Fragment 22

I had a lot of trouble deciding on who to write about next. So many occult figures went through my mind, among the most persistent were G.I. Gurdjieff, J. Evola, Iamblichus, and Empedocles, All of the above figures have helped me in some way on my path. I finally decided on Jacob Bohme (1575-1624). I had some reservations on writing about Bohme. This is because of his obscure language, and he had so much to say on so many topics. I have been pondering the writings of Bohme for decades, so I feel confident enough to write the briefest of introductions to his system. To keep this brief I am just going to go over what I believe is the heart of Bohme's system, which is the Fire and Water Wheels. When reading Bohme one must keep in mind that he holds to the doctrine of the microcosm and the macrocosm. So everything he says about the godhead also applies to humans and nature. Bohme was the greatest psychonaunt in Western history, no one voyaged deeper into inner space deeper than Bohme, excepting maybe me. This is why his language is so difficult. He did not possess the language of modern psychology; not only was he before Freud and Jung, he wrote before Kant, and Fichte. And he did influence all the above.To overcome this deficit Bohme used the language that was available, including Alchemy, theology, and when that failed he either coined his own terms, or resorted to imagery. This is the reason for the difficulty of his writings. Bohme had several visions or illuminations during his life. The most famous one when a ray of sunlight reflected off a pewter dish and hit him. It must be made clear these visions were not like Swedenborg's where supernatural creatures conversed with him. Instead they were like the "aha" moments we all have, just a lot more intense, and they came to him in the form of visual imagery. Those moments when everything comes together. Like most intellectual figures of his time, the Copernican revolution had a beg effect on him. Bohme did accept the Sun centered planetary system, The difference between Bohme and his contemporaries is not so much did it make him doubt God's existence, but God's goodness. His early visions did not give him much joy, instead they only seem to aggravate his doubts. Bohme was a deeply depressed and tormented man for much of his life. The interaction of good and evil is a central issue in his system. His answer was that God did contain all evil, but that evil is never actualized in God, only in the fallen world. So let us examine Bohme's vision of God. Bohme divides God into seven Fountain Spirits or Natural Properties. The former in his early writings the latter in his more mature writings. I prefer the term "Fountain Spirits" ,because it better captures the dynamism of Bohme's system better. The only other issue I need to address before examining Bohme's theory of the Godhead is that he like a lot of Occultist (G.I. Gurdjieff and Robert Fludd) uses the octave as a framework for his ideas. For Bohme the best image of God is seven concentric wheels turning in all directions at once, each wheel has spokes that meet at a central hub. Each wheel represents one of the Fountain Spirits. The central hub is the God within, the homunculus; the little man in the head that either approves or prohibits thoughts and actions. The hub is of course, identified with the Son of the Trinity. The spokes all meeting at the hub. create the hub. The hub is generated by all the Fountain Spirits working together. So let us begin with the Fire Wheel. The Fore Wheel is the first three Fountain Spirits and represents the Father of the Trinity. The first Fountain Spirit is Attraction. What Bohme means by attraction a pulling together. Gravity might be a better term. This pulling together is a separating from the whole. It is the act of becoming an individual of defining oneself in opposition to the whole. Attraction is the prerequisite of both knowledge and evil. Separation as a principle of knowledge should be familiar to every student of philosophy, it is Descartes and Spinoza'a search for adequate ideas. To know something we must be able to distinguish it. This separation also causes pain. Like the tree in Eden. For Bohme consciousness starts with pain. The next Fountain Spirit is Repulsion. Repulsion is the act of tying to unite. Bohme identifies Repulsion with love and desire. Bohme does use these terms in a different way than common usage. In simple terms we could say aversion and attraction is the tension between the first two Fountain Spirits. This is the beginning of our emotional life; what we want and what we do not want. It should be noted that Bohme puts Attraction first. For Bohme the mother of consciousness is pain. He would have agreed with Fichte that if there were an all powerful entity that could fulfill all it's desires, the entity would not be consciousness. We only think when we are frustrated or in pain. This brings up the deficit in Bohme's God. The only thing God does not know is himself. And since he is infinite trying to know himself becomes an eternal process with no rest or end point. God is a verb, not a noun for Bohme. Back to the third Fountain Spirit; Rotation. Rotation is the alternating of the first two Fountain , such as frustration and desire, and repeat. This if the Fire Wheel, it is heat and smoke, but no light. It is a state of conflict or anxiety. This leads into the Water Wheel, and the fourth Fountain Spirit: Lightning.This happens when the rubbing together of the first two Fountain Spirits results in a spark of insight. Lightening is that sudden inspiration or "aha" moment when conflicts and anxieties come together in a solution or course of action. This leads us to the next Fountain Spirit: Water and Wisdom. This is when the energies of Lightning are integrated or purified by quenching their evil or inharmonious elements. Water and Wisdom is identified with the Son of the Trinity, along with Lightening. These first five Fountain Spirits are the Egregores, or counselors as Bohme says it. They are the conflicting voices in the head that are harmonized and unified in Water and Wisdom, that is when the process works right. This leads us to Tone the next Fountain Spirit.This sixth Fountain Spirit is identified with the Holy Spirit. This is the concept when an idea is ready to be put into practice. Leading to the last Fountain Spirit: Kingdom. Kingdom is the material world. The course of action that is put into practice. A simple example would be before one builds a boat, one must have the idea and a plan how to build the boat. (Tone) The actual building of the boat is Kingdom. Kingdom also represents the unconscious aspect of God. We never know with certainty how are plans will turn out, and what unknown effects could be produced. The Wheel of God has now made a complete revolution and is back at the beginning. One last note on Bohme for those who want to read him. Bohme frequently changes his terms, and his system is constantly evolving in his writings from the first book to the last..