SD 5743 - the battle of temptation

SD 5743
But ([it is impossible) to describe
all and every one of the incidents of the battle,
which was a temptation,
and, indeed, the most grievous of all temptations,
continuing almost to despair.
The Lord held them in truth,
but the devil in falsity:
consequently, they were as if in internal collision;
by which, also, it could be evident
of what kind the Lord's temptations were in the world,
when He admitted the hells to Himself;
and of what kind the last, of the Cross -
respecting which it can only be said
that they were unspeakable;
nor could they be comprehended,
or imagined, by any person.
It was said that the Lord sustained them
from earliest youth right up to the end of His life,
and that He thus subdued the hells,
and reduced the heavens and all things [in them] into order;
also, that He, at the same time, glorified His Human;
- without which things, no mortal could be saved. 

AC 4145 - the path to conjugial love

AC 4145 [3]
Take as another example conjugial love.
The good which comes first and is introductory
is good looks, or good manners, or outward compatibility,
or similarity of social class, or aspiration.
These forms of good (mediate goods)
are the first intermediate ones of conjugial love.
After this comes the joining together of minds
in which one wills as the other does
and finds delight in doing that which is pleasing to the other.
This is the second state,
and although those initial forms of good are still present
they are no longer kept in view.
Finally there follows a uniting
involving celestial good and spiritual truth.
That is to say, one believes as the other believes,
and one is moved by an affection for good
as the other is moved.
When this state is reached
both together experience the heavenly marriage,
which is a marriage of good and truth,
and so experience conjugial love
since conjugial love is nothing else.
At the same time the Lord is flowing
into the affections of them both as into a single affection.
This is a good which flows in down a direct line,
whereas the previous kind of good (mediate good)
which had flowed in down an indirect line
had served as the means of introduction to this good.

AC 4121 - relationships

AC 4121
. . . in themselves
goods and truths acknowledge
no other father than the Lord,
for they are from Him alone.
Consequently, all who are in goods and truths
are in brotherhood;
but still there are degrees of relationship
according to the quality of the goods and truths.
These degrees are signified in the Word by
"brothers," "sisters," "sons-in-law," "daughters-in-law,"
"grandsons," "granddaughters," and by other family names. 

[2] On earth
they are so named with reference to a common parentage,
however they may differ in regard to affections;
but this brotherhood or relationship
is dissipated in the other life,
and unless they have been in similar good on earth,
they there come into other brotherhoods.
At first indeed they for the most part come together,
but in a short time are separated;
for in that world it is not wealth that keeps people together,
but as just said, affections,
the quality of which is then clear as in a clear day,
and also the kind of affection
which one has had toward another. 

SD 5720 - our life, our spiritual quality

SD 5720
. . . a person's life determines the quality of his spirit,
and that he is such as his life is,
thus as his will and understanding
for the whole of a person's life
refers itself to those two,
and proceeds from those two.

AC 4110 - three kinds of spirits; AC 4111 - changes of state

AC 4110 [2]
There are good spirits,
there are spirits of a middle sort,
and there are evil spirits,
who are adjoined to a person during his regeneration,
to the end that by their means
he may be introduced into genuine goods and truths,
and this by the Lord by means of angels;
but they are such spirits or societies of spirits
as are not in agreement with the person to be regenerated,
except for a time;
and therefore, when they have performed their use,
they are separated.
Their separation is effected in various ways -
that of the good spirits in one way,
that of the spirits of a middle sort in another way,
and that of the evil spirits in still another way.
The separation of the good spirits
is effected without their being aware of it,
for they know that of the Lord's good pleasure
it is well with them wherever they may be,
or wherever they may be by Him transferred.
But the separation of the spirits of a middle sort
is effected by many means,
even until they withdraw in freedom.
. . . The evil spirits also are indeed removed in freedom,
but in a freedom which only appears to them as freedom.
They are adjoined for the purpose of introducing
opposing ideas and feelings which are to be rejected,
in order that the person may be
the better confirmed in truths and goods;
and when he begins to be confirmed in these,
they perceive a discomfort in remaining,
and a delight in separation,
and in this manner they are separated in a freedom
that comes of their delight.
Such is the case with the separation
of the spirits from a person when he is being regenerated,
and consequently with the changes of his state
as to good and truth.

AC 4111 [3]
For speaking generally,
the changes of state in the other life
are nothing else than
approaches to the Divine
and removals from the Divine.

SD 5709 - foundations of truth

SD 5709
Afterwards, I spoke about the foundations of truth,
that they are two,
one from the Word,
the other from nature or from the truths of nature;
and that the foundation from the Word
is for the universal heaven,
thus for those who are in the light of heaven;
but the foundation from nature,
for those who are natural and in natural light,
thus for those who have confirmed themselves
from the letter of the Word in things not true,
yes, in falsities, so as to be convinced of them.
For these are no longer able to be convinced from the Word.
But, still, they [i.e., these two foundations of truth]
agree the one with the other;
which is proved by a contemplation of certain things in the Word.
Since sciences have shut up the understanding,
therefore, sciences may also open it;
and it is opened so far as people are in good.

AC 4096 - spiritual things or worldly things?

AC 4096 [2,5]
 The subject now is the reciprocal application to good
of those affections for truth . . ..
But these things are of such a nature
that they do not fall into any understanding
except that which has been instructed,
and which perceives delight
in the memory-knowledge of such things,
and which therefore has spiritual knowledges as its end.
Others care nothing for such things,
and cannot even apply their minds to them.
For they who have worldly and earthly things as their end,
cannot withdraw their senses from them;
and even if they did so,
they would perceive what is undelightful . . ..

. . . Good which is the good of love and charity
flows in from the Lord,
doing so through the angels present with a person.
It does not flow into anything else with a person
than his knowledges.
And as good is there fixed,
the thought is kept in the truths of the knowledges;
and from these many things are called up
which are related and are in agreement . . ..

AC 4085 - "And the angel of God said . . ."

AC 4085
And the angel of God said unto me in the dream, Jacob;
and I said, Behold me!
(Genesis 31:11)
. . . an "angel," when mentioned in the Word,
signifies something of the Lord,
that is, something of the Divine;
for the reason that an angel does not speak from himself,
but from the Lord,
especially when he speaks in a dream, as here to Jacob.
Moreover the angels are of such a disposition as to be indignant
if anything of good and truth that they speak is attributed to them;
and insofar as they can they remove such an idea from others,
especially from a person;
for they know and perceive that all the good and truth
which they think, will, and effect, are from the Lord,
and thus from the Divine.

AC 4063 - old person, new person

AC 4063
When a person is being regenerated,
he is kept by the Lord in a kind of mediate good.
This good serves for introducing genuine goods and truths;
but after these have been introduced,
it is separated from them.
Everyone who has learned anything about regeneration
and about the new person, can understand
that the new person is altogether different from the old;
for the new person
is in the affection of spiritual and heavenly things,
and these produce its delights and pleasures;
whereas the old person
is in the affections of worldly and earthly things,
and these produce its delights and pleasures;
consequently the new person has regard to ends in heaven,
but the old person to ends in the world.
From this it is clear that the new person
is altogether different and diverse from the old.

In order that a person may be brought
from the state of the old person into that of the new,
the passions of the world must be put off,
and the affections of heaven must be put on.
This is effected by innumerable means,
which are known to the Lord alone,
and many of which
have also been made known by the Lord to angels;
but few if any to people.
Nevertheless all of them both in general and particular
have been made clear by the internal sense of the Word.
When therefore a person,
from being the old person is made a new one
(that is, when he is being regenerated),
it is not done in a moment, as some believe,
but through a course of years;
even during the person's whole life,
even to its end; for his lusts have to be rooted out,
and heavenly affections have to be insinuated;
and the person has to be gifted
with a life which he had not before,
and of which indeed he knew scarcely anything.
Seeing therefore that the person's states of life
have to be so greatly changed, it must needs be
that he is long kept in a kind of mediate good,
that is, in a good which partakes
both of the affections of the world,
and of the affections of heaven;
and unless he is kept in this mediate good,
he in no wise admits heavenly goods and truths. 

. . . a person is kept in this middle good
no longer than until it has served this use;
but this having been served, it is separated.

AC 4058, 4060 - ending and beginning

AC 4058
The subject in previous verses of this chapter in Matthew
has been the progressive ruination of the Church,
which took place as follows:
First of all people ceased to know what good or truth was,
and instead began to argue with one another about these.
In a second phase they treated them with contempt;
in a third they did not in their hearts acknowledge them;
and in a fourth they profaned them.

AC 4060 [7]
And they will see the Son of Man
coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory.
(Matthew 24:30)

means that at that time
a revelation of the internal sense of the Word
 - the sense in which the Lord is present -
will take place.
'The Son of Man' means Divine truth within the Word, 
'the clouds' the literal sense.
'Power' has reference to the good
and 'glory' to the truth present there.
. . .This is the kind of coming of the Lord that is meant here,
not a literal manifestation of Him in clouds. 

SD 5685 - reality

SD 5685
This I am able to declare:
that those things which are in heaven
are more real
than those which are in the world.

AC 4040, 4041, 4054 - the heavenly form, the brain, and ends and uses

AC 4040
When the brain is denuded of the skull
and the coverings that encompass it,
wonderful sinuously curving and
overlapping masses of tissue are visible,
in which there are deposited
what are called the cortical substances.
From these run out fibers
which constitute the medulla of the brain.
These fibers proceed from there
by way of nerves into the body
and perform functions there as the brain bids and chooses.
All of this is in perfect accord with the heavenly form,
for such a form is imprinted by the Lord on the heavens,
and from the heavens on the things within the human being,
in particular on his cerebrum and cerebellum.

AC 4041
The heavenly form is amazing,
and quite surpasses all human intelligence;
for it is far above the ideas of the forms
that a person can possibly conceive of from worldly things,
even with the aid of analysis.
All the heavenly societies are arranged in order
in accordance with this form,
and wonderful to say
there is a gyration (movement) according to these forms,
of which angels and spirits are not sensible.
This is like the daily movement of the earth round its axis,
and its annual movement round the sun,
which its inhabitants do not perceive.

AC 4044
Representations are nothing but images
of spiritual things in natural ones,
and when the former are rightly represented in the latter,
the two correspond.
. . . as there is nothing that can subsist from itself,
but only from some other,
and this again from some other,
and finally from the First,
and this by a nexus of correspondences,
they who enjoy some extension of judgment
 may draw the conclusion
that there is a correspondence between a person and heaven;
and further, between heaven and the Lord who is the First.

AC 4054
The brain, like heaven,
is in the sphere of ends which are uses;
for whatever flows in from the Lord
is an end looking to the salvation of the human race.
This end is that which reigns in heaven,
and thereby reigns likewise in the brain;
for the brain, which is where the mind is,
looks to ends in the body,
in order that the body may serve the soul,
so that the soul may be happy to eternity.
. . . For it is the end that makes the person,
and such as is the end,
such is the person;
consequently such is his human after death.
 

SD 5653-1/2 - true wisdom

SD 5653-1/2
. . . they place wisdom in wickedness,
when nevertheless wickedness is not wisdom;
because wickedness brings them to hell,
or to eternal unhappiness,
but true wisdom -
which is without wickedness -
to heaven,
consequently to eternal happiness.

AC 4031 - freedom & self-compulsion

AC 4031 [4]
It is a person's freedom into which the Lord operates,
and by means of which He turns him in a different direction.
For all freedom involves that which is present
 in his love or affection, and so in his will.
If he does not receive good and truth in freedom
it cannot be made or become his own,
since that which is for him compulsory is not his own
but belongs to whoever compels it.
For he is not acting of himself
even though the action is done by him.
It does sometimes seem as though
a person is drawn under compulsion towards good,
as in temptations and spiritual conflicts.
But within these experiences
he is in greater freedom than when he is outside them.
It also seems as though a person
is acting under compulsion
when he compels himself to do good;
but self-compulsion is one thing,
being compelled is another.
Self-compulsion with anyone
is a product of the freedom within him,
but being compelled is a product of non-freedom.
This shows what dim misconceptions
and then what errors people end up with
who reason about the Lord's Providence,
about human salvation,
and about the eternal damnation of many,
yet who are unaware of the fact
that it is freedom through which the Lord operates
and by no means through compulsion.
For compulsion in things of a holy nature
if not freely accepted is dangerous.

SD 5642 - in God we live, move and are

SD 5642
. . . (a person) believes he lives from himself;
and, by reason of his understanding of truth and will of good,
that he believes he understands truth and wills good
from himself;
because it entirely appears so.
Those appearances are so real,
that the spirits are altogether unaware . . .
and the angels of heaven know, indeed,
but do not talk about it.
This is of the Lord's Divine Providence,
in order that everyone may seem to himself
to live and act from himself.

. . . Spirits and angels are, indeed, actual forms;
but they have nothing of life from themselves.
They are led by the Lord according to [their] life;
for in God we live, move, and are.
These forms are recipients of the Divine:
and, in whatever manner they receive,
just such they are.
Because those forms are the forms of interior nature,
or are in the spiritual world,
they are adapted to all the changes and variations of state,
and this to an immense and incredible extent,
and in greater extent according as they are in interiors
to what extent and of what kind, there, is incredible.

AC 4015 - to be ordered is to be regenerated

AC 4015
. . . all ordering of good and truth within the natural person
comes from the spiritual person, that is,
it comes from the Lord by way of the spiritual man -
by way of the truth there.
For the Lord flows
into the good of the spiritual or interior person;
and through the truth there
He flows into the natural person.
But He does not flow in directly by way of good into the natural
until the person has been regenerated.
All ordering within the natural person therefore
is effected by the interior person.
The natural - that is, the natural person -
cannot possibly be ordered,
that is, regenerated, in any other way.

SD 5610 - angels

SD 5610
Angels . . . are sometimes in great wisdom,
sometimes in less,
sometimes in clearness,
sometimes in obscurity,
. . . and when [they are turned] to those things
which are in my thought from the heavenly doctrine,
then they are in greater clearness
than in any other case.

SD 5571 - numbers in heaven

SD 5571
Sometimes numbers appear,
a paper filled with them;
they also appear on the walls -
which signify such things as the celestials think . . ..
Every single idea has its own number.
In general, even numbers correspond to good, as 2, 4, 8,
and odd numbers - as 3, 9 - to truth. 

SD 5570 - How are you feeling?

SD 5570
When a person is in inward joy,
or in inward sadness and melancholy,
it comes from nowhere else
than from the influx of spirits
who talk and speak contrary to his loves,
or in agreement with his loves.

(SD 5568 & SD 5569 go into more detail.)

SD 5545 - the use of the intellect

SD 5545
. . . the angels are in the intellectual [degree]
when they are in wisdom and intelligence;
likewise, that the person who is enlightened by the Lord
when he reads the Word,
nothing of the understanding comes immediately;
- the intellect, also, is for the reception of the truths
which are of faith,
and the will for the reception of the goods
which are of love;
and that, without such intellectual [degree],
a decision could not be arrived at as to what is true . . .

AC 4007 - the truth of faith

AC 4007 [4]
. . . the truth of faith does not exist with any
who believe that they have faith of themselves
and so believe that they are wise of themselves.
Rather, it exists with those who believe
that their faith and wisdom come from the Lord . . ..

There are two things which all who enter heaven cast aside,
namely their proprium and consequent confidence,
and merit that is their own or self-righteousness.
Then they assume a heavenly proprium
which comes from the Lord,
and the Lord's merit or righteousness.

AC 3994 - the wolf and the lamb

AC 3994 [3, 4]

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
and the calf and the young lion and the fatling* together,
and a little child shall lead them;
(Isaiah 11:6)

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpents bread.
They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all the mountain of My holiness.
(Isaiah 65:25)

Where the "wolf" as above denotes
those who are against innocence;
and the "lamb,"
those who are in innocence.

In the original language
"lambs" are expressed by various names,
by which are signified the different degrees of innocence;
for as before said,
in all good there must be innocence to make it good;
consequently there must be the same in truth.

*also translated as yearling

AC 3993 - white

AC 3993 [5]
"White" in the internal sense signifies truth,
properly the Lord's righteousness and merit,
and from this the Lord's righteousness and merit in a person.
This white is called "bright white,"
because it shines from the light that is from the Lord.
But in the opposite sense
"white" signifies a person's own righteousness,
or his own merit;
for truth without good is attended with such self-merit,
because when anyone does good,
not from the good of truth,
he always desires to be recompensed,
because he does it for the sake of himself;
whereas when anyone does truth from good,
this good is then enlightened
by the light that is from the Lord.

AC 3986 - variety, harmony and yielding to the Lord

AC 3986 [2,3,4]
The goods that are in people,
as well within the church as without it,
are absolutely various,
so various that the good of one person
is never precisely like that of another.
The varieties come forth
from the truths with which the goods are conjoined;
for all good has its quality from truths,
and truths have their essential from goods.
Varieties come forth also
from the affections of everyone's love;
which are enrooted in and appropriated to a person by his life.
Even in the person who is within the church
there are few genuine truths,
and still fewer in the person who is without the church;
so that the affections of genuine truth are rare among people. 

Nevertheless they who are in the good of life,
that is, who live in love to the Lord
and in charity toward the neighbor, are saved.
That these can be saved is because
the Divine of the Lord is in the good of love to God
and in the good of charity toward the neighbor;
and where the Divine is within,
there all things are disposed into order,
so that they can be conjoined with the genuine goods
and genuine truths that are in the heavens.
. . . Everyone is composed
of various things harmoniously conjoined;
and the case is the same
with the goods and truths in the spiritual world,
which, although various . . . nevertheless make a one
from the Divine through love and charity.
For love and charity are spiritual conjunction;
and their variety is heavenly harmony,
which makes such concord
that they are a one in the Divine,
that is, in the Lord.

Moreover the good of love to God
and the good of charity toward the neighbor,
however various may be the truths
and the affections of truth,
are nevertheless receptive of genuine truth and good;
for they are so to speak not hard and resisting,
but are as it were soft and yielding,
suffering themselves to be led by the Lord,
and thus to be bent to good,
and through good to Him.
Very different is the case with those
who are in the love of self and of the world.
These do not suffer themselves
to be led and bent by the Lord and to the Lord,
but resist stiffly, for they desire to lead themselves;
and this is still more the case
when they are in principles of falsity
that have been confirmed.
So long as they are of this character
they do not admit the Divine.

AC 3969 - "the spirit of truth"

AC 3969 [17]
The Divine Spiritual that proceeds from the Lord
is called in the Word the "spirit of truth," and is holy truth;
not being of any spirit,
but of the Lord through a spirit sent by Him;
as may be seen from the words of the Lord Himself in John:

When He, the Spirit of Truth, shall come,
He will guide you into all the truth;
for He shall not speak from Himself;
but what things soever He shall hear,
these shall He speak;
and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come.
He shall glorify Me;
for He shall take of Mine,
and shall declare it unto you.
(John 16:13-14)

SD - 5517 - the good of life

SD 5517
. . . the good of life desires nothing more than it does truth,
for it desires to know how to live well;
consequently those rejoiced when they are instructed:
also, all such receive truth from the Lord, and are illustrated,
according to the kind and amount of their good of life.

AC 3960 - where conjugial love comes from

AC 3960 [3]
. . . all genuine conjugial (marriage) love comes forth
from no other source than the heavenly marriage,
which is that of good and truth;
and this from the Divine marriage,
which is the the Lord
as to His Divine itself and His Divine Human.

AC 3967 - by "Issachar" is meant "reward"

I apologize for the length of this quote.  Perhaps if my dad, who loved the New Church, had not gone from this external world to the internal world so recently, you would be spared.  But he did.

AC 3957
. . . by "Issachar" is meant "reward;"
and as in the external sense "reward" is mutual love;
and in the internal sense, the conjunction of good and truth,
it may be well to state that very few at the present day
in the Christian world know that "reward" has this meaning
. . . as they had not been solicitous about the life after death,
but only about life in the world . . ..

[2] The things which they might have known of themselves
had they chosen to use their reason, are the following:
First, that when a person is divested of his body,
he comes into the full exercise
of a much more enlightened understanding
than when living in the body . . ..
From this they might know that the state after death
is much more clear-sighted and enlightened
than the state before death;
and that when a person dies,
he passes comparatively from shade into light,
because he passes from the things of the world
to those of heaven,
and from the things of the body to those of the spirit.
But wonderful to say,
although they are able to understand all this,
they nevertheless think the contrary,
namely, that the state of life in the body is relatively clear,
and that the state of life after being divested of the body
is relatively obscure. 

[3] The Second thing that they may know
if they will use their reason,
is that the life
which a person has procured for himself in the world
follows him; that is, he is in such a life after death.
. . . For example: he who has acquired a life of deceit,
and has found in this the delight of his life,
cannot put off the life of deceit, but is still in that life after death.
He who is in the love of self,
and thereby in hatred and revenge
against those who do not serve him,
and those who are in other such evils,
remains in them after the life of the body;
for these are the things which they love,
and which constitute the delights of their life . . .
and therefore such things cannot be taken away from them
without at the same time extinguishing all their life.
And so in other cases. 

[4] The Third thing which a person may know of himself,
is that when he passes into the other life
he leaves many things behind which have no place there,
such as cares for food, for clothing, for a place of abode,
and also for gaining money and wealth,
as well as for being exalted to dignities,
all of which are so much thought of
by a person in the life of the body;
but in the other life are succeeded by others
that are not of this earthly kingdom.

[5] Therefore the Fourth thing a person can know
is that he who in the world
has thought solely of such worldly things,
so that he has been wholly possessed by them,
and has acquired delight of life in them alone,
is not fitted to be among those
whose delight is to think about heavenly things,
that is, about the things of heaven. 

[6] From this follows also a Fifth thing; namely,
that when the externals of the body
and the world are taken away,
the person is then such as he has been inwardly;
that is, he so thinks and so wills.
If his thoughts have inwardly been deceits, machinations,
aspiration for dignities, for gains, and for fame thereby;
if they have been hatreds and revenges and the like,
it can be seen that he will still think such things,
thus the things that belong to hell,
however much he might
for the sake of the before-mentioned ends
have concealed his thoughts from people,
and thus appeared outwardly to be worthy,
while leading others to believe
that he had not such things at heart.
That all such externals, or simulations of worth,
are also taken away in the other life,
may likewise be known from the fact
that outward things are put off together with the body,
and are no longer of any use.
From this everyone may conclude for himself
what kind of a person he will then appear to the angels. 

[7] The Sixth thing that may be known is that heaven,
or the Lord through heaven,
is continually working and inflowing with good and truth;
and that if there is not then in people
- in their interior person which lives after the death of the body -
some recipient of good and truth, as a ground or plane,
the good and truth that flow in cannot be received;
and for this reason a person while living in the body
ought to be solicitous to procure such a plane within himself;
but this cannot be procured
except by thinking what is good toward the neighbor,
and by willing what is good to him,
and therefore doing what is good to him,
and thus by acquiring the delight of life in such things.
This plane is acquired by means of charity toward the neighbor,
that is, by means of mutual love;
and is what is called conscience.
Into this plane the good and truth from the Lord can inflow,
and be received therein;
but not where there is no charity,
and consequently no conscience;
for there the inflowing good and truth pass through,
and are turned into evil and falsity.

[8] The Seventh thing that a person can know of himself,
is that love to God and love toward the neighbor
are what make a person to be a person,
distinct from brute animals;
and that they constitute heavenly life, or heaven;
while their opposites constitute infernal life, or hell.
But the reason why a person does not know these things
is that he does not desire to know them,
because he lives the opposite life,
and also because he does not believe in the life after death;
and likewise because he has taken up with principles of faith,
but none of charity;
and consequently believes in accordance
with the doctrinal teachings of many,
that if there is a life after death, he can be saved by faith,
no matter how he has lived,
even if his faith is received in his dying hour.

AC 3954 - how the Word is different

AC 3954
For with the internal sense of the Word the case is
that when the sense of the letter ascends toward heaven,
and thus enters into the sphere
where the thought is from the Lord
and concerning the Lord
and what belongs to the Lord,
it is at last so perceived by the angels;
the sense of the letter (literal sense) finally becomes,
as perceived by the angels, the internal sense.
For the sense of the letter cannot come to the angels,
because it treats in most places of worldly,
earthly, and corporeal things,
of which the angels cannot think,
because they are in spiritual and celestial things,
and thus far above what is earthly.
For this reason a Word has been given
that can serve mankind and at the same time the angels.
In this the Word differs from every other writing.

SD 5513 - dominion

SD 5513
. . . the hells - for dominion is their love which they hug.

AC 3951, 3952 - how the conjunction of good and truth works in the heavenly marriage

AC 3951
For good is not good in a person
until it has been conjoined with truth.
. . . The Lord's Providence
is especially concerned with this conjunction.
By means of it a person becomes a person,
and is distinguished from the brute animals;
and he becomes a person
insofar as he receives of it; 
that is,
insofar as he permits the Lord to effect it.
This therefore is the good that is with a person;
and no other good that is spiritual
and that remains to eternity, is possible. 

AC 3952
. . . the heavenly marriage
is that of good with truth 
and of truth with good,
yet is not between good and truth of one and the same degree,
but between good and truth of a lower and of a higher degree,
that is, not between the good of the external person
and the truth of the same,
but between the good of the external person
and the truth of the internal . . ..
This conjunction is that which makes the marriage.

It is the same in the internal or spiritual person;
the heavenly marriage there
is not between the good and the truth in that person;
but between the good of the spiritual person
and the truth of the celestial person;
for the celestial person is relatively in a higher degree.
Nor is there a heavenly marriage
between the good and the truth in the celestial person;
but between the good of the celestial person
and the truth Divine which proceeds from the Lord.

SD 5508 - interiors and exteriors

SD 5508
. . . all of a person's interiors close in his ultimate in the body;
and this, progressively, from the head to the sole . . ..
In fact, the whole internal of a person is like a person:
it corresponds also to all things with the person.
So it is that the whole person, from head to heel, is his love.

AC 3938 - heaven is denied by the Lord to no one

AC 3938 [4, 6]
All affections have their delights . . ..
The affections of evil and falsity also have their delights;
and before a person begins to be regenerated,
and to receive from the Lord
the affections of truth and good,
these delights appear to be the only ones;
so much so
that people believe that no other delights exist . . ..
But they who receive from the Lord
the delights of the affections of truth and good,
gradually see and perceive
the nature of the delights of their former life,
which they had believed to be the only delights
- that they are relatively vile, and indeed filthy.
And the further a person advances into the delight
of the affections of truth and good,
the more does he begin to regard
the delights of evil and falsity as vile;
and at last to hold them in aversion.

The person of this age believes
that if at the hour of death
he merely has the confidence of faith,
he can get into heaven no matter
in what affection he may have lived
during the whole course of his life.
. . . When they come into the other life,
they at first have no other idea
than that they may enter into heaven,
without any regard to their past life,
in which they had put on the delight
of the affection of evil and falsity
from the loves of self and of the world,
which had been their ends.
. . . everyone can be admitted into heaven,
because heaven is denied by the Lord to no one;
but whether they can live there
they can know when admitted.
Some who firmly believed that they could,
have also been admitted.
But as the life there
is that of love to the Lord
and of love toward the neighbor . . .
they began to be distressed,
not being able to breathe in such a sphere,
and they then began to perceive
the filthiness of their affections,
thus to feel infernal torment.
In consequence of this
they cast themselves headlong down,
saying that they desired to be far away,
and marveling that
that was heaven which to them was hell.

Isaiah 55

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor."

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the Lord
and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower
and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy and be lead forth in peace;
the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord's renown,
for an everlasting sign,
which will not be destroyed.

From Isaiah 57:2
Those who walk uprightly enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.

SD 5463, 5464 - the proprium or self-love

SD 5463
When a person thinks of self
he is in the love of self,
and of the world for the sake of self -
if he prefers himself before others,
and [considers] that he is abler and knows more than they,
and is superior to others;
but they who think of others,
are in charity towards the neighbor,
and in faith and love towards God.
Evil and infernal spirits know how, by various arts,
to turn the thoughts of another spirit upon himself,
and thus to lead him whithersoever they will.

SD 5464 [6, 8]
From the color around a spirit or person
 - black, white, flesh-color, or yellow - 
they conclude something about the person's state
as to his proprium, or self-love.
Where it is black, there is self-love:
such a one is led;
and it is according to the intensity of the black.

It is the sensual of person
where his self-love, or proprium, resides:
so far as he can be drawn up, or elevated,
out of that, as to the thoughts,
towards interiors,
so far he can be led away from his proprium.
A person's sensual, at this day, is, with most people,
wholly corporeal, and has not anything spiritual.

AC 3927 - temptations

AC 3927
. . . for temptations are nothing else than wrestlings
of the internal person with the external,
or of the spiritual person with the natural;
for each desires to rule,
and when dominion is in question,
combat arises . . ..

For when a person is in temptations,
his internal or spiritual person is ruled by the Lord through angels;
but his external or natural person through infernal spirits;
and the combat between them
is that which is perceived by the person as temptation.
When a person is such in faith and life that he can be regenerated,
he will conquer in temptations;
but when he is such that he cannot be regenerated,
he yields in temptations.

AC 3923 - affirming truths

AC 3923 [9]
Even the worst people
are able to know truths and goods,
and also to affirm them;
but the quality of the affirmation
is known from the life.

AC 3909 - And Jacob was kindled with anger against Rachel.

AC 3909
And Jacob was kindled with anger against Rachel.
(Genesis 30:2]
That this signifies indignation on the part of natural good . . ..
It is said "against Rachel,"
because the interior truth represented by Rachel
could not as yet be acknowledged in faith and act
by the good of the natural which is "Jacob."

. . . every natural affection on ascending toward the interiors,
or toward heaven,
becomes more mild,
and is at last changed into a heavenly affection.

AC 3913 [3]
. . . of itself  the natural person 
does not in the least agree
with the spiritual person,
but disagrees so far as to be altogether opposite.
For the natural person regards and loves himself and the world;
but the spiritual person does not regard himself and the world,
except insofar as is conducive
to the promotion of uses in the spiritual world;
and thus regards its service and loves it from the use and end.

SD 5428-5429, SD 5451 - more on the dragon & heavenly doctrine

SD 5428 - 5429
When the dragons
looked upon those who were in heavenly doctrine,
they fell into fearful agonies,
and were tortured and tormented; inasmuch
as they cannot endure Divine Truth.

Michael, in the Apocalypse,
(Revelation 12:7)
are those who are in heavenly doctrine:
the blood of the Lamb,
(Revelation 12:117)
by which they conquered,
is the Divine Truth of that doctrine. 

SD 5451
Those who are in any doctrine,
although not entirely true,
and are nevertheless in the good of life,
are in heaven;
for falsity of doctrine is not falsity
when there is good in it.
All in heaven differ as to truths;
but those who are not in any doctrine
cannot be in heaven.

SD 5400 - the truths of the Church

SD 5400
For he who does [not] care for the truths of the Church,
cannot be led by the Lord to heaven;
for it is by those truths that he is led,
because he is permeated with the faith and love of them,
and is so led to think them and do them.

AC 3900 - the coming of the Lord in us

AC 3900 [9]
The coming of the Lord is not according to the letter,
that He is to appear again in the world;
but it is His presence in every one;
and this exists whenever the gospel is preached
and what is holy is thought of.

SD 5370 - the Dragon

SD 5370
By the Dragon, in the Word,
are meant those who have no desire for doctrine,
but only for the Word in the letter,
and who, by it,
justify all people in their loves and principles
in order to obtain their good-will,
confirming those things by the Word in the letter . . ..

AC 3884 [2]
. . . heaven is within a person,
wherever he may be . . .

AC 3894
. . . the respirations of angels and spirits
are altogether according to their states of love
and of the derivative faith.

AC 3894a
Because this is the case,
and because the upright
on entering the next life
are first of all taken back
to the life which had been theirs in the world,
and so are also taken back
to the desires and pleasures of that life,
they cannot move among angels
and breathe with them,
for the reason that they have not yet
undergone preparation for this.
So when they undergo such preparation
they are first of all
introduced into angelic life
by means of their taking breaths in unison with angels,
and as they do so they enter at the same time
into interior perceptions and into heavenly freedom.
This takes place in a community consisting of many,
that is, in choirs,
in which one member breathes in the same way as another,
and also perceives in the same way,
and in the same way acts in freedom.

AC 3882 - Reuben, Simeon, Levi, & Judah and ladders

AC 3882
"Reuben" signifies
the truth which is the first of regeneration,
or of the new birth;
this is truth merely as to memory-knowledge,
thus it is to know truth.
"Simeon" signifies
the truth which is the second of regeneration,
or of the new birth;
this is truth as to the will,
thus it is to will truth.
"Levi" signifies
the truth which is the third of regeneration,
or of the new birth;
this is truth as to affection,
thus it is to be affected with truth,
which is the same thing as charity.
But "Judah" signifies good,
which is the fourth of regeneration,
or of the new birth,
and this is the celestial of love.
When the regenerate person, or he who is born anew,
arrives at this stage,
the Lord appears to him,
for he has then ascended from the lowest step,
as by a ladder, up to the step where the Lord is. 

This also is the ascent
which was signified by the ladder seen by Jacob in a dream,
which stood upon the earth,
whose top reached to heaven,
and on which the angels of God ascended and descended . . ..

Descent is nothing else than looking at truth from good,
as from a mountain upon which he has climbed,
a person views the things which lie beneath.
That he then can comprehend in one view
innumerable things more
than they who stand beneath or in the valley, is clear;
and the case is precisely the same
with those who are in good
(that is, in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor),
as compared with those who are only in truth,
that is, in faith alone.

SD 5342 - work & piety; SD 5353 - living & thinking

SD 5342
. . . the heavenly life does not consist
in idleness, and in piety without work,
but in piety with work.

SD 5353
. . . where there is not life,
there is no religion:
religion regards living
and not merely thinking.
Living enters the person,
and makes him of its own quality;
but not thinking only.

SD 5336 - the fall of Babylon

SD 5336
Thus was Babylon devastated
and utterly destroyed on three sides,
the southern, the western, and the northern.
This commenced at the end of the year 1756
and the beginning of the year 1757.
Yesterday and today those three tracts [were fully destroyed].
Today is the 6th day of January, 1757. 

AC 3881 - the stories in the Word

AC 3881
. . . the histories of the Word
are believed to be merely historical;
and the prophecies
to be of the things that have been consigned to oblivion,
except some from which doctrinal tenets may be drawn.
That there is a spiritual sense in them is not believed,
because at this day it is not known
what the spiritual sense of the Word is,
nor even what
that which is spiritual is.
The principal reason of this is
that people live a natural life,
and the natural life is such
that when it is regarded as the end,
or is loved above all other things,
it obliterates both knowledges and faith;
insomuch that when spiritual life
and a spiritual sense are mentioned,
it is as though a kind of nonentity were spoken of,
or something unpleasant and sad,
that excites loathing,
because it is in disagreement with the natural life.

SD 5248 - reciprocal hunger

SD 5248
. . . they who have been in the good of life
are in the affection of truth,
for the reason that good hungers for truth,
since truth is, as it were, the food of good;
and that, afterwards, with the same ones,
truth longs for good,
since truth then receives its life from good,
so that there occurs a desire of one for the other reciprocally;
and that a person who is a person of wisdom and intelligence,
is characterized by this desire.

SD 5221 - in this world . . .

SD 5221
. . . when in the world . . .
those things which are of faith,
and so of divine truth,
constitute the spiritual intellectual life,
and that those things which are of love,
and so of divine good,
constitute the celestial voluntary life
with a person,
and consequently his wisdom and happiness.

AC 3875 - mutual love? friendship?

AC 3875 [5]
Mutual love differs from friendship in this respect -
that mutual love regards the good which is in a person,
and because it is directed to good,
it is directed to him who is in good;
but friendship regards the person;
and this also is mutual love
when it regards the person from good,
or for the sake of good;
but when it does not regard him from good
or for the sake of good,
but for the sake of self which it calls good,
then friendship is not mutual love,
but approaches the love of self,
and insofar as it approaches this,
so far it is opposite to mutual love.
In itself mutual love is nothing else
than charity toward the neighbor . . ..

AC 3869 - Where is the truth of faith?

 AC 3869
. . . such is the circle of things in a person,
that whatever enters by the ear and eye,
or by the hearing and sight,
passes into his understanding,
and through the understanding into the will,
and from the will into act.
And in like manner the truth of faith
first becomes the truth of faith in memory-knowledge;
afterwards the truth of faith in the will;
and lastly the truth of faith in act, thus charity.
Faith in memory-knowledge,
or in the understanding, is "Reuben,". . .
faith in the will is "Simeon;"
and when faith in the will becomes charity it is "Levi."

SD 5187, 5189 - the wisdom of the angels

SD 5187, 5189
All the wisdom of the angels is given by means of the Word,
since, in its internal and inmost sense,
it is the Divine Wisdom,
which is communicated to the angels,
through the Word,
when this is read by people,
and when thought is exercised from it.

But, still, it is necessary to be known
that wisdom is given them, mediately,
through angels from the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches,
who were in the science and perception
of representatives and correspondences.
. . . for this reason,
angels from the Most Ancient Churches
are scattered throughout the heavens,
in order that the others may enjoy wisdom.

The science of correspondences and representatives
is the ultimate plane of angelic wisdom;
and since this science has, at the present day, been lost,
so that it is not even known that there is such a thing,
therefore, it is now revealed anew.

AC 3863 - Reuben signifies faith

AC 3863
The universal which "Reuben" signifies, is faith.
The reason why faith is the first universal,
is that when a person is being regenerated
or becoming a church,
he must first learn and become infilled with
the things of faith,
that is, of spiritual truth . . ..
For a person is of such a nature
that of himself he does not know what heavenly good is,
but must learn it from doctrine,
which is called the doctrine of faith.
Every doctrine of faith regards life as the end,
and therefore good,
for good is life.

SD 5152, 5155, 5158 - heaven is joy in useful service

SD 5152
It is said, that those who are in the heavens
are in love to the Lord and in charity towards the neighbor . . .
love to the Lord consists in the fact
that they love to do
those things which the Lord has commanded,
thus the Divine Truths which are in the Word,
and to love them.
In this their love to the Lord consists.
And love towards the neighbor, with them,
consists in the fact that they love to do those things
which the doctrine of their Church prescribes,
thus, to do those things from faith:
this, to them, is loving the neighbor.

SD 5155
All joy, bliss, prosperity, happiness and delight in the heavens,
is in the affection of use for the sake of use . . ..

SD 5158
Heaven is a kingdom of uses.
There is no one there who does not discharge a use.
The kinds of uses are innumerable,
both such as they are conscious of,
and such as they are not conscious of;
for there are, there, those who instruct others,
those who lead to good,
those who are with people,
those who awake the dead,
those who protect,
and those who are responsible for others.
In a word, there are innumerable duties
and everyone, in his own place,
receives certain duties
according to his affection of use for the sake of use.
That affection itself, with its joy,
is the reward and recompense
which is meant in the Word.

AC 3860 - And Leah conceived and bare a son. (Genesis 29:32)

AC 3860
And Leah conceived and bare a son.
That this signifies spiritual conception and birth
from what is external to what is internal,
is evident from the signification of "conceiving and bearing,"
as in the internal sense being to be regenerated;
for the person who is being regenerated
is conceived and born anew,
wherefore regeneration is called a new birth, but spiritual.
A person is indeed born of his parents as a person,
but he does not become a person
until he is reborn of the Lord.

SD 5125, 5136 - heaven is not a place but a state of life

SD 5125
All who come from the world
bring with them the opinion that heaven is on high,
thus in place;
for which reason,
they say that they wish to be raised up into heaven.
But they do not know that heaven is not a place,
but a state of life, 
namely, of the life of love, charity and faith;
and that, though they appear in a higher place than others,
place is an appearance.

SD 5136
In heaven, there are lands, mountains and rivers;
and there is, likewise, [in the world of spirits] a land of Canaan,
where the most upright spirits are.
Such [correspondences] inflow out of heaven [from] the Lord,
by means of the angels,
when the Word is read.
All things there are representatives
of celestial and spiritual things, as in the Word.

AC 3858 - the twelve tribes

AC 3858
As in what now follows
the twelve sons of Jacob are treated of,
and the twelve tribes of Israel
were named from them as their fathers,
let an introductory statement be made where as to
what the tribes signify, and why there were twelve.
No one has yet known the arcanum here concealed,
because it has been believed
that the histories of the Word are bare histories,
and that there is no more of the Divine within
than that they can serve as examples
for the application of holy things.
Consequently, it has been believed
that the twelve tribes signify nothing
but divisions of the Israelitish people
into so many distinct nations or general families,
when yet they involve Divine things . . ..
In general the twelve tribes signified
all things of the doctrine of truth and good,
or of faith and love;
for these (that is, truth and good, or faith and love)
constitute the Lord's kingdom;
for the things of truth or faith are the all of thought therein,
and the things of good or love are the all of affection . . ..

AC 3857 - interior truths

AC 3857
The reason why interior truths were not received,
is that interior truths are such as to transcend a person's faith,
for they do not fall into his ideas,
neither are they according to external appearances,
that is, the fallacies of the senses,
by which every person suffers himself to be led,
and does not believe
that which does not in some measure coincide with them.

For instance -
in regard to the glory of heaven,
or of the angels in heaven -
unless a person formed for himself
an idea of the glory of heaven
in accordance with the idea of glory in the world,
he would not understand the matter,
so neither would he acknowledge it.
And so in all other cases.

SD 5097 - revenge

SD 5097
Some of them are such
that they place the whole delight of their life in revenge;
and, then, just as they have burned with revenge
before they have accomplished it,
so greatly do they rejoice afterwards.
. . . vindictiveness is inrooted,
from immoderate pride,
because they wish to rule all;
for revenge has much in common with self-love.
. . . when interior pride increased,
these are exceedingly cruel.

AC 3845 - seven, week; AC 3846 - serving, study

AC 3845
The reason why a "week," like all times specifically,
signifies a state and also a period,
is that all states have also their periods, that is:
their beginning, successive progress, and end;
yet in the other life these are not perceived as times,
but as states and their revolutions.
It is here very evident what the ancients understood by a week,
namely, . . . . every period that was distinguished into seven,
whether it was of days, or of years, or of ages;
whether it was great or small.
That here it is a period of seven years is clear;
and as with the ancients seven signified that which is holy,
a "week" signified a holy period,
and also the holiness of a period.

AC 3846
The reason why in the internal sense "serving" is study,
is that the labor of the external person
is study in the internal person.
Consequently, study is called a labor of the mind.

SD 5063 - true Christianity

SD 5063
. . . true Christianity consists in this:
that people ought to live in charity towards the neighbor,
that is, to be sincere, to be just, to be upright;
thus, to practice sincerity, justice and
goodness for the sake of those things,
and to esteem them and venerate them as Divine,
because the Divine of the Lord is in them,
inasmuch as they are from Himself . . ..

AC 3843 - the living joins the external & internal

AC 3843
. . . there is conjunction with truths
not only external but also internal
when he is acquainted with both kinds,
or has both in his memory.
Nevertheless there is no conjunction
until the person lives according to them,
for the life shows the conjunction.

AC 3824 - when we learn, acknowlege & believe

AC 3824
Internal truths are said to be conjoined with the natural
when they are learned, acknowledged, and believed.
In the natural of a person,
that is, in the memory of this person,
there are truths both external and internal,
and they are there in the form of memorized doctrinal things;
but they have not been conjoined
until the person is affected with them
for the sake of the use of life,
that is, until they are loved for the sake of life;
for then good is coupled with them,
whereby they are conjoined with the rational,
consequently with the internal person.
In this way there is an influx of life into them from the Lord.

SD 5022 - you can love dominion or you can love marriage

SD 5022
. . . so far as the desire of ruling increases,
in one or another,
so far does the delight of life diminish,
and so far as that desire (of ruling) diminishes
so far does the delight of life increase;
for, when the desire of ruling diminishes and disappears,
then love itself,
and, with love,
delight, rules;
and when love rules,
then the Lord God rules:
so it is in all happiness in marriages.

SD 5002-5003 - How long will we live?

SD 5002-5003
The life of every person is foreseen by the Lord,
as to how long he will live, and in what manner;
wherefore he is directed from earliest infancy
with a regard to a life to eternity.
The Providence of the Lord, therefore,
commences from earliest infancy.

The reasons why some die boys, some youths,
some adults, some old men, are: 

1st, on account of use in the world to men; 

2nd, on account of use,
while he is in the world, to spirits and angels;
for a person, as to his interiors, is with spirits;
and he is there as long as he is in the world,
in which all things in the spiritual world terminate; 

3rd, on account of use to himself in the world,
either that he may be regenerated,
or that he may be let into his evils
lest they lie dormant and afterwards break out,
which would result in his eternal ruin; 

4th, therefore, on account of use afterwards
in the other life after death, to eternity;
for everyone who will be in heaven
has his place in the Grand Man,
or, on the other hand, he has his place in hell . . .

AC 3815 - natural bodies, spiritual bodies

AC 3813 [5]
. . . those who deduce . . . that the dead body itself
shall be collected from the four winds, and shall rise again,
are not acquainted with the internal sense of the Word.
They who know the internal sense,
know that they shall come into the other life with a body,
but a purer one; for in the other life there are purer bodies;
for they see each other, converse together,
and enjoy every sense as in the present body,
but in a more exquisite degree.
The body which a person carries about here on earth
is for uses on earth,
and therefore consists of bones and flesh;
and the body which the spirit carries about in the other life
is designed for uses in that life,
and does not consist of bones and flesh,
but of things which correspond to them.

AC 3084 - none exactly alike

AC 3804
The good which Jacob represents
(which is the good of the natural),
like all good in general,
is known and acknowledged as to its existence,
but not as to its quality,
except by means of truths;
for good receives its quality from truths,
and thus by means of truths is known and acknowledged.
Good does not become the good
which is called the good of charity
until truths are implanted in it,
and such as are the truths that are implanted in it,
such good does it become.

[2] For this reason the good of one person,
although it may appear precisely similar to that of another,
is yet not the same;
and with all persons whatsoever in the universe
the good of one is different from that of another.
It is the same with human faces,
in which for the most part the affections are portrayed,
and throughout the whole human race
none are exactly alike.

SD 4935 - believing in God

SD 4935
Believing in God is hearing and doing.

AC 3796 - looking within and making judgments

AC 3796 [3]
it is the mark of someone wise
to be aware of which ends are present in himself.
Sometimes it does seem as though his ends are selfish
when in fact they are not,
for the human being is such
that in every thing he considers how it affects himself.
This he does regularly and habitually.
But if anyone wishes to know
the ends he himself has in view
he has merely to take note of his feeling of delight -
whether it is on account of his receiving praise and glory,
or whether it is on account
of his performing some unselfish service.
If it is the latter delight which he feels,
genuine affection is present in him.
. . . A person is able to find these things out in himself,
but not in others,
for the ends in view to anyone's affection
are known to the Lord alone.
This is why the Lord said,

Do not judge, lest you are judged;
do not condemn, lest you are condemned.
(Luke 6:37)

AC 3793 - we are not born in Divine order

AC 3793
This marriage of good and truth, 
does not exist in a person's natural when he is born,
because man alone is not born into Divine order;
he does indeed possess the good of innocence and of charity,
which in his earliest infancy flows in from the Lord,
but there is no truth with which this good may be coupled.
As he advances in years,
this good which in infancy
had been insinuated into him by the Lord
is drawn in toward the interiors,
and is there kept by the Lord,
in order that it may temper the states of life
which he afterwards puts on.
. . . When this good of infancy is being drawn in,
evil comes in its place and enters into a person's natural,
and with this evil falsity couples itself,
and there takes place in the person the conjunction,
and as it were the marriage, of evil and falsity.
In order therefore that a person may be saved,
he must be regenerated,
and evil must be removed,
and good from the Lord insinuated,
and according to the good which he receives,
truth is insinuated into him,
for the purpose of effecting the coupling,
or as it were the marriage, of good and truth.
These are the things represented by Jacob,
and by his two wives, Rachel and Leah . . ..

SD 4918 - the angels

SD 4918
. . . angels have the sphere of the Lord in themselves,
or within them . . .

AC 3786 - the church is built on doctrine

AC 3786 [2]
. . . when it (the church) is being set up again -
the doctrinal things of good and truth
must be collected into a one,
for it is on these that it is built.
Moreover doctrinal things have a connection with
and mutual respect to each other,
and therefore unless they are first collected into a one,
there will be a defect,
and that which is lacking must be supplied
by man's rational;
and how blind and illusory this is
in spiritual and Divine things . . .. (!)
For this reason
there has been given to the church the Word,
which contains all the doctrinal things of good and truth.

AC 3773 - two commandments

AC 3773
. . . all doctrine is founded on the two commandments -
that the Lord is to be loved above all things,
and the neighbor as themselves.
When these two commandments are regarded as the end,
the Word is opened;
for all the Law and the Prophets, that is, the whole Word,
so depend on these commandments
that all things are derived from them
and therefore all have reference to them.
And when the people of the church
are then in the principles of truth and good,
they are enlightened in everything they see in the Word;
for the Lord is then present with them by means of angels,
and teaches them (although they are unaware of this),
and also leads them into the life of truth and good. 

SD 4878 - Who are the dragons?

SD 4878
Those who are understood by dragons in the Apocalypse
are not devils who are in hell 
- for these cannot go forth from their hells -
but they are those who are from the church,
and are in such a faith,
and all the while in an evil life.
Of such a character are those [dragons].

AC 3762 - the truths of love

AC 3762 [2]
These truths (the truths of love),
that relate to charity toward the neighbor
and to love to the Lord,
must be learned
before it is possible for a person to be regenerated;
and must also be acknowledged and believed;
and insofar as they are acknowledged,
believed, and implanted in the life,
so far the person is regenerated . . ..
They are first implanted (in the natural)
through instruction by parents and teachers;
next from the Word of the Lord;
and afterwards
through the person's own reflection about them . . .
but still not acknowledged, believed, and implanted,
unless the life is in accordance with them;
for in this case the person comes into affection,
and insofar as he comes into affection from life,
so far these truths are implanted in his natural . . ..

SD 4837 - a new creation

SD 4837
In the Word, it is often said that the Lord is the Creator,
that He created the heavens and earth,
also that He creates new ones;
and man is said to be a new creature.
Since this is the case,
man, so far as his hereditary constitution
and actual life from himself are concerned,
does not appear like a man in the other life,
but like a horrible monster.
But just as he receives from the Lord a new life,
so he receives the human form and, at length,
a very beautiful angelic form,
which is the likeness of the Lord.
Thus it is as if He had created man anew,
in similar fashion and in like manner.
So it is that to create is to regenerate,
and that a regenerated man is a new creature.

AC 3742 - the Lord wills to give Himself to everyone

AC 3742
That there is one only life,
which is from the Lord alone,
and that angels, spirits, and people
are only recipients of life . . ..
Heaven itself is in the perception that this is the case,
insomuch that the angels clearly perceive the influx,
and also how it flows in . . ..
When they are in a fuller state of reception
they are then in their peace and happiness;
otherwise they are in a state of unrest and of a certain anxiety.
Nevertheless the life of the Lord is so appropriated to them
as to cause them to feel that they live from themselves,
but yet they know that it is not from themselves.
The appropriation of the Lord's life
comes from His love and mercy
toward the universal human race,
in that He wills to give Himself to everyone, and all that is His,
and in that He actually does give them
insofar as they receive, that is to say,
insofar as they are in the life of good and in the life of truth,
as being likenesses and images of Him.

AC 3739 - things higher and lower

AC 3739 [2]
Whether we speak of things higher and lower,
or interior and exterior, it is the same;
for to a person's view things interior appear as higher;
and for this reason a person places heaven on high,
when yet it is in what is internal.

AC 3726 - what the soul (or spirit) is

AC 3726 [4]
Spirits themselves are forms, that is,
they consist, as much as people do,
of a whole combination of forms.
But those forms consist of purer substances
not visible to the sight of the body, that is, of the eye.
Now because those forms or substances
are not visible to the eye of the body
mankind today inevitably conceives
of knowledges and thoughts as mere abstractions.
This is also the reason for the insanity of our times,
in that people do not believe
that they have a spirit within them
which will live after the body has died -
yet the spirit is a substance far more real
than the material substance constituting the body.
Indeed, if you can believe it,
following its release from bodily things
the spirit is the purified body itself . . ..
The fact that spirits, or what amounts to the same, souls,
are endowed with a body,
see one another in broad daylight,
talk to one another, hear one another,
and actually have far keener senses
than when they were in the body or the world . . ..

AC 3718 - two kinds of fear

AC 3718
Speaking generally, "fear" is of two kinds -
fear in what is not sacred,
and fear in what is sacred;
fear in what is not sacred
is the fear in which are the wicked;
but fear in what is sacred
is the fear in which are the good.
This latter fear . . . is called reverential or sacred fear,
and is the result of our wonder at
and longing for what is Divine,
and also of our love.
. . . The fear of love is a fear of injuring the Lord in any way,
or of injuring the neighbor in any way,
thus of injuring what is good and true in any way,
and consequently of injuring
the sacred things of love and faith
and the consequent worship.
But this fear is various,
and is not the same with one person as with another.
Speaking generally,
the greater the amount of the love of good and truth,
the greater the fear of injuring them;
and yet in the same proportion
this fear does not appear to be fear;
whereas the less the amount of the love of good and truth,
the less the fear on their account,
and the less this fear appears to be love,
but appears to be . . . the fear of hell.
And where there is nothing of the love of good and truth,
there is nothing of reverential or sacred fear;
but only fear of the loss of honor, of gain,
of reputation for the sake of these,
and also of penalties and death;
which fear is external,
and chiefly affects the body
and the natural person and its thoughts;
whereas the former fear, that is,
reverential or sacred fear,
chiefly affects the spirit,
that is, the internal person, and its conscience.

AC 3709 - truths of the good of doctrine

AC 3709
Truths of the good of doctrine
are the doctrinal things of love to the Lord
and of charity toward the neighbor,
which are said to be conjoined
with good in the natural person
when to know them
for the sake of doing them
is a pleasure and a delight.

AC 3704 - Divine Good - Father; Divine Truth - Son

AC 3704 [2,6]
. . . the Lord in His essence
is nothing else than Divine good,
and this as to both the Divine Itself and the Divine Human;
but Divine truth is not in Divine good,
but from Divine good . . ..
And as Divine good comes to appearance as Divine truth,
therefore for the sake of a person's understanding
the Lord's Divine is distinguished
into Divine good and Divine truth,
and Divine good is that which in the Word is called "Father,"
and Divine truth is that which is called "Son."
This is the arcanum which lies concealed in the fact
that the Lord Himself so often speaks of His Father as distinct,
and as if another than Himself;
and yet in other places asserts that He is one with Himself.

When being initiated into the good of love and its truth,
all little children are there (in heaven)
taught to acknowledge the Lord alone as their Father;
even novitiates who come into heaven
are taught with solicitous care that there is one God . . ..

AC 3703 - heaven is . . .

AC 3703
Heaven itself,
which consists of nothing else
than the Divine marriage of good and truth,
is from the Divine marriage of good and truth
and of truth and good in the Lord.

AC 3701 - a new life

AC 3701 [2,3,4,5]
It is known that a person is born
into the nature of his parents, and of his grandfathers,
and also of those who have been his ancestors for ages;
thus he is born into the hereditary evil of them all . . ..
The result of this is that as to both understanding and will
a person has been utterly destroyed;
and of himself wills nothing of good,
and consequently understands nothing of truth;
and therefore that which he calls good
and believes to be good, is evil;
 and that which he calls truth
and believes to be truth, is falsity.

When such a person comes into the other life
he has the same desires (putting self first);
the very nature which he has contracted in the world
by actual life remains . . ..
This nature is that which must be rooted out
while the person lives in the world,
which cannot possibly be done
except by the Lord through regeneration;
that is, by his receiving a totally new will
and derivative new understanding . . ..
But in order that this may be effected,
the person must first of all be reborn as a little child,
and must learn what is evil and false,
and also what is good and true;
for without knowledge he cannot be imbued with any good;
for from himself
he acknowledges nothing to be good but what is evil,
and nothing to be true but what is false.

To this end such knowledges are insinuated into him
as are not altogether contrary to those which he had before;
as that all love begins from self;
that self is to be taken care of first and then others;
that good is to be done
to such as appear poor and distressed outwardly,
no matter what may be their inward character;
in like manner that good is to be done
to widows and orphans simply because they are so called;
and lastly, to enemies in general, whoever they may be;
and that thereby a person may merit heaven.

These and other such knowledges
are those of the infancy of his new life,
and are of such a nature
that while they derive somewhat from his former life
or the nature of his former life,
they also derive somewhat from his new life
into which he is thereby being introduced . . ..
These are the lowest goods and truths,
from which those who are being regenerated commence,
and because these admit into themselves truths
that are more interior or nearer to Divine truths,
by their means there may also be rooted out the falsities
which the person had before believed to be truths.

But they who are being regenerated
do not learn such truths simply as memory-knowledges,
but as life, for they do these truths;
but that they do them is from the beginning of the new will
which the Lord insinuates entirely without their knowledge;
and insofar as they receive of this new will,
so far they receive of these knowledges,
and bring them into act, and believe them;
but insofar as they do not receive of the new will,
so far they are indeed capable of learning such things,
but not of bringing them into act,
because they care merely for memory-knowledge,
and not for life. 

AC 3696 - coming into states of tranquility

AC 3696 [1-3]
With those who are to be regenerated,
who are here treated of in the internal representative sense,
the case is
that first of all they are in a state of tranquility,
or in a state of external peace
(for external peace, or peace in externals, is called "tranquility");
and the same is produced from the Divine state of peace
that is inmostly within it;
and it comes forth into the externals
through the removal of cupidities and falsities;
for these are what cause all unrest.
Moreover at the beginning of his life, that is, during his infancy,
every person is in a state of tranquility;
but as he advances in life,
that is, grows up to manhood,
he removes himself from this state,
because he gives himself up to worldly cares,
and consequently to anxieties
caused by the cupidities of the love of self and of the world,
and the derivative falsities.

The case is almost the same
with the new life in the person who is being regenerated:
at first he is in a state of tranquility;
but as he passes into a new life,
he also passes at the same time into an untranquil state;
for the evils and falsities
with which be had before become permeated
emerge and come forth, and disturb him,
and this at last to such a degree
that he is in temptations and vexations
inflicted by the diabolical crew,
who are continually striving to destroy the state of his new life.
Yet inmostly the person is in a state of peace,
for unless this were with him inmostly, he would not combat,
for in his battles he is continually looking to this state as the end,
and unless he had such an end,
he would in no wise have power and strength to combat.
This moreover is the reason why he overcomes;
and because this is the end in view,
he also comes into this state after the combats or temptations.
This is like the state of spring,
which succeeds the state of autumn and winter;
or it is like the state of dawn,
which succeeds evening and night.

If you walk in My statutes,
and keep My commandments and do them,
I will give peace in the land,
and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid;
and I will cause the evil wild beast to cease out of the land,
neither shall the sword pass through your land.
(Leviticus 26:3, 6)

He will make me to lie down in green pastures;
He will lead me to the waters of rest;
He will restore my soul.
(Psalm 23:2-3)

AC 3688 - giving to the poor

AC 3688
[3] Take as our example the kind of person who can be regenerated; for the Lord foresees that he can be, and because He foresees it He also makes provision for it. At the outset while a young child he does not yet know what the works of charity towards the neighbour are, for he does not yet know what charity is or what the neighbour is. Consequently because he knows from the Word that one ought to give to the poor and that anyone who does so has his reward in heaven he helps beggars more than all others for he believes that these are the poor who are meant in the Word. He does not take into account the fact that the kind of people who beg on the streets for the most part lead godless and even criminal lives, despise everything associated with Divine worship, and surrender themselves completely to laziness and inactivity. Nonetheless a person in the first stages of regeneration helps those people with all his heart. These good actions are examples of the good which springs from external truth and with which his regeneration begins. The truth of good, which is more internal, flows accordingly into those actions, fashioning these as directed by the cognitions which the child knows?

[4] At a later stage however, when more enlightened, he is willing to do good to all he believes to be poor and needy, but he still makes scarcely any distinction between the godly poor and needy and the ungodly poor and needy. He believes that all are to be regarded and rated equally as the neighbour. But when he becomes more enlightened in these matters he does make a distinction and provides help only to the good and upright. He knows that providing help to the evil does harm to many, for by the aid and support these get he gives them the opportunity to harm others. At length when he is being regenerated he does not do good to any but the good and the godly, for at this point he is not stirred by an affection simply for the person he does good to but by the good itself residing with that person. And since the Lord is present within all good and godliness he accordingly bears witness also, through his affection towards what is good, to his love to the Lord. When he is at heart moved by charity such as this he can become regenerate.

[5] From this it is evident that in relation to this state his previous state was an inverse one, that is to say, he believed that to be good which was not in fact good. Nevertheless at the beginning of regeneration he still had to put into practice that which, though not in fact good, he believed to be so since what he knew went no further and since more interior good that flows from charity was not able to enter into any truth apart from that of which he actually knew. It is also evident that more interior good was always present and fashioning it, and this good could not have manifested itself previously until by means of cognitions he had been gradually enlightened about the nature of goods and truths. From this it is evident to some extent what is meant by the good of truth, which 'Jacob' represents here, what is meant by the truth of good, which 'Esau' represents, and that at first these exist inversely but subsequently are joined together.

AC 3680 - knowledges of good; knowledges of truth

AC 3680
They are called the knowledges of good,
because all truths are knowledges of good;
and truths which are not from good,
or which do not look to good as the end,
are not truths;
but insofar as they look to doctrine,
they are called the knowledges of truth.

AC 3671 - growing seeds

AC 3671 [2]
Understanding good and truth and willing them
is the function of the rational,
and perceptions of good and truth 
resulting from this
are like seeds;
but knowing them and doing them
is the function of the natural.
Facts and deeds are like the soil.
When a person has an affection for the facts
that corroborate what is good and true,
the more so when he experiences joy
in bringing them into act,
those facts are seeds
that are present and growing in the natural
as their own proper soil;
and there they grow.
As a consequence good is made fruitful
and truth is multiplied,
and they are constantly springing up out of that soil
into the rational and perfecting it.
The situation is different
when a person understands what is good and true,
and also interiorly perceives that he wills something,
and yet does not desire to know these things,
let alone do them.
 In that case good cannot be made fruitful
nor truth be multiplied within the rational.

SD 4832 - our material world

SD 4832
This happens in a spiritual manner,
not capable of being expressed by words
which belong to the material form;
for the words of the speech of our earth
are forms of material things,
from which spiritual ideas are indeed arrived at,
but which are, all the while,
founded on material things;
from which things
if material conceptions be abstracted,
the idea perishes.
This is the case because
the inhabitants of our earth 
relate to the external senses.

AC 3665 - knowledges with young children

AC 3665 [2, 5]
When a person is being regenerated,
he is at first led by the Lord as an infant,
then as a child,
afterwards as a youth,
and at last as an adult.
The truths he learns as an infant child
are altogether external and corporeal,
for as yet he is unable to understand interior truths.
These truths are no other than knowledges
of such things as contain, in their inmost, things Divine . . ..

With regard to these very knowledges
of external or corporeal truth
which are from collateral good,
and which as before said
contain in them what is Divine,
and consequently are capable of admitting genuine goods
- such as are the knowledges with young children
who are afterwards regenerated -
they are in general such as are contained
in the historicals of the Word,
such as what is said there concerning paradise (Eden),
concerning the first man in it,
concerning the tree of life in its midst,
and concerning the tree of knowledge,
where was the serpent that practiced the deception.
These are the knowledges
that contain within them what is Divine,
and admit into them spiritual and celestial goods and truths,
because they represent and signify these goods and truths.
Such knowledges also are
all other things in the historicals of the Word,
as what is said concerning the tabernacle and the temple
and concerning the construction of these;
in like manner what is said concerning
the garments of Aaron and of his sons;
also concerning the feasts of tabernacles,
of the firstfruits of harvest, of unleavened bread,
and concerning other like things.

When such knowledges as these are known
and thought of by a young child,
the angels who are with him think of the Divine things
which they represent and signify;
and because the angels are affected with these,
their affection is communicated,
and causes the delight and pleasure
which the child experiences . . .
and prepares his mind to receive genuine truths and goods.

SD 4819 - the Lord

SD 4819
. . . the Lord rules each and every event,
and that He sees and foresees 
each and every event with a person,
even to the minutest details.

AC 3651 - "holy place"

AC 3651 [3]
Standing in the holy place;
(Matthew 24:15)
signifies devastation as to all things which are of good and truth;
the "holy place" is a state of love and faith;
the holy of this state is the good which is of love,
and the derivative truth which is of faith;
and nothing else than these is meant by "holy" in the Word,
because these things are from the Lord,
who is the Holy itself, 
or the Sanctuary.

SD 4792 - reception of the Lord

SD 4792
. . . the Lord is the Holy Itself;
and that it is not possible
for those who are of a filthy and profane life,
to receive the holy;
for that which receives the Lord,
is the Divine Itself,
or the holy of the Lord in a person . . ..

Like are adjoined to like.

AC 3624, 3634, 3645 - being in correspondence

AC 3624, 3634, 3645

. . . the universal heaven is so formed
as to correspond to the Lord, to His Divine Human;
and that a person is so formed
as to correspond to heaven
in regard to each and all things in him,
and through heaven to the Lord.
This is a great mystery which is now to be revealed . . ..

A person who is in correspondence,
that is, who is in love to the Lord
and in charity toward the neighbor,
and consequently in faith,
is as to his spirit in heaven,
and as to his body in the world;
and so because he acts as one with the angels,
he is also an image of heaven . . ..

The universal kingdom of the Lord
is a kingdom of ends and uses.
. . . Each and all things flow forth from this sphere,
and are directed by it.
Insofar as the affections, thoughts, and actions
have within them the end to do good from the heart,
so far the person, spirit, or angel 
is in the Grand Man, that is, in heaven;
but insofar as a person or spirit
has the end to do evil from the heart,
so far he is out of the Grand Man,
that is, is in hell.