Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence
In Oberlausitz, Silesia, two hours south from Gorlitz, and quite near the Bohemian frontier, lies the little town of Seidenberg, and close by, the village Alt-Seidenberg. Here our philosopher was born in the year 1575 (the day is not known), the son of simple but respectable peasants. As, though healthy, he was not of robust constitution, his parents decided to let him learn a trade, and he became a shoemaker; which sedentary occupation afforded his mind opportunity for absorption in deep interior thought; while his physical development remained somewhat backward. " His external appearance," writes his friend and biographer, Abraham von Frankenberg, " was worn and " very plain ; he was of short stature ; he had a low fore- " head, but broad temples, a somewhat aquiline nose, a '• thin and short beard ; greyish eyes, lighting up into " heavenly blue, and sparkling even as the windows of " Solomon's Temple (1 Kings vi. 4); his voice was feeble, " but his conversation full of kindness and sweetness ; he " was gentle in manner, modest in his words, humble in " conduct, patient in suffering, and meek of heart."
In his fourteenth year Jacob Boehme was apprenticed to a master in Seidenberg ; three years later he started on his travels [Wanderjahre]. How far he wandered and where, nobody knows; but he at last reached Gorlitz, where in 1599 he won his "Mastership," and married the same year.
His wife, the daughter of a butcher, bore him four sons and probably also two daughters, and stood faithfully by him during five-and-twenty years, in fact, till his death. In 1610 he became proprietor of a house situate near the Neisse (now Breslauerstrasse 45). In 1613 he sold his workshop, and took to trading in woollen gloves and similar articles, visiting Prague very often to sell his goods; for his own shoemaking had suffered greatly during the latter part of his life, owing
INTRODUCTION XXXIX
to his "activities and continual industry as an author. And so he lived, meek and humble, a good citizen, a good husband and father, minding his work, bringing up his children in the fear of God, in modest but wellregulated circumstances; a peaceful, unassuming, and truly devout life.
But this quiet life was shaken interiorly by mighty storms, fearful wrestlings and glorious victories, in comparison with which the deeds of a world's conqueror, viewed from the standpoint of eternal things, seem» mean and insignificant.
Already, as a boy, he had had wonderful visions, that to his excited fancy took the form of external occurrences. Of this kind is the incident that took place in his childhood. He was minding cattle on the " Land's Crown," when he discovered, in a strange open vault, a vessel full of money, upon which he looked with a feeling of horror, and ran away in great alarm. Again, during his apprenticeship, he once sold a pair of shoes to a stranger, who called him by his name, and prophesied his future greatness, as well as future troubles and persecutions. These experiences may have been of a subjective character — a turning of the mind from all desire for earthly goods, a premonition of his great calling and a forewarning of the enmity and opposition he would have to bear ; but, coupled with, and supported by, chance external circumstances, they built themselves into external images, and were unconsciously accepted as objective, though they were really not so. Apart from such visions, Jacob Boehme sometimes fell into ecstasies. Thus, for instance, as he told a friend in confidence, during his years of travel, and whilst engaged in his daily work, he was once for seven days surrounded by glorious heavenly light, and lifted interiorly into a state of open vision and divine peace and joy.
Such spiritual experiences were repeated again and again in his life ; and only those can fail to gauge their meaning and importance, who, devoid of understanding,
In Oberlausitz, Silesia, two hours south from Gorlitz, and quite near the Bohemian frontier, lies the little town of Seidenberg, and close by, the village Alt-Seidenberg. Here our philosopher was born in the year 1575 (the day is not known), the son of simple but respectable peasants. As, though healthy, he was not of robust constitution, his parents decided to let him learn a trade, and he became a shoemaker; which sedentary occupation afforded his mind opportunity for absorption in deep interior thought; while his physical development remained somewhat backward. " His external appearance," writes his friend and biographer, Abraham von Frankenberg, " was worn and " very plain ; he was of short stature ; he had a low fore- " head, but broad temples, a somewhat aquiline nose, a '• thin and short beard ; greyish eyes, lighting up into " heavenly blue, and sparkling even as the windows of " Solomon's Temple (1 Kings vi. 4); his voice was feeble, " but his conversation full of kindness and sweetness ; he " was gentle in manner, modest in his words, humble in " conduct, patient in suffering, and meek of heart."
In his fourteenth year Jacob Boehme was apprenticed to a master in Seidenberg ; three years later he started on his travels [Wanderjahre]. How far he wandered and where, nobody knows; but he at last reached Gorlitz, where in 1599 he won his "Mastership," and married the same year.
His wife, the daughter of a butcher, bore him four sons and probably also two daughters, and stood faithfully by him during five-and-twenty years, in fact, till his death. In 1610 he became proprietor of a house situate near the Neisse (now Breslauerstrasse 45). In 1613 he sold his workshop, and took to trading in woollen gloves and similar articles, visiting Prague very often to sell his goods; for his own shoemaking had suffered greatly during the latter part of his life, owing
INTRODUCTION XXXIX
to his "activities and continual industry as an author. And so he lived, meek and humble, a good citizen, a good husband and father, minding his work, bringing up his children in the fear of God, in modest but wellregulated circumstances; a peaceful, unassuming, and truly devout life.
But this quiet life was shaken interiorly by mighty storms, fearful wrestlings and glorious victories, in comparison with which the deeds of a world's conqueror, viewed from the standpoint of eternal things, seem» mean and insignificant.
Already, as a boy, he had had wonderful visions, that to his excited fancy took the form of external occurrences. Of this kind is the incident that took place in his childhood. He was minding cattle on the " Land's Crown," when he discovered, in a strange open vault, a vessel full of money, upon which he looked with a feeling of horror, and ran away in great alarm. Again, during his apprenticeship, he once sold a pair of shoes to a stranger, who called him by his name, and prophesied his future greatness, as well as future troubles and persecutions. These experiences may have been of a subjective character — a turning of the mind from all desire for earthly goods, a premonition of his great calling and a forewarning of the enmity and opposition he would have to bear ; but, coupled with, and supported by, chance external circumstances, they built themselves into external images, and were unconsciously accepted as objective, though they were really not so. Apart from such visions, Jacob Boehme sometimes fell into ecstasies. Thus, for instance, as he told a friend in confidence, during his years of travel, and whilst engaged in his daily work, he was once for seven days surrounded by glorious heavenly light, and lifted interiorly into a state of open vision and divine peace and joy.
Such spiritual experiences were repeated again and again in his life ; and only those can fail to gauge their meaning and importance, who, devoid of understanding,