AC 4211 - Thinking About the Lord; AC 4213 - Those in Tranquillity and Peace; AC 4214 - Enlightenment and Light from the Lord; AC 4215 - The End Goal

AC 4211 [2] - Thinking About the Lord

A person's conjunction with the Lord
is not a conjunction with His Supreme Divine Itself,
but with His Divine Human;
for a person can have no idea whatever
of the Lord's Supreme Divine,
which so transcends his idea
as altogether to perish and become nothing;
but he can have an idea of His Divine Human.
For everyone is conjoined by thought and affection
with one concerning whom he has some idea,
but not with one concerning whom he has no idea.
If when anyone is thinking about the Lord's Human,
he has holiness in his idea,
he is thinking also of that holy
which coming from the Lord fills heaven,
so that he is also thinking of heaven;
for in its complex
heaven bears relation to a person,
and it does this from the Lord;
and this accounts for the fact
that no conjunction is possible
with the Lord's Supreme Divine,
but only with His Divine Human,
and through His Divine Human with His Supreme Divine.
So it is said in John
that no one has seen God at any time,
except the Only begotten Son (1:18);
and that no one can come to the Father
except through Him;
and so also He is called the Mediator.

AC 4213 - Those in Tranquillity and Peace

. . . those who are conjoined
in respect to good and truth
are in tranquillity and in peace.
. . . for the good of love and charity confer peace.

AC 4214 [1, 2] - Enlightenment and Light from the Lord

As regards enlightenment,
it is all from the Lord,
and through the good that is in the person;
and such as is the good,
such is the enlightenment.

That which is from the light of heaven is in good,
that is, is with those who are in good,
and who from good are able to see truth,
and to know as in clear day
whether a thing is so, or is not so.

AC 4215 [2] - Regarding the End Goal

For he who regards himself as the end,
and not as an intermediate end to good,
and desires to be conjoined with another
as to that end,
is in evil.

 

AC 4205 - Good and Truth Together

AC 4205 [1, 2]

It has been stated above
that conjunction is effected by good,
and that good flows in according to the reception.
But the reception of good
is not possible in any other way
than according to truths,
truths being that which good flows into;
for good is the agent,
and truth is the recipient;
and therefore all truths are recipient vessels.

. . . no truth can ever be implanted
with genuine affection,
and become rooted interiorly,
unless the person is in good;
for the genuine affection of truth
is from the good which is of love to the Lord
and of charity toward the neighbor.
The good flows in from the Lord,
but is not fixed except in truths;
for in truths
good is welcomed,
because they are in accord.
From all this it is also evident
that the reception of good
is according to the nature of the truths.

AC 4197 - One Truth; AC 4198 - The Presence of the Lord

AC 4197 [7-8, 9] - One Truth

The command given in the representative church,
that all truth shall stand
on the word of two or three witnesses,
and not on that of one
(Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6, 7; 19:15; Matt. 18:16),
is founded on the Divine law
that one truth does not confirm good,
but a number of truths;
for one truth without connection with others
is not confirmatory,
but a number together,
because from one may be seen another.
One does not produce any form,
and thus not any quality,
but only a number that are connected in a series.
For as one tone does not produce any melody,
still less harmony,
so neither does one truth.
These are the things
on which the law in question is founded,
although in the outward form
it appears to be founded in the civic state;
the one however is not contrary to the other,
as is also the case
with the precepts of the Decalogue . . .
written upon the tables of stone
are called in one word the "testimony,"
as in Moses:

Jehovah gave unto Moses,
when He had made an end of speaking with him
upon Mount Sinai,
the two tables of the testimony,
tables of stone,
written with the finger of God.
(Exodus 31:18)

because they were of the covenant,
thus of the conjunction between the Lord and man;
which conjunction cannot come into existence
unless man keeps the precepts,
not only in external form,
but also in internal.

AC 4198 - The Presence of the Lord

As regards the presence of the Lord,
He is present with everyone,
but according to the reception;
for everyone's life is from the Lord alone.
Those who receive His presence in good and truth,
are in the life of intelligence and wisdom;
but those who do not receive
His presence in good and truth,
but in evil and falsity,
are in the life of insanity and folly;
but yet are in the capacity
of understanding and being wise.
. . . may be seen from their knowing
how to feign and simulate what is good and true
in the outward form,
and thereby to captivate people,
which would be by no means the case
if they had not this capacity.

AC 4194 - Conjunction

AC 4194

For all who are in good
are conjoined with the Divine of the Lord,
and on account of this conjunction
are called by the Lord "brethren;"
as in Mark:

Jesus looking round on them which sat about Him,
said, Behold My mother, and My brethren;
for whosoever shall do the will of God,
the same is My brother, and sister, and mother.
(Mark 3:31, 34-35)
.
All conjunction is through love and charity,
as everyone can see;
for spiritual conjunction is nothing else
than love and charity.
That love to the Lord is conjunction with Him is clear;
and that charity toward the neighbor is the same,
is evident from the words of the Lord in Matthew:

Inasmuch as you did it
unto one of the least of these My brethren,
you did it unto Me.
(Matthew 25:40);

the subject treated of here
being the works of charity.

AC 4174 - Acting To Merit Salvation; AC 4180 - "Dread" and the Divine Truth Proceeding

AC 4174

. . . all who are being reformed
at first suppose that good is from themselves,
and therefore that by the good which they do
they merit salvation;
for their supposing that they merit salvation
by the good which they do
is the result of their supposing
that the good is from themselves,
for the one idea coheres with the other.
But those who suffer themselves to be regenerated
do not confirm this in their thought,
or persuade themselves that it is so;
but the idea is gradually dissipated.
For so long as anyone is in the external person,
as is the case with all
in the beginning of their reformation,
he cannot do otherwise than think so,
because he thinks solely from his external person.
But when the external person
together with evils is being removed,
and the internal person is beginning to work;
that is, when the Lord flows in
through the internal person with the light of intelligence,
and thereby enlightens the external person;
the person then begins to believe otherwise,
and ascribes good not to himself,
but to the Lord.

AC 4180 [1, 5]

The "Dread" is mentioned
because the Divine truth is meant,
for the Divine truth carries with it fear, dread, and terror
to those who are not in good;
but not so the Divine good,
which terrifies no one.

As the Divine truth proceeds from the Divine Human,
but not from the Divine Itself,
it is therefore the Divine Human
which is here signified by the "Dread of Isaac;"
for, as just now said,
it is the Divine truth which terrifies,
but not the Divine good.
That the Divine truth proceeds
from the Lord's Divine Human,
but not from the Divine Itself,
is an arcanum not hitherto disclosed.
The case is this:
Before the Lord came into the world
the Divine Itself flowed into the whole heaven;
and as heaven then
consisted for the most part of the celestial,
that is, of those who were in the good of love,
through this influx,
by the Divine Omnipotence,
there was brought forth the light
which was in the heavens,
and thereby wisdom and intelligence.
But after the human race had removed itself
from the good of love and charity,
that light could no longer be produced through heaven,
nor, consequently,
the wisdom and intelligence that would
penetrate down to the human race.
For this cause, from the necessity of their being saved,
the Lord came into the world,
and made the Human in Himself Divine,
in order that as to His Divine Human
He might become the Divine Light,
and might thus illuminate
the universal heaven and the universal world.
From eternity He had been the Light itself,
for that Light was from the Divine Itself through heaven.
And it was the Divine Itself
which took on the human, and made this Divine;
and when this was made Divine,
He could then thereby illuminate
not only the celestial heaven itself,
but also the spiritual heaven,
and likewise the human race,
which received and receives the Divine truth in good,
that is,
in love to Him and in charity toward the neighbor,
as is manifest in John:

As many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God,
to them that believe on His name;
who were born,
not of bloods,
nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man,
but of God.
(John 1:12-13)

AC 4154 - All Truth From the Divine

AC 4154 [3]

All the truth that is from the Divine
is in that which is holy,
for it cannot be otherwise,
because the truth that is from the Divine is holy.
It is said to be holy
from the affection (that is, from the love)
which flows in from the Lord,
and causes the person to be affected with the truth.

AC 4149 & AC 4151 - States of Good and Evil and How We React

AC 4149

Every spiritual good has its own truths;
for where this good is,
there are its truths.
Regarded in itself good is one,
but it becomes various by means of truths;
for truths may be compared to
the fibers that compose one of the bodily organs,
in accordance with the form of which fibers
there results the organ,
and consequently its operation,
which operation is effected by means of
the life that flows in through the soul;
and this life is from the good which is from the Lord.
It is thus that good, although one,
is yet various with every individual,
so various as never to be similar in every respect
with one as with another.
So also it is that the truth of one
can never subsist in the good of another.
For all the truths with everyone who is in good
communicate with one another,
and produce a certain form,
and therefore the truth of one
cannot be transferred into another;
but when it is transferred,
it passes into the form of him who receives it,
and puts on another aspect.
But this arcanum is too deep
to be expounded in a few words.

AC 4151 [3, 5,6]

Speaking generally, the case is
that no one ever has good and truth which is his own,
but all good and truth flow in from the Lord,
both immediately,
and also mediately through angelic societies;
and yet it appears as if
the good and truth were the person's,
to the intent that they may be appropriated to him,
until he comes into a state to know,
and then to acknowledge,
and at last to believe,
that they are not his,
but the Lord's.

The same is the case with evil and falsity.
According to the doctrinals from the Word,
the devil is continually endeavoring to seduce a person,
and is continually inspiring evil;
and therefore when anyone commits a great crime;
it is said that he has suffered himself
to be led astray by the devil.

That this is the case has frequently been shown to spirits
who had come recently from the world into the other life.
But some of them have said
that if all evil and falsity also flow in,
nothing of evil and falsity can be attributed to them,
and they are not in fault,
because these come from another source.
But they received for answer
that they had appropriated evil and falsity
by believing that they think and will of themselves;
whereas if they had believed as the case really is,
they would not then have appropriated the evil and falsity,
for they would have believed
all good and truth to be from the Lord;
and if they had believed this,
they would have suffered themselves
to be led by the Lord,
and therefore would have been in a different state;
and then the evil which entered into their thought and will
would not have affected them,
because not evil but good would have gone out of them;
for it is not the things that enter in,
but those which go out that affect us;
according to the Lord's words in Mark 7:15:

Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean'
by going into him.
Rather, it is what comes out of a man
that makes him 'unclean.'

AC 4136 - Changing Goods; AC 4145 - Mediate Good and Conjugial Love

AC 4136 [2]

With those who are not being regenerated,
it is not goods that are changed,
but affections and their delights.
But with those who are being regenerated
there are changes of state of goods,
and this from infancy even to the close of life.
For the Lord foresees
what kind of a life a person is going to lead,
and how he is going to suffer himself
to be led by the Lord;
and because all things are foreseen
both in general and in particular --
indeed, the smallest singulars --
they are also provided.

AC 4145

Collateral good, or that which does not inflow directly,
is that good which has been called mediate good,
for this good derives many things
from worldly things which appear as goods,
but are not goods;
while the good that flows in directly
is that which comes immediately from the Lord,
or from the Lord mediately through heaven,
and is Divine good
separated from such worldly good as just referred to.

Every person who is being regenerated
is first in mediate good,
in order that it may serve for introducing
genuine goods and truths;
but after it has served this use,
this good is separated,
and the person is brought to good
which flows in more directly.
Thus the person who is being regenerated
is perfected by degrees.
For example: he who is being regenerated
believes at first that the good
which he thinks and does is from himself,
and that he also merits something;
for he does not yet know,
and if he knows he does not comprehend,
that good can flow in from some other source,
nor that it can be otherwise
than that he should be recompensed,
because he does it from himself.
Unless at first he believed this,
he would never do any good.
But by this means he is initiated
not only into the affection of doing what is good,
but also into knowledges
concerning good and also concerning merit;
and when in this manner he has been led
into the affection of doing what is good,
he then begins to think differently
and to believe differently, namely,
that good flows in from the Lord,
and that by the good
which he does from his own (self or proprium)
he merits nothing;
and at last when he is in the affection of
willing and doing what is good,
he altogether rejects self-merit,
and even has an aversion for it,
and is affected with good from good.
When he is in this state,
good flows in directly.

Take also as an example conjugial love:
the good which precedes and initiates
is beauty, or agreement of manners,
or an outward adaptation of the one to the other,
or equality of condition,
or a desired condition.
These goods
are the first mediate goods of conjugial love.
Afterwards comes conjunction of minds,
wherein the one wills as the other,
and perceives delight in doing
that which pleases the other.
This is the second state;
and then the former things,
though still present,
are no longer regarded.
Finally there follows a unition
in respect to celestial good and spiritual truth,
in that the one believes as the other,
and the one is affected by the same good as the other.
When this state comes,
both are together in the heavenly marriage,
which is that of good and truth,
and thus are in conjugial love --
for conjugial love is nothing else --
and the Lord then flows into
the affections of both as into one affection.
This is the good that flows indirectly;
but the former goods,
which flowed in indirectly,
served as means of introduction to this.

AC 4121 - 'Brothers'; AC 4122 - 'And Pursued Him'

 AC 4121 [1-2]

In the internal sense 'brothers'
means people who are governed by
the same kind of goodness and truth,
that is, they share the same affection for these.
Indeed all in the next life
are grouped together in different communities
on the basis of their affections;
and those so grouped together in any community
constitute a brotherhood.
They do so
not because they call themselves brothers
but because they are such
through their being joined to one another.
In the next life it is goodness and truth
that lie behind that which on earth is called
a blood-relationship and a relationship by marriage,
and for this reason
the latter correspond to that goodness and truth.
Indeed regarded in themselves
forms of goodness and truth
acknowledge no other father than the Lord,
for they exist from Him alone,
and therefore all who are governed by
forms of goodness and truth
exist in a brotherly relationship with one another.
Yet degrees of affinity exist,
determined by the particular nature
of each form of goodness or truth.
In the Word these degrees are meant by
brothers, sisters, sons-in-law, daughters- in-law,
grandsons, granddaughters,
and many other names for relatives in a family.

On earth however
these names are given to people
because they have the same parents,
no matter how much these people
differ from one another in affection.
But that kind of brotherly relationship and affinity
is dissolved in the next life,
and unless on earth
they have been governed by the same affection
they all enter different brotherly relationships.

AC 4122

'And pursued him'
(Genesis 31: 23)
means a continuing intense desire to be joined.
This is clear from the meaning here of 'pursuing'
as a continuing intense desire to be joined.
The subject at this point in the internal sense
is the separation of
intermediate good from genuine good
after intermediate good had served its use.
A full description of the process of separation
is what the internal sense contains here.
Yet the process is such
that not even the existence of it
is perceptible to man,
but to angels it is seen quite clearly,
including its countless variations.
Thus they see and perceive in one
who is being regenerated
and with whom they are present as servants
all the changes of state he undergoes.
And in accordance with those changes,
and by means of them, the Lord
enables those angels to lead him towards good,
insofar as he allows himself to be led.
It is because that process
serves so great a use in heaven
that it is dealt with so extensively here.
It also shows the nature of the internal sense -
that it is the angelic Word.

** The Lord's Grief and Pain **

When God created man,
He made him in the likeness of God.
He created them male and female
and blessed them.
And when they were created,
He called them "man."

(Genesis 5:1.5-2)

The Lord saw how great man's wickedness
on the earth had become,
and that every inclination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
The Lord was grieved
that He had made man on the earth,
and His heart was filled with pain.

(Genesis 6:5-6)

AC 4110 - The Spirits With a Person; AC 4111 - Changes of State in the Other Life; AC 4112 - Good and Truth in the Word

AC 4110 [2]

There are good spirits,
there are spirits of an intermediate kind,
and there are evil spirits.
These are linked to a person
when he is being regenerated,
to the end that through them
he may be introduced into genuine goods and truths --
which the Lord effects by means of angels.
But they are the kinds of spirits
or communities of spirits
who do not accord, except for a time,
with the one to be regenerated,
and therefore when they have performed their use
they are separated.
The separation of them is effected in differing ways --
the separation of the good spirits in one way,
that of the spirits of the intermediate kind in another,
and that of the evil spirits in yet another.
The separation of the good spirits
is effected without their being directly conscious of it,
for they know from the Lord's good pleasure
that all is well with them
wherever they are or to wherever the Lord takes them.
But the separation of the spirits of the intermediate kind
is effected by many means until they depart in freedom.
They are returned to the state of their own good,
and consequently to the state of the use they serve
and of the end they therefore have in view,
so that in that state
they may experience the delight and blessing
that are their own.
But because they have derived pleasure
out of their previous connection
with the one who is being regenerated
they are several times returned to
and then released from that connection
until they no longer take any delight in staying with him
and so depart in freedom.
Evil spirits too are indeed removed in freedom,
but in a kind of freedom
which appears to them to be freedom.
They are linked to the person
who is being regenerated
so that they may introduce negative ideas
which have to be dispelled,
the intention being that this person
may be strengthened all the more in truths and goods.
And when he starts to be strengthened in these,
those spirits take no delight in staying with him,
only in separation from him.
In this way they are separated by a feeling of freedom
that accompanies their delight.
This is how the separation takes place
of spirits present with a person
when he is being regenerated,
and how as a consequence
changes of his state
as regards good and truth are brought about.

AC 4111 [3]

For speaking generally,
the changes of state in the other life
are nothing else than approaches to the Divine
and removals from the Divine.

AC 4112

. . . where truth is treated of in the Word,
good is also treated of,
because of the heavenly marriage of good and truth
in every particular of the Word.

AC 4103. 4104, 4108 - Choosing Between Two Kingdoms, the Spiritual and the Natural

AC 4103

. . . a person is in heaven as to his interiors
when he is in spiritual love and faith.

AC 4104 [5]

Every person of adult age
who possesses any judgment,
and will give the matter any consideration,
is able to know that he is in two kingdoms,
namely, in a spiritual kingdom and in a natural kingdom;
and also that the spiritual kingdom is interior,
and the natural kingdom exterior;
and consequently that he can set one before the other,
that is, he can regard one as the end
in preference to the other;
and thus that the one
which he regards as his end, or prefers,
rules with him.
If therefore he regards the spiritual kingdom as his end,
and prefers it
(that is, the things that belong to this kingdom),
he then acknowledges as the principal and primary,
love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor,
and consequently
all things that confirm this love and charity,
and are said to be of faith;
for these belong to that kingdom;
and in this case
all things in his natural are arranged and set in order
in accordance therewith,
in order that they may be subservient and obedient.
But when a person has as his end
and sets first the natural kingdom
(that is, the things it contains),
he then extinguishes
all that is of love to the Lord
and of charity toward the neighbor,
and all that is of faith,
insomuch that he makes them of no account whatever;
but makes the love of the world and of self,
and all that belongs thereto,
to be everything.
When this is the case,
all things in his natural are arranged in order
in accordance with these ends,
thus in utter contrariety to the things of heaven;
and in this way he makes hell in himself.
To regard as an end is to love,
for every end is of the love,
because whatever is loved is regarded as the end.

AC 4108 [2]

As regards the conjunction
of the rational and the natural in a person,
be it known that the rational
is of the internal person and the natural of the external;
and that their conjunction produces the human,
of such a quality as is the conjunction,
and that there is conjunction when they act as a one;
and they act as a one
when the natural ministers
and is subservient to the rational.
With a person this is impossible
unless it is done by the Lord;
but with the Lord it was done by Himself.

 

AC 4096, 4099 - The Societies of Spirits and Angels Work With Good and Truths

AC 4096 [5, 6]

But how the case is with good
when it adjoins truths to itself by affections,
and with truths
when they apply themselves to it,
cannot so well appear
when the idea or thought is directed to good and truth,
but better when it is directed to
the societies of spirits and angels
through which these flow in;
for as before said,
a person's willing and thinking
come from these societies,
that is, flow in from them,
and appear as if they were in him.
To know how the case herein is
from the societies of spirits and angels,
is to know it from causes themselves;
and to know it from the heaven of angels
is to know it from the ends of these causes.
There are also historical things
which adjoin themselves,
and illustrate these things,
causing them to appear more plainly.

Even then, however,
doubts and sometimes denials
are excited by the spirits
who have been joined to the person;
but insofar as affection prevails,
so far he is led to the affirmative,
and he is then confirmed in truths by these very things.
When good flows in in this manner,
it is not perceived that it comes through angels,
because it flows in so interiorly,
and into the person's obscurity
which he has from worldly and corporeal things.
Be it known however
that good does not flow in from the angels,
but through the angels from the Lord;
and this all the angels confess,
and therefore
they never claim for themselves any good,
and are even indignant
when anyone attributes it to them.
From all this then, as from causes themselves,
it may be seen how the case is
with the adjoining of good to truths,
and with the application of these latter,
which are the subjects here treated of
in the internal sense.

AC 4099 [1-2]

. . . unless it is known how the case is
with the goods and truths which are insinuated
by means of a mediate good,
or unless it is known of what nature are
the societies of spirits which serve as mediate good.
The societies of spirits which serve as mediate good
are those which are in worldly things;
but the societies of angels
which serve for introducing the affections of truth
are not in worldly but in heavenly things.

These two kinds of societies are in action
about a person who is being regenerated;
and insofar as
he is initiated by the angels into heavenly things,
so far are the spirits
who are in worldly things removed;
and unless they are removed,
truths are dissipated.
For worldly things and heavenly things
are in agreement in a person
when heavenly things rule over worldly ones;
but they are in disagreement
when worldly things rule over heavenly things.
When they are in agreement,
truths are multiplied in the person's natural;
but when they are in disagreement
truths are diminished, and even consumed,
because worldly things darken heavenly things,
and so consequently place them in doubt;
but when heavenly things have rule,
they throw light upon worldly things,
and place them in clear light,
and dispel doubts.
Those things rule which are loved above all others.

AC 4075, 4077 - The Presence and Use of Societies and Angels; AC 4085 - When An Angel Speaks; AC 4091 - What Proceeds From the Lord

AC 4075

When the Lord made the human in Himself Divine,
He too had around Him societies of spirits and angels,
for He willed that all things
should be done according to order;
but He summoned to Himself
such as might be of service,
and changed them at His good pleasure;
yet He did not take from them
and apply to Himself
anything of good and truth,
but only from the Divine.
In this manner
He also reduced into order both heaven and hell,
and this by successive steps,
until He had fully glorified Himself.

AC 4077 [2-3]

The case is similar with every person
who is being regenerated, namely,
that societies are applied to him by the Lord
which serve for introducing genuine goods and truths,
not from themselves,
but by their means;
and when he who is being regenerated
is transferred to other societies,
those who had previously been with him are indignant.
But these things do not appear to the person,
because he does not believe
that he is in the company of spirits and angels;
but they appear clearly to the angels,
and to those also
to whom of the Lord's Divine mercy
it is granted to speak with them,
and to be among them as one of them.

The spirits lament greatly
that a person does not know this,
nor even that they are with him;
and still more that many deny not only their presence,
but also that there is a hell and a heaven.
This however they ascribe to a person's stupidity;
the fact being
that a person has not the least of thought,
nor the least of will,
which does not come
from the Lord by influx through spirits;
and it is by them as means
that the Lord governs the human race,
and each person in particular.

AC 4085

. . .  an angel does not speak from himself,
but from the Lord,
especially when he speaks in a dream . . ..

AC 4091

. . . whatever the Lord provides
proceeds from Him,
and whatever proceeds from Him is holy . . ..

AC 4067 - The Good and Evil Present with a Person

AC 4067 [3-4]

. . . the good present with a person seems to him to be something that is a simple or single whole, but in fact it is something so complex, consisting of so many varying features, that he cannot possibly explore even so much as its general ones. And the same applies to the evil present with a person. But as is the good present with a person, so is the community of angels present with him; and as is the evil present with a person, so is the community of evil spirits present with him. A person chooses certain communities for himself, that is, he places himself within one of these; for like is brought into association with like. For example, one who is grasping chooses for himself communities of like-minded spirits who are motivated by his kind of desire; one who loves himself pre-eminently and despises others chooses for himself others who are like himself; while one who takes delight in acts of revenge chooses for himself such as delight in these; and so on with everyone else. Those spirits are in communication with hell, with man in the midst of them and utterly under their control, so much so that he is not under his own jurisdiction but under theirs, although he imagines from the delight he experiences, and so from the freedom he has, that he is in control of himself. But one who is not grasping, or one who does not love himself pre-eminently and does not despise others, or one who does not take delight in acts of revenge, dwells in a community of like-minded angels and through them is led by the Lord, and indeed by means of freedom to everything good and true to which he allows himself to be led. And as he allows himself to be led to good which is more interior and more perfect, so he is conveyed to more interior and more perfect angelic communities. His changes of state are nothing else than changes of communities. The truth of this is evident to me from continuing experience which has lasted for several years now, from which it has become something as ordinary and everyday for me as any ordinary everyday thing experienced by anyone since he was a young child.

These considerations now make clear the situation with the regeneration of man, and with the intermediate delights and forms of good by which a person is conveyed by the Lord from the state of the old man to that of the new, that is to say, it is effected by means of angelic communities and by changes of those communities. Intermediate forms of good and delight are nothing else than such communities, with which the Lord brings man into contact so that by means of them he may be introduced to spiritual and celestial kinds of good and truth. Once he has been conveyed to these, those communities are separated, and more interior and more perfect ones become linked to him. Nothing else than this is understood by the intermediate good meant by 'Laban', and nothing else by the separation of that good, which is the subject of the present chapter.
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Man is not specifically male but male and female.
 

AC 4060 - Coming In the Clouds of Heaven

AC 4060 [7-9]

And they will see the Son of Man
coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory
(Matthew 24:30.5)

means that at that time
a revelation of the internal sense of the Word -
the sense in which the Lord is present -
will take place.
'The Son of Man' means Divine truth within the Word,
'the clouds' the literal sense.
'Power' has reference to the good
and 'glory' to the truth present there.
. . . This is the kind of coming of the Lord
that is meant here,
not a literal manifestation of Him in clouds.
 
Next follows a reference
to the establishment of a new Church,
which takes place
once the old has been brought to ruin and cast aside.

He will send out His angels
with a trumpet and a loud voice
(Matthew 24:31)

means election - not by visible angels,
still less by trumpets and by loud voices,
but by an influx of holy good and of holy truth
from the Lord through angels,
so that the expression 'angels' in the Word
means something essentially the Lord's.
In this instance it means
things which come from the Lord
and have reference to the Lord.
'A trumpet and a loud voice'
means the proclamation of the Gospel,
as in other places in the Word.

And they will gather the elect from the four winds,
from one end of the heavens to the other
(Matthew 24:31.5)

means the establishment of a new Church,
'the elect' being people in whom
the good of love and faith dwell,
'the four winds' from which they will be gathered
being all states of good and truth,
and 'one end of the heavens to the other'
the internal and the external features of the Church.

These are the considerations
that are meant by these words spoken by the Lord.

AC 4041, 4048 - Heaven and the Brain

AC 4041

The heavenly form is amazing,
and quite surpasses all human intelligence;
for it is far above the ideas of the forms
that a person can possibly conceive of
from worldly things,
even with the aid of analysis.
All the heavenly societies are arranged in order
in accordance with this form,
and wonderful to say
there is a gyration according to these forms,
of which angels and spirits are not sensible.
This is like the daily movement
of the earth round its axis,
and its annual movement round the sun,
which its inhabitants do not perceive.
It has been shown me
of what is the nature of this heavenly form
in the lowest sphere;
it was like the form of the circumvolutions
seen in the human brains.
It was given me to perceptibly see this flow
(that is, these gyrations),
and this continuously for several days;
and in this way I was assured
that the brain is formed in accordance with
the form of the flow of heaven.
But the interior things therein,
which do not appear to the eye,
are in accordance with the interior forms of heaven,
which are quite incomprehensible;
and I was told by the angels
that from this it can be seen
that mankind has been created
according to the forms of the three heavens;
and that in this way
the image of heaven has been impressed upon him,
so that a person is a little heaven in the least form;
and that this is the source
of his correspondence with the heavens.

AC 4048

There was one who spoke to me close to my head,
and I perceived from the sound
that he was in a state of tranquillity
like that of a kind of peaceful sleep.
. . . those who were like him
relate to the longitudinal sinus,
which is between the two hemispheres of the brain,
and is there in a quiet state,
however much the brain may be in tumult
on both sides of it.

AC 4031 - The Lord Works In Freedom

AC 4031 [4]

A person's freedom is what the Lord works in,
and by which He bends him;
for all freedom is of his love or affection,
and therefore of his will.
If a person does not receive good and truth in freedom,
it cannot be appropriated to him, or become his.
For that which anyone is compelled to is not his,
but belongs to him who compels,
because although it is done by him,
he does not do it of himself.
It sometimes appears
as if a person were compelled to good,
as in temptations and spiritual combats;
but that he has then a stronger freedom
than at other times . . ..
It also appears
as if a person were compelled to good,
when he compels himself to it;
but it is one thing to compel one's self,
and another to be compelled.
When anyone compels himself,
he does so from a freedom within;
but to be compelled is not from freedom.
This being the case, it is evident into what shades,
and thus into what errors,
those are able to cast themselves
who reason concerning the Providence of the Lord,
the salvation of people,
and the damnation of many,
and yet do not know
that it is freedom by which the Lord works,
and by no means compulsion;
for compulsion in things of a holy nature
is dangerous,
unless it is received in freedom.

AC 4015 - Being Regenerated or the Disposition of Order

AC 4015

Disposition into order by the interior power of truth,
is the power of the interior person
acting into the exterior,
or of the spiritual person into the natural;
for all disposition into order
of the good and truth in the natural person
comes from the spiritual person
(that is, through the spiritual person from the Lord),
and in fact through the truth therein;
for the Lord inflows into the good
of the spiritual or interior person;
and through the truth therein into the natural person;
but not immediately through the good,
until the person has been regenerated;
and therefore
all the disposition into order in the natural person
is effected by the interior person.
The natural, or natural person,
cannot possibly be disposed into order
(that is, be regenerated)
in any other way.
That this is done by the interior person
is evident from the acknowledgment of truth,
which unless it is made by
the interior person is not acknowledgment;
and also from conscience,
which is the acknowledgment of truth
by the interior person;
and also from perception.
As disposition into order is effected by
the interior person by means of truth,
power is predicated of truth,
and also the "rod" by which power is meant;
as well as the "hand," by which also power is meant;
as may be confirmed
by very many passages in the Word.
Not that there is power in truth from itself, but in good;
and thus in truth from good;
that is, in truth through good from the Lord.
This shows to some extent what is meant by
the disposition into order of the interior power of truth.
In the supreme sense,
in which the Lord is treated of,
His own power is meant;
for the Divine has its own power,
because this is from no other.

AC 4007 - White Robes

AC 4007 [4]

. . . by "white" is meant the truth of faith;
the "white garments" and "white robes"
being nothing else.
But the truth of faith does not belong to those
who believe that they have faith of themselves,
and thus are wise from themselves;
but to those who believe
they have faith and wisdom from the Lord,
for to these are faith and wisdom given
because they ascribe nothing
of truth and good to themselves,
still less believe that they have merit
through the truths and goods they possess;
and less still that they are justified thereby;
but only by ascribing them to the Lord;
thus all things to His grace and mercy.