Boehme wrote a key to his own writings in 1624. The first instruction is: do not read them outwardly only, with sharp speculation. The second: if you cannot understand them, do not throw them away, but turn your mind to God and read again. The third: you will see more and more in them each time, until you are drawn into the depth itself. Four hundred years later this is still the only instruction that matters for reading anything real. You do not understand a book the first time. You do not understand a person the first time. Understanding is not a event. It is a practice.