---
title: "The Way to Christ"
author: "Jacob Böhme"
translator: "Anonymous 18th-century English version"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Mystics"
section: 21 of 27
url: https://scriptura.si/works/boehme-way-to-christ/21/
cite: "Jacob Böhme, tr. Anonymous 18th-century English version, The Way to Christ, section 21. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/boehme-way-to-christ/21/"
---

# The Way to Christ

*Jacob Böhme, tr. Anonymous 18th-century English version*

Böhme's short guides to repentance, resignation, the new birth and the supersensual life.

## 21. Of the Supersensual Life · First Dialogue · 1 of 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/boehme-way-to-christ/21/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/boehme-way-to-christ/21/#p-N

[¶0] The Disciple said to his Master: Sir, How may I come to the Place that I may SEE with God, and may HEAR God speak - to a Life that is above my Senses and Feelings - to the Supersensual Life?

[¶1] The Master answered and said: Son, when thou canst throw thyself into THAT, where no Creature dwelleth, though it be but for a Moment, then thou HEAREST what God speaketh.

[¶2] Disciple:

[¶3] Is that Place where no Creature dwelleth near at Hand; or is it afar off?

[¶4] Master:

[¶5] It is IN THEE. And if thou canst, my Son, for a while but cease from all thy OWN Thinking and Willing, then thou shalt hear the unspeakable Words of God.

[¶6] Disciple:

[¶7] How is it that I can hear Him speak, when I stand still from Thinking and Willing?

[¶8] Master:

[¶9] When thou standest still from the Thinking of SELF, and the Willing of SELF; when both thy Intellect and Will are quiet and passive to the Impressions of the Eternal Word and Spirit; when thy Soul is winged up, and above that which is temporal with the outward Senses and the Imagination being locked up by Holy Abstraction; then the Eternal Hearing, Seeing, and Speaking will be revealed IN THEE; and so God heareth and seeth through thee, being now the Organ of His Spirit; and so God speaketh in thee, and whispereth to thy Spirit, and thy Spirit heareth his Voice. Blessed art thou therefore if that thou canst stand still from SELF-Thinking and SELF-Willing, and canst stop the Wheel of thy Imagination and Senses; for it is hereby that thou mayest arrive at Length to see the great Salvation of God, being made capable of all Manner of Divine Sensations and Heavenly Communications. Since it is nought indeed but thine OWN Hearing and Willing that do hinder thee, so that thou dost not see and hear God.

[¶10] Disciple:

[¶11] But wherewith shall I hear and see God, for as much as He is above Nature and Creature?

[¶12] Master:

[¶13] Son, when thou art quiet and silent, then art thou as God was before Nature and Creature; thou art that which God then was; thou art that whereof He made thy Nature and Creature: Then thou hearest and seest even with that wherewith God Himself saw and heard in thee, before ever thine OWN Willing or thine OWN Seeing began.

[¶14] Disciple:

[¶15] What now hinders or keeps me back, so that I cannot come to that, wherewith God is to be seen and heard?

[¶16] Master:

[¶17] Nothing truly but thine OWN Willing, Hearing, and Seeing do keep thee back from it, and do hinder thee from coming to this Supersensual State or the Life which is above Sense. And it is because thou strivest so against that, out of which thou thyself art descended and derived, that thou thus breakest thyself off, with thine OWN Willing, from God's Willing, and with thine OWN Seeing from God's Seeing. In as much as in thine OWN Seeing thou dost see in thine OWN Willing only, and with thine OWN Understanding thou dost understand but in and according to this thine OWN Willing, as the same stands divided from the Divine Will. This thy Willing moreover stops thy Hearing, and maketh thee deaf towards God, through thy OWN Thinking upon terrestrial Things, and thy Attending to that which is without thee; and so it brings thee into a Ground, where thou art laid hold on and captivated in Nature. And having brought thee hither, it overshadows thee with that which thou willest; it binds thee with thine own Chains, and it keeps thee in thine own dark Prison which thou makest for thyself; so that thou canst not go out thence, or come to that State which is above Nature and above Sense.

[¶18] Disciple:

[¶19] But being I am in Nature, and thus bound, as with my own Chains, and by my own natural Will; pray be so kind, Sir, as to tell me, how I may come through Nature into the Supersensual and Supernatural Ground, without the destroying of Nature?

[¶20] Master:

[¶21] Three Things are requisite in order to do this. The First is, Thou must resign up thy Will to God; and must sink thy SELF down to the Dust in His Mercy. The Second is, Thou must hate thy OWN Will, and forbear from doing that to which thy own Will doth drive thee. The Third is, Thou must bow thy Soul under the Cross, heartily submitting thySELF to It, that thou mayest be able to bear the Temptations of Nature and Creature. And if thou doest thus, know that God will speak into thee, and will bring thy resigned Will in to Himself, in the supernatural Ground; and then thou shalt hear, my Son, what the Lord speaketh in thee.

[¶22] Disciple:

[¶23] This is a hard Saying, Master; for I must forsake the World, and my Life too, if I should do thus.

[¶24] Master:

[¶25] Be not discouraged hereat. If thou forsakest the World, then thou comest into that out of which the World is made; and if thou losest thy Life, then thy Life is in that, for whose Sake thou forsakest it. Thy Life is in God, from whence it came into the Body; and as thou comest to have thine OWN Power faint and weak and dying, the Power of God will then work in thee and through thee.

[¶26] Disciple:

[¶27] Nevertheless as God hath created Man in and for the natural Life, to rule over all Creatures on Earth, and to be a Lord over all Things in this World, it seems not to be at all unreasonable, that Man should therefore possess this World, and the Things therein for his own.

[¶28] Master:

[¶29] If thou rulest over all Creatures but outwardly, there cannot be much in that. But if thou hast a Mind to possess all Things, and to be a Lord indeed over all Things in this World, there is quite another Method to be taken by thee.

[¶30] Disciple:

[¶31] Pray, how is that? And what Method must I take, whereby to arrive at this Sovereignty?

[¶32] Master:

[¶33] Thou must learn to distinguish well betwixt the Thing, and that which only is an Image thereof; betwixt that Sovereignty which is substantial, and in the inward Ground or Nature, and that which is imaginary, and in an outward Form, or Semblance; betwixt that which is properly Angelical, and that which is no more than bestial. If thou rulest now over the Creatures externally only, and not from the right internal Ground of thy renewed Nature; then thy Will and Ruling is verily in a bestial Kind or Manner, and thine at best is but a Sort of imaginary and transitory Government, being void of that which is substantial and permanent, the which only thou art to desire and press after. Thus by thy outwardly Lording it over the Creatures, it is most easy for thee to lose the Substance and the Reality, while thou hast nought remaining but the Image or Shadow only of thy first and original Lordship; wherein thou art made capable to be again invested, if thou wouldest be but wise, and takest thy Investiture from the Supreme Lord in the right Course and Manner. Whereas by thy willing and ruling thus after a bestial Manner, thou bringest also thy Desire into a bestial Essence, by which Means thou becomest infected and captivated therein, and gettest therewith a bestial Nature and Condition of Life. But if thou shalt have put off the bestial and ferine Nature, and if thou hast left the imaginary Life, and quitted the low imaged Condition of it; then art thou come into the Super-Imaginariness, and into the intellectual Life, which is a State of living above Images, Figures and Shadows. And so thou rulest over all Creatures, being reunited with thine Original, in that very Ground or Source, out of which they were and are created; and henceforth Nothing on Earth can hurt thee. For thou art like all Things and Nothing is unlike thee.

[¶34] Disciple:

[¶35] O loving Master, pray teach me how I may come the shortest Way to be like unto All Things.

[¶36] Master:

[¶37] With all my Heart. Do but think on the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He said, "Except ye be converted, and become as little Children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." There is no shorter Way than this; neither can there be a better Way found. Verily, Jesus saith unto thee, Unless thou turn and become as a Child, hanging upon Him for All Things, thou shalt not see the Kingdom of God. This do, and Nothing shall hurt thee; for thou shalt be at Friendship with all the Things that are, as thou dependest on the Author and Fountain of them, and becomest like Him, by such Dependence, and by the Union of thy Will with His Will. But mark what I have further to say; and be not thou startled at it, though it may seem hard for thee at first to conceive. If thou wilt be like All Things, thou must forsake All Things; thou must turn thy Desire away from them All, and not desire or hanker after any of them; thou must not extend thy Will to possess that for thy own, or as thine own, which is Something, whatsoever that Something be. For as soon as ever thou takest Something into thy Desire, and receivest it into thee for thine OWN, or in Propriety, then this very Something (of what Nature soever it is) is the same with thyself; and this worketh with thee in thy Will, and thou art thence bound to protect it, and to take Care of it even as of thy own Being. But if thou dost receive no Thing into thy Desire, then thou art free from All Things, and rulest over all Things at once, as a Prince of God. For thou hast received Nothing for thine own, and art Nothing to all Things; and all Things are as Nothing to thee. Thou art as a Child, which understands not what a Thing is, and though thou dost perhaps understand it, yet thou understandest it without mixing with it, and without its sensibly affecting or touching thy Perception, even in that Manner wherein God doth rule and see all Things; He comprehending All, and yet Nothing comprehending Him.

[¶38] Disciple:

[¶39] Ah! How shall I arrive at this Heavenly Understanding, at this Sight of All Things in God, at this pure and naked Knowledge which is abstracted from the Senses; at this Light above Nature and Creature; and at this Participation of the Divine Wisdom which oversees all Things, and governs through all intellectual Beings? For, alas, I am touched every Moment by the Things which are about me; and overshadowed by the Clouds and Fumes which rise up out of the Earth. I desire therefore to be taught, if possible, how I may attain such a State and Conditions as no Creature may be able to touch me to hurt me; and how my Mind, being purged from sensible Objects and Things, may be prepared for the Entrance and Habitation of the Divine Wisdom in me?

[¶40] Master:

[¶41] Thou desirest that I would teach thee how thou art to attain it; and I will direct thee to our Master, from Whom I have been taught it, that thou mayest learn it thyself from Him, Who alone teacheth the Heart. Hear thou Him. Wouldest thou arrive at this; wouldest thou remain untouched by Sensibles; wouldest thou behold Light in the very Light of God, and see all Things thereby; then consider the Words of Christ, Who is that Light; and Who is the Truth. O consider now His Words, Who said, "Without Me ye can do nothing" and defer not to apply thyself unto Him, Who is the Strength of thy Salvation, and the Power of thy Life; and with Whom thou canst do all Things, by the Faith which He worketh in thee. But unless thou wholly givest thySELF up to the Life of our Lord Jesus Christ, and resignest thy Will wholly to Him, and desirest Nothing and willest Nothing without Him, thou shalt never come to such a Rest as no Creature can disturb. Think what thou pleasest, and be never so much delighted in the Activity of thine OWN Reason, thou shalt find that in thine OWN Power, and without such a total Surrender to God, and to the Life of God, thou canst never arrive at such a Rest as this, or the true Quiet of the Soul, wherein no Creature can molest thee, or so much as touch thee. Which when thou shalt, by Grace, have attained to, then with thy Body thou art in the World, as in the Properties of outward Nature; and with thy Reason, under the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; but with thy Will thou walkest in Heaven, and art at the End from whence all Creatures are proceeded forth, and to which they return again. And then thou canst in this END, which is the same with the BEGINNING, behold all Things outwardly with Reason, and inwardly with the Mind; and so mayest thou rule in all Things and over all Things, with Christ; unto Whom all Power is given both in Heaven and on Earth.

[¶42] Disciple:

[¶43] O Master, the Creatures which live in me do withhold me, that I cannot so wholly yield and give up mySELF as I willingly would. What am I to do in this Case?

[¶44] Master: