AC 5159, AC 5164 - When Regenerate

 AC 5159 [4]

. . . in the regenerate
interior things have dominion over exterior things,
while in the unregenerate exterior things
have dominion over interior things.
It is the ends in a person that have the dominion,
for the ends subordinate and subject to themselves
all things that are in him.
His veriest life is from no other source than his end,
because his end is always his love.

AC 5164 [2]

. . . in the Lord's kingdom or heaven
those who are the greatest
(that is, those who are inmost)
are servants more than others,
because they are in the greatest obedience,
and in deeper humiliation than the rest . . ..

AC 5155 - Providence and Foresight; AC 5156 - "Being Hanged Upon Wood"

 AC 5155 - Providence and Foresight

. . . providence is predicated of good,
but foresight of evil;
for all good flows in from the Lord,
and therefore this is provided;
but all evil is from hell,
or from a person's own (proprium)
which makes one with hell;
and therefore this is foreseen.

AC 5156 - "Being Hanged Upon Wood"

And shall hang thee upon wood.
(Genesis 40:19)

That this means rejection and damnation,
is evident from the meaning of
"being hanged upon wood,"
as being rejection and damnation;
for hanging upon wood was a curse,
and a curse is a rejection from the Divine,
consequently damnation.

. . . Among the Jewish nation
there were two main penalties --
stoning and hanging.
Stoning was on account of falsity,
and hanging upon wood was on account of evil;
and this because "stone" is truth,
and in the opposite falsity;
and "wood" is good,
and the opposite sense evil . . .

AC 5145 - The Degrees Within Us, and How They Are Planes to Live On

AC 5145 [2-3, 4, 5]

Interiorly the human being is divided into separate degrees,
and each degree has its own termination
that serves to separate it from the degree beneath it.
This is so with every degree
from the inmost one to the outermost.
The interior rational constitutes the first degree,
the degree in which celestial angels are,
that is, where the inmost or third heaven is.
The exterior rational makes up the second degree,
the one in which spiritual angels are,
that is, where the middle or second heaven is.
The interior natural makes up the third degree,
the one in which good spirits are,
that is, where the last and lowest or first heaven is.
And the exterior natural, the level of the senses,
makes up the fourth degree, in which a person is.

These degrees also exist within a person,
each degree completely distinct and separate.
Consequently, if he leads a good life,
he is interiorly a miniature heaven;
that is, his interiors correspond to the three heavens.
Also, if he has led a life of charity and love
he can be taken after death
all the way up to the third heaven.
But if he is to be someone like this,
each degree within him
must be furnished with its own specific termination
that makes it separate from the next one.
When those degrees do have those terminations,
making them distinct and separate from one another,
each degree has a floor
on which good flowing in from the Lord
can rest and where it is received.
Without such terminations acting as floors
that good is not received but passes straight through,
as if through a sieve
or through 'a basket with holes in it',
down to the sensory level.

. . . In the case of those who, like celestial angels,
have the ability to perceive what is good and true,
terminations exist in every degree,
from the first to the last.
Unless each degree has its own termination,
no perceptive abilities such as these can exist.
. . . In the case of those who, like spiritual angels,
have conscience, terminations likewise exist,
but only in the second degree
or else in the third down to the last.
For them the first degree is closed.
One must say in the second degree
or else in the third
because conscience is twofold - interior and exterior.
Interior conscience is one that concerns itself
with what is spiritually good and true,
exterior conscience
one that concerns itself with what is just and fair.
Conscience itself is an interior floor which provides
inflowing Divine Good with a termination;
but those who have no conscience
do not have any interior floor to receive that influx.
In their case
good passes straight through to the exterior natural,
or the natural level of the senses,
where it is turned, as has been stated, into foul delights.
These people sometimes feel pain
like that of conscience,
but this is not conscience.
The pain is caused by the loss of what they delight in,
such as the loss of position,
gain, reputation, life, pleasures,
or the friendship of others who are like themselves.
They suffer pain because
the terminations which they possess
consist in those kinds of delights.

All whose interior degrees of the will
have been furnished with terminations
are raised up to heaven,
for the inflowing Divine is able to lead them there.
But all whose interior degrees of the will
have not been furnished with terminations
make their way to hell,
for what is Divine passes straight through
and is turned into that which is hell-like,
as when the heat of the sun falls on foul excrement
and a disgusting stench is given off by it.
Consequently
all who have had conscience are saved,
but those who have had no conscience
are incapable of being saved.

AC 5135 - Beliefs

AC 5135 [3]

The things which person
as a little child in its first age
learns eagerly or believes,
and which he afterward either confirms,
or doubts about, or denies,
are especially these:

that there is a God, and that He is one;
that He has created all things;
that He rewards those who do well,
and punishes those who do evil;

that there is a life after death,
in which the evil go to hell
and the good to heaven,
thus that there is a hell and a heaven,
and that the life after death is eternal;

also that he ought to pray daily,
and this with humility;

that the Sabbath day is to be kept holy;
that parents are to be honored;
and that no one must commit
adultery, murder, or theft;
with other like things.

AC 5128 - Within Life

AC 5128 [4-5]

The principal sign whether a person
is merely sensuous or is rational,
is from his life;
not such as appears in his speech and his works,
but such as it is within these;
for the life of the speech is from the thought,
and the life of the works is from the will,
and that of both is from the intention or end.
Such therefore as is the intention or end
within the speech and the works,
such is the life;
for speech without interior life is mere sound,
and works without interior life are mere movements.
This is the life which is meant when it is said
that "the life remains after death."
If a person is rational,
he speaks from thinking well,
and acts from willing well,
that is, he speaks from faith and acts from charity;
but if a person is not rational,
he may then indeed begin to act, and also to speak,
as a rational man;
but still there is nothing of life from the rational in him;
for a life of evil closes up
every way or communication with the rational,
and causes the person to be
merely natural and sensuous.

There are two things
which not only close up the way of communication,
but even deprive a person of the capacity
of ever becoming rational -- deceit and profanation.
Deceit is like a subtle poison which infects the interiors,
and profanation mixes
falsities with truths and evils with goods:
through these two the rational wholly perishes.

AC 5122 - The Lord Knows & Provides

AC 5122 [3]

. . . the Lord knows all things
and every single thing,
and provides for them every moment.
If He were to pause even for an instant,
all the progressions would be disturbed;
for what is prior looks to what follows
in a continuous series,
and produces series of consequences to eternity.
From this it is plain
that the Divine foresight and providence
are in everything, even the very least;
and that unless this were so,
or if they were only universal,
the human race would perish.

AC 5118 - The Interior and Exterior Natural

AC 5118

. . . the interior natural
is that which communicates with the rational
and into which the rational flows,
and the exterior natural
is that which communicates with the senses,
or through them with the world,
thus into which the world flows.
As regards influx,
it is continuous from the Lord
through the rational into the interior natural,
and through this into the exterior;
but that which flows in
is changed and turned according to the reception.
With the unregenerate,
goods are there turned into evils,
and truths into falsities;
but with the regenerate,
goods and truths are there presented as in a mirror.
For the natural is like a face
representative of the spiritual things
of the internal person;
and this face becomes representative
when the exteriors correspond to the interiors.

AC 5116 - The Rebirth of a Person

AC 5116

. . . the budding and fruiting of a tree
represent the rebirth of a person --
its becoming green from the leaves
represents the first state;
the blossoming the second,
which is the next before regeneration;
and the fruiting the third,
which is the very state of the regenerate.
It is from this that "leaves" signify (mean)
the things of intelligence, or the truths of faith,
for these are the first things of the rebirth or regeneration;
while "blossoms" signify the things of wisdom,
or the goods of faith,
because these immediately precede
the rebirth or regeneration;
and "fruits" signify those things which are of life,
or the works of charity,
because these follow and constitute
the very state of the regenerate.

AC 5110 - The Divine Human, the Lord from Eternity

AC 5110 [3]

For everything of heaven conspires to the human form . . ..
This Divine, or this of Jehovah in heaven,
is the Lord from eternity.
The same the Lord took also upon Him
when He glorified or made Divine
the human in Himself,
as is very evident from the form in which He appeared
before Peter, James, and John,
when He was transfigured (Matt. 17:1, 2);
and also in which He at times appeared to the prophets.
It is from this that everyone is able to think
of the Divine Itself as of a Man,
and at the same time of the Lord,
in whom is all the Divine, and a perfect Trinity,
for in the Lord the Divine Itself is the Father,
this Divine in heaven is the Son,
and the Divine proceeding from there is the Holy Spirit.
That these are a one,
as He Himself teaches,
is consequently clear.

AC 5097 - "Morning"

AC 5097

Morning in heaven is a state of enlightenment
as to those things which are of good and truth,
which state exists when it is acknowledged,
and still more when it is perceived,
that good is good and that truth is truth.
Perception is internal revelation;
so by the "morning" is signified (meant) what is revealed;
and because then that becomes clear
which before was obscure,
by "morning" is also signified what is clear.

Moreover, by "morning" is signified
in the supreme sense the Lord Himself,
for the reason that the Lord is the Sun
from which comes all the light in heaven,
and He is always in the rising, thus in the morning.
Moreover, He is always rising with everyone
who receives the truth which is of faith
and the good which is of love,
but He is setting with everyone
who does not receive these --
not that the Sun sets there,
for as just said He is always in the rising;
but that he who does not receive,
causes Him as it were to set with himself.
This may be compared in some degree
to the changes of the sun of this world
in respect to the inhabitants of the earth;
for neither does this sun set,
since it always remains in its place
and is always shining from there;
but it appears as if it set,
because the earth rotates about its axis once every day,
and at the same time removes its inhabitant
from the sight of the sun;
and therefore the setting is not in the sun,
but in the removal
of the inhabitant of the earth from its light.
This comparison is illustrative;
and because in every part of nature
there is something representative of the Lord's kingdom,
it also instructs us
that the deprivation of the light of heaven --
that is, of intelligence and wisdom --
does not take place because the Lord,
who is the Sun of intelligence and wisdom,
sets with anyone,
but because the inhabitant of His kingdom
removes himself, that is,
suffers himself to be led by the hell
which is what removes him.

AC 5092 - "Night"

AC 5092

"Night" in the spiritual sense
signifies a state of shade brought on by falsity from evil,
thus also obscurity, namely, of the mind.
The obscurity of night in the world is natural obscurity;
but the obscurity of night in the other life
is spiritual obscurity.
The former arises from the absence of the sun of this world
and the deprivation of light therefrom,
but the latter from the absence of the sun of heaven
which is the Lord,
and the deprivation of light
(that is, of intelligence) therefrom.
This deprivation does not arise
from the sun of heaven setting, like the sun of the world,
but from a person or spirit being in falsity from evil,
and removing himself,
and thus bringing obscurity upon himself.
From the mere idea of night
and its obscurity in both senses,
it is evident how the spiritual sense stands
relatively to the natural sense of this same thing.
Moreover, spiritual obscurity is threefold,
one kind being from the falsity of evil,
the second from ignorance of truth,
and the third is
that of exterior things relatively to interior things,
thus of the sensuous things of the external person
relatively to the rational things of the internal person.
All these kinds of obscurity however,
arise from the fact that the light of heaven
(or intelligence and wisdom from the Lord)
is not received;
for this light is continually flowing in,
but it is rejected, suffocated, or perverted
by the falsity of evil;
is but little received by ignorance of truth;
and is dulled by being made general
by the sensuous things of the external person.

 

AC 5089 - It Is Important to Think Above Worldly Things

AC 5089 [2]

Unless a person's thought
can be elevated above sensuous things,
so that these are seen as below him,
he cannot understand any interior thing in the Word,
still less such things as are of heaven
abstracted from those which are of the world;
for sensuous things absorb and suffocate them.
It is for this reason
that those who are sensuous
and have zealously devoted themselves
to getting knowledges,
rarely apprehend anything of the things of heaven;
for they have immersed their thoughts in such things
as are of the world, that is,
in terms and distinctions drawn from these,
thus in sensuous things,
from which they can no longer be elevated
and thus kept in a point of view above them;
thus neither can their thought
be any longer freely extended
over the whole field of the things of the memory,
so as to select what agrees
and reject what is in opposition,
and apply whatever is in connection;
for as already said t
heir thought is kept closed and immersed in terms,
and thus in sensuous things,
so that it cannot look around.
This is the reason why the learned
believe less than the simple,
and are even less wise in heavenly things;
for the simple can look at a thing
above terms and above mere knowledges,
thus above sensuous things;
whereas the learned cannot do so,
but look at everything from terms and knowledges,
their mind being fixed in these things,
and thus bound as in jail or in prison.

~ The Lord Says, "Do Not Be Afraid" ~

They came out with all their troops
and a large number of horses and chariots --
a huge army,
as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
All these kings joined forces and made camp together
at the Waters of Merom,
to fight against Israel.

The Lord said to Joshua,
"Do not be afraid of them,
because by this time tomorrow
I will hand all of them over to Israel, slain."

(Joshua 11:4-6)

AC 5077 - The Senses, Truths and Goods

AC 5077 [3, 4]

That sensuous which is especially subject
to the intellectual part is the sight;
that which is subject
to the intellectual part and secondarily to the will part
is the hearing;
that which is subject to both together
is the sense of smell,
and still more the taste;
but that which is subject to the will part
is the touch.

And be it known further
that all the truths which are said to be of faith
pertain to the intellectual part;
and that all the goods which are of love and charity
are of the will part.
Consequently it belongs to the intellectual part
to believe, to acknowledge, to know, and to see
truth and also good,
but to the will part to be affected with and to love these;
and that which a person
is affected with and loves, is good.

AC 5076 - Sin

AC 5076

That they sinned.
(Genesis 50:1)

That this signifies inverted order,
is evident from the signification of "sinning,"
as being to act contrary to Divine order:
whatever is contrary to this is "sin."
Divine order itself is Divine truth from Divine good.
All are in this order who are in truth from good,
that is, who are in faith from charity,
for truth is of faith, and good is of charity;
and they are contrary to this order
who are not in truth from good,
consequently who are in truth from evil,
or in falsity from evil;
nothing else is signified by "sin."
Here by their "sinning" --
the butler and the baker --
is signified that external sensuous things
were in inverted order relatively to interior things,
so that they did not accord or did not correspond.

AC 5070 - Eternal Life, Spiritual Death

AC 5070

The "eternal life" which is given to the righteous,
is life from good.
Good has life in itself,
because it is from the Lord, who is life itself.
In the life which is from the Lord
there are wisdom and intelligence;
for to receive good from the Lord
and thence to will good, is wisdom;
and to receive truth from the Lord
and thence to believe truth, is intelligence;
and those who have this wisdom and intelligence have life;
and as happiness is joined to such life,
eternal happiness also is signified by "life."
The contrary is the case with those who are in evil.
These do indeed appear -- especially to themselves --
as if they had life,
but it is such life as in the Word is called "death,"
and also is spiritual death;
for they are not wise in any good,
nor intelligent in any truth.
This may be seen by everyone
who takes the matter into consideration,
for as there is life in good and in its truth,
there cannot be life in evil and in its falsity,
because these are opposite and extinguish life.
Therefore the persons in question
have no other life than such as belongs to the insane.


 

AC 5044 - Princes and King; AC 5049 - "Jehovah Made to Prosper" (Genesis 39:23)

AC 5044 [1-3, 5] - Princes and King

With all who are in temptations
there flows in truth from the Lord,
which rules and governs the thoughts
and raises up the sufferers
whenever they fall into doubts and even into despair.
This governing truth is that truth and such truth
as they have learned from the Word or from doctrine,
and have confirmed in themselves.
Other truths are indeed at such times also called to mind,
but they do not govern the interiors.
Sometimes the truth which governs
is not presented visibly before the understanding,
but lies hid in obscurity,
yet it still governs;
for the Divine of the Lord flows into it,
and thus keeps the interiors of the mind in it,
and therefore when it comes into light,
the person who is in temptation
receives consolation and is relieved.

It is not this truth itself,
but the affection of it,
by which the Lord governs those who are in temptations;
for the Divine flows only into those things
which are of the affection.
The truth which is implanted and rooted in
a person's interiors
is implanted and rooted by affection,
and not at all without affection;
and the truth which has been implanted
and rooted by affection, clings there,
and is recalled by affection;
and when this truth is so recalled,
it presents the affection that is conjoined with it,
which is the person's reciprocal affection.
As such is the case with the person who is in temptations,
therefore no one is admitted into any spiritual temptation
until he reaches adult age,
and has thus become imbued with
some truth by which he can be governed;
otherwise he sinks under the temptation,
and then his latter state is worse than the first.
From these things it may be seen what is meant
by truth governing in a state of temptations,
which is signified by the "prince of the prison house."

That a "prince" denotes primary truth,
is because a "king" in the internal sense
signifies truth itself;
hence "princes," because they are the sons of a king,
signify the primary things of that truth.

. . . the angels also reject from themselves
the idea of a king and a prince;
and when they perceive it in a person,
they transfer it to the Lord,
and perceive that which proceeds from the Lord
and is the Lord's in heaven,
namely, the Divine truth from His Divine good.

AC 5049 - "Jehovah Made to Prosper" (Genesis 39:23)

That "making to prosper,"
in the supreme sense, is providence,
is because everything prosperous
which appears in the ultimates of nature
is in its origin from the Divine providence of the Lord.

AC 5042 - The Divine Mercy; AC 5043 - "To Give Grace"

AC 5042 - The Divine Mercy

And inclined mercy unto him.
(Genesis 39:21)

The Divine being itself,
understood in the supreme sense,
is love utterly incomprehensible to a person;
and from this love through truth
all things come forth and subsist,
both those which have life and those which have not.
This Divine love from the very being
through the inmost of life in the Lord,
flowed into everything He did from the human
taken from the mother,
and directed all to ends,
and these ends to the ultimate end
that mankind might be saved.
And because the Lord,
from the Divine Itself in Him,
saw the nature of His human,
that it was hereditarily in evil,
therefore it is said that
"Jehovah inclined mercy unto him;"
and by this in the supreme sense is meant
the Divine love in everything.
For the Divine mercy is nothing else
than the Divine love toward those
who are immersed in miseries,
that is, toward those who are in temptations;
for these are in miseries,
and are chiefly meant in the Word by the "miserable."

AC 5043 - "To Give Grace"

. . ."to give grace" in temptations
is to comfort and relieve with hope . . ..

AC 5036, 5038 - What Goes On During Temptation & a Short Definition

AC 5036 - What Goes On During Temptation

Scarcely anyone in the Christian world at this day
knows where temptations come from.
He who undergoes them has no other belief
than that they are torments arising from
the evils which are within a person,
and which at first make him uneasy, then anxious,
and finally torment him;
but he is altogether ignorant
that they are effected by the evil spirits who are with him.
The reason why he is ignorant of this,
is that he does not believe
that he is in company with spirits
while he lives in the world,
and scarcely believes that there is any spirit with him;
when yet as to his interiors
a person is continually in the society of spirits and angels.

As regards temptations, they take place
when the person is in the act of regeneration;
for no one can be regenerated
unless he undergoes temptations,
and they then arise from evil spirits who are about him.
For the person is then let into the state of evil in which he is,
that is, in which is that very [life] which is his own;
and when he comes into this state,
evil or infernal spirits encompass him,
and when they perceive
that he is inwardly protected by angels,
the evil spirits excite the falsities which he has thought,
and the evils which he has done,
but the angels defend him from within.
It is this combat
which is perceived in the person as temptation,
but so obscurely that he scarcely knows otherwise
than that it is merely an anxiety;
for a person -- especially if he believes nothing about influx --
is in a state that is wholly obscure,
and he perceives scarcely a thousandth part of the things
about which the evil spirits and angels are contending.
And yet the battle is then being fought for
the person and his eternal salvation,
and it is fought from the person himself;
for they fight from those things
which are in a person, and concerning them.

. . . As before said,
temptations take place chiefly at the time
when the person is becoming spiritual;
for he then apprehends spiritually the truths of doctrine.
The person is often unaware of this,
but still the angels with him
see in his natural things the spiritual;
for his interiors are then open toward heaven.
For this reason also
the person who has been regenerated
is among angels after his life in the world,
and there both sees and perceives the spiritual things
which before appeared to him as natural.
When therefore a person has come into such a state,
then in temptation, when assaulted by evil spirits,
he can be defended by angels,
who then have a plane into which they can operate;
for they flow into what is spiritual with him,
and through this into what is natural.

But when ultimate truth has been withdrawn,
and therefore person has nothing
by which to defend himself against those who are natural,
he then comes into temptations,
and by evil spirits --
who are all merely natural --
he is accused especially of speaking falsely against good;
as for example of having thought
and said that the neighbor ought to be benefited,
and having also approved this in act,
and yet now meaning by the neighbor
only those who are in good and truth,
and not those who are in evil and falsity
and cannot be amended;
and consequently,
because he is no longer willing to benefit the evil,
or if he will benefit them,
he desires them to be punished
for the sake of their amendment,
and for the purpose of averting evil from his neighbor,
they charge him with thinking and speaking what is false,
and with not thinking as he speaks.

Take another example.
Because when a person becomes spiritual,
he no longer believes it holy and for pious use
to give to monasteries,
or even to churches which abound in wealth;
and because before he became spiritual
he had thought that such giving was holy and pious,
they charge him with falsehood,
and stir up all his thoughts which he had before cherished
as to its being holy and pious,
and also the works which he had done from such thought.
And so they do in numberless other cases,
but let these few examples serve by way of illustration.
These spirits enter principally into
the affections which the person had before,
and excite them,
and also the false and evil things
which he had thought and done;
and thus they bring him into anxiety,
and often into doubt even to despair.

Such then is the source of spiritual anxieties,
and of the torments which
are called torments of conscience.
By influx and communication
these things appear to the person as if they were in himself.
One who knows and believes this
may be compared to a person who sees himself in a mirror,
and knows that it is not himself that appears in it,
or on the other side of it,
but only his image;
whereas one who does not know and believe this,
may be compared to a person who sees himself in a mirror,
and supposes it is himself that appears there,
and not his image.

AC 5038

. . . temptation is the vastation of what is false,
and a the same time the confirmation of what true.

AC 5007 - Why We Are In this World; AC 5013 - The Spiritual and the Natural

AC 5007 [4]

. . . the fact is that a person is in this world
in order to be initiated by his activities here
into the things which are of heaven . . ..

AC 5013

. . . it is according to order
that the spiritual should rule
and the natural serve;
for the spiritual is prior, interior and higher,
and nearer the Divine;
while the natural is posterior, exterior, and lower,
and more remote from the Divine.
For this reason
the spiritual in a person and in the church
is compared to heaven,
and is also called heaven;
and the natural is compared to earth,
and is also called earth.

~ Moses Reassures Joshua ~

"The Lord Himself goes before you
and will be with you;
He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged."

(Deuteronomy 31:8)
 

AC 4997 - What Good Is, What Evil Is

AC 4997

. . . good is conjunction,
because all good is of love to the Lord
and of love toward the neighbor.
The good of love to the Lord
conjoins the person with the Lord,
and consequently
with all the good which proceeds from Him;
and the good of love toward the neighbor
conjoins him with heaven,
and the societies there;
and therefore by this love also
the person is conjoined with the Lord;
for heaven properly so called is the Lord,
because He is the all in all there.

But with evil the reverse is the case.
Evil is of the love of self and of the love of the world.
The evil of the love of self disjoins the person
not only from the Lord, but also from heaven;
for he loves no one but himself,
others only so far as he regards them in himself,
or so far as they make one with him.

AC 4963 - We Have an External and an Internal

AC 4963 [1-2, 3]

Everyone who is born a person is external and internal;
his external is that which is seen with the eyes,
and by which he is in company with people,
and by which the things proper to the natural world are done;
and the internal is that which is not seen with the eyes,
and by which a person is in company with spirits and angels,
and by which the things proper to the spiritual world are done.
The reason why
every person has an internal and an external,
or is an internal and an external person,
is that through people
there may be a conjunction of heaven with the world;
for heaven flows in
through the internal person into the external,
and thereby perceives what is in the world;
and the external person which is in the world
and from there perceives what is in heaven.
It is to this end that a person has been so created.

In respect to His Human
the Lord also had an external and an internal,
because it pleased Him to be born like other men.
The external (that is, His external man)
was represented by Jacob, and afterward by Israel;
but His internal man is represented by Joseph.

The Lord was indeed born as are other people,
but it is known that he who is born a person
derives what is his from both the father and the mother,
and that he has his inmost from the father,
but his exteriors (that is, the things which clothe this inmost)
from the mother.
Both that which he derives from the father,
and that which he derives from the mother,
are defiled with hereditary evil.
But it was different with the Lord:
that which He derived from the mother in like manner
had in it an heredity such as is that of any other person;
but that which He derived from the Father,
who was Jehovah, was Divine.
For this reason the Lord's internal man
was not like the internal of another person;
for His inmost was Jehovah.
This is therefore the intermediate which is called
the celestial of the spiritual from the rational.
But concerning this,
of the Lord's Divine mercy
more will be said in the following pages.

AC 4956 - The Essence of Charity

AC  4956

The essence of charity toward the neighbor
is the affection of good and truth,
and the acknowledgment of self
as being evil and false;
indeed, the neighbor is good and truth itself,
and to be affected by these is to have charity.

The opposite to the neighbor is evil and falsity,
which are held in aversion by one who has charity.
He therefore who has charity toward the neighbor
is affected by good and truth,
because they are from the Lord,
and holds in aversion what is evil and what is false
because these are from self;
and when he does this,
he is in humiliation from self-acknowledgment,
and when he is in humiliation,
he is in a state of reception
of good and truth from the Lord.

These are the characteristics of charity
which in the internal sense are involved
in these words of the Lord:

"I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat;
I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink;
I was a stranger, and you gathered Me;
naked, and you clothed Me;
I was sick, and you visited Me;
I was in prison, and you came unto Me."
(Matthew 25:35-36)

That these words involve such things,
no one can know except from the internal sense.
The ancients, who had the doctrinals of charity,
knew these things;
but at this day they appear so remote
that everyone will wonder at its being said
that these things are within.
Moreover, the angels who are with a person
perceive these words no otherwise,
for by the "hungry" they perceive those
who from affection desire good;
by the "thirsty," those who from affection desire truth;
by a "stranger," those who are willing to be instructed;
by the "naked," those who acknowledge
that there is nothing of good and of truth in themselves;
by the "sick," those who acknowledge
that in themselves there is nothing but evil;
and by the "bound," or those who are "in prison,"
those who acknowledge
that in themselves there is nothing but falsity.
If these things are reduced into one meaning,
they mean what has been stated just above.

AC 4931 - Heaven and Earth; AC 4932 - Hands, Arms, and Shoulders

AC 4931 - Heaven and Earth

. . . heaven has reference to the Lord,
for the Lord is the all in all of heaven,
 insomuch that heaven is in the proper sense
the Divine good and Divine truth
which are from the Lord.
For this reason
heaven is distinguished into as many provinces,
so to speak,
as there are viscera, organs, and members in a person,
and with these also there is correspondence.
Unless there were such a correspondence
of a person with heaven,
and through heaven with the Lord,
a person would not subsist even a single moment.
All these things are kept in connection by influx.

AC 4932 - Hands, Arms, and Shoulders

Those in the Grand Man
who correspond to the hands and arms,
and also to the shoulders,
are those who have
power by the truth of faith from good.
For those who are in the truth of faith from good
are in the power of the Lord
because they attribute all power to Him,
and none to themselves;
and the more they attribute none to themselves --
not with the lips, but with the heart --
the more they are in power.
From this the angels are called potencies and powers.

 

AC 4918 - The "Womb"; AC 4928, 4930 - Which Is First, Good or Truth?

AC 4918 - The "Womb"

The "womb" in the genuine sense means
the inmost of conjugial love in which is innocence,
because in the Grand Man
the womb corresponds to this love;
and as conjugial love has its origin
from the love of good and truth
which belongs to the heavenly marriage,
and as this marriage is heaven itself,
or the Lord's kingdom,
and as the Lord's kingdom on earth is the church,
therefore the church also is signified by the "womb;"
for the church is where the marriage of good and truth is.

AC 4928, 4930 - Which Is First, Good or Truth?

. . . good is actually prior,
is because during a person's regeneration
good does not appear,
because it conceals itself in the interior person,
and only flows into truth through affection
according to the degrees of conjunction of truth with it.
But when truth has been conjoined with good,
as when a person has been regenerated,
good manifests itself;
for a person then acts from good
and regards truths as from good,
because he is then
more studious of life than of doctrine.

If a person should see the quality of a single thing
as it appears before the angels,
he would be amazed,
and would confess that he would never have believed it,
and that in comparison he had known scarcely anything.

. . . Unless there were light from good
inwardly in a person,
he would never be able to see truths
so as to acknowledge and believe them,
but would look upon them
either as things to be called true
on account of the common people, or else as falsities.

AC 4901 - Earthly Times and Heavenly States; AC 4906 - Good

AC 4901 [2-3] - Earthly Times and Heavenly States

That times mean states is because
times do not exist in the other life.
The progression of the life of spirits and angels
indeed appears as in time;
but they have no thought from times,
as people in the world have;
their thought is from states of the life,
and this without notion of times.
The reason of this is
that the progressions of their life
are not distinguished into different ages,
for there they do not grow old,
and there are no days or years,
because their sun,
which is the Lord,
is always rising and never sets.
Consequently no notion of time enters their thoughts,
but only a notion of state and its progressions --
notions being taken from the things
that are and exist before the senses.

These things must needs seem paradoxical,
but only for the reason
that a person in every idea of his thought
has somewhat adjoined from time and space.
From this source are his memory and recollection,
and also his lower thought,
the ideas of which are called material.
But that memory out of which comes such ideas
is quiescent in the other life.
Those who are in that life are in interior memory,
and in the ideas of its thought;
and thought from this latter memory
has not times and spaces adjoined to it,
but states and their progressions instead.
Consequently it is that they also correspond,
and in consequence of such correspondence
times in the Word signify states.

AC 4906 - Good

. . . good is actually spiritual fire,
from which comes the spiritual heat
which is life-giving,
and evil is the fire and the consequent heat
which consumes. 

AC 4893, 4899 - Light and Shade

AC 4893

. . . the understanding,
which is the sight of the internal person,
has its light and its shade,
and those things fall into its shade
which do not coincide with
what it has had some notion of before.
Yet all these particulars in a series,
together with innumerable things
which cannot even be comprehended by a person,
enter clearly into
the light of the understanding of the angels.

AC 4899

And who knows
that charity toward the neighbor
consists in willing,
and from willing in acting,
and consequently that faith consists in perceiving?
When this is unknown,
and especially when it is denied,
as it is by those who make faith saving
without the works of charity,
into what shade must those things fall
which are here said in the internal sense
concerning the conjunction of what is internal
with the external of the church . . ..
Those who do not know
that charity is the internal
and thus the essential of the church,
stand very remote from the first step
toward the understanding of such things,
and therefore very far from
the innumerable and ineffable things
that are in heaven,
where the things relating to
love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor
are the all of life,
and consequently the all of wisdom and of intelligence.

~ You Must Follow Him ~

It is the Lord your God you must follow,
and Him you must revere.
Keep His commands and obey Him;
serve Him and hold fast to Him.

(Deuteronomy 13:4)

 

AC 4865 - The Internal of the Church

AC 4865 [3]

. . . the internal of the church is
the good of charity,
and the truth of faith in doctrine
and at the same time in life . . ..

 

AC 4858 - Garments of Widowhood; AC 4859 - "And she covered herself in a veil."

AC 4858

And she put off from upon her
the garments of her widowhood.
(Genesis 38:14)

That this means a simulation of the truth that is from good,
is evident from the meaning of a "widow,"
as being those who are in truth without good
and yet desire to be led by good.
The garments with which widows were clothed
represented such truth,
and this because "garments" mean truths.
Consequently "to put off these garments"
is to put off the representation of a widow,
that is, of truth without good;
and because she covered herself with her veil,
to simulate the truth that is from good.

AC 4859 [1-2]

And covered herself in a veil.
(Genesis 38:14)

That this means truth obscured,
is evident from the meaning
of "covering herself" or her face "with her veil,"
as being to conceal,
and thus to obscure the truth
which pretended to be from good . . .
and this for the purpose of conjunction with Judah.
For when a bride first approached the bridegroom
she covered herself with a veil --
as we read of Rebekah
when she came to Isaac (Gen. 24:65);
and by this was meant appearances of truth.
For a wife means truth,
and a husband good;
and as truth does not appear in its quality
until it is being conjoined with its good,
therefore for the sake of representing this
the bride covered herself with a veil
on first seeing her husband.
The case is similar here with Tamar,
for she regarded Shelah Judah's son as her husband,
but because she was not given to him,
she regarded his father in his stead
as one to perform the duty of a husband's brother.
Therefore she covered herself with a veil as a bride,
and not as a harlot,
though Judah believed the latter also were at that time
to cover their faces . . ..
The reason why Judah so regarded her
was that the Jewish nation,
which is there meant by "Judah,"
regarded the internal truths of the representative church
no otherwise than as a harlot;
and therefore Judah
was conjoined with her as with a harlot,
but not so Tamar with him.
Because internal truths
could not appear otherwise to that nation,
therefore truth obscured
is here meant by Tamar's covering herself in a veil.
That the truth of the church is obscured to them,
is represented also at this day
by their covering themselves with veils
in their synagogues.

There was a similar representation with Moses
when the skin of his face shone
as he came down from Mount Sinai,
so that he covered himself with a veil
whenever he spoke to the people
(Exodus 34:28 to the end).
Moses represented the Word which is called the Law . . ..
His veiling his face whenever he spoke to the people
represented that internal truth was covered to them,
and thus obscured
so that they should not have to endure any light from it.

AC 4844 - "Orphans" and "Widows"

AC 4844 [6, 17]

A father of the orphans, and a judge of the widows,
is God in the habitation of His holiness
(Psalm 68:5);

the "orphans" denote those who, like little children,
are in the good of innocence,
but not yet in truth,
whose father is said to be the Lord,
because He leads them as a father,
and this through truth into good,
that is, into the good of life or of wisdom.
"Widows" denote those who as adults are in truth,
but not yet in good,
whose judge is said to be the Lord,
because He leads them,
and this through good into truth,
that is, into the truth of intelligence;
for by a "judge" is meant one who leads.
Good without truth, which is the "orphan,"
becomes the good of wisdom
through the doctrine of truth;
and truth without good, which is the "widow,"
becomes the truth of intelligence
through a life of good.

That this is the meaning of a "widow,"
was known from their doctrinals
to those who were of the Ancient Church;
for their doctrinals were doctrinals of love and charity,
which contained innumerable things
that at this day are wholly obliterated.
From these doctrinals they knew what charity to exercise,
or what duty they owed the neighbor,
thus who were called widows,
who orphans, who sojourners, and so on.
Their knowledges of truth and memory-knowledges
were to know what the rituals of their church
represented and meant;
and those who were learned among them
knew what the things on the earth
and in the world represented;
for they knew
that universal nature was a theater representative
of the heavenly kingdom.
Such things elevated their minds to heavenly things,
and their doctrinals led to life.
But after the church turned aside from charity to faith,
and still more after it separated faith from charity,
and made faith saving without charity and its works,
men's minds could no longer be
elevated by knowledges to heavenly things,
nor by doctrinals be led to life;
and this to such a degree
that at last scarcely anyone believes
that there is any life after death,
and scarcely anyone knows what the heavenly is.
That there is any spiritual sense in the Word
which does not appear in the letter,
cannot be believed.
In this way people's minds have been closed.

~ The Lord Is God ~

Acknowledge and take to heart this day
that the Lord is God in heaven above
and on the earth below.
There is no other.

Keep His decrees and commands,
which I am giving you today,
so that it may go well with you
and your children after you
and that you may live long in the land
the Lord your God give you for all time.

(Deuteronomy 4:39-40)