Doth any herb, flower, or tree say unto the other, thou art sour and dark, I will not stand by thee? Have they not all one mother from whence they grow? Even so all souls proceed from one, and all men from one; why then do we boast and glory to be the children of God, notwithstanding that we are more unwise than the flowers and the herbs of the field; is it not so with us? Doth not God impart and reveal His wisdom to us diversely? As He bringeth forth and manifesteth the tincture of the mystery in the earth, through the earth with fair plants, even so in us men; we should rather congratulate and heartily love one another, that God revealeth His wisdom so variously in us; but he that judgeth, condemneth, and contempteth in a wicked way, he only runneth on in pride to show himself, and to be seen; and is the oppressor in Babel, a perverse stickler, that stirreth up contention and strife.
Epistles of Jacob Boehme, p. 36, 36
I enjoy pairing the passage with one I've just come across in Marcus Aurelius, which seems to cry out to be read aloud for some reason.
2000 year old words as fresh as yesterday.
Art thou angry with him whose arm-pits stink? Art though angry with him whose mouth smells foul? What good will this anger do thee? He has such a mouth, he has such arm-pits; it is necessary that such an emanation must come from such things: but the man has reason, it will be said, and he is able, if he takes pains, to discover wherein he offends–I wish thee well of thy discovery. Well then, and thou hast reason: by thy rational faculty stir up his rational faculty; show him his error, admonish him. For if he listens, thou wilt cure him, and there is no need of anger.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, V, 28.
In both passages, one Christian and one Pagan, we receive hints for increasing love between us blundering human types. Although I think there's a better word than admonish. Well, you can admonish me, if you mean well. I'm used to the lathe.
5 comments:
As someone who is often sour and dark (and my arm pits have been known to be negatively perfumed), I like this jointing together of two interesting thinkers. What edition of this Boehme (ian) character do you recommend?
I wish I could say... I'm a little at sea. He wrote a lot in his 49 years, and luckily, didn't die a very cruel death for a heretic.
I'm going to have to think about that word "Admonish." A Roman emperor would have had to do it as part of his job. We pastors are supposed to as well. We parents too.
What does this love require?
An appeal to the better self. Also to encourage the better self in facing difficult challenges and inconvenient or perhaps unflattering realities.
An appeal to the better self with the intention of increasing awareness. Also to encourage the better self in facing difficult challenges and inconvenient or perhaps unflattering realities. But mostly, the gift of awareness.
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