Mysterium Magnum

CHAPTER 6

Concerning the Essence of Corporality

2. But yet the true divine Essence understand "Essence" here as the underlying substance, and not the active Spirit of God is nothing else but the understanding made manifest, or the formation of the Powers. It consists in desire, that is, in the Love-desire. In this state, one power experimentally and knowingly tastes, smells, feels, sees, and hears another within the essence and source original: "Source"; Böhme uses this term to describe the surging, active, or boiling quality of life and movement of the property. From this, the great and ardent longing desire arises. Within these properties, the manifested God is understood as a fiery flame of Love-desire. In this flame, there is only a pleasing taste, a sweet-breathing smell, a ravishing melody, a lovely and delightful sight, a smiling and friendly appearance, and a gracious delight, pleasure, or feeling.

Yet it is only a spiritual essence. In this essence, the Powers—which have introduced themselves into a specific property through the Impression the process of spiritual contraction or the "marking" of a quality into substance and manifested themselves through the fire in the light—mutually wrestle with and within one another in a play of love. This is like a pleasant song, or a rich original: "pregnant"; meaning fruitful or full of creative potential harmony, or a kingdom of joy. This is the spiritual essence of God made manifest. It shows how the powerful, all-essential Word manifests itself in its own unique generation, through which the melodious play of divine wisdom is understood.

3. But