and right, and are the very fountain powers to manifestation which, apart from them, could not be effected. I find here the most profound and suggestive hint at the solution of the problem of evil that has ever been given to the world. Here it is impossible to do more than merely indicate it roughly. Evil is not a positive "thing," but a negative appearance: it is what seems to arise when the right thing is in the wrong place; on the surface when it should be underneath. To cause it to appear needs no strong, positive " let there be." Mighty and powerful for harm as it appears, its power lies only in the power of a false imagination. In a state where no false imagination could arise, no evil could arise; therefore there is a sense in which it cannot exist for God: and yet there is a sense in which it can, for God must deal with all that appears to be to man. But He sees it only, so to speak, through fallen human eyes; and not as a real thing, but as a delusion of His creatures. We know it is not in heaven; and — unless we can conceive that in the infinite there can be anything real lacking — we must allow that whatever is not in heaven is not real in the absolute sense.
Boehme, it is true, does not himself develop this philosophy. That he saw it, I am persuaded; or he never could have spoken as complacently as he does about the results of evil on Lucifer and unrepentant men. But he feared to speak too plainly, lest any should so sadly misunderstand him as to suppose him to mean that evil did not matter. It matters with an infiniteness of fatality to the false imagination; that is, to you, my evil-loving friend, who wish to feel free to indulge your evil desires unrestrainedly. If you could distinguish between yourself and your false imagination, you would never wish to do any evil. But the whole point is that you cannot, do not. And to the false imagination, evil is real, and its consequences end only with the ending of the false imagination. The idea that you are in eternal torment may be, will certainly be, only a false imagination; but this will be no comfort to you who are not only unaware that the imagination is false, but are absolutely certain that it is not, but real and actual.
The remaining forms of Nature are the sixth, Sound, and the seventh, Figure. By Sound Boehme means any particular expression to sense of those qualities which arise after the creature has determined whether the fire shall remain fire, or pass into light; that is, whether it will stand in the false imagination, or allow the light to enter and change this into the true imagination by showing things as they actually are instead of as they are falsely imagined. "Whatever nature it elects to stand in, this it sounds forth, by voice and speech, by cries (in animals), by colour, scent, taste, properties, and whatsoever conveys an idea of its quality.
The seventh form is the Figure, the creature definitely constituted and embodied in form and material according to, answering to, the quality of its spirit. The seventh is the crown and completion of all the six: good, if the light has modified the fire; evil, if it has not. If good, the sound is pleasing and the embodiment beautiful. If evil, the sound is displeasing and the embodiment hideous.
The Three Principles.
and right, and are the very fountain powers to manifestation which, apart from them, could not be effected. I find here the most profound and suggestive hint at the solution of the problem of evil that has ever been given to the world. Here it is impossible to do more than merely indicate it roughly. Evil is not a positive "thing," but a negative appearance: it is what seems to arise when the right thing is in the wrong place; on the surface when it should be underneath. To cause it to appear needs no strong, positive " let there be." Mighty and powerful for harm as it appears, its power lies only in the power of a false imagination. In a state where no false imagination could arise, no evil could arise; therefore there is a sense in which it cannot exist for God: and yet there is a sense in which it can, for God must deal with all that appears to be to man. But He sees it only, so to speak, through fallen human eyes; and not as a real thing, but as a delusion of His creatures. We know it is not in heaven; and — unless we can conceive that in the infinite there can be anything real lacking — we must allow that whatever is not in heaven is not real in the absolute sense.
Boehme, it is true, does not himself develop this philosophy. That he saw it, I am persuaded; or he never could have spoken as complacently as he does about the results of evil on Lucifer and unrepentant men. But he feared to speak too plainly, lest any should so sadly misunderstand him as to suppose him to mean that evil did not matter. It matters with an infiniteness of fatality to the false imagination; that is, to you, my evil-loving friend, who wish to feel free to indulge your evil desires unrestrainedly. If you could distinguish between yourself and your false imagination, you would never wish to do any evil. But the whole point is that you cannot, do not. And to the false imagination, evil is real, and its consequences end only with the ending of the false imagination. The idea that you are in eternal torment may be, will certainly be, only a false imagination; but this will be no comfort to you who are not only unaware that the imagination is false, but are absolutely certain that it is not, but real and actual.
The remaining forms of Nature are the sixth, Sound, and the seventh, Figure. By Sound Boehme means any particular expression to sense of those qualities which arise after the creature has determined whether the fire shall remain fire, or pass into light; that is, whether it will stand in the false imagination, or allow the light to enter and change this into the true imagination by showing things as they actually are instead of as they are falsely imagined. "Whatever nature it elects to stand in, this it sounds forth, by voice and speech, by cries (in animals), by colour, scent, taste, properties, and whatsoever conveys an idea of its quality.
The seventh form is the Figure, the creature definitely constituted and embodied in form and material according to, answering to, the quality of its spirit. The seventh is the crown and completion of all the six: good, if the light has modified the fire; evil, if it has not. If good, the sound is pleasing and the embodiment beautiful. If evil, the sound is displeasing and the embodiment hideous.
The Three Principles.
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