DP 210 - If One Wishes to be Led By Divine Providence (The Parable of the Talents); DP 211 - The Serpent's Curse or Why the Divine Providence Acts in Secret

DP 210 [2]   

If you wish to be led by Divine providence,
therefore, use prudence as a servant or assistant
who faithfully manages the goods of his lord.
This prudence is the mina (talent) given
to each of the servants to do business with,
of which they were to render an account
(in the Parable of the Talents):

"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey,
who called his servants
and entrusted his property to them.
To one he gave five talents of money,
to another two talents,
and to another one talent,
each according to his ability.
Then he went on his journey.
The man who had received the five talents
went at once
and put his money to work
and gained five more.
So also the one with the two talents
gained two more.
But the man who had received the one talent
went off, dug a hole in the ground
and hid his master's money.

"After a long time
the master of those servants returned
and settled accounts with them.
The man who had received the five talents
brought the other five.
'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents.
See, I have gained five more.'

"His master replied,
'Well done, good and faithful servant!
You have been faithful with a few things;
I will put you in charge of many things.
Come and share your master's happiness!'

"The man with the two talents also came,
'Master," he said,
'you entrusted me with two talents;
see, I have gained two more.'

"His master replied,
'Well done, good and faithful servant!
You have been faithful with a few things;
I will put you in charge of many things.
Come and share your master's happiness!'

"Then the man who had received the one talent came.
'Master," he said, "I knew that you are a hard man,
harvesting where you have not sown
and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
So I was afraid and went out
and hid your talent in the ground.
See, here is what belongs to you.'

"His master replied,

'You wicked, lazy servant
So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown
and gather where I have not scattered seed?
Well then, you should have
put my money on deposit with the bankers,
so that when I returned
I would have received it back with interest.

"'Take the talent from him
and give it to the one who has the ten talents.
For everyone who has will be given more,
and he will have an abundance.
Whoever does not have,
even what he has will be take from him.
And throw that worthless servant outside,
Into the darkness,,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"
(Matthew 25:14-30)

This prudence appears to a person to be his own,
and he believes it to be his own
as long as he keeps shut up in him
the most implacable foe
of God and Divine providence,
namely, love of self.
This love dwells
in the interior qualities of every person from birth.
If you do not recognize it
(for it does not wish to be recognized),
it dwells secure, and it guards the door
to keep the person from opening it
and thus the Lord from casting it out.

A person opens that door
by refraining from evils as sins as though of himself,
with the acknowledgment
that he does so from the Lord.

It is this prudence
with which Divine providence acts in concert.

DP 211

The reason Divine providence acts so secretly
that scarcely anyone knows of its existence
is to prevent mankind from perishing.
For a person's native character, which is his will,
never acts in accord with Divine providence.
A person's native character harbors
an innate hostility to that providence.
It is, in fact, that serpent
which seduced the first parents,
concerning which we are told,

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed;
and it shall trample your head . . ..
(Genesis 3:15)

The serpent is evil of every kind.
Its head is love of self.
The woman's seed is the Lord.
The enmity put between the two
is the enmity between the love
in a person's native character and the Lord,
thus also between a person's own prudence
and the Lord's Divine providence.
For a person's own prudence
is continually raising its head,
and Divine providence is continually pressing it down.

If a person were to be conscious of this,
he would be angered and enraged at God
and would perish.
But as long as he is not conscious of it,
he may become angry and enraged
at people, or at himself, and at fortune, too,
without perishing.

For this reason the Lord by His Divine providence
continually leads a person in freedom,
and freedom appears to a person
no otherwise than as his own.

Moreover, to lead someone
opposed to oneself in freedom
is like raising a heavy and resistant weight
from the ground by jackscrews,
whose power causes
the heaviness and resistance not to be felt.
It is also like someone's being in the hands
of an enemy who intends to kill him,
of which he is at the time unaware,
and having a friend lead him away
by secret passages
and afterward disclose the enemy's intent.

 

DP 206 - The Devil; DP 207 -The Divine Operation

DP 206

A person's own prudence
springs from his native character,
which is his nature and is called his hereditary soul.
This native character is a love of self
and a resulting love of the world,
or a love of the world and a resulting love of self.

It is the nature of a love of self
to regard itself alone,
and to view others as either inferior or of no account.
If it regards some people as having some value,
it does so only as long
as it is honored and cultivated by them.
Inmostly in that love -
like the endeavor in a seed
to produce fruit and reproduce itself -
lies hidden the wish to become great,
and if possible king,
and if possible then God.

That is the character of a devil,
because a devil is the love of self personified.
He is by nature disposed to adore himself
and to show no one any favor
but one who adores him, too.
He hates any other devil of a like character,
because he wishes himself alone to be adored.

Since no love can exist without its partner,
and the partner of the love or will in a person
is called the intellect,
therefore when a love of self
inspires its love into its partner the intellect,
it becomes there conceit,
which is a pride in its own intelligence.
This is the origin of a person's own prudence.

DP 207

The origin and nature of Divine providence:
Divine providence is the Divine operation in a person
who has set aside love of self.
For a love of self is, as we said, the devil,
and its lusts and their delights
are the evils of its kingdom, which is hell.
When this love has been set aside,
the Lord enters
with the affections of a love for the neighbor,
and He opens the window overhead
and then the windows to the sides,
and enables the person to see that there is a heaven,
a life after death, and eternal happiness.
And by the spiritual light flowing in,
and at the same time spiritual love,
He causes the person to acknowledge
that by His Divine providence
God governs all things.

 

DP 201 , 202, 203 - (4) By His Divine providence the Lord composes the affections of the whole human race into a single form, which is a human one.

DP 201 [1, 3]

Those who ascribe everything to nature
also ascribe everything to human prudence.
For people who ascribe everything to nature,
at heart deny God,
and people
who ascribe everything to human prudence,
at heart deny Divine providence.
One is inseparable from the other.

What is in God called providence
is in man called prudence.

DP 202 [1, 2, 3]

The Lord's Divine providence,
owing to its presence in the least particulars,
is universal in this,
that He created the universe
in order that He might produce in it
an infinite and eternal creation from Him;
and the Lord produces this creation
by His forming out of human beings
a heaven which in His sight
is like a single person
who is the image and likeness of Him.

. . . The infinity and eternity that the Lord regards
in forming His heaven out of people
is its increase to infinity and to eternity,
and thus His constant abode
in the end in His creation.

This creating is infinite and eternal,
which the Lord has provided
by the creation of the universe,
and He is constantly present in that creation
by His Divine providence.

. . . no one can be reformed of himself
through his own prudence,
but only by the Lord through His Divine Providence.

The Lord accomplishes this in accordance
with the laws of His Divine providence.
And it is in accordance with these laws also
that it appear to a person
that it is he who guides himself.
But the Lord foresees how he is guiding himself
and continually makes adjustments.

DP 203

. . .the human race throughout the whole world
is under the Lord's care,
that the Lord guides everyone
in the least particulars
from infancy to the end of his life,
and that the Lord foresees his place
and at the same time provides it.

DP 199, 200 - The Affections of a Person's Life's Love Are Known to the Lord Alone

DP 199 [3]

The soul which directs the interior elements -
does it not also direct
the actions springing from them?
A person's soul is nothing other
than his will's love
and his consequent intellect's love.
Whatever the character of this love is,
such is the character of the whole person.
Moreover, he develops this character
according to his ordering of things
in his outward activities,
in which the person acts in conjunction with the Lord.
Consequently if he attributes
everything to himself and to nature,
a love of self becomes his soul,
while if he attributes everything to the Lord,
a love of the Lord becomes his soul.
This latter love is a heavenly love,
and the other a hellish love.

DP 200

. . . when he knows from the Word
that a person cannot of himself obtain anything
unless it has been given to him from heaven,
and when he knows from reason
that this appearance has been granted him
in order that he may live as a human being,
see what is good and what is evil,
choose one or the other,
and adopt as his own what he chooses,
so as to be capable
of being reciprocally conjoined with the Lord,
of being reformed, regenerated, and saved,
and of living to eternity.

DP 193, 195 - Heart and Mind, Affections and Satisfactions

DP 193 [2-3]

. . . there are in every person two beginnings of life,
one natural and one spiritual,
the natural beginning of life
being the beating of the heart,
and the spiritual beginning
being the will of the mind;
and that each attaches to itself a partner
with which to dwell
and with which to carry on its vital functions,
the heart joining to itself the lungs,
and the will joining to itself the intellect.

Now because the soul of the will is love,
and the soul of the intellect is wisdom -
both of them from the Lord -
it follows that love is every person's life,
and such a life
as has been conjoined with wisdom.

DP 195 [2-3]

Good, to everyone,
is what his affection finds delight in,
and truth what his thought
consequently finds satisfaction in.
For everyone calls good
that which, owing to his will's love,
he feels as delightful,
and he calls truth that which,
owing to the wisdom of his intellect,
he perceives therefore as giving satisfaction.
Both of these flow from the life's love
like water from a spring
or like blood from the heart.
Both taken together are like a tide or atmosphere
which envelops the whole human mind.

These two - delight and satisfaction -
in the mind are spiritual,
but in the body natural.
On both levels they form a person's life.

 

DP 191 - Human Prudence / Divine Providence

DP 191

One's Own Prudence Is Not Real
and Only Appears to Be,
and Also Ought to So Appear;
but Divine Providence,
Owing to its Presence in the Least Particulars,
Is Universal

The idea that one's own prudence is not real
is altogether contrary to the appearance
and so contrary to many people's belief.
And because that is the case,
no one who, owing to the appearance,
holds the belief
that human prudence accomplishes all things,
can be convinced otherwise
except by the arguments of a deeper investigation,
which must be drawn from causes.
The appearance is an effect,
and causes disclose the reason for it.

Contrary to the appearance
is the teaching of the church
that love and faith spring not from man but from God,
likewise wisdom and intelligence,
and so, too, prudence -
in general all goodness and truth.
When these tenets are accepted,
accepted also must be the idea
that one's own prudence is not real,
but only appears to be.
Prudence is simply the product
of intelligence and wisdom,
and these two are produced
simply by the intellect and its ensuing thought
about truth and goodness.

This - what we have just stated -
is accepted and believed by people
who acknowledge Divine providence,
but not by those
who acknowledge only human prudence.

Now either what the church teaches must be true,
that all wisdom and prudence spring from God,
or what the world teaches,
that all wisdom and prudence spring from man.

Can these views be reconciled in any other way
than to say
that what the church teaches is the truth
and that what the world teaches is the appearance?
For the church affirms
its teaching in the light of the Word,
while the world affirms its in the light of human nature,
and the Word originates from God,
while human nature originates from man.

Since prudence springs from God and not from man,
therefore when the Christian person
is engaged in prayer,
he prays that God may guide
his thoughts, intentions and deeds,
and also adds as the reason
that he cannot do so of himself.
Moreover, when he sees someone doing good,
he says that God led him to do it,
and many other like things.

 

DP 187, 189 - Seeing Divine Providence

DP 187

(4) It is granted a person
to see Divine providence from behind
and not from in front,
and in a spiritual state
and not in the person's natural state.
To see Divine providence from behind
and not from in front
is to see it afterward and not beforehand.
And to see it
from the perspective of a spiritual state
and not from that of a natural state
is to see it from the perspective of heaven
and not from the perspective of the world.

DP 189

A person who has become spiritual
by his acknowledgement of God
and wise by his renunciation of his native character,
sees Divine providence in the whole world
and in each and every constituent of it.
If he contemplates natural phenomena he sees it.
If he contemplates civil affairs he sees it.
If he contemplates spiritual matters he sees it.
And this in both
the concurrent and sequential occurrences of things.
In ends, in causes, in effects, in useful endeavors,
in forms, in things great and small, he sees it.
Especially does he see it in the salvation of people -
as in the fact that Jehovah provided the Word,
that by it He taught them about God,
heaven and hell, and eternal life,
and that He came into the world
to redeem and save mankind.

These things and more,
and the Divine providence in them,
the person sees from spiritual light in natural light.

The merely natural person, however,
sees none of these things.
He is like one who sees a magnificent temple
and hears a preacher enlightened in Divine matters,
and says at home that he saw only a stone building
and heard only someone talking.
Or he is like a nearsighted person
who goes into a garden filled with fruits of every kind,
and afterward goes home
and reports that he saw only a wood and trees.

 

DP 180, 182, 183 - Why We Cannot Clearly See Divine Providence

DP 180

(2) If a person were to clearly see Divine providence,
he would inject himself
into the order and course of its progression,
and upset and destroy it.

DP 182

(3) If a person were to clearly see Divine providence,
either he would deny God
or he would make himself God.

DP 183

The idea that if a person were to clearly see
Divine providence and its operation,
he would deny God, appears as unlikely,
because it seems
that if anyone were to clearly see it
he could not help but acknowledge it
and so acknowledge God.
And yet the contrary is the case.

Divine providence never acts in harmony
with the will's love in a person,
but continually in opposition to it.
For in consequence of his hereditary evil
a person forever goes panting
toward the lowest hell, 
whereas the Lord by His providence
is constantly diverting him
and drawing him back from there,
first to a milder hell, then out of hell,
and finally to Himself in heaven.

This operation of Divine providence is unceasing.
Consequently if a person were to clearly see
or feel this withdrawal or diverting,
it would anger him,
and he would regard God as an enemy,
and from the evil of his native character deny Him.
Therefore, lest a person become conscious of this,
he is kept in a state of freedom,
so that he does not know other
than that he is guiding himself.

 

DP 175, 177, 179 - Why?

It Is a Law of Divine Providence
That a Person Not Perceive or Sense
Anything of the Operation of Divine Providence,
but Still Know about And Acknowledge it

DP 175

The natural person
who does not believe in Divine providence
thinks to himself,
"What is Divine providence when evil people
are raised to higher positions of honor
and acquire more wealth than good people,
and when those
who do not believe in Divine providence
meet with many more like successes
than those who do believe?
Indeed, when faithless and impious people
are able to inflict injuries, losses and misfortunes,
and sometimes death on faithful and pious people,
and this by cunning and malicious arts?"

And so he thinks,
"Do I not see from actual experience,
as though in the clear light of day,
that crafty schemes prevail
over faithfulness and justice,
if only one has the clever skill to be able to
make them appear trustworthy and just?
What are any other happenings but inevitabilities,
consequences, and chance events,
in which we see no evidence of Divine providence?
Are not inevitabilities due to nature?
Are not consequences due to a cause,
flowing from it in accordance with
natural or civil order?
And are not chance events
due either to causes unknown,
or to no causes at all?"

Such are the thoughts entertained
by the natural person who ascribes nothing to God
but everything to nature.
For one who attributes nothing to God
attributes nothing to Divine providence either,
as God and Divine providence
are inseparably connected.

DP 177

The operation of the Lord's Divine providence
is constant in withdrawing a person from evils.
If someone were to perceive or sense
this constant operation
and yet not be led as one bound,
would he not continually resist it,
and in that case either contend with God
or intervene in Divine providence?

. . . the evil that a person has
does not accept good from the Lord in a moment,
nor does good from the Lord
cast out the evil from a person in a moment.
If the one or the other were to happen in a moment,
no life would be left to the person.

DP 179 [1, 2]

A desire to know the future is innate in most people,
but it is a desire
that takes its origin from a love of evil.
Consequently it is taken away from people
who put their trust in Divine providence,
and they have imparted to them a confidence
that the Lord is directing their lot,
so that they do not wish to know it beforehand
lest in some way they inject themselves
into Divine providence.

. . . "Find out what is good and what is true,"
they are told,
"and do the one and think the other if you can."

 

DP 171 - The Lord Teaches Through the Word

DP 171

(4) The Lord teaches a person through the Word
and through doctrine and preaching from the Word,
and thus directly from Himself alone.

DP 172 [2, 4]

Now, because the Word is from the Lord alone
and about the Lord alone,
it follows that when a person is taught by the Word,
he is taught by the Lord.
For the Word is Divine.
Who can communicate something Divine
and implant it in people's hearts
but the Divine itself from whom it comes
and of whom it treats?
Therefore when speaking
of His conjunction with His disciples,
the Lord says that they should abide in Him,
and His words in them (John 15:7);
that His words are spirit and life (John 6:63);
and that He has His abode
in those who keep His words (John 14:20-24).
Consequently to think from the Lord
is to think from the Word,
as though through the Word.

. . . the Lord is
the Divine truth accompanying Divine good.
Every human being is human
not because of his face and anatomy,
but because of the goodness of his love
and the truths of his wisdom.
And as a human being is human because of these,
every person is also his own truth and own good,
or his own love and own wisdom.
Without these he is not human.
The Lord, however,
is goodness itself and truth itself,
or to say the same thing, love itself and wisdom itself.
And these are the Word
which was in the beginning with God,
and which was God,
and which became flesh.

 

DP 165, 166, 167, 168 (portions) - Enlightenment and Light

DP 165

(3) The Lord leads a person by influx
and teaches him by enlightenment.
The Lord leads a person by influx
because to be led and also to flow in
are expressions applied to love and the will;
and He teaches a person by enlightenment
because to be taught and to be enlightened
are properly expressions
applied to wisdom and the intellect.

DP 166 [1, 3]

For the intellect,
which is a person's internal sight,
is enlightened by spiritual light
in the same way that the eye
or a person's external sight
is by natural light.
Both sights are also similarly taught,
but the internal sight, which is that of the intellect,
by spiritual objects,
and the external sight, which is that of the eye,
by natural objects.

It should be known, however,
that no light in the spiritual world
has anything in common
with the light of the natural world.
The two differ
as something alive and something lifeless.

DP 167 [2]

. . . all those who are in the spiritual world,
both those in the heavens and those in the hells,
see as clearly in their light
as people do by day in theirs.
The reason is that everyone's eyesight
is formed to receive the light that surrounds it.
Thus the eyesight of angels in heaven
is formed to receive the light that surrounds it,
and the eyesight of spirits in hell
to receive the light that surrounds it.
The case is comparatively like that with owls and bats,
which see objects at night and in the evening
as clearly as other birds see them by day.
For their eyes have been formed to receive their light.

DP 168 [4-5]

Consider for example the following:
A judge who judges unjustly
in return for gifts or for material gain,
after he has defended his decision
by the laws and by arguments,
does not see anything but justice in his decision.
Some do see the injustice;
but because they do not wish to see it,
they blur it and blind themselves to it,
so that they do not see it.

It is the same with a judge
who renders his decisions out of partiality,
or to gain favor, or to be allied with his relatives.

For people like that it is the same with everything
that they take from the mouth of a man of authority
or from the mouth of a celebrity,
or hatch from their own intelligence.
They are rationally blind,
for their sight comes from the falsities they defend,
and falsity closes up the sight,
as truth opens it.

Such people do not see any truth by the light of truth,
nor any justice from a love of justice,
but see by the light of justification,
which is an illusory light.
In the spiritual world
they appear as faces without a head,
or as human-like faces with wooden heads behind;
and they are called rational cattle,
because they have the potential of rationality.

An exterior enlightenment by man, however,
exists in people who think and speak
solely in accordance
with knowledge impressed on their memory.
Of themselves
they are scarcely able to verify anything.

 

DP 162, 163, 165 - The Lord Governs and Leads

DP 162

(2) A person is led and taught by the Lord alone
through the angelic heaven and from it.

DP 163

. . . the Lord governs the entire angelic heaven
as though it were a single person;
that that heaven, being in itself human,
is the very image and very likeness of the Lord;
and that the Lord Himself governs that heaven
as the soul governs its body.

So, because the entire human race
is governed by the Lord,
it can be seen that it is governed by the Lord
not through heaven,
but from heaven,
consequently from Himself,
because He is heaven, as we have said.

DP 165 [5]

Every person from early childhood
is introduced into that Divine Man
whose soul and life is the Lord,
and he is led and taught in Him,
and not apart from Him,
by the Lord's Divine love
in accordance with His Divine wisdom.
Nevertheless, because a person's freedom
is never taken away,
he can be led and taught
only to the extent of his reception
as though of himself.

 

DP 154, 156, 157, 158 , 159 - Be Led and Taught by the Lord Alone

It Is a Law of Divine Providence
That a Person Be Led and Taught by the Lord
from Heaven Through the Word
and Through Doctrine and Preaching from the Word,
and this to All Appearance as Though of Himself

DP 156

A person is led and taught by the Lord alone
because he lives from the Lord alone,
it being his life's will that is led,
and his life's intellect that is taught.
But this is contrary to the appearance,
for it appears to a person that he lives of himself;
and yet the reality is
that he lives from the Lord and not from himself.

Now because as long as he lives in the world
a person cannot be given a conscious perception
that he lives from the Lord alone -
since the appearance that he lives of himself
is not taken from him,
for without it a person would not be human -
therefore we have to establish it
by rational considerations,
which must then be confirmed
by empirical (factual) observation,
and finally by the Word.

DP 157 [8]

. . . everyone who prays to God from his heart
beseeches Him to lead him,
because He has the power to.
Thus at those times
everyone acknowledges the Divine
omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence.
He does so
because he then turns his face to the Lord,
and the truth of it then flows in from the Lord.

DP 158

. . . the more closely anyone
is conjoined with the Lord,
the more distinctly does he appear to himself
to be his own person,
and the more clearly does he recognize
that he is the Lord's.

DP 159

That life is the Lord's alone is apparent
from these passages in the Word:

"I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in Me,
though he die, shall live."
(John 11:25)

"I am the way, the truth, and the life."
(John 14:6)

. . . the Word was God.
In Him was life,
and the life was the light of men.
(John 1:1, 4)

The Word there is the Lord.

". . . as the Father has life in Himself,
so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself?"
(John 5:26)

That a person is led and taught by the Lord alone
is apparent from these passages:

". . . without Me you can do nothing."
(John 15:5)

"A man can receive nothing
unless it has been given to him from heaven."
(John 3:27)

DP 150, 152 - Self-examination Is Needed for Reformation

DP 150

6. Our outer self has to be reformed
by means of our inner self,
and not the reverse.

DP 152

Since a person has an inner self and an outer self,
and both must be reformed
for the person to be reformed,
and since no one can be reformed
unless he examines himself,
sees and acknowledges his evils,
and afterward desists from them,
it follows that he needs to examine
not only his outer self but also his inner self.
If a person examines only his outer self,
he sees no more than what he has actually done -
as for example, that he has not murdered,
has not committed adultery, has not stolen,
and has not borne false witness, and so on.
Thus he examines his physical evils,
but not the evils of his spirit;
and yet for anyone to be reformed
he needs to examine the evils of his spirit,
for a person lives as a spirit after death,
and all the evils that are in him remain.
He examines his spirit, moreover,
only by paying attention to his thoughts,
especially to his intentions,
for intentions are thoughts springing from the will.
Evils have their origin there and their root,
which is to say,
they exist there in their lusts and in their delights,
and unless these are seen and acknowledged,
the person is still governed by evils,
however much
he has not committed them in outward acts.

DP 145, 147 - Self-compulsion

DP 145   

5. Self-compulsion is not inconsistent
with rationality and freedom.

DP 147

Let me briefly mention how the Lord expels
the compulsions to evil
that besiege our inner self right from our birth,
and how He provides desires
for what is good in their place
when we use our apparent autonomy
to put away evils as sins.

. . . we have an earthly mind,
a spiritual mind,
and a heavenly mind,
and that we are wholly locked into our earthly mind
as long as we are caught up in our compulsions
to evil and their pleasures.
During all this our spiritual mind is closed.
However, as soon as we look into ourselves
and realize that our evils are sins against God
because they are against divine laws,
and therefore try to refrain from them,
the Lord opens our spiritual mind
and comes into our earthly mind
by way of its desires for what is true and good.
He comes also into our rational processes
and from there rearranges the things
in our lower, earthly mind that have been in disorder.
This is what feels to us like a battle,
or like a temptation
if we have indulged in these evil pleasures
a great deal.
There is actually a psychological pain
when the pattern of our thoughts is being inverted.

This is a battle against things
that are actually within us,
things that we feel are part of us;
and we cannot fight against ourselves
except from a deeper self,
and only because of a freedom there.
It then follows that the inner self
is fighting against the outer self at such times,
is doing so in freedom,
and is forcing the outer self to obey.
This is self-compulsion;
and we can see that it is not inconsistent
with our freedom and rationality,
but quite in accord with them.

 

DP 138-144 (portions) - No One Is Reformed In States Devoid of Rationality and Freedom

DP 138
(4) No one is reformed in states devoid
of rationality and freedom.

Now because the Lord wills
a person's reformation and regeneration
in order that the person may attain
eternal life or the life of heaven,
and because no one
can be reformed and regenerated
unless good attaches itself to his will
so as to be seemingly his,
and truth to his intellect
so as to be seemingly his as well,
and because it is impossible
that anything become attached to anyone
other than what he does
in the freedom of his will
in accordance with the reason of his intellect,
it follows that no one is reformed
in states devoid of freedom and rationality.

States devoid of freedom and rationality
are of many kinds,
but they may be assigned in general
to the following:

DP 139 - States of Fear:

No one is reformed in a state of fear
because fear takes away freedom and reason
or liberty and rationality.
For love opens the interiors of the mind,
but fear closes them,
and when they have been closed,
the person thinks but little,
and only about what then presents itself
to his consciousness or senses.
All fears that invade the mind have this effect.

DP 140 - States of Misfortune:

No one is reformed in a state of misfortune
if it is only then that he thinks about God
and implores His aid,
because it is a coerced condition.

By states of misfortune we mean
states of despair in times of peril,
as in battles, duels, shipwrecks, falls, fires,
impending or unforeseen loss of wealth,
or of office and therefore honor,
and other, like situations.
To think of God only at these times
originates not from God but from self.

DP 141 - States of Mental Illness:

No one is reformed in a state of mental illness
because mental illness takes away rationality
and so the freedom of acting
in accordance with reason.
For the mind is ill and unsound,
and it is a sound mind that is rational,
not an ill one.

Such illnesses are ones of melancholy,
of spurious and false conscience,
of various types of delusion,
of grief of heart arising from misfortunes,
of distress and mental anguish
owing to some physical disorder -
conditions which are sometimes
regarded as temptations, but are not.
For genuine temptations
have spiritual matters as their subjects,
and in those the mind is wise.
But these illnesses have natural matters
as their subjects,
and in them the mind is irrational.

DP 142 - States of Physical Illness:

No one is reformed in a state of physical illness
because his reason is not then in a state of freedom,
since the state of the mind
depends on that of the body.
. . . A person may, however,
be confirmed in his reformation,
if he was reformed before he fell ill.

DP 143 - States of Ignorance:

No one is reformed in a state of ignorance
because all reformation
is effected by means of truths
and by a life in accordance with them.
Therefore people who do not know any truths
cannot be reformed.
However, if they desire truths
from an affection for them,
they are reformed after death in the spiritual world.

DP 144 - States of Intellectual Blindness:

No one can be reformed
in a state of intellectual blindness, either.
Such people, too, do not know any truths,
and so neither do they lead
a life in accordance with them.
For the intellect has to teach truths,
and the will do them,
and when the will does what the intellect teaches,
it then acquires for itself
a life in accordance with truths.
However, when the intellect has been blinded,
the will also is obstructed,
and it does nothing in freedom
in accordance with its reason
except the evil it has justified in the intellect,
which is falsity.
The intellect is blinded not only by ignorance
but also by a religion that teaches a blind faith.
So, too, by the teaching of falsity.
For as truths open the intellect, so falsities close it.

 

DP 136 - Compulsion; DP 137 - Coerced Worship vs. Worship Not Coerced

DP 136 [portions of 1, 2, 3, 5, 8-9]

(3) No one is reformed by threats and punishments,
because they compel.

FIRST, that the external self
cannot compel the internal self,
but that the internal can compel the external:
Who can be forced to believe or to love?
No one can be forced to believe this or that
any more than he can be forced to think
that something is so when he does not think it is;
and no one can be forced to love this or that
any more than he can be forced to will something
that he does not will.
Belief, too, is a matter of the thought,
and love a matter of the will.

SECOND, that the internal self
so refuses to be compelled by the external
that it turns away:
The reason is that the internal self
wishes to be in freedom and loves freedom,
for freedom is bound up with a person's love or life . . ..
Consequently, when that freedom
feels itself to be compelled,
it withdraws into itself, so to speak, and turns away,
and regards the compulsion as its enemy.

A person's internal self is of such a character
owing to the law of the Lord's Divine providence
that a person act in freedom
in accordance with his reason.

THIRD, that external delights entice
the internal self to a state of consent and also of love:
Delights are of two kinds:
delights of the intellect and delights of the will.
Delights of the intellect are also delights of wisdom,
and delights of the will are also delights of love,
for wisdom is connected with the intellect,
and love with the will.

It should be rightly known, however,
that the internal level of the intellect does not
conjoin itself with the internal level of the will,
but that the internal level of the will
conjoins itself with the internal level of the intellect,
and causes the conjunction to be reciprocal.
But this is accomplished by
the internal level of the will,
and not at all by the internal level of the intellect.

It is because of this that a person can be reformed,
not by faith only,
but by a love of the will which forms for itself its faith.

FOURTH, that it is possible for one to have
a coerced internal self and a free internal self:
A coerced internal self is found in people
who engage in external worship only
and not in any internal worship;
for their internal self consists in thinking and willing
that to which their external self is compelled.
They are people who are caught up in
the worship of people, living and dead,
and so in the worship of idols,
and in a faith based on miracles.
In their case the only internal self they have
is one that is at the same time external.

However, in people who possess an internal worship
a coerced internal self is possible -
one produced by fear, and one produced by love.
A coerced internal produced by fear
is found in people who engage in worship
because they fear the torment of hell and its fire.
But this internal is not the internal level of thought
we discussed before, but an external level of thought,
which we here call internal because it is one of thought.

DP 137

From this the nature of coerced worship can be seen
and the nature of worship not coerced.
Coerced worship is physical worship,
lifeless, hazy, and mournful.
It is physical because it is a worship of the body
and not of the mind;
lifeless because it has no life in it;
hazy because it is without understanding;
and mournful because it lacks any delight of heaven in it.

On the other hand,
worship not coerced, when genuine,
is spiritual worship, alive, lucid, and joyful.
It is spiritual because it has in it a spirit from the Lord;
alive because it has in it life from the Lord;
lucid because it has in it wisdom from the Lord;
and joyful because it has in it heaven from the Lord.

 

DP 134, 135 - Visions

DP 134 [1, 4]

(2) No one is reformed by visions
or by communications with the dead,
because they compel.
Visions are of two kinds: Divine and diabolic.
Divine visions are produced by
representative appearances in heaven,
while diabolic visions
are produced by magical arts in hell.
There are in addition hallucinatory visions,
which are the delusions of a distraught mind.

Divine visions - those produced, as we said,
by representative appearances in heaven -
are the kind the prophets had,
who, when having them,
were not conscious in the body but in the spirit.
For visions cannot appear to any person
in his body's conscious state.
Consequently when the prophets saw visions,
they also said that they were then in the spirit . . ..

On the other hand,
diabolic visions do sometimes occur,
induced by fanatic and visionary spirits,
who, owing to the madness that grips them,
call themselves the Holy Spirit.
But these spirits
have now been gathered by the Lord
and cast down into a hell
set apart from the hells of others.

It is apparent from this
that no one can be reformed by any visions
other than those in the Word.

DP 135

Still, communication with spirits is possible,
though rarely with angels of heaven,
and it has been granted to many for centuries.
But when it is granted,
the spirits speak with the person
in his native language, and only a few words.
Those who speak with the Lord's permission,
however, never say anything
that takes away the freedom of a person's reason,
nor do they instruct him.
For the Lord alone teaches a person,
but indirectly through the Word
when the person is in a state of enlightenment . ...

 

 

DP 130-132 - Miracles

DP 130

(1) No one is reformed by miracles and signs,
because they compel.

The reality of this can be rationally seen as follows.
No one can deny that miracles induce belief
and strongly persuade
that what ever the miracle-worker
says and teaches is true,
and that at the outset this so occupies
the external level of a person's thought
as to virtually bind and enthrall it.
But this deprives a person
of his two faculties called rationality and freedom,
thus of his ability to act in freedom
in accordance with his reason,
and the Lord cannot then flow in
through the internal level of his thought
into the external one,
except to leave to the person the ability
to confirm with his rationality
that which has become a matter of his faith
as a result of the miracle.

DP 132 [1-2, 3]

That such is the nature of miracles
can clearly be seen from the miracles done
before the people of Judah and Israel.
Even though they saw
so many miracles in the land of Egypt,
and afterward at the sea of Suph,
and others in the desert,
and especially on Mount Sinai
when the Law was proclaimed,
still, after a month's time,
when Moses tarried on that mountain,
they made themselves a golden calf
and accepted it as the Jehovah
who had led them out of the land of Egypt.

The same can be seen as well
from the miracles done after that
in the land of Canaan,
and the fact that the people nevertheless
so often lapsed from their prescribed worship.
And it can be seen, too,
from the miracles that the Lord performed
before them when He was in the world,
and the fact that they nevertheless crucified Him.

. . . after the Lord manifested Himself
and was received and acknowledged
in the churches as the eternal God,
miracles ceased.

 

DP 129 - The Third Law of Divine Providence

DP 129

It Is a Law of Divine Providence
That a Person Not Be Compelled
by External Means to Think and Will,
Thus to Believe and Love,
Matters Having to Do with Religion;
but That a Person Bring Himself to Do So
and at Times Compel Himself

This law of Divine providence follows
from the two preceding ones, namely,
-- that a person act in freedom
in accordance with his reason,
-- and that he do this of himself,
even though doing so from the Lord,
thus doing so as if of himself.
So, because to be compelled
is not to act in freedom
in accordance with one's reason,
and is not to act of oneself,
but is to act without freedom
and in subjection to another,
therefore this law of Divine providence
follows in turn from the first two.

DLW 123, 124 - The Lord's Divine Wisdom & His Providence

DP 123 [3-4]

. . . it is the continual endeavor
of the Lord's Divine providence
to conjoin a person with Himself
and Himself with the person,
and so make him to be an image of Himself.
It follows as well that the object of this
is to enable the Lord to impart to the person
the felicities of eternal life,
for such is the nature of Divine love.

However, the Lord cannot impart these felicities,
nor make the person an image of Himself,
unless the person puts away sins
as though of himself in his external self,
because the Lord is not only Divine love
but also Divine wisdom,
and Divine love acts only out of its Divine wisdom
and in accordance with it.
It is in accordance with the Lord's Divine wisdom
that a person cannot be conjoined with Him
and so be reformed, regenerated and saved
unless the person is permitted to act
in freedom in accordance with his reason,
for it is this that makes a person human;
and whatever accords with the Lord's Divine wisdom
is also a provision of His Divine providence.

DP 124 [4]

. . . the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah,
came into the world
and there put on or assumed
a humanity in things last,
in order to make it possible for Him to be present
in first elements and at the same time in last ones,
and thus to govern the entire world
from first elements through last elements
so as to save people,
whom He is able to save
in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence,
which are also laws of His Divine wisdom.

This is also something
that is known in the Christian world -
that no mortal could have been saved
if the Lord had not come into the world . . ..

That is why the Lord is called the First and the Last.

 

DP 121 , 122 - Repentance

DP 121

Many people think
that simply believing what the church teaches
purifies a person of his evils.
Others believe that doing good is what purifies;
others, that it is knowing, speaking and teaching
such matters as have to do with the church;
others, that it is reading the Word and books of piety;
others, that it is going often to church,
hearing sermons,
and especially partaking of the Holy Supper;
others, that it is renouncing the world
and pursuing a life of piety;
others, that it is confessing oneself guilty of all sins;
and so on.

None of these, however, purifies a person at all
unless he examines himself,
sees his sins,
acknowledges them,
condemns himself on account of them,
and repents by desisting from them.
Moreover, all of this he must do as though of himself,
and yet with an acknowledgment at heart
that he does so from the Lord.

. . . But when people's evils have been put away,
then the aforementioned undertakings
become ones of their love,
and they appear to angels in heaven
as handsome human beings,
and as the angels' partners and comrades.

DP 122

It should be rightly known, however,
that a person ready to repent
ought to look to the Lord alone.
If he looks only to God the Father,
he cannot be purified.
Nor if he looks to the Father for the sake of the Son.
Nor if he looks to the Son as simply a man.
For there is one God,
and that God is the Lord,
inasmuch as His Divinity and Humanity
constitute one person . . ..

In order that everyone ready to repent
might look to the Lord alone,
the Lord instituted the Holy Supper,
which confirms the remission of sins
in people who repent.
It confirms this,
because in that Supper or Communion
everyone is kept looking to the Lord alone.

 

DP 111 - The Outer Depends on the Inner; DP 116 - Why the Appearance of Self Power

DP 111

. . . a person's external level of thought
in itself
is of the same character as his internal level of thought,
and that the two go hand in hand
like something that is not only inwardly within the other,
but also from the other.
Consequently one cannot be set aside
except together with the other.
So it is with every external entity
that springs from an internal one,
with every subsequent element
that springs from a prior one,
and with every effect that springs from a cause.

DP 116  

As for the statement
that evils in the external self
can be put away
only through the agency of the person,
the reason is that,
of the Lord's Divine providence,
whatever a person hears, sees, thinks,
wills, speaks, or does,
appears to him altogether as attributable to him.
Without that appearance
the person would be incapable
of any reception of Divine truth,
of any determination to do good,
of any incorporation of love and wisdom
or charity and faith,
and of any conjunction, therefore, with the Lord,
consequently of any reformation and regeneration,
and thus salvation . . ..
It is evident that without that appearance
repentance from sins would not be possible,
nor indeed faith,
and that without that appearance
a person would not be human,
but would be devoid of any rational life . . ..
 

DP 106 - External & Internal Thought; DP 108 - End, Cause, Effect

DP 106

A person's external level of thought in itself
is of the same character as his internal one.

There are many kinds of loves,
but two of them are like lords or kings,
namely, heavenly love and hellish love.
Heavenly love is love toward the Lord
and love for the neighbor,
while hellish love is love of self
and love of the world.
These two kinds of loves
are as opposed to each other as heaven and hell;
for one who is impelled by
a love of self and the world
does not wish anyone well but himself,
whereas one who is impelled
by love toward the Lord and love for the neighbor
wishes all well.

DP 108

We find everywhere
three concurrent elements in union,
called end, cause and effect.
One's life's love in this case is the end,
its affections with their accompanying perceptions
are the cause,
and the delights of its affections
with their accompanying thoughts are the effect.
For just as the end
comes through the cause into the effect,
so also does love
come through its affections to its delights,
and through its perceptions to its thoughts.

DP 59 - His Presence is Always

DP 59

People do not yet know that
throughout its progress in a person,
Divine providence regards his eternal state.
For it can regard nothing else,
because the Divine is infinite and eternal,
and the infinite and eternal or the Divine
does not exist in time.
Consequently all future events are present to it.
Moreover, because that is the nature of the Divine,
it follows that each and every thing that it does
has eternity in it.

Still, people who think in terms of time and space
perceive this with difficulty,
not only because they love temporal things,
but also because they think from the viewpoint
of one present in the world,
and not from the viewpoint
of one present in heaven.
Heaven to them is as far away
as the end of the earth.

On the other hand,
people who are in the Divine,
because they think from the Lord,
think also in terms of eternity
when they think from the viewpoint of the present,
saying to themselves,
"What is something that is not eternal?
Is not something temporal relatively as nothing,
and does it not become nothing
when it comes to an end?
Not so something eternal.
That alone is real,
because its being does not come to an end."

To think in this way
is to think at the same time in terms of eternity
when thinking from the viewpoint
of one's present circumstance.
And when a person does so think
and at the same time so lives,
the emanating Divinity in him or Divine providence
regards throughout its progression
the state of his eternal life in heaven
and guides him to it.
________________

While out of sequence, this number keeps coming back to mind.
It's message of the amazing vastness of the care of the Lord's Providence is a constant message of hope, even in states of darkness.

" . . . the Divine is infinite and eternal,
and the infinite and eternal or the Divine
does not exist in time.
Consequently all future events are present to it.
Moreover, because that is the nature of the Divine,
it follows that each and every thing that it does
has eternity in it."

 

DP 103, 104 - Internal & External Levels of Thought

DP 103

Every person has
an external and an internal level of thought.

. . . Now, because it is not a person's body
but his spirit that
wills and understands and so thinks,
it follows that these external and internal levels
are the external and internal levels
of a person's spirit.
That it is the body that acts,
whether in speaking or doing,
is simply the effect
of the internal and external levels of his spirit,
for the body is merely a compliant form.

DP 104 [2]

People know that flatterers and hypocrites
possess a double thought.
For they can contain themselves
and take care not to reveal their interior thought,
and some can hide it more and more deeply
and bar the door, so to speak,
to keep it from appearing.

That it is possible for a person to have
an exterior and interior thought
is clearly apparent from the fact
that one can, from his interior thought,
see his exterior thought,
and moreover reflect on it
and make judgments about it
as to whether it is evil or not.

That this is the nature of the human mind
is attributable to the two faculties
that a person has from the Lord,
called freedom and rationality.
If a person did not have
from these faculties
an external and internal level of thought,
he could not perceive and see any evil in him
and be reformed.
Indeed, he could not speak either,
but could only make sounds, like an animal.

 

DP 100 - The Opposition of Heaven and Hell; DP 101 - What Our Spirit Thinks

DP 100

Everyone can see from reason alone
that the Lord, who is good itself and truth itself,
cannot enter into a person
unless the evils and falsities in him are put away.
For evil is opposed to good, and falsity to truth,
and two opposites can never be commingled.
Rather, when one approaches the other,
a combat ensues,
which lasts until one gives way to the other,
and the one that gives way,
goes away, and the other takes its place.

In such an opposition are heaven and hell,
or the Lord and the devil.
Can anyone reasonably suppose
that the Lord can enter where the devil reigns?
Or that heaven and hell can exist together?
Who does not see
from the rationality granted to every sane person
that for the Lord to enter,
the devil must be cast out?
Or that for heaven to enter,
hell must be removed?

DP 101 [2-3]

. . . what a person thinks in spirit in the world,
he does after his departure from the world
when he becomes a spirit.

In the spiritual world,
the world every person comes into after death,
no one asks what your faith was
or what your doctrine was,
but what your life was like,
whether it was of this character or that.
The reason is that people there know
that the character of a person's life
determines the character of his faith,
indeed the character of his doctrine.
For it is the life that forms for itself its doctrine,
and that forms for itself its faith.

 

DP 92, 93, 94 - Conjunction and Regeneration

DP 92

Conjunction with the Lord and regeneration are one,
for to the extent someone is conjoined with the Lord,
to the same extent he is regenerate.

DP 93

To look to God in one's life
is nothing else than to refrain from evils as sins.

DP 94

A conjunction of the Lord with a person
and a reciprocal one of the person with the Lord
is formed by loving the neighbor as oneself
and loving the Lord above all.

To love the neighbor as oneself
consists simply in not dealing
dishonestly or unjustly with him,
not hating him or burning with vengeance against him,
not cursing or defaming him,
not committing adultery with his wife,
and not doing other like things to him.
Who cannot see that people who do such things
do not love the neighbor as themselves?

On the other hand,
people who do not do such things
because they are evils injurious to the neighbor,
and because they are at the same time
sins against the Lord -
these deal honestly, justly, amicably,
and faithfully with the neighbor;
and because the Lord does likewise,
a reciprocal conjunction is formed.
Moreover,
when a reciprocal conjunction has been formed,
then whatever a person does for the neighbor
is done from the Lord,
and whatever a person does from the Lord is good.
To him the neighbor then is not the person
but the good in the person.

To love the Lord above all
consists simply in not doing evil to the Word,
because the Lord is present in the Word;
in not doing evil to the sanctities of the church,
because the Lord is present
in the sanctities of the church;
and in not doing evil to anyone's soul,
because everyone's soul is in the Lord's hand.
People who refrain from evils
as being egregious sins -
these love the Lord above all.
But only those are capable of this
who love the neighbor as themselves,
for the two loves go hand in hand.

 

DP 87 - Justification

DP 87

From rationality
a person has the ability to understand,
and from freedom the ability to will,
each as though of himself.
Yet the ability to will good in freedom,
and consequently to do it
in accordance with one's reason,
is not possible unless the person is regenerate.
An evil person can in freedom will only evil,
and do it in accordance with his way of thinking,
which he has made by justifications
to be as though a matter of reason.
For one can justify evil just as well as good,
even though evil is justified by fallacies
and appearances which, when affirmed,
become falsities;
and when evil has been justified,
it appears to be as though a matter of reason.

DP 82, 83, 86 - To Be Born Again

DP 82

The Lord teaches that unless one is born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God

In reply Jesus declared,
"I tell you the truth,
no one can see the kingdom of God
unless he born again."
. . ."I tell you the truth,
no one can enter the kingdom of God
unless he is born of water and the spirit.
. . . You should not be surprised at My saying,
"'You must be born again.'
(John 3:3, 5, 7)

But few know what it is
to be born again or regenerated.
That is because people do not know
what love and charity are,
and so neither what faith is.

DP 83 [1-2, 4 5, 6]

For it to be known, however,
how a person is regenerated,
we must consider the following three stages:
the nature of a person's first state,
which is a state of damnation;
the nature of his second state,
which is a state of reformation;
and the nature of his third state,
which is the state of regeneration.

A person's first state, which is a state of damnation,
every person has owing to his heredity . . ..
For in consequence of it
a person is born into a love of self
and a love of the world,
and from these
as fountainheads into evils of every kind.
The delights of these loves
are the ones by which he is led,
and the delights cause him not to know
that he is caught up in evils,
as no delight of any love is ever felt
as anything other than good.
Unless a person is regenerated, therefore,
he knows no otherwise
than that to love himself and the world
above all else
is goodness itself,
and that to dominate over all others
and to possess the wealth of all others
is the highest good.

It is from this, too, that every evil springs,
for the person looks upon no one else with love,
but only himself,
and if he does look upon another with love,
it is as a devil regards a devil
or as a thief regards a thief
when the two are acting in concert.

A person's second state,
which is a state of reformation,
occurs when he begins to think about heaven
in terms of the joy there,
and so about God,
from whom the joy of heaven is possible for him.

As long as evils remain in the lusts
and consequent delights of a love for them,
there is no faith, charity, piety or worship
except in merely outward expressions,
which to the world seem real, and yet are not.

As long as a person's character is such
that he thinks about heaven and God
in accordance with religion,
and does not think of evils as being sins,
he is still in the first state.
But he comes into the second state
or state of reformation
when he begins to think
that there is such a thing as sin,
and still more when he thinks
that this or that evil is a sin,
and when he examines it somewhat in himself
and does not will it.

A person's third state,
which is the state of regeneration,
picks up and continues on from the prior state.
It begins when a person
desists from evils as being sins,
progresses as he refrains from them,
and is perfected as he fights against them;
and as with the Lord's help
he overcomes them,
he is then regenerated.

In a person who is being regenerated,
the order of his life is changed.
From being natural he becomes spiritual.
For when separated from the spiritual component,
the natural one is contrary to order,
while the spiritual one is in order.
Consequently the regenerate person
acts out of charity,
and makes everything connected with his charity
a part of his faith.

But still, he becomes spiritual only to the extent
that he is governed by truths.
For everyone is regenerated by means of truths
and by a life in accordance with them.
It is through truths, indeed,
that he knows about that life,
and through that life that he puts them into practice.
Thus he joins together good and truth,
which is the spiritual marriage governing heaven.

DP 86

Because an evil person as well as a good one
possesses rationality and freedom,
the evil person as well as a good one
can understand truth and do good.
But an evil person cannot do so
in freedom in accordance with his reason,
while a good one can,
because an evil person
is caught up in the delight of an evil love,
whereas a good person is impelled
by the delight of a good love.
Consequently the truth
that an evil person understands,
and the good that he does,
do not become attached to him,
but do become attached to a good person;
and without their becoming attached as his,
reformation and regeneration are impossible.
For in evil people
evils are present with their falsities
as though at the center,
and goods with their truths on the peripheries.
But in good people
goods are present with their truths at the center,
and evils with their falsities on the peripheries.
Moreover, in either case those things
which are at the center
are diffused toward the peripheries,
like heat from a fire at its center,
or like cold from ice at its center.
Thus goods on the peripheries in evil people
are defiled by the evils at the center;
and evils on the peripheries in good people
are mitigated by the goods at the center.

This is the reason
that evils do not condemn a regenerate person,
and goods do not save an unregenerate one.

 

DP 78 - A Person's Character and Freedom; DP 80 - Thought Alone

DP 78

. . . a person's character and his freedom
are bound up together.
A person's character has to do with his life,
and what a person makes a part of his life,
this he does in freedom.
So, too, a person's character has to do with his love,
for love is everyone's life,
and what a person is moved to do by his life's love,
this he does in freedom.

DP 80

Nothing that a person merely thinks about
becomes attached to him.
Indeed neither does anything
that he thinks about willing,
unless he at the same time does will it
to the point that he also does it
when given the opportunity.
That is because
when a person does something for that reason,
he does it from the will by means of the intellect,
or from an affection of the will
by means of the thought of the intellect.
However,
as long as something is a matter of thought only,
it cannot attach itself,
because the intellect
does not conjoin itself with the will,
or the thought of the intellect
with the affection of the will.
Rather it is the will and its affection
that conjoin themselves
with the intellect and its thought . . ..

 

DP 74, 75, 77 - Freedom to Will and Do

DP 74 [2]

Every affection has its own partner as a mate.
An affection of a natural love has knowledge,
an affection of a spiritual love intelligence,
and an affection of a celestial love wisdom.
For without its partner as a mate,
affection has no reality,
but is like being without expression,
or like substance without form,
of which nothing can be predicated (based).
It is because of this that every created thing
has present in it something
assignable to a marriage of goodness and truth . . ..

DP 75

. . .a person can be elevated from
natural knowledge into spiritual intelligence,
and from that into celestial wisdom,
and from these two, intelligence and wisdom,
can look to the Lord and so be conjoined with Him,
as a result of which he lives to eternity.
As regards his affection
this elevation would not be possible, however,
if he did not have the ability from rationality
to elevate his intellect,
and from freedom to will it.

DP 77 [3]

Now because, for the sake of reception and conjunction,
the Lord wills
that whatever a person does freely
in accordance with his reason
appear to him as his own doing,
and this accords with reason itself,
it follows that a person can by virtue of his reason
will something because it means his eternal happiness,
and by imploring the Lord's Divine power, do it. 

 

DP 73 - All Freedom Is a Matter of Love's Perspective

DP 73 [1, 2, 3, 5, 6-7]

A human being has reason and freedom,
or rationality and liberty,
and these two faculties are present in a person
from the Lord.

First, however, it must be known
that freedom is wholly a matter of love,
so that love and freedom are united.
Moreover, because love is a person's life,
freedom is also a matter of his life.

Natural freedom everyone has from heredity.
From his heredity
a person loves only himself and the world.
His initial life is nothing else.

Rational freedom results from
a love of one's reputation
for the sake of honor or material gain.
The delight of this love is to appear
in outward demeanor like a moral person.

Spiritual freedom results from a love of eternal life.
No one else comes into that love and its delight
but one who thinks that evils are sins
and for that reason does not will them,
and who at the same time looks to the Lord.
As soon as a person does this,
he is in that state of freedom.
For no one can resist
willing evils because they are sins
and for that reason not do them
except by the exercise
of an interior or higher freedom
which results from
an interior or higher love that he has.

This kind of freedom does not at first
appear to be freedom, even though it is.
But afterward it does appear to be so,
and a person then acts in real freedom
in accordance with real reason,
thinking, willing, speaking and doing
what is good and true.

This state of freedom grows
as the exercise of natural freedom decreases
and becomes its servant,
and as it unites itself with rational freedom
and purifies it.

Anyone can come into this freedom
provided he is willing to believe that life is eternal,
and that any delight and blessedness
of life in time, for a time,
is but as a fleeting shadow compared to
the delight and blessedness of life
in eternity, to eternity.
Moreover, a person can believe this,
if he is willing to,
because he has rationality and freedom,
and because the Lord
from whom he has these two faculties
continually gives him the ability.

 

. . . And Imagine Some More

Mary's face is pinched in pain, and she is trying to not to cry out.  Joseph knocks on the inn door. 
"No!  We have no room!"  The inn door shuts. 
Then Joseph knocks again.  This time the door opens with the innkeeper's wife behind him.  The innkeeper says, "There is a stable around the corner.  It's dry and you can use that." 
"Thank you," said Joseph. 
"Thank you," whispered Mary. (Luke 2:5-6)

A while later, the sweet and welcome cry of a newborn was heard.  Then silence fell as Baby snuggled in to feed.  Mary looked up from Jesus' face and asked Joseph, "Do you hear that?"
Joseph nodded and went to the stable door and went outside.  Up in the black night sky was an amazingly bright star, and Joseph could hear the most stirring harmony of angels singing, "Glory to God in the Highest." 
"Mary!" Joseph called.  "There are angels singing, "Glory to God in the Highest!"  I couldn't make out all the words because the angels are way out over the pastures full of sheep, but those words were clear."  As Joseph turned back into the stable, Mary smiled at him, and he at her.  Yes, it was as the angels had told them.  This Baby was the Special Son of God.

When Mary finished feeding Jesus, she wrapped Him in swaddling cloths.  Joseph gently took Him and lay Him in the manger, full of soft straw.  Before Mary could lay down to rest, she and Joseph heard voices outside.  The stable door swung open, and several shepherds, all out of breath, crowded in.  "We have come to see the Savior!  The angels told us where to come!"  

Joseph asked, "What were the angels were singing?"

In unison the shepherds said, "Glory to God in the highest!"  And then the a few voices said, "And on earth peace, goodwill toward men."   And another set of voices said, "And on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests".  Before a loud squabble could break out, a quiet, authoritative voice said, "Shh!  We don't want to wake the Baby!"  The old shepherd continued,  "The angels were singing to tell us that when we live in peace and good will towards others, His favor of peace and good will be on earth.  That is the life that is giving God glory.  That is what this Baby will do."  A lamb bleated and heads nodded as they stared at the Baby Jesus in awe.  After a short while, the shepherds quietly returned back to their flocks.

Mary rested her hand on her heart, and smiled up at Joseph.  He smiled back at her.  And the Baby Jesus slept on. (Luke 2:8-20)

Far, far away in an eastern country, there was a meeting among some wise men.  One looked out of the window and saw the most brilliant star.  "Look!" and he pointed to the window.  "Is that The Star?"  The others crowded to the window and were silent in awe.  Then, "What time is it?"  Another asked, "Where is it?  We must discover exactly where that Star is shining."  And yet another said, "We have to gather a caravan and supplies, and make our way there.  It appears it will be a long journey, but we must make it, no matter how long it takes."  (Matthew 2:1-2)

So they did.

Imagine

Over twenty-two centuries ago, there were no cars, no trucks, no trains, no airplanes.  There was no electricity.  There were no computers, or GPS, or weather forecasts, no TV or ear buds to listen to music.  There was no plastic.  No Legos or many other toys.  A very different life.  Yet that little country, a mere strip along the Mediterranean Sea, had been the scene of wars for many thousands of years.  Brothers fighting brothers, invaders from outside fighting everyone.  That much has not changed.

Over twenty-two centuries ago, a young man was walking with his very pregnant bride.  They had been walking for some days, on their way from their home in Nazareth to Bethlehem. The ruler in Rome, Caesar, wanted all the people in his conquered territory to be counted, and that meant they had to go to Bethlehem.  So they walked along a dusty road, and he led a donkey.

"Joseph," she said.
"Hmmm?" he answered, his thoughts far away.  He was tired, and he knew she must be.
"Can you help me up so I can ride on the donkey for awhile?"
And he helped her up, and reassured her, "It will be fine, Mary."  They smiled, tired smiles, and continued on. 

Yes, they were tired, and worried some about the near future.  When they got to Bethlehem, would they find someone to take them in?  So often over the last months, there had been snickers and snide remarks, and backs turned when they approached.  It had been hard to bear, yet bear it they must.  After all, Mary had had an angel come to her and tell her that she would have a miracle baby, a Holy Child, who was to be the Son of God.  (Luke 1:26-38)  Later, Joseph had an angel come to him and assure him that this Holy Baby would be called Jesus, which means 'the Lord saves.'  (Matthew 1:18-25)  So they married and worked and talked about this amazing thing that was happening to them.

Before they left Nazareth for Bethlehem, Joseph had asked his mother what to do for Mary when it came time for her Baby to be born.  He couldn't be sure of where they were to stay, or even if anyone would help her deliver her precious Baby.  So they walked, and worried, and prayed.  Surely all would be well?

"Joseph?" asked Mary, "How much further do you think?"
"Oh, if memory serves, not too far now.  Up the hill and a couple turns, and we should be there.  Soon."
Mary sighed and said, "Good."  She gently rubbed her pregnant belly and murmured, "Soon, Little One, soon."

. . .

 

DP 70 - There Are Laws of Divine Providence; DP 71 - A Law of Divine Providence Regarding Freedom

DP 70

There Are Laws of Divine Providence,
Which to People Are Unknown

People know of the existence of Divine providence,
but they do not know the nature of it.

The reason people do not know
the nature of Divine providence
is that its laws are secret,
heretofore concealed in the wisdom
possessed by angels, but now to be revealed,
that people may ascribe to the Lord
what is the Lord's doing,
and not ascribe to any person
what is not the person's doing.
For most people in the world
attribute everything to themselves
and to their own prudence,
and what they cannot attribute to these
they call fortuitous and accidental,
not knowing
that human prudence is of no consequence,
and that the words "fortuitous" and "accidental"
are idle terms.

DP 71

It Is a Law of Divine Providence
That a Person Act in Freedom
in Accordance with His Reason

People know that a person has the freedom
to think and will as he pleases,
but not the freedom to say whatever he thinks,
nor the freedom to do whatever he wishes.
Consequently by freedom here
we mean spiritual freedom and not natural freedom,
except when the two are in accord.
For thinking and willing are spiritual,
while speaking and acting are natural.
They are also clearly distinguished in a person,
as a person can think what he does not express,
and can will what he does not do.
It is apparent, therefore, that the spiritual and natural
components in a person have been made distinct,
so that a person cannot slip
from the one into the other
except as the result of a conscious decision.
This decision may be likened to a door
which must first be unlatched and opened.
However, the door stands open, so to speak,
in people who think and will rationally
in conformity with the civil laws of the kingdom
and the moral laws of society,
for they say what they think and do as they will.
But the door stands closed, so to speak,
in people who think and will
in opposition to those laws.

DP 67 - A Particular Place in Heaven

DP 67

. . . since we are by creation
heavens in smallest form
and therefore images of the Lord,
and since heaven is made up of
as many desires as there are angels,
each of which is a person as to its form,
it follows that the constant effort in divine providence
is for each of us to become a heaven in form
and therefore an image of the Lord.
Further, since this is accomplished by means of
the desire for what is good and true,
it is for us to become that desire.
This, then, is the constant effort in divine providence.

The very heart of providence, though,
is that we should be
in some particular place in heaven
or in some particular place
in the divine heavenly person
and therefore in the Lord.
This is what happens for people
whom the Lord can lead to heaven.
Since the Lord foresees this,
He also constantly provides for it,
with the result that all of us
who are allowing ourselves to be led to heaven
are being prepared for our own places in heaven.