High and Deep Grounds of the Threefold Life of Man

Chapter 1. Concerning Man.

...its own essence, which we neither can nor should deny, lest we lose the Divine Light and our eternal salvation. For it is also impossible for any human to take this light for themselves; it must be given to them out of grace through His love. And once it is given, the soul stands in knowledge within the wonders of God. It does not speak of distant or foreign things, but of the things in which it stands, and of itself; for it becomes shining in God’s light, so that it can know itself.

21. For such a thing to be possible, consider that the soul’s essences: Seelen-Essentien. Böhme views the soul as a complex of spiritual "substances" or "qualities." reside in the origin: urkund. The primal source or foundational state. within the first principle: Principio (Latin: principium). A realm of existence or fundamental reality., and that the Divine Light shines within itself, creating the second principle. Thus, there are two of them, and the soul sees with high knowledge by the light of the second principle, which shines within it. Why then should it not speak of its fatherland, in which it lives? Yet the mad world in the third principle—existing in the spirit of the stars and the elements—wants to forbid this, even though you Addressing the worldly person or critic. lie blind to God, imprisoned in eternal wrath and in the source-torment: Quall. Böhme's pun on "source" (Quelle) and "torment" (Qual), describing the restless energy of nature. of the origin.

22. Since this is the case, we wish to set the foundation of the eternal bond as a mirror for those who desire to see. However, it is true that one cannot learn this from us unless they themselves enter into the new birth—into the life of Jesus Christ—so that the Divine Light itself shines within them. Otherwise, we are merely historical: Historisch. Meaning a story known only as an external fact or narrative, lacking personal spiritual realization. to them, and not understood.

23. When we speak of the source-torment of the fire and its ignition—which we understand as the fire of life—we know for certain that the same in the origin...