To Serve

Jesus called them together and said,

"You know that those who are regarded 

as rulers of the Gentiles

lord it over them,

and their high officials

exercise authority over them.

Not so with you.

Instead, whoever wants to become great among you

must be your servant,

and whoever wants to be first

must be slave of all.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served,

but to serve,

and to give his life as a ransom for many.

(Mark 10:42-45)

DLW 372 - thought & will; DLW 380 - colors

DLW 372 [2]

A person who does not know

that affection is a property of the will

confuses affection with thought;

for he says that it is one with thought.

But in fact they are not one,

but operate as one.

The confusion of the two is apparent from common speech,

as in the statement, "My thought is to do this,"

meaning, "My will is to do it."

On the other hand,

the distinction of the two is also apparent from common speech,

as in the statement, "I want to think about this."

And when he does think about it,

the affection of the will is present in the thought of the intellect,

like the intonation in an utterance . . ..

DLW 380

The fact that the blood is red

is owing also to the correspondence of the heart and blood

with love and its affections.

For the spiritual world has in it colors of every kind.

The colors red and white are the fundamental ones,

and the rest take their variations

from them and from their opposites,

which are a dark fiery color and black.

The color red there corresponds to love,

and the color white corresponds to wisdom.

The color red corresponds to love

for the reason that it takes its origin

from the fire of the sun in the spiritual world;

and the color white corresponds to wisdom

for the reason that it takes its origin

from the light of the sun there.

Because, then, there is a correspondence of love with the heart,

therefore the blood cannot but be red and attest its origin.

It is in consequence of this

that in the heavens where love toward the Lord reigns,

the light is a flaming one,

and the angels there are clad in purple garments;

and in the heavens where wisdom reigns,

the light is bright white,

and the angels there are clad in garments of white linen.

Jesus Predicts His Death

He then began to teach them

that the Son of Man must suffer many things

and be rejected by the elders,

chief priests and teachers of the law,

and the He must be killed

and after three days rise again.

He spoke plainly about this,

and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.

But when Jesus turned and looked at His disciples,

He rebuked Peter.

"Get behind Me, Satan!" He said.

"You do not have in mind the things of God,

but the things of men."

(Mark 8:31-33)

DLW 371 - A correspondence with the will & heart and intellect & lungs

DLW 371

There is a correspondence of the will with the heart,

and of the intellect with the lungs.
 

(1)  All the things of the mind

are connected with the will and intellect,

and all the things of the body

with the heart and lungs.

(2)  There is a correspondence

of the will and intellect with the heart and lungs,

and consequently a correspondence

of all the things of the mind with all things of the body.

(3) The will corresponds to the heart.

(4) The intellect corresponds to the lungs.

(5) Through that correspondence one can discover

many secrets relating to the will and intellect,

and so also to love and wisdom.

(6)  A person's mind is his spirit,

and the spirit is the person,

the body being the outward instrument by which

the mind or spirit senses and acts 

in the physical world.

(7) The conjunction of a person's spirit with the body

is due to the correspondence

of his will and intellect with his heart and lungs,

and their disjunction

to the absence of that correspondence.

Jesus Calms the Storm

That day when evening came,

He said to His disciples,

"Let us go over to the other side."

Leaving the crowd behind,

they took Him along, just as He was,

in the boat.

There were also other boats with Him.

A furious squall came up,

and the waves broke over the boat,

so that it was nearly swamped.

Jesus was in the stern,

sleeping on a cushion.

The disciples woke Him and said to Him,

"Teacher, don't You care if we drown?"

He got up,

rebuked the wind and said to the waves,

"Quiet!  Be still!"

Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to His disciples,

"Why are you so afraid?

Do you still have no faith?"

They were terrified and asked each other,

"Who is this?

Even the wind and the waves obey Him!"

(Mark 4:35-41)

DLW 360, 369 - the Lord's home in mankind

DLW 360

Now because the Lord is Divine love and Divine wisdom,

and these two in essence are Him,

it must needs be,

for Him to dwell in mankind and give mankind life,

that He have created and fashioned in mankind

recipient vessels and abodes for Himself,

one for His love,

and the other for His wisdom.

These recipient vessels and abodes in mankind

are called will and intellect -

the recipient vessel and abode of love being called the will,

and the recipient vessel and abode of wisdom the intellect.

DLW 369 [2]

. . . a person who elevates his mind to the Lord

is wholly elevated to the Lord,

and that a person who casts his mind down to hell

is wholly cast down into it.

Consequently the whole person

comes either into heaven or into hell

in accordance with his life's love.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ,

the Son of God.

It is written in Isaiah the prophet:

"I will send My Messenger ahead of you,

Who will prepare your way" (Malachi 3:1)

"a voice of one calling in the desert,

'Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for Him.'"  (Isaiah 40:3)

And so John came,

baptizing in the desert region

and preaching a baptism of repentance

for the forgiveness of sins.
The whole Judean countryside

and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.

Confessing their sins,

they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

John wore clothing made of camel's hair,

with a leather belt around his waist,

and he ate locusts and wild honey.

And this was his message:

"After me will come one more powerful than I,

the thongs of whose sandals

I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

I baptize you with water,

but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

(Mark 1:1-8)

DLW 351 - From the Divine or nature?

DLW 351

People who believe that the Divine operates

in every single element of nature can,

from the many things which they see in nature,

confirm themselves on the side of the Divine,

just as well as

and even more than

those who confirm themselves on the side of nature.

For people who confirm themselves on the side of the Divine

pay heed to the marvels which they see

in the propagations of both plants and animals.

Heaven and Earth

"Heaven and earth will pass away,

but my words will never pass away."

(Matthew 24:35)

DLW 348 - good and evil uses

DLW 336

By forms of use from the Lord

we mean likewise all matters

that perfect a person's rational faculty,

and which enable the person to receive

a spiritual character from the Lord.

Conversely, by evil forms of use

we mean all matters that destroy the rational faculty,

and which render a person incapable of becoming spiritual.

. . . We use the term "use" in both senses,

like the term "love," 

as referring to a good love or an evil love;

and love calls everything that it does useful.
 

DLW 348

. . . goods and truths have been sent down

through the heavens by the Lord to the hells,

and that these same,

received by degrees to the lowest deep,

were there turned into evils and falsities,

which are the opposite of the goods and truths sent down.

This took place because recipient subjects

turn all things that inflow

into such things as are in agreement with their own forms,

just as the white light of the sun

is turned into ugly colors or into black

in those objects whose substances

are interiorly of such a form

as to suffocate and extinguish the light,

as stagnant ponds, dung-hills, and dead bodies

turn the heat of the sun into stenches.

From all this it can be seen

that even evil uses are from the spiritual sun,

but that good uses are changed in hell into evil uses.

It is apparent, therefore,

that the Lord did not and does not create anything

but good forms of use,

while hell produces evil ones.

Swallow a Camel

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,

you hypocrites!

You give a tenth of your spices -

mint, dill and cummin.

But you have neglected

the more important matters of the law -

justice, mercy and faithfulness.

You should have practiced the latter,

without neglecting the former.

You blind guides!

You strain out a gnat

but swallow a camel."

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

you who kill the prophets

and stone those sent to you,

how often I have longed

to gather your children together,

as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,

but you were not willing."

(Matthew 23:23-24; 37)

DLW 330 - A House; DLW 333-334 - Forms of Use; DLW 335 - O Come, Let Us Adore Him

DLW 330

Since the final end in creation

is an angelic heaven from the human race,

and so also the human race itself,

therefore its intermediate ends are 

all other phenomena that have been created.

And because these have relation to mankind,

they have regard to these three constituents of a person,

namely, his body, his rational faculty, and his spiritual character,

for the sake of his conjunction with the Lord.

For a person cannot be conjoined with the Lord

unless he is spiritual,

and he cannot be spiritual

without being rational,

and he cannot be rational

without having a body in sound condition.

These three are like a house.

The body is like the foundation.

The person's rational faculty

is like the superstructure of the house.

His spiritual character is like the furnishings in the house.

And conjunction with the Lord is like his inhabiting of it.

DLW 333 - 334

Forms of use for receiving a spiritual character from the Lord

are all matters having to do with religion and so with worship,

thus which teach an acknowledgment and knowledge of God,

and a knowledge and acknowledgment of goodness and truth,

and consequently eternal life.

These are similarly learned like other disciplines

from parents, teachers, sermons and books,

and especially through efforts

to pursue a life in accordance with them.

In the Christian world they are learned

through doctrines and sermons drawn from the Word,

and through the Word from the Lord.
    

These forms of use can be described

in their range and scope

in the same terms as forms of use to the body,

as for example, in terms of nourishment,

clothing, lodging, recreation and enjoyment,

protection, and the preservation of condition,

provided one applies them to the soul -

its nourishment to goods of love,

its clothing to truths of wisdom,

its lodging to heaven,

its recreation and enjoyment to felicity of life and heavenly joy,

its protection to evils assailing,

and the preservation of its condition to eternal life.

All of these boons are bestowed by the Lord

according to a person's acknowledgment

that the same boons which are matters of the body

are also all from the Lord,

and that a person is only as a servant or steward

set over the goods of his Lord.
 

These gifts have been given to mankind to use and enjoy,

and they are free gifts,

as is clearly apparent from the state of angels in heaven,

who likewise have a body, rational faculty,

and spiritual character, as people do on earth.

They are nourished without cost,

for they are daily given their food.

They are clothed without cost,

because they are given their clothing.

They have their lodging without cost,

because they are given their houses.

Nor do they worry about any of these things.

Moreover, to the extent that they are spiritually rational,

they experience enjoyment, protection,

and the preservation of their condition.

The difference is that angels see

that these are gifts from the Lord,

because things there are created in accordance

with the state of their love and wisdom . . .

DLW 335

Even though we call these forms of use,

because they have relation 

through mankind to the Lord,

still it cannot be said that they are forms of use

originating from mankind 

for the sake of the Lord.

Rather they forms of use

originating from the Lord 

for the sake of mankind,

because all useful ends are infinitely one in the Lord,

and do not originate in mankind 

except from the Lord.

For a person cannot do good of himself 

but only from the Lord.

Good is what we are calling a useful end.

The essence of spiritual love is to do good to others,

not for one's own sake,

but for their sake.

Infinitely more is it the essence of Divine love.

The case is the same

as with the love of parents for their children,

who do good to them out of love,

not for their own sake but for the children's sake.

This is clearly seen in a mother's love for her little children.

[2] Because the Lord is to be adored, worshiped and glorified,

people believe that He loves adoration, worship and glory

for His own sake.

But in fact He loves these for mankind's sake,

since a person comes thereby into a state

such that the Divine can flow in and be perceived,

because the person thereby sets aside his native character

which inhibits the influx and reception.

For his native character,

which is love of self,

hardens the heart and closes it up.

He sets this character aside by acknowledging

that of himself he does nothing but evil,

and from the Lord only good,

thus occasioning a softening and humbling of the heart

from which springs adoration and worship.

It follows from this

that the uses the Lord performs 

for Himself through mankind

exist to the end that He may do good to people out of love,

and because this is His love,

their reception of it is His love's delight.

Let no one suppose, therefore,

that the Lord dwells in those who merely adore Him,

but that He dwells in those who do His commandments,

thus who do things of use.

It is in such people that He has His abode, and not the first.

Like a Little Child

At that time

the disciples came to Jesus and asked,

'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

He called a little child

and had him stand among them.

and He said:

"I tell you the truth,

unless you change and become like little children,

you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child

is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

(Matthew 18:1-4)

DLW 324-325, 326 - an image of Him

DLW 324 - 325

. . . when the Word refers to the church

and the person of the church,

it so often speaks of trees,

such as olives, vines, and cedars,

and of gardens, groves, and forests,

and so, too, of beasts of the earth,

birds of the air,

and fish of the sea.

It speaks of these because they correspond,

and, as we said, by correspondence accord.

Consequently angels also do not perceive the things named,

but instead of these

the church or people of the church in their various states.

Since all constituents of the universe

resemble in an image the human being,

Adam is described 

in respect to his wisdom and intelligence

by the garden of Eden,

which had in it trees of every kind,

and also rivers,

precious stones and gold,

and moreover animals, to which Adam gave names.

By all of these things are meant the qualities

which he had in him

and which constituted the being that we call man.

DLW 326

It can now be seen from this

that regarded from the perspective of their uses,

all constituents of the created universe

resemble in an image the human being,

and this attests to the fact that God is human.

. . . Therefore they know in their world

that God is human,

and that the universe,

regarded in terms of its uses,

is an image of Him.

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

Then He left the crowd and went into the house.

His disciples came to Him and said,

"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

He answered,

"The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.

The field is the world,

and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom.

The weeds are the sons of the evil one,

and the enemy who sows them is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the age,

and the harvesters are angels.

"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire,

so it will be at the end of the age.

The Son of Man will send out His angels,

and they will weed out of His kingdom

everything that causes sin and all who do evil.

They will throw them into the fiery furnace,

where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine

like the Sun in the kingdom of their Father.

He who has ears, let him hear."

(Matthew 13:36-43)

DLW 316 - the cycle or progression of creation

DLW 316 [2]

. . . there is a similar progression

of love through wisdom into useful endeavor,

consequently a similar progression

of will through the intellect into actions,

and a similar progression

of charity through faith into works.

The will and intellect, or charity and faith,

are the first constituents

from which actions or works originate.

Actions and works are the last constituents.

From these last constituents a return is made

through the delights of useful endeavors

to their first constituents,

which as we said

are the will and intellect, or charity and faith.

That a return is made

through the delights of useful endeavors

is clearly apparent from the delights

perceived in actions and works

that are connected with any love,

in that they flow back to the first element of love

from which they originated

and thereby bring about conjunction.

Delights perceived in actions and works

are the delights that we call 

delights of useful endeavor.

All Who Are Weary and Burdened

"Come to Me,

all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you

and learn from Me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

For My yoke is easy

and My burden is light."

(Matthew 11:28-30)

DLW 296, 298, 304 - in all things

DLW 296

There are three elements in the Lord

which are the Lord -

the Divine element of love,

the Divine element of wisdom,

and the Divine element of useful endeavor -

and these three are manifested in appearance

outside of the sun of the spiritual world,

the Divine element of love by warmth,

the Divine element of wisdom by light,

and the Divine element of useful endeavor

by the atmosphere which is their containing medium.

DLW 298

We call useful endeavors

those phenomena which,

being from the human God, or the Lord,

are from creation in order.

However, we do not call useful endeavors

those which spring from people's native character,

for their native character is hell,

and its endeavors are contrary to order.

DLW 304

. . . degrees of two kinds exist

in the greatest and least of all created things.
The reason degrees of both kinds exist

in the least of all things

is that the spiritual sun is the one single substance

from which all else springs . . ..

Giving Gifts

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread,

will give him a stone?

Or if he asks for a fish,

will give him a snake?

If you, then, though you are evil,

know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will your Father in heaven

give good gifts to those who ask Him!

So in everything,

do to others 

what you would have them do to you,

for this is the Law and the Prophets."

(Matthew 7:9-12)

DLW 286, 287 - the form of wisdom

DLW 286, 287

. . . the form of wisdom is human;

and because the form of wisdom is human,

so, too, is the form of love, of mercy, of clemency

of goodness and of truth,

since these go hand in hand with wisdom.

That love and wisdom are human

can also be seen from the appearance of angels in heaven,

who are the more beautifully human

the more love and wisdom they possess from the Lord.