AC 3116, 3115 - The Lord's Exploration and Protection

AC 3116

Exploration takes place likewise with every person
who is being reformed,
and also with everyone who receives remains;
but of this exploration the person knows nothing at all;
it is so entirely in obscurity with him
that he does not even believe that there is any;
when yet it is taking place every moment,
but from the Lord,
who alone sees a person's state --
not only his present state,
but also his future state to eternity.
The exploration is a most exquisite balancing,
to prevent even the least of falsity
from being conjoined with good,
and the least of truth
from being conjoined with evil;
for if there should be such conjunction,
the person would perish eternally . . ..

AC 3125

For inasmuch as the Lord,
by His own proper power,
made His rational Divine in respect to truth
as well as in respect to good,
He therefore explored the truth
which He conjoined with good.
But with people,
truth is never conjoined with good by their own power,
but by the power of the Lord;
which may be seen from the fact
that all good and truth flow in from the Lord,
and that all reformation and regeneration
are from the Lord,
and that a person does not know one whit
of how he is regenerated.
At the present day he does not even know
that he is regenerated by truth and good,
still less that truth is initiated and conjoined with good,
and that this is effected as by exploration,
that is, most exactly.

AC 3108 - The Initiation of Truth Into Good

AC 3108

Those who are not in good,
and the consequent faith,
have no other ideas of thought
than those which have been formed
from objects of the light of the world.
They do not know that there is anything spiritual,
nor indeed what the rational is in the genuine sense,
but only the natural to which they attribute all things;
and this is the reason why
the things which are said in the internal sense
concerning the initiation of truth into good,
are to them too remote to appear to amount to anything;
when yet to those who are in the light of heaven
these are among their precious things.
As regards the initiation of truth into good
the case is this:
Before truth has been initiated and rightly conjoined,
it is indeed with a person,
but it has not been made as it were of him, or as his own;
but as soon as it is being initiated into his good,
it is appropriated to him;
and it then vanishes from his external memory,
and passes into the internal memory;
or what is the same,
it vanishes from the natural or external person,
and passes into the rational or internal person,
and puts on the very person,
and makes his human, that is,
his quality as to the human.
Such is the case with all truth
that is being conjoined with a person's good;
such also is the case with the falsity
that is being conjoined with evil
which he calls good;
but the difference is
that the former opens the rational,
and so makes the man rational;
whereas the latter closes the rational
and makes the person irrational;
although he seems to himself,
in the darkness in which he then is,
to be pre-eminently rational.

~ Complaining About Consequences ~

Why should any living man complain
when punished for his sins?

(Lamentations 2:39)

AC 3089 - The First Affection of Truth; AC 3090 - Reciprocation and Marriage; AC 3085 - The Good of Truth

AC 3089

With a person about to be regenerated
the case is that his first affection of truth is very impure;
for there is in it an affection of use
and an end for the sake of himself,
for the sake of the world,
for the sake of glory in heaven, and the like,
which ends regard himself,
but not the community,
the Lord's kingdom,
and still less the Lord.
Such an affection necessarily precedes;
nevertheless it is successively purified by the Lord,
till at last falsities and evils are removed
and are cast as it were into the circumference;
and yet they had been of service as means.

AC 3090

What the reciprocation of truth is
when it is to be conjoined with good,
is apparent from marriages;
for marriage comes from the fact
that there is consent on both sides.
This has its origin
from the marriage of good and truth;
on the side of good there is will,
and on that of truth there is consent,
and from this comes the conjunction.
Although this reciprocation
is not apparent with a person
when he is being regenerated, that is,
when he is entering into the heavenly marriage,
it nevertheless takes place.

AC 3085

The good of truth
is that which is produced from good by means of truth,
and is like an offspring born of truth as a mother,
and of good as a father.
All the genuine good in the natural person is from this,
that is,
from the marriage of good and truth in the rational.
This good is that which is called the good of truth . . ..

~ The Lord's Great Compassions ~

Because of the Lord's great love
we are not consumed,
for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.
I say to myself,
"The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for Him."

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him,
to the one who seeks Him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.

(Lamentations 3:22-26)

AC 3080 - Beauty; AC 3085 - Internal, Heavenly Food

AC 3080

. . . all beauty is from good in which there is innocence.
Good itself when it flows in
from the internal person into the external, makes beauty;
and from this is all human beauty.
This may likewise be seen from the fact
that no one is affected by the face of another,
but by the affection which beams forth from the face;
and that they who are in good
are affected by the affection of good which is there,
and in the measure in which
there is innocence in the good.
Thus it is the spiritual in the natural which affects,
but not the natural without the spiritual.
In like manner those who are in good
are affected by little children,
who appear to them beautiful
in proportion to the innocence of charity
in their faces, gestures, and speech.

AC 3085 [2, 3]

. . . the internal sense is principally for the angels;
and this in order that
through the Word there may be communication
between heaven and people . . .
because heavenly food is nothing else
than all that which is of intelligence and wisdom;
and to them
the blessedness of wisdom and intelligence
is whatever treats of the Lord.

AC 3063, 3066, 3068 - Love

AC 3063

Love is itself turned to mercy
and becomes mercy
when anyone who is in need of help
is regarded from love or charity;
so mercy is the effect of love
toward the needy and miserable.
But here
by "mercy" in the internal sense is meant love;
and by "doing mercy" is meant an influx of love,
because it is from
the Lord's Divine Itself into His Divine Human;
for it was the Lord's Divine love
through which He made His Human Divine;
for love is the very being of life,
and no one has Divine love but the Lord.

AC 3066

. . . in all things
the love is the end and the use,
for nothing is regarded as the end and use
except that which is love.

AC 3068

Memory-knowledge without truth is an empty vessel;
and so too is truth without good;
but memory-knowledge in which there is truth,
and truth in which there is good,
are full vessels.
Affection which is of love is that which conjoins
so that they may be with in order;
for love is spiritual conjunction.

AC 3043 - Freedom Allows Influx; AC 3049 - Truth; AC 3052 - Memory-knowledges vs. Doctrinal Things

 AC 3043 [2]

Freedom is attributed to the natural person,
but not in the same way as the rational;
for good flows through the rational into the natural
in heavenly freedom from the Lord.
The natural person is . . . to receive this good;
and in order that it may receive it,
and may thus be conjoined with the heavenly freedom
which flows in through the rational,
the natural is left in freedom.
For freedom is of love or affection;
and unless the natural person receives
the affection of truth
from the inflowing affection of good,
it cannot possibly be conjoined with the rational.

AC 3049

. . . in itself truth is good,
because from good;
and truth is the form of good,
that is to say,
when good is formed
so as to be perceived intellectually,
it is then called truth.

AC 3052

Memory-knowledges and doctrinal things
are distinct from each other in this way:
doctrinal things come from memory-knowledges,
for they look to use,
and are procured from memory-knowledges
by means of reflection.

AC 3035 - Jehovah the God of Heaven; AC 3037 - "Speaks" and "Swears"

AC 3035

Jehovah the God of heaven.
(Genesis 214:7)

That this means the Lord's Divine Itself,
. . . for by "Jehovah,"
so often named in the Word of the Old Testament,
is meant the Lord alone;
for all things therein
in general and particular
treat of Him in the internal sense;
and all and each of the rites of the church
represented Him;
and that the people of the most ancient times,
who were of the celestial church,
understood by Jehovah no other than the Lord.
In the sense of the letter here and elsewhere
the appearance is that another, who is higher,
is meant by "Jehovah;"
but the sense of the letter is such
as to separate
what the internal sense unites;
and this for the reason
that the person who is to be instructed
from the sense of the letter
cannot have an idea of a one,
unless he first has an idea of more than one;
for a one with person is formed from many;
or what is the same,
from successive things is formed
that which is simultaneous.
There are many things in the Lord,
and all are Jehovah.
This is the reason why
the sense of the letter makes a distinction,
while heaven by no means does so;
but acknowledges one God in a simple idea,
and no other than the Lord.

AC 3037

When it is said concerning Jehovah
that He "speaks,"
in the internal sense it is meant that He wills;
for whatever Jehovah speaks, He wills;
and when it is said concerning Jehovah
that He "swears,"
it is meant in the internal sense
that He understands it to be true;
thus by "swearing," when predicated of Jehovah,
is meant understanding . . ..

AC 3030, 3033 - The Formation and Life of the Genuine Rational

AC 3030 [2-3, 3-4]

The genuine rational is from good,
but comes forth from truth.
Good flows in by an internal way;
but truth by an external way.
Good thus conjoins itself with truth in the rational,
and they cause the rational to be.
Unless the good therein is conjoined with truth,
there is no rational;
although there appears to be,
because the person can reason.
This is the common way
in which the rational is formed with a person.

. . . truth is to be conjoined
with the good of the rational,
and this, as before said,
by the common way, that is,
by means of memory-knowledges and knowledges
from the natural person.

The good itself of the rational,
which is formed by the internal way,
is the very ground;
but truth is the seed
which is to be sown in this ground.
The genuine rational is never born in any other way.

AC 3033 [2, 3]

. . . there can be no conjunction of falsity with good,
or of truth with evil,
but only of falsity with evil,
and of truth with good . . ..
When a person has the affection of good,
that is, when he wills good from the heart,
then whenever anything is to be thought of
that is to be willed and done,
his good willing flows into his thinking,
and there it applies itself
to the knowledges which are there,
and joins itself with them as its recipient vessels,
and by this conjunction
impels him so to think, to will, and to act.
It is as it were an ingrafting of good in truths
or in the knowledges of truth.

But those who have been
in the affection of good from the heart,
are able to receive all truth
in accordance with the amount
and the quality of the good
that has been with them.

AC 3023 - "Jehovah the God of Heaven and the God of the Earth"; AC 3023 - Affections and "the Daughter of Egypt"

AC 3023

I will make you swear by
Jehovah the God of heaven
and the God of the earth.
(Genesis 24:3)

That this signifies a most holy pledging to the Divine
which is in the highest . . ..
"Jehovah the God of the earth" in this case
means Jehovah who is called the Son,
thus His Human essence;
this came forth from the Divine essence
when the Lord made it also Divine.
Thus by "Jehovah the God of heaven"
is meant the Divine that is in the highest;
and by "Jehovah the God of the earth"
is meant the Divine that is in
that which is therefrom.
But the Lord is called "Jehovah the God of heaven"
from His Divine that is in the heavens;
and He is called the "God of the earth"
from His Divine that is on earth.
The Divine in the heavens
is also that which is with a person in his internals;
but the Divine on earth
is that which is in his externals;
for the internals of a person are his heaven,
because by them he is conjoined with the angels;
but his externals are his earth,
for by them he is conjoined with people.
When a person is regenerate,
the internals flow into the externals,
and the externals are from the internals.
So also it may be known
what the internals of the church are,
and what its externals.

AC 3024 [1, 4]

All conjunction of truth with good
is effected by means of affection;
for no truth can possibly enter into a person's rational
and be conjoined there,
except by means of affection;
for in affection is the good of love,
which alone conjoins);
as may also be known to anyone who reflects.

In Jeremiah:

Go up into Gilead, and take balm,
O virgin daughter of Egypt.
O thou daughter that dwells in Egypt,
make thee vessels of exile.
(Jeremiah 46:11, 19, 24)

The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame,
she is delivered into
the hand of the people of the north.
The "daughter of Egypt" denotes
the affection of reasoning from memory-knowledges
concerning the truths of faith,
as to whether they be so;
thus she denotes the kind of religion
that arises from this,
which is such that nothing is believed
except that which is comprehended by the senses,
and thus nothing of the truth of faith.

AC 3020 - The Natural Mind Is to Serve the Rational Mind

AC 3020

All things that are in a person are as one household
(that is, as one family) in this respect,
that there is one
who fills the office of master of the house,
and others who fill that of servants.
The rational mind itself
is that which disposes all things as master of the house,
and arranges them in order
by influx into the natural mind;
but it is the natural mind
that ministers and is the administrator.

As the natural mind is distinct from the rational mind
and is in a degree below it,
and as it also acts as if from what is its own,
it is called relatively a "servant the elder of the house,"
and it is said to administer
all the things in itself that belong to it.
That the natural mind is distinct from the rational,
and is in a lower degree,
and is as if in what is its own,
may be seen from the things within it,
and from its offices.
The things which are therein
are all memory-knowledges,
thus also all knowledges of every kind whatever;
in a word, they are all things
in both general and particular
that belong to the outer or corporeal memory.
To this mind also belongs all the imaginative faculty,
which is the interior sensuous with person,
and which is in the greatest vigor with children;
and in the first age of adolescence;
to the same mind belong also
all natural affections
that a person has in common with brute animals;
all of which shows what its offices are.

But the rational mind is more internal.
The knowledges in it are not open before a person,
but while he lives in the body are imperceptible;
for they are all things in both general and particular
that belong to the interior memory.
To this mind also belongs all the thinking faculty
that is perceptive of what is equitable and just,
and of what is true and good;
also all spiritual affections,
which are properly human,
and by which a person is distinguished
from the brute animals.
From these things
this mind flows into the natural mind,
and excites the things that are therein,
and views them with a kind of sight,
and in this manner judges and forms conclusions.

That these two minds are distinct
is clearly evident from the fact
that with many persons
the natural mind bears rule over the rational mind;
or what is the same, person;
and that it does not bear rule
but serves with those only
who are in the good of charity, that is,
who suffer themselves to be led by the Lord.

AC 3017 - And Jehovah Blessed Abraham In All Things

AC 3017

And Jehovah blessed Abraham in all things
(Genesis 24:1)

means when all things had been re-arranged
by the Lord into Divine order,
or what amounts to the same,
when the Lord had re-arranged
all things into Divine order.
This is clear from the consideration
that 'Jehovah' is the Lord as regards the Divine Itself,
in which case 'Abraham'
represents the Lord as regards the Divine Human.
Consequently when it is said
 that 'Jehovah blessed Abraham in all things'
the meaning in the internal sense is
that the Lord from the Divine Itself
re-arranged all things in His Human into Divine order,
for when 'blessing' is spoken of
in regard to the Lord's Human
it means those things.
'Being blessed', when it has reference to people,
means being enriched with spiritual and celestial good;
and he is so enriched
when the things residing with him
are re-arranged by the Lord
into a spiritual and celestial order,
and so into the image and likeness of Divine order.
The regeneration of a person is nothing else.

But what is described by the statement
that all things were re-arranged into Divine order
by the Lord within the Divine Human
is evident from what follows in the present chapter.
It describes how His Divine Rational,
represented by Isaac,
which had been conceived from the Divine Good,
represented by Abraham,
and born from the Divine Truth, represented by Sarah,
was now re-arranged into that Divine order,
to the end that Divine Truths from the Human itself
could be joined to it.
These are the arcana
which this chapter contains in the internal sense
and which angels possess from the Lord in full light,
for in the light of heaven
they are plain to see as if in broad daylight.
But in the light of the world
in which a person dwells
hardly anything is visible except dimly
and in some small measure with a regenerate person,
since he also dwells in some light belonging to heaven.

AC 3004-3005 - The Two Names Jesus Christ

AC 3004

That the deepest arcana
lie concealed in the internal sense of the Word,
which have heretofore come to no one's knowledge,
may appear from what has been already said and shown,
and also from what of the Lord's Divine mercy
will be shown in the following pages.
The same can be very plainly seen
from the internal sense
of the two names of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
When these names are used,
few have any other idea
than that they are proper names
and almost like the names of any other man,
but more holy.
The more learned are indeed aware
that Jesus means Savior,
and that Christ means Anointed;
and from this they conceive some interior idea;
but still these are not the things
the angels in heaven perceive
from the names in question.
The things they perceive are still more Divine.
By the name "Jesus,"
when named by a person who is reading the Word,
the angels perceive Divine good;
and by "Christ," Divine truth;
and by the two names,
the Divine marriage of good and truth,
and of truth and good;
thus the whole Divine in the heavenly marriage,
which is heaven.

AC 3005

That "Jesus" is Divine good
comes from the fact that "Jesus" means
"safety," "salvation," and "Savior;"
and because it means these,
it means the Divine good;
for all salvation is from the Divine good
which is of the Lord's love and mercy;
and thus is effected by the reception of that good.
That "Christ" is Divine truth
comes from the fact that the name means
"Messiah," "Anointed," and "King;"
and that these names signify the Divine truth . . ..

AC 2987-2988, AC 2993-2994 - What Are Representations & Correspondences?

AC 2987

Few know
what representations and correspondences are,
nor can anyone know this
unless he knows that there is a spiritual world,
and this distinct from the natural world;
for there exists a correspondence
between spiritual things and natural things,
and the things that come forth
from spiritual things in natural ones
are representations.
They are called correspondences
because they correspond,
and representations because they represent.

AC 2988

That some idea may be formed
of representations and correspondences,
it is only necessary to reflect on the things of the mind,
that is, of the thought and will.
These things so beam forth from the face
that they are manifest in its expression;
especially is this the case with the affections,
the more interior of which
are seen from and in the eyes.
When the things of the face act as a one
with those of the mind,
they are said to correspond,
and are correspondences;
and the very expressions of the face represent,
and are representations.
The case is similar
with all that is expressed by the gestures of the body,
and with all the acts produced by the muscles;
for it is well known
that all these take place
according to what a person is thinking and willing.
The gestures and actions themselves,
which are of the body,
represent the things of the mind,
and are representations;
and in that they are in agreement,
they are correspondences.

AC 2993

. . . the causes of all natural things
are from spiritual things,
and the beginnings of these causes
are from celestial things;
or what is the same,
all things in the natural world
derive their cause from truth which is the spiritual,
and their beginning from good which is the celestial;
and natural things proceed from these
according to all the differences
of truth and of good in the Lord's kingdom;
 thus from the Lord Himself,
from whom is all good and truth.
These things must needs appear strange,
especially to those who will not or cannot
ascend in thought beyond nature,
and who do not know what the spiritual is,
and therefore do not acknowledge it.

AC 2994

So long as he lives in the body,
a person can feel and perceive but little of this;
for the celestial and spiritual things with him
fall into the natural things in his external person,
and he there loses
the sensation and perception of them.
Moreover the representatives and correspondences
in his external person are such
that they do not appear like the things
in the internal person to which they correspond,
and which they represent;
therefore neither can they come to his knowledge
until he has put off those external things.
When this happens,
blessed is the person who is in correspondence,
that is, whose external person
corresponds to his internal person.

AC 2979 - The Regeneration of the Spiritual Person

AC 2979 [2-3]

The regeneration of the spiritual person
proceeds as follows:

At first he is taught the truths of faith,
during which time the Lord
maintains his affection for truth.
At the same time the good of faith,
which is charity towards the neighbor,
is instilled into him,
though in such a way that he hardly knows it
because that good lies concealed
within the affection for truth.
All this takes place to the end
that the truth of faith may be joined to the good of charity.

As time goes by
the affection for the truth of faith increases
and truth is seen because of its end in view,
which is good,
or what amounts to the same, life.
That affection grows more and more.
In this way is truth instilled into good,
and while it is being instilled
the person absorbs into himself the good of life
in accordance with the truth that has been instilled into it.
Thus he acts, or seems to himself to act, from good.
Prior to this the truth of faith
has been for him the chief thing,
but after this the good of life becomes the chief thing.

At this point the person is regenerate,
but regenerate according to the nature and extent
of truth instilled into good.
And when truth and good act as one,
he is regenerate
according to the nature and extent of the good.
This is how regeneration proceeds.
Regeneration is carried out to the end
that a person may be received into heaven -
heaven being nothing else
than the marriage of truth and good,
and of good and truth.
Unless the marriage of truth and good
is effected in a person
he cannot be in the heavenly marriage,
that is, be in heaven.

AC 2973 - Being In Correspondence To Receive the Lord; AC 2974 - Being In the Lord

AC 2973 [4-5]

. . . with a person,
his inmost is where the Lord dwells with him,
and from this inmost
governs the things which are round about.
When a person suffers the Lord
to dispose the things round about
to correspondence with the inmost ones,
then a person is in such a state
that he can be received into heaven;
and then the inmost, the interior, and the external things
act as one;
but when a person does not suffer the Lord
to dispose the things round about to correspondence,
then he recedes from heaven
in the measure in which he does not suffer it.
That the soul of a person is in the midst,
or in his inmost,
and that the body is round about
or in the outmosts,
is well known;
for it is the body that encompasses and invests
his soul or his spirit.

With those who are in celestial and spiritual love,
good from the Lord flows in
through the soul into the body,
and from there the body becomes full of light;
but with those who are in bodily and worldly love,
good from the Lord cannot flow in
through the soul into the body,
but their interiors are in darkness;
from which also the body becomes full of darkness . . ..

AC 2974

It is a primary article of faith
that all good and all truth are the Lord's,
thus from the Lord alone.
The more interiorly anyone acknowledges this,
the more interiorly he is in heaven;
for in heaven it is perceived to be so,
and there is there a sphere of perception that it is so;
for they are in good which is from the Lord alone,
and this is what is called being in the Lord.

~ A Portion of Jeremiah's Prayer After He Buys a Field ~

"O great and powerful God,
whose name is the Lord Almighty,
great are Your purposes
and mighty are Your deeds.
Your eyes are open to all the ways of men;
You reward everyone according to his conduct
and as his deeds deserve."

(Jeremiah 33: 18.5-19)

AC 2967 - Our Reception of Gifts From the Lord

AC 2967 [2]

All who are being reformed and regenerated
are gifted with charity and faith by the Lord,
but each according to his capacity and his state;
for there are evils and falsities
with which a person has instilled himself from infancy,
which stand in the way
of one person's receiving a like gift with another;
these evils and falsities must be vastated
before the person can be regenerated;
and insofar as there is a residue
of heavenly and spiritual life after vastation,
this can be enlightened with truth
and enriched with good.
It is the remains,
which are goods and truths from the Lord
stored up with person,
that then receive life.
These goods and truths are acquired
from infancy even to the time of reformation,
with one person more,
with another fewer.
These are reserved in his internal person;
nor can they be brought forward
until his external person
has been reduced to correspondence,
which is effected chiefly by temptations,
and by many kinds of vastation;
for until corporeal things,
which are contrary to them,
become quiescent
(such as the things of the love of self and of the world),
celestial and spiritual things,
which are of the affection of good and truth,
cannot flow in;
this is the reason why everyone is reformed
according to his state and capacity.
__________

vastation -  a renewal or purification
through the burning away or destruction
of evil attributes.
 

~ "They Will All Know Me" ~

"This is the covenant I will make
with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the Lord.
"I will put My law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be My people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying,
'Know the Lord,'
because they will all know Me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the Lord.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."

(Jeremiah 31:33-34)