Theosophical Epistles

6. Since we know then that God is truly in us, and yet hidden from our earthly life, we know that our soul is in God and flourishes in God, while the body is under the governance of the stars and elements original: "Regiment der Sternen." Boehme believed the physical body was part of the "sidereal" or astral world, governed by the movements of the heavens, while the soul belonged to the eternal realm., according to the quality original: "Quall." A technical term in Boehme’s writing that plays on the German words for "source" (Quelle), "quality" (Qualität), and "torment" (Qual). It refers to the underlying tension or "drive" of a particular state of being. of this world.

7. Thus we are God's image and likeness, He who is Himself everything; should we then not rejoice? Who will separate us from God, since the soul stands in God, where there is neither death nor breaking?

8.

Therefore, my very dear faithful friend and brother in Christ, I consider it only a great joy that I have found in you such a noble growth of God original: "Edel Gewächse Gottes." Boehme uses this to describe a person who is spiritually maturing., which my soul has also scented, whereby it became strong again when the driver original: "Treiber." This likely refers to the "oppressors" or the legalistic clergy in Görlitz who persecuted Boehme and attempted to "drive" him out of his spiritual peace. wanted to tear it out of the land of the living, when it lay among the drivers, and the Antichrist Boehme often associated the "Antichrist" not with a single person, but with the institutional, "stone-house" churches that emphasized dogma over living spirit. wanted to swallow it in the growth of thorns.

9. But as God comes to the aid of His little branches that stand in Him with His power, so that they do not perish—even though the devil and death rush over them—nevertheless they must flourish again through death and the grimness of wrath original: "Grimm des Zorns." In Boehme’s system, the "Grimm" is the harsh, consuming fire of God's nature that must be transformed into the light of love. and the sting of death; and even if God had to stake all the noblest herbs of His growth upon it, His will must stand: what is sown in Him must grow in Him.

10. Which is recognizable to us in that He has allowed His Heart The "Heart of God" is Boehme’s frequent term for the Son, or Christ, the center of divine love., as His most noble growth, to become a man within Him, for us to be a strong fragrance of the rebirth original: "Wieder-gebuhrt." in Him, so that, if we stood in death, we might flourish again with and through Him out of death in God His Father, and bring forth the fruit of Paradise.

11. Since we know this, that we are the growths of God, we should fear nothing, but flourish without ceasing in the life of God, and bring forth fruit to God's glory and wonder-deed original: "Wunderthat." For Boehme, the "Wonders" are the myriad ways God expresses His hidden nature through the created world., which we shall enjoy eternally.

12. And since we also know how our noble life stands in great danger, between the kingdom of heaven and hell original: "Himmel- und Höllen-reich." Boehme teaches that man exists at the intersection of three worlds: the dark world, the light world, and the external physical world., captured by both in this time of this life: so we should walk carefully, so that our pearl The "Pearl" is a common alchemical and mystical metaphor for the spark of divine wisdom or the soul’s salvation. is not broken; we should not let the scent of the grimness into us, lest it ruin us, whereby the noble fruit in the growth is hindered, and God must complain over us, that He is like a vine-dresser original: "Weingärtner." A biblical reference to God as the husbandman of the vineyard. who gleans and would yet gladly enjoy the noble grapes.

13. So let us be alert to resist the prince