Wisdom is given the strangest and most useful definition in the book: "She is the true divine chaos, wherein all things lie, viz. a divine imagination, in which the ideas of angels and souls have been seen from eternity ... yet not then as creatures, but in resemblance, as when a man beholds his face in a glass." A chaos that is also an imagination, holding everything as image before anything exists as creature. Note the feminine pronoun, which is not decorative — Wisdom is consistently "she" throughout Boehme, and translations that neuter her lose a distinction he is making.
Open to all
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eternity, in the ground and abyss; and it is God himself, viz. the divine working perceptibility, sensation, [2]invention, science, and love; that is, the true knowledge, understanding in the working Unity, from which spring the five senses of the true life.
[1] or Jehova is the sensual name of the working Deity [2] finding knowledge
32. Each letter in this name intimates to us a peculiar virtue and working, that is, a [1] form in the working power.
[1] difference or distinction
33. For I is the effluence of the eternal, indivisible Unity, or the sweet gracefulness [wholeness, holiness] of the ground of the divine power of becoming [1] somethingness.
[1] I, l-hood, self, or selfness
34. E is a threefold I, where the Trinity shuts itself up in the Unity; for the I goes into E, and joins IE, which is an outbreathing of the Unity in itself.
35. H is the Word, or [1] breathing of the Trinity of God.
[1] or speaking
36. O is the circumference, or the Son of God, through which the IE and the H, or breathing, out-speaks; from the compressed light of the power and virtue.
37. V is the joyful effluence from the [1] breathing, that is, the proceeding spirit of God.
[1] or speaking
38. A is that which is proceeded from the power and virtue, viz. the wisdom; a subject of the Trinity; wherein the Trinity works, and wherein the Trinity is also manifest.
39. This name is nothing else but an out-speaking, or expression of the threefold working of the holy Trinity in the Unity of God. Read further of this in the Exposition of the Table of the three Principles of the Divine Manifestation.
Of the Divine Wisdom
40. The Holy Scripture says, The wisdom is the breathing of the divine power, a ray and breath of the Almighty; also it says, God has made all things by his wisdom; which we understand as follows.
41. The wisdom is the outflown Word of the divine power, virtue, knowledge, and holiness; a subject and resemblance [reflection or image] of the infinite and unsearchable Unity; a substance wherein the Holy Ghost works, forms, and models; I mean, he forms and models the divine understanding in the wisdom; for the wisdom is the passive, and the spirit of God is the active, or life in her, as the soul in the body.
42. The wisdom is the great Mystery of the divine nature; for in her the powers, colors, and virtues are made manifest; in her is the variation of the power and virtue, viz. the understanding: she is the divine understanding, that is, the divine [1] vision, wherein the Unity is manifest.
[1] or contemplation
43. She is the true divine chaos, wherein all things lie, viz. a divine imagination, in which the [1] ideas of angels and souls have been seen from eternity, in a divine type and resemblance; yet not then as creatures, but in resemblance, as when a man beholds his face in a glass: therefore the angelical and human idea did flow forth from the wisdom, and was formed into an image, as Moses said, "God created man in his image"; that is, he created the body, and breathed into it the breath of the divine effluence, of divine knowledge, from all the three
Principles of the divine manifestation.
[1] forms or images
Of the Mysterium Magnum
44. The [1] Mysterium Magnum is a subject of the wisdom, where the breathing word, or the working willing power of the divine understanding, flows forth through the wisdom, wherein also the Unity of God together flows out, to its manifestation.
[1] or Great Mystery
45. For in the Mysterium Magnum the eternal nature arises; and two [1] substances and wills are always understood to be in the Mysterium Magnum: the first substance is the Unity of God, that is, the divine power and virtue, the outflowing wisdom.
[1] essences or beings
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eternity, in the ground and abyss; and it is God himself, viz. the divine working perceptibility, sensation, [2]invention, science, and love; that is, the true knowledge, understanding in the working Unity, from which spring the five senses of the true life.
[1] or Jehova is the sensual name of the working Deity [2] finding knowledge
32. Each letter in this name intimates to us a peculiar virtue and working, that is, a [1] form in the working power.
[1] difference or distinction
33. For I is the effluence of the eternal, indivisible Unity, or the sweet gracefulness [wholeness, holiness] of the ground of the divine power of becoming [1] somethingness.
[1] I, l-hood, self, or selfness
34. E is a threefold I, where the Trinity shuts itself up in the Unity; for the I goes into E, and joins IE, which is an outbreathing of the Unity in itself.
35. H is the Word, or [1] breathing of the Trinity of God.
[1] or speaking
36. O is the circumference, or the Son of God, through which the IE and the H, or breathing, out-speaks; from the compressed light of the power and virtue.
37. V is the joyful effluence from the [1] breathing, that is, the proceeding spirit of God.
[1] or speaking
38. A is that which is proceeded from the power and virtue, viz. the wisdom; a subject of the Trinity; wherein the Trinity works, and wherein the Trinity is also manifest.
39. This name is nothing else but an out-speaking, or expression of the threefold working of the holy Trinity in the Unity of God. Read further of this in the Exposition of the Table of the three Principles of the Divine Manifestation.
Of the Divine Wisdom
40. The Holy Scripture says, The wisdom is the breathing of the divine power, a ray and breath of the Almighty; also it says, God has made all things by his wisdom; which we understand as follows.
41. The wisdom is the outflown Word of the divine power, virtue, knowledge, and holiness; a subject and resemblance [reflection or image] of the infinite and unsearchable Unity; a substance wherein the Holy Ghost works, forms, and models; I mean, he forms and models the divine understanding in the wisdom; for the wisdom is the passive, and the spirit of God is the active, or life in her, as the soul in the body.
42. The wisdom is the great Mystery of the divine nature; for in her the powers, colors, and virtues are made manifest; in her is the variation of the power and virtue, viz. the understanding: she is the divine understanding, that is, the divine [1] vision, wherein the Unity is manifest.
[1] or contemplation
43. She is the true divine chaos, wherein all things lie, viz. a divine imagination, in which the [1] ideas of angels and souls have been seen from eternity, in a divine type and resemblance; yet not then as creatures, but in resemblance, as when a man beholds his face in a glass: therefore the angelical and human idea did flow forth from the wisdom, and was formed into an image, as Moses said, "God created man in his image"; that is, he created the body, and breathed into it the breath of the divine effluence, of divine knowledge, from all the three
Principles of the divine manifestation.
[1] forms or images
Of the Mysterium Magnum
44. The [1] Mysterium Magnum is a subject of the wisdom, where the breathing word, or the working willing power of the divine understanding, flows forth through the wisdom, wherein also the Unity of God together flows out, to its manifestation.
[1] or Great Mystery
45. For in the Mysterium Magnum the eternal nature arises; and two [1] substances and wills are always understood to be in the Mysterium Magnum: the first substance is the Unity of God, that is, the divine power and virtue, the outflowing wisdom.
[1] essences or beings