AC 1295 - Two Ways Falsities Begin; AC 1296 - Stones and Bricks

AC 1295

There are two beginnings of falsities,
one from ignorance of truth,
the other from cupidities
(the greed for money or possessions).
Falsity from ignorance of truth
is not so pernicious as falsity from cupidities.
For the falsity of ignorance arises either
from one's having been so instructed from childhood,
or from having been diverted by various occupations
so that one has not examined
whether what professes to be true is really so,
or from not having had much faculty of judging
concerning what is true and what is false.
The falsities from these sources do not inflict much harm,
provided the person has not
much confirmed and thus persuaded himself,
being incited thereto by some cupidity
so as to defend the falsities;
for by doing this
he would make the cloud of ignorance dense,
and turn it into darkness
so that he could not see the truth.

But the falsity of cupidities exists
when the origin of the falsity
is the cupidity or love of self and of the world;
as when one seizes upon some point of doctrine
and professes it
in order to captivate minds and lead them,
and explains or perverts the doctrine in favor of self,
and confirms it both
by reasonings from memory-knowledges,
and by the literal sense of the Word.
The worship derived from this is profane,
however holy it may outwardly appear;
for inwardly it is not the worship of the Lord,
but the worship of self.
Nor does such a person
acknowledge anything as true
except insofar as he can explain it
so as to favor himself.
Such worship is that which is signified by "Babel."
But the case is different
with those who have been born
and brought up in such worship,
and who do not know that it is false,
and who live in charity.
In their ignorance there is innocence,
and in their worship there is good from charity.
The profanity in worship
is not affirmed so much from the worship itself,
as from the quality of the person
who is in the worship.

AC 1296

In the Word, "stone" means truth,
and therefore "brick,"
because it is made by man, means falsity;
for brick is stone artificially made.