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.