AC 2196 - What We Suppose

AC 2196 [3-14]

. . . (When) it is stated that man has no life
except what is from the Lord,
the rational supposes from appearances
that in that case man cannot live as of himself;
whereas he for the first time truly lives
when he perceives that he does so from the Lord. 

The rational supposes from appearances
that the good which man does is from himself,
and yet there is nothing of good from self,
but all is from the Lord.

From appearances the rational supposes
that man merits salvation when he does what is good;
whereas of himself man can merit nothing,
but all merit is the Lord's. 

From appearances man supposes
that when he is withheld from evil
and is kept in good by the Lord,
there is nothing with him
but what is good and just, indeed, holy;
whereas there is nothing in man
but what is evil, unjust, and profane. 

From appearances man supposes
that when he does what is good from charity,
he does it from his will;
whereas it is not from his will part,
but from his intellectual part,
in which charity has been implanted. 

From appearances man supposes
that there can be no glory
without the glory of the world;
whereas in the glory of heaven
there is not a particle of the world's glory.

From appearances man supposes
that no one can love his neighbor more than himself,
but that all love begins from self;
when yet in heavenly love
there is nothing of the love of self. 

From appearances man supposes
that there can be no light
but that which is from the light of the world;
whereas in the heavens
there is not one whit of the light of the world,
and yet the light is so great
that it surpasses the world's noon day light
a thousand times. 

From appearances man supposes
that the Lord cannot shine
before the universal heaven as a sun;
when yet all the light of heaven is from Him. 

From appearances man cannot apprehend
that in the other life there are motions forward;
whereas those who are there
appear to themselves to move forward
just as do men on earth --
in their dwellings, courts, and paradises;
and still less can he apprehend
if it is said that these movings forward
are changes of state, which so appear. 

Nor can man from appearances apprehend
that spirits and angels,
who are invisible before our eyes,
can be seen;
nor that they can speak with man;
when yet they appear to the internal sight,
or that of the spirit,
more manifestly than man does to man on earth;
and their voices are heard as distinctly;
besides thousands of thousands of such things,
which man's rational, from its own light,
born from things of sense, and thereby darkened,
cannot possibly believe.
Indeed, the rational is blinded
in natural things themselves,
not being able to apprehend, for instance,
how those who dwell on the opposite side of the globe
can stand on their feet and walk;
and it is the same with very many other things.
How blind then must the rational not be
in spiritual and heavenly things,
which are far above natural things?

As the human rational is of such a character,
it is here said of it that it was separated
when the Lord in Divine perception
was united to the Divine,
which is signified by the standing of Sarah
(who is here such rational truth)
at the door of the tent,
and by this being behind him.