O trajeto antropológico da imagética pictórica de Jacob Boehme: do olho das maravilhas à imagem figurativa

Abstract

From the observation that the diagram of the Wonder Eye of Eternity, elaborated by the German mystic Jacob Böhme, was practically forgotten by esoterists, who prioritized the emblem Figurative Image of the three worlds, the present thesis aims to reconstruct the anthropological path that led to the hegemony of the Figurative Image to the detriment of the Eye. This substitution is strange because, according to Böhme, in addition to condensing all his thought, the diagram makes possible the spiritual rebirth, which is a goal of the esotericist. Therefore, it will be defended the hypothesis that the symbolic imagination of most of the early Böhmists, as well as the Germanic imaginary of the time, favored the daytime regime of images, while Böhme’s symbolic imagination was usually positioned in the nocturnal regime. To investigate this assumption, it was consulted the Human and Social Sciences, with emphasis on the General Theory of Imaginary, developed by the anthropologist Gilbert Durand. Thus, Durandian symbolic hermeneutics was applied to textual and pictorial images from primary sources such as sacred and religious art and esoteric writings from medieval and early modern Europe. Regarding methodology, the present research is bibliographical as to the means, exploratory as to the ends, and its logical basis was the hypothetical-deductive method. The research is pertinent because Böhme’s books contribute to the spread of Christian theosophy, a current of esoterism present all over the West and the object of study of the Western Esotericism, field in Religious Studies. Therefore, this work contributes to academic studies in Western Esotericism by rescuing the value of pictorial imagery for understanding Böhme, as an alternative to historicist interpretations, which discredit the imaginary and make it impossible to understand the author.