Theosophical Questions

[it] would be unrecognizable in itself, and there would be in it no joy, prominence, or sensitivity without the No. The No is a counter-strike original: "Gegenwurf," literally a "counter-throw" or "opposition." to the Yes, or to the Truth, so that the Truth might be revealed and be something in which there is a contrary, in which eternal love is active, perceptible, willing, and something that can be loved.

3. And yet we cannot say that the Yes is separated from the No, or that they are two things standing side-by-side; rather, they are only One Thing, but they divide themselves into two beginnings, or principles original: "Principia", and create two centers original: "Centra", where each works and wills within itself. Just as the day is in the night, and the night in the day, they are two centers and yet unseparated, except that they are divided by will and desire. For they have two kinds of fires within them: (1) the Day, the hot, opening fire, and (2) the Night, the cold, enclosing fire. And yet together they are only One Fire, and neither would be revealed or active without the other. For the cold is the root of the heat, and the heat is the cause of the cold becoming perceptible. Without these two, which nonetheless stand in constant conflict, all things would be a Nothing, and would stand still without motion.

4. Likewise, this is how the eternal unity of Divine power is to be understood: if the eternal will did not flow out from itself and introduce itself into receptivity original: "Annehmlichkeit." In Böhme's vocabulary, this refers to the state where the spirit becomes "perceptible" or "receivable" by the senses., there would be no form or distinctness. Instead, all powers would be only One Power; thus, no understanding could exist. For understanding originates in the distinctness of multiplicity, where one property sees, tests, and wills another.

5. Joy likewise resides within this: but if a receptivity is to originate, there must be a specific desire for its own self-sensitivity—a self-will for receptivity—which is not equal to and does not desire the same thing as the single Will. For the single Will only desires the single Good, which it itself is; it only desires itself in equality. But the outgoing will original: "ausgeflossene Wille," meaning the will that has flowed out from the unity into creation. desires inequality, so that it may be distinguished from the equality and be its own "Something," so that there might be something for the Eternal Seeing to see and feel. And from this self-will arises the No; for it leads itself into selfhood original: "Eigenheit," the state of being an individual or self-centered entity. as into a receptivity of itself; it wants to be Something, and does not liken itself to the Unity, for the Unity is...