AC 5929 - Humility

AC 5929

. . . he who loves himself
cannot possibly humble himself from the heart;
for he sets himself up,
because he regards himself in everything,
and makes small account of what is outside of himself.

AC 5920 - The Clarity of Perception; AC 5922 - The Use of the Word

AC 5920 - The Clarity of Perception

For the nearer truth and good are to the internal,
the more perfect a perception they have,
being more deeply in the light of heaven,
and thus nearer to the Lord.
For the influx of Divine good and truth from the Lord
advances through continuous mediations,
and thus successions;
and therefore those
who are in first principles or beginnings
receive the influx with a clearer perception
(because more immediately)
than those who are in intermediates and ultimates.
There is a successive obscuration of good and of truth
(as there is of light) according to distances,
for the more imperfect things
which follow in succession by degrees,
cause dimness.

AC 5922 [5] - The Use of the Word

. . . the Word is Divine truth for the use of the church.

AC 5910, 5912 - Goshen

AC 5910

For Goshen was the best tract in the land of Egypt,
and that which is best in the natural,
where memory-knowledges are,
is in the midst or in the center;
for good itself is there as something like a sun,
and gives light from there
to the truths which are at the sides.

AC 5912

For when good is in the first place, and has dominion,
it continually produces truths.
It multiplies them around itself
and also around each truth,
and makes each truth like a little star,
in the center of which there is a bright light.
Nor does good only multiply truths around itself,
but it also produces truths from truths
by derivations in succession . . ..

AC 5893 - Truths & Goods, Their Affections, and Regeneration

AC 5893 [2]

There must be truths in the natural mind
in order that good may work,
and the truths must be introduced
by means of the affection
which is of genuine love.
All things whatever that are in a person's memory
have been introduced by means of some love,
and remain there conjoined with it.
It is so also with the truths of faith --
if these truths have been introduced
by means of the love of truth,
they remain conjoined with this love.
When they have been conjoined,
then the case is as follows:
If the affection is reproduced,
the truths which are conjoined with it
come forth at the same time;
and if the truths are reproduced,
the affection itself
with which they have been conjoined
comes forth at the same time.
Wherefore during a person's regeneration
(which is effected in adult age,
because previously he does not think from himself
about the truths of faith)
he is ruled by means of angels from the Lord,
by being kept in the truths
which he has impressed upon himself to be truths,
and by means of these truths
in the affection with which they have been conjoined;
and as this affection, namely, of truth,
is from good,
he is thus led by degrees to good.

AC 5881, 5882 - For It Is a Wonderful Order

AC 5881

By commotion is meant a new disposition
and setting in order of truths in the natural,
concerning which setting in order
be it known that the order in which
memory-knowledges and truths are arranged
in a person's memory is unknown to them,
but when it pleases the Lord it is known to angels.
For it is a wonderful order.
They cohere as in little bundles,
and the little bundles themselves cohere together,
and this according to the connection of things
which the person had conceived.
These coherences are more wonderful
than any person can ever believe.
In the other life they are sometimes presented to view,
for in the light of heaven which is spiritual
such things can be exhibited to the sight of the eye,
but not at all in the light of the world.
The memory-knowledges and truths
are arranged into these small bundle forms
solely by the person's loves --
into infernal forms by the loves of self and of the world,
but into heavenly forms
by love toward the neighbor and love to God.
Wherefore while the person is being regenerated,
and conjunction is being effected
of the good of the internal person
with the truths of the external,
a commotion takes place among the truths,
for they then undergo a different arrangement.
It is this commotion which is here meant,
and is meant by their "being in consternation."
The commotion then made,
reveals itself by an anxiety arising
from the change of the former state, namely,
from being deprived of the delight
which had been in that state.

AC 5882

. . . when there takes place a conjunction
of the internal with the external,
or of good with truth,
there is first bestowed a capacity of perception
that the person is affected with truth and thus with good,
and that then a commotion is felt;
next that an interior communication is given
by means of influx; and so on.

AC 5871 - Morning; AC 5874 - What Memory-knowledges (Facts) Are and Do

AC 5871 - Morning

. . . the mind is gladdened by the morning of the day.

AC 5874 - What Memory-knowledges (Facts) Are and Do

That memory-knowledges are the ultimates with a person,
namely, in his memory and thought,
is not apparent,
for it seems to him as if they make
the whole of intelligence and of wisdom.
But it is not so.
They are only vessels
containing the things of intelligence and of wisdom,
and indeed the ultimate vessels,
for they conjoin themselves
with the sensuous things of the body.
That they are ultimates
is plain to him who reflects upon his thought,
when he inquires into any truth,
in that memory-knowledges are then present,
but are not apparent;
for the thought then extracts what they contain
(and this from very many
scattered here and there and even deeply hidden),
and thus forms conclusions;
and the more interiorly the thought penetrates,
so much the farther does it remove itself from them.
This may be clear from the fact
that when a person comes
into the other life and becomes a spirit,
he indeed has with him memory-knowledges,
but he is not allowed to use them, for several reasons;
and yet he thinks and speaks concerning truth and good
much more distinctly and perfectly than in the world.
Hence it may be seen
that memory-knowledges are serviceable to a person
for forming the understanding,
but when the understanding has been formed,
they then constitute an ultimate plane
in which the person no longer thinks,
but above it.

AC 5854 - The Spirits With Us and Our Freedom; AC 5857 - The Spirits With Children

AC 5854 - The Spirits With Us and Our Freedom

It is provided by the Lord
that spirits should flow into
what is thought and willed by a person,
but angels into his ends,
and thus through the ends
into all that follows from the ends.
Angels also flow in through good spirits into
the goods of life and truths of faith with a person,
by means of which they lead him
away from evils and falsities as far as possible.
This influx is tacit, imperceptible to the person,
but still operating and efficient in secret.
Especially do they avert evil ends
and insinuate good ones.
But insofar as they cannot do this,
they withdraw,
and flow in more remotely, and more absently,
and then evil spirits come nearer;
for angels cannot be present in evil ends,
that is, in the loves of self and of the world,
and yet they are present from afar.

The Lord could through angels
lead a person into good ends by omnipotent force;
but this would be to take away the person's life,
for his life consists in entirely contrary loves.
Therefore the Divine law is inviolable,
that people shall be in freedom,
and that good and truth, or charity and faith,
shall be implanted in his freedom,
and by no means in compulsion;
because what is received in a state of compulsion
does not remain, but is dissipated.
For to compel a person is not to insinuate into his will,
because it is then the will of another
from which he acts;
and therefore when he returns to his own will,
that is, to his own freedom,
this is rooted out.
The Lord therefore rules a person through his freedom,
and as far as possible withholds him
from the freedom of thinking and willing evil;
for unless a person were withheld by the Lord,
he would be continually plunging into the deepest hell.

AC 5857 - The Spirits With Children

. . . evil spirits cannot approach little children,
because these have not yet in their memory
anything that evil spirits can put on;
and therefore with little children
there are good spirits and angels.

AC 5835 - "And his soul being bound up with his soul"

AC 5835

"And his soul being bound up with his soul"
(Genesis 44:30)

means when more closely joined together.
This is clear from the meaning of 'soul' as life,
so that 'the soul of the one
bound up with the soul of the other'
means the life of the one in that of the other.
Consequently a closer joining together is meant,
that is to say, of spiritual good, which is 'Israel',
to the truth springing from that good, which is 'Benjamin'.
The implications of good being joined as closely to truth
as the soul of the one is bound up with that of the other
are as follows:
A person's mind,
which is the real person and is where his life resides,
has two powers,
one of which is assigned to the truths of faith,
the other to the good of charity.
The mental power assigned to the truths of faith
is called the understanding,
while the one assigned to the good of charity
is called the will.
To enable a person to be truly human
these two powers must make a unified whole.

But at the present day
those two mental powers have become
completely set apart from each other,
as may be recognized from the fact
that a person can understand something as being true
and yet be unable to will it.
For a person can see in his understanding
that all the Ten Commandments are truths
and to some extent
that the contents of religious teachings
drawn from the Word are truths;
indeed he can also confirm that they are truths
by the use of his understanding
and in addition through the preaching he hears.
yet the intentions of his will
are at variance with those truths,
and so as a consequence are his actions.
From this it is evident
that those two mental powers present in a person
have become set apart from each other.
Yet they ought not to be set apart,
as may be recognized from the consideration
that should they be set apart
when he enters the next life
the truth in his understanding
will raise him up towards heaven,
while the evil intentions in his will
will draw him down towards hell,
thus leaving him suspended between the two.
Even so, the intentions in his will,
which constitute his actual life,
will carry him downwards,
thus taking him inevitably into hell.
Therefore to prevent this from happening,
those two mental powers have to be joined together.
This is effected by the Lord through regeneration --
through the implantation of the truth of faith
within the good of charity.
For in this way a person
is provided through the truth of faith
with a new understanding,
and through the good of charity with a new will;
and this gives him two mental powers
which make one complete mind.

 

AC 5838 - What We Do Regulates What We Receive from the Lord

AC 5838 [3]

It is a universal law
that influx (good & truth inflowing from the Lord)
adjusts itself according to efflux (what a person does),
and if efflux is checked influx is checked.
Through the internal person
there is an influx of good and truth from the Lord,
and through the external there must be an efflux,
namely into the life, that is, in the exercise of charity.
When there is this efflux
then there is continual influx from heaven,
that is, through heaven from the Lord;
whereas if there is no efflux,
but resistance in the external or natural person
(that is, evil and falsity
which tear to pieces and extinguish the inflowing good),
it follows from the universal law just mentioned
that the influx adjusts itself to the efflux,
consequently that the influx of good draws back,
and thereby the internal through which is the influx
is closed;
and through this closing
there comes stupidity in spiritual things,
even until the person who is such
neither knows nor is willing to know
anything about eternal life,
and at last becomes insane,
so that he opposes falsities against truths,
calling them truths and the truths falsities,
and evils against goods,
making them goods and the goods evil.
Thus he tears good completely to pieces.

AC 5820 - Spiritual Food; AC 2826 - Spiritual Good, the Good of Truth

AC 5820 - Spiritual Food

Spiritual food is in general all good,
but specifically it is the good
which is acquired by means of truth,
that is, truth in the will and in act,
for this good becomes good from the willing and doing,
and is called the good of truth.
Unless truth thus becomes good,
it does not benefit the person in the other life;
for when he comes into the other life it is dissipated,
because it does not agree with his will,
thus not with the delight of his love.
He who has learned truths of faith in the world,
not for the sake of willing and doing them
and thus turning them into goods,
but only that he may know and teach them
for the sake of honor and gain,
even although he may be in the world
considered most learned,
yet in the other life he is deprived of the truths
and is left to his own will, that is, his life.
And he then remains as he had been in his life;
and wonderful to say he is then averse
to all the truths of faith:
and denies them to himself,
howsoever he had before confirmed them.

AC 5826 [2] - Spiritual Good

The spiritual good which Israel represents
is the good of truth, that is, truth in the will and in act.
This truth, or this good of truth, in a person,
makes him to be the church.
When truth has been implanted in the will
(which is perceived by the fact
that the person is affected with truth
for the sake of the end that he may live according to it),
then there is internal good and truth.
When a person is in this good and truth,
then the kingdom of the Lord is in him,
and consequently he is the church,
and together with others like him
makes the church in general.
From this it may be seen
that in order that the church may be the church,
there must be spiritual good,
that is, the good of truth,
but by no means truth alone . . ..

AC 5808 - Love Is Spiritual Conjunction in Harmony; AC 5816 - The Light of Good from Truth

 AC 5808 [2] - Love Is Spiritual Conjunction in Harmony

 . . . love is spiritual conjunction,
because it is a conjunction of the minds,
or of the thought and the will,
of two.
From this it is evident
that regarded in itself love is purely spiritual,
and that the natural of it
is the delight of consociation and conjunction.
In its essence
love is the harmony
resulting from changes of the state,
and variations in the forms or substances,
of which the human mind consists.
This harmony,
if from the heavenly form,
is heavenly love.
It is evident therefore
that love cannot have any other origin than
the Divine love itself which is from the Lord;
thus that love is the Divine which flows into forms,
and so disposes them
that their changes of state and variations
may be in the harmony of heaven.

AC 5816 [2] - The Light of Truth from Good

As to there being no mercy
and no conjunction with the truths in the natural,
unless the truth which is represented by Benjamin
be subject to the internal good which is "Joseph,"
the case is this.
The truth which makes a person to be the church
is the truth which is from good;
for when a person is in good
then from good he sees truths and perceives them,
and thus believes that they are truths;
but not at all if he is not in good.
Good is like a little flame
which gives light and illumines,
and causes a person to see, perceive, and believe truths.
For the affection of truth from good
determines the internal sight from there,
and withdraws the sight from worldly and bodily things,
which induce darkness.
Such is the truth which Benjamin here represents.
That this is the only truth of the church . . .
it is the only truth which makes a person to be the church.
But this truth must be altogether subject to
the internal good which is represented by Joseph;
for the Lord flows in through internal good,
and gives life to the truths which are below;
thus also to this truth
which is from spiritual good from the natural,
which is represented by Israel.

AC 5798 - Anger Means Turning Away

AC 5798

And let not your anger be kindled against your servant.
(Genesis 44:18)

That this means in case he turns away,
is evident from the meaning of "anger,"
as being a turning away,
because one who is angry with another turns away,
for in that state he does not think like him, but against him.
That "anger" is a turning away
is plain from many passages in the Word,
especially from those where anger and wrath
are ascribed to Jehovah or the Lord,
by which is meant a turning away --
not that Jehovah or the Lord ever turns away,
but that a person does so;
and when he turns away
it seems to him as if the Lord did so,
for he is not heard.
The Word so speaks
in accordance with the appearance.
And because "anger" is a turning away,
it is also an assault on good and truth
on the part of those who have turned away;
while on the part of those who have not turned away,
there is no assault,
but a repugnance on account of aversion
to what is evil and false.

AC 5779 - Through the Internal from the Lord, Comes All Perception

AC 5779

. . . through the internal from the Lord,
comes all perception.
From no other source does perception come,
nor even sensation.
It appears as if sensation, as also perception,
come by influx from the external;
but this is a fallacy,
for it is the internal that feels through the external.
The senses placed in the body
are nothing but organs or instruments
that are of service to the internal person
in order that it may be sensible of what is in the world;
wherefore the internal flows into the external,
causing it to feel,
to the end that it may thereby perceive and be perfected;
but not the reverse.

AC 5758 - Spiritual Theft and the Lord's Mercy

AC 5758

In this whole chapter (Genesis 44)
spiritual theft is treated of,
which is the claiming to oneself
of the good and truth that are from the Lord.
This is a matter of so great moment
that a person after death
cannot be admitted into heaven
until he acknowledges at heart
that nothing of good or truth is from himself,
but all from the Lord,
and that whatever is from himself
is nothing but evil.
The fact that this is so,
is shown to a person after death by many experiences.
The angels in heaven plainly perceive
that all good and truth are from the Lord;
and moreover that by the Lord
they are withheld from evil
and kept in good and so in truth,
and this by a mighty force.

. . . to claim truth and good to oneself
is contrary to the universal that reigns in heaven,
as well as contrary to the acknowledgment
that all salvation is of mercy,
that is, that a person of himself is in hell,
but is of mercy drawn out from there by the Lord.
A person cannot be in humiliation,
nor consequently can he receive the Lord's mercy
(for this flows in only in humiliation or into a humble heart),
unless he acknowledges
that there is nothing but evil from himself,
and that all good is from the Lord.
Without this acknowledgment
a person attributes to himself as merit,
and at length as righteousness,
whatever he does;
for to claim to himself the truth and good
which are from the Lord
is to make himself righteous.
This is the source of many evils;
for he then regards self in everything
that he does for the neighbor,
and when he does this
he loves himself above all others,
whom he then despises,
if not in word,
yet in heart.

AC 5746 - Evil Is; AC 5747, 5749 - Do Not Claim for Yourself What Is the Lord's

AC 5746 - Evil Is

. . . evil is nothing else than a turning away from good;
for those who are in evil spurn good,
that is, spiritual good,
which is of charity and faith.

AC 5747 [2] - Do Not Claim for Yourself What is the Lord's

. . . before regeneration
a person supposes that he procures truth for himself,
and so long as he supposes this
he is in spiritual theft.
To claim good and truth to one's self,
and to attribute them to one's self
for righteousness and merit,
is to take away from the Lord that which is His.

AC 5749

The reason why a person ought not to claim to himself
anything that is from the Lord,
thus not truth and good,
is that he may be in the truth;
and in so far as he is in the truth,
so far he is in the light in which angels are in heaven;
and in so far as he is in this light,
so far he is in intelligence and wisdom;
and in so far as he is in intelligence and wisdom,
so far he is in happiness.
This is the reason why a person ought to
acknowledge from the faith of the heart
that nothing of truth and good is from himself,
but all from the Lord,
and this because it is so.

AC 5723 - Commanding? Or Sharing?

AC 5732

The reason why 'commanding' means influx
is that no one in heaven is given commands or orders.
On the contrary one shares his thoughts
and the other freely acts in accordance with them.
The communication of thought,
together with a desire to see something put into effect,
is influx;
and on the part of the receiver it is perception,
which is why 'commanding' also means perception.

Furthermore those in heaven
not only think but also talk to one another --
about those things that are matters of wisdom.
Yet there is not in what they say
any trace of an order given to another;
for no one wishes to be the master
and consequently regard another as his slave.
Rather, each wishes
to minister and be of service to another.
From this one may see
what form of government exists in heaven,
the form described by the Lord in Matthew,

It shall not be so among you,
but whoever has the wish to become great among you
must be your minister,
and whoever has the wish to be first
must be your servant.
(Matthew 20:26, 27)

 And in the same gospel,

He who is the greatest of you shall be your minister;
whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
(Matthew 23:11, 12)

This is how a person who has
heartfelt love of his neighbor behaves --
a person who feels
delight and bliss in doing good to others
for no selfish reason, that is,
one who has charity towards the neighbor.

AC 5700 - Inverted and Heavenly Order; AC 5703 - His Presence

AC 5700 [2]

Memory-knowledges are said to be in inverted order
when people abuse heavenly order to do evil;
for heavenly order is that good be done to all.
Consequently it comes to pass
that when they have thus inverted heavenly order,
they at last deny Divine things,
the things of heaven,
and consequently those of charity and faith.
Those who become such
know how to reason
acutely and skillfully from memory-knowledges,
because they reason from the senses,
and to reason from these
is to reason from such things as are external,
that is, from such as are of the body and the world,
which take direct hold
of a person's senses and feelings.
Unless such things have been illumined
by the light of heaven,
and thereby arranged in an entirely different order,
they put the person
in so great an obscurity as to heavenly things
that he not only comprehends none of them,
but even wholly denies,
and at last rejects them,
and then as far as he may,
blasphemes them.
When memory-knowledges are in order,
they are arranged by the Lord in the form of heaven;
but when they are in inverted order,
they are arranged in the form of hell,
and then things most false are in the midst,
and those which confirm them are at the sides,
while truths are without,
and because they are without
they can have no communication
with heaven where truths reign;
and therefore interior things are closed to such persons;
for heaven is open by means of things interior.

AC 5703

. . . when the Lord is present,
then all things are set in order by His very presence.
The Lord is order itself;
and therefore where He is present there is order,
and where there is order He is present.

AC 5688 - Joseph and His Brothers

AC 5688 [3]

All that is related of Joseph and his brethren
represents in the supreme sense
the glorifying of the Lord's Human, that is,
how the Lord made the Human in Him Divine.
The reason for this being represented
in the inmost sense is that the Word
might be most holy in its inmost sense,
and also that it might contain in every part of it
what would enter into the wisdom of the angels;
for it is known that angelic wisdom
so far surpasses human intelligence
that scarcely anything of it
can be apprehended by a person.
It is also the happiness itself of the angels
that every detail of the Word has reference to the Lord;
for they are in the Lord.
Furthermore, the glorifying of the Lord's Human
is the pattern of a person's regeneration,
and so a person's regeneration also is presented
in the internal sense of the Word at the same time
with the glorification of the Lord.
A person's regeneration
together with its innumerable mysteries
also enters into the angels' wisdom,
and affords them happiness
according as they apply it to its uses,
which are for a person's reformation.

AC 5672 - Times of Day

AC 5672

That "noon" denotes a state of light
is because the times of day, as morning, noon, and evening,
correspond to the enlightenments in the other life,
and the enlightenments there
are those of intelligence and wisdom,
for in the light of heaven there is intelligence and wisdom.
There are alternations of enlightenment there,
like morning, noon, and evening on earth.
The states of shade, like those of evening,
do not arise from the sun there,
that is, the Lord, who is always giving light,
but from the angels' own (propriums/egos),
for insofar as they are let into their own
they come into a state of shade or evening,
and insofar as they are lifted out of their own
into a heavenly own,
they come into a state of light.

AC 5662 - "Peace be to you, fear not."

AC 5662

And he said, Peace be to you, fear not.
(Genesis 43:23)

That this means that it is well, let them not despair,
is evident from the meaning of "peace," as being to be well;
and from the meaning of "fear not,"
as being let them not despair.
For the internal sense treats of a change of state,
in that they no longer procure truths
and through them good
by their own power;
but are presented with them from the Lord.
And because they supposed
that they would thus lose their own (proprium, ego),
thus freedom, and consequently all the delight of life,
they were in despair,
as is plain from what has gone before.

. . . That "peace" denotes it is well,
is because it is the inmost,
and from there the universally reigning thing,
in each and all things in heaven;
for peace in heaven is like spring on earth,
or like the dawn,
which does not affect us by sensible changes,
but by a universal pleasantness
that flows into everything that is perceived,
and fills with this pleasantness
not only the perception itself
but also the several objects.
At the present day scarcely anyone knows
the meaning of "peace" where mentioned in the Word,
as in the benediction,
"Jehovah lift up His faces you, and give you peace"
(Numbers 6:26);
and in other places.
Almost everyone believes peace to be
security from enemies,
and also tranquillity at home and among companions.
Such peace is not meant in this passage,
but a peace which immeasurably transcends it --
the heavenly peace just now spoken of.
This peace can be bestowed on no one
unless he is led by the Lord
and is in the Lord, that is, in heaven
where the Lord is all in all;
for heavenly peace flows in
when the greediness arising from
the love of self and the love of the world are taken away.
These are what take peace away,
for they infest a person's interiors,
and at last cause him to make rest consist in unrest,
and peace in annoyances,
because his delight is in evils.
So long as a person is in these
he cannot possibly know what peace is,
indeed, he so long believes that such peace is nothing;
and if anyone says that it becomes perceptible
when the delights from the love of self and the world
are taken away, he laughs,
because he makes peace consist in the delight of evil,
which is the opposite of peace.

Because such is the nature of peace,
namely, the inmost of all happinesses and blessednesses,
and for this reason the universal that reigns in them all,
therefore the ancients used
as a common form of speech the words,
"Peace be unto you," when they meant that it be well;
and asked whether people "had peace"
when they meant "Is it well?"
See what has been said and shown above
in regard to peace, namely:
That peace in heaven is like spring and the dawn on earth
(n. 1726, 2780):
That peace in the supreme sense is the Lord,
in the representative sense His kingdom,
and that it is the Lord's Divine
affecting with good from the inmost (n. 3780, 4681):
That all unrest is from evil and falsity,
but peace from good and truth (n. 3170).