AC 6135 - "Body"

AC 6135 [3] - "Body"

That in the genuine sense "body" is the good of love,
is very evident from the angels,
for when they become present,
love so pours out of them
that you would believe them to be nothing but love,
and this from their whole body,
which also appears bright and shining
from the light which is from the love;
for the good of love is like a flame
which emits from itself light,
which is the truth of faith derived from there.
This being the character of the angels in heaven,
what must not the Lord Himself be,
from whom the angels have everything of love,
and whose Divine Love appears as a Sun
from which the universal heaven has its light,
and all who are therein have their heavenly heat,
that is, their love, thus their life.
It is the Lord's Divine Human which so appears,
and from which all these things are.
From this it is evident what is meant by
the Lord's "body," namely, the Divine love,
in like manner as by His "flesh".
Moreover the Lord's very body when glorified,
that is, made Divine, is nothing else.
What else must we think about the Divine,
which is infinite?

AC 6115 - The Lord Hold All Things Together

AC 6115 [3-4]

The most general universal,
by virtue of which all things are held together,
is the Lord Himself,
and that which holds together
is the Divine truth proceeding from Him.
. . . In mankind, the most general universal,
which holds the single things together,
is the soul;
thus also it is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord,
for this is continually flowing in
and causing the soul to be such as it is.

The Divine truth proceeding from the Lord
is what is called
the "Word through which all things were created" (John 1:1-3),
or through which all things have come into existence,
consequently through which all things subsist.

AC 6104 - Rameses

AC 6104

In the land of Rameses.
(Genesis 47:11)

That this means the inmost of the mind and its quality,
is evident from the fact that all the names in the Word,
both of persons and of places, mean things;
and as the "land of Goshen" denotes
the inmost of the natural mind,
therefore "Rameses,"
which was the best tract of land in the land of Goshen,
denotes the inmost of what is spiritual in the natural mind.
But the nature of this inmost
can scarcely be comprehended by a person,
for it contains innumerable and also ineffable things,
which can only be seen in the light of heaven,
thus by angels;
as is the case with the rest of the names,
of both places and persons, which occur in the Word.

AC 6078 - "Pasture"; AC 6097 - Temptations

AC 6078 - "Pasture"

"Pasture" in the internal sense
is that which sustains the spiritual life,
and especially is it the truth of memory-knowledge,
for the soul of a person desires this
as the body desires food.
This truth nourishes,
and therefore "to feed" denotes to be instructed.
That memory-knowledges and truths
sustain the soul of a person is very evident
from a person's longing to know things,
and also from
the correspondence of food with memory-knowledges,
which correspondence also shows itself in a person
when he is partaking of food,
for if this is done while he is speaking and listening,
the vessels which receive the chyle are opened,
and he is more fully nourished than if he is alone.
Spiritual truths and instructions in them
would have the same effect with people
if they were in the affection of good.
That truths nourish the spiritual life
is especially clear with good spirits
and with the angels in heaven,
for both good spirits and angels
have a constant longing
to know things and to be wise;
and when they lack this spiritual food
they feel desolate,
their life is languid, and they are hungry;
and they are not restored
and raised into the bliss of their life
until their longing is satisfied.
But in order that memory-knowledges
may yield healthful nourishment to the soul,
there must be in them life from the goods of truth.
If there is no life from this source,
the memory-knowledges do indeed
sustain the man's interior life,
but only his natural life, and not his spiritual life.


AC 6097 - Temptations

All temptations appear evil,
for the reason that they are interior anxieties and griefs,
and as it were damnations;
for the person is then let into the state of his evils,
consequently among evil spirits,
who accuse him,
and thus torment the conscience;
nevertheless the angels defend him,
that is, the Lord through angels,
for the Lord keeps him in hope and trust,
which are fighting strengths from within
that enable him to offer resistance.
Especially is the natural let into temptations
when it is receiving the spiritual,
because in the natural reside
evils of life and falsities of doctrine.

AC 6071 - The Good From God; AC 6073 - The Goods of Charity Are Uses

AC 6071 [3] - The Good From God

. . . nothing but good comes from God,
for in so far as a person suffers it,
God bends evil into good.


AC 6073 - The Goods of Charity Are Uses

All the goods which are called goods of charity
are nothing but uses,
and uses are nothing but works
for the neighbor,
for our country,
for the church,
for the Lord's kingdom.
Moreover regarded in itself
charity itself does not become charity
until it comes into act and becomes work.
For to love anyone,
and not do him good when we have the power,
is not to love him;
but to do him good when we have the power,
and to do it from our hearts,
this is to love him;
and then all things of charity toward him
are contained within the very deed or work;
for a person's works
are the complex of all things of his charity and faith,
and are what are called spiritual goods,
and indeed become goods by exercise,
that is, by means of uses.

AC 6065 - The Double Origin of Good

AC 6065

The goods which are in heaven
and with a person
are from a double origin, namely,
from an origin in the will
and from an origin in the understanding.
In the good that originates in the will
were the most ancient people
who were of the celestial church,
but in the good that originates in the understanding
were the ancient people
who were of the spiritual church.
In the former good are those
who are in the inmost or third heaven,
but in the latter good are those
who are in the middle or second heaven.
. . . The good which originates in the will
is the good from which is truth;
but the good which originates in the understanding
is the good which is from truth, or the good of truth.
In itself this good is nothing else than truth in act.

AC 6057 - The Formation of the External & Internal Person

AC 6057 [2-3]

And just as the external person has been formed
according to the image of all things of the world,
so has the internal person been formed
according to the image of all things of heaven,
that is, according to
the image of the celestial and spiritual things
which proceed from the Lord
and from which and in which is heaven.
The celestial things there
are all those which are of love to the Lord
and of charity toward the neighbor;
and the spiritual things there
are all those of faith,
which in themselves are so many
and of such a nature
that the tongue cannot possibly
utter one millionth part of them.
That the internal person has been formed
according to the image of all these things,
is strikingly shown in the angels,
who when they appear before the internal sight . . .
affect the inmosts by their mere presence;
for love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor
pour out of them and penetrate,
and the derivative things of faith
shine forth from them and affect.
By this and other proofs it has been made plain to me
that as the internal person
has been created to be an angel,
he is a heaven in the least form.

. . . in a person
the spiritual world is conjoined with the natural world,
consequently that with him
the spiritual world flows into the natural world
in so vivid a manner that he can notice it,
provided he pays attention.

AC 6044 - Shepherds of the Flock

AC 6044

And the men are shepherds of the flock.
(Genesis 46:32)

That this means that they lead to good,
is evident from the meaning of "shepherds of the flock,"
as being those who lead to good.
For he is a "shepherd" who teaches and leads,
and that is the "flock" which is taught and led.
But in the internal sense are meant
truths which lead to good,
for by the sons of Israel,
who here are the "men, shepherds of the flock,"
are represented spiritual truths.
Moreover with those who teach it is truths that lead.
That truths which are of faith
lead to good which is of charity, was shown above;
and the same is evident from the fact
that all things both in general and in particular
have relation to an end, and look to it,
and those which do not look to an end cannot subsist.
For the Lord has created nothing whatever
except for the sake of an end;
in so much that it may be said that the end
is the all in all things that have been created;
and all things that have been created
are in such an order
that as the end from the First through the intermediates
looks to the last or ultimate,
so the end within the last or ultimate
has regard to the end in the First.
So comes the connection of things.
In its first origin
the end itself is nothing
but the Divine good of the Divine love;
thus it is the Lord Himself.
Wherefore also in the Word
He is called the "First and the Last,"
the "Alpha and Omega".
This being the case,
it is necessary that each and all things
which pertain to the life with a person
should have relation to an end
and should look to it.
He who has any rational ability can see
that the memory-knowledges with a person
look to truths as their end,
and that the truths look to goods,
and that the goods look to the Lord
as the last and the first end;
as the last end when they look at Him from truths,
and as the first end when they look at Him from good.
Such is the case with the truths of the church
that they lead to good,
which is meant by
the "men being shepherds of the flock,"
and by their being "men of cattle," as now follows.

AC 6027 - The Communication of Good with Good

AC 6027

The reason why Judah was sent, and not another,
was that there might be signified
the communication of good with good,
which is immediate;
namely, the communication of external good,
which Judah represents,
with internal good,
which Joseph represents.
For the good which is of love to the Lord
and of charity toward the neighbor
flows in from the Lord
through the internal into the external;
and is so much received in the external
as there is of good there.
But if in the person's external
there is only the truth of faith, and not good,
then the influx of good from the Lord
through the internal
is not received in the external;
for immediate communication with truth is not possible,
but only mediate communication through good.
This is the reason why
no other than Judah was sent by Jacob to Joseph.

AC 6025 - Where the Descendants of Jacob Were Born Matters

AC 6025

This is worthy of note:
that no son was born to the sons of Jacob in Egypt,
to which place they came, although they were still young;
but their sons were all born in the land of Canaan,
while they themselves were born in Paddan-aram,
except Benjamin.
This was of the Lord's special Divine providence,
in order that the things of the church
might be represented by them from their very birth.
The sons of Jacob being born in Paddan-aram
represented that the person of the church
must be born anew or regenerated
by means of the knowledges of good and truth;
for "Paddan-aram" means
the knowledges of good and truth,
and their birth represented the new birth
through faith and charity,
thus at first through the knowledges of these.
But that their sons were all born in the land of Canaan
represented that from there are such things
as are of the church,
for the "land of Canaan" denotes the church.
But that to Joseph were born sons in Egypt,
was in order that there might be represented
the dominion of the internal person in the external,
especially the dominion
of the celestial spiritual in the natural,
"Manasseh" being the will,
and "Ephraim" the intellectual,
of the church, in the natural.

AC 6023 - Memory-Knowledges Can Be Filled With Truth or Falsity

AC 6023

Truths are initiated and brought in
when memory-knowledges are ruled by truths;
and they are ruled by truths
when truth is acknowledged
because the Lord has so said in the Word,
and the memory-knowledges which affirm it are accepted,
but those which oppose it are removed.
Thus truth becomes lord
over those memory-knowledges which are affirmative of it,
while those not affirmative are rejected.
When this is the case,
then the person in thinking from memory-knowledges
is not led into falsities,
as is the case where truths are not within.
For memory-knowledges are not true from themselves,
but from the truths within them,
and such as are the truths in them,
such a general truth is the memory-knowledge.
For a memory-knowledge is merely a vessel,
which is capable of receiving both truths and falsities,
and this with endless variety.

As for example the memory-knowledge of the church
that every person is the neighbor.
Into this memory-knowledge may be initiated
and brought truths in endless abundance;
as that every person is indeed the neighbor,
but each one with a difference;
that he is most the neighbor who is in good,
and this also with a difference
according to the quality of the good;
that the origin of the neighbor is from the Lord Himself,
so that the nearer any are to Him,
that is, the more they are in good,
the more they are the neighbor;
and the more remote they are from Him, the less;
and also that a society is more the neighbor
than an individual person,
and a kingdom in general more than a society,
but our own country more than other kingdoms;
that the church is still more
the neighbor than our country,
and the Lord's kingdom still more;
and also that the neighbor is loved
when anyone discharges his office aright
for the good of others,
or of his country,
or of the church; and so on.
This shows how many truths can be brought into
this one memory-knowledge of the church,
for they are so many
that it is difficult to distribute them into genera,
and to assign to each genus some specific truths,
in order that it may be distinguished and recognized.
This was a study in the ancient churches.

That the same memory-knowledge
can be filled with falsities in endless abundance,
may also be seen by inverting the above truths,
and saying that everyone is neighbor to himself,
and that in every instance
the origin of the neighbor is from self;
and that therefore a person's nearest neighbor
is he who most favors him,
and makes one with him,
and thereby presents himself in him
as an image of himself;
indeed, that neither is his country the neighbor,
except insofar as concerns his own advantage;
and so on without end.
Yet the memory-knowledge remains the same:
that every person is the neighbor.
But by one this is filled with truths,
by another with falsities.
The case is similar with all other memory-knowledges.

AC 6013 - Innocence

AC  6013

And their babes.
(Genesis 46:5)

. . . those things which are of innocence,
is evident from the meaning of "babes," as being innocence.
It is said "with those things which are of innocence,"
also "which are of charity,"
for the reason that without innocence and charity,
natural truth cannot be caused to advance by spiritual truths;
for in order that truth may be genuine,
it must derive its essence and life from charity,
and charity from innocence.
For the interior things which vivify truth
succeed one another in the following order:
inmost is innocence;
next lower is charity;
and lowest is work of charity from truth or according to truth.
The reason why they succeed one another in this order
is that they so succeed one another in the heavens.
For the inmost or third heaven is the heaven of innocence;
the middle or second heaven is the heaven of charity,
within which is innocence from the inmost heaven;
and the ultimate or first heaven is the heaven of truth,
within which is charity from the second heaven,
and within this is innocence from the third.
All these must be in the same order with a person,
for in respect to his interiors
person is formed after the image of the three heavens;
and therefore a regenerated person
is a heaven in particular or in the least form.
But in respect to his exteriors, especially the body,
he is formed after the image of the world . . .
to the end that every person may be in particular
a recipient of Divine good from the Lord,
as heaven is in general.

AC 6003 - "God"; AC 6007 - To Be Elevated; AC 6008 - Earthly & Spiritual Bodies

AC 6003 - "God"

In the original tongue,
"God" is named in the first place in the singular,
but in the second place in the plural;
that is, in the first the name is "El,"
and in the second it is "Elohim."
The reason is that by "God" in the first place
is meant that there is one God and only one,
and by "God" in the second place
that He has many attributes.
Thus arises the name "Elohim" or "God" in the plural,
as in the Word almost everywhere.
As there are many attributes,
and the Ancient Church assigned a name to each,
therefore its descendants,
with whom the knowledge of such things was lost,
believed there were many gods,
and each family chose one of them for its God --
as Abraham, Shaddai,
and Isaac, the God who was called "Pachad" or "Dread."
And as the God of each was one of the Divine attributes,
therefore the Lord said unto Abram,
"I am God Shaddai" (Gen. 17:1),
and here unto Jacob, "I am the God of thy father."

AC 6007 - To Be Elevated

To be elevated toward more interior things
is to think more interiorly,
and at last as a spirit and as an angel;
for the more interiorly thought proceeds,
the more perfect it is,
because it is nearer
the influx of truth and good from the Lord.

AC 6008 - Earthly & Spiritual Bodies

. . . when a person dies,
he does not die,
but only lays aside the body
which had served him for use in the world,
and he passes into the other life
in a body which serves him for use there.

AC 5997 - "Beersheba"

AC 5997

And came to Beersheba.
(Genesis 46:1)

That this means charity and faith,
is evident from the meaning of "Beersheba,"
as being the doctrine of charity and of faith,
but here, charity and faith, and not their doctrine,
for it is predicated of spiritual good, which is "Israel."
Spiritual good is more than doctrine,
doctrine being from this good;
and therefore he who has arrived at spiritual good
has no more need of doctrinal things,
which are from others;
for he has attained the end he sought to reach,
and is no longer concerned with the means;
and doctrinal things are nothing
but the means of arriving at good as the end.
This is the reason why
by "Beersheba" is meant charity and faith.

AC 5992 - The Care of the Lord and His Angels

AC  5992 [1,3]

The angels, through whom the Lord leads
and also protects a person, are near his head.
It is their office to inspire charity and faith,
and to observe in what direction the person's delights turn,
and insofar as they can,
without interfering with the person's freedom,
moderate them and bend them to good.
They are forbidden to act with violence
and thus break the person's greediness and principles;
but are enjoined to act gently.
It is also their office
to rule the evil spirits who are from hell,
which is done in innumerable ways,
of which the following only may be mentioned.
When the evil spirits pour in evils and falsities,
the angels insinuate truths and goods,
which, if not received,
are nevertheless the means of tempering.
Infernal spirits continually attack,
and the angels protect;
such is the order.

Especially do the angels call forth
the goods and truths that are with a person,
and set them in opposition
to the evils and falsities which the evil spirits excite.
Thus the person is in the midst,
and does not perceive either the evil or the good;
and being in the midst,
he is in freedom to turn himself
either to the one or to the other.
By such means do angels from the Lord
lead and protect a person,
and this every moment, and every moment of a moment;
for if the angels were to suspend their care
for a single moment,
the person would be suddenly cast into evil
from which he could never afterward be brought out.
These things the angels do
from the love they have from the Lord,
for they perceive nothing more delightful and happy
than to remove evils from a person,
and lead him to heaven.
That this is a joy to them, see Luke 15:7:

I tell you that in the same way
there will be more rejoicing in heaven
over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous person
who do not need to repent.

Scarcely any person believes
that the Lord takes such care of a person,
and this continually
from the first thread of his life to the last of it,
and afterward to eternity.

AC 5963 - The Varying States in the Other Life

AC 5963

The varying states in the other life . . .
are according to the perception of good and truth
with those who are there,
thus according to their perception of the Lord's presence.
According to this perception
they have tranquillity;
for those who are in the perception of the Lord's presence
are in the perception
that each and all things which befall them
tend to their good,
and that evils do not reach them;
hence they are in tranquillity.
Without such faith or confidence in the Lord
no one can possibly come to the tranquillity of peace,
thus neither to the bliss in joy,
because this bliss dwells in the tranquillity of peace.

AC 5957 - For Our Sake

AC 5957

For everything that flows in from the Lord
through the internal into the external,
or into the natural . . . is given gratuitously.
The Lord does indeed demand
humiliation, adoration, thanksgivings,
and many other things from a person,
which appear like repayments,
and thus not gratuitous;
but the Lord does not
demand these things for His own sake,
for the Divine has no glory
from a person's humiliation, adoration, and thanksgiving.
In the Divine,
anything of the love of self is utterly inconceivable --
that such things should be done for His own sake;
but they are for the sake of the person himself;
for when a person is in humiliation
he can receive good from the Lord,
because he has then been separated from
the love of self and its evils,
which are the obstacle;
and therefore the Lord wills
a state of humiliation in a person for his own sake;
because when he is in this state
the Lord can flow in with heavenly good.
The case is similar with adoration,
and with thanksgiving.

AC 5949 - Keeping God Before Our Eyes

AC 5949 [2-4]

A person must by all means care for his body,
as that it may be nourished, and clothed,
and may enjoy the delights of the world;
but all these not for the sake of the body,
but for the sake of the soul,
namely, that the soul may act in a sound body
correspondently and rightly,
and may have the body as an organ
entirely compliant to it.
Thus the soul must be the end.
Yet neither must the soul be the end,
but only a mediate end,
for which the person must care,
not for its own sake,
but for the sake of the uses
which it must perform in both worlds;
and when a person has uses as the end,
he has the Lord as the end,
for the Lord makes disposition for uses,
and disposes the uses themselves.

As few know what it is to have as the end,
this also shall be told.
To have as the end is to love above all other things,
for what a person loves,
this he has as the end.
That which a person has as the end
is plainly discerned,
for it reigns universally in him;
and thus is continually present
even at those times when he seems to himself
not to be thinking at all about it,
for it is seated within and makes his interior life,
and thus secretly rules each and all things.
As for example,
with him who from the heart honors his parents,
this honor is present
in each and all things that he does in their presence
and that he thinks in their absence,
and it is also perceived from his gestures and speech.
So with him who from the heart
fears and honors God,
this fear and honor are present
in everything that he thinks, and speaks, and does,
because it is in him
even when it does not seem to be present,
as when he is engaged in business
that seems to be far from it;
for it reigns universally; thus in every detail.
That which reigns in a person
is plainly perceived in the other life,
for the sphere of his whole life
which exhales from him is derived from this.

From all this it is evident how it is to be understood
that God must be always kept before the eyes;
not that He must be constantly thought about,
but that the fear or the love of Him
must reign universally,
in which case God is kept before the eyes
in every detail.
When this is the case
the person does not think, speak, or do
what is against Him and displeasing to Him;
or if he does,
that which universally reigns,
and lies hidden within,
manifests itself and admonishes him.

AC 5929 - Humility

AC 5929

. . . he who loves himself
cannot possibly humble himself from the heart;
for he sets himself up,
because he regards himself in everything,
and makes small account of what is outside of himself.

AC 5920 - The Clarity of Perception; AC 5922 - The Use of the Word

AC 5920 - The Clarity of Perception

For the nearer truth and good are to the internal,
the more perfect a perception they have,
being more deeply in the light of heaven,
and thus nearer to the Lord.
For the influx of Divine good and truth from the Lord
advances through continuous mediations,
and thus successions;
and therefore those
who are in first principles or beginnings
receive the influx with a clearer perception
(because more immediately)
than those who are in intermediates and ultimates.
There is a successive obscuration of good and of truth
(as there is of light) according to distances,
for the more imperfect things
which follow in succession by degrees,
cause dimness.

AC 5922 [5] - The Use of the Word

. . . the Word is Divine truth for the use of the church.

AC 5910, 5912 - Goshen

AC 5910

For Goshen was the best tract in the land of Egypt,
and that which is best in the natural,
where memory-knowledges are,
is in the midst or in the center;
for good itself is there as something like a sun,
and gives light from there
to the truths which are at the sides.

AC 5912

For when good is in the first place, and has dominion,
it continually produces truths.
It multiplies them around itself
and also around each truth,
and makes each truth like a little star,
in the center of which there is a bright light.
Nor does good only multiply truths around itself,
but it also produces truths from truths
by derivations in succession . . ..

AC 5893 - Truths & Goods, Their Affections, and Regeneration

AC 5893 [2]

There must be truths in the natural mind
in order that good may work,
and the truths must be introduced
by means of the affection
which is of genuine love.
All things whatever that are in a person's memory
have been introduced by means of some love,
and remain there conjoined with it.
It is so also with the truths of faith --
if these truths have been introduced
by means of the love of truth,
they remain conjoined with this love.
When they have been conjoined,
then the case is as follows:
If the affection is reproduced,
the truths which are conjoined with it
come forth at the same time;
and if the truths are reproduced,
the affection itself
with which they have been conjoined
comes forth at the same time.
Wherefore during a person's regeneration
(which is effected in adult age,
because previously he does not think from himself
about the truths of faith)
he is ruled by means of angels from the Lord,
by being kept in the truths
which he has impressed upon himself to be truths,
and by means of these truths
in the affection with which they have been conjoined;
and as this affection, namely, of truth,
is from good,
he is thus led by degrees to good.

AC 5881, 5882 - For It Is a Wonderful Order

AC 5881

By commotion is meant a new disposition
and setting in order of truths in the natural,
concerning which setting in order
be it known that the order in which
memory-knowledges and truths are arranged
in a person's memory is unknown to them,
but when it pleases the Lord it is known to angels.
For it is a wonderful order.
They cohere as in little bundles,
and the little bundles themselves cohere together,
and this according to the connection of things
which the person had conceived.
These coherences are more wonderful
than any person can ever believe.
In the other life they are sometimes presented to view,
for in the light of heaven which is spiritual
such things can be exhibited to the sight of the eye,
but not at all in the light of the world.
The memory-knowledges and truths
are arranged into these small bundle forms
solely by the person's loves --
into infernal forms by the loves of self and of the world,
but into heavenly forms
by love toward the neighbor and love to God.
Wherefore while the person is being regenerated,
and conjunction is being effected
of the good of the internal person
with the truths of the external,
a commotion takes place among the truths,
for they then undergo a different arrangement.
It is this commotion which is here meant,
and is meant by their "being in consternation."
The commotion then made,
reveals itself by an anxiety arising
from the change of the former state, namely,
from being deprived of the delight
which had been in that state.

AC 5882

. . . when there takes place a conjunction
of the internal with the external,
or of good with truth,
there is first bestowed a capacity of perception
that the person is affected with truth and thus with good,
and that then a commotion is felt;
next that an interior communication is given
by means of influx; and so on.

AC 5871 - Morning; AC 5874 - What Memory-knowledges (Facts) Are and Do

AC 5871 - Morning

. . . the mind is gladdened by the morning of the day.

AC 5874 - What Memory-knowledges (Facts) Are and Do

That memory-knowledges are the ultimates with a person,
namely, in his memory and thought,
is not apparent,
for it seems to him as if they make
the whole of intelligence and of wisdom.
But it is not so.
They are only vessels
containing the things of intelligence and of wisdom,
and indeed the ultimate vessels,
for they conjoin themselves
with the sensuous things of the body.
That they are ultimates
is plain to him who reflects upon his thought,
when he inquires into any truth,
in that memory-knowledges are then present,
but are not apparent;
for the thought then extracts what they contain
(and this from very many
scattered here and there and even deeply hidden),
and thus forms conclusions;
and the more interiorly the thought penetrates,
so much the farther does it remove itself from them.
This may be clear from the fact
that when a person comes
into the other life and becomes a spirit,
he indeed has with him memory-knowledges,
but he is not allowed to use them, for several reasons;
and yet he thinks and speaks concerning truth and good
much more distinctly and perfectly than in the world.
Hence it may be seen
that memory-knowledges are serviceable to a person
for forming the understanding,
but when the understanding has been formed,
they then constitute an ultimate plane
in which the person no longer thinks,
but above it.

AC 5854 - The Spirits With Us and Our Freedom; AC 5857 - The Spirits With Children

AC 5854 - The Spirits With Us and Our Freedom

It is provided by the Lord
that spirits should flow into
what is thought and willed by a person,
but angels into his ends,
and thus through the ends
into all that follows from the ends.
Angels also flow in through good spirits into
the goods of life and truths of faith with a person,
by means of which they lead him
away from evils and falsities as far as possible.
This influx is tacit, imperceptible to the person,
but still operating and efficient in secret.
Especially do they avert evil ends
and insinuate good ones.
But insofar as they cannot do this,
they withdraw,
and flow in more remotely, and more absently,
and then evil spirits come nearer;
for angels cannot be present in evil ends,
that is, in the loves of self and of the world,
and yet they are present from afar.

The Lord could through angels
lead a person into good ends by omnipotent force;
but this would be to take away the person's life,
for his life consists in entirely contrary loves.
Therefore the Divine law is inviolable,
that people shall be in freedom,
and that good and truth, or charity and faith,
shall be implanted in his freedom,
and by no means in compulsion;
because what is received in a state of compulsion
does not remain, but is dissipated.
For to compel a person is not to insinuate into his will,
because it is then the will of another
from which he acts;
and therefore when he returns to his own will,
that is, to his own freedom,
this is rooted out.
The Lord therefore rules a person through his freedom,
and as far as possible withholds him
from the freedom of thinking and willing evil;
for unless a person were withheld by the Lord,
he would be continually plunging into the deepest hell.

AC 5857 - The Spirits With Children

. . . evil spirits cannot approach little children,
because these have not yet in their memory
anything that evil spirits can put on;
and therefore with little children
there are good spirits and angels.

AC 5835 - "And his soul being bound up with his soul"

AC 5835

"And his soul being bound up with his soul"
(Genesis 44:30)

means when more closely joined together.
This is clear from the meaning of 'soul' as life,
so that 'the soul of the one
bound up with the soul of the other'
means the life of the one in that of the other.
Consequently a closer joining together is meant,
that is to say, of spiritual good, which is 'Israel',
to the truth springing from that good, which is 'Benjamin'.
The implications of good being joined as closely to truth
as the soul of the one is bound up with that of the other
are as follows:
A person's mind,
which is the real person and is where his life resides,
has two powers,
one of which is assigned to the truths of faith,
the other to the good of charity.
The mental power assigned to the truths of faith
is called the understanding,
while the one assigned to the good of charity
is called the will.
To enable a person to be truly human
these two powers must make a unified whole.

But at the present day
those two mental powers have become
completely set apart from each other,
as may be recognized from the fact
that a person can understand something as being true
and yet be unable to will it.
For a person can see in his understanding
that all the Ten Commandments are truths
and to some extent
that the contents of religious teachings
drawn from the Word are truths;
indeed he can also confirm that they are truths
by the use of his understanding
and in addition through the preaching he hears.
yet the intentions of his will
are at variance with those truths,
and so as a consequence are his actions.
From this it is evident
that those two mental powers present in a person
have become set apart from each other.
Yet they ought not to be set apart,
as may be recognized from the consideration
that should they be set apart
when he enters the next life
the truth in his understanding
will raise him up towards heaven,
while the evil intentions in his will
will draw him down towards hell,
thus leaving him suspended between the two.
Even so, the intentions in his will,
which constitute his actual life,
will carry him downwards,
thus taking him inevitably into hell.
Therefore to prevent this from happening,
those two mental powers have to be joined together.
This is effected by the Lord through regeneration --
through the implantation of the truth of faith
within the good of charity.
For in this way a person
is provided through the truth of faith
with a new understanding,
and through the good of charity with a new will;
and this gives him two mental powers
which make one complete mind.

 

AC 5838 - What We Do Regulates What We Receive from the Lord

AC 5838 [3]

It is a universal law
that influx (good & truth inflowing from the Lord)
adjusts itself according to efflux (what a person does),
and if efflux is checked influx is checked.
Through the internal person
there is an influx of good and truth from the Lord,
and through the external there must be an efflux,
namely into the life, that is, in the exercise of charity.
When there is this efflux
then there is continual influx from heaven,
that is, through heaven from the Lord;
whereas if there is no efflux,
but resistance in the external or natural person
(that is, evil and falsity
which tear to pieces and extinguish the inflowing good),
it follows from the universal law just mentioned
that the influx adjusts itself to the efflux,
consequently that the influx of good draws back,
and thereby the internal through which is the influx
is closed;
and through this closing
there comes stupidity in spiritual things,
even until the person who is such
neither knows nor is willing to know
anything about eternal life,
and at last becomes insane,
so that he opposes falsities against truths,
calling them truths and the truths falsities,
and evils against goods,
making them goods and the goods evil.
Thus he tears good completely to pieces.

AC 5820 - Spiritual Food; AC 2826 - Spiritual Good, the Good of Truth

AC 5820 - Spiritual Food

Spiritual food is in general all good,
but specifically it is the good
which is acquired by means of truth,
that is, truth in the will and in act,
for this good becomes good from the willing and doing,
and is called the good of truth.
Unless truth thus becomes good,
it does not benefit the person in the other life;
for when he comes into the other life it is dissipated,
because it does not agree with his will,
thus not with the delight of his love.
He who has learned truths of faith in the world,
not for the sake of willing and doing them
and thus turning them into goods,
but only that he may know and teach them
for the sake of honor and gain,
even although he may be in the world
considered most learned,
yet in the other life he is deprived of the truths
and is left to his own will, that is, his life.
And he then remains as he had been in his life;
and wonderful to say he is then averse
to all the truths of faith:
and denies them to himself,
howsoever he had before confirmed them.

AC 5826 [2] - Spiritual Good

The spiritual good which Israel represents
is the good of truth, that is, truth in the will and in act.
This truth, or this good of truth, in a person,
makes him to be the church.
When truth has been implanted in the will
(which is perceived by the fact
that the person is affected with truth
for the sake of the end that he may live according to it),
then there is internal good and truth.
When a person is in this good and truth,
then the kingdom of the Lord is in him,
and consequently he is the church,
and together with others like him
makes the church in general.
From this it may be seen
that in order that the church may be the church,
there must be spiritual good,
that is, the good of truth,
but by no means truth alone . . ..

AC 5808 - Love Is Spiritual Conjunction in Harmony; AC 5816 - The Light of Good from Truth

 AC 5808 [2] - Love Is Spiritual Conjunction in Harmony

 . . . love is spiritual conjunction,
because it is a conjunction of the minds,
or of the thought and the will,
of two.
From this it is evident
that regarded in itself love is purely spiritual,
and that the natural of it
is the delight of consociation and conjunction.
In its essence
love is the harmony
resulting from changes of the state,
and variations in the forms or substances,
of which the human mind consists.
This harmony,
if from the heavenly form,
is heavenly love.
It is evident therefore
that love cannot have any other origin than
the Divine love itself which is from the Lord;
thus that love is the Divine which flows into forms,
and so disposes them
that their changes of state and variations
may be in the harmony of heaven.

AC 5816 [2] - The Light of Truth from Good

As to there being no mercy
and no conjunction with the truths in the natural,
unless the truth which is represented by Benjamin
be subject to the internal good which is "Joseph,"
the case is this.
The truth which makes a person to be the church
is the truth which is from good;
for when a person is in good
then from good he sees truths and perceives them,
and thus believes that they are truths;
but not at all if he is not in good.
Good is like a little flame
which gives light and illumines,
and causes a person to see, perceive, and believe truths.
For the affection of truth from good
determines the internal sight from there,
and withdraws the sight from worldly and bodily things,
which induce darkness.
Such is the truth which Benjamin here represents.
That this is the only truth of the church . . .
it is the only truth which makes a person to be the church.
But this truth must be altogether subject to
the internal good which is represented by Joseph;
for the Lord flows in through internal good,
and gives life to the truths which are below;
thus also to this truth
which is from spiritual good from the natural,
which is represented by Israel.

AC 5798 - Anger Means Turning Away

AC 5798

And let not your anger be kindled against your servant.
(Genesis 44:18)

That this means in case he turns away,
is evident from the meaning of "anger,"
as being a turning away,
because one who is angry with another turns away,
for in that state he does not think like him, but against him.
That "anger" is a turning away
is plain from many passages in the Word,
especially from those where anger and wrath
are ascribed to Jehovah or the Lord,
by which is meant a turning away --
not that Jehovah or the Lord ever turns away,
but that a person does so;
and when he turns away
it seems to him as if the Lord did so,
for he is not heard.
The Word so speaks
in accordance with the appearance.
And because "anger" is a turning away,
it is also an assault on good and truth
on the part of those who have turned away;
while on the part of those who have not turned away,
there is no assault,
but a repugnance on account of aversion
to what is evil and false.

AC 5779 - Through the Internal from the Lord, Comes All Perception

AC 5779

. . . through the internal from the Lord,
comes all perception.
From no other source does perception come,
nor even sensation.
It appears as if sensation, as also perception,
come by influx from the external;
but this is a fallacy,
for it is the internal that feels through the external.
The senses placed in the body
are nothing but organs or instruments
that are of service to the internal person
in order that it may be sensible of what is in the world;
wherefore the internal flows into the external,
causing it to feel,
to the end that it may thereby perceive and be perfected;
but not the reverse.

AC 5758 - Spiritual Theft and the Lord's Mercy

AC 5758

In this whole chapter (Genesis 44)
spiritual theft is treated of,
which is the claiming to oneself
of the good and truth that are from the Lord.
This is a matter of so great moment
that a person after death
cannot be admitted into heaven
until he acknowledges at heart
that nothing of good or truth is from himself,
but all from the Lord,
and that whatever is from himself
is nothing but evil.
The fact that this is so,
is shown to a person after death by many experiences.
The angels in heaven plainly perceive
that all good and truth are from the Lord;
and moreover that by the Lord
they are withheld from evil
and kept in good and so in truth,
and this by a mighty force.

. . . to claim truth and good to oneself
is contrary to the universal that reigns in heaven,
as well as contrary to the acknowledgment
that all salvation is of mercy,
that is, that a person of himself is in hell,
but is of mercy drawn out from there by the Lord.
A person cannot be in humiliation,
nor consequently can he receive the Lord's mercy
(for this flows in only in humiliation or into a humble heart),
unless he acknowledges
that there is nothing but evil from himself,
and that all good is from the Lord.
Without this acknowledgment
a person attributes to himself as merit,
and at length as righteousness,
whatever he does;
for to claim to himself the truth and good
which are from the Lord
is to make himself righteous.
This is the source of many evils;
for he then regards self in everything
that he does for the neighbor,
and when he does this
he loves himself above all others,
whom he then despises,
if not in word,
yet in heart.

AC 5746 - Evil Is; AC 5747, 5749 - Do Not Claim for Yourself What Is the Lord's

AC 5746 - Evil Is

. . . evil is nothing else than a turning away from good;
for those who are in evil spurn good,
that is, spiritual good,
which is of charity and faith.

AC 5747 [2] - Do Not Claim for Yourself What is the Lord's

. . . before regeneration
a person supposes that he procures truth for himself,
and so long as he supposes this
he is in spiritual theft.
To claim good and truth to one's self,
and to attribute them to one's self
for righteousness and merit,
is to take away from the Lord that which is His.

AC 5749

The reason why a person ought not to claim to himself
anything that is from the Lord,
thus not truth and good,
is that he may be in the truth;
and in so far as he is in the truth,
so far he is in the light in which angels are in heaven;
and in so far as he is in this light,
so far he is in intelligence and wisdom;
and in so far as he is in intelligence and wisdom,
so far he is in happiness.
This is the reason why a person ought to
acknowledge from the faith of the heart
that nothing of truth and good is from himself,
but all from the Lord,
and this because it is so.

AC 5723 - Commanding? Or Sharing?

AC 5732

The reason why 'commanding' means influx
is that no one in heaven is given commands or orders.
On the contrary one shares his thoughts
and the other freely acts in accordance with them.
The communication of thought,
together with a desire to see something put into effect,
is influx;
and on the part of the receiver it is perception,
which is why 'commanding' also means perception.

Furthermore those in heaven
not only think but also talk to one another --
about those things that are matters of wisdom.
Yet there is not in what they say
any trace of an order given to another;
for no one wishes to be the master
and consequently regard another as his slave.
Rather, each wishes
to minister and be of service to another.
From this one may see
what form of government exists in heaven,
the form described by the Lord in Matthew,

It shall not be so among you,
but whoever has the wish to become great among you
must be your minister,
and whoever has the wish to be first
must be your servant.
(Matthew 20:26, 27)

 And in the same gospel,

He who is the greatest of you shall be your minister;
whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
(Matthew 23:11, 12)

This is how a person who has
heartfelt love of his neighbor behaves --
a person who feels
delight and bliss in doing good to others
for no selfish reason, that is,
one who has charity towards the neighbor.

AC 5700 - Inverted and Heavenly Order; AC 5703 - His Presence

AC 5700 [2]

Memory-knowledges are said to be in inverted order
when people abuse heavenly order to do evil;
for heavenly order is that good be done to all.
Consequently it comes to pass
that when they have thus inverted heavenly order,
they at last deny Divine things,
the things of heaven,
and consequently those of charity and faith.
Those who become such
know how to reason
acutely and skillfully from memory-knowledges,
because they reason from the senses,
and to reason from these
is to reason from such things as are external,
that is, from such as are of the body and the world,
which take direct hold
of a person's senses and feelings.
Unless such things have been illumined
by the light of heaven,
and thereby arranged in an entirely different order,
they put the person
in so great an obscurity as to heavenly things
that he not only comprehends none of them,
but even wholly denies,
and at last rejects them,
and then as far as he may,
blasphemes them.
When memory-knowledges are in order,
they are arranged by the Lord in the form of heaven;
but when they are in inverted order,
they are arranged in the form of hell,
and then things most false are in the midst,
and those which confirm them are at the sides,
while truths are without,
and because they are without
they can have no communication
with heaven where truths reign;
and therefore interior things are closed to such persons;
for heaven is open by means of things interior.

AC 5703

. . . when the Lord is present,
then all things are set in order by His very presence.
The Lord is order itself;
and therefore where He is present there is order,
and where there is order He is present.

AC 5688 - Joseph and His Brothers

AC 5688 [3]

All that is related of Joseph and his brethren
represents in the supreme sense
the glorifying of the Lord's Human, that is,
how the Lord made the Human in Him Divine.
The reason for this being represented
in the inmost sense is that the Word
might be most holy in its inmost sense,
and also that it might contain in every part of it
what would enter into the wisdom of the angels;
for it is known that angelic wisdom
so far surpasses human intelligence
that scarcely anything of it
can be apprehended by a person.
It is also the happiness itself of the angels
that every detail of the Word has reference to the Lord;
for they are in the Lord.
Furthermore, the glorifying of the Lord's Human
is the pattern of a person's regeneration,
and so a person's regeneration also is presented
in the internal sense of the Word at the same time
with the glorification of the Lord.
A person's regeneration
together with its innumerable mysteries
also enters into the angels' wisdom,
and affords them happiness
according as they apply it to its uses,
which are for a person's reformation.

AC 5672 - Times of Day

AC 5672

That "noon" denotes a state of light
is because the times of day, as morning, noon, and evening,
correspond to the enlightenments in the other life,
and the enlightenments there
are those of intelligence and wisdom,
for in the light of heaven there is intelligence and wisdom.
There are alternations of enlightenment there,
like morning, noon, and evening on earth.
The states of shade, like those of evening,
do not arise from the sun there,
that is, the Lord, who is always giving light,
but from the angels' own (propriums/egos),
for insofar as they are let into their own
they come into a state of shade or evening,
and insofar as they are lifted out of their own
into a heavenly own,
they come into a state of light.

AC 5662 - "Peace be to you, fear not."

AC 5662

And he said, Peace be to you, fear not.
(Genesis 43:23)

That this means that it is well, let them not despair,
is evident from the meaning of "peace," as being to be well;
and from the meaning of "fear not,"
as being let them not despair.
For the internal sense treats of a change of state,
in that they no longer procure truths
and through them good
by their own power;
but are presented with them from the Lord.
And because they supposed
that they would thus lose their own (proprium, ego),
thus freedom, and consequently all the delight of life,
they were in despair,
as is plain from what has gone before.

. . . That "peace" denotes it is well,
is because it is the inmost,
and from there the universally reigning thing,
in each and all things in heaven;
for peace in heaven is like spring on earth,
or like the dawn,
which does not affect us by sensible changes,
but by a universal pleasantness
that flows into everything that is perceived,
and fills with this pleasantness
not only the perception itself
but also the several objects.
At the present day scarcely anyone knows
the meaning of "peace" where mentioned in the Word,
as in the benediction,
"Jehovah lift up His faces you, and give you peace"
(Numbers 6:26);
and in other places.
Almost everyone believes peace to be
security from enemies,
and also tranquillity at home and among companions.
Such peace is not meant in this passage,
but a peace which immeasurably transcends it --
the heavenly peace just now spoken of.
This peace can be bestowed on no one
unless he is led by the Lord
and is in the Lord, that is, in heaven
where the Lord is all in all;
for heavenly peace flows in
when the greediness arising from
the love of self and the love of the world are taken away.
These are what take peace away,
for they infest a person's interiors,
and at last cause him to make rest consist in unrest,
and peace in annoyances,
because his delight is in evils.
So long as a person is in these
he cannot possibly know what peace is,
indeed, he so long believes that such peace is nothing;
and if anyone says that it becomes perceptible
when the delights from the love of self and the world
are taken away, he laughs,
because he makes peace consist in the delight of evil,
which is the opposite of peace.

Because such is the nature of peace,
namely, the inmost of all happinesses and blessednesses,
and for this reason the universal that reigns in them all,
therefore the ancients used
as a common form of speech the words,
"Peace be unto you," when they meant that it be well;
and asked whether people "had peace"
when they meant "Is it well?"
See what has been said and shown above
in regard to peace, namely:
That peace in heaven is like spring and the dawn on earth
(n. 1726, 2780):
That peace in the supreme sense is the Lord,
in the representative sense His kingdom,
and that it is the Lord's Divine
affecting with good from the inmost (n. 3780, 4681):
That all unrest is from evil and falsity,
but peace from good and truth (n. 3170).

AC 5651 - Being Perfected

AC 5651 [3-4]

Regeneration is nothing else
than that the natural be subjugated,
and the spiritual obtain the dominion;
and the natural is subjugated
when it is reduced to correspondence.
When the natural has been reduced to correspondence,
it does not react any more,
but acts as it is commanded,
and obeys the spiritual,
almost as the acts of the body
obey the behest of the will,
and as the speech,
together with the expression of the face,
conforms to the influx of the thought.
From this it is plain
that for a person to become spiritual
the natural must needs become
as nothing whatever in respect to willing.

But be it known
that it is the old natural that must become as nothing,
because this has been formed from evils and falsities;
and when it has become as nothing
the person is then gifted with a new natural,
which is called the spiritual natural-spiritual
from the fact that the spiritual is what acts through it,
and manifests itself through it,
as the cause through the effect.
It is known that the cause is everything of the effect.
Consequently the new natural
in its thinking, willing, and producing effect,
is nothing else than the representative of the spiritual.
When this comes to pass
the person receives good from the Lord;
and when he receives good he is gifted with truths;
and when he is gifted with truths
he is perfected in intelligence and wisdom;
and when he is perfected in intelligence and wisdom
he is blessed with happiness to eternity.

AC 5639 - What Is the Spiritual?

AC 5639

In its essence within a person
the spiritual is the very affection of good and truth
for the sake of good and truth,
and not for the sake of self,
and also the affection of what is just and fair
for the sake of what is just and fair,
and not for the sake of self.
When a person feels in himself delight and pleasantness,
and still more if he feels happiness and blessedness,
from these affections,
this is the spiritual in him,
which comes not from the natural,
but from the spiritual world or from heaven,
that is, through heaven from the Lord.
This then is the spiritual,
which when it reigns in a person,
affects and as it were tinges
all that he thinks, wills, and does,
and causes the thoughts and the acts of his will
to partake of the spiritual,
until at last these also become spiritual in him,
as when he passes
out of the natural into the spiritual world.
In a word, the affection of charity and faith,
that is, of good and truth,
and the delight and pleasantness,
and still more the happiness and blessedness so derived,
which are felt inwardly in a person
and make him a person truly Christian,
are the spiritual.

AC 5623 - The Ability & Capacity to Receive Truth

AC 5623

Truth in the abilities means in the capacities for receiving it,
thus according to the capacities.
But the capacities or abilities for receiving truth
are wholly according to good,
because the Lord adjoins them to good;
for when the Lord flows in with good
He also flows in with capacity.
Consequently truth received in the abilities
means according to goods.
. . . But on the other hand
those who are in evil,
have no capacity for receiving truth.
This comes from pleasure and consequent desire.
Those who are in good
have pleasure in perfecting good by means of truth,
because good takes its quality from truths;
and therefore they desire truths.
But those who are in evil have pleasure in evil,
and in confirming it by falsities,
and therefore they desire falsities;
and because they desire falsities
they are averse to truths.
For this reason they have no capacity for receiving truths,
for they reject or stifle or pervert them
as soon as they reach the ear
or occur to the thought.
Besides, every person who is of sound mind
has a capacity for receiving truths;
but those who turn to evil
extinguish this capacity,
and those exalt it
who turn to good.

AC 5620 - "Honey"; AC 5621 - Aromatic Wax

AC 5620 [1]

That "honey" denotes delight is because it is sweet,
and everything sweet in the natural world
corresponds to what is delightful and pleasant
in the spiritual world.
The reason why it is called its delight, that is,
the delight of truth from good in the exterior natural,
is that every truth and especially every truth of good
has its own delight;
but a delight from the affection of these,
and from the derivative use.

AC 5621

. . . aromatic wax means the truth of good;
for all spices, being sweet-scented,
in the internal sense mean the truths which are from good.
This may be seen from the fact
that truths from good are perceived in heaven pleasantly,
like sweet-scented things in the world;
and therefore when the perceptions of the angels
are turned into odors,
as of the Lord's good pleasure often happens,
they are then smelt as fragrances
from spices and from flowers.
This is the reason why frankincense and incense
were compounded of materials of grateful odor,
and were employed for a holy use;
and also why aromatics were mixed with the anointing oil.
One who does not know
that such things derive their cause
from things perceived in heaven,
may be of the opinion that they were commanded
merely to render outward worship grateful;
but in that case
there would be in them nothing of heaven,
or nothing holy,
and consequently such matters of worship
would not have anything Divine in them.

AC 5608 - Loving the Lord: Innocence and Charity

AC 5608 [1, 3]

That more interior things are meant by
"little children" and by "boys,"
is because innocence is meant by both,
and innocence is what is inmost.
In the heavens
the inmost or third heaven consists of those
who are in innocence,
for they are in love to the Lord;
and because the Lord is innocence itself,
therefore those who are there,
being in love to Him,
are in innocence.
These, although they are the wisest of all in the heavens,
yet appear to others like little children.
It is for this reason,
and also because little children are in innocence,
that by "little children" in the Word is meant innocence.

. . . in the spiritual world:
just as the end, cause, and effect
are distinct from one another,
so in the spiritual world
are love to the Lord,
charity toward the neighbor,
and the works of charity.
When these three become one or exist together,
the first must be in the second,
and the second in the third.
And also as in the works of charity:
unless charity from affection or the heart is within them,
they are not works of charity;
and unless love to God is within charity,
it is not charity.

AC 5576 - Hunger In Heaven And On Earth

AC 5576 [2-5]

Hunger in the spiritual world or in heaven
is not hunger for food,
because the angels do not feed upon material food,
which is for the body that a person carries about in the world;
but it is hunger for such food as nourishes their minds.
This food, which is called spiritual food,
is to understand truth and be wise in good;
and wonderful to say the angels are nourished by this food;
which has been made evident to me from the fact
that after little children who die
have been instructed in heaven
in the truths of intelligence and the goods of wisdom,
 they no longer appear as little children, but as adults,
and this according to their increase in good and truth;
and also from the fact
that the angels continually long for
the things of intelligence and wisdom,
and that when they are in the evening,
that is, in a state in which these things fail,
they are so far in what is relatively not happiness,
and they then hunger and long for nothing more
than that the morning may dawn for them afresh,
and that they may return into their life of happiness,
which is of intelligence and wisdom.

That to understand truth and to will good is spiritual food,
may also appear to everyone who reflects
that when anyone is enjoying
material food for the nourishment of the body,
his food is more nourishing
if he is at the same time in cheerful spirits
and conversing on agreeable topics,
which is a sign that there is
a correspondence between spiritual food for the soul
and material food for the body.
And the same is further evident from the fact
that when one who longs to imbue his mind
with the things of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom
is kept from them,
he begins to be saddened and distressed,
and like one who is famished
longs to return to his spiritual food,
and thereby to the nourishment of his soul.

That there is spiritual food which nourishes the soul
as material food nourishes the body
may also be seen from the Word, as in Moses:

Man does not live by bread only;
but by every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah
does man live.
(Deuteronomy. 8:3; Matthew 4:4)

The "utterance of the mouth of Jehovah"
is in general the Divine truth
which proceeds from the Lord,
thus all truth of wisdom,
specifically the Word,
in which and from which are the things of wisdom.

And in John:

Labor not for the meat which perishes,
but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life,
which the Son of man shall give unto you
(John 6:27);

that this meat is the truth of wisdom
which proceeds from the Lord is evident.

From this too it may be known what is meant
by these words of the Lord in the same chapter:

My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
(John 6:55);

namely, that the Lord's "flesh" is Divine good,
and His "blood" Divine truth;
for when the Lord made His whole Human Divine,
then His flesh was nothing else than Divine good,
and His blood Divine truth.
It is evident that in the Divine
nothing material is to be understood;
and therefore "food" in the supreme sense,
that is, when predicated of the Lord,
is the good of the Divine love for saving the human race.
This food is what is meant by the Lord's words in John:

Jesus said to the disciples,
I have meat to eat that you do not know.
My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me,
and to perfect His work
(John 4:32, 34);

"to do the will of Him that sent Him,
and to perfect His work"
is to save the human race;
the Divine from which this is done
is the Divine love.

AC 5530 - Our Love Is What Is In Our Core or Midst

AC 5530 [2]

With those who are in the loves of self and of the world,
such things as favor these loves are in the midst,
and such as slightly favor them are in the circumferences;
and the things which are contrary to them,
as those which relate
to love to God and love toward the neighbor,
are thrown out.
In such a state are the infernals.
And this order sometimes causes
a lucidity to appear about them;
but within this lucidity, where they themselves are,
all is dusky, monstrous, and horrible.

But with the angels
there is a flaming radiance in the midst
from the good of celestial and spiritual love,
and from this there is a light or brightness round about.
Those who so appear are likenesses of the Lord;
for the Lord Himself,
when He showed His divine to Peter, James, and John,
"shone in the face as the sun,
and His raiment became as the light" (Matthew 17:2).
That the angels who are likenesses
appear in flaming radiance and consequently in white
is plain from the angel who descended from heaven
and rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulcher:
His appearance was as lightning,
and his raiment white as snow (Matthew 28:3).

AC 5508 - Accidental? Or Providence?

AC 5508 [2-3, 5]

. . . everything that befalls or happens,
which in other words is called accidental,
and is ascribed to chance or fortune,
is of providence.
Divine providence works in this way
invisibly and incomprehensibly in order
that a person may in freedom
ascribe an event either to providence or to chance;
for if providence acted visibly and comprehensibly,
there would be danger of a person's believing,
from what he sees and comprehends,
that it is of providence,
and afterward changing into the contrary.
In this way truth and falsity
would be conjoined in the interior person,
and truth would be profaned,
which profanation is attended with eternal damnation.
Therefore it is better for such a person
to be kept in unbelief than to be in faith
and then recede from it.

This is what is meant in Isaiah:

Say to this people,
Be ever hearing, but never understanding,
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.
Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their eyes dull and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.
(Isaiah 6:9-10; John 12:40).

It is for this reason also
that miracles are not performed at this day,
for these, like all visible and comprehensible things,
would compel people to believe,
and whatever compels takes away freedom;
when yet all the reformation and regeneration of a person
is effected in his freedom.
That which is not implanted in freedom does not stay.
It is implanted in freedom
when the person is in the affection of good and truth.

That a person at this day
ought to believe what he does not see,
is evident from the Lord's words to Thomas, in John:

Because you have seen Me, Thomas,
you have believed:
blessed are they who do not see,
and yet believe.
(John 20:29)

That the things which happen
(in other words which are ascribed to chance or fortune)
are of the Divine providence,
the church indeed acknowledges,
but still does not believe;
for who does not say,
when apparently by chance
he comes out of some great peril,
that he has been preserved by God,
and also gives God thanks?
And likewise when he is exalted to honors,
and also when he becomes wealthy,
he calls it a blessing from God.
Thus the person of the church acknowledges
that what happens is of providence,
but still does not believe.
But on this subject,
of the Lord's Divine mercy more will be said elsewhere.

 

AC 5503 - Everything God Does

AC 5503

. . . from the meaning of "God's doing,"
as being providence;
for everything that God does
can be expressed by no other word than providence.
The reason of this is
that in everything that God or the Lord does
there is the eternal and the infinite,
and these are in the word "providence."

AC 5478 - Being Full or Being Empty

AC 5478

That the truths of the church are understood
by those who are in good
(that is those with whom
these truths are conjoined with good)
quite differently from what they are by those
who are not in good,
seems indeed like a paradox,
but still it is the truth.
For truths are spiritually understood
by those who are in good,
because these persons are in spiritual light;
but they are understood naturally
by those who are not in good,
because these are in natural light.
So truths on the part of those who are in good
have truths continually conjoined with them;
but on the part of those who are not in good
they have conjoined with them very many fallacies,
and also falsities.
The reason of this is
that truths with those who are in good
extend themselves into heaven;
while truths with those who are not in good
do not extend themselves into heaven.
Consequently truths with those who are in good are full,
but with those who are not in good they are nearly empty.
This fullness and this emptiness
are not apparent to a person
so long as he lives in the world,
but they appear to the angels.
Did a person but know how much of heaven
there is in truths conjoined with good,
he would feel very differently about faith.

AC 5461 - When We Live to Let the Lord Flow In

AC 5461

. . . when faith in the will,
or the will of doing the truth of faith,
is separated from those
who are in the truths of the church,
then connection with the Divine is so slight
that it is hardly more than acknowledgment;
for the influx of the Divine from the Lord
with the regenerate person is into good
and from there into truth,
or what is the same,
into the will and from there into the understanding.
Insofar therefore as the person
who is in the truths of faith
receives good from the Lord,
so far the Lord forms in him
a new will in his intellectual part,
and so far the Lord flows in,
and produces the affection of doing what is good,
that is, of exercising charity toward the neighbor.

AC 5433 - The Affection of Truth

AC 5433 [2]

. . . where there is the affection of truth,
there is not the affection of gain;
and where there is the affection of gain,
there is not the affection of truth.

. . . when a person thinks
that earthly things are everything,
he believes himself to be
more learned and wiser than everybody else,
in that he himself does not accept
the truths known to the Church,
and at the same time says
that they exist for those who are simple.
The affection that moves a person is therefore
either an earthly affection or else a heavenly one,
for he cannot have his being simultaneously
with angels from heaven and with spirits from hell;
for if he did
he would be left hanging between heaven and hell.
But when he is moved by
an affection for truth for truth's own sake,
that is, for the sake of the Lord's kingdom
(where Divine Truth is present)
and so for the Lord's sake, he is among angels.
He does not in this case despise material gain
insofar as it enables him to lead his life in the world.
But such gain is not his end in view,
only the useful purposes it serves
which are seen by him as intermediate ends
leading on to an ultimate heavenly one.
This being so,
his heart is by no means at all set on material gain.

AC 5423 - Correspondence Is; AC 5428 - The Glory of Heaven and the Angels

AC 5423 - Correspondence Is

Correspondence is
the appearing of the internal in the external,
and its representation within;
so when there is no correspondence,
there is no appearing of the internal in the external,
and therefore no representation of it within.

AC 5428 [1, 3] - The Glory of Heaven and the Angels

. . . the glory of heaven is the Divine
that shines forth from every thing that appears there,
and is the perception of Divine things,
and the consequent wisdom;
but that this glory is possessed
only by those in heaven
who regard the magnificence there as nothing
in comparison with wisdom,
and attribute all wisdom
to the Lord
and none at all to themselves . . ..

. . . the angels are overwhelmed with sorrow and grief
if permitted to think and to will from themselves . . ..

AC 5400 - The Light of the Internal Sense; AC 5407 - "Life"

AC 5400 - The Light of the Internal Sense

. . . the internal sense comes forth
when the things of the world are removed,
because the internal sense relates to
such things as are of heaven.
The light of heaven, by which is sight there,
is Divine truth from the Lord,
which appears before the eyes of the angels as light,
a thousand times brighter than the midday light in the world;
and as this light has life in it,
therefore at the same time
that it illumines the eyesight of the angels,
it illumines also the sight of their understanding,
and causes a perception of truth
in accordance with the amount and quality
of the good in which they are.

AC 5407 - "Life"

That heaven in general
and eternal happiness in particular
is called "life,"
is because the wisdom of good
and the intelligence of truth are there;
and in the wisdom of good
and the intelligence of truth
is life from the Lord,
from whom is the all of life.

AC 5398 - A Brief Summary of the Internal Meaning of Genesis 42 and Beyond

AC 5398

In this chapter and in those which follow
about Joseph and the sons of Jacob,
in the internal sense is described
the regeneration of the natural
as to the truths and goods of the church --
that this is not effected by means of memory-knowledges,
but by influx from the Divine.
At the present day
those who are of the church
know so little about regeneration
that it is scarcely anything.
They do not even know
that regeneration goes on
through the whole course of life of one
who is being regenerated,
and that it is continued in the other life;
or that the arcana of regeneration
are so innumerable
that scarcely a ten thousandth part of them
can be known by the angels,
and that those they do know
are what effect their intelligence and wisdom.
The reason why
those who are of the church at this day
know so little about regeneration
is that they talk so much about
remission of sins and about justification,
and believe that sins are remitted in a moment,
and some that they are wiped away
like filth from the body by water,
and that a person is justified by faith alone
or by the confidence of a single moment.
The reason why the people of the church so believe
is that they do not know what sin or evil is.
If they knew this,
they would know that sins can by no means
be wiped away from anyone,
but that when the person is kept in good by the Lord
they are separated or rejected to the sides
so as not to rise up,
and that this cannot be effected
unless evil is continually cast out,
and this by means which are unlimited in number,
and for the most part unutterable.

Those in the other life
who have brought with them the opinion
that a person is justified in a moment by faith,
and wholly cleansed from sins,
are astounded when they see
that regeneration is effected by means unlimited
in number and unutterable,
and they then laugh at and call insane
the ignorance in which they had been in the world
in regard to
the instantaneous remission of sins and justification.
They are sometimes told
that the Lord remits the sins of those
who desire it from the heart;
yet still they are not thereby
separated from the diabolical crew,
to whom they are held fast by the evils
that attend their life,
which they have with them complete.
They then learn by experience
that to be separated from the hells
is to be separated from sins,
and that this cannot be done
except by thousands upon thousands of ways
known to the Lord only,
and this -- if you will believe it --
in a continual succession to eternity.
For a person is so evil
that he cannot to eternity
be fully delivered from even one sin,
but can only by the mercy of the Lord
(if he has received it)
be withheld from sin,
and kept in good.

In what manner therefore
a person receives new life and is regenerated,
is contained in the sanctuary of the Word,
that is, in its internal sense,
chiefly to the end
that when the Word is being read by a person
the angels may thereby be in their happiness of wisdom,
and also be at the same time
in the delight of serving as means.
In this and the following chapters about Joseph's brethren,
the subject treated of in the supreme internal sense
is the glorification of the Lord's natural,
and in the representative sense,
the regeneration of the natural in person by the Lord,
here as to the truths of the church therein.

AC 5395 - The Lord's Kingdom

AC 5395

For the Lord's kingdom is nothing but a kingdom of uses;
and if in an earthly kingdom
every one is valued and honored according to his use,
how much more is this the case in the heavenly kingdom!

 

AC 5368 - The Natural Ought to Apply Itself and Obey

AC 5368

Those who are in worldly things only,
and yet more those who are in bodily things,
and still more those who are in earthly ones,
cannot apprehend what is meant by saying that
the natural ought to apply itself and obey.
They suppose that there is only one thing
that acts in a person,
and therefore that there is not one thing in him
to command,
and another to obey;
and yet it is the internal person that should command,
and the external that should obey,
and that does obey when the person
has not the world as the end,
but heaven,
and not self
but the neighbor,
consequently when he regards bodily and worldly things
as means and not as the end;
and he so regards them
when he loves his neighbor more than himself,
and the things of heaven more than those of the world.
When this is the case,
the natural obeys;
the natural is the same as the external person.

AC 5360 - When Goods and Truths Fail

AC 5360

That a famine denotes such a lack, or desolation,
is because celestial and spiritual food
are nothing else than good and truth.
These are what angels and spirits are nourished by,
and what they hunger for when hungry,
and thirst for when thirsty;
and therefore material food also corresponds to them --
as bread to celestial love,
and wine to spiritual love,
as well as everything that pertains to bread or food,
and to wine or drink.
When therefore there is a lack of such things,
there is a "famine,"
and in the Word
this is called "desolation" and "vastation" -
"desolation" when truths fail,
and "vastation" when goods fail.

. . . That last state of a church
which precedes the state of a new church,
is properly meant and described in the Word
by "vastation" and "desolation."
By the same words is described also
the state that precedes a person's regeneration,
which state is here meant by the seven years of famine.