The Forty Questions of the Soul
3. Although that apprehending is not in human power, yet the way thereto is very faithfully shewn him; so that if he do long to attain it, he shall obtain a 3 Guide and Director (if he follow our counsel) who will shew him the key of the Mysterium magnum, leading to that precious Philosopher's stone, and to all Mysteries: let none think this impossible, for with God all things are possible: He that fmdeth God, findeth all things with and in him.
4. Now you know, 4 according to reason, that all things are originally sprung and derived from eternity: This also the Holy Scripture tells you: In God are all things; in him we live and move and have our being, and we are his offspring. 5
5. And although men cannot say of God, that the pure Deity is nature, but that it is the Majesty in the Ternary; yet we must say that God is in nature, although nature can as little f reach or comprehend him, as the air can comprehend the sunshine: However, we must say, that nature is born in his will, and that it is $ a SEEKING, produced out of eternity; for where there is no will, there is also no desire.
1 Or understood.
2 Or book.
3 Leader, or the Holy Ghost.
4 in or by.
5 Rom. xi. 36. 2 Cor. v. 18. Acts xvii. 28.
* "comprehend, understand" (fassen), "to grasp."
f "reach" (greifen), "to take hold of."
X "a seeking" (Sucht), a root word, now used almost exclusively in the formation of other words. Denotes a cause to "seeking" rather than the seeking itself; a compelling motive power, an irresistible urge, a passionate longing. St Martin has given here the better rendering (un attract, or attrait), "an attraction," for Bohme himself writes: "The magnetical attraction is the beginning of nature." {Election, 2. 41.)
6. But in God there is an eternal will (which is himself) to beget his l Heart or Son; and this will maketh *the 2 stirring or proceeding out of the will of the Heart, which is a spirit; so that the eternity consisteth in 3 three eternal forms, which are commonly called Persons, as we have very accurately 4 explained it in our third book.
7. Then if we discern and know that there is not only light and Majesty, but also darkness, as is plain, it behoves us to know whence darkness ariseth.
8. For in the eternity beyond nature there can be no darkness, for there is f nothing to bring it forth; we must only look into the will and the desiring; for a desiring is attracting.
9. And whereas in the eternity it hath nothing but only itself; $it draweth itself into the will, and maketh the will full, and that is its darkness; whereas otherwise, if it were not desiring it were a nothing, 5 but an eternal stillness without 6 essence.
1 glance or lustre, or brightness of his glory.
2 Or rousing.
3 1, Will; Father. 2, Heart; Son. 3, Proceeding, or Efflux; Holy Ghost.
4 declared, or expounded.
5 Or viz.
6 Or being.
* "the stirring or proceeding out," etc., lit., "the motion and proceeding forth of the heart out of the will." St Martin gives a suggestive rendering (I'emotion el I'expansion du caeur hors de la volonte).
f "nothing to bring it forth," lit., "nothing to produce it."
X "it draweth itself into the will" (das zeucht sich), lit., "it makes itself into something," i.e. concretes and generates itself; the idea is that of a coagulating, creating thereby a corresponding void or darkness, the womb wherein "essentiality" or "substantiality" begins.
10. Thus the attraction maketh 1 mobility and essences, which otherwise could not be in the stillness; and so also this maketh * 2 harshness, hardness, and drought, together with 3 sharpness.
11. Neither can we say, for all that, that the darkness swalloweth up the light, viz. the eternal liberty; for that which is eternal cannot be altered nor changed: but yet we must say that hght and darkness are in one another.
12. Now the light is good, and hath 4 virtue; but the darkness hath the harshness, hardness and coldness: and the desire of the will maketh essences and attracting, which is a 5 stirring in the hardness; and if that which is attracted do stir by the drawing, then it causeth fa jarring, whereby hght and darkness are mingled together in the sharpness.
3. Although that apprehending is not in human power, yet the way thereto is very faithfully shown him; so that if he do long to attain it, he shall obtain a 3 Guide and Director (if he follow our counsel) who will show him the key of the Mysterium magnum, leading to that precious Philosopher's stone, and to all Mysteries: let none think this impossible, for with God all things are possible: He that fmds God, finds all things with and in him.
4. Now you know, 4 according to reason, that all things are originally sprung and derived from eternity: This also the Holy Scripture tells you: In God are all things; in him we live and move and have our being, and we are his offspring. 5
5. And although men cannot say of God, that the pure Deity is nature, but that it is the Majesty in the Ternary; yet we must say that God is in nature, although nature can as little f reach or comprehend him, as the air can comprehend the sunshine: However, we must say, that nature is born in his will, and that it is $ a SEEKING, produced out of eternity; for where there is no will, there is also no desire.
1 Or understood.
2 Or book.
3 Leader, or the Holy Ghost.
4 in or by.
5 Rom. xi. 36. 2 Cor. v. 18. Acts xvii. 28.
* "comprehend, understand" (fassen), "to grasp."
f "reach" (greifen), "to take hold of."
X "a seeking" (Sucht), a root word, now used almost exclusively in the formation of other words. Denotes a cause to "seeking" rather than the seeking itself; a compelling motive power, an irresistible urge, a passionate longing. St Martin has given here the better rendering (un attract, or attrait), "an attraction," for Bohme himself writes: "The magnetical attraction is the beginning of nature." {Election, 2. 41.)
6. But in God there is an eternal will (which is himself) to beget his l Heart or Son; and this will makes *the 2 stirring or proceeding out of the will of the Heart, which is a spirit; so that the eternity consists in 3 three eternal forms, which are commonly called Persons, as we have very accurately 4 explained it in our third book.
7. Then if we discern and know that there is not only light and Majesty, but also darkness, as is plain, it behoves us to know whence darkness arises.
8. For in the eternity beyond nature there can be no darkness, for there is f nothing to bring it forth; we must only look into the will and the desiring; for a desiring is attracting.
9. And whereas in the eternity it has nothing but only itself; $it draws itself into the will, and makes the will full, and that is its darkness; whereas otherwise, if it were not desiring it were a nothing, 5 but an eternal stillness without 6 essence.
1 glance or lustre, or brightness of his glory.
2 Or rousing.
3 1, Will; Father. 2, Heart; Son. 3, Proceeding, or Efflux; Holy Ghost.
4 declared, or expounded.
5 Or viz.
6 Or being.
* "the stirring or proceeding out," etc., lit., "the motion and proceeding forth of the heart out of the will." St Martin gives a suggestive rendering (I'emotion el I'expansion du caeur hors de la volonte).
f "nothing to bring it forth," lit., "nothing to produce it."
X "it draws itself into the will" (das zeucht sich), lit., "it makes itself into something," i.e. concretes and generates itself; the idea is that of a coagulating, creating thereby a corresponding void or darkness, the womb wherein "essentiality" or "substantiality" begins.
10. Thus the attraction makes 1 mobility and essences, which otherwise could not be in the stillness; and so also this makes * 2 harshness, hardness, and drought, together with 3 sharpness.
11. Neither can we say, for all that, that the darkness swallows up the light, viz. the eternal liberty; for that which is eternal cannot be altered nor changed: but yet we must say that hght and darkness are in one another.
12. Now the light is good, and has 4 virtue; but the darkness has the harshness, hardness and coldness: and the desire of the will makes essences and attracting, which is a 5 stirring in the hardness; and if that which is attracted do stir by the drawing, then it causes fa jarring, whereby hght and darkness are mingled together in the sharpness.
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