AE 625 - why we can't make spiritual judgments

AE 625 [2] "Many kings" signify various truths that are from good,
because the peoples and nations outside of the church
were for the most part in falsities as to doctrine,
and yet because they lived a life of love to God
and of charity towards the neighbor
the falsities of their religion were accepted by the Lord as truths,
for the reason that there was inwardly in their falsities the good of love,
and the good of love gives its quality to every truth,
and in this case it gives its quality to the falsity that such accept as truth;
and moreover, the good that lies concealed within causes such
when they come into the other life
to perceive genuine truths and accept them.
Again there are truths that are only appearances of truth,
like those truths that are in the sense of the letter of the Word;
these appearances of truth are accepted by the Lord as genuine truths
when there is in them the good of love to the Lord
and the good of charity towards the neighbor;
and with such in the other life
the good that lies hidden within dissipates the appearances,
and makes bare the spiritual truths which are genuine truths.

[3] . . . the Word must be taught
in respect to the goods of life and the truths of doctrine,
for these two are what the Word in its whole complex contains.

[4] This is the sense of these words abstracted from persons,
which is the truly spiritual sense.
The sense of the letter in most places has regard to persons,
and mentions persons,
but the truly spiritual sense is without any regard whatever to persons.
For angels who are in the spiritual sense of the Word
have no idea of person or of place in any particular
of what they think or speak,
for the idea of person or of place limits and confines the thoughts,
and thereby renders them natural;
it is otherwise when the idea is abstracted from persons and places.
It is from this that angels have intelligence and wisdom,
and that thence angelic intelligence and wisdom are ineffable.
While a person lives in the world he is in natural thought,
and natural thought derives its ideas
from persons, places, times, and material things,
and if these should be taken away from a person,
his thought which comes to perception would perish,
for without these he comprehends nothing;
but angelic thought is apart from ideas drawn from
persons, places, times, and material things;
and this is why angelic thought and speech are ineffable,
and to a person also incomprehensible.

[5] And yet a person who has lived in the world
a life of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbor comes,
after his departure from the world, into that ineffable intelligence and wisdom;
for his interior mind, which is the very mind of his spirit, is then opened,
and then the person, when he becomes an angel,
thinks and speaks from that mind,
and consequently thinks and speaks such things
as he could not utter or comprehend in the world.
Such a spiritual mind, which is like the angelic mind, every person has;
but because a person while in the world speaks, sees, hears, and feels,
by means of a material body,
that mind lies hidden within the natural mind, or lives above it;
and what a person thinks in that mind he is wholly ignorant of;
for the thought of that mind then flows into the natural mind,
and there limits, bounds, and so presents itself as to be seen and perceived.
So long as a person is in the body in the world,
he does not know that he has within him this mind,
and in it possesses angelic intelligence and wisdom,
because, as has been said,
all things that abide there flow into the natural mind,
and thus become natural according to correspondences.
This has been said to make known what the Word is in the spiritual sense,
which sense is wholly abstracted from persons and places,
that is, from such things as derive their quality
from the material things of the body and the world.

AE 624a - "What he said to me" (Revelation 10:11)

AE 624a
"What he said to me"
(Revelation 10:11)
. . . what the Lord says is a command . . .

AE 622a - "belly"

AE 622a [8]
. . . because the "belly" signifies from correspondence
the interiors of the understanding and of thought,
and these, if they cleave to the earths there,
are infected and imbued with the falsities of evil.
For this reason, in the spiritual world
no one lies with the belly upon the ground;
and indeed, to walk there with the feet upon the ground
means to touch and drink in
what is exhaled from the hells with the corporeal natural,
which corresponds to the soles of the feet;
and this natural has no communication
with the thoughts of the understanding,
except in those who are in evils in respect to life
and in falsities in respect to doctrine.

AE 619b - Psalm 19:9,10

AE 619b [14]
The judgments of Jehovah are truth, they are righteous altogether;
more desirable than gold and than much fine gold;
and sweeter than honey and the dropping of honeycombs.
(Psalm 19:9, 10)

"Judgments" signify the truths and goods of worship,
therefore it is said
"the judgments of Jehovah are truth, they are righteous altogether;"
"righteous" signifies the good of life and worship therefrom;
and as good is also signified by "gold" and "fine gold,"
it is said that "they are more desirable than gold and than much fine gold,"
"gold" meaning celestial good,
"fine gold" spiritual good,
and "desirable" means what belongs to affection and love.
Since the goods by which a person is affected are delightful
it is said that they are "sweeter than honey and the dropping of honeycombs,"
and that "the words of Jehovah are sweet to the palate,
more than honey to the mouth,"
"sweet" signifying what is delightful,
"honey" natural good,
and "the dropping of honeycombs" natural truth.
And because "honey" means natural good,
and the "mouth" signifies what is external,
it is said "more than honey to my mouth,"
as in Revelation, that "the little book was sweet as honey in the mouth."

AE 617b - God-with-us

AE 617b [8]
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son,
and shall call His name God-with-us;
butter and honey shall He eat,
that He may know to reject the evil and to choose the good.
For before the boy knows to reject the evil and to choose the good
the land which you abhor will be forsaken from before its two kings.
(Isaiah 7:14-16)

It is evident that the "Son" whom the virgin shall conceive and bear,
and whose name shall be called "God-with-us,"
is the Lord in respect to His Human;
the appropriation, in respect to the Human,
of spiritual and natural Divine good is meant by
"butter and honey shall He eat,"
spiritual Divine good by "butter,"
natural Divine good by "honey,"
and appropriation by "eating;"
and because so far as it is known how to reject evil and to choose good,
so far spiritual and natural Divine good is appropriated,
therefore it is said,
"that He may know to reject the evil and to choose the good."

AE 617b [10]
. . . it is useless to endeavor to acquire from what is one's own [proprium]
the good of love and that which nourishes the soul . . .

AE 616 - the active and the reactive

AE 616.
And I went unto the angel, saying, Give me the little book,
(Revelation 10:9)
. . . these words mean the faculty to perceive from the Lord
of what quality the Word is.
It is granted by the Lord to every person to perceive this,
but yet no one does perceive it
unless he wishes as of himself to perceive it.
This ability to reciprocate,
a person must have in order to receive the faculty to perceive the Word;
unless a person wishes and does this as of himself
no such faculty can be appropriated to him;
since, in order that appropriation may be effected,
there must be an active and a reactive;
the active is from the Lord, so is the reactive,
but the latter appears to be from a person;
for the Lord Himself gives this reactive,
and consequently it is from the Lord and not from the person;
but as a person does not know otherwise than that he lives from himself,
and consequently that he thinks and wills from himself,
so he must needs do this as if it were from what is proper to his own life;
and when he so acts,
it is then first implanted in him, and conjoined and appropriated to him.

In brief, action and reaction constitute all conjunction,
and in action and mere passiveness there is no conjunction;
for when the agent or active flows into the mere patient or passive,
it passes through and is dissipated,
for the passive yields and retires;
but when the agent or active flows into a passive that is also a reactive,
then they join together and the two remain conjoined.
Thus it is with the influx of Divine good and Divine truth
into a person's will or love;
for this reason when the Divine flows into the understanding alone
it passes through and is dissipated,
but when it flows into the will,
where what is a person's own (proprium) resides,
it remains conjoined.

AE 612 [6-8] - Glad Tidings!

AE 612 [6-8]
Sing unto Jehovah, bless His name;
proclaim the good tidings of His salvation from day to day;
for Jehovah comes, for He comes to judge the earth;
He shall judge the world in righteousness,
and the peoples in His truth.
(Psalm 96:2, 13)

That when the end of the church is at hand
the good tidings of the Lord's coming will be proclaimed,
is predicted also by the Lord Himself in the Gospels:

The angel said to Zacharias,
I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God;
and I was sent to speak unto thee,
and to proclaim to thee these good things.
(Luke 1:19)

The angel said to the shepherds,
Be not afraid,
behold I proclaim to you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people.
For there is born to you this day, in the city of David,
a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
(Luke 2:10, 11)

Because "to proclaim good tidings"
signifies to announce the Lord's coming, "the good tidings"
in the highest sense signify the Lord Himself in relation to His coming,
in relation to judgment, and to the salvation of the faithful . . .

AE 612 - The Open Word

AE 612
. . . when the end of the church is at hand
the Word is opened
and a new church established.
This is also meant by the Lord's coming,
for the Lord is the Word
wherefore when the Word is opened
the Lord appears.

. . . the Word was opened
when the Lord came into the world . . .

AE 609 - "to create"

AE 609
. . . the signification of "to create,"
as being not only to cause to be,
but also to be perpetually,
by holding it together and sustaining it by the Divine proceeding;
for the heavens have had existence and perpetually have existence,
that is, subsist by means of the Lord's Divine,
which is called the Divine truth united to Divine good.

. . . "to create," in reference to the church and to people of the church,
means to create anew, that is, to regenerate . . .

AE 608b - oaths

AE 608b [8]
. . . merely external or natural people
wish to have the truth confirmed and witnessed to by oaths;
but internal or spiritual people do not wish this;
indeed, they turn away from oaths and shudder at them,
especially those in which God
and the holy things of heaven and the church are appealed to,
and are content with saying and with having it said
that a thing is true, or that it is so.

AE 601a - the lion has roared

AE 601a [8]
The Lord Jehovih will not do a word
unless He shall reveal His secret unto His servants the prophets.
The lion has roared, who will not fear?
The Lord Jehovih has spoken, who will not prophesy?
(Amos 3:7, 8)

"The Lord Jehovih will not do a word
unless He has revealed His secret to His servants the prophets"
signifies that the Lord opens
the interior things of the Word and of doctrine
to those who are in truths from good;
"to reveal a secret,"
signifies to enlighten and to open the interior things of the Word;
"His servants the prophets"
signify those who are in the truths of doctrine and who receive;
"the lion has roared, who will not fear?"
signifies a powerful revelation and manifestation of Divine truth;
"the Lord Jehovih has spoken, who will not prophesy?"
signifies its reception and manifestation.
The Lord is called "Lord Jehovih" when good is treated of.

AE 600a - "the Father"

AE 600a [6]
. . . "the Father" meaning the Divine good of the Divine love,
from which is heaven and everything of heaven . . .

AE 600a - right hand; fishing in a boat

The "right hand" signifies good which is a source of truth,
and the "left hand" truth from good . . .

Jesus said to the disciples who were fishing,
Cast the net on the right side of the boat, then ye shall find.
They cast, therefore,
and they were no longer able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
(John 21:6)
Since "fishing" signifies in the Word
the instruction and conversion of people who are in external or natural good,
in which good were most of the Gentiles at that time,
"fish" signifying the things of the natural man,
and "boat" doctrine from the Word;
therefore "the right side of the boat" signifies the good of life.
This makes clear the signification of what the Lord said,
"Cast the net on the right side of the boat,"
namely, that they should teach the good of life.
That they would thus convert the Gentiles to the church
is signified by their finding in such abundance
that "they were not able to draw the net for the multitude of fishes."

AE 595 - "the bow in the cloud"

AE 595 [5]
. . . all light in heaven is spiritual,
and in its essence is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord.
From this it can be seen that "the bow in the cloud or rainbow"
signifies spiritual Divine truth translucent through natural Divine truth,
and there is such a translucence with those
who are being reformed and regenerated by the Lord
by means of Divine truth and a life according to it.
In the heavens also this very translucence appears as a rainbow.

AE 594d - Divine truth, heaven and angels

AE 594d [18]
. . . whether you say Divine truth or the heavens it is the same,
since the heavens are heavens from Divine truth,
and the angels there are angels from the reception of Divine truth.

AE 593 - "strong angel"

AE 593
And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven,
(Revelation 10:1)
signifies the Lord as to the Word,
here as to its ultimate sense,
which is called the sense of the letter.
This is evident from the signification of a "strong angel,"
as being the Lord as to the Word . . .
for all the strength and all the power of Divine truth
exist and consist in its ultimate,
consequently in the sense of the letter of the Word.

[2] Because it is the sense of the letter of the Word that is meant,
therefore it is said that the angel was seen "coming down out of heaven."
The like is said of the Word, which is the Divine truth;
this comes down from the Lord through the heavens into the world,
consequently it is adapted to the wisdom of the angels
who are in the three heavens,
and is also adapted to people who are in the natural world.
For this reason the Word in its first origin of all is wholly Divine,
afterward celestial, then spiritual, and lastly natural;
it is celestial for the angels of the inmost or third heaven,
who are called celestial angels,
it is spiritual for the angels of the second or middle heaven
who are called spiritual angels,
and it is celestial-natural and spiritual-natural
for the angels of the ultimate or first heaven
who are called celestial-natural and spiritual-natural angels,
and it is natural for people in the world;
for so long as people live in a material body they think and speak naturally.
This then is why the Word is with the angels of each heaven,
but with a difference according to the degrees
of their wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge [scientia];
and although it differs in its sense in each heaven,
still it is the same Word,
because it is the Divine itself . . . .

AE 586 - "That they should not adore demons"; AE 587a - light vs. darkness

AE 586
That they should not adore demons, (Revelation 9:20)
signifies that they should not worship their own cupidities.
. . . The affection of evil and falsity is what is called cupidity,
and is what is signified by "demon."
[2] But what is meant by "worshiping demons" shall also be told briefly.
Every person is associated with spirits;
without association and conjunction with them no one can live;
and the spirits with a person are such as his affections or cupidities are;
therefore when a person in his worship
does not look to the Lord or to the neighbor,
but looks to himself and to the world, that is,
when he worships God for the sole end of being carried to honors,
and of gaining wealth, or of being able to do injury to others,
then he worships demons;
for then the Lord is not present in his worship,
but infernal spirits are present . . .

AE 587a [2]
. . . when the light of the world is separated from the light of heaven
there is thick darkness in things spiritual.

AE 585b - "In that day . . ."

AE 585b [7]
In that day shall a man look to his Maker,
and his eyes shall see the Holy One of Israel,
and he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands,
and he shall not see that which his fingers have made.
(Isaiah 17:7, 8)

This is said of the Lord's coming and of a new church at that time.
"The Maker to whom a man shall then look"
means the Lord in relation to Divine good,
and "the Holy One of Israel whom his eyes shall see"
means the Lord in relation to Divine truth.
The "altars, which are the work of hands,
and which the fingers have made, to which a man shall not look,"
signify worship from evils and the consequent falsities of doctrine
that are from self-intelligence.
So these words mean
that everything of doctrine will be from the Lord
and not from a person's self [proprium],
which is the case when a person is in the spiritual affection of truth,
that is, when he loves truth itself because it is truth,
and not for the most part because it gives him reputation and a name.

AE 581a - craftiness

AE 581a [3]
. . . evil conceals in itself all craftiness and malice,
as good does in all prudence and wisdom.

AE 575 - What are real visions?

AE 575 [3]
As the prophets, by whom the Word was written, had real visions,
and others who were also called prophets had visions that were not real,
but their visions were vain and are called "lies,"
it is important that it should be known what visions are.
All things that really appear in the spiritual world are correspondences,
for they correspond to the interiors of angels,
which are the things of their minds,
that is, of their affection and of their thought therefrom,
and therefore such things are signified by them.
For the spiritual,
which is of the affection and the consequent thought of the angels,
clothes itself with such forms
as appear in the three kingdoms of the natural world,
the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral,
and all these forms are correspondences,
such as appeared to the prophets,
and which signify the things to which they corresponded.
But in the spiritual world there can be appearances also
that are not correspondences;
and these are produced by spirits, especially evil spirits,
by means of fantasies,
for by means of fantasies such spirits can present to the view palaces,
and houses full of decorations, also decorated garments;
they can also induce upon themselves beautiful faces,
and other like appearances;
but as soon as the fantasy ceases all these things vanish,
because they are external in which there is nothing internal.
As such visions are from fantasies they signify fallacies
because they deceive the senses
and fallaciously present to view things like real things.