AC 5159, AC 5164 - When Regenerate

 AC 5159 [4]

. . . in the regenerate
interior things have dominion over exterior things,
while in the unregenerate exterior things
have dominion over interior things.
It is the ends in a person that have the dominion,
for the ends subordinate and subject to themselves
all things that are in him.
His veriest life is from no other source than his end,
because his end is always his love.

AC 5164 [2]

. . . in the Lord's kingdom or heaven
those who are the greatest
(that is, those who are inmost)
are servants more than others,
because they are in the greatest obedience,
and in deeper humiliation than the rest . . ..

AC 5155 - Providence and Foresight; AC 5156 - "Being Hanged Upon Wood"

 AC 5155 - Providence and Foresight

. . . providence is predicated of good,
but foresight of evil;
for all good flows in from the Lord,
and therefore this is provided;
but all evil is from hell,
or from a person's own (proprium)
which makes one with hell;
and therefore this is foreseen.

AC 5156 - "Being Hanged Upon Wood"

And shall hang thee upon wood.
(Genesis 40:19)

That this means rejection and damnation,
is evident from the meaning of
"being hanged upon wood,"
as being rejection and damnation;
for hanging upon wood was a curse,
and a curse is a rejection from the Divine,
consequently damnation.

. . . Among the Jewish nation
there were two main penalties --
stoning and hanging.
Stoning was on account of falsity,
and hanging upon wood was on account of evil;
and this because "stone" is truth,
and in the opposite falsity;
and "wood" is good,
and the opposite sense evil . . .

AC 5145 - The Degrees Within Us, and How They Are Planes to Live On

AC 5145 [2-3, 4, 5]

Interiorly the human being is divided into separate degrees,
and each degree has its own termination
that serves to separate it from the degree beneath it.
This is so with every degree
from the inmost one to the outermost.
The interior rational constitutes the first degree,
the degree in which celestial angels are,
that is, where the inmost or third heaven is.
The exterior rational makes up the second degree,
the one in which spiritual angels are,
that is, where the middle or second heaven is.
The interior natural makes up the third degree,
the one in which good spirits are,
that is, where the last and lowest or first heaven is.
And the exterior natural, the level of the senses,
makes up the fourth degree, in which a person is.

These degrees also exist within a person,
each degree completely distinct and separate.
Consequently, if he leads a good life,
he is interiorly a miniature heaven;
that is, his interiors correspond to the three heavens.
Also, if he has led a life of charity and love
he can be taken after death
all the way up to the third heaven.
But if he is to be someone like this,
each degree within him
must be furnished with its own specific termination
that makes it separate from the next one.
When those degrees do have those terminations,
making them distinct and separate from one another,
each degree has a floor
on which good flowing in from the Lord
can rest and where it is received.
Without such terminations acting as floors
that good is not received but passes straight through,
as if through a sieve
or through 'a basket with holes in it',
down to the sensory level.

. . . In the case of those who, like celestial angels,
have the ability to perceive what is good and true,
terminations exist in every degree,
from the first to the last.
Unless each degree has its own termination,
no perceptive abilities such as these can exist.
. . . In the case of those who, like spiritual angels,
have conscience, terminations likewise exist,
but only in the second degree
or else in the third down to the last.
For them the first degree is closed.
One must say in the second degree
or else in the third
because conscience is twofold - interior and exterior.
Interior conscience is one that concerns itself
with what is spiritually good and true,
exterior conscience
one that concerns itself with what is just and fair.
Conscience itself is an interior floor which provides
inflowing Divine Good with a termination;
but those who have no conscience
do not have any interior floor to receive that influx.
In their case
good passes straight through to the exterior natural,
or the natural level of the senses,
where it is turned, as has been stated, into foul delights.
These people sometimes feel pain
like that of conscience,
but this is not conscience.
The pain is caused by the loss of what they delight in,
such as the loss of position,
gain, reputation, life, pleasures,
or the friendship of others who are like themselves.
They suffer pain because
the terminations which they possess
consist in those kinds of delights.

All whose interior degrees of the will
have been furnished with terminations
are raised up to heaven,
for the inflowing Divine is able to lead them there.
But all whose interior degrees of the will
have not been furnished with terminations
make their way to hell,
for what is Divine passes straight through
and is turned into that which is hell-like,
as when the heat of the sun falls on foul excrement
and a disgusting stench is given off by it.
Consequently
all who have had conscience are saved,
but those who have had no conscience
are incapable of being saved.

AC 5135 - Beliefs

AC 5135 [3]

The things which person
as a little child in its first age
learns eagerly or believes,
and which he afterward either confirms,
or doubts about, or denies,
are especially these:

that there is a God, and that He is one;
that He has created all things;
that He rewards those who do well,
and punishes those who do evil;

that there is a life after death,
in which the evil go to hell
and the good to heaven,
thus that there is a hell and a heaven,
and that the life after death is eternal;

also that he ought to pray daily,
and this with humility;

that the Sabbath day is to be kept holy;
that parents are to be honored;
and that no one must commit
adultery, murder, or theft;
with other like things.

AC 5128 - Within Life

AC 5128 [4-5]

The principal sign whether a person
is merely sensuous or is rational,
is from his life;
not such as appears in his speech and his works,
but such as it is within these;
for the life of the speech is from the thought,
and the life of the works is from the will,
and that of both is from the intention or end.
Such therefore as is the intention or end
within the speech and the works,
such is the life;
for speech without interior life is mere sound,
and works without interior life are mere movements.
This is the life which is meant when it is said
that "the life remains after death."
If a person is rational,
he speaks from thinking well,
and acts from willing well,
that is, he speaks from faith and acts from charity;
but if a person is not rational,
he may then indeed begin to act, and also to speak,
as a rational man;
but still there is nothing of life from the rational in him;
for a life of evil closes up
every way or communication with the rational,
and causes the person to be
merely natural and sensuous.

There are two things
which not only close up the way of communication,
but even deprive a person of the capacity
of ever becoming rational -- deceit and profanation.
Deceit is like a subtle poison which infects the interiors,
and profanation mixes
falsities with truths and evils with goods:
through these two the rational wholly perishes.

AC 5122 - The Lord Knows & Provides

AC 5122 [3]

. . . the Lord knows all things
and every single thing,
and provides for them every moment.
If He were to pause even for an instant,
all the progressions would be disturbed;
for what is prior looks to what follows
in a continuous series,
and produces series of consequences to eternity.
From this it is plain
that the Divine foresight and providence
are in everything, even the very least;
and that unless this were so,
or if they were only universal,
the human race would perish.

AC 5118 - The Interior and Exterior Natural

AC 5118

. . . the interior natural
is that which communicates with the rational
and into which the rational flows,
and the exterior natural
is that which communicates with the senses,
or through them with the world,
thus into which the world flows.
As regards influx,
it is continuous from the Lord
through the rational into the interior natural,
and through this into the exterior;
but that which flows in
is changed and turned according to the reception.
With the unregenerate,
goods are there turned into evils,
and truths into falsities;
but with the regenerate,
goods and truths are there presented as in a mirror.
For the natural is like a face
representative of the spiritual things
of the internal person;
and this face becomes representative
when the exteriors correspond to the interiors.

AC 5116 - The Rebirth of a Person

AC 5116

. . . the budding and fruiting of a tree
represent the rebirth of a person --
its becoming green from the leaves
represents the first state;
the blossoming the second,
which is the next before regeneration;
and the fruiting the third,
which is the very state of the regenerate.
It is from this that "leaves" signify (mean)
the things of intelligence, or the truths of faith,
for these are the first things of the rebirth or regeneration;
while "blossoms" signify the things of wisdom,
or the goods of faith,
because these immediately precede
the rebirth or regeneration;
and "fruits" signify those things which are of life,
or the works of charity,
because these follow and constitute
the very state of the regenerate.

AC 5110 - The Divine Human, the Lord from Eternity

AC 5110 [3]

For everything of heaven conspires to the human form . . ..
This Divine, or this of Jehovah in heaven,
is the Lord from eternity.
The same the Lord took also upon Him
when He glorified or made Divine
the human in Himself,
as is very evident from the form in which He appeared
before Peter, James, and John,
when He was transfigured (Matt. 17:1, 2);
and also in which He at times appeared to the prophets.
It is from this that everyone is able to think
of the Divine Itself as of a Man,
and at the same time of the Lord,
in whom is all the Divine, and a perfect Trinity,
for in the Lord the Divine Itself is the Father,
this Divine in heaven is the Son,
and the Divine proceeding from there is the Holy Spirit.
That these are a one,
as He Himself teaches,
is consequently clear.

AC 5097 - "Morning"

AC 5097

Morning in heaven is a state of enlightenment
as to those things which are of good and truth,
which state exists when it is acknowledged,
and still more when it is perceived,
that good is good and that truth is truth.
Perception is internal revelation;
so by the "morning" is signified (meant) what is revealed;
and because then that becomes clear
which before was obscure,
by "morning" is also signified what is clear.

Moreover, by "morning" is signified
in the supreme sense the Lord Himself,
for the reason that the Lord is the Sun
from which comes all the light in heaven,
and He is always in the rising, thus in the morning.
Moreover, He is always rising with everyone
who receives the truth which is of faith
and the good which is of love,
but He is setting with everyone
who does not receive these --
not that the Sun sets there,
for as just said He is always in the rising;
but that he who does not receive,
causes Him as it were to set with himself.
This may be compared in some degree
to the changes of the sun of this world
in respect to the inhabitants of the earth;
for neither does this sun set,
since it always remains in its place
and is always shining from there;
but it appears as if it set,
because the earth rotates about its axis once every day,
and at the same time removes its inhabitant
from the sight of the sun;
and therefore the setting is not in the sun,
but in the removal
of the inhabitant of the earth from its light.
This comparison is illustrative;
and because in every part of nature
there is something representative of the Lord's kingdom,
it also instructs us
that the deprivation of the light of heaven --
that is, of intelligence and wisdom --
does not take place because the Lord,
who is the Sun of intelligence and wisdom,
sets with anyone,
but because the inhabitant of His kingdom
removes himself, that is,
suffers himself to be led by the hell
which is what removes him.

AC 5092 - "Night"

AC 5092

"Night" in the spiritual sense
signifies a state of shade brought on by falsity from evil,
thus also obscurity, namely, of the mind.
The obscurity of night in the world is natural obscurity;
but the obscurity of night in the other life
is spiritual obscurity.
The former arises from the absence of the sun of this world
and the deprivation of light therefrom,
but the latter from the absence of the sun of heaven
which is the Lord,
and the deprivation of light
(that is, of intelligence) therefrom.
This deprivation does not arise
from the sun of heaven setting, like the sun of the world,
but from a person or spirit being in falsity from evil,
and removing himself,
and thus bringing obscurity upon himself.
From the mere idea of night
and its obscurity in both senses,
it is evident how the spiritual sense stands
relatively to the natural sense of this same thing.
Moreover, spiritual obscurity is threefold,
one kind being from the falsity of evil,
the second from ignorance of truth,
and the third is
that of exterior things relatively to interior things,
thus of the sensuous things of the external person
relatively to the rational things of the internal person.
All these kinds of obscurity however,
arise from the fact that the light of heaven
(or intelligence and wisdom from the Lord)
is not received;
for this light is continually flowing in,
but it is rejected, suffocated, or perverted
by the falsity of evil;
is but little received by ignorance of truth;
and is dulled by being made general
by the sensuous things of the external person.

 

AC 5089 - It Is Important to Think Above Worldly Things

AC 5089 [2]

Unless a person's thought
can be elevated above sensuous things,
so that these are seen as below him,
he cannot understand any interior thing in the Word,
still less such things as are of heaven
abstracted from those which are of the world;
for sensuous things absorb and suffocate them.
It is for this reason
that those who are sensuous
and have zealously devoted themselves
to getting knowledges,
rarely apprehend anything of the things of heaven;
for they have immersed their thoughts in such things
as are of the world, that is,
in terms and distinctions drawn from these,
thus in sensuous things,
from which they can no longer be elevated
and thus kept in a point of view above them;
thus neither can their thought
be any longer freely extended
over the whole field of the things of the memory,
so as to select what agrees
and reject what is in opposition,
and apply whatever is in connection;
for as already said t
heir thought is kept closed and immersed in terms,
and thus in sensuous things,
so that it cannot look around.
This is the reason why the learned
believe less than the simple,
and are even less wise in heavenly things;
for the simple can look at a thing
above terms and above mere knowledges,
thus above sensuous things;
whereas the learned cannot do so,
but look at everything from terms and knowledges,
their mind being fixed in these things,
and thus bound as in jail or in prison.

~ The Lord Says, "Do Not Be Afraid" ~

They came out with all their troops
and a large number of horses and chariots --
a huge army,
as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
All these kings joined forces and made camp together
at the Waters of Merom,
to fight against Israel.

The Lord said to Joshua,
"Do not be afraid of them,
because by this time tomorrow
I will hand all of them over to Israel, slain."

(Joshua 11:4-6)

AC 5077 - The Senses, Truths and Goods

AC 5077 [3, 4]

That sensuous which is especially subject
to the intellectual part is the sight;
that which is subject
to the intellectual part and secondarily to the will part
is the hearing;
that which is subject to both together
is the sense of smell,
and still more the taste;
but that which is subject to the will part
is the touch.

And be it known further
that all the truths which are said to be of faith
pertain to the intellectual part;
and that all the goods which are of love and charity
are of the will part.
Consequently it belongs to the intellectual part
to believe, to acknowledge, to know, and to see
truth and also good,
but to the will part to be affected with and to love these;
and that which a person
is affected with and loves, is good.

AC 5076 - Sin

AC 5076

That they sinned.
(Genesis 50:1)

That this signifies inverted order,
is evident from the signification of "sinning,"
as being to act contrary to Divine order:
whatever is contrary to this is "sin."
Divine order itself is Divine truth from Divine good.
All are in this order who are in truth from good,
that is, who are in faith from charity,
for truth is of faith, and good is of charity;
and they are contrary to this order
who are not in truth from good,
consequently who are in truth from evil,
or in falsity from evil;
nothing else is signified by "sin."
Here by their "sinning" --
the butler and the baker --
is signified that external sensuous things
were in inverted order relatively to interior things,
so that they did not accord or did not correspond.

AC 5070 - Eternal Life, Spiritual Death

AC 5070

The "eternal life" which is given to the righteous,
is life from good.
Good has life in itself,
because it is from the Lord, who is life itself.
In the life which is from the Lord
there are wisdom and intelligence;
for to receive good from the Lord
and thence to will good, is wisdom;
and to receive truth from the Lord
and thence to believe truth, is intelligence;
and those who have this wisdom and intelligence have life;
and as happiness is joined to such life,
eternal happiness also is signified by "life."
The contrary is the case with those who are in evil.
These do indeed appear -- especially to themselves --
as if they had life,
but it is such life as in the Word is called "death,"
and also is spiritual death;
for they are not wise in any good,
nor intelligent in any truth.
This may be seen by everyone
who takes the matter into consideration,
for as there is life in good and in its truth,
there cannot be life in evil and in its falsity,
because these are opposite and extinguish life.
Therefore the persons in question
have no other life than such as belongs to the insane.


 

AC 5044 - Princes and King; AC 5049 - "Jehovah Made to Prosper" (Genesis 39:23)

AC 5044 [1-3, 5] - Princes and King

With all who are in temptations
there flows in truth from the Lord,
which rules and governs the thoughts
and raises up the sufferers
whenever they fall into doubts and even into despair.
This governing truth is that truth and such truth
as they have learned from the Word or from doctrine,
and have confirmed in themselves.
Other truths are indeed at such times also called to mind,
but they do not govern the interiors.
Sometimes the truth which governs
is not presented visibly before the understanding,
but lies hid in obscurity,
yet it still governs;
for the Divine of the Lord flows into it,
and thus keeps the interiors of the mind in it,
and therefore when it comes into light,
the person who is in temptation
receives consolation and is relieved.

It is not this truth itself,
but the affection of it,
by which the Lord governs those who are in temptations;
for the Divine flows only into those things
which are of the affection.
The truth which is implanted and rooted in
a person's interiors
is implanted and rooted by affection,
and not at all without affection;
and the truth which has been implanted
and rooted by affection, clings there,
and is recalled by affection;
and when this truth is so recalled,
it presents the affection that is conjoined with it,
which is the person's reciprocal affection.
As such is the case with the person who is in temptations,
therefore no one is admitted into any spiritual temptation
until he reaches adult age,
and has thus become imbued with
some truth by which he can be governed;
otherwise he sinks under the temptation,
and then his latter state is worse than the first.
From these things it may be seen what is meant
by truth governing in a state of temptations,
which is signified by the "prince of the prison house."

That a "prince" denotes primary truth,
is because a "king" in the internal sense
signifies truth itself;
hence "princes," because they are the sons of a king,
signify the primary things of that truth.

. . . the angels also reject from themselves
the idea of a king and a prince;
and when they perceive it in a person,
they transfer it to the Lord,
and perceive that which proceeds from the Lord
and is the Lord's in heaven,
namely, the Divine truth from His Divine good.

AC 5049 - "Jehovah Made to Prosper" (Genesis 39:23)

That "making to prosper,"
in the supreme sense, is providence,
is because everything prosperous
which appears in the ultimates of nature
is in its origin from the Divine providence of the Lord.

AC 5042 - The Divine Mercy; AC 5043 - "To Give Grace"

AC 5042 - The Divine Mercy

And inclined mercy unto him.
(Genesis 39:21)

The Divine being itself,
understood in the supreme sense,
is love utterly incomprehensible to a person;
and from this love through truth
all things come forth and subsist,
both those which have life and those which have not.
This Divine love from the very being
through the inmost of life in the Lord,
flowed into everything He did from the human
taken from the mother,
and directed all to ends,
and these ends to the ultimate end
that mankind might be saved.
And because the Lord,
from the Divine Itself in Him,
saw the nature of His human,
that it was hereditarily in evil,
therefore it is said that
"Jehovah inclined mercy unto him;"
and by this in the supreme sense is meant
the Divine love in everything.
For the Divine mercy is nothing else
than the Divine love toward those
who are immersed in miseries,
that is, toward those who are in temptations;
for these are in miseries,
and are chiefly meant in the Word by the "miserable."

AC 5043 - "To Give Grace"

. . ."to give grace" in temptations
is to comfort and relieve with hope . . ..

AC 5036, 5038 - What Goes On During Temptation & a Short Definition

AC 5036 - What Goes On During Temptation

Scarcely anyone in the Christian world at this day
knows where temptations come from.
He who undergoes them has no other belief
than that they are torments arising from
the evils which are within a person,
and which at first make him uneasy, then anxious,
and finally torment him;
but he is altogether ignorant
that they are effected by the evil spirits who are with him.
The reason why he is ignorant of this,
is that he does not believe
that he is in company with spirits
while he lives in the world,
and scarcely believes that there is any spirit with him;
when yet as to his interiors
a person is continually in the society of spirits and angels.

As regards temptations, they take place
when the person is in the act of regeneration;
for no one can be regenerated
unless he undergoes temptations,
and they then arise from evil spirits who are about him.
For the person is then let into the state of evil in which he is,
that is, in which is that very [life] which is his own;
and when he comes into this state,
evil or infernal spirits encompass him,
and when they perceive
that he is inwardly protected by angels,
the evil spirits excite the falsities which he has thought,
and the evils which he has done,
but the angels defend him from within.
It is this combat
which is perceived in the person as temptation,
but so obscurely that he scarcely knows otherwise
than that it is merely an anxiety;
for a person -- especially if he believes nothing about influx --
is in a state that is wholly obscure,
and he perceives scarcely a thousandth part of the things
about which the evil spirits and angels are contending.
And yet the battle is then being fought for
the person and his eternal salvation,
and it is fought from the person himself;
for they fight from those things
which are in a person, and concerning them.

. . . As before said,
temptations take place chiefly at the time
when the person is becoming spiritual;
for he then apprehends spiritually the truths of doctrine.
The person is often unaware of this,
but still the angels with him
see in his natural things the spiritual;
for his interiors are then open toward heaven.
For this reason also
the person who has been regenerated
is among angels after his life in the world,
and there both sees and perceives the spiritual things
which before appeared to him as natural.
When therefore a person has come into such a state,
then in temptation, when assaulted by evil spirits,
he can be defended by angels,
who then have a plane into which they can operate;
for they flow into what is spiritual with him,
and through this into what is natural.

But when ultimate truth has been withdrawn,
and therefore person has nothing
by which to defend himself against those who are natural,
he then comes into temptations,
and by evil spirits --
who are all merely natural --
he is accused especially of speaking falsely against good;
as for example of having thought
and said that the neighbor ought to be benefited,
and having also approved this in act,
and yet now meaning by the neighbor
only those who are in good and truth,
and not those who are in evil and falsity
and cannot be amended;
and consequently,
because he is no longer willing to benefit the evil,
or if he will benefit them,
he desires them to be punished
for the sake of their amendment,
and for the purpose of averting evil from his neighbor,
they charge him with thinking and speaking what is false,
and with not thinking as he speaks.

Take another example.
Because when a person becomes spiritual,
he no longer believes it holy and for pious use
to give to monasteries,
or even to churches which abound in wealth;
and because before he became spiritual
he had thought that such giving was holy and pious,
they charge him with falsehood,
and stir up all his thoughts which he had before cherished
as to its being holy and pious,
and also the works which he had done from such thought.
And so they do in numberless other cases,
but let these few examples serve by way of illustration.
These spirits enter principally into
the affections which the person had before,
and excite them,
and also the false and evil things
which he had thought and done;
and thus they bring him into anxiety,
and often into doubt even to despair.

Such then is the source of spiritual anxieties,
and of the torments which
are called torments of conscience.
By influx and communication
these things appear to the person as if they were in himself.
One who knows and believes this
may be compared to a person who sees himself in a mirror,
and knows that it is not himself that appears in it,
or on the other side of it,
but only his image;
whereas one who does not know and believe this,
may be compared to a person who sees himself in a mirror,
and supposes it is himself that appears there,
and not his image.

AC 5038

. . . temptation is the vastation of what is false,
and a the same time the confirmation of what true.

AC 5007 - Why We Are In this World; AC 5013 - The Spiritual and the Natural

AC 5007 [4]

. . . the fact is that a person is in this world
in order to be initiated by his activities here
into the things which are of heaven . . ..

AC 5013

. . . it is according to order
that the spiritual should rule
and the natural serve;
for the spiritual is prior, interior and higher,
and nearer the Divine;
while the natural is posterior, exterior, and lower,
and more remote from the Divine.
For this reason
the spiritual in a person and in the church
is compared to heaven,
and is also called heaven;
and the natural is compared to earth,
and is also called earth.