so that its great Love and Joy, which is called God, might be revealed. If everything were only One, then the One would not be revealed to itself. But through this manifestation, the Eternal Good is known and creates a kingdom of joy. If there were no anguish, then Joy would not be revealed to itself. There would be only one single will, which would continually do one and the same thing. But if it introduces itself into contrariety, then in that struggle, the Lubet of joy becomes a desire and a love-play to itself, because it has work to do and actions to perform—to speak according to our human capacity.

23. The origin of the eternal spiritual and natural fire is achieved by an eternal union, not separately, but both joined together. These are the Divine fire, which is a flame of love, and the Natural fire, which is a torment and a consuming source. Understand it as it is illustrated here:

(A small circular diagram containing a cross)

24. One part—the will of the Father, or of the Abyss—introduces itself into the greatest sharpness of the astringency original: "Astringency"; the contracting or tightening force, where it is a cold fire and a cold, painful source. It is sharpened by the contracting, stinging anguish. In this anguish, it comes to desire the Liberty—that is, the free Lubet or meekness. The other part is

D the