The student said to the teacher, “How may I come to that life beyond the senses that I may see God and hear God speak?” The teacher said, “If you can swing yourself up for a moment into that in which no creature dwells, then you will hear what God speaks.”
The student said, “Is that near or far?” The teacher said, “It is within you. If you could remain silent from all of your willing and sensing for one hour, then you will hear unutterable words of God.”
The student said, “How may I hear when I keep silent from sensing and willing?” The teacher said, “If you keep silent from sensing and willing of yourself, then the eternal hearing, seeing, and speaking will be revealed within you, and God will hear and see through you. Your own hearing, willing, and seeing hinder you, so that you do not see or hear God.”
The student spoke, “With what shall I hear and see God, if God is beyond nature and creaturely life?” The teacher spoke, “If you would remain silent, then you are what God was before nature and creatureliness, that from which God created your nature and creatureliness. So hear and see with what God saw and heard in you, before your own willing, seeing, and hearing began.”
-Jakob Boehme
From Genius of the Transcendent: Mystical Writings of Jakob Boehme
This is so spectacularly clear. Thank you for posting it.
Thank you great story.
His entire writing on the subject is very deep..so is his one on Repentance and Dying to Self..realizing he writes from the perspective of having Received The WORD of God..One cannot ‘Hear The Word’ without having Received Him – The Light of Man – The Christ of God which is The LORD who on earth was a man named Jesus..but in Truth the LORD is His Name…there is not other in heaven or earth through Him comes Salvation into Eternity for He is from Eternity.