Saturday, October 19, 2024

DLW 242, 243 - Receiving Spiritual Light and Spiritual Warmth

DLW 242

Spiritual light flows in
through the three degrees in a person,
but not spiritual warmth
except to the extent
that the person refrains from evils as being sins
and looks to the Lord.
From what we have demonstrated previously,
it follows that the sun in heaven
is the first emanation
of the Lord's Divine love and wisdom,
and that from it emanate light and warmth -
light from His wisdom, and warmth from His love;
that light is the vehicle of wisdom,
and warmth the vehicle of love;
and that to the extent a person comes into wisdom,
to the same extent he comes into that Divine light,
and to the extent he comes into love,
to the same extent
he comes into that Divine warmth.

From what we have demonstrated previously
it follows also that there are three degrees
of light and three degrees of warmth,
or three degrees of wisdom
and three degrees of love,
and that these degrees
have been formed in people
in order that people may be recipients
of the Lord's Divine love and wisdom,
thus of the Lord.

The point to be now demonstrated here
is that spiritual light flows in
through the three degrees in a person,
but not spiritual warmth except to the extent
that the person refrains from evils as being sins
and looks to the Lord.
Or in other words,
that a person is capable of receiving wisdom
even to the third degree,
but not love except to the extent
that the person refrains from evils
as being sins and looks to the Lord.
Or to put it in still other words,
that a person's intellect may be elevated into wisdom,
but not his will
except to the extent
he refrains from evils as being sins.

DLW 243

I have often seen simple spirits
who knew only that there is a God
and that the Lord was born a man,
and scarcely anything else,
and I have perceived that they fully understood
the secrets of angelic wisdom,
almost as angels do.
And not only they,
but also many of the devil's crew.
Yet they understood these things
when they heard them,
and not when they thought to themselves.
For when they heard them,
a light entered in from above,
but when they thought to themselves,
then no other light could enter
than such as corresponded to their warmth or love.
Consequently, after they heard these secrets
and comprehended them,
upon turning their attention away
they retained nothing.
Indeed, those who were of the devil's crew
then rejected these things and utterly denied them.
The reason was that the fire of their love and its light,
being an illusory fire and light,
induced in them a darkness
by which the heavenly light entering in from above
was extinguished.

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