Commentary on Genesis (Mysterium Magnum)

moved some element, the hidden properties revealed themselves, such as the 4 Elementa elements.

The 3rd Chapter.

How an evil has become from the eternal Good, which

has no beginning to evil in the Good; and

of the origin of the dark world or

hell, in which the devils

dwell.

THen in the outer world light and darkness are seen,
along with pain and torment, and yet everything proceeds
from the eternal Mysterio mystery, as from the inner
spiritual world, and the inner spiritual world proceeds
from the eternally begetting and speaking Word; thus we
must consider: How an evil can become from the eternal Good,
which nevertheless has no beginning to evil in the Good:
Whence darkness, pain, and torment arise: And then
whence a radiance or light arises in the darkness.

2. For we cannot say that the eternal light or the eternal darkness was created; otherwise they would be in a time and in a fixed beginning, which is not the case. For they are within the begetting, but not in the wisdom or begetting of the Word of the Godhead: Rather, they take their original state in the desire of the speaking Word.

3. For in the eternally speaking Word, which is outside all nature or beginning, only the Divine understanding or resonance, there is neither darkness nor light, neither thick nor thin, neither joy nor sorrow, also no sensibility nor perceptibility; rather, it is purely a power of the understanding in a quality, will, and regimen; it has neither friend nor foe, for it is the eternal Good, and nothing more.

4. Since that same eternal Good cannot be an insensible being (for it would not be thus manifest to itself), it leads itself into a delight within itself, for its own-viewing or seeing of what it is, in which delight wisdom stands; and when the delight thus sees what it is, it leads itself into a desire to feel what it is, as for a sensation of smell, of taste, of colors, powers, and virtues; and