The Relation Between Soul And Body and its Eschatological Consequences in Jacob Boehme’s Philosophy With Regard to Mulla Sadraʹʹs Position

The Relation Between Soul And Body and its Eschatological Consequences in Jacob Boehme’s Philosophy With Regard to Mulla Sadraʹʹs Position

Even though Mulla Sadra and Jacob Boehme come from two different traditions and despite the absence of philosophical formation of the latter, a similar visionary experience led them to lay the basis of a conception of man which has many shared aspects. The issue of the relation between his body and soul enables us to seize some of these similarities, especially concerning the aim of manʹs terrestrial life in light of eschatology. In both cases, terrestrial life enables man to grow progressively his own "body of resurrection" which will remain in the outer world after the death of his material body. However, on the basis of his conception of the principiality and unity of existence as well as its modulated nature, Mulla Sadra presents a conception of the relation of body and soul characterized by a deep unity, and introduces the central notion of creative imagination, whereas Boehme conceives their relation through a frame of his ontology marked by a perpetual opposition of contraries. Nevertheless, both thoughts grant a great importance to body since, although it is the place of perpetual temptation and may induce man’s fall, it is also, and above all, a "temple" in which a celestial body is progressively constituted. This "body of resurrection" will remain after the death of the corporal body, taking the shape of the personʹs thought and acts during his terrestrial life. Therefore, this vision led both philosophers to account for the personal dimension of resurrection, and the centrality of the individual.