AC 7155
...before truths and goods can appear,
and the man be thus associated with those who are in heaven,
it is necessary that these evils and falsities be uncovered,
so that he may see them and know them,
and thus learn what is true and what is good.
This cannot possibly be done without combat
with the evils and falsities in himself; which combat takes place actually,
the evil spirits exciting falsities and evils,
and the angels excusing if the end has been good, and instilling truths.
This is perceived as if it were in himself,
as is the case with temptation in man,
which is felt no otherwise than as being in him,
when yet it is the combat of angels with evil spirits outside of him.
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It is nice 'timing', all things being providential, that you sent out the message today on evils and falsities and our combat of them. I wrote and sent this just a few hours before that. I think I copied Bill Clifford too. I am going to send out a follow up on ES and AA teachings, among which is 'shun evil' or 'change playmates, change playgrounds, act your way into sobriety' when coming into Recovery.
“There is no such thing as chance; apparent accident or fortune is Providence in the ultimate of order.”
Arcana Coelestia 6493
In His Service,
Keith
I found this remarkable comment by Aldous Huxley. Huxley is commenting on many things, but then says something that made me think of Swedenborg's dictate "shun evil".
Huxley says -
"The Lord's Prayer is less than fifty words long, and six of those words are devoted to asking God not to lead us into temptation. The one-sided contemplative leaves undone many things that he ought to do; but to make up for it, he refrains from doing a host of things he ought not to do. The sum of evil, Pascal remarked, would be much diminished if men could only learn to sit quietly in their rooms."
(I think of 'First, do no harm', which also begins the oath of the physician.)
Keith.
Then Huxley says -
"The contemplative whose perception has been cleansed does not have to stay in his room. He can go about his business, so completely satisfied to see and be a part of the divine Order of Things that he will never even be tempted to indulge in what Traherne called "the dirty Devices of the world." When we feel ourselves to be sole heirs of the universe, when "the sea flows in our veins ... and the stars are our jewels," when all things are perceived as infinite and holy, what motive can we have for covetousness or self-assertion, for the pursuit of power or the drearier forms of pleasure? Contemplatives are not likely to become gamblers, or procurers, or drunkards; they do not as a rule preach intolerance, or make war; do not find it necessary to rob, swindle or grind the faces of the poor."
Contemplatives, we can be. Let us contemplate the Lord!
We, unlike many others, know Where to get this focus and power.
Huxley's observation for me is one [type of] description of dying to self, to be set free from the need to lord it over others, to control things or people, or to be self-seeking or self-absorbed.
Keith
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