Six Theosophic Points, and Other Writings
30. It is all magical; what the will of a thing wills, that it receives. A toad takes only poison into itself; though it sit in the best apothecary's shop; the like also does a serpent. Every thing takes only its own property into itself ; and though it eat the substance of a good property, yet it converts all in itself into its own property. Though a toad should eat honey, yet this becomes poison in it. As indeed the devil was an angel ; but when he willed nothing good, his heavenly essence became to him hellish poison, and his evil will remained evil one time as another.
31. We are therefore highly to consider our hfe.
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what we would do and be at. We have evil and good in us. The one wherein we draw our will, its essence becomes active in us; and such a property we draw also from without into us. We have the two Mysteries, the divine and the devilish in us, of the two eternal worlds, and also of the outer world. What we make of ourselves, that we are; what we awaken in ourselves, that is moving in us. If we lead ourselves to good, then God's Spirit helps us; but if we lead ourselves to evil, then God's wrath and anger helps us. Whatever we will, of that property we obtain a leader, and thereinto we lead ourselves. It is not God's will that we perish, but his wrath's and our own will.
And thus we understand the fifth point.. How a life perishes, and how out of good an evil comes, and out of evil a good, when the will turns round.
THE SIXTH POINT
Of the life of darkness, wherein the devils dwell; WHAT BIRTH AND QUALITY IT HATH.
CHAPTER IX
1. The life of darkness is repugnant to all life of light; for the darkness gives fierce and hostile essence, and the life of light gives love-essence.
2. In the darkness there is in the essence only a perpetual stinging and breaking, each form being enemy to the other — a contrarious essence. Each form is a liar to itself, and one says to the other, that it is evil and adverse to it, that it is a cause of its restlessness and fierceness. Each thinks in itself: If only the other form were not, thou wouldst have rest; and yet each of them is evil and false. Hence it is, that all that is born of the dark property of wrath is lying, and is always lying against the other forms, saying they are evil; and yet it is itself a cause thereof, it makes them evil by its poisonous infection.
3. Thus are they all, and lying is their truth. When they speak lies, they speak from their own forms and properties. And so also are their creatures. Therefore Christ said: The devil is a liar and murderer from the beginning (John viii. 44). For each form desires to murder the other,p. 99p. 100 and yet there is no killing; but the greater the strife is, the greater becomes their murderous life.
4. And therefore it is called an eternal death and enmity, where nothing but contrariety arises. For there is nothing that could abolish the strife, nothing that could hold in check a single form. The more it were resisted, the greater would be the fierceness; hke a fire that is stirred, whereby it burns but the more.
5. Thus the fierce wrathful kingdom can be extinguished by nothing, save only by God's light, by which it becomes wholly gentle, lovely and full of joy. And neither can that be; for if the dark kingdom were to be kindled with the light, the light would have no root to its nature and property, no fire could be generated, neither were there any light, nor any power, but all were a nothing.
6. Hence the kingdom of wrath must be, for it is a cause of the fire-world and the light-world, and all is God's. But all is not acknowledged as or called God, as the dark world has another property, and the light-world is a cause of the fierceness and terror of the dark property; for the darkness is terrified at the light, and stands in eternal terror because the light -world dwells in it. It trembles eternally before the light, and yet cannot apprehend it ; but is only a cause of life and of movement. And thus all must be subservient to the glory of God.
7. The life of darkness has many forms ; it is not one and the same property. As we are to recognize by the creatures of this world, where one is always
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30. It is all magical; what the will of a thing wills, that it receives. A toad takes only poison into itself; though it sit in the best apothecary's shop; the like also does a serpent. Every thing takes only its own property into itself ; and though it eat the substance of a good property, yet it converts all in itself into its own property. Though a toad should eat honey, yet this becomes poison in it. As indeed the devil was an angel ; but when he willed nothing good, his heavenly essence became to him hellish poison, and his evil will remained evil one time as another.
31. We are therefore highly to consider our hfe.
p. 98
what we would do and be at. We have evil and good in us. The one wherein we draw our will, its essence becomes active in us; and such a property we draw also from without into us. We have the two Mysteries, the divine and the devilish in us, of the two eternal worlds, and also of the outer world. What we make of ourselves, that we are; what we awaken in ourselves, that is moving in us. If we lead ourselves to good, then God's Spirit helps us; but if we lead ourselves to evil, then God's wrath and anger helps us. Whatever we will, of that property we obtain a leader, and thereinto we lead ourselves. It is not God's will that we perish, but his wrath's and our own will.
And thus we understand the fifth point.. How a life perishes, and how out of good an evil comes, and out of evil a good, when the will turns round.
THE SIXTH POINT
Of the life of darkness, wherein the devils dwell; WHAT BIRTH AND QUALITY IT HATH.
CHAPTER IX
1. The life of darkness is repugnant to all life of light; for the darkness gives fierce and hostile essence, and the life of light gives love-essence.
2. In the darkness there is in the essence only a perpetual stinging and breaking, each form being enemy to the other — a contrarious essence. Each form is a liar to itself, and one says to the other, that it is evil and adverse to it, that it is a cause of its restlessness and fierceness. Each thinks in itself: If only the other form were not, you would have rest; and yet each of them is evil and false. Hence it is, that all that is born of the dark property of wrath is lying, and is always lying against the other forms, saying they are evil; and yet it is itself a cause thereof, it makes them evil by its poisonous infection.
3. Thus are they all, and lying is their truth. When they speak lies, they speak from their own forms and properties. And so also are their creatures. Therefore Christ said: The devil is a liar and murderer from the beginning (John viii. 44). For each form desires to murder the other,p. 99p. 100 and yet there is no killing; but the greater the strife is, the greater becomes their murderous life.
4. And therefore it is called an eternal death and enmity, where nothing but contrariety arises. For there is nothing that could abolish the strife, nothing that could hold in check a single form. The more it were resisted, the greater would be the fierceness; hke a fire that is stirred, whereby it burns but the more.
5. Thus the fierce wrathful kingdom can be extinguished by nothing, save only by God's light, by which it becomes wholly gentle, lovely and full of joy. And neither can that be; for if the dark kingdom were to be kindled with the light, the light would have no root to its nature and property, no fire could be generated, neither were there any light, nor any power, but all were a nothing.
6. Hence the kingdom of wrath must be, for it is a cause of the fire-world and the light-world, and all is God's. But all is not acknowledged as or called God, as the dark world has another property, and the light-world is a cause of the fierceness and terror of the dark property; for the darkness is terrified at the light, and stands in eternal terror because the light -world dwells in it. It trembles eternally before the light, and yet cannot apprehend it ; but is only a cause of life and of movement. And thus all must be subservient to the glory of God.
7. The life of darkness has many forms ; it is not one and the same property. As we are to recognize by the creatures of this world, where one is always
p. 101
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