AC 2333 - reading the Word and "morning"

AC 2333 [2,3]
. . . when the ideas are kept in the sense of the letter,
the internal sense appears no otherwise
than as something obscure and dark;
but on the other hand when the ideas are kept in the internal sense,
the sense of the letter appears in like manner
obscure to the angels as nothing.
For the angels are no longer in worldly and corporeal things,
like those of man,
but in spiritual and celestial things,
into which the words of the sense of the letter are wonderfully changed,
when it ascends from a person who is reading the Word
to the sphere in which the angels are, that is, to heaven;
and this from the correspondence of spiritual things with worldly,
and of celestial things with corporeal.
This correspondence is most constant . . ..

. . . take as an example "morning" . . ..

The Rock of Israel He is as the light of the morning when the sun rises,
a morning without clouds.
(2 Samuel 23:3, 4)

Thus instead of "morning" the angels perceive the Lord, or His Kingdom,
or the heavenly things of love and charity;
and these in fact with variety
according to the series of things in the Word which is being read.

a bit from Psalm 119; SD 3144 on use; SD 3168 on equilibriums or balances

Psalm 119:149-152 (NIV)

Hear my voice in accordance with Your love;
preserve my life, O Lord, according to Your laws.
Those who devise wicked schemes are near,
but they are far from Your law.
Yet you are near, O Lord,
and all Your commands are true.
Long ago I learned from Your statutes
that You established them to last forever.


SD 3144
. . . for the law is that nothing is ever without a use.

SD 3168
. . . all things in the universal body are held in equilibrium:
it is so in the atmospheric world,
and in each and all the things of nature.
It was further shown that in equilibrium,
the slightest and least force moves,
and causes that even what appears very strong and resistant to be moved.
Thus it is in the world of spirits and in heaven,
where there are equilibriums of all things:
and thus each and all things are ruled by the Lord very easily,
and with no trouble:
wherefore equilibriums are preserved:
and for this reason souls must through sufferings
divest themselves of whatever is not in equilibrium.
(September 15, 1748)

AC 2325 - faith, conscience, charity

AC 2325
Faith is inseparable from conscience . . .
and as faith is not possible without charity,
so neither is conscience.

SD 3126 - about prayers

SD 3126
I perceived by a spiritual idea
that prayers to the Lord,
if they are done from conscience as a duty,
are then good,
but if that one may obtain or deserve something,
it is not good, even evil.
(September 12, 1748)

AC 2312, 2314 - Sodom & Gomorrah

AC 2312, 2314
In this chapter, in the internal sense,
by "Lot" is described the state of the Spiritual Church
which is in the good of charity but in external worship:
how in course of time it declines.

Further: in the internal sense,
by the "inhabitants of Sodom"
is described the state of those within the same church
who are against the good of charity,
and how in course of time evil and falsity increase with them
until they have nothing but evil and falsity.

SD 3069 - in the other life

SD 3069
. . . in the other life there is no difference
between those who are named Christians, and gentiles,
provided that they are good,
endowed with charity,
and that they love one another.
This only avails in the other life.
(September 6, 1748)

AC 2304, 2305 - little children among the angels

AC 2304
Many may suppose that in the other life the little children remain such,
and are as little children among the angels.
They who do not know what an angel is,
may have been confirmed in this opinion
by the images that are common in churches and elsewhere,
where angels are represented as little children.
Very different however is the actual truth.
It is intelligence and wisdom that make an angel,
and so long as the little children have not these
they are indeed with the angels, but are not angels.
But when they have become intelligent and wise,
then for the first time do they become angels . . ..

AC 2305
There are some who suppose that innocence is the same as infancy,
for the reason that the Lord said of little children that of such is heaven;
and that they who do not become as little children
cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens.
But they who so imagine do not know the internal sense of the Word,
nor therefore what is meant by "infancy."
By "infancy" is meant the innocence of intelligence and wisdom,
which is such that they acknowledge
that they have life from the Lord alone,
and that the Lord is their only Father;
for that a person is a person
is from the intelligence of truth and the wisdom of good,
which he has solely from the Lord.
Innocence itself, which in the Word is called "infancy,"
has no existence or abode except in wisdom;
so much so that the wiser one is,
the more innocent he is;
on which account the Lord is innocence itself,
because wisdom itself.

AC 2284 - what the life of charity is and what most delights the angels

AC 2284 [5]
The life of charity consists in thinking kindly of another,
and in wishing him well;
and in perceiving joy in oneself
from the fact
that others also are saved.

. . . nothing is more delightful and blessed to the angels
than to instruct those who come from the earth into the other life.

SD 3037 - evil spirits are the cause of evil happening to themselves

SD 3037
. . . it was shown that if anyone strikes his head against the wall,
that it is not the wall's fault, but his own . . .

AC 2280 - goods and "twenty"

AC 2280 [2-3,5]
Goods of three kinds are signified by remains,
namely, the goods of infancy,
the goods of ignorance,
and the goods of intelligence.
The goods of infancy
are those which are insinuated into a person
from his very birth up to the age
in which he is beginning to be instructed and to know something.
The goods of ignorance
are what are insinuated when he is being instructed
and is beginning to know something.
The goods of intelligence
are what are insinuated
when he is able to reflect upon what is good and what is true.
The good of infancy exists from the person's infancy
up to the tenth year of his age;
the good of ignorance, from this age up to his twentieth year.
From this year the person begins to become rational,
and to have the faculty of reflecting upon good and truth,
and to procure for himself the good of intelligence.

The good of ignorance is that which is signified by "twenty,"
because those who are in the good of ignorance
do not come into any temptation
for no one is tempted before he is able to reflect,
and in his own way to perceive the nature of good and truth.
Those who have received goods by means of temptations
have been treated of in the two immediately preceding verses;
those who have not been in temptations, and yet have good,
are now treated of in this verse.

. . . it is the knowledges of good and truth
that cause a person to be wise as a man.

SD 3028 - when good spirits get angry

SD 3028
It sometimes happened that I have noticed certain dreadful things,
supposing them the outpouring of the worst spirits,
but it appeared that they came from the upright when quickly angered,
and indeed for the reason that they are not admitted to do good,
thus burst out into the opposite, through anger,
as is also usually the case with an upright person when angry.
(September 1, 1748)

AC 2252 - What if there are fifty? and AC 2253 - . . . insofar as

AC 2252 [4]
. . . wherever "fifty" is mentioned in the Word,
it signifies what is full . . .

AC 2253
With the Lord, when He was in the world,
there was no other life
than the life of love toward the universal human race,
which He ardently desired to eternally save.
This is the veriest celestial life,
by which He united Himself to the Divine,
and the Divine to Himself -
for Esse itself, or Jehovah, is nothing else than Mercy,
which is of love to the universal human race -
and that life was one of pure love,
which is never possible with any person.
They who do not know what life is,
and that the life is such as the love,
do not comprehend this.
This shows that
insofar as anyone loves his neighbor,
insofar he partakes of the Lord's life.

SD 2994 - Stubborn?

SD 2994
I spoke with spirits about stubbornness,
saying that it pertains to imagination, to desire, to conviction,
and that stubbornness is to be compared with something hard,
and that there ought not to be any stubbornness in people,
so that they may be led by the Lord.
But as much as there is of stubbornness,
so much there is of the human proprium.
This is taken away by the Lord in those who are led by the Lord
- not breaking, but bending them in countless varieties of ways.
(August 30, 1748)

Note: In one translation, stubbornness is 'pertinacity'.
Merriam Webster defines
as being perversely persistent, stubbornly tenacious.

AC 2249 - heaven

AC 2249
It is known that heaven is not pure before the Lord;
and it is a truth that the angels are continually being perfected.

AC 2227 - loving the Lord; AC 2231 - the doctrine of charity

AC 2227
To be in love to the Lord
is the same as to be in the Lord;
and he who is in the Lord
cannot be otherwise than in His love,
which is toward the human race
and thus toward the neighbor;
thus is he in both kinds of good,
celestial and spiritual.

AC 2231 [2]
In general, there is only one doctrine, namely, the doctrine of charity,
for all things of faith look to charity.
Between charity and faith there is no other difference
than that between willing what is good and thinking what is good
(for he who wills what is good also thinks what is good) . . ..

AC 2219 - the order of creation & the love of self

AC 2219 [2-3]
This is the order into which a person has been created;
consequently it is love to God and love toward the neighbor
that should be a person's life,
and by which he should be distinguished from brute animals.
This is also the order of heaven,
in which it was intended a person should be while he lives in the world;
thus in the Lord's kingdom;
and into this kingdom he would pass when he had put off the body
that had been of service to him upon the earth,
and there he would rise into a state
continually advancing in heavenly perfection.

But the love of self is the primary and indeed the only thing
that destroys all this; and not so much so the love of the world,
for this is indeed opposite to the spiritual things of faith,
but the love of self is diametrically opposite to the celestial things of love;
for he who loves himself loves no others,
but endeavors to destroy all persons whatever
that do not pay reverence to him;
nor does he will well and do well to anyone,
except to him who is a part of himself,
or can be captivated so as to be a part of himself,
like something inoculated as it were with his evil desires and fantasies.

AC 2189 - the learning of truths and the growing of charity

AC 2189 [2]
The primary thing of the rational with a person is truth,
consequently it is the affection of truth, to the end
that person may be reformed, and so regenerated.
This is effected by means of knowledges that are of truth,
which are continually being implanted in good, that is, in charity,
so that the person may receive the life of charity.
It is on this account
that the affection of truth in a person is predominant in his rational.
For it is the case with the life of charity (which is the heavenly life itself)
that with those who are being reformed and regenerated
it is continually being born and growing up and receiving increments,
and this by means of truths;
therefore the more of truth there is implanted,
the more is the life of charity perfected;
wherefore according to the quality and quantity of truth,
so is the charity with a person.

AC 2189 - the learning of truths and the growing of charity

AC 2189 [2]
The primary thing of the rational with a person is truth,
consequently it is the affection of truth, to the end
that person may be reformed, and so regenerated.
This is effected by means of knowledges that are of truth,
which are continually being implanted in good, that is, in charity,
so that the person may receive the life of charity.
It is on this account
that the affection of truth in a person is predominant in his rational.
For it is the case with the life of charity (which is the heavenly life itself)
that with those who are being reformed and regenerated
it is continually being born and growing up and receiving increments,
and this by means of truths;
therefore the more of truth there is insinuated,
the more is the life of charity perfected;
wherefore according to the quality and quantity of truth,
so is the charity with a person.

SD 2947 - four degrees of faith; SD 2955 - ways the Writings are received

SD 2947
. . . there are four degrees of faith
the first namely faith by knowledge,
when I know matters of faith only by learning,
holding them in the memory . . ..
The second degree is faith by understanding or intellectual faith,
when I am convinced mentally . . ..
The third degree is the first conviction,
namely, when one is convinced from the Lord
that things are as stated in the Word:
then as often as one is warned that a thing is so,
one endeavors to change one's way of living,
and thus, conscience dictating, one lives according to faith.
The fourth degree is conviction,
when we cannot live differently than we believe,
realizing now that we are being led by the Lord.
(August 27, 1748)

SD 2955
First, there are those who entirely reject them,
who are of a different conviction, and are enemies of the faith.
These reject them, for the things written cannot be received by them
because they cannot penetrate into their minds.
The second kind are those who receive them as knowledge,
and who take pleasure in them as knowledge, and also as curiosities.
The third kind are those who take them up with the understanding,
receiving them quite enthusiastically,
but still remain as they were before in life.
The fourth kind receive them with conviction,
so that they penetrate and bring improvement to their life.
They recall them in certain states, and put them to use.
The fifth kind are they who receive them with joy,
and are confirmed in them.
(August 27, 1748)

SD 2946 - reward

SD 2946
As respects reward, which is promised to him who does good,
this comes from pure mercy towards those whom the Lord leads:
for no one can merit any good from himself,
but the Lord gives to him from Himself,
because from his mercy and for his own sake,
because he is Mercy itself.
(1748, August 27, 1748)

SD 2909 - meeting acquaintances in the other life

SD 2909.
This I know, that acquaintances,
whether associates or friends, or those whom they worship,
meet with each other in the other life:
wherefore let people beware
of hatreds, vengeance, envy, falsities, adorations and the like,
for such things sometimes miserably afflict them in the other life:
for they come together . . . also friends talk together,
and then the interiors of friendship are thoroughly discovered:
wherefore let them be on their guard.
(August 24, 1748)

AC 2183 - the angels rule the rational and the evil spirits rule the natural

AC 2183 [2,3,4]
. . . to most people it is unknown
that every person has an internal, a rational, and a natural,
and that these are most distinct from each other,
so distinct, that one of them may be distinct from another;
that is, that the rational, which is called the rational person,
may be distinct from the natural, which is the natural person;
even that the rational person can even see and perceive the evil
which is in the natural person
and, if it is a genuine rational, may chastise it.
Before these two have been conjoined together,
a person cannot be an entire (or perfect) person,
nor can he be in the tranquility of peace,
for the one fights with the other.
For the angels who are with the person rule his rational,
but the evil spirits who are with him, his natural,
and so there comes combat.

If the rational then conquers,
the natural is subjugated,
and the person is thus gifted with conscience;
but if the natural conquers,
he can then receive nothing of conscience.
If the rational conquers,
his natural then becomes as if it also was rational;
but if the natural conquers,
the rational becomes as if it also was natural.
And further, if the rational conquers,
the angels then draw nearer into the person,
and insinuate to him charity
(which is the celestial that comes from the Lord through the angels),
and the evil spirits remove themselves to a distance;
but if the natural conquers,
the angels then remove themselves further away
(that is, more toward the person's interiors),
while the evil spirits draw nearer toward the rational,
and continually attack it,
and fill the lower parts of his mind
with hatreds, revenges, deceits, and the like.
If the rational conquers,
the person then comes into the tranquility of peace,
and in the other life into the peace of heaven;
but if the natural conquers,
then while the person lives
he appears as if he were in tranquility,
but in the other life he comes into the unrest and torment of hell.

In this way may be known what is the quality of a person's state
as to his rational, and as to his natural;
so that there is nothing else that can make a person blessed and happy
but that his natural be conformed to his rational,
and both be conjoined together.
This is effected solely by means of charity,
and charity is solely from the Lord.

AC 2173 - a marriage

AC 2173
In the historicals of the Word
good and truth cannot be represented otherwise than by a marriage,
for this is really the case with them,
for there is a Divine marriage between things celestial and spiritual,
or what is the same,
between those which are of love and those which are of faith,
or again what is the same,
between those of the will and those of the understanding.
The former are of good,
the latter are of truth.
There is such a marriage in the Lord's kingdom in the heavens;
such also in the Lord's kingdom on the earth (that is, in the church);
such a marriage in every person,
in every single thing of him,
even in the veriest singulars of all.
That which is not in such a marriage does not live.

SD 2870-2871 - rest & confidence or tedium & annoyance?

SD 2870-2871
That there is much sweetness
in the perception by the angels
that they do not think of themselves.
It was granted me to suddenly perceive
the sweetness of the angels in perceiving this,
that they do not think of themselves,
consequently do not speak and act of themselves,
consequently is rest [quiet] and confidence,
and very many pleasantnessess.

But the rest who are not angels and among the good,
instead of sweetness perceive tedium and annoyance;
they are indignant and angry;
which also was often granted me to observe.
(August 21, 1748)

AC 2165 - the Lord and love

AC 2165 [4]
. . . because the "bread" signifies the Lord Himself,
it signifies love itself toward the universal human race,
and what belongs to love;
as also
a person's reciprocal love to the Lord and toward the neighbor.
The "bread" thus signifies all celestial things,
and in the same way the "wine" signifies all spiritual things . . .

SD 2854 - the ends of life

SD 2854
. . . the ends in a person are what lead him,
and what a person aims at, to obtain;
also that the intuition of ends is what distinguishes people from the brutes.
A brute animal is ignorant of ends, because his soul is of such a nature.
But a person ought to know ends and aspire to them,
view them, and be affected by them.
Since therefore the first and last end of a person is eternal life,
and he is of such a nature that he can view ends,
wherefore unless person views the true end,
or his eternal state,
and so the Lord,
he is not a person.
(August 17, 1748)

AC 2157 - the Lord's perception & humility; AC 2157 - the casting off of His earthly body

AC 2157
'If now I have found grace in your eyes'
(Genesis 18:3)
means the respectful regard
that became a feature of the Lord's state
when He took notice of that perception.
This becomes clear from the affection
that produces the state of humility which these actual words imply
and also those that follow immediately after,
'Do not, I beg of you, pass from over your servant',
which also imply a state of humility.
Within every individual part of the Word
there are both affection and subject matter.
Celestial angels perceive the Word
as it exists in the internal sense as to the affection there,
whereas spiritual angels perceive it
as it exists in the internal sense as to the subject matter there.
Those who perceive the Word in the internal sense as to the affection there
do not pay any attention at all to the words,
which are expressions of the subject matter,
but instead form ideas for themselves from the affection
and the consecutive details of that affection,
and do so with endless variety.
Here, for example, when they come to the words,
'If now I have found grace in your eyes,
do not, I beg of you, pass from over your servant',
they perceive the Lord's state of humiliation in the Human,
yet only the affection that produces humility.
From that affection - in a manner, variety, and profusion beyond words -
they form celestial ideas for themselves which can hardly be called ideas.
Rather they should be called so many 'lights'
engendered by affections and perceptions -
which follow one another in a continuous sequence
according to the chain of affection that runs through the things present
in the Word that is being read.

AC 2159
That 'servant' means the Lord's human before it was made Divine
becomes clear from many places in the Prophets.
The reason, which has been given frequently already, is this:
The Lord's human, before He cast it off and made it Divine,
was nothing else than a servant.
His human came from the mother and was for that reason imperfect.
From her it possessed a hereditary element
which He overcame and utterly cast aside
by means of the conflicts brought about by temptations.
He did so even to the point when nothing was left
of the imperfect and hereditary element received from the mother,
indeed until at length nothing whatever from the mother remained.
He cast off that which came from the mother so completely
that He was no longer her son . . ..

SD 2796 - ambition

SD 2796
. . . because love of the neighbor no longer exists in the world,
the ambition to stand out by various means has taken its place.
For what used to arouse people to do good was love of the neighbor,
but since this is no more,
the ambition to do great things has taken its place,
by means of which people are bent by the Lord
toward doing good to the neighbor, to society, and to the commonwealth.
(August 12, 1748)

AC 2135 - "clouds of the heavens", "power and glory"

AC 2135 - Preface
At the end of the preceding chapter,
the subject of the Last Judgment was treated of,
and it was shown what is signified thereby, namely,
not the destruction of the world,
but the last time of the church.
When this is at hand, the Lord says
that He "will come in the clouds of the heavens, with power and glory"
(Matt. 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27).
. . . "clouds of the heavens" . . . is meant the literal sense of the Word;
and by "power and glory" the internal sense of the Word,
for in the internal sense of the Word there is glory,
since whatever is there
is concerning the Lord and His kingdom.

From this chapter we may see, in an especial manner,
what is the nature of the internal sense of the Word,
and how the angels perceive it when it is being read by a person.

AC 2118 - last judgments

AC 2118
By the Last Judgment is meant the last time of a church,
and also the last state of each person's life.
As regards the last time of the church,
it was the Last Judgment of the Most Ancient Church,
which was before the flood,
when their posterity perished;
whose destruction is described by the flood
The Last Judgment of the Ancient Church,
which was after the flood,
was when almost all who were of that church became idolaters,
and were dispersed.
The Last Judgment of the Representative Church,
which succeeded among the posterity of Jacob,
was when the ten tribes were carried away into captivity,
and were dispersed among the nations;
and when later, after the Lord's coming,
the Jews were driven out of the land of Canaan,
and were scattered throughout the world.
The Last Judgment of the present church,
which is called the Christian Church,
is what is meant by John in Revelation
by the "New Heaven and the New Earth."

SD 2786 - the Lord speaks

SD 2786
That the Lord in person speaks with many,
and with each one individually or in particular
according to the mind of each,
and indeed, in this manner with many at once . . .
This is a heavenly truth.
Even though no one among earthly humans
is able to grasp it rationally that this is the case,
nevertheless it follows from His omnipresence with everyone,
and from His Divine auspice with each person in the universe.
(August 10, 1748)

SD 2728 - the wonderful circulation of ideas in heaven

SD 2728-2731
It has been shown to me before
that the thoughts and speech of spirits in the world of spirits
circulate almost in the manner of the convolutions in the human brain,
with their wonderful winding, bending, flowing in, returning,
which are beyond all comprehension
because they follow the patterns of turnings of the world of spirits.

In heaven, following the heavenly pattern,
the circumvolutions are still more wonderful,
and indeed incomprehensible,
along which mental imagery, and so thoughts,
and so speech, and also so do symbolic displays circulate,
all being produced by feelings.

Those circulations are more wonderful
than anyone would ever be capable of comprehending
even in the most general way.

From this the conclusion can be drawn
that all the thoughts of angels and so of spirits
come forth from,
and are produced by
the Lord Alone . . . .