AC 20, 21 - darkness and light; evening and morning

AC 20
Thoroughly external people
do not even know what good is and what truth is,
for they imagine that everything which comprises self-love
and love of the world is good,
and that everything that panders to those loves is truth.
Thus they do not know
that the things which they imagine to be good
are in fact evil,
and that those they imagine to be true
are in fact false.

. . . The light is called good, because it comes from the Lord,
who is good itself.
'The darkness' is those things
which were there prior to the person's new conception and birth.
They were seen as light,
because evil was seen as good,
and falsity as truth.
But in reality
they are darkenss . . ..
All things that are the Lord's,
being things of light,
are compared to the day,
and all that are a person's own (proprium)
being those of thick darkness,
are compared to the night,
as is done many times in the Word.

AC 22
Because 'evening' is a time when there is no faith,
and 'morning' when there is,
the Lord's Coming into the world is called 'the morning' . . ..

AC 6-13 - the six days of creation or steps of repentence, reformation, and regeneration

AC 6-
The six days, or periods,
which are so many successive states of the regeneration of a person,
are in general as follows.

The first state is that which precedes,
including both the state from infancy,
and that immediately before regeneration.
This is called a "void" "emptiness" and "thick darkness."
And the first motion, which is the Lord's mercy,
is "the Spirit of God moving upon the faces of the waters."

The second state is when a distinction is made
between those things which are of the Lord,
and those which are proper to a person.
The things which are of the Lord are called in the Word "remains"
and here are especially knowledges of faith,
which have been learned from infancy,
and which are stored up, and are not manifested (or do not come out)
until the person comes into this state.
At the present day this state seldom exists without
temptation, misfortune, or sorrow,
by which the things of the body and the world, that is,
such as are proper to a person,
are brought into quiescence, and as it were die.
Thus the things which belong to the external person are separated
from those which belong to the internal person.
In the internal person are the remains,
stored up by the Lord unto this time, and for this use.

The third state is that of repentance,
in which the person, from his internal person,
speaks piously and devoutly, and brings forth goods,
like works of charity,
but which nevertheless are inanimate,
because he thinks they are from himself.
These goods are called the "tender grass" a
nd also the "herb yielding seed"
and afterwards the "tree bearing fruit."

The fourth state is when a person becomes affected with love,
and illuminated by faith.
He indeed previously discoursed piously, and brought forth goods,
but he did so in consequence of the temptation
and straitness under which he labored,
and not from faith and charity;
wherefore faith and charity are now enkindled in his internal person,
and are called two "luminaries."

The fifth state is when a person discourses from faith,
and thereby confirms himself in truth and good:
and the things then produced by him are animate,
and are called the "fish of the sea" and the "birds of the heavens."

The sixth state is when, from faith, and consequently from love,
he speaks what is true, and does what is good:
the things which he then brings forth
are called the "living soul" and the "beast."
And as he then begins to act at once and together
from both faith and love,
he becomes a spiritual person, who is called an "image."
His spiritual life is delighted and sustained by
such things as belong to the knowledges of faith,
and to works of charity, which are called his "food;"
and his natural life is delighted and sustained
by those which belong to the body and the senses;
when a combat arises,
until love gains the dominion,
and he becomes a celestial person.

Those who are being regenerated do not all arrive at this state.
The greatest part, at this day, attain only the first state;
some only the second;
others the third, fourth, or fifth; few the sixth;
and scarcely anyone the seventh.

SD 11 - permission; AC 1,2 - the Lord's Word

Today I begin to read The Spiritual Diary also known as Spiritual Experiences. I am also going to be reading the Arcana Coelestia again - a few pages from each work. So some days, you may see a Title that says SD or AC, or both, depending, and that is why.

SD 11
There is no permission save for a good end.

AC 1, 2
From the mere letter of the Word of the Old Testament
no one would ever discern the fact
that this part of the Word contains deep secrets of heaven . . .

. . . that the Word is really of this character
might be known from the single consideration
that being the Lord's
and from the Lord
it must of necessity contain within it such things
as belong to heaven, to the church, and to religious belief,
and that unless it did so
it could not be called the Lord's Word,
nor could it be said to have any life in it.

Concerning the Lord - when He spoke of or with Himself

Concerning the Lord

Through temptations a person becomes spiritual
and is conjoined to heaven.
But the Lord through temptations
conjoined His Human to the Divine itself
which was in Him,
and so He became God as to the Human.

He was united to His Divine by successive steps . . .
and He was united through temptations and victories.
Full unition was accomplished by the passion of the cross.

So far as He was united,
so far He spoke with Himself;
but so far as He was not yet united,
so far He spoke as with another.
The latter was His state of humiliation,
but the former the state of glorification.

Divine Wisdom XII - the eye sees and the mind thinks

Divine Wisdom XII.

The eye sees the universe,
and the mind thinks about it,
first that it was created
and afterwards by whom it was created.
The mind that thinks from the eye
thinks that it was created by nature;
but the mind that does not think from the eye
thinks that it is from God;
while the mind that takes the middle path
thinks that it is from an Entity of which it has no idea,
for it perceives that something cannot exist from nothing.
But such a mind falls into nature
because it has an idea of space respecting the infinite,
and an idea of time respecting the eternal.
Such are interior natural people;
while those who think simply of nature as the creator
are exterior natural people;
and those who from religion
think simply of God as the Creator of the universe
are exterior spiritual people;
and those who from religion
think wisely of God as the Creator of the universe
are interior spiritual people;
but these latter two classes think from the Lord.
Now, that it may be perceived and thus known
that all things were created by God,
who is the Lord from eternity,
the Divine love itself and the Divine wisdom itself,
thus life itself,
it will be well to proceed by distinct steps;
and this shall be done in the following order:

1. The Lord is the Sun in the angelic heaven.
2. That Sun is the origin of all things.
3. From that Sun the Lord is everywhere present.
4. All things that have been created
were created for obedient service to life itself,
which is the Lord.
5. Souls of life, and living souls, and plant souls,
are animated by the life that is from the Lord,
by means of uses and according to uses.

Divine Wisdom XI - the spiritual is in the moral and the civil

Divine Wisdom XI [13][[3]] (3)

The spiritual is in the moral and the civil.
This follows from what has been said above
that the Lord conjoins Himself with a person in the love of uses,
or in charity towards the neighbor.
The spiritual is from conjunction with the Lord;
the moral is from charity,
and the civil is from the practice of charity.
The spiritual must be in a person that he may be saved;
and this is from the Lord,
not above or outside of a person but within him;
it cannot be in a person's knowledge alone
or from that in his thought and speech,
it must be in his life,
and his life is willing and doing;
consequently when knowing and thinking
are also willing and doing
the spiritual is in the moral and in the civil.
If it be asked, "How can I will and do?"
the answer is,
Fight against evils, which are from hell,
and you will both will and do,
not from yourself but from the Lord,
for when evils are put away
the Lord does all things.

Divine Wisdom XI - end, cause, and effect

Divine Wisdom XI [2]

In each and everything there are these three,
end, cause, and effect;
the end is that from which,
the cause is that by means of which,
and the effect is that in which . . ..
In every love and its affection there is an end,
and the end intends or wills to do what it loves,
and the thing done is its effect.
The Lord is the end from which,
a person is the cause by means of which,
and the use is the effect in which the end exists.

The Lord is the end from which,
because from His Divine love
He perpetually intends or wills to do uses,
that is, to do good to the human race.

Man is the cause by means of which,
because he is or can be in the love of uses;
and in that love he intends or wills to do uses;

and uses are the effects in which the end exists;
and uses are what are called goods.

. . . doing charity is doing uses,
or the goods that are uses,
thus that the love of uses is charity.

Divine Wisdom XI - Love to the Lord are charity and faith

Divine Wisdom XI
. . . to love the Lord is to love that which is from Him,
which in itself is Divine, in which the Lord is;
and that this is doing good to the neighbor;
and that thus and in no other way
can one be loved by the Lord and be conjoined to Him through love.

Divine Wisdom X - the understanding can perfect the will

Divine Wisdom X [3[2]]
The life of the understanding also perfects and exalts the life of the will,
because the love of the will, which constitutes the life of a person,
is purged from evils by means of the understanding,
and from being corporeal and worldly
a person becomes spiritual and celestial,
and then the goods and truths of heaven and of the church
come to be of his affection and nourish his soul.
Thus the life of his will is made new,
and the life of his understanding is from that,
and thus both are perfected and exalted.
This is done in the understanding
and by means of it, from the will,
for the will is the person himself.

Divine Wisdom IX - wisdom teaches and love does; and the Divine Wisdom

Divine Wisdom IX

THE DIVINE LOVE IS THE DIVINE GOOD,
AND THE DIVINE WISDOM IS THE DIVINE TRUTH.

This is because everything that love does is good,
and everything that wisdom teaches is truth.
From this it is clear that the Divine love
is called the Divine good from its effect, which is use;
also that the Divine wisdom
is called the Divine truth from its effect, which is use.
. . . use is what is called good and truth;
good being the essence of use,
and truth its form
. . . wisdom teaches and love does.

[2] The Divine wisdom is what is called the Divine providence,
and what is called also Divine order,
and Divine truths are called the laws of the Divine providence,
. . . they are also called the laws of Divine order.
These laws on the one side have regard to the Lord,
and on the other to people,
and on both sides to conjunction.
The Divine love has for its object
to lead and to bring a person to itself;
and the Divine wisdom has for its object
to teach a person the way in which he must go
that he may come into conjunction with the Lord.
This way the Lord teaches in the Word,
and particularly in the Decalogue;
and on this account the two tables of the Decalogue
were written by the finger of the Lord Himself,
one of which has regard to the Lord and the other to people,
and both to conjunction.

Divine Love VI - the heart and lungs

Divine Love IV
As there is a correspondence of all things of the body
with all things of the mind in a person,
there is primarily a correspondence with the heart and lungs.
This correspondence is universal,
because the heart reigns throughout the body and also the lungs.
The heart and the lungs
are the two fountains of all natural movements in the body,
and the will and understanding
are the two fountains of all spiritual activities in the same body;
and the natural movements of the body
must correspond to the activities of its spirit;
if they did not correspond
the life of the body and also the life of the mind would cease;
it is correspondence that makes both of these to exist and subsist.

Divine Wisdom V - the human mind

Divine Wisdom V [2, 3]
The will and understanding are called receptacles
because the will is not an abstract spiritual thing,
but is a subject substantialized and formed
for the reception of love from the Lord;
and the understanding is not an abstract spiritual thing,
but is a subject substantialized and formed
for the reception of wisdom from the Lord;
for these actually exist;
and although hidden from the sight
they are interiorly in the substances
that constitute the cortex of the brain,
and also here and there in the medullary substance of the brain,
especially in the striated bodies,
also interiorly in the medullary substance of the cerebellum,
and in the spinal marrow, of which they constitute the nucleus.
Thus there are not merely two but innumerable receptacles,
each one doubled and of three degrees . . ..

With infants these receptacles are small and tender;
afterwards they receive increase and are perfected
according to knowledges and affections for knowledges;
they are perfected according to intelligence and the love of uses;
they are made soft according to innocence and love to the Lord;
and they grow solid and hard from the opposites of these.
Their changes of state are affections;
their variations of form are thoughts;
memory is the existence and permanence of both of these;
and recollection is their reproduction.
The two taken together are the human mind.

Divine Wisdom III & IV - being born

Divine Wisdom III
While a person is in the womb
he is in a state of innocence;
therefore his first state after birth is a state of innocence;
and the Lord dwells in a person only in his innocence,
consequently He especially dwells in him
when he is as it were innocence.
Likewise, a person is then in a state of peace.
A person is then in a state of innocence and in a state of peace,
because the Divine love and the Divine wisdom
are innocence itself and peace itself . . ..

Divine Wisdom IV[2]
. . . the two higher degrees of a person's life are opened in him,
and these . . . were the dwelling-places of the Lord in his formation;
also the lowest degree is reformed . . ..
. . . the person who is being regenerated
is as it were conceived, formed, born, and educated anew,
and this to the end
that as to love he may become a likeness of the Lord,
and as to wisdom an image of the Lord,
and, if you are willing to believe it,
the person is thereby made a new person,
not alone in having a new will and a new understanding given him,
but even a new body for his spirit.
. . . new things are formed in the regenerate person as in a womb;
for such as the will and understanding of a person are,
such is the person in each and all things . . ..

Divine Wisdom II - all things of the body, both internal and external, are correspondences

Divine Wisdom II [4]

What correspondence is has not hitherto been known in the world,
for the reason that it has not been known what the spiritual is,
and that there is a correspondence
between what is natural and what is spiritual.
When anything from the spiritual
as the origin and cause
becomes visible and perceptible before the senses,
there is a correspondence between them.
There is such a correspondence
between spiritual and natural things with a person;
spiritual things are all things pertaining to his love and wisdom,
consequently to his will and understanding,
and natural things are all things pertaining to his body.
Because these have existed and perpetually exist,
that is, subsist from spiritual things,
they are correspondences;
and therefore the two act as one, like end, cause, and effect.
Thus the face acts as one with the affections of the mind,
the speech with the thought,
and the actions of all the members with the will . . ..

Divine Love XIX - "to love" is to do

Divine Love XIX

. . . the will and the act are a one,
and will is the endeavor of love,
it follows that in the Word
"to love" has no other meaning than to do;
thus that "to love the Lord and to love the neighbor"
means to perform uses to the neighbor from love
which is from the Lord.
That this is so the Lord Himself teaches in John:

He that has My commandments and does them,
he it is that loves Me;
but he that loves Me not
keeps not My words.
(John 14:21, 24)

Abide in My love.
If you have kept My commandments
you shall abide in My love.
(John 15:9, 10)

Moreover, there are two things that cannot be separated;
namely, being (esse) and existing (existere).
Being is nothing unless it exists;
and it becomes something by existing.
So it is with loving and doing,
or with willing and acting;
for to love, and not do,
and to will and not act,
are impossible, for they do not exist;
but they exist in doing and acting;
consequently, when a person does and acts,
then love and will have being.
In this and in no other way
is the Lord loved and the neighbor loved.

Divine Love XVII - how spiritual affection is acquired

Divine Love XVII [5]
. . . how spiritual affection is acquired.
It is not acquired by faith alone,
which is faith separated from charity,
for such faith is merely a thought-faith, with nothing actual in it;
and as it is separated from charity
it is also separated from affection,
which is the person himself;
and for this reason it is dissipated after death like something aerial.
But spiritual affection is acquired
by shunning evils because they are sins;
which is done by means of combat against them.
The evils that a person must shun
are all set forth written in the Decalogue.
So far as a person fights against them
because they are sins
he becomes a spiritual affection,
and thus he performs uses from spiritual life.
By means of combat against evils
those things that possess one's interiors are dispersed . . ..
In this way one's spiritual mind is opened,
through which the Lord enters into his natural mind
and arranges it for performing spiritual uses
which appear like natural uses.
To these and to no others is it granted by the Lord
to love Him above all things
and the neighbor as oneself.
If a person by means of combat against evils as sins
has acquired anything spiritual in the world,
be it ever so small,
he is saved,
and afterwards his uses grow like a grain of mustard seed into a tree
(according to the Lord's words,
Matt. 13:31, 32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18, 19).

Divine Love XIII - to be in the Lord is to be in use

Divine Love XIII

To love the Lord
means to do uses from Him and for His sake.
To love the neighbor
means to do uses to the church, to one's country,
to human society, and to the fellow-citizen.
To be in the Lord
means to be a use.
And to be a person
means to perform uses to the neighbor
from the Lord
for the Lord's sake.
To love the Lord
means to do uses from Him
and for His sake,
for the reason
that all the good uses
that a person does
are from the Lord;
good uses are goods,
and it is well known
that these are from the Lord.
Loving these is doing them,
for what a person loves he does.
. . . love, unless it becomes deed,
ceases to be love,
since deed is the effect of love's end,
and is that in which it exists.

Divine Love IV & V - uses and form

Divine Love IV
Uses themselves, viewed in themselves, are spiritual;
while the forms of use . . . are natural.
But yet these are series of uses;
to such an extent that there cannot be a particle,
or the least of any particle . . . that is not a use in form.
The Divine life applies itself to the uses themselves in every series,
and thereby gives life to every form;
from this a person has the life that is called his soul.

Divine Love V
. . . unless the form of use were infinite in the Lord,
it could not possibly exist as finite in any person.

Divine Love III - Life Itself

Divine Love III

The Divine love,
which is life itself,
is not simply love,
but it is the proceeding Divine;
and the proceeding Divine is the Lord Himself.
The Lord is indeed in the sun
which appears to angels in the heavens,
and from which proceed love as heat and wisdom as light;
yet outside of that sun,
love with wisdom is also the Lord.
The distance is only in appearance;
for the Divine is not in space,
but is without distance . . ..
There is an appearance of distance because the Divine love,
such as it is in the Lord,
cannot be received by any angel for it would consume them;
for in itself it is hotter than the fire in the sun of the world;
for this reason it is lessened gradually by infinite circumvolutions,
until, tempered and accommodated it reaches the angels,
who moreover, are veiled with a thin cloud
lest they should be injured by its intensity.

AE 1228 [2,3] - in the Lord, proceeding from the Lord

AE 1128 [2,3]
Love and wisdom in the Lord are not two but one,
and this one is the Divine love,
which appears before the angels of heaven as a sun.
But when love and wisdom proceed from the Lord as a sun
they appear as two distinct things,
love appearing as heat,
and wisdom as light.

. . . It is similar with omnipresence and omniscience.
In the Lord these are one;
and yet they proceed from Him as two distinct attributes;
for omnipresence has relation to love,
and omniscience to wisdom;
or what is the same,
omnipresence has relation to good,
and omniscience to truth,
since all good is of love
and all truth is of wisdom.
The Lord's omnipresence has relation to love and to good
because the Lord is present with a person in the good of his love;
and omniscience has relation to wisdom and to truth
because from a person's good of love
the Lord is omnipresent in the truths of his understanding,
and this omnipresence is called omniscience.
As this is true individually of one person so it is true in general of all.

AE 1228 - angels and the Holy Spirit

AE 1228
But the essence of the matter is
that when the Lord sends angels to people,
as He did to the prophets,
He fills them with His Divine
and thus moves them to speak.
Then the angel that is sent speaks from the Lord
and not from himself;
but as soon as he has spoken
he returns into himself and then knows that he is only an angel.
Thus the Word was written by the Lord by means of angels,
and thus the Lord spoke with the ancients,
as with Abraham, with Hagar his handmaid, with Gideon,
and in general with the prophets,
and this is why the prophets called the angels Jehovah,
and some of them were adored
as long as they were filled with the Divine.
This presence of the Lord
is the same as the presence of the Holy Spirit.

AE 1226 - the essence of uses is the public good

AE 1226 [7]
The essence of uses is the public good.
. . . no one can be kept by the Lord in love to the neighbor
unless he is in some love for the public good;
and no one can be in that love
unless he is in the love of use
for the sake of use,
or in the love of use
from use,
thus from the Lord.

AE 1225 - the Lord is the All

AE 1225 [2] (6)
. . . the Lord is the All
and is in all things of heaven and the church,
and that we are in the Lord,
and He is in us..

AE 1220 - truth from celestial good

AE 1220
. . . "she should be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright,"
(Revelation 19:8)
and "fine linen" signifies truth from celestial good.
The church receives the Lord by these truths,
for the Lord flows in with a person into the good of His love,
and is received by a person in truths,
and from this is all spiritual conjunction.
The expression "to be adorned" is used,
which means to be taught and to learn,
for thus and no otherwise
does the church adorn herself and make herself ready
for the marriage and for receiving the Lord.

AE 1217 - the Lord's kingdom after the Last Judgment

AE 1217
Saying, Alleluia for the Lord God, the Almighty reigns,
(Revelation 19:7)
signifies joy and gladness
that the Lord has now a kingdom on the earth as in the heavens.

. . . This, too, is the meaning of the words in the Lord's Prayer:

Thy kingdom come on earth as in the heavens.
(Matthew 6:10)

The Lord's kingdom existed before the Last Judgment,
for the Lord always rules both heaven and earth;
but after the Last Judgment
the state of the Lord's kingdom
became different from the state before it,
for after it the reception of Divine truth and good
became more universal, more interior, more easy, and more distinct.
It is said, "the Lord God, the Almighty,"
for the Lord is called
"Lord" from good,
and "God" from truth,
"Almighty" from the separation of the good from the evil
by the Last Judgment,
and also from His power to save those who receive Him.

AE 1210 - "To praise God"

AE 1210
"To praise God" signifies confession and worship . . .
for a person must needs praise and glorify the Lord,
that is, give praise and glory to Him,
when he acknowledges in heart
that there is nothing of good in himself,
and that he can do nothing of himself,
and on the other hand,
that all good is from the Lord,
and that the Lord can do all things.
When a person is in this acknowledgment,
he puts aside what is his own,
which belongs to the love of self,
and opens all things of his mind,
and thus gives room for the Divine to flow in
with good and with power.

AE 1202 - the order into which we are created

AE 1202 [3,4]
With people the will and the understanding
are capable of acting as one
or not acting as one;
for a person can think from his understanding
what does not belong to his will,
for he can think what he does not will,
and conversely.
. . . therefore he has the ability to destroy the order of his life
by thinking contrary to his will
and willing contrary to his understanding,
and in this way he has destroyed it.
For this reason a person is born into mere ignorance,
that he may be led out of it into order
through knowledges
by means of his understanding.

The order into which a person was created
is to love God above all things
and the neighbor as himself;
and the state into which a person has come
since he destroyed that order
is loving himself above all things
and the world as himself.

AE 1198 - Salvation and glory and honor and power

AE 1198
Salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God
(Revelation 19:1)
signifies eternal life is from the Lord
through the Divine truth and the Divine good
from His Divine omnipotence.
This is evident from the signification of salvation,
as being eternal life;
also from the signification of "glory and honor,"
as being the Lord's Divine truth and Divine good;
also from the signification of "power,"
as being, in reference to the Lord, omnipotence;
and as the Lord is called in the Word "Jehovah" and "Lord"
from the Divine good,
and "God" from the Divine truth,
and Divine good and truth are signified by "glory and honor,"
so it is said, "the Lord our God".

AE 1193. 1194 - loving usefulness, loving the neighbor

AE 1193 [2]
To love uses is nothing else than to love the neighbor,
for use in the spiritual sense is the neighbor.
This can be seen from the fact
that everyone loves another not because of his face and body,
but from his will and understanding;
he loves one who has a good will and a good understanding,
and does not love one with a good will and a bad understanding,
or with a good understanding and a bad will.
. . . Use is the neighbor,
because every person is valued and loved
not for his will and understanding alone,
but for the uses he performs or is able to perform from these.
Therefore a person of use is a person according to his use . . ..

AE 1194
As mankind was created to perform uses,
and this is to love the neighbor,
so all who come into heaven, however many there are, must do uses.
All the delight and blessedness of these
is according to uses and to the love of uses.
Heavenly joy is from no other source.
He who believes that such joy is possible in idleness is much deceived.
No idle person is tolerated even in hell.
. . . The difference is that in hell uses are done from fear,
but in heaven from love;
and fear does not give joy,
but love does.

AE 1185, 1189 - shunning evils and our natural

AE 1185 [3]
. . . so long as evils remain
a person can see nothing from the spiritual in his natural . . .

AE 1189 [3]
. . . he who does not shun evils because they are sins
does not fear God,
and therefore remains natural.

AE 1182 - speaking with spirits

AE 1182 [4,5]
Something shall now be said about the speech of spirits with people.
Many believe that a person can be taught by the Lord
by means of spirits speaking with him;
but those who believe this and are willing to believe it
do not know that it is attended with danger to their souls.
So long as a person is living in the world,
as to his spirit he is in the midst of spirits,
although spirits do not know that they are with a person,
nor does a person know that he is with spirits;
and for the reason that as to the affections of the will
they are immediately conjoined,
while as to the thoughts of the understanding
they are mediately conjoined.
For a person thinks naturally,
but spirits think spiritually;
and natural and spiritual thought make one only by correspondences;
and in a oneness by correspondences
neither one of the two knows anything about the other.
But as soon as spirits begin to speak with a person
they come out of their spiritual state into the person's natural state,
and they then know that they are with a person
and they conjoin themselves with the thoughts of his affection
and speak with him from those thoughts.
They can enter into no other state of a person,
for all conjunction is by like affection and thought therefrom,
while unlike separates.
For this reason the speaking spirit
must be in the same principles as the person is,
whether they be true or false;
and these he stirs up,
and through his affection conjoined to a person's affection
he strongly confirms them.

All spirits that speak with a person were once people in the world,
and were then of like character.
. . . And what is absurd,
when a man believes that the Holy Spirit is speaking with him
or operating upon him
the spirit also believes himself to be the Holy Spirit.
This is common with enthusiastic spirits.
All this shows the danger in which a person is who speaks with spirits,
or who manifestly perceives their operation.
A person does not know what the quality of his affection is,
whether it be good or evil,
or with what others it is conjoined;
and if he is in the pride of self-intelligence
the spirit within him favors every thought from that source . . ..
Whenever a spirit from like affection
favors a person's thoughts or principles,
one leads the other as the blind lead the blind until both fall into the pit.

AE 1180 - knowing everything

AE 1180
A person who knows all goods and all truths,
as many as can be known,
but does not shun evils,
knows nothing.

AE 1175 - how we are led by the Lord

AE 1175 [3,4]
The same is meant by affection as by love.
But love is like a fountain
and affections are like the streams therefrom,
thus affections are continuations of love.
Love as a fountain is in the will of a person;
affections, which are streams from it,
flow by continuity into the understanding,
and there by means of light from truths produce thoughts,
just as the influences of heat in a garden
produce germinations by means of rays of light.

Why a person is led by the Lord by means of affections
and not by means of thoughts shall now be told.
When a person is led by the Lord by means of affections
he can be led according to all the laws of His Divine providence,
but not if he should be led by means of thoughts.
Affections do not become evident to a person, but thoughts do;
also affections produce thoughts,
but thoughts do not produce affections;
there is an appearance that they do, but it is a fallacy.
And when affections produce thoughts
they produce all things of a person,
because these constitute his life.
Moreover, this is known in the world.
If you hold a person in his affection you hold him bound,
and lead him wherever you please,
and a single reason is then stronger than a thousand.
But if you do not hold a person in his affection
reasons are of no avail,
for his affection, when not in harmony with them,
either perverts them or rejects them or extinguishes them.
It would be similar if the Lord
should lead a person by means of thoughts immediately,
and not by means of affections.
Again, when a person is led by the Lord by means of affections,
it seems to him as if he thought freely as if of himself,
and spoke freely and acted freely as if of himself.
And this is why the Lord does not teach a person immediately,
but mediately by means of the Word,
and by means of doctrines and preachings from the Word,
and by means of conversations and interaction with others;
for from these things person thinks freely as if of himself.