Jakob Böhme discovered Christ within through a profound inner crisis and mystical vision. In 1600, while gazing at a pewter dish reflecting sunlight, he experienced a "flash”, a sudden, overwhelming inner illumination that revealed the divine nature within his own soul. He felt the inner birth of Christ taking place in his being. For Böhme, discovering Christ within meant realizing that the soul's true center is a "nothingness"—a place where all self-will and desire die so that the divine life of Christ can be born and live in its place. He described this as the spiritual "clothing" of the soul with a new body of divine substance, achieved by dying to one's own ego and surrendering wholly to God. This was the discovery of Christ as an indwelling, transformative presence that remakes the soul from the inside out.