High and Deep Grounds of the Threefold Life of Man

On the Threefold Life, Chapter I.

Chapter 1 treatise.

apparent? powers in the Light of Nature The "Light of Nature" refers to the innate intelligence within the physical world that humans can perceive through reason and observation, separate from divine revelation. is an earthly? creature for the form of the soul’s immortal life

can be seen in all fires. For life draws its sustenance original: "Zehrung," meaning the fuel or consumption required to keep a fire burning. from the body, and the body from its food; for if the body no longer has food, then the fire of life consumes it, so that it withers and perishes, like a meadow flower that falls over if it has no water.

4. There is a life in man that is eternal, namely the soul

4. But since there is yet another life in man that is eternal and unbreakable, namely the soul, which is also a fire, and yet must have sustenance just as the mortal life does, we must therefore contemplate its source Quall: a central concept in Böhme’s work, describing the "welling up" or "source-spirit" of life which can be both a source (Quelle) and a torment (Qual). and its food—what it is that gives it food forever, so that it is never extinguished in eternity.

Perception of the soul's hunger for the Highest Good, the Divine Life

5. And thirdly, we find in our soul-life that there is still a great hunger within it for another higher and better life, namely for the Highest Good, which is called the Divine Life; so that the soul does not let itself be satisfied with its own food Böhme suggests the soul has its own natural "fire-food" but craves a higher "divine-food.", but desires with great yearning and longing the highest and best good, not only for a delight, but, in its hunger, as a food.

True knowledge, that every life desires its mother as a food

6. Thus we have, in great wisdom and true knowledge, the understanding that every life desires its mother—from whom that life is born—for its food. Just as wood is the mother of fire, so the fire desires it, and if it is separated from its mother, it is extinguished. Likewise, the earth is the mother of all trees and herbs; they desire her. And water, along with the other elements, is the mother of the earth; otherwise, they would remain in death, and neither metal nor trees, nor any herb or grass, would grow in or out of her.

Elemental being and workings?

7. We see principally that the elemental