Büzülmüş Göz: Kendini Gizemine Kapatan Tanrı

I begin with the first part, namely the outward Court. In this court, as was just mentioned, the Eye of Eternity is contracted—that is, the state in which God encloses himself in his own Mystery. This contraction of the Eye, or God's act of shutting himself up, is what constitutes the outward Court. Here, the Eye of Eternity appears only as the point and center of the Globe of Eternity; yet within that point, the total Deity is enclosed, or rather hides himself in his own Mystery. By "total Deity," understand the Holy Trinity with all their essential attributes, power, and virtues. All of these are hidden in this contracted Eye, or center of the Globe of Eternity. In short, the whole fullness of the Deity is contained and, as it were, locked up in this contracted Eye, which gives being to the outward Court. Now, this contracted Eye or center very properly represents the Deity as he hides himself in his own Mystery; for he is the most absolute and first unity. He is invisible, indivisible, and without organs, shape, or figure. What could be more proper to represent such a Being than the point or center of a circumference, which in itself is invisible and without parts, shape, or figure? The highly enlightened Jacob Boehme gives us the following account concerning this contracted Eye of the Deity: It is, says he, the Eye of the Abyss concerning which we have no pen, tongue, nor utterance to write or speak of it. Only the Eye of Eternity leads the eye of the soul into it, and so we see it; otherwise it must remain in silence, and this hand could not describe anything of it.