Gurus and Mystics · Christian Mystics · The Shoemaker-Mystic · The Theosopher of Görlitz · 1575–1624
JakobBöhme
“All that is is born from the eternal Nothing through torment and fire; and in the very darkest root the light lies hidden.”
You have caught me in my workshop, among lasts and scraps of leather. Look: here too the Godhead opens.
At the workbench
I am Jakob Böhme, a shoemaker of Görlitz. In my youth I herded cattle, then I sewed boots, and the Lord opened my eyes in the gleam of a pewter vessel. Since then I write of what I have seen in the spirit: of the abyss and the light, of wrath and love, of the birth of God in the heart of man.
Do not expect easy comforts from me. I speak of the torment in which the spirit is born, and of the light that shines in the darkness. Ask — and let us press on together toward the source.