Jakob Boehme · 64 of 150

Master

In loving thyself, thou lovest not thyself as thine own, but thou lovest the divine ground in thee, as given thee from the Love of God. By which, and in which, thou lovest the Divine Wisdom, the Divine Goodness, the Divine Beauty; thou lovest also by it God's works of wonders; and in this ground thou lovest also thy brethren. But in hating thyself, thou hatest only that which is thine own, and wherein the Evil sticks close to thee. And this thou dost, that so thou mayest wholly destroy that which thou callest thine, as when thou sayest I or MYSELF do this, or do that. All which is wrong and a downright mistake in thee; for nothing canst thou properly call thine but the evil Self, neither canst thou do anything of thyself that is to be accounted of. This Self therefore thou must labour wholly to destroy in thee, that so thou mayest become a ground wholly divine. There can be no selfishness in love; they are opposite to each other. Love, that is, Divine Love (of which only we are now discoursing), hates all Egoity, hates all that which we call I, or Ihood, hates all such restrictions and confinements, even all that springs from a contracted spirit, or this evil Self-hood, because it is a hateful and deadly thing. And it is impossible that these