Christian Classics
‹ Dialogues on the Supersensual Life
Contents
DocumentDIALOGUES ON THE SUPERSENSUAL LIFEPREFACEPrefacePREFACEPREFACEPREFACEPREFACEPREFACEPRELIMINARY NOTESentences Selected from Jacob Behmen's Treatises "Regeneration" and "Christ's Testaments"101111 (continued)121314151617181919 (continued)20212223242627282930Dialogue IMasterDiscipleMasterDiscipleMasterMasterDiscipleMasterMasterDiscipleMasterDiscipleMasterMasterDiscipleMasterDIALOGUE ONEDialogue OneMasterDiscipleDisciple (continued)MasterDiscipleMasterDiscipleMasterDiscipleMasterDIALOGUE ONEMasterMaster (continued)DiscipleMasterMaster (continued)DiscipleMasterMaster (continued)DiscipleMasterMaster (continued)Dialogue OneDialogue OneDialogue IIDialogue TwoDiscipleMasterDiscipleMasterDiscipleMasterDialogue TwoDialogue TwoMasterDiscipleMasterDiscipleMasterMasterDiscipleMasterDiscipleMasterDiscipleMasterDiscipleMasterDialogue TwoBetween Junius, a Scholar, and Theophorus, his Master, concerning Heaven and HellTHE SUPERSENSUAL LIFEDIALOGUE THREEDialogue ThreeThe Supersensual LifeDialogue ThreeMasterScholarMasterScholarMasterScholarMasterScholarMasterScholarMasterDialogue ThreeDialogue ThreeThe Way from Darkness to True IlluminationThe Soul saidThe Devil saidThe Soul saidThe Devil saidThe Soul did so and what happened thereuponThe Devil came to the SoulThe Soul did soJesus Christ met with the SoulHow Christ brought in the SoulWhat Christ saidWhat the Soul saidThe Devil came to it againThe Soul sighedThe Devil's OppositionThe Condition of the SoulDialogue FourThe distressed Soul answeredThe enlightened Soul saidThe distressed Soul terrifiedThe enlightened Soul came again, and spoke to the troubled SoulThe distressed Soul saidThe enlightened Soul saidThe poor Soul saidThe enlightened Soul saidThe Poor Soul's PracticeDialogue FourThe distressed Soul saidThe enlightened Soul saidThe Distressed Soul's Course

Jakob Boehme · 85 of 150

Dialogue Two

to get food for the terrestrial body. But then this Eye ought not with its desire to enter into the food prepared, which would be covetousness; but must in resignation simply bring it before the Eye of God in thy Spirit, and then thou must seek to place it close to this very Eye, without letting it go. Mark this lesson well.

Let the hands or the head be at labour, thy Heart ought nevertheless to rest in God. God is a Spirit; dwell in the Spirit; work in the Spirit; pray in the Spirit; and do every thing in the Spirit; for remember thou also art a Spirit, and thereby created in the Image of God. Therefore see thou attract not in thy desire Matter unto thee, but as much as possible abstract thyself from all Matter whatever; and so, standing in the Centre, present thyself as a naked Spirit before God, in simplicity and purity; and be sure thy Spirit draw in nothing but Spirit.

Thou wilt yet be greatly enticed to draw Matter, and to gather that which the World calls substance; thereby to have somewhat visible to trust to. But by no means consent to the Tempter, nor yield to the lustings of thy Flesh against the Spirit. For in so doing thou wilt infallibly obscure the Divine Light in thee; thy Spirit will stick in the dark Covetous Root, and from the fiery Source of thy soul will it blaze out in pride and anger; thy Will shall be chained in Earthliness, and shall sink through the Anguish into Darkness and Materiality; and never shalt thou be able to reach the still Liberty, or to stand before the Majesty of God. It will be all darkness to thee, as much Matter as is drawn in by the Desire of thy Will. It will darken God's Majesty to thee, and will close the seeing Eye, by hiding from thee the light of his beloved countenance. This the Serpent longeth to do, but in vain, except thou permittest thy Imagination, upon his suggestion, to receive in the alluring Matter; else he can never get in. Behold then, if thou desirest to see God's Light in thy Soul, and be divinely illuminated and conducted, this is the short way that thou art to take; not to let the Eye of thy Spirit enter into Matter, or fill itself with any Thing whatever, either in Heaven or Earth, but to let it enter by a naked faith into the Light of the Majesty; and so receive by pure love the Light of God, and attract the Divine Power into itself, putting on the Divine Body, and growing up in it to the full maturity of the Humanity of Christ.

Disciple

As I said before, so I say again, this is very hard. I conceive indeed well enough that my Spirit ought to be free from the contagion of Matter, and wholly empty, that it may admit into it the Spirit of God. Also, that this Spirit will not enter, but where the Will entereth into Nothing, and resigneth itself up in the nakedness of faith, and in the purity of love, to its conduct, feeding magically upon the Word of God, and clothing itself thereby with a Divine Substantiality. But, alas, how hard it is for the Will to sink into nothing, to attract nothing, to imagine nothing.

Master

Let it be granted that it is so. Is it not surely worth thy while, and all that thou canst ever do?

Disciple

It is so, I must needs confess.

Master

But perhaps it may not be so hard as at first it appeareth to be; make but the trial and be in earnest. What is there required of thee but to stand still and see the salvation of thy God? And couldst thou desire anything less? Where is the hardship in this? Thou hast nothing to care for, nothing to desire in this life, nothing to imagine or attract. Thou needest only cast thy care upon God, who careth for thee, and leave him to dispose of thee according to his good will and pleasure, even as if thou hadst no will at all in thee. For he knoweth what is best; and if thou canst but trust him, he will most certainly do better for thee, than if thou wert left to thine own choice.

Disciple

This I most firmly believe.

Master

If thou believest, then go and do accordingly. All is in the Will, as I have shown thee. When the Will imagineth after Somewhat, then entereth it into that somewhat, and this somewhat taketh the Will into itself, and overcloudeth it, so as it can have no Light, but must dwell in Darkness, unless it return back out of that somewhat into Nothing. But when the Will imagineth or hasteth after nothing, then it entereth into Nothing, where it receiveth the Will of God into itself, and so dwelleth in Light, and worketh all its works in it.

Disciple

I am now satisfied that the main cause of any one's spiritual blindness, is his letting his Will into Somewhat, or into that which he hath wrought, of what nature soever it be, good or