AC 880 - influx - there is nothing good except from the Lord

AC 880 [2]
There are three things in a person which concur and unite together,
namely, the Natural, the Spiritual, and the Celestial.
His natural never receives any life except from the spiritual,
and the spiritual never except from the celestial,
and the celestial from the Lord alone, who is life itself.
But in order that a still fuller idea may be gained:
the natural is the receptacle that receives the spiritual . . .
and the spiritual is the receptacle which receives . . . the celestial.
Thus, through things celestial,
life comes from the Lord.
Such is the influx.
. . . That a yet clearer idea may be gained:
a person's natural is what does the Work of Charity,
by hand or by mouth, and thus by the organs of the body;
but this work in itself is dead, and does not live
except from the spiritual that is in it;
and the spiritual does not live
except from the celestial,
which lives from the Lord.
From this the work is said to be good,
since there is nothing good except from the Lord.

AC 874 - the first state of regeneration

AC 874
. . . the first state of the regeneration . . . after temptation,
. . . is common to all who are being regenerated,
namely, that they suppose they do what is good
and think what is true from themselves;
and because they are as yet in great obscurity,
the Lord also leaves them so to imagine.
But still all the good they do
and all the truth they think
while in such imagination,
is not the good and truth of faith.
For whatever a person produces of himself cannot be good,
because it is from himself,
that is, from a fountain which is impure and most unclean.
From this impure and unclean fountain
no good can ever go forth,
for the person is always thinking of his own merit and righteousness;
and some go so far as to despise others in comparison with themselves
(as the Lord teaches in Luke 18:9-14),
and others err in other ways.
. . . The good therefore that a person does in this state
is not the good of faith.
And the same applies to the truth he thinks.
What he thinks may be the perfect truth;
but as long as the proprium is the source of it,
though it is in itself the truth of faith,
he does not have the good of faith within him.
To be the truth of faith
all truth must include from the Lord the good of faith.
Only then do they become good and truth.

SD 856 - beneathe the crusty exterior

SD 856
There is in a person something like a plane,
which is portrayed as a soft substance
lying beneath the outward, callus-like part of a person
produced by bodily and worldly elements.
This underlying plane or substance
becomes visible when the superinduced exterior is removed.
. . . when it has been cast aside,
something like a round, soft body or brain is portrayed,
and that the person subsequently,
when living from this body,
now acts in accordance with his or her inward character,
by which they govern their outward elements.
But because the outward elements
are heaps of the individual's personal [qualities of life],
they cannot be governed by the gentle inward body
in such a way that it shines forth,
except by a constant reflection upon one's actions and life,
these being the criteria
from which the wise will usually judge a human character.
That beneath this there is again a similar substance,
still softer, I cannot doubt,
because inside are the Remains
that are preserved by the Lord,
and which the Lord Alone knows of.
(February 18, 1748)

AC 870 - the raven and the dove

AC 870
. . . birds. . . signify intellectual things:
gentle, beautiful, clean, and useful birds,
intellectual truths and goods;
but fierce, ugly, unclean, and useless birds,
the opposite, or falsities,
such as the raven,
which is here opposed to the dove.

SD 764 - truth and good

SD 764
. . . honor, as also fear,
is predicated of truth,
for truth is that which is feared,
and thus honored.
But on the other hand,
love is predicated of good,
for good is what is to be loved,
because good has this in itself.
In the regenerate, however,
as in the angels or in the heavens,
both good and truth are loved,
because good is the fountain of truths.
(February 13,1748)

AC 863 - conscience, a wonderful gift from the Lord

AC 863
Concerning the understanding, or the truth of faith,
signified by a "window"
it may be observed . . . that no truth of faith is possible
except from the good of love or of charity,
as there can be no true understanding
except from what is of the will.
If you remove what is of the will,
there is no understanding,
. . . and so if you remove charity,
there is no faith;
but as the will of a person is mere evil desires,
in order to prevent the immersion
of what is of his understanding, or the truth of faith,
in his evil desires,
the Lord has wonderfully provided
that what is of the understanding
should be separated from what is of the will of a person,
by a certain medium, which is conscience,
and in which He may implant charity.
Without this wonderful providence
no one could ever have been saved.

AC 840 - And God remembered. (Genesis 8:1); AC 842 - the Lord restores order

AC 840
And God remembered.
(Genesis 8:1)
That this signifies the end of temptation and the beginning of renovation . . ..
"God remembered" signifies, specifically,
that He is merciful, for His remembrance is mercy;
and this is especially predicated after temptation,
because new light then shines forth.
So long as temptation continues,
the person supposes the Lord to be absent,
because he is troubled by evil genii so severely
that sometimes he is reduced to despair,
and can scarcely believe there is any God.
Yet the Lord is then more closely present than he can ever believe.
But when temptation ceases,
the person receives consolation,
and then first believes the Lord to be present.
. . . "God" is said to remember, and not "Jehovah"
because as yet the person was in a state prior to regeneration;
but when he is regenerated,
then "Jehovah" is named.
The reason is that faith is not yet conjoined with charity,
for a person is for the first time said to be regenerated
when he acts from charity.
In charity Jehovah is present,
but not so much in faith before it is joined to charity.

AC 842 [2,3]
When evil spirits are thus dispersed,
the state of commotion and turbulence
is succeeded by serenity, or silence,
as is also the case with the person who has been in temptation;
for while in temptation he is in the midst of such a band of spirits,
but when they are driven away or dispersed,
there follows as it were a calm,
which is the beginning of the disposal of all things into order.

Before anything is reduced into a state of order,
it is most usual that things should be reduced into a confused mass,
or chaos as it were,
so that those which do not well cohere together may be separated,
and when they are separated,
then the Lord disposes them into order.

SD 757 - the circle

SD 757.
There is an obvious [manifest] circle from the senses,
especially from the hearing and sight
which present objects that arouse internal sensation;
so it proceeds to the understanding,
and from the understanding into the will,
and from the will into act,
either of the mouth or speech, or of the face,
or of the members of the body,
such is the natural circle.
But because [this order of] nature has been destroyed,
so that objects can only pass from the senses into the understanding,
but not into the will -
for this is governed from another fount [source] -
therefore there must be regeneration
by which the true order, or the circle, is restored.
Then at length the will,
and consequently the understanding,
may hold all things,
and each conspires to [produce] the fruits of charity.
So every evil that is insinuated by evil spirits
is turned into good in the understanding;
for the Lord by the will,
that is by love and mercy which are His alone,
directs the person whom He has regenerated
and endowed with those faculties.
(February 12, 1748)

AC 828 - the holiness of heaven

AC 828
. . . the holiness of heaven is founded in conjugial love and in innocence . . .

conjugial love - love of marriage, especially when looking to the Lord

SD 739,741 - the doctrine of reflection

SD 739
The doctrine of reflection is a complete doctrine,
and without it no one is able to know what interior life is,
not even what the life of the body is.
In fact, without reflection from a knowledge of truths,
no one is reformed.
For this reason,
the Lord is delivering to the people on this earth,
because they are living in a corrupt state,
written down truths.
From these, as from a wellspring,
they may draw a knowledge of truth
that will enable them to reflect on themselves -
or more truly,
from which higher knowledge, inscribed upon the memory,
the Lord may cause people to reflect upon their falsities, and the like.
Therefore, without spiritual knowledge, reformation is not possible.

SD 741
In place of the appetite people have in bodily life
for eating and drinking to nourish the body,
spirits have an appetite for, or enjoyment of learning.
The angelic appetite is for learning only what is true and good . . ..
So in every heaven,
there is a most intense feeling for understanding truth and goodness,
or matters of belief.
This brings on reflections,
by means of which they are perfected more and more.
(February 11,1748)

AC 803 - persuasions aren't so simple

AC 803
The persuasions of the people before the Flood are described fully here,
that is to say, they had within them affections for falsity,
evil desires, pleasures, and bodily and earthly interests.
All of these things are present in persuasions,
though a person is not directly conscious of this,
for he imagines that a false assumption, or persuasion of falsity,
is some uncomplicated or quite general entity.
He is much mistaken however,
for the situation is altogether different.
Every one of a person's affections
derives its existence and character from the things of his understanding
and at the same time from those of his will.

[2] . . . If anyone knew how much one false assumption
or one persuasion of falsity contained
he would be horrified.
It is in a way an image of hell.
But if they are the product of innocence or of ignorance,
those falsities in him are easily dispersed.

SD 693 - the love of the Lord and one's companions

SD 693
This love is never achieved
when one person wants to be greater than the other,
which results in disunion and rejection,
nor when one wants to stand out above the others in some respect.
On the contrary,
it is achieved when one wants to be the least,
and to serve the rest.
Thus when all mutually want to serve one another,
they are united,
and each receives happiness from everyone individually,
and thus from the whole.
(February 9, 1748)

AC 789,790,794,798 - the flood and persuasions

AC 789
Speaking generally, every person, even the regenerate,
is such that if the Lord did not withhold him from evils and falsities
he would cast himself headlong into hell.
The very moment he is not withheld, he rushes headlong into it.
. . . This withholding from evils and falsities is in effect a lifting up,
so that evils and falsities are perceived below,
and the person above.
. . . It is this elevation which is signified by the
"ark being lifted up from off the earth, and going upon the face of the waters."

AC 790
"waters" here and in the following verses signify falsities
. . . inundations of waters signify desolations and temptations,
which involve the same as falsities . . .

AC 794
Falsities are principles and persuasions of what is false . . ..
Persuasions immensely increase when people mingle truths with desires,
or make them favor the loves of self and of the world;
for then in a thousand ways
they pervert them and force them into agreement.
For what person is there who,
having adopted a false assumption, or made one for himself,
does not confirm it from the many facts he knows,
even indeed from the Word?
Is there any heresy
which does not in like manner take hold of confirmatory ideas,
and which does not force things that do not agree,
and in different ways explain and distort them
so that they disagree no longer?

Every evil desire which a person fosters constitutes the life of his will,
and every false assumption or persuasion
constitutes the life of his understanding.
The life of his will and that of his understanding make one when truths,
or doctrinal matters concerning faith, are immersed in evil desires.
Everybody in this way forms a soul for himself so to speak,
and of such a nature does his life become after death.
Consequently nothing is of greater importance to a person
than knowing what the truth is.
When he knows what the truth is,
and knows it so well that it cannot be perverted,
it cannot then be steeped in evil desires and have deadly effect.

AC 798
For such is the life of persuasions
that it not only rejects every truth and absorbs every falsity,
but also perverts every truth that comes near.

AC 771, 775, 776 - the Word, the series

AC 771
As every expression in the Word is from the Lord,
and therefore has what is Divine within it,
it is evident that there is no word, nor even an iota,
that does not signify and involve something.

AC 775
. . . how poor and almost nonexistent is human wisdom,
which scarcely knows
that there is such a thing as spiritual good or spiritual truth,
much less what it is.
From celestial and spiritual goods and their derivative truths,
issue and descend natural goods and truths.
For there is never any natural good and truth
that does not spring from spiritual good,
and this from celestial,
and also subsist from the same.
If the spiritual should withdraw from the natural,
the natural would be nothing.
The origin of all things is in this wise:
all things, both in general and in particular, are from the Lord;
from Him is the celestial;
from Him through the celestial comes forth the spiritual;
through the spiritual the natural;
through the natural the corporeal and the sensuous.
And as they all come forth from the Lord in this way,
so also do they subsist from Him,
for, as is well known,
subsistence is a perpetual coming into existence.

AC 776
. . . there are no hyperbolisms in the Word of the Lord,
but things significative and representative.

SD 663 - a ability to do good is a gift from the Lord

SD 663
Indeed it is evil when he thinks from himself to will to do good . . .
for whatever is from the Lord in a person is good.
(February 6,1748)

AC 751, 760 - evil spirits, angels, and direction of sight

AC 751
. . . few, if any, know the nature of temptations
(because at this day there are few who undergo such temptations,
and those who do undergo them know not
but that it is something inherent in themselves which thus suffers) . . ..
There are evil spirits who . . . in times of temptation
call up a person's falsities and evils,
and in fact call forth from his memory
whatever he has thought and done from his infancy.
Evil spirits do this with a skill and a malignity so great as to be indescribable.
But the angels with the person draw out his goods and truths,
and thus defend him.
This combat is what is felt and perceived by the person,
causing the pain and remorse of conscience.

AC 760
. . . no one can love worldly and heavenly things at the same time,
seeing that to love worldly things is to look downward,
and to love heavenly things is to look upward.
Much less can anyone love himself and at the same time the neighbor,
and still less the Lord.
He who loves himself, hates all who do not render him service;
so that the person who loves himself
is very far from heavenly love and charity,
which is to love the neighbor more than one's self,
and the Lord above all things.
From this it is evident
how far removed the life of a person is from heavenly life,
and therefore he is regenerated by the Lord through temptations,
and is bent so as to bring him into agreement.

SD 635 - saving faith is when we are governed by the Lord

SD 635
Because it is a truth,
it is therefore to be believed
that the Lord governs heaven and earth,
and that no one lives but the Lord.
From this faith,
when it is given by the Lord,
it follows that a person cannot commit sin;
for he knows that the spirits who believe
that they live of themselves, and govern themselves,
excite in a person those things which,
although they are in the person,
still are not excited by him,
because he then lives passively,
and suffers himself to be governed.
When a person is in such a state
he can also be gifted with peace by the Lord,
for he then trusts solely in the Lord
and is not concerned about other things.
. . . Such is the state of the angels who live in peace.

AC 734 - is it repetition?; AC 737 - how the angels use remains

AC 734
But here as elsewhere
there is not the least word that is superfluous and vain;
for it is the Word of the Lord.
There is therefore no repetition,
except with another signification.
And here, in fact, as before,
the signification is that it is the first temptation,
which is temptation as to things of his understanding;
but afterwards it is his temptation as to things of the will.
These temptations follow one after the other
with him who is to be regenerated.
For to be tempted as to things of the understanding
is quite another thing from being tempted as to what is of the will.
Temptation as to things of the understanding is light;
but temptation as to things of the will is severe.

AC 737
For the case is this:
. . . [the person] was furnished by the Lord
with truths of the understanding and goods of the will.
These truths and goods are remains,
which are not brought out so as to be recognized
until the person is being regenerated.
In the case of those who are being regenerated through temptations,
the remains in a person
are for the angels that are with him,
who draw out from them
the things with which they defend the person
against the evil spirits who excite the falsities in him,
and thus assail him.

SD 597 - spirits, not so pleasant; SD 604 - glorying the Lord

SD 597
. . . there are genii through whom the Lord governs people,
and He permits them to excite people for many reasons,
both for the sake of punishment and for the sake of the removal of evils.

There are evil spirits
who also excite the pleasure of sitting a long time in privies,
and of staying there beyond a stated time;
for devils are especially delighted with privies . . .
(January 29, 1748)

SD 604
Moreover, when I was in bed, before sleep overtook me,
I then heard a general singing of heaven around me
consisting of very many angels of the interior heaven,
and at the same time I was then in a visual glorying.
I heard that glorying which became audible;
at the same time it was general,
because I could perceive nothing
of what they were representing and singing.
It was told me that the whole heaven in thus manner
continually attributes glory to the Lord, and thus are glorying.
(January 30, 1748)

AC 725 - "male and female", "man and wife"

AC 725
That by "male and female" are signified truths and goods,
is evident from what has been said and shown before,
namely, that "man" and "male" signify truth,
and "wife" and "female" good.
But "male and female" are predicated of things of the understanding,
and "man and wife" of things of the will,
for the reason that marriage is represented by man and wife,
and not so much by male and female.
For truth can never of itself enter into marriage with good,
but good can with truth;
because there is no truth which is not produced from good
and thus coupled with good.
If you withdraw good from truth,
nothing whatever remains but words.