Forty questions of the soul concerning its original, essence, substance, nature or quality and property, what it is from eternity to eternity : framed by a lover of the great mysteries, Doctor Balthasar Walter, and answered in the year 1620 / by Jacob Behme, called Teutonicus Philosophus ; Englished by John Sparrow ...

The Eleventh Question. (Book 11)

How and in What Place the Souls seat in Man is. (Book 11)

1. A Thing that is without Ground, and yet seeketh and maketh a Ground in it self, hath its original and seat in the first compaction or comprehension, where it compriseth it self in it self, there is the li∣mit in the most innermost, and it goeth forth out of it self, and seeketh forward, where then it maketh one Looking-Glass after another, till it findeth the first again, viz. the unsearchable limit.

2. Thus also is the Soul, it is compri∣zed by God in the Heart, and the VVord which compriseth it, was in the Heart, viz. in the Center; thus it continued in the Figure and Seat, as it was comprised by the Fiat, and is so to this day.

3. It dwelleth in the Three Principles, but the Heart is its Original, in the Heart therein, in the inward Blood of the Heart, it is the inward Fire, and in the Tincture is its Spirit, which hath a Glimps from the

Fire, for it is surrounded with the Tincture, and burneth in the Heart.

4. And the Spirit moveth upon the Heart in the Pit or Concavity of the Heart, where the two Principles sever them∣selves, and burneth in the Tincture, as a Brimstone-Light, and distributeth it self further forth in the whole Body into all the Members: for the Tincture goeth through all the Members.

5. But the right and true Fire-Smith, in the Center, sitteth on the Heart, and car∣ryeth his dominion with or by the Spirit, into the Head, and hath his carnal house, viz. the Mind and Thoughts, and the Five Prince-Counsellors, viz. the Five Senses, which exist out of the Five Spirits of the Original, as we have men∣tioned in the * 1.1 Third Book, as also in the † 1.2 Second and in the o 1.3 First.

6. The Soul sitteth indeed in the inward Principle, but it ruleth also in the outward, viz. in the Constellation & the Elements, and if it be not a mymmick Ape, & suffer∣eth it self to be captivated, then it is pow∣erful enough over the outward, and the outward must suffer it self to be subdued, if the Soul sinketh it self down into God, and

cometh upon the Chariot of the Bride again into the outward, that it hath the ho∣ly Spirit for an assistant.

7. Then no hinderance from the Devil availeth any thing, it destroyeth his nest, and driveth him out, he must stand in scorn and derision.

8. And this is our Instruction and An∣swer to this Question; that it is not so to be understood, that when a mans Head is cut off, and the Blood runneth out, and the out∣ward Life breaketh, that it hitteth and kil∣leth the Soul.

9. No, it loseth indeed one Principle, but not the Substance of that Principle; that followeth after the Soul, in the Tin∣cture in the Spirit, as a Shadow, for the out∣ward Substance reacheth not the inward in the Soul, but only through the Imaginati∣on.

10. Else there is nothing in this World that can touch or kill the Soul, no Fire nor Sword, but only the Imagination, that is its Poyson; for it is Originally pro∣ceeded out of the Imagination, and conti∣nueth Eternally THEREIN.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Threefold Life.
• † 1.2

  Three Princi∣ples.
• o 1.3

  Aurora.