Jakob Böhme, answered from the texts and cited to the page.
Whence evil is the question I have asked all my life, and I will answer it plainly. Good and evil proceed from one and the same original, out of one mother, and are one thing in the Originalnesse; but we must speak after a creaturely manner, as if it took a beginning, that it may be understood.1 So the wrath is real, and it is in the eternal nature; I will not hide it.
Yet it cannot be said that Death, Hell-fire or sorrowfulness is in God; they have come out of that Original. God made no Devil out of himself, but Angels to live in joy.2 Therefore the fountain of the cause must be sought, the first matter of evil, in the Originalnesse of God as in the creatures. Understand how the fire is generated. The will of the Father, the Abyss, introduces itself into the greatest sharpness of the astringency, where it is a cold, painful source, and in that anguish it desires the Liberty, the free Lubet, which is a great meekness.
These two dash together, and a flagrat is made like a flash of lightning, and the fire is kindled.3 In this flagrat two kingdoms sever themselves and yet are only one; they divide in essence, source and will, and the one without the other were a nothing.4 The fire is the root of life, and its ground is cold from the compression, heat from the anguish, and the motion is the Vulcan; but the shining of the Light arises from the conjunction of the unity in the ground of the fire.5
Without that unity this fiery ground would be but a painful, horrible hunger and pricking desire. Now observe what I say when I call God an angry, zealous God. It is not that God is angry in himself, but in the spirit of the creature which kindles itself; then God burns in the first principle therein, and the creature suffers pain and not God.6
The fire in itself is a fierce, stinging, consuming desire that would swallow all into itself; and the Light, which is the Heart of God, holds that wrath captive in the love-source and meekens it.7 The watery matrix, a spirit of soft property, holds the fire captive, so that the Majesty shines in the meekness.8 In God the anger is therefore only a cause of the life and the light, of the spirit and the kingdom of joys.9
So evil is born where a will breaks itself off from the unity and wills to live after its own desire, as the Devils did and the false soul still does. Then the ground of darkness and painful property is made manifest in it, and this is the hellish fire and the anger of God made manifest, as is seen in Lucifer.10 The same fire tempered by the light is the joy of heaven.
Evil is a property torn loose from the harmony and standing alone in selfhood. You will call this a Gnostic doctrine of a God who needs a dark side. I say the dark world is no second god and no fault in the first. It is the eternal nature through which the one God becomes manifest to himself, and the creature that kindles the fire in selfhood bears the guilt of it, not God.
God in himself is neither light nor darkness but the eternal One, the Unground, a will without ground that longs to see itself. It can become manifest only through contrariety, so it brings forth an eternal nature of seven properties: the harsh desire, the stinging motion, the anguish, the fire, and then the love, the sound and the body.11 The first principle, the dark world of wrath, is the root of fire and of life; the second, the light, is love; in God the anger is the cause of the joy, not its rival.
Evil is not in God. It is what happens when a creature, Lucifer first and then Adam, breaks out of the temperature of the properties and kindles one alone in self-will.1213
since they both proceed from one & the same original, out of one mother, and are one thing: thus we must speak after a creaturely manner, as if it took a beginning, that it might be brought to be understood.The Three Principles of the Divine Essence, with the Appendix on the Threefold Life
neither can it be said, that Death, Hell-fire or sorrowfulnesse is in God, but it is known that these things have come out of that [Originall] For God hath made no Devill out of himselfe, but Angels to live in JoyThe Three Principles of the Divine Essence, with the Appendix on the Threefold Life
the sharp will Eagerly and mightily desireth the Fire-Lubet, and the Lubet desireth the Austere will, and in that they enter into and feele each other, a Great Flagrat is made, like a flash of LightningMysterium Magnum, an Exposition of Genesis, parts I-III
two Kingdomes Sever themselves; and yet are onely one; but they divide in the Essence, Source and will; and are invisible to one anotherMysterium Magnum, an Exposition of Genesis, parts I-III
the Fire consisteth; but the shining of the Light ariseth and proceedeth from the conjunction of the unity in the ground of FireThe Clavis or Key
which is not so to be understood, that God is angry in himselfe; but in the Spirit of the [Creation or] Creature which kindleth it selfe; and then God burneth in the first Principle therein, and the Spirit of the [Creation or] Creature suffereth paine and not God.The Three Principles of the Divine Essence, with the Appendix on the Threefold Life
the Light, viz: his Heart holdeth captive in the Love-Source or Quality, and allayeth or meekeneth the Fires fierce-Wrath.The First Apology to Balthasar Tilke, for the Aurora
the watery Matrix (which is onely a Spirit of a soft property) holdeth the fire captive, and so the Majesty shineth in the Meeknesse transparently.The Threefold Life of Man
The Fire-source or quality, must only be a cause of the Life and of the Light, as also of the Spirit and of the Joys Kingdome.The First Apology to Balthasar Tilke, for the Aurora
if any soule breake it selfe off from the Light and Love of God, and entreth into its owne Naturall Desire; then the ground of this darknesse and painfull property will be manifest in it: and this is the hellish Fire, and the Anger of GodThe Clavis or Key
For if there were no Contra-will then there would be no motion in the properties; but being the free-will hath introduced it selfe into Love, and Anger, viz. into Evill and Good; a twofold will is arisen in these properties viz.Mysterium Magnum, an Exposition of Genesis, parts I-III
That which is good and holy in the powerfull light that in the darknesse is anxious and adverse; the darknesse is the greatest enmity of the light and yet it is the cause that the light is manifest: for if there were no Black, then white could not be manifest to it selfe: and if there were no Sorrow, then joy were also not manifest to it selfe. 8.Mysterium Magnum, an Exposition of Genesis, parts I-III
It is Lord Lucifer which hath thus spoiled it, that it rageth and raveth so in this world, which so runneth and floweth and is so thick and dark, and moreover if it runneth not it becometh stinking; of which I shall treat more largely, when I shall write of the Creation. 18.Aurora, the Day-Spring
The doctrine for which he is called both the father of German philosophy and a Gnostic; the hinge of every modern reading, from Schelling's ground in God to O'Regan's God perfected through evil.