The Way to Christ
Der Weg zu Christo · The way to Christ / Jacob Boehme ; translation and introduction by Peter Erb ; preface by Winfried Zeller · Christosophia · El camino hacia Cristo
Colección de nueve tratados espirituales de Jacob Boehme (1575-1624), el zapatero de Görlitz, en la traducción inglesa de Peter Erb publicada por Paulist Press en 1978 dentro de la serie The Classics of Western Spirituality. El prólogo la describe como «a collection of nine treatises on the spiritual life by the Gorlitz shoemaker and visionary Jacob Boehme (1575-1624)» «Jacob Boehme — The Way to Christ (trad. Peter Erb, Paulist Press, 1978) · p. 21», y la ficha de catálogo impresa en las guardas la asienta bajo «Boehme, Jakob, 1575-1624.» y la declara «Translation of Der Weg zu Christo.» «Jacob Boehme — The Way to Christ (trad. Peter Erb, Paulist Press, 1978) · p. 333».
El conjunto no lo armó Boehme. Erb sitúa la primera impresión el día de Año Nuevo de 1624, cuando sus amigos sacaron tres tratados «seemingly without his knowledge» «Jacob Boehme — The Way to Christ (trad. Peter Erb, Paulist Press, 1978) · p. 24», y adjudica a Johann Georg Gichtel el haber impreso en 1682 «The Way to Christ with its present contents for the first time» «Jacob Boehme — The Way to Christ (trad. Peter Erb, Paulist Press, 1978) · p. 24». De ahí que el propio Erb escriba que «The Way to Christ exists, in title and form, because of this Boehmist tradition» «Jacob Boehme — The Way to Christ (trad. Peter Erb, Paulist Press, 1978) · p. 23».
Los nueve tratados van, en el orden que fija esta edición: On True Repentance (1622), On True Repentance escrito el 9 de febrero de 1623, On Holy Prayer with an Order for Each Day of the Week (1624), On True Resignation (1622), On the New Birth (1622), On the Supersensual Life (1622), The Precious Gate on Divine Contemplation (1620), Conversation Between an Enlightened and Unenlightened Soul (1624) y el Consolation Treatise on the Four Humours, «(Written on request in March 1624)» «Jacob Boehme — The Way to Christ (trad. Peter Erb, Paulist Press, 1978) · p. 271». Erb declara que marcan etapas de un camino: tras el arrepentimiento el lector ha de orar, resignarse, experimentar el nuevo nacimiento y crecer en contemplación divina «Jacob Boehme — The Way to Christ (trad. Peter Erb, Paulist Press, 1978) · p. 24».
La traducción declara su base y su método. Erb escribe que «The present translation of Te Way to Christ was made from the 1730 Leyden edition done by Johann Wilhelm Ueberfeld.» «Jacob Boehme — The Way to Christ (trad. Peter Erb, Paulist Press, 1978) · p. 47» y que, a diferencia de la de John Joseph Stoudt, «this translation is an attempt to remain as close to Boehme's original as possible» «Jacob Boehme — The Way to Christ (trad. Peter Erb, Paulist Press, 1978) · p. 47». El volumen lleva prefacio de Winfried Zeller, introducción, nota sobre el texto, notas e índices; la contracubierta imprime «JACOB BOEHME—THE WAY TO CHRIST translation, * introduction and notes by Peter Erb, preface by Winfried Zeller» «Jacob Boehme — The Way to Christ (trad. Peter Erb, Paulist Press, 1978) · p. 334».
766 afirmaciones · 7 fuentes · 1 atribución
Atribución
se consigna, jamás se afirma«Jacob Boehme — The Way to Christ (trad. Peter Erb, Paulist Press, 1978) · p. 333»
Cadena de la obra
el testimonio procesado, en esmeraldaAfirmaciones
766 entradas — la voz de la obra, con su pasaje«How a man must arouse himself in his will and mind, and what his consideration and earnest resolution are to be when he wishes to powerfully repent, and with what kind of a mind he is to come before God when he wishes to request and receive from Him forgiveness of» — portadilla del primer tratado, On True Repentance, fechado en 1622: enuncia el asunto como despertar de la voluntad y de la mente antes de pedir perdón. La frase se corta en el cambio de plana.
«Together with short formulas for prayer; how a man’s soul is to awake itself in the grace of God, and to grasp and hold the same» — la misma portadilla anuncia el añadido práctico del tratado: fórmulas breves de oración.
«Saint Paul says: Whatever you do, do in the name of the Lord and thank God and the Father in Christ Jesus» — el prefacio del autor al primer tratado abre con Colosenses 3:17, que Boehme cita como regla general de la obra entera.
«God-loving reader, if you wish to use this little book correctly, and are in earnest, you will truly know its value» — Boehme condiciona el valor del libro a la seriedad del lector, no a su capacidad.
«However, I wish to warn you if you are not in earnest, leave untouched the precious Names of God (in which the highest holiness is named, made known and mightily desired), so that they do not ignite the wrath of God in your soul, for one is not to misuse God’s holy Names» — advertencia de Boehme en el primer tratado: los Nombres divinos que el libro contiene actúan también contra quien los usa sin seriedad.
«This little book belongs only to those who wish eagerly to repent, and who have a desire to begin» — Boehme delimita el destinatario del primer tratado por el deseo de empezar, no por la instrucción.
«When a man wishes to proceed to repentance, and turn himself to God with his prayers, he is to examine his mind before any prayer, [considering] how it is completely and wholly turned from God; how it has become faithless to God» — primer paso del examen que ordena el primer tratado: antes de orar, reconocer la desviación entera de la mente. Los corchetes son inserción del traductor.
«Secondly, he is to consider how all this is an enmity against God that Satan, by his deceit, awoke in our first parents, for which abomination we must die and perish in our bodies» — segundo paso: Boehme remonta la enemistad a la seducción de los primeros padres.
«The first is God’s stern wrath, the abyss and dark world that is the centrum and creaturely life of the soul» — primera de las tres cadenas que, según el primer tratado, atan al alma; el latinismo *centrum* se conserva sin traducir en toda la edición.
«The second chain is the devil’s desire against the soul by which he continually sifts the soul, tempts [it] and constantly wishes to drag it away from God’s truth into vanity, as into pride, covetousness, envy and wrath, and to kindle and continually increase these same evil characteristics by his desire in the soul» — segunda cadena: el deseo del diablo, que obra encendiendo las mismas características malas ya presentes en el alma.
«Through this the soul’s will is turned from God and enters into self» — Boehme nombra el efecto de esa segunda cadena: la voluntad entra en sí misma, que es la definición de pecado que sostendrá el cuarto tratado.
«The third and most abominable chain by which the poor soul is bound is the corrupted, and completely vain, earthly, mortal flesh and blood, full of evil desires and inclinations» — tercera cadena, y la que Boehme llama más abominable: la carne corrompida.
«how he is a stinking swineherd who has wasted and used up his father’s inheritance, God’s love and mercy, in earthly pleasure with the devil’s fatted pigs» — Boehme traslada al penitente la figura del hijo pródigo, una de las dos parábolas que estructuran el libro.
«also how he has so completely forgotten the covenant of holy baptism (in which he promised his Saviour faith and loyalty» — Boehme funda el arrepentimiento en un pacto ya contraído en el bautismo, no en una decisión nueva.
«Fourthly, he is to consider earnestly that angry death waits for him every hour and moment, and wishes to seize him in this swineherd’s cloak, in his sins and abominations» — cuarto paso del examen: la muerte airada acechando a cada hora.
«Fifthly, he is to consider the earnest and stern judgement of God when he, with his abominations, will be set alive before the judgement; and that before the eyes of Christ and before all holy angels and men, all those whom he has wronged by word or work and caused to do evil so that they sinned by his instigation will comé before him and curse him» — quinto paso: el juicio como comparecencia ante los que uno indujo a pecar. La tilde en *comé* es del OCR.
«Sixthly, he is to consider how the godless man loses his noble image (how that God made him to His image) and becomes a formless spectre, like a hellish worm or abominable beast since he is then an enemy of God, against heaven and all holy angels and men; and how his community is eternally in horrid darkness among devils and hellish worms» — sexto paso: la pérdida de la imagen divina descrita como pérdida de forma.
«In the seventh place, he is to consider earnestly the eternal punishment and pain of the damned, how in eternal horror they suffer pain in their self-created abominations and do not see the land of the saints in eternity nor receive any revival, as is to be seen with the rich man» — séptimo paso, con una precisión: las abominaciones de los condenados son creadas por ellos mismos.
«in the wisdom of God on the new crystalline earth that is as transparent glass» — el primer tratado describe así el destino perdido: una tierra cristalina transparente como vidrio.
«but [how] the saints’ death is an entrance into eternal rest, and the death of the godless man is an entrance into eternal restlessness» — Boehme distingue las dos muertes por lo que abren, no por lo que son.
«Eighthly, he is to consider the course of this world, how everything is a plaything by which he spends his time in restlessness; that it happens to the rich and powerful as to the poor; that we all live and move among the four elements» — octavo paso: la igualdad de rico y pobre bajo los cuatro elementos.
«that the poor man’s bite tastes as good in his weariness as the rich man’s in his cares; that we all live in one breath, and that the rich man has nothing for his advantage but a connoisseur’s palate and a lustful eye» — el argumento del zapatero contra la ventaja de la riqueza, formulado por el gusto y el aliento.
«He need only take the promises of Christ that God does not wish the death of the poor sinner (Ezekiel 33:11) but calls all to come to Him (Matthew 11:28), and that there is great joy in heaven over one sinner who repents» — Boehme cierra el examen con tres lugares bíblicos que sostienen la promesa; las referencias entre paréntesis son del texto.
«But I wish to speak to those who feel in themselves a desire for repentance but cannot in any way come to knowledge nor to correct true sorrow for past sins» — Boehme cambia de destinatario dentro del tratado: escribe para quien quiere arrepentirse y no llega a sentir dolor.
«And [he] is to make such a firm and stern resolution for himself that he will never again leave [repentance], even if the whole world considers him a fool» — la resolución que el primer tratado pide es de irreversibilidad, con la burla del mundo prevista como parte del precio.
«He is strongly to consider, and completely wrap his soul [in the idea] that he has made the resolution to gain the love of God in Christ Jesus, and that according to His true promise God will give him the noble pledge of the Holy Spirit as a beginning» — Boehme adjudica el Espíritu Santo como prenda que se recibe al principio del camino, no al final.
«He is to consider fully the great love of God, that God does not wish the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live» — Boehme repite el motivo de Ezequiel como base de la confianza del penitente.
«He is to consider strongly also that God in Christ Jesus will more readily hear [him] and receive him into grace than he himself wants to come to Him; and that in the love of Christ, in the very precious Name JESUS, God can desire no evil, that there is no glimpse of wrath in this Name» — Boehme sostiene que en el Nombre de Jesús no queda vestigio de ira, lo que en su sistema equivale a decir que ahí el fuego está enteramente vuelto luz.
«Each one may change and enlarge this form of confession according to his situation, as the Holy Spirit teaches. I desire to set down only a short guide» — Boehme presenta la Forma breve de confesión del primer tratado como guía modificable, no como fórmula fija.
«I have forsaken the covenant that You, out of pure grace, made with me in baptism, in which You took me as a child and heir of eternal life» — en la confesión, la falta se formula como abandono de un pacto bautismal previo.
«I lie as deep as my soul’s lips in the mire of sin and in the vanity of my corrupted flesh, and have only a small spark of breath in me that seeks Your grace» — la chispa de aliento que aún busca la gracia es lo único que la confesión reserva del lado del penitente.
«I have become a wild shoot in Your tree and have devoured my inheritance from You with the devil’s pigs» — la confesión cruza la imagen del injerto silvestre con la del hijo pródigo.
«I can and am able to do nothing. I have become dead to myself and have no power before You» — declaración de impotencia con que la confesión del primer tratado descarta toda obra propia.
«Now I have become a fool in myself and am naked and bare; my shame stands before my eyes; I cannot hide it» — el penitente se describe desnudo y sin recurso, en la línea de la pérdida del manto que Erb comenta en la introducción.
«Although I am not worthy, take me into Your death and let me die Your death in my death» — la petición central de la confesión: morir la muerte de Cristo dentro de la propia.
«Strike down my assumed “I” and destroy by Your death my “I,” so that I no longer live, since in myself I only sin» — Boehme pide la destrucción del yo asumido, que es la formulación de la resignación en clave de plegaria.
«O great Fountain of the love of God, let me die to my vanity and sin in the death of my Redeemer Jesus Christ» — serie de invocaciones del primer tratado por atributos: Fuente, Aliento, Vencedor de la muerte.
«O Breath of the great love of God, revive my weak breath in me so that it may begin to hunger and thirst after You» — la plegaria pide que el aliento divino reanime el aliento humano: hambre y sed como efecto, no como mérito.
«O merciful God, convert me; I cannot. O Conqueror of death, help me to strive» — el pedido lleva dentro su propio límite: el penitente declara que no puede convertirse.
«O Conqueror of death and God’s wrath, conquer my “I” in me» — Boehme dirige la victoria de Cristo contra el yo del orante, no contra un adversario externo.
«Bend it in death’s bonds; remove its power so that it wills nothing without You» — cierre de la confesión: la voluntad queda sin poder propio, que es la definición operativa de resignación en la obra.
«Although [I say], if his resolution is truly earnest, he needs no formula» — Boehme relativiza sus propias fórmulas de oración: con resolución verdadera sobran.
«But I do not wish to hide from the dear reader, who stands in Christian resolution, how it usually goes with those who have such a firm resolution» — Boehme anuncia que va a describir el fracaso previsible del principiante, no solo el método.
«For the spirit of God is not bound and it customarily uses many methods as He knows each [person] individually» — el tratado niega que haya un solo procedimiento válido: el Espíritu no está atado.
«If it so happens that such a heart comes thus before God with serious resolution and enters into repentance, it might go with it as with the Canaanite woman» — Boehme usa el episodio de la mujer cananea como figura de la oración no atendida de inmediato.
«If God does not listen, the heart remains without comfort» — la consecuencia se consigna sin suavizarla: el corazón queda sin consuelo.
«O how many hundreds [of people] have perished in such a beginning and have returned once again into vanity» — Boehme consigna el fracaso masivo de los que empiezan, dentro de un tratado que es guía de práctica.
«If you want to be crowned, you must strive. You must gain victory in Christ, and not lie under the devil» — el primer tratado condiciona la corona al combate, en respuesta a los que abandonan tras la primera resolución.
«Your resolution must remain firm. You must not prefer temporal honours and wealth to it» — Boehme nombra los dos competidores concretos de la resolución: honores y riqueza temporales.
«If the spirit of the flesh says, “Wait, it is not yet fitting,” the soul must say “It is now my time and hour to return again to my fatherland out of which my father Adam led me» — Boehme pone en diálogo al espíritu de la carne y al alma; la dilación es el argumento del primero.
«No creature shall hold me, and you, evil earthly body, you who have swallowed my pearl that God gave my father Adam in Paradise, will be extinguished in Christ’s death, the will of your pleasure in vanity will be broken, and I will [enter] again the rose garden of my Redeemer Jesus Christ» — el alma se dirige al cuerpo como a un interlocutor y le reclama la perla tragada; el jardín de rosas es la meta del regreso.
«No one will free you from this chain except temporal death» — Boehme mantiene el límite: la tercera cadena, la de la carne, no se rompe antes de la muerte temporal.
«And although something may be received during this time, it is only a ray compared to such» — Boehme acota lo alcanzable en esta vida a un rayo de lo prometido.
«But a chaste mind may well attain to it, so that the soul in its noble image, which died in Adam, might be alive» — la condición que Boehme pone para ese rayo es la castidad de la mente, y el efecto es la reviviscencia de la imagen.
«And even if the whole world should consider it a fool because of this and if it should lose honour, and temporal life as well, still it must persist in it» — el tratado repite el motivo de la necedad ante el mundo, ahora con la vida temporal incluida en el precio.
«The work, however, is commended to the Holy Spirit in each heart when it seeks Her» — Boehme devuelve al Espíritu el gobierno de la obra en cada corazón, con el femenino que remite a Sophia.
«I, a poor, unworthy man, come again to You O great, holy God, and lift my eyes to You although I am unworthy to do so» — arranque de la segunda oración del primer tratado, que repite la fórmula de indignidad de la confesión.
«Even though it is yet a strange child before You, one disobedient to You, now it desires to be obedient» — el orante habla del alma en tercera persona, como de una hija ajena que empieza a querer obedecer.
«And although I am unworthy to desire this from Your holiness, I come to You nevertheless through Your bitter suffering and death since You have covered my impurity with Your blood, sanctified it in Your humanity, and made an open gate for me by Your death into the sweet love of Your blood» — la oración funda el acceso en la pasión, descrita como puerta abierta.
«Through Your holy five wounds, out of which You poured Your blood, do I lead my soul’s desire into Your love» — Boehme dirige el deseo del alma por las cinco llagas, devoción de tradición medieval dentro de un tratado luterano.
«As You promised us: We will come to you and make our dwelling with You» — la oración cierra apoyándose en Juan 14:23, con la referencia impresa entre corchetes en la edición.
«If he desires Her love She is willing and kisses him with a beam of Her sweet love, by which the heart receives joy. But She does: not immediately enter the marriage bed with the soul, that is, She does not immediately awaken the corrupted heavenly image» — el primer tratado distingue dos grados en la unión con Sophia: el rayo de amor se da pronto, el lecho nupcial no. Los dos puntos tras *does* son del OCR.
«She allows you to cry and does not answer with a glimpse of Her love» — Boehme consigna el silencio de Sophia como parte del proceso, no como fracaso del que ora.
«You must first come to the gates of hell and show your victory in and for Her love in power in the face of the devil’s attacks so that She will again look at you» — la condición que el tratado pone para la segunda mirada de Sophia: la victoria a las puertas del infierno.
«Even though you cannot nor dare not do this as He did, you must nevertheless enter His way completely, and ever die to the soul’s vanity, for in this way the Virgin Sophia weds Herself to the soul only by this characteristic that sprouts in the soul through Christ’s death as a new growth that is [rooted] in heaven» — Boehme acota la imitación de Cristo con un *no puedes hacerlo como Él* y aun así la exige entera.
«The earthly body at this time does not grasp this because it must first die to vanity» — el tratado explica por qué la unión no se percibe con el cuerpo.
«But you must stand firm when the tempter comes to you with the world’s pleasure, beauty and glory» — Boehme nombra las tres formas en que llega el tentador al que ya empezó el camino.
«Thus fiercely the devil defends himself in many because he has a great robber’s castle in them, but if he weakens he must leave it» — la figura del castillo del ladrón, con la que el tratado describe la posesión interior del enemigo.
«although it is first but small, like a mustard seed, as Christ says» — Boehme mide el primer triunfo con el grano de mostaza de Mateo 17:20.
«Then the man must enter Christ’s way under the cross. Here for the first time it will be shown by demonstration that he who allows himself to be called a Christian must allow himself to be called a fool and a godless person; indeed his very best friends, who had earlier praised his fleshly lust, now become his enemies and, although they do not know why, they hate him» — el tratado describe el costo social de la conversión y añade que los propios enemigos ignoran el motivo de su odio.
«Even though a mother forgets her child, which is painful, yet You will not forget me» — Boehme apoya la confianza del que ora en Isaías 49:15.
«Even though I have not accepted it, but have turned from Him and become faithless, You have given me this precious pledge in my own flesh and soul» — la oración reconoce la prenda dada en la propia carne pese al rechazo previo.
«Even though my heart clearly says no, my soul’s desire will hold fast to Your truth, and no devil nor death shall take it from me since the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses us» — Boehme separa lo que dice el corazón de lo que sostiene el deseo del alma, y funda el segundo en I Juan 1:7.
«Even though he be spared it until the end, which is obviously dangerous, he must still go through this judgement» — el tratado advierte que aplazar el juicio no lo evita, y llama peligrosa la demora.
«Even though he must stand fast against the conquering victory of the devil, he will be strongly supported and will gain the best so that hereafter, when dawn breaks in the soul, he will greatly praise God that the enemy has been conquered» — Boehme promete el amanecer del alma como término del combate, con la misma imagen del título de su primer libro.
«He who comes to it of his own earnest resolution, and thinks to leave the godless way, to him it will not be difficult nor last long» — el tratado acorta el plazo para quien llega por resolución propia, después de haber descrito lo largo que es para los demás.
«O highest Love, You have appeared in me. Remain in me» — arranque de la serie de invocaciones que cierra esta sección del primer tratado.
«O mighty Love, awaken in me my corrupted image that died in my father Adam in the heavenly kingdom through Your word in the woman’s seed in Mary» — la petición liga la restauración de la imagen con la simiente de la mujer en María.
«many a person, if he does not earnestly put on Christ’s armour» — el primer tratado advierte del riesgo para quien emprende el camino sin la armadura de Cristo.
«You have promised indeed that Your father will give the Holy Spirit to them who ask for it» — la oración se apoya en la promesa evangélica del Espíritu a quien lo pide.
«Believe through Your power in me for without You I can do nothing» — el orante pide que sea Cristo quien crea en él: la fe queda desplazada del sujeto que ora.
«O sweet Love, I lead my desire into the word of Your promise» — fórmula recurrente del tratado: conducir el deseo hacia algo, en vez de producir un afecto.
«O sweet Love, You are my light; illuminate my poor soul in its dark prison, in flesh and blood» — la carne aparece aquí como cárcel oscura del alma, no como enemigo a destruir.
«O my noble Vine, give sap to Your branch» — imagen de la vid y el sarmiento, con la que el tratado formula la dependencia de la savia ajena.
«O great Love and sweet Power, JESUS, Fountain-source of divine sweetness, I call to You with my soul’s desire from the eternally great Name JEHOVAH» — el tratado ordena los Nombres: se llama a JESÚS desde el Nombre JEHOVÁ, que en el sistema de Boehme es el anterior. Las versalitas son del impreso.
«O Emmanuel, you Marriage of God and man, into Your arms, into Your desire toward us and in us I give myself. I desire You» — Boehme invoca a Cristo como matrimonio ya consumado de Dios y hombre, figura que anticipa el desposorio del alma.
«O great, holiest, Name and Power of God JEHOVAH who has moved Yourself in our corrupted heavenly humanity by Your sweetest power JESUS in the promised fulfillment of the covenant made with our father Adam in the woman’s seed of the Virgin Mary, You have led Your living being in Yourself, Your holy power, in the Virgin Wisdom of God, into our corrupted humanity, and have given us life, victory and a new birth» — la oración enlaza Nombre, pacto adánico, simiente de la mujer y Sabiduría Virgen en una sola secuencia.
«I, poor man full of anguish and sorrow, wander again on my pilgrim’s path into my lost fatherland, and go through the thorns and thistles of this world again to You, O God my Father» — la Oración en y contra la tentación se abre con la figura del peregrino de regreso.
«They mock my soul and despise it as an evildoer who has become faithless to them» — Boehme consigna que la burla viene de los antiguos compañeros, que leen la conversión como deslealtad.
«O Lord Jesus Christ, I fly to You under Your cross. Ah dear Emmanuel, take me, and lead me to You through Your own pilgrim’s path that You travelled in this world» — el orante pide ser llevado por el mismo camino de peregrino que recorrió Cristo.
«O great, incomprehensible God, who fills all, be my heaven in which my new birth in Christ Jesus might live. Let my spirit be the stringed instrument, music and joy of the Holy Spirit» — Boehme pide ser instrumento de cuerda del Espíritu, imagen que retomará al describir la armonía angélica.
«Play on me in Your reborn image and lead my harmony into Your divine kingdom of joy, into the great praise of God, into the wonders of Your glory and majesty, into the community of the holy angelic harmony, and establish in me the holy city Zion in which we, as the children of Christ, shall all live in one city that is Christ in us» — la Sion que el tratado pide no es un lugar futuro sino una ciudad establecida dentro del orante.
«Stand by me in my wretchedness. Comfort me with the comfort [with] which the angel in the garden comforted You when You prayed to the Father» — el orante pide el consuelo del ángel de Getsemaní; los corchetes son inserción del traductor.
«O great love of God, they do not know Your way and do this out of blindness, by the devil’s deception» — Boehme excusa a los que se burlan por ignorancia, dentro de la misma oración en que se queja de ellos.
«Have mercy on them and lead them from blindness to light so that they will learn to know themselves» — la petición por los adversarios pide para ellos el mismo autoconocimiento con que empieza el libro.
«O great God, have mercy on Adam and on his children. Redeem them in Christ, the new Adam» — la oración se ensancha del individuo al linaje entero.
«They think that they are doing evil to me, but they do me good» — el orante del primer tratado invierte el sentido de la persecución: los adversarios obran un bien que ignoran.
«My earthly mind thinks that You thus plague me because of my sins and then I am in every way afraid, but Your spirit in my inner, new man tells me that this happens to me because of love» — la oración consigna dos lecturas simultáneas del mismo sufrimiento, la de la mente terrena y la del hombre nuevo, sin arbitrar entre ellas.
«A Little Prayer, or Conversation in the internal ground of man, between the poor wounded soul and the noble Virgin Sophia, as between the spirit of Christ in the new birth and the soul; how much joy there is in the heaven of the new, regenerated man; how gractously the noble Sophia presents Herself to Her bridegroom the soul when the soul enters repentance» — encabezado del diálogo que cierra el primer tratado, donde el volumen identifica a Sophia con el espíritu de Cristo en el nuevo nacimiento. La grafía *gractously* es del OCR.
«The gates of the paradisatcal rose garden no one but the children of Christ who have experienced this may understand» — el propio encabezado limita el diálogo a quien haya pasado por la experiencia. La grafía *paradisatcal* es del OCR.
«When Christ the cornerstone moves in the corrupted image of man in his deep conversion and repentance, the Virgin Sophia appears in the movement of Christ’s spirit in the corrupted image in Her Virginal clothing before the soul» — el tratado fecha la aparición de Sophia en el movimiento de Cristo dentro de la imagen corrompida, no en un esfuerzo del alma.
«But the noble Sophia draws Herself near to the soul’s being and kisses it in a friendly manner and tinctures the dark fire of the soul with Her love beams and penetrates the soul with Her loving kiss» — la operación de Sophia sobre el alma se describe con el verbo alquímico de la tintura.
«Then the soul leaps in its body for great joy in the power of this virginal love. It triumphs and praises the great God, by virtue of the noble Sophia» — el efecto se localiza en el cuerpo: el alma salta dentro de él.
«O beautiful Love, my heart grasps You. Where have You been so long? I thought I was in hell, in God’s anger» — habla el Alma en el diálogo: el reproche por la tardanza abre su primer parlamento.
«O noble Love, give me but Your sweet pearl. Lay it in me» — el Alma pide la perla en propiedad, petición que Sophia va a rechazar en el mismo diálogo.
«My noble bridegroom, my strength and might, be always welcome to me. How have you forgotten me so long that I, in great sorrow, had to stand before your door and knock» — habla Sophia, y su primer parlamento invierte el reproche: era ella la que esperaba a la puerta.
«I was near to you and continually cried to you, but your sins held you captive in death, so that you did not know me» — Sophia declara que la separación no fue distancia suya sino ceguera del alma.
«You had taken the devil as a lover, and he had defiled you and built up his robber’s castle of vanity within you, and turned you completely from my love and faith, toward his hypocritical false kingdom» — Sophia describe la caída del alma en términos de adulterio, y reaparece el castillo del ladrón.
«Without your fire’s might I have not been able to be happy, for you are my husband; by you my own brightness is revealed» — Sophia declara su propia dependencia del alma: sin el fuego de ella, su brillo no se revela. La relación es recíproca, no unilateral.
«By my meekness, I shall then change your fire-beams into a white-light, and direct my love through your fire-beams into your fire’s essence and I shall kiss you eternally» — Sophia enuncia la operación que le corresponde: convertir en luz blanca los rayos de fuego del alma.
«Ah, my noble Pearl and Flame of my light opened in my anguished fire-life, how You changed me into Your joy» — segunda intervención del Alma, que ahora nombra a Sophia como perla y llama.
«I have kept my faith with you, but you beg me now for 4 serious thing, which I do not eagerly wish to risk with you» — Sophia niega la petición del alma; el *4* por *a* es del OCR.
«My dear bridegroom, think how you previously lost it in Adam» — la razón de la negativa: el alma ya perdió una vez la perla.
«Moreover, you might also become proud like Lucifer when he had the pearl as his possession, and you might turn away from God’s harmony» — Sophia pone el precedente de Lucifer como riesgo del alma que posea la perla.
«I shall keep my pearl to myself and shall dwell in your corrupted humanity now again made alive in me in the heaven within you and preserve my pearl for Paradise, until you lay aside your earthiness» — Sophia aplaza la entrega hasta después de la muerte y declara qué hará entretanto.
«But I will eagerly give you my presence and the sweet beams of the pearl, during the time of this earthly life» — lo que sí concede en esta vida: presencia y rayos, no posesión.
«Even if God’s wrath should soon come over you so that you are afraid and think that I have left you, I shall be with you and defend you because you do not know what your office is» — Sophia previene al Alma contra la lectura del abandono: la ausencia sentida no es ausencia.
«But my pearl I will not give you at this time as your own» — Sophia repite la negativa, que es el desenlace del diálogo del primer tratado.
«Therefore, cover yourself in patience, and guard yourself from the pleasures of the flesh» — lo que Sophia manda en lugar de la perla: paciencia y guarda.
«I shall come to you and make my dwelling in you in your internal choir» — Sophia promete morada en el coro interior, término que el tratado usa para el lugar donde ella guarda la perla.
«I shall be with you in all the days to the end of the world» — cierre del parlamento de Sophia, con la fórmula del evangelio puesta en su boca.
«Dear reader, do not treat this an uncertain story» — Boehme sale del diálogo para dirigirse al lector y reclamar que no lo lea como ficción.
«May God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit have rule, O one true God» — invocación con que se abre la Pequeña oración de la mañana del primer tratado.
«I thank You through Jesus Christ (Your dear Son), our Lord and Saviour, for Your defense and protection, and all blessings, and I now dedicate myself with body and soul, and with all that You have set me to do in my calling under your defense and protection» — la oración matutina liga la entrega con el oficio o llamado de cada quien, no con un retiro del mundo.
«I lift my heart to You, O God, Fountain-source of eternal life, and thank You through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, our Lord and Saviour, that You have this day protected me from all accidents and stood by me in my calling and position» — la oración de la tarde cierra la jornada con la misma referencia al oficio.
«A short guide on the key to the understanding of divine mystery, how a man may reach divine contemplation within himself» — portadilla del segundo tratado, fechado *written February 9, 1623*, que se anuncia como llave y no como doctrina.
«He ought to gather up all his sense and reason, with all his imagination, into one thought, and conceive within it a strong imagination in himself to consider himself, what kind of person he is» — primera instrucción del segundo tratado: reunir sentido, razón e imaginación en un solo pensamiento.
«Scripture calls him an image of God (Genesis 1:27), the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19) who dwells in him, and [it] also calls him a member of Christ and offers him Christ’s flesh and blood as food and drink» — el segundo tratado apoya el examen en tres títulos escriturarios; las referencias entre paréntesis son del texto.
«He ought to examine himself in his life [to see] if he is worthy of this great grace and capable of this high title of Christ» — el examen se plantea como cotejo entre el título recibido y la vida llevada.
«And if he now discovers such a deeply hidden will within himself, which would gladly turn to God’s grace if only he could, let him know that this will is the Word of God that was incorporated and spoken into him in Paradise after sin [and] that God JEHOVAH, as the Father, still draws him to Christ, for in our own characteristic we have no more will for obedience» — el segundo tratado identifica el deseo de conversión con la Palabra incorporada en el Paraíso, y niega al hombre voluntad propia de obediencia.
«The desire for future conversion at some time is God’s voice in man, which the devil, by his imported® images, covers and holds back so that it is put off from one day and year to the next, until the soul at last becomes a thistle and can no longer reach grace» — el tratado describe la dilación como táctica del diablo por medio de imágenes introducidas; el signo tras *imported* es la llamada a nota.
«These images will be: (1) pride, love of self, and a wish to be honoured by others» — primera de las imágenes que, según el segundo tratado, ocupan el corazón.
«Moreover, it will be an image of a Pig, as covetousness, which wants to have everything [for itself] alone» — segunda imagen, la del cerdo, con que el tratado figura la avaricia.
«Moreover, it will be an image of envy in him, which strikes out at other hearts and is not willing to accept them» — tercera de las imágenes bestiales del segundo tratado, la envidia.
«Moreover, it will be wrath, which envy lifts up in itself as a poison and, for almost no reason, strikes out, attacks, raves and wishes to justify itself» — cuarta imagen, la ira, que el tratado deriva de la envidia y describe por su afán de justificarse.
«Then let him hold these® up against God’s word in law and Gospel, and he will see that he is more beast and devil than true man» — el método del segundo tratado: cotejar las imágenes propias contra Ley y Evangelio; el signo tras *these* es la llamada a nota.
«Even though he neither will nor can do this in his own powers, he should take Christ’s promises to himself, for Christ said: Seek, and you shall find; knock, and it will be opened unto you» — el tratado mantiene la exigencia junto con la incapacidad, y remite las dos a la promesa, no al esfuerzo.
«Let him think that in himself he is nothing other than a filthy swineherd who has wasted his father’s possessions and his birthright with the pigs of the world and with evil beasts; that he now stands before God’s face as nothing other than a miserable, naked, ragged swineherd who has prostituted and adulterated his father’s inheritance with the world’s bestial images; and [that he] has no right any longer to God’s grace, and is unworthy of it; much less can he be called a Christian or a child of God» — el segundo tratado repite la figura del porquerizo del primero y le niega expresamente el nombre de cristiano.
«For without faith it is impossible to please God, the Scripture says» — el tratado apoya la exigencia de fe en Hebreos 11:6.
«But let him not despair of God’s grace, only of his own self and of his own abilities and possibilities» — Boehme separa dos desesperaciones y ordena una sola: la de sí mismo.
«But he ought to stand firm and hold God’s promise as a certain, unfailing truth, and sigh with dejected heart for God’s grace and, in his great unworthiness, give himself to Him» — la firmeza que pide el tratado se apoya en la promesa, no en el sentimiento.
«Even if he should not gain consolation of forgiveness in his heart all the days of his life, God’s promise will be more firm than all the comfort that may come to him» — el tratado prevé una vida entera sin consuelo sentido y aun así sostiene la promesa.
«Let him give up only these three beasts and the others will soon begin to be weak and sick, and to approach death» — Boehme reduce la tarea a tres bestias y deja que las demás caigan por sí solas.
«begins when the two lovers receive each other in joy, and press into each other with completely inner desire, in the sweetest love of God. Then in a short time the marriage of the lamb is prepared when the Virgin Sophia (as the worthy humanity of Christ) is wedded with the soul» — el segundo tratado identifica a Sophia con la humanidad digna de Cristo dentro de la figura de las bodas del Cordero.
«We have neither pen nor words to write or to tell what the sweet grace of God in Christ’s humanity is, and what happens to those who are worthy to come to the marriage of the lamb, which we in our own way have experienced, and which we know, so that we have a true ground for our writings» — Boehme declara la insuficiencia del lenguaje y a la vez funda la autoridad de lo escrito en la experiencia propia.
«Since we already have written a detailed tract On True Repentance and On New Birth we shall leave off here with only a mere guide, and direct the reader himself to it, as well as to the large work on Genesis» — el segundo tratado remite a otros escritos del propio autor y se declara solo guía; la edición añade entre corchetes que la obra sobre el Génesis es el Mysterium Magnum.
«How a man 1s continually to examine the office, position and way of life in which God has placed him; and how he is to commit the beginning, middle, and end of all his activities to God and continually do all his works with God» — portadilla del tercer tratado, On Holy Prayer, fechado en 1624: el asunto es el trabajo diario, no el retiro. La grafía *1s* por *is* es del OCR.
«No, such mouthing of words without careful consideration and divine desire is an outward thing, an external formation of words» — el tercer tratado rechaza la oración recitada sin consideración.
«Nothing pleases God in a thing except what He Himself works and does» — principio del tercer tratado que anula el mérito de la obra externa.
«With their lips do they draw near to me, but their heart is far from me» — el tratado apoya el rechazo en Isaías 29:13, citado con su referencia dentro del texto.
«Not all who say to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but those who do the will of my Father in heaven» — segundo apoyo escriturario, de Mateo 7:21.
«We are to consider well in the second place whether we also desire and love something more in our prayer than the mercy of God; whether we desire only those things from the divine hand and cooperation that we desire from temporal things; or whether we sigh to gain them by our art, cunning and intelligence and only ask God for His permission to do so» — segunda de las cinco consideraciones del tercer tratado: examinar si se pide a Dios o solo su permiso para lo que uno se propone alcanzar por su maña.
«Thirdly we are to consider what we wish to do with that which we ask and desire from God; whether we seek in it the world’s honour and glory alone for temporal pleasure» — tercera consideración: el destino de lo pedido.
«Weare fourthly to consider that in this world we have nothing of our own, and that we ourselves are not our own, but that we are only workers and foreign guests in this world for a short time; that we are only managers for our God over His creation and creatures; that what we work and produce we do not only for ourselves but for God and our neighbour» — cuarta consideración: la condición de administrador y huésped, no de dueño. La grafía *Weare* es del OCR.
«We are fifthly to consider that of our own power we are not able to pray correctly before God, as Christ says: Without me you can do nothing» — quinta consideración: la incapacidad de orar sin Cristo, apoyada en Juan 15:5.
«We do not know what we pray for [or] how it is fitting before God, but the Holy Spirit’® presents Himself for us before God with sighs too deep for words» — el tratado remite a Romanos 8:26 para poner al Espíritu como el que ora; los caracteres tras *Spirit* son la llamada a nota.
«It is not [such a] matter as when a man comes before a worldly king, or lord, to whom he has attached himself, and prays for grace and often thinks quite differently in his heart» — Boehme distingue la oración de la petición cortesana, donde cabe pensar otra cosa de la que se dice.
«He has no longer a natural right to the heavenly possessions; he lost them with Adam’s departure, and wasted [them] in vanity with the devil’s adultery» — el tercer tratado niega todo derecho natural del hombre sobre los bienes celestes.
«He will discover properly within himself how the old father of the prodigal son comes toward the poor, changed repentant soul and falls around the neck of its essence of life with His love, and with His love embraces and kisses it, grasping it in His arms, and speaking to it with power: “This is my dear son: This is my dear soul that I lost» — el tratado sitúa la escena del padre y el hijo pródigo dentro del que ora, no en un relato.
«Then the signet ring, as the precious testament of the covenant of God in the blood of Jesus Christ, will be placed again [upon the son], and, through such a covenant and sealing, it will be received again as a child of God» — el anillo de la parábola queda leído como el pacto sellado en la sangre.
«Therefore I say this to the Christian reader: that praying is not only a mouth-work, as when a man comes before a lord and requests temporal things, or release from debt» — Boehme niega que la oración sea trabajo de boca.
«Saint Paul says: For we have not received the spirit of bondage so that we again must have to fear ourselves, but a childlike spirit so that with joyful hearts we may ask of the Father with all confidence that He will give it to us» — el tratado opone el espíritu de esclavitud al espíritu filial como disposición de quien ora.
«Every prayer that does not find and receive is cold and indifferent, and is held in the hindrance of temporal, earthly things; that is, the soul does not draw near to God purely, it does not want to yield itself wholly and completely to God, but it still hangs on to earthly love» — Boehme explica la oración no atendida por una reserva del que ora, no por una negativa de Dios.
«do not be mistaken; the power is in the internal ground, in the desire of the will and works» — el tratado localiza la fuerza de la oración en el fondo interno y no en la fórmula.
«He who wishes to pray correctly and by prayer to reach God’s power and spirit should forgive all his enemies and put them in his prayers, and ask God to convert them, and to reconcile them to Him in His love so that not a serpent might remain in his heart to hold him back and tear the power of prayer from the soul» — condición práctica que el tercer tratado pone a la oración: perdonar y orar por los enemigos.
«God aids a pure, empty, and naked soul in prayer. Even if it is surrounded by vanity, its will is to come before God in purity so that He may begin to work in its will and afterwards might daily put to death the vanity of the flesh» — el tratado acota que la pureza pedida es de la voluntad, no un estado ya alcanzado.
«So certainly is the will with desire to be directed so to God, that it might say with Jacob when he wrestled the whole night with God: Lord I will not let You go, until You bless me» — Boehme toma la lucha de Jacob como medida de la insistencia que pide la oración.
«Even though the devil flourishes before it the lusts of the flesh by which the soul is frightened and thinks that it is rejected by God, yet the will should hang on to grace as a child to its mother’s breast» — el tratado ordena sostener la voluntad contra el propio sentimiento de rechazo.
«Afterwards he will see and discover great wonders in himself, so that he will know that there is such a great joy in heaven over the converted soul as [there is] over the ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need such repentance» — el tercer tratado promete que las maravillas se descubren dentro del que ora, con la parábola de Lucas 15 como medida.
«Therefore, he who wants to pray correctly is firmly to consider that he will come to divine grace and favour, and that he will receive what he asks for» — el tratado hace de la certeza de ser oído una condición de la oración, no su resultado.
«However, he who properly prays, who works internally with God, but bears good fruit externally, [is] like the tree [that] brings forth its power and with its power lets itself be seen in its fruit» — Boehme mide la oración por el fruto externo, con la imagen del árbol que manifiesta su poder.
«Thus prayer is merely hypocrisy and makes only an external form and does not reach the place of God» — la contrapartida: sin ese acuerdo entre lo interno y lo externo, la oración no llega.
«And although I know well that they stand beside me in such work and are fit for and partake of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in this and the following prayers I wanted to revive myself somewhat with them and point to and share the grace of God with them by my power and gifts (just as one lamp ignites the other» — Boehme declara que escribe las oraciones para reavivarse junto con sus compañeros, con la figura de la lámpara que enciende a otra.
«This is now the value and fruit of correct prayer, which an external mouth or a will turned from God cannot reach but only the [will] turned [and] wholly given to God» — el tratado condiciona el fruto a la vuelta entera de la voluntad.
«If this is to occur the will must turn from all creatures and from all earthly things, and stand pure before God so that works of the creatures, those things that it wishes to ask from God in temporal things, follow it only in the flesh and stand behind the pure will, so that the pure will might bring the needs of the body before God, and the flesh itself does not work with its lust, or it would direct earthly lust into the divine work in the soul» — Boehme no suprime las peticiones temporales: las ordena detrás de la voluntad pura, para que la carne no trabaje por su cuenta.
«Thus, there always belongs to proper prayer, if we want to receive something from God, correct repentance and inner humility» — el tercer tratado enlaza la oración con el primero: sin arrepentimiento no hay petición válida.
«Correct prayer is a taking of that which the soul desires, concerning which Christ says: Until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and those who do violence tear at it by force» — Boehme define la oración como toma y no como súplica, apoyándose en Mateo 11:12.
«He may be heard just as well in a short prayer, in which his heart stands correctly before God, as [he is] with many words» — el tratado desliga la eficacia de la extensión.
«It is not necessary to use only this form of confession, but the Holy Spirit makes a form for Himself in the heart when the will turns in true earnestness to God» — Boehme repite en el tercer tratado la reserva que ya puso en el primero sobre sus propias fórmulas.
«I, poor, unworthy, sinful man, come to You invited by Your word and confess to You that I am not worthy of such grace that You offer us» — arranque de la confesión del tercer tratado, donde la invitación precede a la indignidad.
«I have neither proper trust nor faith in You and I have wholly given myself to the vanity of the world and the flesh and am captured by it» — la confesión incluye la falta de fe entre lo confesado, y no la supone dada.
«And even though my sins are many, You are the almighty?’ God and the eternal Truth that”? cannot lie, and You have promised in the prophet Isaiah: If we turn and repent, our sins”® will be as snow-white as wool» — el tercer tratado opone al cúmulo de pecados la imposibilidad de que Dios mienta, con Isaías 1:18; los signos intercalados son llamadas a nota que el OCR rinde así.
«It gives You good words and agrees to truth, and yet it is a continual liar before You» — la confesión describe la voluntad propia como mentirosa aun cuando asiente a la verdad.
«O superabundant”® Love, Jesus Christ, You who have broken death and have changed God’s wrath into love, to You do I give myself wholly and completely» — la oración enuncia la operación central del sistema: la ira convertida en amor.
«No one is like You, Lord, who releases captives from the dungeon of death and revives the wretched» — serie de atributos con que el tercer tratado dirige la alabanza.
«The dry places of the heart and soul You water with Your rain, and give them the water of Your mercy» — la imagen del agua sobre lo seco, que en la introducción de Erb corresponde al agua espiritual que templa el fuego.
«You give us the food of eternal life by which we are revived and always hunger and thirst after You» — el alimento no sacia: reaviva el hambre, que es como el tratado describe el efecto de la gracia.
«O Fountain-source of divine sweetness, take my soul into You and fill my spirit with Your love, and bind me in Your bond so that I may nevermore turn from You» — el orante pide ser atado, no fortalecido: la garantía se busca fuera de la propia voluntad.
«O holy God, You who dwell in light to which no one can come but only the love of Your Son Jesus Christ, by it You loved us poor human men before the world’s foundation [was laid], and redeemed us through this love from Your anger and from the power of death and hell» — la oración sitúa el amor antes de la fundación del mundo y hace de él la única vía a la luz inaccesible.
«O fiery Love of God, You have broken death in our humanity, and destroyed hell, and performed our soul’s victory in Christ through death» — Boehme llama ígneo al amor, que en su sistema es el mismo fuego vuelto luz.
«O great Holiness, through the merit of my Saviour Jesus Christ, through His blood and death, I press into You myself and give myself to Your flames» — el orante pide entrar en las llamas divinas, no ser preservado de ellas.
«O holy Power of God, You move in and over heaven and earth, and are near to all things» — el tratado afirma la cercanía de la potencia divina a todas las cosas, que es el supuesto de la contemplación del séptimo tratado.
«Christ said to His disciples: Watch and pray so that you do not fall into temptation» — el tercer tratado funda la vigilancia en Mateo 26:41.
«And Saint Peter: Your adversary, the devil, goes about as a roaring lion, and seeks whom he may devour, [that is] the one who stands against him steadfastly in the faith, in prayer and in the hope that your hearts may be preserved from the darts of the evil one» — el tratado cita I Pedro 5:8-9 con la imagen del león rugiente.
«Prayers®® for Monday A Short Prayer and a God-directed Sigh when One Wakes Early before One Arises» — encabezado que abre el ciclo de oraciones por día de la semana anunciado en la portadilla del tercer tratado; los signos son la llamada a nota.
«My eyes look to the Living One who made heaven and earth and rejoice in His goodness, that He is so gracious and has held His hand over me during this dark night and by Your holy angels has protected me from all harm and suffering» — primera oración del lunes, dicha antes de levantarse.
«Protect me from lies and from all evil men who live in lies and deception so that I do not follow them; but lead Your truth into my heart and guide [it] on the right path» — la oración matutina del tercer tratado pide guarda contra la mentira ajena y guía para el corazón propio.
«Clothe my heart and soul with the cloak of salvation and with the coat of righteousness and purity» — la primera de las dos vestiduras que el tratado pide, dicha al vestirse.
«O eternal God, with these clothes I remember the cloak of innocence of our first parents, how they had no need of clothes like these; these earthly clothes had their beginning in sin» — el tratado convierte el acto de vestirse en memoria de la caída: la ropa terrena empieza en el pecado.
«Clothe me with the cloak of Your innocence in which You in our cloak have taken to Yourself the scorn of all men» — la petición invierte el intercambio: Cristo tomó el manto humano y con él el escarnio.
«Did You not come into our humanity so as to help us, and to give us the cloak of Your power» — el orante interpela a Cristo con una pregunta, forma poco frecuente en las oraciones del tratado.
«My prayer cannot reach the place of the Godhead in any way, unless You clothe?! my mind and desire with the victory of Your resurrection» — el tratado declara la oración inútil sin la vestidura previa; los signos tras *clothe* son la llamada a nota.
«Therefore, I now give my mind and will to You as a possession» — la entrega se formula como cesión de propiedad, en la línea de la doctrina de la resignación del cuarto tratado.
«I remember how our first parents were driven out of Paradise into this curse, in which we must all swim in trouble, sorrow and necessity, and [must] trouble and hurt ourselves to keep and refresh our lives» — la oración del trabajo deriva la fatiga cotidiana de la expulsión del Paraíso.
«You have created all things to Your praise, and man to Your image, and have set him as lord and ruler of Your works, and placed everything under his hand» — el tratado consigna el señorío del hombre sobre la creación dentro de una oración de trabajo.
«Help, O dear God, that I properly know myself, that in my office and responsibility, in my work, I am Your servant only, and that all that | do comes from Your hand, that in this world I have nothing of my own but am only a pilgrim and house-guest on earth» — el autoconocimiento que el tratado pide es el del administrador, no el del propietario. La barra vertical por *I* es del OCR.
«Give me to recognize correctly that all men come from One, and therefore all are my members, brothers and sisters, as a tree with its branches» — Boehme deriva el deber con el prójimo de la unidad de origen, con la figura del árbol y sus ramas.
«Take the evil and grievous guilt as Your curse and wrath from us so that the devil’s envy and greed does not rise up in us and lead us into vengeance and evil so that we must love ourselves deeply and forgive one another’s failings and weaknesses» — el perdón mutuo aparece como efecto de que se retire la maldición, no como esfuerzo moral.
«O Lord, keep Satan’s deceitful graspings [from us] so that he might not tempt us and raise up our evil inclinations in us, by which we fall into false lust» — el tratado describe la tentación como levantamiento de inclinaciones ya presentes.
«O God, eternal Father, I thank You and praise You that You have placed me in this position and given me goods and nourishment (or given me to pious people whom I am to serve with®* my gifts), and have granted me reason and understanding and created me a rational man» — la oración prevé dos situaciones alternativas, con bienes propios o al servicio de otros; el paréntesis es del texto.
«But You have created me in the light of the world so that I live in and work with Your lights, and You show me all Your wonders in Your light» — el tratado da valor positivo a la luz del mundo externo, que en otros pasajes queda del lado de la vanidad.
«I pray to You, eternal God, give me understanding and wisdom that I might not misuse Your creation but use it only for my needs» — la petición acota el uso de lo creado a la necesidad.
«Help my heart to lie in the dust for the simple, and always acknowledge that I am not more than they, that my position is Yours, and that I am only Your servant in it» — el tratado ordena al que tiene cargo que se ponga por debajo de los sencillos.
«Work Your wonders in my mind, as in Your counter-image, as You will, and keep my mind within Your power as Your instrument so that it may neither will nor do anything without You» — la mente se pide como instrumento y contraimagen, término que Boehme usa para lo que refleja a Dios sin serlo.
«You made me ruler of all creatures, and after the terrible fall You brought me into [that position] again in Jesus Christ, so that in Jesus Christ I am to rule with Him, and in Him, and He with me and through me over all His enemies until all have been laid as a footstool before His feet and mine, I therefore give You, my Lord Jesus, my whole mind and soul, and all that I am» — el tercer tratado hace del señorío restaurado la razón de la entrega, no su recompensa.
«O great God, it is indeed a beam of Your power, majesty and knowledge, a playmate of divine wisdom and glory, a servant of the majesty and unity of God, a knower of Your revelation, and a figure of the great Name of God that made all the world and all things» — así describe la oración la mente humana: rayo, compañera de juego de la sabiduría y figura del Nombre.
«O great God, You turned it again to Yourself and regenerated it with Your®’ holiest Name, JESUS» — el regreso de la mente se adjudica al Nombre; los signos son la llamada a nota.
«You have given the external world the light of the breath of Your might through the beams of Your light, and rule with the sun and moon in all Your works of this world’s being» — la oración del amanecer atribuye a Dios el gobierno por sol y luna en el mundo externo.
«You adorn the earth with fair plants and flowers through this light and make joyful all that lives and grows» — la misma oración cuenta plantas y flores entre los efectos de esa luz.
«You point out to us men Your majesty in it so that we might know Your kingdom that is hidden inwardly, and see thereby how You have made Your eternal Word visible and active» — el tratado hace del mundo visible un señalamiento del reino interior: la naturaleza enseña lo escondido.
«Guide me again into my place in your creation so that I see again in Your light and know Your wonders» — el orante pide restitución de su lugar en lo creado, no salida de ello.
«Ah super-illuminated Light of the great hiddenness, give me the beams of Your hidden holiness so that I might see in my light the light of Your gleam» — Boehme construye la petición con dos luces: la propia y la que la ilumina.
«And even if, in this time, the body is not worthy of it, since it has become a stinking cadaver, shine through my noble mind as Your image, and let it dwell in Christ my Saviour in heaven, in the community of Your holy angels» — el tratado separa el destino del cuerpo del de la mente sin negar ninguno de los dos.
«Help me to be humble, and not to take to myself this which You do, but help me to look toward You and praise You [with] my desires, and continually live in Your harmony, and neither begin nor do anything without You» — la humildad que pide el tratado consiste en no atribuirse lo que obra Dios.
«If we think we stand upright, and wish to rejoice in the work of our hands, You overshadow us with Your anger» — el tratado adjudica a la ira divina la función de deshacer la confianza en la obra propia.
«and always say to our soul that it has no need, although we stand on hell’s abyss and angry death waits for us every hour» — Boehme describe la seguridad del alma como autoengaño al borde del abismo.
«All this makes our self-will, so that we turn ourselves from You into vanity and desire only perishable being» — la voluntad propia queda nombrada como causa única del desvío.
«When the time of our night draws near, and death opens up its jaws toward our flesh and external life, and swallows us up within itself and grinds us as dust, then take us into Your power, and allow us to be sweet bread in the essence of the outflowing Word of Your mouth» — la oración de la tarde convierte el polvo del muerto en pan dentro de la Palabra que sale de la boca de Dios.
«Ah, Lord! I must give myself as food to that which nauseates me here» — el tratado consigna sin adorno la repugnancia del que se sabe alimento de gusanos.
«Redeem me from the gross husks of the earthly flesh in which the devil has brought his poison, which is of no value for Your kingdom (John 6:63); and bring forth the heavenly spiritual body in me again in which there is immortality and in which no evil inclinations or false lust can arise; and let me rest in Christ Jesus in You until the lordly reappearance and revelation of Your majesty» — la petición es de cuerpo espiritual, no de desencarnación; la referencia entre paréntesis es del texto.
«Destroy this, O dear God, with Your power and ignite in me the fire of Your pure love, and wipe out the false love of impurity» — la oración nocturna pide fuego contra fuego: amor puro para apagar el falso.
«Let Your good angel be with me so that he may hold back the fiery beams of the evil one, so that I may rest secure in Your power, through Jesus Christ our Lord» — la oración nocturna del tercer tratado asigna al ángel la tarea de contener los rayos del maligno.
«O merciful God, take off from me the false cloak of the serpent that my father Adam and my mother Eve, by their false lust, put on me» — el manto falso se declara heredado de los dos primeros padres, nombrados por separado.
«Make bare my mind and soul so that my mind might be free of such clothing and stand purely before Your face» — el tratado pide desnudez de la mente como paso previo a la nueva vestidura.
«Clothe me with Your conquest, and place me before Your Father again as a newborn child, which You have washed in Your blood, and whose evil will You have destroyed in Your death and [whom You have] regenerated in Your resurrection» — la vestidura pedida es la victoria de Cristo, y el efecto la comparecencia como recién nacido.
«Ignite Your light in this new birth so that I might walk in the light, and remain a branch of You» — vuelve la figura del sarmiento, ahora ligada al nuevo nacimiento.
«O great Holy God, You have made man out of the limus of the earth, in which Paradise sprouts forth» — el tratado conserva el latinismo *limus* que Erb declara en su glosario como la parte del hombre donde Cristo habita.
«You set him as a ruler above Your wondrous works, and gave him no commandment nor law except that he was not to lead himself into his own lust and will, but that he was to work and will alone in Your power» — para Boehme el único mandato del estado original era negativo: no meterse en la voluntad propia.
«You also gave him the external life of all activity with the interior life of the soul by which You rule the world» — el tratado adjudica al hombre dos vidas, externa e interior, y por la segunda el gobierno del mundo.
«But our first parents, through Satan’s lying suggestion, turned from Your will and led [themselves] into their own will, and, against Your command, tested good and evil, and permitted themselves to lust according to sense and their own possessiveness, by which Your wrath and anger was awakened in them and destroyed the heavenly image and transformed them into an earthly image like that of the beasts» — la caída queda descrita como paso a la voluntad propia, y la ira divina como despertada en ellos, no lanzada desde fuera.
«Thus, O holy God, You have given us Your commandments and laws, and presented to us in them the heavenly, divine form of perfect obedience» — el tratado lee los mandamientos como figura de la obediencia perdida.
«Indeed, You demand from us as a noble guarantee the soul that You have breathed into us out of the internal power of Your Name and will» — el alma se declara insuflada desde la potencia interna del Nombre, y exigida como prenda.
«All this, O great God, You place before us in Your commandments, and demand it of us, according to Your stern righteousness and eternal truth, for the avoidance of eternal punishment, so that whoever does not keep all Your commandments and laws and stay in Your order will be cursed and separated from Your face, and never see Your majesty in eternity, nor come to Your rest» — el tratado consigna la exigencia entera de la Ley antes de pasar a la gracia.
«Now I come to You, with thankfulness, O holy God, and pray to You to increase Your given love of Your grace poured into me so that I might be obedient to You in this new gracious love, and fulfill Your commandments and laws with the obedience and love of Jesus Christ» — el cumplimiento de la Ley se pide como efecto del amor infundido, no como esfuerzo.
«Therefore I now come in Him and I comfort myself in Him that I am in Him and live within Your obedience (in His indwelling and internal ruling grace and love) and that in Him I can rule over sin, death, devil, world and all creatures, and have become again Your proper image and possession in Him» — el señorío recuperado es en Cristo y no propio; el paréntesis es del texto.
«Yes, I rejoice in Your great mercy that You turned toward us again in Your holy Name, out of which my soul has flowed; yes indeed, You opened the gates of Your eternal unity, and flowed into my soul, which has destroyed Your anger and broken the monstrum» — el término latino *monstrum* se conserva sin traducir para nombrar la deformidad del alma caída.
«Now, O dear God, rule only through this love of Your grace poured into me and do in me as You will» — cierre de la oración del primer mandamiento, con la fórmula de resignación que gobierna el cuarto tratado.
«You shall not misuse the Name of the Lord your God; for the Lord will not let him be unpunished who misuses His Name» — el tercer tratado dedica una oración a cada mandamiento; aquí cita el segundo con su referencia impresa.
«Yes, out of Your Name has it sprung, and You have given me authority to rule over all things with Your Name so that out of my mouth by Your power it is to flow forth and rule all things» — Boehme funda en el Nombre la potencia creadora de la palabra humana, que su introducción describe como paralelo entre macrocosmos y microcosmos.
«All this You present to us in this commandment, and You demand us, in Your strict righteousness, to serve*” Your Name in holiness; to form [it] to Your praise and in Your praise, in purity and truth; and not to make a form of our words without Your will and work» — el mandamiento se lee como prohibición de formar palabras fuera de la voluntad divina; los signos tras *serve* son la llamada a nota.
«Again, we use it for derisive mockery and we form our beast in it» — Boehme sostiene que el uso burlón del Nombre no es solo falta: forma una bestia.
«They make laws and commandments for their own honour and pleasure, and bind them by the oath of Your Name, and yet no one keeps them in his heart» — la queja alcanza a los que legislan y juran por el Nombre sin guardar lo jurado.
«O great God, what am I to say here before You? You demand Your Name from me in the holiness of Your praise» — el orante se declara sin respuesta ante la exigencia del segundo mandamiento.
«Ignite it, O Lord, so that my soul and mind may see these evil beasts and kill them by means of proper, true repentance» — la petición pide fuego para ver y matar las imágenes bestiales, que es la operación del primer tratado.
«Ah, dear God, in this commandment You set before me a figure in which I see Your order and will. You demand from me the ability to live in Your®? order, in Your will, as You created me in Adam» — el mandamiento del sábado se lee como figura del orden original.
«However, my father Adam turned his will away from You and led it to his own lust and desire» — Boehme repite en cada mandamiento la misma explicación de la caída: el giro de la voluntad.
«Because of this You threw him out of such rest and paradisaical activity, and cursed his false work» — la expulsión se describe como pérdida del reposo y de una actividad paradisíaca, no de un lugar solamente.
«In this commandment You show us how You made all things in six characteristics of eternal nature (as (1) the desire, (2) the movement, (3) the perceptivity, (4) the fire, or life, (5) the light of?* love, (6) the understanding or®* knowledge of the powers), but in the seventh property, in the essential unity and wisdom, You brought it to rest» — Boehme enumera aquí sus siete propiedades dentro de una oración devocional, y hace de la séptima el sábado; la numeración y las llamadas a nota son del impreso.
«commanded him to keep Your Sabbath holy in such form and order, and cease from all his work on the seventh day» — el precepto externo queda subordinado a la doctrina de las siete propiedades expuesta antes.
«You call us to Your Sabbath, but the mind and the soul do not observe it» — Boehme distingue la observancia externa del sábado de la interior, y declara que solo se cumple la primera.
«Nevertheless, You brought Your holy Sabbath in the Name of JESUS, again into humanity, so that again He might work in us and we in Him, and [so that] He might destroy the devil’s sabbath of falsehood, lies and vanity and restore Paradise» — el tratado opone dos sábados y adjudica el falso al diablo.
«And let Your Word keep its Sabbath in me, so that my soul might hear what You, in Your work, speak in me, so that I might be obedient to You and place all my trust in You alone» — el sábado que pide el tercer tratado es el de la Palabra dentro del orante.
«O eternal Love, Jesus Christ, how majestic is Your Sabbath in the soul when it turns itself to You so that You press through it with Your sweet love, in which Paradise is again unlocked for it» — el reposo interior queda ligado a la reapertura del Paraíso.
«You shall honour your father and your mother so that it goes well with you and you might live long in the land which the Lord your God has given you» — el tratado cita el cuarto mandamiento con su referencia impresa antes de glosarlo.
«O eternal God, You set before us in our bodily parents an image of our eternal Father and our eternal mother» — Boehme lee a los padres carnales como imagen de un padre y una madre eternos.
«O eternal Father, we have been disobedient to You and have given ourselves to the care of a strange mother» — la caída se formula aquí como cambio de madre, no solo de voluntad.
«Now we must suck poison and death from the breasts of the strange mother» — la figura se lleva hasta el final: la madre extraña amamanta veneno.
«O dear God, out of grace You have given us a new mother, Your holiest Word in Your Love; and have sent it in our humanity to bring us forth as Your children and heirs in Your eternal power» — la Palabra queda nombrada como madre nueva, en femenino, junto a la figura de Sophia.
«How a man must daily die in self with his own will and how he is to bring his desire to God; what he is to pray for and desire from God, and how he is to sprout forth out of the death of the sinful man into a new mind and will in God» — portadilla del cuarto tratado, On True Resignation, fechado en 1622: el asunto es morir a diario en el yo.
«We have in Lucifer, and also in Adam, the first man, true examples of what self does when it receives external light» — el cuarto tratado arranca poniendo a Lucifer y a Adán como los dos casos del mismo defecto.
«One also sees [this] in learned men;?! when they get the light of eternal nature as their own possession, nothing results but pride, which all the world seeks and desires as the best treasure» — Boehme extiende el caso a los doctos; los signos tras *men* son la llamada a nota.
«Since self, as reason, is held captive in the strong prison as in God’s wrath as well as in earthliness, and is firmly bound, it is dangerous for man to bring the light of knowledge into self as if [it were] a possession of self» — el tratado no condena el conocimiento sino su apropiación por el yo.
«The anger of eternal and temporal nature will immediately please itself in it, [and] from this, self and one’s own reason will climb up in pride, and break [themselves] off from true, resigned humility toward God, and no longer wish to eat of paradisaical fruit but [will eat] of the characteristic of self, as of that life’s dominion in which good and evil stand» — Boehme describe la soberbia como cambio de alimento, con la imagen del árbol del conocimiento.
«From this come miserable pride and one’s own darkness, so that one’s own reason (which is but a mirror of the eternal) thinks it is more [than it is], that whatever it wishes to do, God’s will will do it in itself, and that it is a prophet» — el cuarto tratado nombra el defecto que produce falsos profetas: la razón que se toma por más que espejo.
«But no, in this (as in the darkness of self in the external light of reason) the devil lifts himself up again by his sevenfold desire after he has had to leave the first light that is divine» — el deseo séptuple del diablo, que en el sistema corresponde a las siete propiedades vueltas del revés.
«The devil always notes where a gate is open for him, by which he may ignite the life centrum so that the willing spirit in its pride, in its presumption (or even in greed), may travel to the heights» — el cuarto tratado describe la operación del diablo como encendido del *centrum* por una puerta abierta desde dentro.
«All creatures long for God, and even if the stars are not able to grasp God’s spirit, they would much rather have a house of light in which they can find pleasure than a locked house in which there is no stability» — Boehme extiende el anhelo de Dios a las estrellas, y a la vez les niega la capacidad de asirlo.
«He thinks that honour belongs to him since he has reached rational understanding, and he will nevermore realize that he, the devil, rejoices in his desire in the seven life-forms of the centrum of nature nor what kind of abominable errors he has set up [in the reason]» — el tratado localiza el gozo del diablo en las siete formas de vida del *centrum*, no fuera del hombre.
«Because of this reason, the false Babel has come forth in the Christian Church on earth where men order and direct by rational conclusions, [and] have dressed up and established as a beautiful virgin that child of drunkenness with its self and its own lust» — Boehme adjudica a la razón autónoma la falsa Babel de la Iglesia, adornada como virgen hermosa.
«Reason stops me and says, “It is proper and good that a man reach God’s light as well as the light of external nature and reason, so that he might order his life wisely, according to Holy Scripture» — el tratado pone en boca de la Razón la objeción que va a conceder antes de acotarla.
«Yes, it is proper, and nothing is more useful for a man nor can he do anything better» — Boehme concede sin reservas la objeción de la Razón, que es la forma en que argumenta el cuarto tratado.
«The light of God opens itself first in the soul» — el orden que el tratado impone: primero el alma, después la razón.
«Now, when this occurs, then reason, as the creaturely self, can do nothing better than not to see itself in self’s creature, and not to enter into the centrum with the will of its desire, and seek itself» — la instrucción no es suprimir la razón sino impedirle entrar al *centrum* buscándose.
«One’s own reason is not to make any speculation either about divine things or human grounds, nor is it to will or desire anything except God’s grace in Christ alone» — el tratado prohíbe la especulación, en un libro que Erb describe como el más especulativo de la espiritualidad protestante.
«When this occurs the natural will becomes impotent and the devil can no longer sift it with his false desire» — la impotencia de la voluntad se presenta como resultado buscado, no como derrota.
«Then the Holy Spirit takes the life-forms from God and leads forth His dominion, that is, He ignites the life-forms with His love-flames» — vaciada la voluntad, el Espíritu enciende las mismas formas de vida que antes encendía el diablo.
«Thus one’s own desire presses into the nothing as [into] only the might and activity of God that He wills in it» — la nada en que se hunde el deseo es la potencia de Dios, no un vacío.
«When the Spirit of God goes like a fire of love’s flame, the willing spirit of the soul goes under itself and says, “Lord, honour be to Your name and not to me» — Boehme da la fórmula que distingue al resignado del que se atribuye la obra.
«It is then no longer its own possession but [is] an instrument of God» — la resignación se define por un cambio de propiedad.
«But the soul’s will must ceaselessly even in this fiery drive sink itself into the nothing, as into the deepest humility before God» — el tratado exige que el hundimiento sea continuo y no un acto único.
«It must remain in resigned humility just as a fountain depends in its source, and must’? ceaselessly draw and drink from God’s fountain, and’* never desire to leave God’s way» — la figura de la fuente que no se separa de su manantial; los signos son llamadas a nota.
«They often made great errors when they went from resignation into self, into their own lust and reason» — Boehme aplica la advertencia a los santos mismos, que en el tratado son ejemplo de caída y no de garantía.
«All speculation concerning the mysteries of God is a very dangerous thing by which the willing spirit can be trapped» — el cuarto tratado declara peligrosa la especulación sobre los misterios, y lo hace dentro de un libro que los expone.
«I do not say that man is not to study and learn in the natural arts» — Boehme acota su propia advertencia: no prohíbe el estudio de las artes naturales.
«And, even though reason knows much, it is not to take this as its own possession but give the honour to God who alone is knowledge and wisdom» — lo prohibido no es saber, sino tomar el saber como posesión propia.
«God has not created us for self-dominion but as instruments of His wonder by which He Himself wishes to reveal His wonders» — el tratado formula la finalidad del hombre como instrumento de manifestación.
«All that the self-will does is sin and opposed to God» — definición de pecado del cuarto tratado, que no lo mide por el acto sino por el sujeto que lo quiere.
«When the self-will dies to self, it is free of sin» — la contraparte inmediata: muerta la voluntad propia, no queda pecado.
«In such a way, God’s Spirit leads him into proper trust and honesty toward his neighbour, for he thinks, “I do not do my thing for myself, but for my God who has called and directed me to it as a servant in His vineyard» — la resignación se traduce en honradez con el prójimo, con la parábola de la viña que Erb señala como una de las dos imágenes rectoras.
«But the self does what external reason wishes in the constellations, into which lust the inward flying devil goes with his desires» — Boehme liga la voluntad propia con las constelaciones, término que su traductor declara conservado sin cursiva en el noveno tratado.
«No work outside of God’s will can reach God’s kingdom» — el criterio con que el tratado juzga toda obra.
«All plants, says Christ, which my Father has not planted will be rooted out and burned in the fire» — el tratado apoya ese criterio en Mateo 15:13.
«Therefore, whatever occurs through the conclusions of human self, without divine knowledge and will, is all fable and Babel and is only the work of the constellations and the external world and is not known by”° God as His work, but it is only a mirror of the contending wheel of nature where?! good and evil contend with one another» — Boehme nombra rueda contendiente de la naturaleza al ámbito donde bien y mal pugnan; los signos son llamadas a nota.
«Whoever thinks to do something perfect and good that he thinks he will rejoice in and enjoy forever, let him leave self, his own self-desire, and enter into resignation with God’s will and work with God» — la única obra perdurable, según el tratado, es la que se hace desde la resignación.
«Even though the earthly desire of self clings to him in flesh and blood, if the soul’s will does not take it, self cannot make any work» — Boehme acota que la permanencia del deseo terreno no basta para hacer obra: hace falta que la voluntad lo tome.
«If the devil had not been created out of the angry matrix in hell, and had he not had the divine Ens,26 he would have had no pain in hell» — el tratado explica el tormento del diablo por lo divino que conserva, no por lo que le falta; el número es la llamada a nota.
«Thus also evil is pain and death to good» — la simetría que sostiene la doctrina de los dos principios.
«But he calls Himself only God according to the light of His love» — Boehme restringe el nombre de Dios a uno de los dos principios, lo que en su sistema evita hacer a Dios autor del mal.
«Yet is is not a divided being, but one principium divides it so that each is in the other as a nothing» — el tratado niega dos seres y afirma un solo ser dividido por el *principium*; la repetición *is is* es del OCR.
«The cause of souls and angeis is one out of the Eternal, but, in the time of this world (and its being),?® the devil has nothing (no more power)*° but only in the turba magna, in which he ignites the eternal anger in himself. There he is busied as in war and strife and in great thunderstorms without water. In fire he can go only as far as the turba goes, but no further» — el cuarto tratado acota el poder del diablo al *turba magna* y lo describe con imágenes meteorológicas; los paréntesis son lecturas alternativas de la edición y los signos, llamadas a nota. La grafía *angeis* es del OCR.
«as also Saint Paul says: When I sin, it is not I who do it, but sin that dwells in my flesh» — el tratado apoya en Romanos 7:20 la distinción entre el yo que quiere y el pecado que habita.
«Therefore no one has an excuse that he cannot will. Yes, as long as he sticks*! fast in self, in his own self-desire, and only serves the law of sin in the flesh, he cannot [will], for he is held and is sin’s servant. However when the centrum of the mind is changed and is turned into God’s obedience and will, then he can [will]» — Boehme niega la excusa de la impotencia y a la vez la concede mientras el *centrum* no cambie: la posibilidad depende del cambio, no del esfuerzo.
«As long as self-will remains in self, it is not in the intention and calling of God» — el criterio queda formulado en términos de lugar, no de conducta.
«God, insofar as He is and is? called God, can will no evil; for in God there is only one single will and that is eternal love, a desire for similarity, as for power, beauty and virtue» — el tratado excluye el mal de la voluntad divina restringiendo el nombre de Dios al principio de amor.
«God desires nothing but what is like His desire» — el principio de semejanza con que Boehme explica quién es acogido y quién no.
«God accepts no sinner in His power unless the sinner leave sin and enter into God with his desire» — la consecuencia dura del principio anterior, dicha sin atenuación.
«He has given an open gate to the will in Christ, saying: Come to me all you who are burdened with*4 sin, and I will revive you» — la puerta abierta es la contrapartida inmediata: el tratado no deja la exigencia sin salida.
«God hardens no one, but the self-will, which clings in the flesh’s sins, hardens the mind» — Boehme retira de Dios el endurecimiento del corazón y lo adjudica a la voluntad propia.
«No, no; in this comfortable bed the earthly will grows strong, fat and lascivious» — el tratado rechaza la lectura cómoda de la gracia con una imagen de engorde.
«Although unwilling, [sin] must [die]. Struggle against the pleasure-seeking, earthly flesh; do not give it what it wishes, let it fast and hunger until appetite ceases» — el único ascetismo concreto que el cuarto tratado prescribe: ayuno hasta que cese el apetito.
«Therefore I say, any pretence to God, whatever name it may be given, by which man might pretend to approach God, is*® a fruitless, useless thing outside of a regenerated mind» — Boehme descarta toda forma de acercamiento sin mente regenerada, sin nombrar confesión alguna.
«Christ said: Unless you are converted, and become as children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven» — el tratado apoya la exigencia en Mateo 18:3.
«Christ further says: You must be born anew or you cannot see the kingdom of heaven» — segundo apoyo, de Juan 3:3, que anuncia el asunto del quinto tratado.
«If this is to occur the soul’s will must first die in Christ’s death, for in Adam it took up the maid’s son, sin» — Boehme figura el pecado como hijo de la sierva, tomado en Adán.
«Yes, sin must die in the soul’s will or else there can be no vision of God» — el cuarto tratado cierra ligando muerte del pecado y visión de Dios.
«All hypocrisy by which we say, “Christ has paid and made satisfaction for sin; He has died for our sins,” is all false deception*® (an empty useless comfort) if we also do not die to our sins in Him and draw on His merit in new obedience and live in it» — el cuarto tratado no niega la satisfacción de Cristo: niega su uso como consuelo sin muerte al pecado. El paréntesis es lectura alternativa de la edición.
«He who is antagonistic to and an enemy of sin has Christ’s suffering for comfort» — la condición para que el consuelo valga se formula por la enemistad con el pecado.
«Work done in the external flesh alone does not make sonship, but the work of Christ in the spirit, which is powerful with its external work and shows itself as a new light and reveals the sonship in the external work of the flesh, is and makes sonship» — Boehme no descarta la obra externa: la subordina a la obra de Cristo que se manifiesta en ella.
«Yes, dear dirtied stick, that is true. God draws you to sonship, but you do not wish» — el tratado interpela al lector con un apóstrofe áspero, forma frecuente en esta sección.
«The dying of the evil will is painful; no one wishes» — Boehme consigna el dolor de la resignación en vez de presentarla como alivio.
«Whoever wants to inherit sonship must also put on a new man who can inherit sonship and is like to the Godhead» — la herencia exige un heredero nuevo, por el mismo principio de semejanza.
«No temporal honour or goods must be preferred to sonship, but he must with his will abandon all this and not look on it as his own, and [he must] see himself only a steward of the same, who serves his Lord in obedience. He must leave all the possessions of this world, not that he may not own anything or possess it, but his heart must leave it and not bring his will into it nor look on it as his own» — el tratado acota expresamente su propia exigencia: el abandono es de la voluntad, no de la posesión.
«Self serves only*® temporal being, but resignation rules over all that is under it» — Boehme invierte la apariencia: quien se resigna manda, quien se afirma sirve.
«I do not want to know anything so that the commandments of my Lord lead me and guide me, and I do only that which God does and wishes through me» — fórmula del resignado, puesta en primera persona dentro del tratado.
«Dear brothers, man now prides himself in his faith, but®® where is faith» — Boehme abre con una pregunta la crítica a la fe de su tiempo; los signos son la llamada a nota.
«This indicates that proper faith was never sicker and weaker since Christ’s day, than now. Yet the world shouts loudly, “We have found true®*? faith,” and fighting over [this] child has never been more evil since man has been on earth» — el tratado sitúa la disputa confesional de su siglo como síntoma, no como búsqueda.
«If you are Zion, a reborn and newly found child— show your power and virtue and set forth the child JESUS out of you? so that man might see that you are His wetnurse» — Boehme reta a las iglesias a mostrar el fruto en vez de la doctrina.
«He who watches shall hear it and see it, but he who sleeps in sin and in his fat days of the belly says, “All is peace and quiet; we hear no sound from the Lord» — el tratado cierra el reproche con el contraste entre el que vela y el que duerme.
«How a man, who 1s in earnest regarding holiness, must allow himself to be led out of the twisted and antagonistic Babylon through Christ's Spirit so that he might be born anew in Christ’s Spirit and live alone in Him» — portadilla del quinto tratado, On the New Birth, fechado en 1622: la fórmula *in earnest regarding holiness* es la que Zeller cita en el prefacio. Las grafías *1s* y el apóstrofo recto son del OCR.
«Although in my other very deep writings I have explained this [matter] fully enough, and described it in its ground, everyone does not have them at hand» — Boehme justifica el quinto tratado por la inaccesibilidad de sus obras mayores.
«However, although we all have flesh and blood [and] in addition are mortal, as is evident, at the same time the Scripture says that we are also a temple of the Holy Spirit that lives in us (I Corinthians 6:19), and that the kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21), yes that Christ must win a form in us (Galatians 4:19), and that He wishes to give us His flesh as food and His blood as drink» — el quinto tratado plantea el problema del nuevo nacimiento como contradicción entre lo que se ve y lo que dice la Escritura; las referencias son del texto.
«Since we in ourselves find that sin in the flesh is living, desirous and active, that it might work, the new birth out of Christ must be something else that does not work along with the sinful flesh and that does not will sin» — Boehme deduce la existencia de dos voluntades simultáneas en el renacido.
«Saint Paul says: There is no damnation to them who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). And further: Should we who are Christians be found sinners? Far be it [from us]» — el tratado acumula los lugares paulinos que hacen aguda la contradicción antes de resolverla.
«For the righteousness of a Christian is in Christ: He cannot sin. Saint Paul says: For our walk is in heaven» — Boehme sitúa la justicia del cristiano fuera de él, en Cristo.
«If then sin in which the devil has access to and in us seeks us, hell must also be in us, because the devil dwells in hell» — el quinto tratado interioriza el infierno por un argumento de lugar: donde está el diablo está su morada.
«Now we are to consider man, what and how he is; that a true Christian is not only a historical new man; that it is not enough that we believe in Christ and confess that He is God’s Son and paid for us» — Boehme llama histórica a la fe que se agota en creer y confesar.
«For the will that allows vanity in itself and desires it is not reborn; and yet at the same time a will that sins and looks to vanity remains in the reborn» — la contradicción se consigna sin armonizar: la voluntad vana permanece en el renacido y a la vez no es lo renacido.
«If we wish to consider this now, we must consider time and eternity, how they are in one another, light and darkness, good and evil, but especially the human origin and cause» — el tratado declara qué hace falta pensar para entender el nuevo nacimiento, y es su cosmología entera.
«As God now dwells in the world and fills all and yet possesses nothing, so the fire dwells in water and does not possess it; and so the light dwells in the darkness and does not possess the darkness; the day in the night, and the night in the day; time in eternity and eternity in time» — la serie de habitaciones sin posesión con que Boehme explica cómo dos principios ocupan el mismo lugar.
«When one enters into the other, and wishes to possess the other, the other loses its right and governance» — el principio que rige esas coexistencias: la posesión suprime el gobierno del otro.
«The eternal darkness in the soul is hell, a source of anguish, which is called God’s wrath» — el tratado identifica infierno, oscuridad del alma e ira de Dios como un solo término.
«The suffering loses its governance; for if the light is revealed in the darkness the darkness loses its darkness and is not known» — la consecuencia consoladora del mismo principio: revelada la luz, la oscuridad deja de conocerse.
«Moses rightly says: God created man to His image; yes to the image of God created He him» — el quinto tratado apoya en Génesis 1:27 la doctrina de la imagen que se ha de restaurar.
«The fire in the light is a love-fire, a desire for meekness and joy, and the fire in the darkness is a fire of anguish, and is painful, antagonistic, and contrary in its essence» — un mismo fuego con dos formas, según el principio en que arda.
«The suffering in the light and the suffering in the darkness are only one suffering, only one nature, even as the fire and the light are only one nature, yet they give a dominating difference in the suffering» — Boehme afirma a la vez la unidad de naturaleza y la diferencia de dominio, sin resolver la tensión.
«The body is a limbus (limus) of earth and also a limbus (limus) of the heavenly being» — el quinto tratado da al cuerpo doble raíz, terrestre y celeste, con la variante *limus* entre paréntesis que la edición conserva de Ueberfeld.
«Just as a light shines out of each fire, and the power of reason is known in the light, so [God’s] light-breath hangs onto God’s fire-breath [and] is breathed into the human image» — el alma se describe como triple aliento, con la razón del lado de la luz.
«Thus man stood in heaven and also in the external world, and was a lord over all creatures of this world» — el estado original se define por la doble pertenencia, no por la separación del mundo.
«Thus the external flesh took external air with its constellation for its own rational and growing life, for the revelation of the wonders of God» — la carne externa recibe su vida del aire y de la constelación, y su fin es manifestar las maravillas.
«However since the devil had been a prince and hierarcha in the place of this world, and because of his pride was cast into the dark, anguished, painful, hostile characteristic and suffering, into the anger of God, he did not wish for man the honour that he was created in his place in the spiritual world, and so he lead [his] zmagination into the created image of man and made the lusting for the characteristics of the dark world, as for the external world, to rise up in man, and the similarity to leave the same concordance and to overpower the other» — el tratado adjudica la envidia del diablo a la sustitución de su lugar por el hombre, y describe la tentación como imaginación introducida. La grafía de *imagination* es del OCR.
«Thus evil and good were revealed in Adam» — Boehme fecha en Adán la revelación de los dos, no la aparición del mal.
«However since God knew that man would not stand firm, that he already imagined and lusted for good and evil, God said: It is not good that man be alone; we will make him a helper who will be with him» — el tratado sitúa la creación de la mujer como consecuencia de una caída ya iniciada en la imaginación.
«Thus God let the tree of the knowledge of good and evil grow according to the awakened characteristics of Adam» — el árbol crece según lo ya despertado en Adán: la tentación se presenta como espejo de su estado.
«However the characteristic of the tinctur was divided. The self love-desire was taken from Adam and formed in the woman after his likeness» — la división de sexos se explica por la partición de la *tinctur*, no por una creación aparte.
«These two were one in Adam and in this the magical birth consisted» — Boehme llama nacimiento mágico a la generación del Adán andrógino.
«He had not yet eaten of vanity with the mouth, only with the smagination, of desire and lust» — el tratado distingue dos comidas del árbol y pone la primera en la imaginación. La grafía es del OCR.
«This was lie and truth. He did not say to her that she would thereby lose the divine light and power» — Boehme califica la promesa de la serpiente como verdadera y mentirosa a la vez, por omisión.
«He only said that her eyes would be opened, that she could taste, test and know evil and good, as he had done» — lo prometido se cumplió: la mentira está en lo que calló.
«Nor did he say to her that heat and cold would be awakened in her and that the characteristic of the external constellation would rule mightily in the flesh and mind» — el efecto omitido es el dominio de la constelación sobre carne y mente.
«It was only his intention that the angelic image, as the being of the inner spiritual world, might fade in them, so that they would [have to] live under gross earthiness and the stars» — el tratado adjudica al diablo el propósito de someter al hombre a los astros.
«God thus reconciled His wrath in the human characteristic, by the sacrifice, to the goal of the covenant» — el quinto tratado sitúa la reconciliación dentro de la característica humana, no en un tribunal externo.
«In this covenant the holiest Name JESUS, out of the holy Name and mighty power JEHOVAH, had embodied itself, so that He wished to stir and reveal Himself again in the heavenly world’s being that died in Adam, and ignite it again in the holy, divine life» — el pacto se describe como encarnación del Nombre JESÚS salido de JEHOVÁ.
«The covenant’s goal was continued from Adam and his children, from man to man, and went from one to all» — la transmisión del pacto se traza por generación y no por institución.
«In this Virgin Mary, in the promised goal of the covenant, of which all prophets had foretold, the eternally speaking Word, which has created all things according to its highest and deepest love and humility, moved in the Name of JESUS, and brought the living, divine heavenly being into the heavenly part of Adam’s corrupted humanity to which he had died in Paradise, into Mary’s seed» — María queda descrita como meta del pacto, y la encarnación como reintroducción de lo celeste en la parte de Adán que había muerto.
«God’s being in which God dwells and works and the corrupted human being became now one person» — la unión se formula como una sola persona con dos seres.
«Therefore this person is called CHRIST, the anointed of God» — el tratado deriva el nombre de la unión que acaba de describir.
«And this is the dry rod of Aaron that sprouted forth there and bore almonds; (and the correct high priest); and this is the humanity of which Christ said (John 3:13): He was come from heaven and was in heaven, and that no man could come to heaven except the Son of Man who is come from heaven, and who is in heaven» — Boehme lee la vara de Aarón como figura de la humanidad celeste; el paréntesis es lectura alternativa de la edición.
«In that He says, He is come from heaven, He understands heavenly essence, heavenly corporeality, for the power of God does not need any coming» — el tratado distingue potencia de esencia para explicar en qué sentido Cristo viene.
«It is overall completely measureless and undivided. But essence needs coming» — la distinción se cierra en dos cláusulas.
«However the being entered into the human being and took on the human, and not only the part of the human being that was corrupted in Adam, but the whole human essence in soul and body, according to the three worlds» — Boehme afirma la asunción de la esencia humana entera según los tres mundos de su sistema.
«The awakened and impressed vanity that the devil, with his zmagination, brought into the flesh by which the flesh worked sin, he did not take on» — el límite de la asunción: la vanidad introducida por el diablo queda fuera. La grafía es del OCR.
«In this lay our sickness and death that He was to drown with his heavenly, holy blood» — la redención se describe como ahogamiento de la enfermedad en la sangre celeste.
«Here He took to Himself all our sins and sickness, even death and hell in the anger of God, and broke the devil’s kingdom in the human characteristic» — el reino roto es el que estaba dentro de la característica humana.
«Here we now understand what our new birth properly is, how we can be and remain a temple of God and still, (this time) also according to the external humanity [be] sinful, mortal men» — el tratado responde así a la contradicción que planteó al comienzo, sin suprimir ninguno de los dos términos.
«The soul does not gain the pearl of holy power in the time of its life, since it has yet the external, bestial flesh characteristic in the outer man as its possession» — el quinto tratado repite la negativa que Sophia daba en el primero: la perla no se posee en vida.
«The external, earthly, mortal man is not reborn in this time, neither [is] the external flesh nor the external part of the soul» — el quinto tratado niega expresamente que el hombre externo renazca en esta vida, ni su carne ni su parte del alma.
«The internal [man] says to the fire-soul, “O my love, turn and leave vanity or you will lose my love and the noble pearl» — Boehme pone en diálogo al hombre interno con el alma ígnea, y el interno le advierte que la perla se pierde.
«When the external light, as the external soul, once is enlightened so that the external light of reason is ignited by the inner light, the external soul eagerly gives a hypocritical appearance and sees itself as divine, even though the pear! has gone» — el tratado describe el peligro propio del iluminado: la luz externa de la razón se toma por divina cuando la perla ya se fue. La grafía *pear!* es del OCR.
«Although it is true that the gates of grace still stand open, yet the appearance of light of the external soul of reason keeps [men] away so that they think they have the pearl, but they live only in the vanity of the world and dance as the devil pipes» — Boehme mantiene abiertas las puertas de la gracia y a la vez describe el engaño que impide entrar por ellas.
«Thus it is with many, and the pearl-tree in Christ’s garden is often spoiled, of which Scripture makes a hard knot: that those who have once tasted the sweetness of the future world, and [have] again fallen away, will with difficulty see God’s kingdom» — el tratado llama nudo duro al pasaje de Hebreos 6:4-6 sobre los que recayeron, y lo deja así.
«The external, fleshly man seethes against the internal, spiritual, and the spiritual against the fleshly, and so man stands in strife, full of difficulty, care, anguish and need» — la contienda entre los dos hombres se consigna como estado permanente del cristiano en esta vida.
«The external man dirties himself, just as a pig in the filth, and darkens his noble image» — vuelve la figura porcina del primer tratado, ahora aplicada al hombre externo del renacido.
«Here a Christian is to consider why he calls himself a Christian and is truly to consider whether he is one» — el quinto tratado abre el examen del nombre de cristiano.
«Because I may learn to know and understand that I am a sinner, and that Christ has killed my sins on the cross and shed His blood for me, this in no way makes a Christian out of me» — Boehme niega que el conocimiento correcto de la doctrina baste para ser cristiano.
«The inheritance is only for the children. A maid in the house knows well what the wife would eagerly have» — la alegoría de la criada, con la que el tratado separa saber de heredar.
«The devil also knows that there is a God [James 2:19]. That does not therefore make him an angel again» — el argumento se remata con el caso del diablo, que sabe y no por eso vuelve a ser ángel; la referencia a Santiago 2:19 va entre corchetes en el impreso.
«However, if the maid in the household marries the wife’s son, then she can truly come to the inheritance of the wife’s goods» — la salida de la alegoría es nupcial, que es como el libro entero figura la salvación.
«Thus also it is to be understood in our Christianity. The historical children are not the inheritors of the goods of Christ, but the legitimate children who have been born anew out of Christ’s spirit [are]» — Boehme llama históricos a los cristianos que solo tienen el relato, y les niega la herencia.
«The promise of Christianity occurred to Abraham. Therefore the figure was at the same time described in the two brothers, Isaac and Ishmael: how Christianity would keep itself and that two kinds of men would be in it, true Christians and mouth-Christians» — el tratado adjudica a Isaac e Ismael la figura de las dos clases de cristianos.
«The latter, under the title of Christianity, would be scorners like Ishmael and Esau who was the image of the external Adam, [while] Jacob [was] the image of Christ and of His true Christianity» — Esaú y Jacob se suman a la misma figura, con Jacob del lado de Cristo.
«Therefore we say what we know, that a man who wants to call himself a Christian is to test what kind of characteristics drive and rule him; whether the spirit of Christ drives him to truth and righteousness and to love of neighbour so that he would eagerly do good if he only knew how he could» — el criterio que da Boehme no es doctrinal sino de impulso: qué característica gobierna al que se dice cristiano.
«What does it help the soul if it knows the way to God and does not wish to take it, but goes instead on a way of error, and does not reach God» — el tratado pone la pregunta que separa conocer el camino de andarlo.
«Christ alone has truly merited salvation for us, but He has not merited it as a merit that is given as a payment out of His merits so that He gives us the sonship out of His merit externally and thus takes us into the sonship» — Boehme afirma el mérito exclusivo de Cristo y a la vez rechaza que la filiación se transfiera como pago externo.
«He is our heaven. He must win a form in us if we are to be in heaven» — el cielo queda definido como forma ganada dentro del creyente, no como lugar.
«Man teaches [that] his absolution is a forgiveness of sins; again, that the Lord’s Supper takes sins away; again, that the Spirit of God is poured in by the office of preaching» — el quinto tratado enumera las tres pretensiones de la práctica eclesial que va a discutir: absolución, cena y predicación.
«Christ offers us His Spirit in His word as in the preached word, His body and blood in the sacraments, and His absolution in brotherly reconciliation» — Boehme no suprime los medios externos: los conserva y traslada la absolución a la reconciliación entre hermanos.
«No one can forgive sins but God alone. The preacher’s mouth does not have forgiveness in its own power» — el tratado niega poder propio a la boca del predicador sin negar el oficio.
«However, what help is it to those who heard Christ teach on earth when He said: Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will revive you» — Boehme argumenta desde el caso extremo: oír al propio Cristo no bastó.
«Since they had dead ears and heard only the external Christ but not the word of divine power» — la razón del fracaso se pone en el oído, no en el que habla.
«When Christ rises, Adam dies in the serpent’s essence. When the sun rises, the night is swallowed up in day, and there is no more night» — el tratado empareja la resurrección con el amanecer, figura que da título a la primera obra de Boehme.
«The forgiveness of sins is thus: The Spirit of Christ eats of His holy being; the inner man is the grasper of holy being» — el perdón se define como acto de comer y asir, no como declaración.
«If there is stubble or straw in the sermon, then he sucks vanity out of it, and the soul sucks false poison and murder of the devil out of it» — Boehme sostiene que el alma extrae del sermón lo que el sermón tenga, veneno incluido.
«If the preacher is also dead, and sows poison and insults out of his affects, the devil teaches and the devil hears» — la fórmula con que el tratado describe la predicación muerta en los dos extremos, púlpito y banca.
«But in the holy teacher, the Holy Spirit teaches and in the holy hearer Christ’s Spirit hears through the soul and the divine home of the divine sound» — la contrapartida: en el maestro y el oyente santos habla y escucha el mismo Espíritu.
«The saint however has his church with him and in him at all places» — Boehme traslada la iglesia al interior del creyente sin declarar abolida la externa.
«To this I say, “No,” but I only point to the hypocritical whore of Babylon who pursues her whoring with the stone church, and calls herself Christian when she is a whore-brat» — el tratado acota su propia crítica: no ataca al templo de piedra sino a la que se prostituye con él.
«If I should go to church for a thousand years and to the sacrament every week, [and] also permit myself to be absolved every day, and did not have Christ in me, it would all be false and useless talk, a carving in Babel, and there is no forgiveness of sins» — la práctica sin Cristo dentro queda declarada inútil, con la cifra puesta al extremo.
«The work is not the reconciliation [with God] but it is the building that the true Spirit builds in His being» — Boehme separa la obra de la reconciliación y le deja la función de edificio.
«If the internal teacher and hearer is not open, all is Babel and fable, a carving where the external world-spirit makes a model or carving according to the internal» — el criterio final: sin maestro y oyente internos, lo externo es talla vacía.
«Christ thus says: Whosoever believes in me shall never die [John 11:26], but has pressed from death to life» — el tratado cierra con Juan 11:26 leído como paso ya cumplido, no como promesa futura.
«Again: There will be streams of living water flowing from him, [John 7:38] as good doctrine and works» — Boehme glosa Juan 7:38 en clave de doctrina y obras, que es donde vuelve a exigir el fruto externo.
«Therefore I say that all is Babel that bites and argues with the other over the letter» — el quinto tratado llama Babel a toda disputa sobre la letra.
«It is the greatest folly in Babel that the devil has made the world argue about religion so that they argue about self-made ideas, about the letter» — Boehme adjudica al diablo la invención de la disputa religiosa sobre ideas propias.
«This Christ said to His disciples, and left it with them at last, that they were to love one another as He loved them, so that each man might know that they were His disciples» — el tratado pone la señal del discípulo en el amor mutuo y no en la doctrina compartida.
«God is served by no law, but by obedience alone» — la fórmula con que Boehme desplaza el servicio de la ley a la obediencia.
«Laws are for the wicked who do not wish love and righteousness» — el tratado conserva la ley y le asigna un destinatario acotado.
«If men so endeavoured for love and righteousness as they do for ideas, there would be no strife at all on earth» — Boehme mide el esfuerzo puesto en las ideas contra el puesto en el amor.
«If now we do not argue over the many fruits, gifts and knowledge, but confess to one another as children of the Spirit of God, what would judge us» — la pregunta con que el tratado propone la concordia entre los que difieren en dones.
«If we did not know half as much, and were more childlike, but had only one brotherly will among one another, and lived as children of one mother, as twigs on one tree that all take sap from one root, we would be much holier» — Boehme pone la ignorancia infantil por encima del saber, con la figura de los sarmientos de una misma raíz.
«Therefore those people who argue about knowledge and about God’s will, and therefore despise one another, are more foolish than the birds in the forest and the wild beasts who have no proper reason» — la comparación con los pájaros y las fieras, que en el tratado no tienen razón y sin embargo no disputan.
«In these four points consists our whole religion: to come out of disunity and vanity, and to go again into the one tree from which all of us, in Adam, came, which is Christ in us. We dare not strive about anything, nor have any strife» — Boehme resume la religión entera en salir de la desunión y volver al único árbol.
«Christ said: Whoever enters not by the door of the sheepfold, that is, through Him, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and murderer, and the sheep do not follow him, for they know not his voice» — el tratado apoya en Juan 10 el criterio para reconocer al falso pastor.
«Christ said clearly: The sheep do not hear his (the false shepherd’s) voice, they do not follow him» — el criterio queda del lado de las ovejas: son ellas las que no oyen.
«The written word is merely an instrument by which the Spirit leads» — Boehme subordina la Escritura al Espíritu sin descartarla, y a la vez escribe un libro.
«What is made in the self without faith is only a figure or husk of correct Christian work» — el tratado llama cáscara a la obra sin fe.
«If you serve your brother and do it only out of hypocrisy, and if you give grudgingly to him, you do not serve God, for your faith does not arise from love in hope, in your gift» — la obra al prójimo se mide por el afecto con que se hace, no por lo que se entrega.
«Therefore your gift is only half-given and you have only half the reward for it» — la consecuencia se enuncia en mitades, sin anular el don.
«If one sows the good seed of Christ’s Spirit, it takes root in the good heart and bears good fruit» — la parábola del sembrador aplicada al que enseña.
«Such slanderous brats do not serve God, but the great building of disunity» — el tratado cierra nombrando lo que sí edifican los que calumnian: la desunión.
«The student said: “What holds me back from coming to this?” The master said: “Your own willing, hearing and seeing, and that you strive against that out of which you came. With your own will you break yourself off from God's will, and with your own seeing you see only in your will. Your will stops your hearing with the self-interest of earthly, material things and leads you into a ground and overshadows you with that which you will so that you are not able to come to the supernatural, supersensual life» — el maestro nombra el obstáculo: la propia voluntad, que quiebra al hombre de la voluntad de Dios.
«The master said: “For that three things are necessary. The first is that you give your will to God and sink into the ground of His mercy. The second is that you must hate your own will and do nothing to which your own will drives you. The third is that you throw yourself in patience under the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ so that you might bear the temptations of nature and creature» — los tres pasos que el maestro prescribe: dar la voluntad, aborrecer la voluntad propia y ponerse bajo la cruz.
«When you do this God will speak in you and will bring your resigned will into Himself, into the supernatural ground, and you will hear what the Lord speaks in you» — el efecto prometido: la voluntad resignada queda llevada al fondo sobrenatural.
«The student said: “Then must I leave the world and my life so that I might do this?” The master said: “As you leave the world you will come into that out of which the world was made. As you lose your life and come into the impotency of your abilities you will stand in Him for whose sake you left it, in God out of whom it came into body» — el maestro acota la renuncia: no es abandono del mundo sino regreso a aquello de lo que el mundo salió.
«The student said: “God created man in the natural life so that he might rule over all the creatures on earth and be Lord over all life in this world. Therefore he must possess it as his own.” The master said: “If you only rule externally over the creatures, you are, with your willing and ruling, bestial, and stand only in a formed and transitory lordship» — el discípulo objeta el señorío sobre las criaturas y el maestro le concede el dato para negarle el modo.
«If you take nothing into your desire, you are free from all things and, at the same time, you rule over all things for you have nothing in your acquisition and you are a nothing [to] all things» — la paradoja central del sexto tratado: no tomar nada es a la vez no ser nada y regir sobre todo.
«If you want to become like all things you must leave all things and turn your desire from them and not desire nor seek to gain as your own possession what is something» — el maestro formula la condición como salida de la posesión, no de la relación.
«The master said: “When you abandon that which loves you and love that which hates you, you can ever stand in it» — respuesta del maestro sobre cómo permanecer: dejar lo que ama y amar lo que odia.
«The master said: “Hear the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who said: If you remain in my words, my words remain in you [John 8:31]; that is, if you remain with your will in the words of Christ, His word and Spirit will remain in you, but if your will goes into the creatures, you have broken yourself away from Him» — el maestro apoya la permanencia en Juan 8:31 y advierte que la salida hacia las criaturas rompe por sí sola el vínculo.
«Therefore all the children of God who think they are members of Christ must leave such abominable arguing and blood-duels, brother-quarrelling—of which I have surely warned them out of those gifts that God has truly revealed in me—and look only simply to love and righteousness toward all men» — cierre del quinto tratado: Boehme deja por escrito que ya advirtió sobre las querellas entre hermanos, y apela a los dones que dice haber recibido. La plana se repite idéntica en la 194 del troceo; se cita la primera.
«If one is a good tree he is also to bear good fruit» — el criterio del fruto, que el tratado había aplicado a la oración, cierra ahora el quinto.
«Even if he must then suffer pigs to eat his fruit, he is to remain a good tree and wish to work continually with God, and not allow any evil to overcome him» — Boehme prevé que el fruto sea desperdiciado y aun así ordena seguir dándolo.
«The student said to the master: “How may I come to the supersensual life so that I can see God and hear Him speak» — pregunta con que el discípulo abre el sexto tratado, escrito en 1622 como conversación de un maestro y un estudiante. La plana se repite en la 195 del troceo con lecturas de OCR distintas; se cita la primera.
«The master said: “If you can sweep up for a moment into that in which no creature dwells, you can hear what God speaks» — respuesta del maestro: el ascenso es momentáneo y el lugar es aquel donde no habita criatura alguna.
«The student said: “Is that near or far?” The master said: “It is in you. If you could be silent from all willing and thinking for one hour you would hear God’s inexpressible words» — el maestro localiza ese lugar dentro del propio discípulo y le pone plazo de una hora de silencio.
«The student said: “How can I hear when I remain silent in thinking and willing?” The master said: “When you remain silent from the thinking and willing of self, the eternal hearing, seeing and speaking will be revealed in you, and God will see and hear through you. Your own hearing, willing and seeing hinders you so that you do not see and hear God» — el maestro invierte el papel del oyente: el que ve y oye es Dios a través de él.
«The student said: “With what shall I see and hear God, since He is: above nature and creature?” The master said: “When you move silently then you are that which God was before nature and creature, [that] out of which He created your nature and creature. Then you will hear and see with that with which God saw and heard in you before your own willing, seeing and hearing began» — el maestro remite al estado anterior a la naturaleza y a la criatura, que en el sistema de Boehme es el fondo sin fondo.
«The master said: “If once each hour you can sweep up, out of all creatures, over all sensual thought, into the purest mercy of God, into the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ, and give yourself into it, you will receive power to rule over sin, death, the devil, hell and the world» — el maestro convierte el ascenso momentáneo en práctica horaria y le adjudica dominio sobre el pecado y la muerte.
«The master said: “The body would be placed into the imitation of our Lord Christ who said: His kingdom is not of this world» — el maestro responde a la objeción del discípulo sobre el cuerpo remitiéndolo a la imitación de Cristo.
«The master said: “He would not concern himself with this as if harm had come to him, but he would rejoice in that he is worthy to be like the image of our Lord Christ» — el desprecio del mundo queda leído como semejanza con Cristo, no como daño.
«The master said: “Let it happen to him as to our Lord Christ. When He was scorned by the world and the high priests and was crucified, He commended His soul into the hands of His Father and went from the anguish of the world into eternal joy» — el maestro pone el modelo hasta el extremo de la cruz y la encomienda del alma al Padre.
«The master said: “He would receive a greater favour than the world can give because he would have as friends God and all His angels who would protect him in all need» — lo que el maestro ofrece a cambio del favor del mundo es la protección de Dios y de sus ángeles.
«He receives the heart of all friendship as his possession and loses only his enemies who earlier had loved his vanity and sin» — el maestro acota la pérdida: solo se pierden los que amaban la vanidad del discípulo.
«Thus, those who love truth and righteousness will love him and associate with him, as Nicodemus, who loved Jesus because of the truth, [came to] Jesus by night, and externally feared the world» — el maestro pone a Nicodemo como caso de quien ama la verdad y a la vez teme al mundo.
«What now seems hard to you, you will later learn to love the most» — el maestro difiere el juicio del discípulo sobre lo que ahora le resulta duro.
«Now you love earthly wisdom. However when you have been clothed only in heavenly [wisdom] you will see that all the world’s wisdom is only foolishness, and that the world hates only your enemy, mortal life, which you yourself also hate in your will» — el maestro sostiene que el odio del mundo cae sobre la vida mortal, que el propio discípulo ya aborrece.
«What you love for yourself, you love, not as yours, but as the given love of God» — el maestro reordena el amor propio como amor dado, no como posesión.
«If love did not consist in suffering, it would have nothing to love» — la fórmula con que el sexto tratado une amor y sufrimiento.
«Its virtue is the nothing, and its power is through everything» — el amor queda definido por la misma pareja de nada y todo que rige el tratado.
«He who finds it finds nothing and everything» — el remate de la paradoja, dicho por el maestro.
«When our dear Lord Christ stood in hell, hell was not God, but love was there and broke death» — el maestro sitúa el amor en el infierno sin convertir el infierno en Dios.
«When God hides Himself in you, love is there and reveals Him in you» — el maestro adjudica al amor la función de revelar al Dios escondido.
«If you want to grasp it for yourself it will flee from you. But if you give yourself wholly and completely to it, you are dead to your own will and it will then be the life of your nature» — el amor se comporta al revés de la posesión: huye del que lo ase y se vuelve vida del que se le entrega.
«Then you live, yet not you, but its will for your will is its will» — el maestro formula la sustitución de voluntades con el giro paulino del *vivo yo, mas no yo*.
«Though it offers itself to them it can find no place in them, for the imaginativeness of self-willing has put itself in their place» — el maestro explica por qué el amor no encuentra lugar: la imaginación del querer propio ya lo ocupa.
«Its office is to ignite fire ceaselessly in the something and burn the something and moreover immolate itself with it» — el amor se describe como fuego que consume el algo y a sí mismo con él.
«Even if it soon costs you your mortal life, it goes with you in its fire into death» — el maestro cierra prometiendo que el fuego acompaña incluso en la muerte.
«That is true for the way to the love of God is foolishness to the world, but wisdom to God’s children» — el maestro concede la objeción del discípulo y la vuelve criterio: lo que el mundo llama necedad.
«You say, however, that you will stand in useless anguish» — el maestro recoge literalmente la objeción del discípulo antes de responderla.
«When the world sees such love-fire in God’s children, it says they are foolish; but to the children of God» — el mismo fuego se lee de dos maneras según quién lo mire; la frase se corta en el cambio de plana.
«No, there is no entrance in such a way, for heaven and hell are present everywhere» — el maestro niega que cielo e infierno sean lugares a los que se entre.
«When the will gives itself into the ground of God, then it sinks outside of itself, outside all grounds and places to where God alone is revealed, where He works and wills» — el hundimiento de la voluntad se describe como salida de todo suelo y lugar.
«Since God’s light does not shine in it, and His love does not stir it, it is in great darkness, and a painful, anguishing fire-source and carries hell in itself and cannot see the Light of God» — el infierno queda definido por privación de luz dentro del mismo ser, no por traslado.
«Thus it dwells in itself in hell and dare have no exit» — el maestro cierra la definición: el alma habita en sí misma su infierno.
«However, it sinks into the hope of divine grace, and stands as a beautiful rose among thorns until the kingdom of this world falls away from it in the death of the body» — la imagen de la rosa entre espinas con que el tratado describe al alma en esa condición.
«But the natural life is wrapped in flesh and blood and stands in the opposition of God’s wrath, wrapped by the vain lust of this world that continually presses through the external, mortal life» — el maestro explica por qué la angustia persiste mientras dure la vida natural.
«Therefore the soul often stands in anguish when hell thus presses in it and wishes to reveal itself in it» — la angustia se describe como presión del infierno por manifestarse en el alma.
«where God does not will in a thing with the thing’s will, there God is not revealed to him, but He dwells only in Himself» — el criterio de presencia divina es la coincidencia de voluntades, no la ubicación.
«When the body dies, the soul can no longer enjoy such temporal pleasure, and the light of external nature is also put out in it» — el maestro describe qué se apaga en la muerte: el placer temporal y la luz de la naturaleza externa.
«The student said: “‘How far are heaven and hell from each other?” ‘The master said: “As day and night, as everything and nothing. They are in each other» — pregunta del discípulo y respuesta del maestro: día y noche, todo y nada, y los dos uno dentro del otro. El apóstrofo suelto es del OCR.
«However, whatever is done in this time through the spirit, be it evil or good, each act will separate itself into either eternal light or into eternal darkness according to its spiritual way» — el maestro sostiene que cada acto se reparte por sí mismo entre luz y tiniebla, sin sentencia externa.
«However, what is done in God’s wrath according to darkness draws painfulness to itself and destroys the false being» — la otra mitad de esa separación automática.
«The master said: “Only material being will end, the four elements, the sun, moon and stars; but the inner spiritual world [will be] completely visible and revealed» — el maestro acota qué termina: los cuatro elementos y los astros, no el mundo espiritual.
«However, before judgement, everything will be separated by fire, both the earth and the ashes of the human body» — el fuego separador alcanza incluso a las cenizas del cuerpo.
«The master said: “When the visible world passes away, all that was external, that came out of it, passes away as well» — el criterio de lo que perece: lo que salió del mundo visible.
«There shall be neither man nor woman, but all shall be like God’s angels, androgynous virgins, neither daughter, son, brother, nor sister, but all one sex in Christ, all of one [piece] like a tree with its branches, and yet separate creatures; but God all in all» — el maestro describe el estado resucitado como andrógino y unánime, con la figura del árbol y sus ramas.
«And Paul said: They will differ one from another in the resurrection, as sun, moon and stars» — el maestro conserva la desigualdad en la resurrección apoyándose en I Corintios 15:41.
«The master said: “By divine movement in the person and Spirit of Christ who through the Word of God that became man will separate all that does not belong to Christ, and will completely reveal His kingdom in the place where this world stands, since the movement of separation happens everywhere at the same time» — la separación se describe como movimiento simultáneo en todo lugar, no como traslado.
«The light will eternally shine in the darkness and the darkness cannot grasp it» — el maestro cita Juan 1:5 para afirmar que la tiniebla permanece dentro del mundo glorificado.
«The eternal Word of God from which all spiritual, creaturely life has come shall move itself at that hour according to love and wrath in all life that is from eternity, and draw the creature before the Judgement of Christ» — la Palabra se mueve a la vez según amor e ira: una sola causa con dos efectos.
«The judgement will be revealed to the soul immediately on the death of the human body» — el maestro adelanta el juicio al instante de la muerte del cuerpo.
«Each thing [is to return] to its eternal entrance and preserver» — la fórmula con que el tratado enuncia el destino de cada cosa.
«Christ lives essentially in the faith of those who have given themselves completely to Him» — el maestro pasa de la escatología a la presencia actual de Cristo en el creyente.
«Therefore a Christian is called a branch on his vine, and is called a Christian because Christ dwells in him spiritually» — el nombre de cristiano se deriva de esa habitación, no de la confesión.
«All these do it to Christ Himself, and they belong to His stern judgement» — el maestro cierra la lista de agravios al pobre haciéndolos recaer sobre Cristo.
«All those who do not turn with whole heart to Christ, and serve Him, must enter into hellish fire in which such vanity is» — el infierno se define aquí por la vanidad que contiene, no por un castigo añadido.
«All the heights of pride in which man strives about meanings is an image of self-interest» — el maestro llama imagen del interés propio a la disputa por los significados.
«Life stands by strife so that it may be revealed, experienced and discovered, and so that wisdom may become separated and known» — el maestro justifica la contienda como condición de que la sabiduría se revele.
«God therefore lets all things stand with a free will so that the eternal Lordship for love and wrath, and for light and darkness, may be revealed and known» — el libre albedrío se explica por la necesidad de que el señorío eterno quede manifiesto en ambos principios.
«Thus the Eternal One took perceptivity and divisibility, and by perceptivity led itself forth again through death into the mighty kingdom of joy» — el Uno Eterno pasa por la muerte y la divisibilidad para llegar al reino de gozo.
«Thus pain must be a ground and cause of motion» — el dolor queda puesto como causa del movimiento, no como su accidente.
«And in this there lies hidden the Mysterium of the hidden wisdom of God» — el maestro nombra ahí el *Mysterium* de la sabiduría escondida.
«REASON says: I hear much said of God, that there is a God who has created all things, who also upholds and bears all things, but I have seen no one, nor heard of anyone, who has seen God, or who could tell where He dwells, or is, or how He is» — arranque del séptimo tratado, La puerta preciosa sobre la contemplación divina, fechado en 1620: habla la Razón, y el tratado la deja plantear la objeción entera.
«ANSWER: Reason is natural life whose ground is ina temporal beginning and end, and [which] cannot come to the supernatural ground where God is to be understood» — la Respuesta define a la Razón por su suelo temporal y le niega alcance sobrenatural. La grafía *ina* es del OCR.
«This indicates that the hidden God who has brought Himself into nature, dwells in it, and punishes those of evil ways, and that the same (hidden God) must not be of the nature of perceptivity since reason neither sees nor grasps Him» — el tratado llama Dios escondido al que obra en la naturaleza sin caer bajo la percepción.
«No thing may be revealed to itself without contrariety» — el principio que sostiene toda la cosmología del séptimo tratado.
«If it has no thing that resists it, it always goes out from itself and does not go into itself again» — el tratado explica la contrariedad como condición del retorno sobre sí.
«If the natural life did not have any contrariety, and was without a goal, it would never ask for its ground out of which it came» — sin contrariedad no habría siquiera pregunta por el origen.
«For one single thing does not know more than one [thing]; and if it is in itself good, it knows neither evil nor good, for it has nothing in itself that makes it perceptive» — el argumento se cierra: lo único no se conoce a sí mismo.
«However, there is divisibility in this single will so that the divisibility leads itself into the centra and into self-will, so that a self-will is in the separated [will], and thus uncaused and innumerable wills rise in one will as branches from a tree» — la divisibilidad de la voluntad única explica la multiplicidad de voluntades, con la figura del árbol.
«A single will cannot break itself apart in pieces, as the mind does not break in pieces when it separates itself into a good and evil willing, but the outgoing of the sensus separates itself into an evil and good willing and the mind remains completely within itself and suffers, because an evil and a good will have arisen and dwell in him» — el séptimo tratado distingue la mente, que permanece entera, de la salida del *sensus*, que sí se parte en bien y mal.
«ANSWER: Evil, as a contrary will, causes the good, as will, to press again toward its own cause, toward God, and to become desirous again of the good, as the good will» — la Respuesta adjudica al mal la función de empujar al bien hacia su causa.
«Thus we can philosophize and say concerning the single good will of God, that He in Himself can desire nothing for He has nothing in or before Himself, that can give Him anything and therefore He brings Himself out of Himself into divisibility, intocentra, so that contrariety arises in the outflow, as in [those which] flowed out, so that the good might become perceptive, working and willing in the evil, that is, desiring to divide itself from evil and desiring to go again into the single will of God» — Boehme usa el verbo filosofar para su propia exposición y deriva la contrariedad del acto por el que Dios sale de sí. La grafía *intocentra* es del impreso.
«God, insofar as He is called God, can will nothing but Himself» — el tratado repite el recorte del nombre de Dios que ya usó en el cuarto.
«If the mind did not flow out from itself, it would have no thoughts» — el pensamiento se explica por la misma salida de sí que la creación.
«If there were no contrarium in these centra of the thoughts in the counter-stroke, all centra of the thoughts that flowed out would be only one in all of the centra, only a single will that always did only one thing» — sin *contrarium* no habría más que una voluntad haciendo siempre lo mismo.
«However if there is a contrarium, a light and darkness, in [these centra], this contrarium is contrary to its self, and each characteristic causes it to lead the other into desire to wish to strive against the other, and to rule [it]» — el tratado deriva la lucha de la mera presencia de dos características.
«For all things have their first beginning from the outflow of the divine will, be it evil or good, love or sorrow» — Boehme hace salir del mismo flujo divino el bien y el mal, sin adjudicar a Dios el segundo.
«Out of this arise faith and hope, so that the anguished mind hopes for redemption, and yearns for its cause again, as toward God» — fe y esperanza se derivan de la angustia, no de una decisión.
«This self-will is the ground of its own self, and surrounds itself as a desiring will» — la voluntad propia se describe como fundamento de sí misma, que es lo que la vuelve irreductible.
«In such a divine outflow, in which the divine power breathes forth out of itself, leads and has led itself into nature and creature, two [facts] are to be known» — el tratado anuncia los dos aspectos del flujo divino que va a distinguir.
«first, the stern understanding of the one good will that is a temperamentum and thus brings itself only into perceptivity and working for the revelation of power, colours and virtue» — el primero conserva el latinismo *temperamentum*, que el glosario de Erb define como equilibrio propio de un ser.
«Secondly, we are to understand the original will of nature as the incomprehensibility of the centra» — el segundo aspecto es la voluntad original de la naturaleza, declarada incomprensible.
«In these two we can understand good and evil wills in all things» — el tratado cierra la distinción como clave de lectura para toda cosa.
«Just as the heavenly divine (principium) depends on the earthly, so the earthly depends on the heavenly, and yet neither is the other» — la dependencia recíproca de los dos principios, sin identificarlos.
«Understand [this] correctly. The outgoing desire of the divine energy toward nature out of which nature and self have arisen longs to be free from the natural self-will» — el tratado pide precisión al lector antes de enunciar el deseo divino de librarse de la voluntad propia de la naturaleza.
«Through folly wisdom is revealed, because folly ascribes abilities to its own self, and yet it stands in its ground and beginning and is finite» — la necedad revela la sabiduría por contraste, y su límite es que se atribuye capacidades.
«It seems as if God did not concern Himself about anything, or as if there were no God, since reason does not see, know or discover Him» — el tratado consigna la apariencia de ausencia de Dios sin desmentirla de inmediato.
«For it [reason] sees in the wise according to external nature such foolishness and sees how God abandons the foolishness of the wise so that it [foolishness] must stand in shame and scorn before that self-willed foolish cleverness that does not know its own end» — la Razón ve necedad en los sabios y no ve su propio término.
«This the earthly reason does not understand because it does not know how God dwells in it and what God’s will and being is» — el séptimo tratado adjudica la incomprensión a que la Razón no sabe dónde habita Dios.
«Since he trusted in Him [Matthew 27:43], his faith must indeed have been false, or He would have saved him, indeed during the time of this life» — el tratado reproduce el razonamiento de los que se burlan al pie de la cruz, con la referencia entre corchetes de la edición.
«However when the external light is put out in death, it stands in eternal despair, and sees no Saviour within or about it» — la desesperación se localiza en la extinción de la luz externa, no en una condena externa.
«But at this time the wise man becomes a fool to himself, and he learns to hate his foolishness (which reason holds as cleverness» — el giro que el tratado pide del sabio: aborrecer lo que la Razón llama listeza.
«Therefore there is no complaint with God concerning the mortal body of the wise, for he forms the divine Exs in him in his spirit and will and allows the body of foolishness to go into the grave with its foolishness, until the day of the separation of all being» — el cuerpo del sabio va al sepulcro con su necedad y el tratado no lo cuenta como agravio contra Dios. La grafía *Exs* por Ens es del OCR.
«But when this life in the first principium was so breathed upon in its image by the angry devil, the devil suggested to it that it might be useful and good to break off the outgoing of the senses from the life of the temperament, and lead itself into its own image, according to the characteristics» — la caída se describe como sugerencia del diablo de romper la salida de los sentidos.
«Therefore it was painful and the inner divine ground of the good will and being was put out, that is, [became] nonworking according to the creature» — el efecto se formula como apagado del fondo divino, que queda sin obrar en la criatura.
«Understand: The eternal, ungrounded will of life turned itself from the holy, divine Ezs and wished to rule in good and evil» — Boehme llama sin fondo a la voluntad eterna de la vida, forma con que rinde su *Ungrund*. La grafía *Ezs* es del OCR.
«Therefore, the second principium, God’s kingdom, was put out» — el reino de Dios queda descrito como un principio apagado dentro del hombre.
«In its place the third principium in its own formation, the source of the stars and the four elements, grew up, out of which the body became gross and bestial, and the senses false and earthly» — el tercer principio, el de los astros y los cuatro elementos, ocupa el lugar del segundo.
«Thus life lost the temperamentum as the eternal rest, and with its own desire made itself dark, painful, stern, hard and rough» — la pérdida del *temperamentum* se enuncia como pérdida del reposo eterno.
«It became vain restlessness, and it now walks in earthly power in an eternal ground, and seeks rest in fragility and finds none» — el desasosiego se describe como búsqueda de reposo en lo frágil.
«By such worship it has become foolish and mad, so that it cannot know its own ground and origin in such earthly formation and self-possessiveness, in which its own eternal rest stands and is properly called foolish» — el tratado llama culto a la posesividad de sí, y de ahí deriva la necedad.
«And as that breaks over which it had ruled, life remains in contrariety in the first principium in the darkness, and it is nothing other than an ever-enduring, inextinguishable, painful fire-source, as devils and such are» — sin lo que gobernaba, la vida queda como fuente de fuego inextinguible, igual que los demonios.
«To this captive life God’s great love came to help again and immediately after such a fall it breathed into the internal Ens, into the extinguished being, the divine characteristic, and gave life to a counter-stroke, [to a] new source-spring of divine unity, love and rest» — el remedio llega inmediatamente después de la caída, según el tratado, y no como respuesta tardía.
«It entered into the corrupted divine Ens, revealed itself in it, created life out of it so that it might put out its own painfulness and restlessness in the centra of [its] characteristic» — el amor obra dentro del *Ens* corrompido, no desde fuera.
«Thus the will, which the devil had disturbed, broke its self-confinement, for then the devil’s introduced will was destroyed and the painfulness of life was brought into true rest and burst the captivity, death» — el tratado cierra con la ruptura del encierro propio como efecto de la obra del amor.
«But since the great love of God in Christ thus came to human life in an earthly image to the help [of us men] and made an open gate of grace, a divine entrance for us poor men, the situation is now this: that the captured will of life in its earthly formation must again leave the earthly self and self-will, and completely give itself to this embodied grace which pressed in upon all from one, from the first man» — el séptimo tratado formula el remedio como puerta de gracia abierta, con la condición de dejar el yo terreno.
«However since in this time life must now consist of earthly essence, and yet cannot take it for itself, man must look on the threefold manner of life according to the three principles with which man may sweep up to the supersensual being of God—and how this may be done and can occur» — el tratado anuncia que va a tratar la vida según los tres principios, que es el marco de su cosmología.
«If it were possible for him to remain quiet for an hour or less in his inner self-will and speaking, the divine will would speak into him» — vuelve la hora de silencio del sexto tratado, ahora como condición para que hable la voluntad divina.
«Through this inspeaking, God’s will forms His will in man in Himself, and speaks into the formed, natural, essential, external life of reason and smashes the earthly formation of the rational will, and enlightens it so that immediately the supersensual divine life and will sprouts in the rational will and centers itself in it» — el habla interior no suprime la razón: rompe su formación terrena y la ilumina.
«Life then went forth from God’s speaking, and came into the body, and is nothing other than the formed will of God» — la vida queda definida como voluntad de Dios formada.
«Since the abyss, as God, is an eternal speaking, a breathing out of Himself, so also the abyss is spoken into the resigned life» — el tratado identifica a Dios con un hablar eterno y lo hace hablar dentro de la vida resignada.
«Know thus that the introverted, newborn life form in divine power and might, will also and can rule over the external rational life of the stars and elements» — el tratado adjudica a la vida renacida el gobierno sobre astros y elementos.
«For this reason Christ said (Matthew 12:30): He who gathers not with me, scatters; that is, he who does not work, will and act with the embodied grace of God, which God through Christ has revealed and offered, but who works through natural self-will, scatters, not only the divine order of the senses, but he scatters as well his own works over a false ground» — la sentencia evangélica se aplica a quien obra con voluntad propia.
«If a plant does not have sap, then it is burned by the sun’s beams» — la primera mitad de la comparación con que el tratado explica los dos efectos de un mismo rayo.
«If it has sap, then the sun’s beams warm it, [and] because of them it grows» — la segunda mitad: el mismo sol quema o hace crecer según lo que encuentre.
«Thus, such a fiery, covetous, envious manner scatters and breaks all that is good with the sharp sensus of life» — el tratado describe el efecto del *sensus* agudo de la vida no templada.
«However if it happens that this fiery life can eat of the divine love, then it is a similitude of how light presses out and goes from fire» — la conversión se describe con la misma figura del fuego que da luz.
«The love-will gives itself, as light from a fire, to all things and works good in all» — la voluntad de amor se define por darse, como la luz respecto del fuego.
«If the sun no longer shone in the depths of the world, the spiritus mundi in the sharpness of the constellations, in the sulphuric, mercurical manner of the four elements, [would be] completely stern, raw, dry, harsh, thick, dark and hard» — el tratado nombra el *spiritus mundi* junto a los astros y a la manera sulfúrica y mercurial de los cuatro elementos.
«Then all life in the elements would die, and man would soon see what hell and God’s wrath are» — la hipótesis del sol apagado sirve para mostrar qué es el infierno.
«However, if it [happens] that such a fire-source can again reach divine love, as the essential life of God, and take it into itself, such a fire-source of the soul will be changed into a kingdom of joy, into praise of God, but this is not possible without a changed will, which does not stop its impression and limitation» — el tratado acota la promesa: no hay cambio sin voluntad cambiada.
«The sun’s light cannot work in a hard stone as [it does] metals, in herbs and in trees, for water 1s grasped and coagulated into a hard impression in it» — el ejemplo mineral de por qué la misma luz no obra en todo igual. La grafía *1s* es del OCR.
«This Christ properly says (John 6:53): The life of man that does not eat that bread which is come from heaven to give life to the world has no life in him» — el tratado apoya la doctrina del alimento en Juan 6:53.
«The soul that does not eat of it cannot reach the divine light and is without divine life, as He calls Himself in John 8:12: The light of the world» — la consecuencia, con Juan 8:12 como segundo apoyo.
«In John 1:1-3, it stands [written]: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God» — el tratado pasa a la doctrina de la Palabra citando el prólogo joánico.
«No one can say that a nature or creature is understood in this, but [it is] a formation of divine Word and will where the Spirit of God has played in such a form of likeness with His self, in such a counter-stroke in the powers of wisdom» — el séptimo tratado acota que lo dicho de la Palabra no describe una naturaleza ni una criatura.
«Thus can we in no way say that God’s being is something distinct, that it possesses a special place or spot, for the abyss of nature and of creatures is God Himself» — el tratado niega a Dios lugar propio y lo identifica con el abismo de la naturaleza.
«Each spiritual characteristic has its own Separator, divider and maker in it, and is complete in itself, according to the character of the eternal unity» — el latinismo *Separator*, que el glosario de Erb define como potencia de oposición, se conserva sin traducir.
«The visible world that flowed out with its hosts of creatures is nothing other than the Word [that] flowed out, that led itself into characteristics» — el mundo visible se identifica con la Palabra salida de sí y hecha característica.
«Out of this eternal working of perceptivity and thought, which same working has from eternity thus brought itself into nature, as into characteristics, have arisen the visible world and its hosts [which] have been brought into creation» — el tratado deriva el mundo visible de un obrar eterno de perceptividad.
«The eternal power also becomes desiring and working by this and is [thus] the origin of perceptible life, for in the word of the powers, in the outflow, an eternal perceptible life originates» — la vida perceptible se origina en el flujo de la Palabra, no en un acto añadido.
«Thus the Separator of each will, will again bring characteristics out of itself from which the endless plurality rises and through which the Eternal One makes itself perceptible, not according to the unity but according to the outflow of the unity» — la pluralidad se explica por el Separador: el Uno se hace perceptible en el flujo, no en la unidad.
«The innermost ground is a spark of the will of God that flowed out through God’s breath. It is bound with God’s Word to will nothing other than that which the single will of God wills in such outflow» — el fondo más íntimo del hombre se describe como chispa de la voluntad divina.
«It is nothing other than a house of divine will through which the divine will reveals itself, and is revealed to no individuality of its own will but only as an instrument of the divine will by which the same orders His miracle» — el tratado llama casa e instrumento a lo que en el hombre no tiene voluntad propia.
«No, this is not so. The inner power forms itself only as we understand it in the power of plants, trees and metals» — el tratado se corrige a sí mismo y remite la potencia interna a plantas, árboles y metales.
«The second spiritus, which has its own centrum, lies in the oil of sulphur, which one calls the fifth essence as the root of the four elements» — el tratado sitúa el segundo *spiritus* en el aceite de azufre y lo identifica con la quinta esencia, raíz de los cuatro elementos.
«But since it also has its Separator in it, as the divine will [that] flowed out to revelation, it is the highest ground out of which the first divisibility of characteristics in the being of this world originated, and according to its own characteristics it belongs to eternity» — el Separador se declara fondo más alto del que sale la primera divisibilidad de este mundo.
«The creature however cannot touch the centrum of this power unless it happens by divine permission or occurs in the new birth» — el tratado pone dos vías de acceso al *centrum*: permiso divino o nuevo nacimiento.
«All things consist of these three principia or beginnings. You can see an example of this in a plant of the earth that has its nutrimentum from within and [from] without, as from [within] the earth and [as without] from the sun and stars, by which the earth’s spiritus forms together with the external» — el ejemplo vegetal con que el tratado ilustra los tres principios, con el *nutrimentum* interno y externo.
«Thus, when I see a plant, then I say truthfully: This is an image of the earth-spirit in which the upper powers rejoice, and they hold it to be their child, for the earth spirit is one being with the upper external powers» — el séptimo tratado lee la planta como imagen del espíritu de la tierra, unido a las potencias superiores.
«And with the beautiful smell of the blossom, the tznctur designates itself as the third ground» — la *tinctur* se manifiesta en el perfume de la flor; la grafía es del OCR.
«The medicus uses a fragrant plant for his medication, but the smell, that is, the sharpness of the smell, is not the cure that heals the patient in sickness» — el tratado separa el olor de la virtud curativa, y con eso corrige la práctica médica de su tiempo.
«The power goes out from the ¢ictur through the movement of the gross elemental spirit, and leads itself into perceptivity as into taste and smell» — la potencia sale de la *tinctur* y llega a los sentidos por el espíritu elemental. La grafía es del OCR.
«Christ says (Matthew 21:19) to the fig-tree: Wither; but the power by which it was done was not the external audible human word or sound» — el tratado niega que la palabra audible sea la que obra el milagro de la higuera.
«The confession or acceptance of a thing is not proper faith, much less [is] knowledge, but faith is that out of which the creed arises, as [it] is the revealed Spirit of God in the inner ground of the soul which by confession [of faith] forms itself into audible word, and makes itself externally visible, and works with the visible elements of the body, and points to itself externally so that man understands that God’s Spirit works with it in works of faith even as He works with and through the power of the elemental world, and makes Himself visible through the world’s being with a counter-stroke» — Boehme define la fe como aquello de lo que sale el credo, y no como el credo mismo.
«Thus I can truthfully say of everything that I look at, be it evil or good: Here in this thing the hidden spirit of the Separator of all being has formed himself into one characteristic and has made here a counter-stroke or image of itself according to its outflow» — el tratado extiende a toda cosa, buena o mala, la lectura como imagen del Separador.
«No thing, no being of a thing, came to its place from a distance; but in the place in which it grows is its proper ground» — el principio contra el traslado: el fundamento de cada cosa está donde crece.
«Elements are nothing other than formed, moving [being] of the invisible, unmoved [being]» — los elementos se definen como forma móvil de lo invisible inmóvil.
«So also stars are an outflow of the characteristics of the spiritual world, according to the divisibility of the Separator, whose ground is the Word, or the separated will of God» — las estrellas se derivan del mismo Separador, con la Palabra por fundamento.
«We must, however, properly complete the ground of such philosophia and indicate from what hard and soft have taken their ground, which we see in the metals» — Boehme llama *philosophia* a su propia exposición y la lleva al terreno de los metales.
«God is the Eternal One, as the greatest meekness, in so far as He exists in Himself outside of [His] movement and revelation» — Dios queda definido como mansedumbre máxima fuera de todo movimiento.
«In like manner know this: All that in the being of this world is soft, mild and thin, that is, outflowing and giving of itself [in] its ground and origin, is according to the unity of eternity, for the unity always flows out from itself, as one understands that there is no perceptivity nor pain in the being of thinness, as in water and air, that this same essence is a unity in itself» — lo blando y tenue se adscribe a la unidad, con el agua y el aire como ejemplos.
«In what is hard and impressing, [such] as bones, wood, plants, metals, fire, earth, stones and similar materials, lies the image of divine power and movement, and it locks itself before the grossness with its Separator (as an outflow of divine desire) as a noble treasure or spark of divine power before grossness» — lo duro guarda la chispa de la potencia divina, cerrada con su Separador ante lo grosero.
«However the dry water is the correct pearl-ground in which the subtle power of the working of the unity lies in the centrum» — el tratado llama agua seca al fondo de la perla, término alquímico que conserva sin explicar.
«The soft and thin originated from the outflow of the unity, from the Mystertum Magnum, and is the nearest to the unity» — lo tenue procede del flujo del *Mysterium Magnum* y queda más cerca de la unidad.
«On the other hand, Mystertum Magnum, the noblest ground of the divine revelation, lies in the power and working of the fiery hardness, and is a dry unity or temperamentum within which lies the divisibility of all powers» — el *Mysterium Magnum* se sitúa en la dureza ígnea y se declara unidad seca; la grafía es del OCR.
«This must be well noted by physicians, for they are not to look to the gross spiritus or strong smell, and hold it as the proper balsam» — el tratado da instrucción directa a los médicos: el olor fuerte no es el bálsamo.
«The spiritus of the strong power in smell must be brought into the temperamentum as into the unity and not flee from it; for then one might wish to cure and give to the patient salt with the sharpness of fire, [or] soul without spirit» — la instrucción se completa: sin llevarlo al *temperamentum* se daría al enfermo sal con agudeza de fuego.
«Enclose all of them and make them one, so that they all might have one will in love, and you have the pearl in the whole world» — la receta se enuncia en clave alquímica: reunir las características en una sola voluntad.
«One can only comfort a prisoner by his freedom, until he puts his will in the hope, and grasps himself in patience» — la comparación con el preso, con que el tratado explica cómo obra la esperanza.
«So also, you physicians, note it. This is your pearl» — el tratado se dirige otra vez a los médicos y les adjudica la perla.
«If you understand this, the meaning is within and without» — el séptimo tratado cierra la instrucción a los médicos con la doble lectura, interna y externa.
«In John 1:11-13 it stands: He (Jesus Christ) came to His own and His own received Him not» — el tratado apoya la doctrina del *adentro* y el *afuera* en el prólogo de Juan.
«How an enlightened soul seeks and comforts the other and leads it along into its knowledge on the pilgrim path of Christ and faithfully is to set before its sight in a mirror the thorny way of this world which goes in the abyss and on which the lost soul wanders» — portadilla del octavo tratado, Conversación entre un alma iluminada y otra no iluminada, fechado en 1624.
«In an open letter to a soul hungering and thirsting for the fountain of the sweet love of Jesus Christ.? By a loving soul of the children of Jesus Christ under the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ» — el mismo encabezado declara la forma epistolar y firma con una perífrasis, sin nombre propio.
«A poor soul wandered out of Paradise and came into the kingdom of this world. The devil met it and spoke to it, “Where are you going, you half-blind soul» — arranque del octavo tratado: el Diablo aborda al Alma que sale del Paraíso.
«The soul said, “I wish to look upon the creatures of the world that the Creator has made» — el Alma declara su propósito, que en el tratado es lícito en sí mismo.
«The devil said, “How do you wish to look on them when you are not able to know out of what essence and characteristic they are made? When you see only a painted image, you are not able to know them» — el Diablo argumenta por insuficiencia del conocimiento, no por deseo prohibido.
«The devil said, “If you eat of that out of which creatures are made good and evil, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God Himself, and know what the Creator is» — la promesa del Diablo, en los términos del Génesis.
«The soul said, “I am noble and holy and might die from that, as the Creator has said» — la objeción del Alma, que cita la advertencia del Creador.
«The devil said, “Nothing will kill you but your eyes will be opened and you will be as God is, and know good and evil. Moreover you will become mighty, strong and great, as I am. All of the subtleties of the creatures will be revealed to» — la réplica del Diablo niega la muerte y añade poder y grandeza a la promesa; la frase se corta en el cambio de plana.
«When this occurred vulcanus ignited the fire-wheel of the essence, and awoke all the natural characteristics of the soul and brought it into its own lust and desire» — el tratado nombra *vulcanus* al que enciende la rueda de fuego de la esencia.
«It despised humility and equality, considered only itself subtle, wise and clever, and held all as foolishness that did not compare with its own subtlety» — primer vicio de la serie: la soberbia, descrita como desprecio de la igualdad.
«Since the lost lust of pride had turned its will off from God, its life no longer trusted God, but wished to take care of itself, and led its desire and possessiveness® to the creatures and to the earth, to metals and trees» — segundo vicio: la avaricia, que el tratado deriva de la desconfianza en Dios.
«Thus the ignited mercurius became hungry and covetous, like a fiery life, after it broke from God’s unity, love and meekness and drew to itself the four elements and their being and led its self into bestiality in which life was dark, empty, angry, and the heavenly powers and colours were put out» — el *mercurius* encendido apaga las potencias y los colores celestes y arrastra los cuatro elementos.
«It directed its mind only to art, subtlety, haughtiness and the multitude of natural things» — el efecto sobre la mente: arte y sutileza en lugar de virtud.
«Whatever evil it was always doing, it covered with cunning by its domination and called it “justice» — el tratado señala el encubrimiento del mal bajo el nombre de justicia.
«When this had occurred the devil drew near to the soul and led it from one vice to another, for he held it captive in its essence (or, for it had imprisoned itself in his essence) and he placed before it joys and pleasure and said to it, “See you are now dominant, mighty, high and noble» — el Diablo vuelve a hablar y adula al Alma con su propio dominio.
«The soul did as the devil suggested and did not know thas he was the devil, but thought that it was guided by its own subtlety and reason and that it acted well and properly» — el punto del tratado: el Alma no reconoce al Diablo y atribuye a su razón lo que hace. La grafía *thas* es del OCR.
«Now when it ran in this condition it was met by our Lord Jesus Christ, with God’s love and wrath, who came into this world to bring to nothing the work of the devil, to bring judgement over all godless acts» — Cristo entra en la alegoría con amor e ira a la vez.
«It was so terrified at this that the greatest anguish awoke in it, because the Judgement of God was revealed in it» — el octavo tratado sitúa el juicio como algo que se revela dentro del Alma, no ante ella.
«When this occurred the Lord Jesus Christ spoke with His gracious voice into the soul, “Repent, and leave vanity and you will come to my grace» — Cristo habla al Alma dentro de la alegoría y le pone una condición sencilla.
«The soul approached God in its spectre-like image, in its dirtied cloak of vanity, and prayed to Him for grace [that] God might forgive its sin» — el Alma se acerca con el manto sucio y la imagen espectral que arrastra.
«But the evil characteristics of the serpent formed in the astral spirit did not wish to allow the soul’s will [to remain] before God, but led its own lust and desire into it since it did not wish to die to its lust or leave the world because these were from the world» — el tratado localiza el estorbo en las características de la serpiente formadas en el espíritu astral.
«When the devil saw that the soul prayed to God and wished to repent, he went to the soul and led the inclination toward earthly characteristics into its prayer and confused the good intentions that pressed toward God so that they might not come to God, and drew them back to earthly things» — el Diablo no impide la oración: la desvía metiéndole inclinaciones terrenas.
«The soul’s will groaned for God but the outgoing senses that were to press into God were scattered and were not able to reach the power of God» — el tratado distingue la voluntad del Alma, que gime hacia Dios, de los sentidos que se dispersan.
«This frightened the poor soul still more in that it could not bring its desire to God, [so it] began to pray more strongly» — el fracaso de la oración aumenta la oración, y con ella la angustia.
«But the devil in his desire grasped the mercurially ignited fire-wheel of life and awakened the evil characteristics so that false inclinations rose up and went in where they had earlier found happiness» — el Diablo obra sobre la rueda de fuego encendida mercurialmente.
«Of this Christ said: The devil tears the word from their hearts lest they believe and be saved» — el tratado apoya la escena en Lucas 8:12.
«By the providence of God an enlightened and reborn soul met this poor, distressed soul, and said to it, “What is the matter, distressed soul? Why are you so restless and in such turmoil» — entra el segundo interlocutor del octavo tratado: el Alma iluminada, que pregunta antes de instruir.
«and it was just as before, caught in the devil’s net and could not come to rest» — el estado del Alma no iluminada se consigna sin progreso, después de todo el esfuerzo.
«On another occasion the enlightened soul came again to it, and found it in such anguish and said to it: “What are you doing? Do you want to burst yourself in your anguish? Why torment yourself with your own abilities and will? You are but a worm and through this your torment only is greater. Yes, if you might sink to the depth of the sea, or might fly to the dawn and soar beyond the stars, you could not be free of it. The more you are anxious, the greater and more painful will be your nature, and you will not come to rest. Your ability is completely gone, even as a dry twig cannot gain sap and sprout by its own ability so that it might enjoy itself again among the trees, likewise you cannot reach God by your own abilities; you cannot change yourself into your first angelic form, for you are dry and dead to God as a twig without life or sap. You are only an anxious and dry hunger. Your characteristics are like heat and cold that always oppose one another and never are united» — el Alma iluminada niega toda salida por capacidad propia, con la figura de la rama seca.
«The poor soul said, “What shall I do that I may sprout forth again and come to my first life which I had in peace before I became an image» — la pregunta del Alma no iluminada, que pide una acción.
«The enlightened soul said: “You shall do nothing but leave your own will’s possessiveness. Then your evil characteristics will weaken and begin to die, and you will sink your own will back into the One out of which you came in the beginning. You now lie captive in the creature. When your will forsakes this, the creatures that presently keep you from coming to God with their evil inclination will die in you» — la respuesta invierte la pregunta: no hacer nada salvo dejar la posesividad de la voluntad propia.
«If you do this God will send you His highest love that He revealed to the humanity in Jesus Christ. This will give sap and life to you again, so that you can sprout forth again and rejoice again with the living things of God. You will also receive again the image of God and be free of this serpent image. Then you will join our angelic hosts and become my brother» — el Alma iluminada promete savia, imagen restaurada y hermandad angélica.
«The enlightened soul said: “Now you look to worldly honour and goods» — el Alma iluminada nombra lo que el Alma no iluminada mira todavía.
«These characteristics live in your own life and by this you are separated from God» — la separación de Dios se explica por las características que viven en la propia vida.
«Now Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, but in heaven» — el Alma iluminada apoya su instrucción en el lugar del reino.
«You must despair of all of your own capabilities and possibilities for by your own power you cannot reach» — primera condición de la serie: desesperar de las propias capacidades. La frase se corta en el cambio de plana.
«You must clearly decide to give yourself up completely to the mercy of God» — segunda condición: la entrega a la misericordia como decisión.
«You must cast all unrighteousness that might hinder you out of your way» — tercera condición, formulada como remoción de estorbos.
«forgive your own external enemies and endeavour to lead them to your love so that no creature anywhere exists that might seize and hold your will, but that [your will] will be pure of every creature» — el perdón de los enemigos se pide para que ninguna criatura retenga la voluntad.
«Moreover, so that this might take place, you must eagerly leave your temporal honour and goods for Christ’s sake, and not take to yourself*® an earthly thing to love it but consider yourself in your position and worldly honour and goods only to be the servant of God and of your fellow Christians, a householder of God in your office» — la renuncia se traduce en un cambio de título: administrador de Dios en el propio oficio.
«Not that you can or wish to do anything, but you are to consider the suffering and resurrection of Christ and see it as your own» — el Alma iluminada retira toda obra y deja solo la consideración de la pasión como propia.
«You are to resolve to enter this hour into Christ’s passion and never more turn from it, but to give your will in all beginnings and acts to God so that He might work and do within you whatever He will» — la resolución se pide con hora fijada y sin retorno.
«If your will and resolution are thus prepared it has broken through your creatures and stands purely before God, wrapped in the merits of Christ. Now it can come before the Father with the prodigal son, fall down before His face, pour out its repentance before Him, give all its strength to this work, and not with empty words confess its sin, disobedience and its turning from God, but [repent] with all its might» — el efecto de la resolución: la voluntad rompe sus criaturas y comparece con el hijo pródigo.
«This is nothing more than a firm resolution, however, for the soul can do nothing by itself» — el Alma iluminada acota de inmediato lo que acaba de pedir: el alma no puede nada por sí.
«In this you must not harm yourself, but remain firm, without deviation» — la instrucción incluye no hacerse daño, que en un tratado de mortificación es un límite explícito.
«Now, as the poor soul began this way and custom and gained such earnestness, it believed that it would quickly triumph. But the heavenly gates were closed to its powers and abilities just as if it had been held back by God; and it did not gain a glimpse of grace» — el tratado consigna que la seriedad no fue premiada: las puertas se cerraron.
«You must not desire or wish for anything from God, but only to give yourself to His judgement so that He may kill your evil possessiveness» — el Alma iluminada retira incluso el deseo de recibir algo.
«And as it stood in such groans and tears it was drawn to the abyss of horror as if it stood before hell’s gates and was to perish immediately. It was as if it went without any sense and was now completely forsaken, had forgotten all its acts and beings, and were to give itself wholly to death and no longer be a creature. Thus, it gave itself to death and wished for nothing else than to die and enter into the death of its Redeemer Jesus Christ, who had suffered such great torment for it, and even died for it. However in such concern it began to sigh inwardly and to cry to the mercy of God» — el descenso del Alma hasta las puertas del infierno, y el suspiro que empieza justo ahí.
«Then the slanderer came to it and wanted to destroy this way for it and lead it into doubt and said to it: “It is not from God. It was only your idea» — el octavo tratado pone en boca del calumniador la objeción que reduce la experiencia a idea propia.
«It did not know how this happened, or if it was really true that it had tasted of the divine light of grace; yet it could not stop from [thinking] this» — el tratado consigna la incertidumbre del Alma sin resolverla.
«In this way the reason of its will was broken and the evil inherited inclinations were more and more killed and this caused much pain to the nature of the body making it weak and sick, yet [this was] not a natural illness but a melancholy of the earthly nature of the body» — el tratado distingue esa debilidad de una enfermedad natural y la llama melancolía, con lo que anuncia el noveno tratado.
«But from the world it received scorn and reproach externally and great temptations internally so that it began to doubt whether its ground was from God and whether it really had gained the grace of God» — el escarnio externo y la duda interna se consignan juntos como la tribulación propia de esta etapa.
«The enlightened soul said, “You are now most pleasing to me. Our dear Lord Christ goes with you on your pilgrim’s path on earth, as He did when He was in this world. He too was continually reviled and He had nothing of His own. Now you bear His mark. Do not wonder at this for it must be so if you are to be protected and purified» — el Alma iluminada lee la señal de la aflicción como marca de Cristo, no como abandono.
«If he loses he will stand in shame and then must altogether leave you» — la promesa se formula condicionada a la derrota del adversario, no anticipada.
«Be patient, therefore, and wait on the Lord» — cierre de la instrucción del Alma iluminada.
«That 1s, a guide in time of temptation for a heart continually attacked by melancholy; on the natural origin and cause of melancholy; how the temptation occurs. Including his words of consolation, [which are| very useful for hearts and souls under attack» — portadilla del noveno tratado, Tratado de consuelo sobre los cuatro humores, escrito por encargo en marzo de 1624 para el corazón atacado por la melancolía. La grafía *1s* es del OCR.
«The poor soul, however, entered with Adam into a strange lodging, namely into the spirit of this world. There the beautiful creature is covered over and held in a dark prison» — el noveno tratado retoma la caída como entrada del alma en un alojamiento ajeno.
«The good always wishes to flee from the evil as is to be seen in metal whose ¢inctur is good but [the whole in which it is to be found] is completely earthly, evil and angry» — el ejemplo metalúrgico con que el tratado ilustra la separación del bien respecto del mal; la grafía de *tinctur* es del OCR.
«Secondly, [the] sanguine [humour] is the air, subtle, friendly, joyous, yet not of great courage, changeable, easily turned from one thing to another; [it] naturally receives the characteristic and subtlety of the stars into its own essence, is chaste and pure and brings great secrecy in its knowledge» — descripción del humor sanguíneo, ligado al aire y a la característica de los astros.
«Thirdly, [the] phlegmatic [humour] is according to the nature and characteristic of water, fleshly, gross and soft, of feminine will; [it] easily accepts, but holds fast what it receives» — descripción del humor flemático, ligado al agua.
«However, in the darkness, it is always in fear and terror before God’s judgement» — el rasgo que el tratado adjudica a la melancolía: temor permanente ante el juicio.
«If the sun suddenly shines on it, it is still melancholy in itself although it receives from the sun’s brightness some revival» — el tratado acota el alivio: la melancolía sigue siéndolo aunque reciba luz.
«one thing dwells in the other, the soul in the humours and they in the soul, but one thing does not grasp the other in essence» — el principio de habitación sin posesión, aplicado ahora a alma y humores.
«However, there cannot be any fire unless the root for fire is also present as the centrum or form for nature that the soul also has in itself and burns out of the forms for nature as out of the dark world» — el tratado liga la raíz del fuego con las formas de la naturaleza que el alma lleva dentro.
«However, since our soul stands thus turned from the mother body in the spirit of the great world, in the humours, it eats immediately from the mother body (indeed in the mother) from the spirit of this world» — el noveno tratado explica cómo el alma toma el humor ya desde el cuerpo materno; el paréntesis es lectura alternativa de la edición.
«Now we understand why there is such a difference between men in willing and acting» — Boehme adjudica a los humores la diferencia entre los hombres en querer y obrar.
«Concerning this Christ said that He wishes to give us such water to drink» — el tratado remite al agua de Juan 4 como lo que corrige esa condición.
«The humours must not rule in the soul but only stand in the being of flesh and direct the fleshly dominion as regards the external body» — el límite que el tratado pone al humor: gobierna el cuerpo, no el alma.
«He always eagerly wishes to taste more of God’s sweetness but he is hindered and covered by the humour so that a continual strife remains in him» — el estorbo del humor se consigna como contienda permanente, no como falta moral.
«The soul strives against the humour since they [soul and humour] are now in one bond» — alma y humor quedan atados en un solo vínculo, y de ahí la lucha.
«The soul is so faithful to God’s love, however, which alone comes into its being for help, and often (if it eats of God’s love-being) brings a triumph and divine taste into the humour from which it becomes trembling and highly joyous» — el tratado describe el gozo corporal que sigue cuando el alma come del ser de amor.
«It awakens the whole body as if Paradise were at hand but it does not always have stability» — y acota de inmediato que ese estado no es estable.
«If the soul makes an image in the humour and eats from it, and turns itself from God’s word and will, it acts according to the humour’s characteristic» — el tratado explica la recaída como cambio de alimento del alma.
«God’s Spirit does not go into the fire’s burning or [into] the life of abomination» — el límite del Espíritu dentro del esquema de los dos principios.
«However, in itself it is mighty in its own thought, without counsel, a sharp reason in the humour according to the external spirit» — descripción del humor colérico como razón aguda sin consejo.
«He is also proud and envious; so is the humour» — el tratado adjudica el mismo rasgo al hombre y a su humor, sin separar causa de efecto.
«The man [in this humour] leads a weak, common with each man, pious, simple life, but regularly the devil raises his enemies’ anger against him» — descripción del hombre flemático y de la enemistad que, según el tratado, el diablo le suscita.
«He must suffer much, but goes through it lightly as the air goes through something» — la comparación con el aire, que corresponde al humor sanguíneo.
«The devil can lead all vices (which he knows in hell) into this humour, if the constellation does not hinder it and the soul permits it» — el tratado pone dos condiciones al poder del diablo sobre el humor: la constelación y el permiso del alma.
«He eagerly leads it astray so that it has many thoughts with which it is not able to make images according to God’s kingdom» — la táctica descrita es la multiplicación de pensamientos, no la tentación directa.
«He throws unusual things before it, to use up its time» — el tratado nombra el gasto de tiempo como método del adversario.
«The humour’s room stands open; it can grasp much if depression does not hinder it» — el noveno tratado describe la cámara del humor melancólico como abierta y a la vez estorbada.
«In no humour is the devil’s will more evident (if the soul in God’s light [love] is ignited) than in the melancholy» — el tratado señala en la melancolía la mayor visibilidad de la voluntad del adversario, y acota la condición entre paréntesis.
«He dare neither possess nor stir it spiritually» — el límite del diablo respecto del alma: no puede poseerla ni moverla espiritualmente.
«In the humour, however, he can do it, for it is near to his desire because this desire makes darkness» — lo que sí puede: obrar en el humor, porque el humor produce oscuridad.
«If it stands before the devil and wills not what he wills, then he does not have so much might [as] to touch it in the external sinful body» — el tratado condiciona todo el poder del adversario a la voluntad del alma.
«He dare not trip it; it must do it itself» — la fórmula que el noveno tratado repite: el tropiezo lo pone el alma.
«But no, by His entrance into death Christ unlocked the gates for all souls in the dark chamber of death and in hell» — el tratado responde a la objeción de la condenación con la apertura de las puertas por Cristo.
«He suggests that he might not reach God’s grace, is only to despair, kill, drown, hang himself or murder someone else» — el tratado nombra por su nombre lo que el diablo sugiere al melancólico, incluido el suicidio.
«Prescription against the Black Devil» — encabezado de la sección práctica del noveno tratado, escrita como receta.
«If he [a man] sees the poor soul, that it is Labout] to despair, let him give to it (if it comes) this prescription to take» — la receta se dirige a un tercero que acompaña al desesperado, no al enfermo mismo. La grafía *Labout* es del OCR.
«The devil is a proud, arrogant spirit. One can do him no more harm, so that he turns away sooner, than to take fresh courage against him, [become] completely bold and high-minded, not» — el método que propone el tratado es el ánimo alto contra la arrogancia del adversario; la frase se corta en el cambio de plana.
«The devil always eagerly casts the melancholy man’s sin before him» — la táctica descrita: recordarle el pecado al melancólico.
«My Lord Jesus Christ has worked in me the righteousness, which is valid before God» — la respuesta que el tratado pone en boca del alma frente a la acusación.
«Christ said (John 10:28-29): My sheep are in my hands, and no one can tear them away from me» — el apoyo escriturario con que se cierra esa respuesta.
«Do not let the thoughts dispute with him, but do not be afraid of him» — la receta del noveno tratado prohíbe discutir con el adversario y a la vez prohíbe temerle.
«If he does not come with the terror of fear, he is not there» — el tratado da una señal para reconocer si el adversario está presente.
«The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, makes us pure from all our sins» — el versículo que la receta manda repetir, con su referencia dentro del texto.
«It often thinks, if the melancholy humour is attached to the anger of the constellation, that the devil is there but he is not» — el tratado adjudica a la conjunción del humor con la constelación lo que el alma toma por presencia del diablo.
«God has locked out none except those who do not themselves wish [to enter]» — la fórmula con que el tratado cierra la posibilidad de la exclusión.
«The doors of grace stand open to all» — el enunciado más escueto de la misma idea.
«Christ has broken the strong castle (which was locked in God’s wrath) in his soul» — el castillo roto está en el alma del propio hombre, no en un lugar aparte.
«If it covers it, it stands engraved in the greatest sinner in the world, for Isaiah says in the spirit of Christ: Even if a mother forgets her child (which happens with great pain) yet His love and grace is not to be forgotten» — el tratado apoya la promesa en Isaías, poniendo el texto en el espíritu de Cristo.
«He has not forgotten the soul even if its sins are blood-red for He has marked it in His blood and death, not only singly but the tree with its root and branches» — la marca alcanza al árbol entero con su raíz, no a un alma suelta.
«As the sins of one come to all so righteousness comes to all through Christ, says the Apostle» — el tratado cita Romanos 5:18 con la simetría entera.
«God wills that all men be helped as in Psalm 5:5 [it is written:] You are not a God who wishes evil; (Ezekiel 33:11): As true as I live (says the Lord) I do not wish the death of the sinner but that he turn and live» — dos lugares escriturarios encadenados para sostener la voluntad salvífica universal.
«Therefore the soul is not to think, “The weight of my sins is complete; God has forgotten me. I cannot be holy.” No. He has it in His hands marked in the nail prints» — el tratado pone en boca del alma la objeción y la responde con las marcas de los clavos.
«Temptation does not all come from the devil (especially in melancholy men» — distinción central del noveno tratado: no toda tentación es diabólica, y menos en el melancólico.
«In truth, however, this is nothing other than a fantasy from the constellation in the humour by which the soul inwardly torments itself» — el tratado nombra fantasía del humor y de la constelación lo que el alma toma por condena.
«If the devil sees this, he shoots his zmagination into it [and] torments the poor soul yet more. However, he has no governance» — el diablo aprovecha la fantasía pero, según el tratado, no gobierna. La grafía es del OCR.
«Therefore no one tempted by melancholy is to think to himself, when this tests him through the humour, that it is from God’s gracelessness and wrath. It is a fantasy of the humour and constellation» — la instrucción práctica: no leer la melancolía como ira de Dios.
«As long as there is a spark in man that desires only God’s grace and wishes eagerly to be holy, God’s door of grace is open» — el criterio que el tratado deja al melancólico para juzgar su propio estado.
«In this the melancholy mind is to know that God does not thus reveal His wrath in this life, for if the godless [man] was similarly punished by God in this life, he would» — el tratado sostiene que la ira de Dios no se manifiesta como castigo en esta vida; la frase se corta en el cambio de plana.
«Isaiah says in the person and Spirit of Christ: He will not break the beaten reed nor put out the glowing wick» — Isaías 42:3 como prenda de que lo débil no será quebrado.
«They do no harm to the soul; [the soul] is in truth better for them, for since it stands in a house of melancholy, it is neither in a house of sin nor in a [house of] pride and pleasure of the world. God holds it by this in reins away from the world’s sinful pleasure» — el tratado llega a leer la melancolía como freno que aparta del placer del mundo.
«As long as there is only a spark in the soul that longs for God, God’s Spirit is in the same spark» — el Espíritu se localiza en la propia chispa del deseo.
«Ifa man desires God and groans for Him, it does not come from the man» — el deseo mismo se adjudica a Dios y no al hombre. La grafía *Ifa* es del OCR.
«Why should we any longer be small-minded before His grace, [since] He takes us more readily to His grace than we would come to Him» — el noveno tratado repite la fórmula del primero: Dios acoge antes de que uno llegue.
«Look how He acted with the prodigal son who wasted his father’s inheritance with the devil’s fatted pigs and became a naked stinking swineherd» — el tratado vuelve a la parábola con la misma figura del porquerizo.
«When He looked on him, and [saw] that he had turned again to Him, He fell on his neck and kissed him saying: This is my dear son whom I have lost [and] who is come again» — la escena del reencuentro, puesta como prenda del trato que espera al melancólico.
«Christ further teaches that there is more joy in heaven for the angels of God over one sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine righteous who do not need to repent» — el argumento se apoya en la desproporción del gozo por el que vuelve.
«It groans and complains and thinks [that] God does not wish [to have] it, if it cannot feel anything» — el tratado nombra el defecto de lectura del melancólico: tomar la falta de sentimiento por rechazo.
«I lay in great strife until I received my noble crown» — Boehme habla en primera persona de su propia lucha, cosa poco frecuente en el volumen.
«Then I first learned to know how God does not dwell in the external fleshly heart, but in the soul’s centrum, in itself» — el resultado que declara de esa lucha: Dios no habita el corazón carnal sino el *centrum* del alma.
«The soul is to stand in its desire even if the external reason speaks a pure “No” out of the dark humour» — la instrucción práctica: sostener el deseo contra la negativa que dicta el humor.
«It is a great sin for the mind to press such a fantasy into the heart, for the soul (it is a noble creature out of God’s nature) is brought into dread in this» — el tratado califica de pecado grave que la mente meta la fantasía en el corazón.
«You are to work, not to stand idle» — la receta contra la melancolía incluye trabajo, no solo oración.
«He battles correctly with God, as Jacob of old [battled] the whole night [Genesis 33:24-30], who sees or feels nothing, but trusts on the promised word» — el modelo del combate a ciegas es Jacob, que no ve ni siente y sostiene la palabra.
«Thus, the soul sets itself in peace, for it sees its ground and all fear and melancholy disappear from it» — el tratado promete la desaparición del miedo cuando el alma ve su propio fondo.
«God indeed keeps no one from it, but it must be found in the fear of God with continual devotion and prayer» — la condición se pone del lado del temor de Dios y de la oración continua, no del mérito.
«A melancholy mind is to defend itself with great earnestness from drunkenness so that the soul might not be too greatly weighted down with earthly power» — la advertencia concreta del tratado al melancólico: guardarse de la embriaguez.
«Then the soul makes images in it, it eats the earthly source, it ignites its fire with it, and rejoices somewhat in it» — el tratado describe qué hace el alma con el poder terrenal que la embriaguez le da.
«Thus God’s wrath is set against it as if it wished it to be cast into the root, into the centrum, into the darkness» — el efecto se describe con un *como si*, que deja la ira dentro del propio proceso.
«If anything now happens that the anger’s fire moves it too greatly the wheel of nature moves in sound, as one then sees that the body trembles» — el noveno tratado describe el temblor corporal como efecto de la rueda de la naturaleza movida por el fuego de la ira.
«Because the humour’s chamber is so waste, without being, the wheel cannot easily be held again and the thoughts are also not able to be grasped, but everything proceeds in a completely fiery and angry [way], as is to be seen among the mad so that the mind is not able to grasp the thoughts» — la descripción de la locura en el tratado: la cámara vacía no deja retener los pensamientos.
«The devil also eagerly leads his smagination in [to it] so that often great evil occurs» — el adversario aprovecha ese estado; la grafía de *imagination* es del OCR.
«One is not to damn any soul in this time, for the mark of the cross still stands in it with the open doors of grace» — en medio de la descripción de la locura, el tratado prohíbe condenar a nadie en esta vida.
«The melancholy chamber is to protect itself from covetousness and must leave it in earnest, for it is as harmful to it as wrath» — la avaricia se declara tan dañina como la ira para el melancólico.
«When the desire draws the earthly being into the desolate chamber and fills it with such dark materia, vain anger and God’s wrath stick fast in it with falsehood and unrighteousness and evil being for the earth’s characteristic that makes the humour, since, without it, it is an earthly desire, completely and fully earth» — el tratado explica cómo la avaricia llena de materia oscura la cámara desolada.
«If the poor soul now finds itself in God, it begins to doubt and be dejected, for it sees nothing in itself but vain evil, earthiness, falsehood and injustice by which it only ignites God’s wrath» — la duda del alma se describe como efecto de mirarse a sí misma, no de mirar a Dios.
«You can so direct your life after this and in this noble humour you will not make yourself a hypocrite» — la instrucción para el humor sanguíneo, que el tratado llama noble.
«If you walk in the fear of God, and help yourself properly in it, you can indeed truly find the Mysterium Magnum in yourself, but not by yourself» — el tratado promete hallar el *Mysterium Magnum* dentro de uno y niega que se halle por uno mismo.
«Truth and righteousness would be a noble medicine in you, for otherwise you will be stuck full of lies and heed little what you give out and take in» — verdad y justicia se declaran medicina, en un tratado que se presenta como receta.
«Water has a bright hue in itself and gives a counter appearance but is nevertheless a false mirror» — la imagen del espejo falso, aplicada al humor flemático.
«O how good sweet words, like to sweet water, are without payment but mixed full of bitter gall» — el tratado advierte sobre las palabras dulces que van mezcladas de hiel.
«You can truly enter into proper repentance and ask God for the dominion of His Holy Spirit so that the evil effects of the stars are broken and held in rein so that the poor soul might not grasp them and thus become a fool» — el arrepentimiento se presenta como lo que rompe los efectos malos de los astros.
«Always watch and pray and be continually in the fear of God so that all evil from the constellation will be turned away» — la instrucción se cierra con vigilar y orar contra la constelación.
«He who lives in the constellation lives like all animals. If one thinks in his heart on the fear of God, the soul becomes a lord over the external life and compels that to obedience» — el tratado distingue vivir bajo la constelación de gobernarla desde el alma.
«If it does not happen the humour becomes the master and guide of the soul» — la alternativa: el humor pasa a ser dueño del alma.
«Therefore a man is to be a man and not an animal» — la conclusión práctica del noveno tratado, dicha en la forma más breve.
«There is no humour so noble, [so] that if a man desires simply to live according to its stars [influence], that the devil [would not] have his pleasure in it» — el tratado niega que ningún humor sea seguro por sí mismo.
«Therefore Saint Peter’s writing says correctly (I Peter 5:8): Be temperate and watch for your adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion and seeks whom he can swallow» — el apoyo escriturario con que se cierra la advertencia.
«Stand against him in the fear of God and never be at ease before him» — última instrucción de la serie sobre los humores.
Sobre la obra
198 entradas — lo que el aparato y la investigación dicen de ella«THE CLASSICS OF WESTERN SPIRITUALITY A Library of the Great Spiritual Masters» — la portadilla de la serie declara el marco editorial en que Paulist Press coloca el volumen: una biblioteca de maestros espirituales, con junta editorial internacional presidida por Richard J. Payne como editor en jefe.
«Of his cover painting he says, “Boehme perceived God as having two faces, the face of love and the face of darkness» — la nota de arte de cubierta recoge lo que el pintor de la portada dice de su propio cuadro; es lectura del pintor sobre Boehme, no voz de la obra.
«This is the fire of God’s love and the fire of his wrath . . . one fire divided into two principles. God’s interior life manifests itself in this dynamic process, in the battle between contrary principles. Only through these contraries, this fiery movement, is love made manifest» — el mismo pintor resume así la doctrina que dice haber pintado: un solo fuego dividido en dos principios, y el amor manifestándose únicamente por el combate de los contrarios. Los puntos suspensivos espaciados son del impreso.
«The Trinity is not static, but living and animated» — cierre de la nota de cubierta: quien pintó la portada lee la Trinidad boehmiana como proceso y no como estado.
«PETER ERB was born in 1943 in Tavistock, Ontario, Canada. He is presently Assistant Professor of English and Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Erb’s specialization is in late medieval spirituality» — la nota biográfica del volumen sitúa al traductor e introductor en la espiritualidad bajomedieval, no en la germanística ni en la historia de la alquimia.
«WINFRIED ZELLER, one of the most distinguished authorities on Protestant Spirituality alive today, was born in Berlin in 1911» — la nota biográfica presenta así al firmante del prefacio; la grafía del apellido y el nombre se toman de aquí y de la ficha de catálogo, porque la portada sale corrompida por el OCR.
«He serves in an editorial capacity with Will-Erich Peuckert on the edition of The Complete Writings of the Lutheran Mystical Spiritualist Valentine Weigel» — la misma nota liga a Zeller con la edición de Weigel dirigida por Peuckert, que es también el editor de las obras completas de Boehme que las notas de Erb citan.
«During the night of August 2, 1759 in Freudenberg, West Germany, a nineteen-year-old youth left his father’s home and country since he had been forbidden to read Boehme’s The Way to Christ» — Zeller abre el prefacio con el caso de Johann Christian Stahlschmidt: la prohibición de leer el libro como motivo de fuga.
«He fled to Amsterdam “because Boehme’s book was printed there,” but, finding no work, he went to sea» — Zeller cita la razón que el propio Stahlschmidt da de su destino: Ámsterdam era donde se imprimía el libro.
«It is astonishing how great an influence Boehme’s The Way to Christ had on the faith and life of the young» — Zeller mide la fuerza del libro por la biografía de un lector, no por su recepción académica.
«Numerous men in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, by themselves or in small groups, found in the thought of the quiet Gorlitz shoemaker and in his writings a depth of piety which they often missed in the orthodox proclamation of the church of that day» — Zeller explica la difusión de Boehme por un déficit percibido: la predicación ortodoxa de la época no daba esa hondura.
«German Protestantism was in its foundations “mystical Boehmism and occasionally Paracelsian» — Zeller adjudica a Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling la fórmula que describe la espiritualidad de los círculos laicos de los siglos XVII y XVIII; la mención de Paracelso viene dentro de la fórmula ajena, no de Zeller.
«Historically, Boehme’s significance lies in the fact that his profound thought is bound to a living piety in which mystical and Reformation influences are united in an harmonious whole» — para Zeller lo que hace histórica a la obra no es la especulación sino su amarre a una piedad practicable donde mística y Reforma no se estorban.
«Thus, for example, the painter Philipp Otto Runge was introduced to Boehme by the poet Ludwig Tieck» — Zeller traza la vía por la que Boehme llega al romanticismo alemán: de poeta a pintor, no por cátedra.
«We discover,” he once wrote, “that an unrelenting strength, a dreadful eternity and a sweet, eternal and infinite love arise forcibly against one another in vehement strife, as hard and soft, rock and water; everywhere we see these two, in the smallest as in the greatest» — Zeller cita a Runge leyendo a Boehme: dos potencias en pugna que se hallan en toda escala de lo creado.
«With Boehme, Runge sees in the basic colours blue, red and yellow» — Zeller consigna la traslación que Runge hace de la doctrina a la teoría del color.
«the “whole symbol of the Trinity” which painting characteristically brings to view and re-presents in art» — remate de la misma idea: para Runge, según Zeller, los tres colores básicos son el símbolo entero de la Trinidad, y la pintura lo vuelve a presentar.
«Our age, which suffers in a purely external, material mode of thought, is at the same time filled with a deep longing for authentic interiority» — Zeller justifica la reedición por un diagnóstico de su presente, escrito desde Marburgo en 1978.
«The modern orientation to mystical reflection on the self arises in no way from an introverted egoism» — Zeller sale al paso de la objeción previsible: la vuelta contemporánea a la reflexión mística no la explica el egoísmo introvertido.
«As his book The Way to Christ indicates, Christian piety begins with repentance, that is, with self-understanding in which man comes to know the unfathomable self-seeking at the base of his being» — Zeller resume el arranque del libro: la piedad empieza por el arrepentimiento, y el arrepentimiento por reconocer un afán de sí insondable.
«Jacob Boehme, however, unites to this concept another spiritual tradition, namely Christian mysticism» — Zeller sitúa a Boehme en el cruce de la ecuanimidad estoica que venía discutiendo y la mística cristiana; la unión de las dos es lo que, según él, define su posición.
«is not in any way understood as the ability of man to remain passionless under all circumstances» — Zeller acota el término alemán *Gelassenheit*, que esta traducción rinde como resignación: no es impasibilidad ante todo lo que ocurra.
«“Resignation” means, in the Christian sense, to leave one’s own will and to leave oneself to God’s will alone» — la definición positiva que Zeller da del mismo término: dejar la voluntad propia y dejarse a la voluntad de Dios.
«The Lutheran theologian Heinrich Bornkamm correctly pointed out that Jacob Boehme is to be described as a voluntaristic mystic» — Zeller hace suya la caracterización que adjudica al teólogo luterano Heinrich Bornkamm; el adjetivo es de Bornkamm, la adhesión es de Zeller.
«the will of man is thus to be conformed —“of the same form” (gleichformig)— with the will of God» — Zeller conserva el término alemán entre paréntesis para fijar el sentido de conformidad: misma forma, no mera obediencia. La grafía sin diéresis es la del impreso.
«The primary consideration of the mystic and Boehme is thus not for a philosophic concept of God which defines God’s being, but for a genuine spiritual relationship» — Zeller declara dónde no está el interés de Boehme: no en definir el ser de Dios, sino en la relación que determina la voluntad del hombre.
«Jacob Boehme turns himself to those who are “in earnest regarding holiness.” For him religion is simply concerned with the salvation of man» — Zeller recorta el destinatario de la obra con una fórmula tomada del propio Boehme, la misma que encabeza el quinto tratado.
«Only the new-born man is able to direct the lost world back to God as the source of salvation» — según Zeller, la doctrina del nuevo nacimiento no queda en asunto privado: solo el nacido de nuevo puede reorientar al mundo.
«Some years before Boehme, Johann Arndt in his four books on True Christianity had shown that the Bible describes holiness, not learning, as the ideal desired by God for man» — Zeller antepone a Johann Arndt como precedente inmediato: la santidad, y no el saber, como ideal escriturario.
«Boehme’s doctrine of the reborn new man reminds Christians, in an age in which Christendom is broken externally by doctrinal antagonisms and confessional divisions, of the true destiny desired by God for man» — Zeller adjudica a la doctrina un uso ecuménico frente a la división confesional de su propio siglo.
«All unrest in the world is caused by the inner anxiety of man» — Zeller enuncia como tesis de Boehme la derivación de todo desasosiego externo desde la angustia interior.
«Boehme agrees with Augustine that only the man who has found peace of heart in God is able to bring the world to peace» — Zeller alinea a Boehme con Agustín en la condición del pacificador: primero la paz del corazón.
«Without the consolation of the Holy Scriptures man would be lost» — Zeller enlaza el noveno tratado, sobre la melancolía, con la función consoladora de la Escritura.
«Only he who has found in religion, to quote Schleiermacher, “the sense and taste of the infinite” will bring proper understanding to Boehme’s profound dialogue “on the supersensual Life” and his explications “on divine contemplation» — Zeller pone una condición de lectura para los tratados sexto y séptimo, y la formula con palabras de Schleiermacher.
«Moreover, here Boehme’s language achieves a marvelous simpleness, born as it is out of the silent simplicity of the great mystic» — Zeller recomienda empezar por el diálogo entre el maestro y el discípulo porque ahí la lengua de Boehme se simplifica.
«In spite of the narrowness of his environment, Jacob Boehme was a man of universal spirit» — remate del prefacio, firmado *Professor Doctor Winfried Zeller* en Marburgo; la contracubierta reproduce esta misma frase como reclamo.
«Yet, however greatly his profound ideas influenced the history of Western philosophy, his greatest significance lies in the area of spirituality» — Zeller subordina la influencia filosófica de Boehme a su importancia espiritual, que es la que justifica el volumen en esta serie.
«Following the circulation of his first book in manuscript form in 1612, Boehme was attacked by the orthodox churchmen of his city and was forbidden to write» — el prólogo del volumen, sin firma en el cuerpo, data en 1612 la circulación manuscrita del primer libro y la prohibición que le siguió.
«He remained silent for seven years but then once again, at the urging of friends, took up the pen to formulate more fully his complex vision of the nature of good and evil and their one source in the divine abyss» — el prólogo describe siete años de silencio y una reanudación a instancias de amigos, con el bien y el mal derivados de una sola fuente en el abismo divino.
«The treatises in Te Way to Christ were written during the last four years of his life and were collected and published under that title by his followers a number of times over the next century» — el prólogo fecha los tratados en los últimos cuatro años de vida y adjudica a los seguidores, no al autor, la recopilación bajo ese título. La grafía *Te* por *The* es del OCR.
«The book was intended to serve as a meditational guide and as an aid to edification and consolation» — el prólogo declara el uso previsto del libro: guía de meditación, edificación y consuelo, no tratado especulativo.
«Together, the treatises epitomise the breath and depth of Boehme’s thought in its final form» — el prólogo presenta el conjunto como compendio del pensamiento de Boehme en su forma última.
«Published as directives to a wayfarer, travelling from his sinful state to an ecstatic visionary experience with divine wisdom (the Virgin Sophia), The Way to Christ begins with a discussion of the need for repentance and provides examples of daily prayer literature» — el prólogo describe la forma del libro como itinerario de un caminante, del estado pecador a la experiencia visionaria con la Sabiduría divina.
«It then treats the nature of true resignation and the new birth by which the soul is betrothed to the divine Sophia» — el prólogo enuncia el desposorio del alma con Sophia como término del nuevo nacimiento.
«The remaining sections introduce the reader into the mystery of this new life, the modes of its development and the joy of its maturity» — el prólogo cierra el itinerario con las secciones restantes: misterio, modos de desarrollo y gozo de la madurez.
«The work is a cross section of both his theological and literary styles» — Erb abre la introducción presentando el volumen como corte transversal de los estilos de Boehme, no como su obra más sistemática.
«It includes highly speculative pieces, practical devotional guides and edificatory material for thought and action» — Erb declara la mezcla de géneros del conjunto: especulación, devocionario práctico y material de edificación.
«The Way to Christ immediately introduces the reader not only to Boehme, but to the Boehmist tradition, a tradition from which its inaugurator» — Erb advierte que el libro introduce a la vez al autor y a la tradición boehmista, y que separar al uno de la otra no siempre es fácil.
«Boehme taught, it is better to avoid the encounter if one is not in earnest, for, if one is not “wholly and completely” so, one will too lightly set aside the seriousness of the questions and suffer damnation» — Erb consigna una advertencia de Boehme al lector: quien no lee en serio hace mejor en no leer.
«Only the most earnest, the most serious readers will continue on the path outlined in the spiritual guide Te Way to Christ» — Erb saca la consecuencia: el libro selecciona a su lector. La grafía *Te* por *The* es del OCR.
«His disciple and first biographer, Abraham von Franckenberg, tells of visions that came to Boehme (the discovery of wealth in a hidden cave; a prophecy regarding his future greatness by a stranger) during this period, but the accounts are hagiographical and are paralleled by other legends in the area» — Erb consigna los relatos de visiones del primer biógrafo y a la vez los sitúa como hagiografía con paralelos locales; no los niega ni los da por buenos.
«In its indications of Boehme’s deep piety as a young man, the von Franckenberg biography is valuable, but it does not suggest anything of what must have been a busy, difficult and at times frustrating and debilitating life as a young tradesman» — Erb declara qué sirve y qué falta en la biografía de Franckenberg: hay piedad, no hay oficio ni fatiga.
«In 1599, Boehme became a citizen in Gorlitz and entered into business there as a shoemaker. In May of that year he married a local butcher’s daughter, Catharina Kuntzschmann, and shortly thereafter purchased a home» — Erb fecha la ciudadanía, el taller y el matrimonio; la grafía de Görlitz va sin diéresis en toda la capa de texto.
«Later in his life he would leave shoemaking and take up the linen trade» — Erb corrige el retrato fijo del zapatero: el oficio cambió al comercio de lienzos.
«In the city were followers of the Silesian nobleman, the spiritualist Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig (1489-1551)* and other groups who took interest in the work of the alchemist Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, Paracelsus (1493-1541), and the nature mystic Valentine» — Erb describe el ambiente de Görlitz por sus grupos: schwenckfeldianos, lectores de Paracelso y de Valentine Weigel, cuyo apellido cae en la plana siguiente. El asterisco es la llamada a nota del impreso.
«The Paracelsians and the Weigelians in particular would have had an interest in Renaissance Neoplatonism and the Jewish mystical tradition, the Cabbala» — Erb adjudica a esos dos grupos el interés por el neoplatonismo renacentista y por la cábala; la afirmación es de posibilidad (*would have had*), no de constancia documental.
«The influence of all these groups can be noted in Boehme’s work from a very early period, and as his career developed, he made greater use of their language, symbols and thought structures, many of which were reshaped and incorporated into his own system» — Erb sostiene que Boehme rehízo el vocabulario ajeno dentro de su propio sistema, en vez de repetirlo.
«The spark that ignited this environment for Boehme was provided with the arrival of Martin Moller (d. 1606) who came to the city as a Lutheran pastor in 1600» — Erb fija en la llegada del pastor Martin Moller el detonante del despertar de Boehme.
«Protestant Orthodoxy insisted on the acceptance of closely worded doctrinal statements of faith» — Erb define lo que en el volumen se llama ortodoxia protestante: adhesión a formulaciones doctrinales precisas.
«To its enemies it was seen as a dry, intolerant defense of a single denomination’s position, and as lacking any concern with issues relevant to religious life or the practice of Christian virtue and devotion» — Erb atribuye expresamente esta descripción a los adversarios de la ortodoxia, no la suscribe como propia.
«Exactly what comprised the revelation is not known, but von Franckenberg’s explanation of the experience as resulting from the reflection to him of his soul in a pewter dish is suggestive» — Erb declara desconocido el contenido de la primera revelación de 1600 y guarda la explicación del plato de peltre como sugerente por la imagen del ojo que se refleja, no como hecho.
«He began to write, and in 1612 finished his Aurora or Day-Dawning which, he hoped, would open the moral, intellectual and spiritual eyes of all» — Erb data en 1612 la Aurora y le adjudica un propósito de apertura general, no de círculo.
«He had Boehme’s book confiscated and on July 30, 1613, its author was banned from further writing» — Erb fecha la confiscación y la prohibición dictadas a instancias del pastor principal Gregory Richter.
«Boehme ceased writing for a “sabbath of years,” as he described it, but the period merely afforded an opportunity for him to increase his learning and further his speculation» — Erb recoge la fórmula con que el propio Boehme llamó al silencio y señala que el silencio fue de publicación, no de estudio.
«Alchemical images shaped the form of his arguments» — Erb data el peso de la imaginería alquímica en los escritos posteriores a enero de 1619, cuando Boehme rompe el silencio con De tribus principiis.
«Boehme’s probing of the nature of the universe with alchemical tools came to an end and from then to the end of his life he reformulated the main patterns of his thoughts within the more common themes and images of traditional Christianity» — Erb pone en De Signatura rerum, de 1622, el final del uso de herramientas alquímicas, y sitúa después los tratados de este volumen; es el límite que acota cualquier lectura alquímica de The Way to Christ.
«It was during these years, as well, that he wrote the treatises contained in The Way of Christ, the first and second in 1623, the third, eighth and ninth in 1624. Treatises four to six were written in 1622. Only the seventh treatise was written much earlier, in 1620» — la datación que da Erb en la introducción no coincide con la que imprimen las portadillas de los tratados, que fechan el primero en 1622 y el segundo el 9 de febrero de 1623; el desacuerdo se consigna sin arbitrar. La grafía del título como The Way of Christ es la del impreso.
«Thus he wrote, “I do not wish to set down anything strange which I did not myself experience so that I do not find myself as a liar before God» — Erb cita a Boehme para fijar el criterio de sus escritos: no consignar lo no experimentado.
«I do not write of my own accord but by the witness of the Spirit which no one can withstand. It stands in its own strength and does not depend on our desire or will» — Erb cita a Boehme desplazando la autoría al Espíritu: escribe, pero no por decisión propia.
«Reason was not to be rejected as he noted several times in his Way to Christ and elsewhere;'® it was to be directed to its proper end» — Erb acota la fama antirracionalista de Boehme: la razón no se rechaza, se dirige a su fin. Los caracteres tras el punto y coma son la llamada a nota, que el OCR rinde así.
«If you grasp the Spirit of the Creator, you will need no more admonishment, but you will rejoice and be happy in this light, and your soul will laugh and triumph with it» — Erb cierra el punto citando a Boehme: alcanzado el Espíritu, sobra la amonestación.
«The path on which Boehme wished to lead an earnest reader was a path of experience» — Erb caracteriza el itinerario del libro como camino de experiencia y no de doctrina.
«It was a path on which a visitation of the “eternal light” might be granted» — Erb marca el límite: la visita de la luz eterna puede concederse, no se obtiene por método.
«In it his “spirit saw immediately through all and in all creatures, knew God in plant and grass» — Erb cita el relato que Boehme hace de una de esas visitas: conocer a Dios en la planta y en la hierba.
«He must then leave all false images of the world, his total “I,” all creatures he possesses» — Erb resume la exigencia previa a la unión: dejar las imágenes falsas y el yo entero.
«No tongue nor person can describe Her, Boehme insists» — Erb señala que la dificultad de Sophia en el sistema empieza por la declaración de indecibilidad del propio Boehme, seguida de intentos continuos de retratarla.
«She holds the Mysterium Magnum out of which the Spirit reveals the wonders of eternity» — Erb cita a Boehme ligando a Sophia con el *Mysterium Magnum*: ella lo sostiene y el Espíritu revela desde ahí.
«She is a body of the Number Three so that the Spirit stands in an image without which He would not be known» — Erb cita la fórmula de Boehme que hace de Sophia el cuerpo de la Trinidad y la condición para que el Espíritu sea conocido.
«She is the dwelling place of the Spirit of God . . . She is a mirror of the divinity, for each mirror is silent, and bears no likeness except the likeness it receives» — Erb cita a Boehme definiendo a Sophia por la figura del espejo: no aporta semejanza propia, devuelve la que recibe. Los puntos suspensivos espaciados marcan el corte que hace Erb.
«Thus the Virgin wisdom is a mirror of divinity in which the Spirit of God beholds itself . . . and in Her the Spirit of God saw all the forms of creatures» — la continuación de la misma cita en Erb: el Espíritu se mira en Sophia y ve en ella todas las formas de las criaturas.
«She is the seeing as Holy Spirit, the mirror as Son and the eye as Father» — Erb reparte la figura entre las tres personas: ver, espejo y ojo.
«In Her Adam reflected the Trinity in Paradise, but he fell asleep. He slept as one and woke as two. He slept to eternal being and woke to the elemental existence in which he came to know evil and good» — Erb expone la caída como sueño: Adán se duerme uno y despierta dos, y con ello pasa del ser eterno a la existencia elemental.
«The way to Christ is the way back to Paradise and union with the Virgin Sophia» — Erb da la clave del título: el camino es de regreso, no de ascenso.
«Despite the alchemical images in much of Boehme’s work, his first treatises in The Way to Christ are best understood in the context of Lutheran theology rather than aside from it» — Erb acota expresamente el marco de lectura de estos tratados y lo aparta de la clave alquímica.
«Luther himself was opposed to speculative mysticism yet his thought provided a source for the many Lutheran mystics in the 17th century» — Erb consigna la paradoja de la que parte su lectura: la oposición de Lutero a la mística especulativa no impidió que su pensamiento alimentara a los místicos luteranos.
«Many labor and dream many things regarding mystical theology. They are ignorant, knowing not of what they speak or what they affirm» — Erb cita al propio Lutero advirtiendo, temprano en su carrera, contra la teología mística.
«Mysticism he understood with Bernard of Clairvaux as “the experience of God» — Erb precisa que Lutero tomaba la definición de Bernardo de Claraval, pero la aplicaba a todo creyente y no a almas escogidas.
«For Luther, mystical union defined not the end of the search for Christian perfection, but rather the beginning, the incorporation of every believer into the body of Christ» — Erb invierte el lugar de la unión mística en Lutero: principio, no meta.
«The language of mystical theology was for them reduced to the needs of moral theology, although among certain theologians including Boehme, a possibility for mystical experience in an ever-present faith union was left open» — Erb describe qué hicieron los luteranos posteriores con el vocabulario místico, y dónde queda Boehme dentro de ese movimiento.
«Moreover faith is that light above our every achievement. Nothing other than the light of faith can lift us to it because it itself is most high. It pours forth over us; by it we are raised up. From this it is able to be described as closed and incomprehensible to us although it comprehends us» — Erb cita en bloque a Lutero sobre la fe como luz que comprende al creyente sin ser comprendida por él; lo llama la nota clave de esa teología.
«Every possibility of gaining access to the divine on one’s own merit is closed. God works all in man» — Erb resume la consecuencia luterana: cerrado el mérito propio, todo lo obra Dios en el hombre.
«It clings to the experiential knowledge of the promise that although a sinner, man is justified —simul justus et peccator» — Erb conserva la fórmula latina de Lutero dentro de su exposición, sin traducirla.
«This reshaping is best seen in his use of the word exstasis (ecstasy). Luther was influenced in his use of this term by Augustine» — Erb rastrea el término hasta Agustín, en quien tenía sentido positivo y negativo a la vez.
«Exstasis is in the first place the sense of faith which literally exceeds the sense in which the unfaithful remain. In the second place it is a rapture of the mind into the clear cognition of faith and this is properly exstasis» — Erb cita el comentario de Lutero al Salmo 115, donde el término queda repartido en cuatro acepciones y amarrado a la fe.
«That is excessus when a man is elevated above himself . . . and illuminated sees that he is nothing» — Erb cita el paralelo que Lutero traza entre *excessus* y fe: elevarse para verse en nada.
«The third incomprehensible gift of faith is this, that the soul is joined with Christ just as a bride with a bridegroom» — Erb cita De la libertad del cristiano para mostrar que Lutero usó la imagen nupcial que después reaparece en Boehme.
«Faith makes it that Christ becomes us; /is Jove makes it that we become him» — Erb cita a Lutero sobre la reciprocidad de fe y amor; el impreso lleva cursivas que el OCR corrompe, y la lectura propuesta de la segunda cláusula es *his love*, sin cotejo contra la imagen del facsímil.
«There is much in Boehme’s initial treatises in Te Way to Christ that reminds one of Luther» — Erb abre la comparación directa; la grafía *Te* por *The* es del OCR.
«Christ’s Spirit, not man’s mind, leads him in his repentance» — Erb resume el papel que Boehme asigna al Espíritu en el arrepentimiento, remitiendo por su sistema interno de citas al primer tratado.
«Sophia is united with the soul at the beginning of the believer’s life of faith. In that initial union one experiences Her presence» — Erb coloca la unión con Sophia al principio de la vida de fe, en paralelo con lo que dijo de la unión mística en Lutero.
«Boehme does not suggest that the attainment of the Virgin’s love takes one out of his world. The pearl he has received will be attacked by evil on all sides» — Erb marca el límite de la unión: no saca del mundo, y la perla queda expuesta al ataque.
«Boehme makes a division between the inner and outer aspects of the sacraments. The Spirit speaks internally in the external preached word; it washes internally in the external waters of baptism and feeds the soul in the bread and wine» — Erb expone la doctrina sacramental de Boehme como distinción entre interior y exterior, no como negación de lo exterior.
«Luther had already made these distinctions and Boehme continues them although in Boehme emphasis is always placed on _the internal spiritual to the neglect of the external aspects, whereas in Luther the two are much more closely related» — Erb señala el desplazamiento de acento entre los dos y añade que Boehme no se opone a Lutero, sino que levanta lo que juzgaba descuidado. El guion bajo suelto es del OCR.
«Firstly, Boehme is much more open to describing man’s own activity and at times his language comes very close to that of Semi-Pelagianism» — Erb nombra la primera diferencia de fondo, y la formula como proximidad de lenguaje, no como adhesión doctrinal.
«Arndt opens his major work, True Christianity ,°? with a description of man created in the image of God, the Holy Trinity» — Erb resume el arranque de Johann Arndt, a quien pone como término medio entre Lutero y Boehme; los caracteres tras el título son la llamada a nota del impreso.
«He must in faith experience a new birth, be justified and sanctified to the image of God, that is, according to the person of Jesus Christ» — Erb expone en Arndt la secuencia que después encontrará ordenada en Boehme: nuevo nacimiento, justificación, santificación.
«Arndt insists, with Luther, that God has freely intended the mystical union from the beginning; that it is announced to the individual believer through God’s word, externally in Scripture and internally in the heart; that it is totally a gift of grace» — Erb enumera los puntos en que Arndt no se aparta de Lutero, para poder medir después dónde sí se aparta Boehme.
«With the exception of his use of the term Sophia, Boehme’s concept of mystical union in The Way to Christ is much the same as Arndt’s» — Erb reduce la originalidad de Boehme en este punto a un solo término, y ese término es Sophia.
«The agonizing terror experienced by Luther is presented in balanced phrases in Boehme’s discussion of repentance» — Erb mide la distancia de medio siglo por el tono: lo que en Lutero es terror, en Boehme es frase equilibrada.
«for Boehme faith and union are broken apart and become separate stages in an ordered movement leading from birth to rebirth and a new life thereafter» — Erb señala la diferencia estructural: donde Lutero tiene un solo concepto de fe, Boehme tiene etapas.
«The theological density in Luther’s use of the word faith is diffused by Boehme, and Arndt, into a path to Christ that, as later Lutherans would describe it, was an order of salvation (ordo salutis) from election, through vocation, illumination, conversion, regeneration, justification, mystical union, renovation and preservation to glorification» — Erb despliega el *ordo salutis* completo en el que, según él, se disuelve la densidad luterana de la fe.
«Boehme, as noted, tends to let this centrality of faith fade; at the same time he emphasizes the importance of love for Sophia and by so doing, in a theological setting initiated and concluded by a concern with the restoration of the image of God in fallen man, he changes the tone of Luther’s position» — Erb formula el desplazamiento como cambio de tono dentro de un marco compartido, no como ruptura.
«Boehme is no longer describing a union solely of the type discussed by Luther. Rather, the believer is directed to explore the nature of his faith-union with Sophia» — Erb reconoce que aquí Boehme dice algo que a Lutero le habría sonado a los místicos especulativos que atacaba.
«For Boehme, Sophia is already with the soul at the first stage on the path to mystical marriage. She is both beginning and end» — Erb fija la posición de Sophia en el itinerario: presente desde el arranque, no premio final.
«These insights center on the contradiction inherent in reality, in its very root, its ground, or as Boehme preferred to call it, its “un-ground,” its abyss» — Erb rinde el término alemán *Ungrund* como *un-ground* y lo glosa como abismo; el alemán no aparece en el volumen, solo esta forma inglesa con guion.
«It arose out of a desire “to grasp the possibility, indeed the necessity of evil in the highest Good» — Erb enuncia el problema del que, según él, sale toda la obra de Boehme: la necesidad del mal en el Bien sumo.
«The fourth to eighth treatises of The Way to Christ are difficult to understand outside of the context of Boehme’s treatment of this question» — Erb advierte que los tratados cuarto a octavo piden como contexto la especulación sobre la contradicción.
«began with nothing, the Nothing, unknown even to itself. The Nothing is subject and object and thus in its very nothingness “it is a search for Something» — Erb expone el punto de partida de la cosmogonía: una Nada que es sujeto y objeto y busca un Algo.
«The Nothing reaches to Something and discovers itself in it. It is an eye that sees itself in its own reflection looking back» — Erb reencuentra aquí la figura del ojo reflejado con que abrió la exposición de la primera revelación de Boehme.
«in the being of all being, there is strife and opposition» — Erb cita a Boehme para fijar la contienda en la raíz misma del ser.
«Any revelation is possible only in division. The subject is conscious of an object, an object that has meaning only as standing over against the subject» — Erb saca la consecuencia epistemológica: sin división no hay revelación.
«The image in which and to which man was created was this image of the Trinity, this virginal wisdom of the Nothing. In this image too the angels were created» — Erb identifica la sabiduría virginal con la imagen en que fueron creados el hombre y los ángeles.
«The will of the Nothing looks out in search of Something as light (love) and having achieved self-revelation in the Son, draws it back to itself in desire as fire (wrath)» — Erb explica el par luz-fuego como dos momentos del mismo movimiento de la voluntad, y no como dos sustancias.
«Yet, the two exist in union. They are a coincidence of opposites. God rests, as Boehme puts it, in love-play» — Erb consigna la coexistencia de ira y amor sin resolverla, y recoge la expresión de Boehme para el reposo divino.
«This third principle is manifested in seven properties, qualities or, in the term generally used in The Way to Christ, characteristics» — Erb declara qué palabra inglesa usa el volumen para las siete propiedades de Boehme: *characteristics*, no *properties*.
«The first is harshness, God’s conception of Himself. It is followed by attraction, followed by dread, the result of the first two. The fourth is the ignition of fire, the basis of sensitive and intellectual life» — Erb enumera las cuatro primeras características y sitúa en la cuarta el encendido del fuego.
«From the fire the fifth characteristic or love-light is emitted, which dissipates the individualism of the first four characteristics» — Erb marca el giro de la serie en la quinta: la luz de amor disuelve el individualismo de las anteriores.
«Each of the seven characteristics is present in all being and images the motion from all eternity» — Erb declara que las siete no son etapas sucesivas sino simultáneas en todo ser.
«the image of God was destroyed . . . and the light of the being of the holy elements» — Erb cita a Boehme sobre la caída: se apaga la luz del ser de los elementos santos y se despiertan los cuatro elementos. El corte con puntos suspensivos es de Erb.
«Like God, man was both fire and light. Man’s soul began in the fiery inception of eternal nature and was to stream back to its source as light, as love, or, in Boehme’s other image, as the spiritual water of new life that would temper the fiery source. Without such water the soul would be consumed, damned in its own fiery root» — Erb aplica al hombre la pareja fuego-luz que había expuesto en Dios, y añade la tercera imagen, el agua espiritual que templa.
«The light of reason (philosophy) and of revelation (prophecy) were provided to guide him» — Erb consigna que en Boehme la razón, entendida como filosofía, va junto a la revelación como guía provista por Dios.
«In the new androgynous Adam, Christ, man lives again in harmony and in unity with the Virgin Sophia» — Erb nombra a Cristo como el nuevo Adán andrógino en que se restaura la unidad con Sophia.
«As Boehme’s two favourite images describe it, the prodigal son returns (Luke 15:11 ff.), but work still remains to be done in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). With a resigned will the journey back is undertaken and with a resigned will the work in the vineyard is completed» — Erb identifica las dos parábolas que estructuran la obra y la voluntad resignada como condición de ambas.
«Every reader of Boehme’s works is immediately faced with the problem of language. There are numerous technical terms that require definition» — Erb abre la sección de terminología reconociendo el obstáculo principal de la lectura.
«In one sense a progression can be noted from regeneration to divine contemplation, yet the union with Sophia, the end of the progression, is already described as achieved at the earliest points» — Erb consigna la contradicción interna del itinerario sin resolverla: la meta aparece alcanzada en el arranque.
«In the very topic Boehme chooses to discuss he has pushed language beyond its limits. He is one who, as the 15th-century mystic Nicolas of Cusa may have said, has gone beyond the axiom of contradiction» — Erb pone a Boehme del lado de Nicolás de Cusa en el rebasamiento del principio de contradicción, y lo dice en condicional.
«For Boehme, A is both B and non-B, and he must develop a language to describe his experience, an experience for which there is no human language» — Erb formula en términos lógicos la dificultad del vocabulario boehmiano.
«Seven characteristics may be categorized as trinity, trinity as seven categories. Macrocosm and microcosm blend in their parallels» — Erb señala que en Boehme las categorías se convierten unas en otras, y que macrocosmos y microcosmos corren en paralelo.
«All things have Kraft, here consistently translated “power,” which is paralleled by the Kraft above all, the Word of God» — Erb declara su decisión de traducción para el término alemán *Kraft* y la razón: la palabra del hombre refleja la Palabra de Dios.
«Empty words are destructive. In their existence they create either in the Word or aside from it» — Erb expone la consecuencia práctica de la doctrina de la palabra: hablar fuera de la Palabra fabrica ídolos.
«Only the prophet, the man directly inspired by God, is free of this danger» — Erb acota quién queda a salvo de ese peligro, y añade que el riesgo persiste para el lector que use mal las palabras del profeta.
«for this reason, late in life, Boehme wrote a Clavis or Key to the chief points and words that he used» — Erb explica el origen del Clavis por la necesidad de fijar el vocabulario.
«Yet Boehme does not fully overcome the reader’s difficulties in his Clavis and he is aware of this fact» — Erb consigna el límite que el propio Boehme reconoce a su glosario.
«Thus centrum refers in most cases to the center or root of a being, matrix to the source of a being or beings, /ocus to the place established for a specific being, contrarium to the opposition between things, Separator, to the power of opposition and principium simply to the principle, most often used in the sense of the three principles» — glosario de Erb para los latinismos que la traducción conserva sin verter. La barra inicial de *locus* es corrupción del OCR sobre la cursiva.
«Complexio is most often used to describe a personality temperament but to avoid confusion with Boehme’s tempermentum it has been rendered by the now slightly archaic English word “humour» — Erb justifica el término inglés con que traduce *complexio* en el noveno tratado y declara el riesgo de confusión que evita.
«Tempermentum is the proper balance of a being; turba magna, the imbalance of anger aroused in Lucifer’s and Adam’s fall» — Erb define el *Turba* como desequilibrio de ira originado en las dos caídas. La grafía *tempermentum* es la del impreso.
«In this sense it is evs, although Ens can also refer to the quintessence, the Ens of fire and light, out of which the four elements are born» — Erb liga el *Ens* de Boehme con la quintaesencia de la que nacen los cuatro elementos; la primera grafía es corrupción del OCR sobre *Ens*.
«Tinctur is the power by which things are changed, it is the Word in act, it is the life of wisdom. Externally timctur is the power by which the base metals are turned into gold» — Erb da la doble cara del término: por dentro es la Palabra en acto, por fuera la potencia que transmuta los metales viles. La segunda grafía es del OCR.
«The spiritus mundz is the power working in the four elements; Signatur is the external manifestation of a thing» — Erb define el *spiritus mundi* como la potencia que obra en los cuatro elementos, y la *Signatur* como su manifestación externa. La grafía con zeta es del OCR.
«Each of the seven Eigenschaften (here translated characteristics to best define both its aspects of being: understood as the specific characteristic of a thing and as a characteristic of a greater entity)®* is associated with one of the planets, Saturn with the first, Mercury with the second, Mars with the third, the sun with the fourth, Venus with the fifth, Jupiter with the sixth, and the moon with the seventh» — Erb da la correspondencia planetaria completa de las siete propiedades y conserva el término alemán; los caracteres tras el paréntesis son la llamada a nota.
«The elements of salt, mercury and sulphur are also associated with the first three characteristics. Sulphur as the source begets mercury, the divider, from which two salt arises. All three reflect the trinity in man» — Erb enlaza la tríada de sal, mercurio y azufre con las tres primeras propiedades y con la trinidad en el hombre.
«Imagination is that aspect of man by which he orients his consciousness. In itself it is neutral,®* able to turn to either fire or light principles. It develops the zmpression, a sensus» — Erb define la imaginación en Boehme como facultad orientadora y neutra, capaz de volverse a cualquiera de los dos principios. La grafía de *impression* es del OCR.
«Where imagination leaves off, magia begins. Magia is that which pierces through the imagination toward the Mysterium Magnum» — Erb traza la frontera entre imaginación y *magia* en Boehme: donde acaba una empieza la otra.
«his search and discovery of magia is “the best theology. In it faith is founded and discovered» — Erb cita a Boehme llamando a la *magia* la mejor teología, y funda en ella la fe.
«The Nothing is a search toward Something. Yet there is Nothing that gives Something; rather, the search is itself the gift of that which is also a Nothing except for a desiring search alone. This is the eternal foundation of Magia, which makes [things] in itself where no thing is» — Erb cita el pasaje donde Boehme funda la *magia* en la búsqueda misma de la Nada; los corchetes son inserción del traductor.
«The will has nothing, nor is there anything that gives something to it. The will has no place where it can discover itself or rest» — Erb cita a Boehme sobre la indigencia de la voluntad, que es la premisa de la doctrina de la resignación.
«On man’s part, therefore, only when the will has been totally resigned can the creation of the Word in nothingness take place and the marriage with the divine Sophia be fully consummated» — Erb cierra la introducción doctrinal ligando resignación de la voluntad y matrimonio con Sophia.
«The present translation of Te Way to Christ was made from the 1730 Leyden edition done by Johann Wilhelm Ueberfeld» — Erb declara en la nota sobre el texto la edición base de su traducción. La grafía *Te* por *The* es del OCR.
«This edition made extensive use of earlier editions and manuscripts of the work. When significant alternate readings occurred, Ueberfeld noted them in his edition in parentheses. These alternate readings have been retained in this translation. The most significant alternate readings from Boehme’s own manuscripts of separate treatises have been included in notes» — Erb explica que los paréntesis que el lector encuentra dentro del texto traducido son lecturas alternativas heredadas de Ueberfeld, no glosas suyas.
«In my translation I am indebted to the earlier translation of The Way to Christ by John Joseph Stoudt (New York, 1947). Although Stoudt’s work is marred by many inaccuracies and omissions (including all of the ninth treatise), and is at times too loosely translated, it does regularly provide valuable insights into Boehme’s meaning» — Erb reconoce la deuda con Stoudt y a la vez le objeta omisiones, entre ellas el noveno tratado entero.
«Unlike Stoudt’s, this translation is an attempt to remain as close to Boehme’s original as possible» — Erb declara el criterio que separa su versión de la anterior: proximidad al original antes que fluidez.
«Boehme’s word Kraft has been translated “power” consistently. For his word Ernst and its derivatives I have used “earnest” rather than the more common English rendering “serious» — Erb consigna dos decisiones léxicas fijas, y con la segunda queda fijado el término que recorre todo el volumen.
«With some reservation I have retained the English “lust” for Boehme’s Lust where the term refers to the earthly passions of fallen man» — Erb declara la reserva con que conserva el término y acota en qué caso lo emplea.
«In many cases Sinn has been rendered “thought” rather than “sense” to avoid confusion for English readers who might tie “sense” too closely to “the five senses” and to best capture Boehme’s intention» — Erb explica una tercera decisión léxica por el riesgo de que el lector inglés la ate a los cinco sentidos.
«All Latinate words have been kept as in the original. Only in the case of complexion, meaning “humour,” and constellation, which occur with great frequency in the ninth treatise, have I not italicized them» — Erb declara que los latinismos quedan tal cual, con dos excepciones tipográficas en el noveno tratado.
«I have not retained the editors’ punctuation in all cases and have often omitted coordinating words for readability» — Erb declara dónde interviene sobre el texto: puntuación y coordinantes.
«Square brackets indicate insertions of material not in the original» — Erb fija la convención que permite al lector separar su mano de la de Boehme dentro del texto traducido.
«NOTE: So far had the spirit of prayer begotten itself in the author for holy direction when he came to the end of his pilgrimage, and, in November of the same year, entered into the rest of the saints» — nota de los editores impresa dentro del cuerpo, al final del tercer tratado: declara que la serie de oraciones quedó interrumpida por la muerte de Boehme. Habla del autor en tercera persona y no es voz de la obra.
«However more is to be found in the first Book of Repentance, which the author also calls his Prayer Book» — la misma nota editorial remite al primer tratado con un título alterno, Prayer Book, que atribuye al propio autor.
«NOTE: The precious gate was not further opened by the author, since he was prevented from completing this by the writings that followed. However, what the former editions of the Mysterium Magnum have included here belongs, in fact, to the Clavis or Key of the Most Important Points, and is to be found in Sections 137, 138 and 139 of that work» — segunda nota de los editores impresa dentro del cuerpo: declara que el séptimo tratado quedó inconcluso y remite lo que las ediciones anteriores del Mysterium Magnum ponían aquí al Clavis. Habla del autor en tercera persona.
«On the textual tradition of Boehme’s works see in particular: Werner Buddecke, Die Jakob Bohme Ausgaben (2 Bde.; Gottingen, 1937» — en las notas, Erb remite la tradición textual de Boehme a la bibliografía de Werner Buddecke.
«For biographies of Boehme note particularly: Will-Erich Peuckert, Das Leben Jacob Bohmes (2. Aufl.; Stuttgart, 1961) in Jacob BOhme, Samtliche Schriften, hrsg. Will-Erich Peuckert (Stuttgart, 1955-1960), Bd. 10/2. The Franckenberg biography and ancillary material are printed in» — Erb declara dónde están impresas la biografía de Franckenberg y su material anexo, dentro de la edición de Peuckert.
«No detailed study of Boehme’s use of Schwenckfeld has yet been done. On his use of Paracelsus see Peuckert, Leben, 218ff., and note the parallels between sections of Te Way to Christ and Weigel cited in Bohme» — Erb consigna una laguna de la investigación: nadie ha estudiado en detalle el uso que Boehme hace de Schwenckfeld.
«No full history of the Schwenckfelders exists» — segunda laguna declarada por Erb, esta vez sobre la historia del grupo.
«On Paracelsus and Weigel see Alexandre Koyré, Mystiques, spirituels, alchimistes (Paris, 1955)» — Erb remite la relación de Boehme con Paracelso y Weigel al estudio de Alexandre Koyré.
«In spite of Boehme’s insistence to the contrary, he was clearly influenced much by earlier material. See studies cited above n. 5. Boehme’s statement that he did not take his material “from any other masters” (Bohme Schriften, 1, Aurora. 3:48) is not a denial of his own indebtedness to the many ideas that he must have learned in Gorlitz’ circles of Paracelsians and others, but an insistence that what he had used was used only under the Spirit’s guidance. Earlier Boehmists who emphasized too strongly his “inspiration” did not take seriously enough his learning» — Erb objeta la insistencia de Boehme en no deber nada a otros maestros, y a la vez objeta a los boehmistas que sobrecargaron la inspiración.
«Further study must be done to determine the influence of Marian imagery on Boehme’s portrayal of Sophia» — Erb deja abierta la cuestión de la influencia mariana sobre la figura de Sophia.
«Modern Protestant antagonism to mysticism is rooted in the thought of late» — Erb data el rechazo protestante moderno de la mística en el liberalismo de finales del siglo XIX; la cita se corta en el guion léxico de *19th-century*, que el extractor uniría fabricando una palabra.
«century liberalism and the dialectical theologians of this century» — continuación de la misma nota de Erb: junto al liberalismo pone a los teólogos dialécticos de su propio siglo.
«On Boehme’s view of language see above all Ernst Benz, “Zur metaphysischen Begrindung der Sprache bei Jacob Boehme,” Euphorion 37 (1936), 340-357» — Erb remite la doctrina boehmiana del lenguaje al estudio de Ernst Benz.
«All extant manuscripts copied by Boehme himself are edited in Jacob Bohme, Die Urschriften, hrsg. Werner Buddecke (2 Bde.; Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Friedrich Fromann Verlag [Gunther Holzboog], 1963-1966» — Erb declara dónde están editados los manuscritos de mano del propio Boehme.
«Most editions (including this one) place a sketch of serpent with tail in mouth at this point» — Erb consigna que la mayoría de las ediciones, incluida la suya, imprimen aquí un dibujo de serpiente que se muerde la cola.
«MS omits: (loathsomeness) which appears in 1682 and 1715 edi» — una de las notas de variantes con que Erb coteja el manuscrito contra las ediciones de 1682 y 1715; la línea se corta en el cambio de plana.
«INDEX TO PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION Adam, Christ, as new» — encabezado del primer índice del volumen, que cubre prefacio e introducción y remite a la foliación romana y a la del aparato.
«INDEX TO TEXTS Aaron, 151 Abel, 157 Abraham, 131, 156, 157 Absolution» — encabezado del segundo índice, separado del primero: el volumen indiza por un lado el aparato y por otro los nueve tratados.
«Contrarium, xii; definition of, 23» — una entrada del primer índice que remite la definición del término latino *contrarium* a la introducción de Erb, y su uso a la plana del prefacio de Zeller.
«The way to Christ / Jacob Boehme ; translation BT and introduction by Peter Erb ; preface by Win-W414 fried Zeller. -- New York : Paulist Press, cl978» — la ficha de catálogo impresa en las guardas, con la signatura topográfica intercalada por el escaneo entre las líneas del asiento.
«Translation of Der Weg zu Christo» — la misma ficha declara el volumen como traducción del original alemán.
«Includes bibliographical references and indexes» — la ficha registra el aparato del volumen: referencias bibliográficas e índices.
«1. Mysticism--1400-1800. I. Erb, Peter, 1943» — la única materia bajo la que la ficha de catálogo clasifica el volumen, seguida del primer asiento secundario.
«JACOB BOEHME—THE WAY TO CHRIST translation, * introduction and notes by Peter Erb, preface by Winfried Zeller» — la contracubierta reparte las responsabilidades del volumen: traducción, introducción y notas de Erb, prefacio de Zeller.
«For the source in light and the source in darkness is but a single source. Nevertheless they are one nature just as fire and light are one nature» — la contracubierta escoge esta frase de Boehme como reclamo del volumen; es la doctrina de la fuente única con dos principios.
«Evelyn Underhill called the German Lutheran Mystic Jacob Boehme “one of the most astonishing cases in history of a natural genius for the tran» — la contracubierta cita a Evelyn Underhill; es material de solapa, no voz de la obra ni de sus editores.
«Nicolas Berdyaev described Boehme as: “Beyond a doubt...one of the greatest of Christian gnostics. | am using the word not in the sense of heresies...but to indicate a wisdom grounded in revelation and employing myths and symbols rather than concepts—a wisdom much more con» — la contracubierta cita también a Nicolás Berdiáev llamando gnóstico cristiano a Boehme, con la acotación de que no usa la palabra en sentido de herejía.
«Boehme was the son of a farmer who lived the first part of his life as a shepherd and later became a shoemaker. He claimed that his writings reflect only what he was taught through the direct experience of God» — la solapa resume la biografía y la pretensión de Boehme sobre el origen de sus escritos.
«A truly giant figure in the spiritual tradition, he has greatly influenced Angelus Silesius, William Blake, John Milton, Isaac Newton, William Law and many others» — la contracubierta enumera la posteridad que le adjudica: Angelus Silesius, Blake, Milton, Newton y William Law.
«As the editor of this volume, Peter Erb, says, “The Way to Christ provides the best introduction to his thought and spirituality. A collection of nine separate treatises, its parts were written late in his career and reflect his final theological position, a position established not aside from his earlier work, but on it...The book was intended to serve as a meditation guide. Boehme believed that his writing had come from the Spirit. It was intended to direct his fellow-believers back to the Spirit as he had been directed» — la contracubierta atribuye a Erb este juicio sobre el volumen; el texto citado no aparece con estas palabras en el prólogo ni en la introducción.
«Winfried Zeller, one of the most distinguished authorities on Protestant Spirituality alive today, comments in his preface: “In spite of the narrowness of his environment, Jacob Boehme was a man of universal spirit. His thought extended itself far and contained an original theology of nature. Yet, however greatly his profound ideas influenced the history of Western philosophy, his greatest significance lies in the area of spirituality. He was truly “a man of God» — la contracubierta cita el remate del prefacio de Zeller, que sí figura literal en la plana 19.
Conceptos tratados
Imaginación (phantasia) — Erb expone que en Boehme la imaginación es la facultad con que el hombre orienta su consciencia, neutra en sí misma y capaz de volverse al principio de fuego o al de luz; donde ella termina empieza la magia, que atraviesa hacia el Mysterium Magnum
Microcosmos (el hombre-mundo) — Erb señala que macrocosmos y microcosmos corren en paralelo en el sistema de Boehme, y de ahí que la palabra del hombre tenga poder creador y las palabras vacías sean destructivas
Cuatro elementos (fuego, aire, agua, tierra) — Erb glosa el Ens de Boehme como quintaesencia, el Ens de fuego y luz del que nacen los cuatro elementos, y define el spiritus mundi como la potencia que obra en ellos
Quintaesencia (quinta essentia) — el noveno tratado sitúa el segundo spiritus en el aceite de azufre, al que llama la quinta esencia y raíz de los cuatro elementos
Spiritus mundi (espíritu del mundo) — el séptimo tratado sostiene que, sin la luz del sol, el spiritus mundi quedaría áspero, seco, espeso y duro en la agudeza de las constelaciones y en la manera sulfúrica y mercurial de los cuatro elementos
Azufre (principio sulfúreo) — Erb consigna que las tres primeras características de Boehme se asocian con sal, mercurio y azufre, y que el azufre, como fuente, engendra al mercurio, el divisor, del que surge la sal
Mercurio de los filósofos (Mercurius) — el octavo tratado describe al mercurius encendido volviéndose hambriento y codicioso tras romperse de la unidad de Dios, arrastrando los cuatro elementos y apagando las potencias y colores celestes