TCR 567 - What is your pleasure?

TCR 567 [6,8]
For from birth we find every evil pleasant.
It is pleasant to take revenge, commit fornication, cheat,
blaspheme, and particularly to control others out of self-love.
Does not the pleasure cause them not to be seen as sins?
And if perhaps someone says that they are sins,
would not the pleasure they give make you excuse them,
or even use false arguments to prove that they are not sins?
Thus you continue in them and do them afterwards more than before;
and this goes on until you do not know what a sin is,
or rather, whether there is such a thing as sin.
The case is different with anyone who has really repented,
He calls his evils, which he has recognized and acknowledged, sins,
and therefore begins to shun them and turn away from them;
and he ends by feeling the pleasure they give as distasteful.
In so far as this happens, he sees and loves what is good,
and ends by feeling the pleasure that gives,
and this is the pleasure experienced by the angels in heaven.
In short, in so far as anyone casts the devil behind his back,
he is adopted by the Lord, who teaches and guides him,
restrains him from evils and keeps him in good deeds.
This and no other is the way from hell to heaven.'

. . . in so far as anyone abjures and turns away from evil,
so far does he strive after and love good;
and that before this he does not know what good is,
nor even what evil is.

TCR 565 - the sensual

TCR 565
The sensual is the lowest level of life in the human mind,
firmly attached to and bound up with the five bodily senses.
The term 'sensual man' is applied to a person
whose every judgment relies upon the bodily senses,
and who believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes
and touch with his hands,
regarding these things as real and rejecting all else.

The spirits in the hells are sensual,
and the deeper their hell, the more sensual they are.

If thought is not raised above the level of sense impressions,
a person's wisdom is very restricted.
When a person's thought is raised above this level,
he comes into brighter illumination, and eventually into the light of heaven,
so that then he can perceive such ideas as flow down from heaven.
The lowest level of the understanding is natural factual knowledge,
the lowest level of the will the pleasure of the senses.

TCR 533 - two loves

TCR 533
There are two loves which from long time past
have become deeply rooted in the human race,
the love of controlling everyone,
and the love of possessing everyone's goods.
The first of these, if given its head,
actually plunges headlong into an ambition to be the God of heaven;
the other, if given its head,
plunges headlong into an ambition to be the God of the world.
All the other evil loves - and they are legion - are subordinate to these two.
But it is extremely difficult to examine these two loves,
because they lodge so deep within and hide themselves away.

[2] It ought, however, to be appreciated
that those two loves can be more dominant
in the case of humble than exalted people,
more in the case of the needy than the rich,
more in the case of subjects than kings.

TCR 530 - How is one to repent?

TCR 530
The question then is asked: how is one to repent?
The answer is, in deed;
that is, by examining oneself,
recognizing and acknowledging one's sins,
praying to the Lord,
and starting a new life. . .
This is real repentance.

TCR 509, 510 - repentance

TCR 509, 510
The chapters on faith, charity and free will
naturally lead on to the subject of repentance,
since true faith and genuine charity cannot exist without repentance,
and no one can repent without free will.
Another reason why repentance must come here is
that the next chapter deals with regeneration;
and no one can be regenerated until the more serious evils,
which render a person loathsome before God, have been removed.

The communion known as a church
is composed of as many people as have the church in them;
and the church enters into a person when he is being regenerated.
. . . it is acts of repentance which really bring this about in him.
By acts of repentance are meant all that prevent him
from willing and so from doing
the evil actions which are sins against God.
For until this happens,
he stands outside the process of regeneration.

TCR 507 - what determines a person's character

TCR 507 [5, 6]
. . . it is the will
and not the understanding
which determines a person's character,
since the will has no difficulty in bringing the understanding over to its side
and making it subservient.

Everyone's understanding is capable of being raised
in proportion to his knowledge;
but the will can only be raised
by living in accordance with the truths taught by the church and by reason.

TCR 498 - spiritual freedom

TCR 498
. . . nothing which a person does without freedom in spiritual matters lasts.

TCR 486 - predestination

TCR 486
Predestination . . . is the product of a belief in a person's utter impotence
and lack of choice in spiritual matters.
It results from that belief and also from a person's, so to speak,
lifeless conversion, that he is like a block of wood,
and that he has therefore no way of telling
whether the block is brought to life by grace or not . . ..
Being chosen takes place where and when God wills,
that is, at His good pleasure.

[3] But what more hurtful idea could be thought up,
or what more cruel belief could anyone hold about God,
than that some of the human race are predestined to damnation?
It would be cruel to believe that the Lord,
who is love itself and mercy itself,
could wish a large number of people to be born destined for hell,
or that hundreds of millions are born lost souls, that is, born devils and satans;
and that the Lord did not of His Divine wisdom, which is infinite,
and does not take care that those who live a good life and acknowledge God
are not cast into the fire and everlasting torment.
In fact, the Lord is the creator and savior of all;
He alone guides all and wishes no one's death.
Could therefore anything more horrifying be believed or thought
than that a group of nations and peoples under His control and gaze
should be predestined to be handed over as prey to the devil, to fill his maw?
. . . The faith of the new church recoils from this as a monstrosity.

TCR 481, 484 - free will

TCR 481
. . . the Lord flows in from a higher or more inward level
filling everyone with Divine good and Divine truth . . .
and to enable him to receive these gifts and act upon them
He confers the ability and will,
which are never taken away.
It follows from this
that the Lord perpetually wills a person to receive truth and do good,
thus becoming spiritual, the destiny for which he was born.

TCR 484 [2]
Ah, my friend, shun evil and do good,
and believe in the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul,
and the Lord will love you,
and give you love so that you can act,
and faith so that you can believe.
Then you will be impelled by love to do good,
and by faith, which is trust, to believe.
And if you persevere in this,
you will be conjoined with Him and He with you, and this for ever;
and this is the essence of salvation and everlasting life.

TCR 471 - born of God

TCR 471
. . . all the good of love and all the truth of wisdom are from God alone,
and that in so far as a person receives these from God,
so far does he have life from God
and is called born of God, that is, regenerated.

TCR 461 - the power to refrain from evil comes from the Lord

TCR 461 [5]
In a word, a person is an organ receptive of life from God;
consequently, so far as he refrains from evil, he is a recipient of good.
The power to refrain from evil the Lord gives to every person,
because He gives him the power to will and to understand;
and whatever a person does from his will in accord with his understanding,
or, what is the same,
from freedom of will in accord with reason of the understanding,
is permanent. It is by means of this
that the Lord brings a person into a state of conjunction with Himself,
and in that state reforms, regenerates, and saves him.

TCR 459 [17] - What is true charity?

TCR 459 [17]
True charity consists in believing in the Lord,
and acting fairly and righteously
in every deed and employment.
Anyone therefore
who at the Lord's bidding
loves justice and executes it with judgment
is an image and likeness of charity.

TCR 456 - coveting

TCR 456 [2]
. . . when a person does not covet what is his neighbor's,
then he wishes him well.

TCR 444 - Jehovah's finger

TCR 444 [2]
. . . the fact that they (the Ten Commandments) were delivered by Jehovah,
and written by His finger on two stone tables,
caused them to be not only the commandments of the civil community,
and so of natural moral life,
but also the commandments of the heavenly community,
and so of spiritual moral life.
Thus to break them would not only be acting against one's fellow men,
but also against God.

TCR 439 - merit

TCR 439
In the exercise of charity
a person avoids attributing merit to deeds,
so long as he believes that all good is from the Lord.

TCR 437 - The first thing in charity is to banish evils, the second is to do good deeds which may be of use to the neighbor.

TCR 437
The current belief is that charity is no more than doing good,
and that then a person does no evil;
consequently it is the first thing in charity to do good
and the second not to do evil.
But the exact opposite is the case.
The first thing in charity is to banish evil,
and the second is to do good. . . .
So in as far as he turns away from hell, from where all evil comes up,
so far does he turn towards heaven, from where all good comes down.
And in the same way, to the extent that anyone rejects the devil,
so far does the Lord accept him.

TCR 419 - loving good, loving the neighbor, loving the Lord

TCR 419
A person who loves good because it is good,
and truth because it is true,
is the one who above all loves the neighbor,
because he loves the Lord,
who is good itself and truth itself.
There is no other source of the love of good and of truth from good,
and so of the neighbor.
This is how love towards the neighbor is formed from its heavenly origin.
It makes no difference whether we say service or good;
performing services is doing good,
and good deeds are good
depending to what extent and in what way they are of use.

TCR 406, 410 - the neighbor

TCR 406
A person is not born for his own sake,
but for the sake of others;
that is, so that he should not live for himself alone,
but for others.

TCR 410 [2]
Since, then, every person is the neighbor,
and the variety of people is infinite,
and everyone is to be loved as a neighbor according to his good,
it is plain that there are genera and species
and also degrees of love to the neighbor.
And because the Lord is to be loved above all things,
it follows that the degrees of love towards the neighbor
are to be measured by love to the Lord,
that is, by how much of the Lord or of what is from the Lord
the other possesses in himself;
for thus far he possesses good,
since all good is from the Lord.

TCR 400 - there are two types of power

TCR 400 [8]
There are two types of power,
one based on love towards the neighbor,
the other on self-love.
These two types of power are opposites.
A person who wields power as a result of love to the neighbor,
wishes the good of all,
and likes nothing better than performing uses,
or being of service to others.
(Being of service to others is doing good to others
because one wishes them well, and performing uses.)
This is his love, and this is the pleasure of his heart.
Also, in so far as he is advanced to high rank, he is pleased,
not because of his rank,
but because of the uses he is then better able to perform . . ..
Such is power in the heavens.
On the other hand,
the person who wields power as a result of self-love,
wishes no one well, only himself and his own people.
The services he performs are for his own honor and glory,
for these are the only uses he recognizes.
He is of service to others only for the sake of having services done to him,
of being honored and given power.
He seeks high rank not so as to be able to do good,
but so as to hold a leading position and be highly honored,
and so fulfill his heart's pleasure.

TCR 394-395 - There are three universal loves, the love of heaven, the love of the world, and self-love.

TCR 394-395

There are three universal loves,
the love of heaven, the love of the world, and self-love.

These three loves make the starting point,
because they are universal and the foundation of all others,
and because charity has something in common with each of them.
The love of heaven means love to the Lord,
and also love towards the neighbor,
and since either of these has some service as its end in view,
it may be called the love of service.
The love of the world is not only the love of wealth and possessions,
but also the love of everything the world supplies
for the delight of the bodily senses;
for instance the beauty that charms the eyes,
the harmony that charms the ears,
the fragrance that charms the nose,
the delicacies that charm the tongue,
the soothing touches that charm the skin,
not to mention fine clothes, comfortable homes, parties,
and all the pleasures given by these and many other objects.
Self-love is not only the love of honors, glory, fame and eminence,
but also the love of winning and angling for offices,
and thus dominating others.
The reason charity has something in common
with each of these three loves
is that charity regarded in essence is the love of being of service.
Charity wants to do good to the neighbor
(and good is the same as being of service);
and each of these loves has services as its end in view,
the love of heaven spiritual services,
the love of the world natural services, which can be termed civic,
and self-love bodily services,
which can also be termed domestic ones for oneself and one's own people.

. . . these three loves . . . when they are properly ordered
they increase a person's perfection,
and when they are not, they corrupt him.
. . . these three loves are properly ordered
when the love of heaven makes up the head,
the love of the world the chest and belly,
and self-love the feet and soles of the feet.
The human mind is divided into three levels . . .
on the highest level a person looks towards God,
on the second or middle level the world,
and on the third or lowest level himself.
Since the mind is like this,
it can be raised or it can lift itself up, by looking to God and heaven;
it can be spread or spread itself laterally in every direction,
by looking to the world and nature in it;
and it can sink or let itself down, by looking to the ground and to hell.
In these respects the body's sight copies the mind's,
for it too can look up, look around and look down.

(Note: In the Ager translation, "the love of being of service"
is translated "love of uses", or another way of putting it,
service is use.)

TCR 388 - a definition of charity & faith

TCR 388 [5]
Charity is the affection of the love of doing good to the neighbor
for the sake of God, salvation and everlasting life;
and faith is thinking
from a trust in God, salvation and everlasting life.

TCR 387 - a third visit to the Temple of Wisdom

TCR 387
I went with him and he said to me, "These whom you see," for there were many others, "are all in the love of truth, and from that in the light of wisdom. And there is a palace here, which we call the Temple of Wisdom; but no one can see it who believes himself to be very wise, still less one who believes that he is wise enough, and less yet one who believes himself to be wise from himself. This is because such are not in a state to receive the light of heaven from a love of genuine wisdom. It is genuine wisdom for a man to see from the light of heaven that what he knows, understands, and is wise in, is so little in comparison with what he does not know and understand, and in which he is not wise, as to be like a drop to the ocean, consequently as almost nothing. Everyone who is in this paradisal garden, and who acknowledges both from perception and from seeing it in himself that his wisdom is relatively so slight, sees that Temple of Wisdom; for it is the inner light in man's mind that enables him to see it, and not the outer light apart from the inner."

[2] So because I had often thought, and had cause to acknowledge, first from knowledge, then from perception, and finally from inner light, that man has so little wisdom, behold, it was granted me to see that temple. In form it was wonderful. It was elevated high above the ground; it was four-square, with walls of crystal, a gracefully-arched roof of transparent jasper; and a substructure of various precious stones. The steps for ascent into it were of polished alabaster. At the sides of the steps there appeared figures of lions and their whelps.

I then asked if it was allowable to enter, and was told that it was. I therefore ascended the steps, and as I entered I saw cherub-like forms flying under the roof, but soon vanishing. The floor on which we walked was of cedar, and the whole temple, from the transparency of the roof and walls, was built to be a form of light.

[3] The angelic spirit entered with me, and I told him what I had heard from the two angels about love and wisdom, and about charity and faith The angel said, "Did they not also speak of a third?"

"What third?" I asked.

He replied, "The good of use. Love and wisdom apart from good of use are not anything; they are merely ideal entities, and they only become real when they exist in use; for love, wisdom, and use are three things that cannot be separated; if separated, neither of them is anything. Apart from wisdom love is nothing; but in wisdom it takes form for something; and that something for which it takes form is use; thus when love, by means of wisdom, is in use, it really is, because it actually exists. These are precisely like end, cause and effect; the end is nothing unless it is in effect through the cause; if either of these three passes away, the whole passes away and becomes as nothing.

[4] Also it is the same with charity, faith, and works. Apart from faith charity is nothing, neither is faith anything apart from charity, nor charity and faith anything apart from works; but in works they are something, and such a something as is the use of the works. It is the same with affection, thought, and operation; and the same with will, understanding, and action; for will apart from understanding is like an eye apart from sight, and both apart from action are like the mind apart from the body. That this is so can be clearly seen in this temple, because the light in which we are here is a light that enlightens the mind's interiors.

[5] That there is nothing complete and perfect unless it is a trine, geometry also teaches; for a line is nothing unless it becomes a surface, nor is a surface anything unless it becomes a solid; therefore one must pass into the other in order that they may have existence; and they have coexistence in the third. As it is in this, so it is also in each and all created things; they are terminated in a third. And it is from this that the number three signifies in the Word what is complete and whole. This being so, I could not but wonder that some professed to believe in faith alone, some in charity alone, and some in works alone, when yet one apart from the second, or both together apart from the third, are nothing."

[6] But I then asked, "Cannot a man have charity and faith, and yet not works? Cannot a man have a love for something, and give thought to it, and yet not be in the performance of it?" The angel answered me, "He cannot really, but only ideally; he must be in the endeavor or will to do; and the will or endeavor is the act in essence, because it is a continual effort to act; and when its termination is reached it becomes act in externals. Therefore endeavor and will, as the internal act, are accepted by every wise man, because they are accepted by God, precisely as the external act, provided there is no failure when opportunity offers."

TCR 379 - faith in the Lord is faith itself

TCR 379
There is only one true faith,
and this is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ,
and is possessed by those who believe
Him to be the Son of God,
the God of heaven and earth,
and one with the Father.

In Him is all the fulness of the Godhead.
Colossians 2:9

He is the God of heaven and earth.
Matthew 28:18

All things of the Father's are His.
John 3:35; 16:15

. . . faith in the Lord is faith itself . . ..
that the Lord is the Son of the living God,
is like the morning star to all who come into His church.

TCR 379 - faith in the Lord is faith itself

TCR 379
There is only one true faith,
and this is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ,
and is possessed by those who believe
Him to be the Son of God,
the God of heaven and earth,
and one with the Father.

In Him is all the fulness of the Godhead.
Colossiana. 2:9

He is the God of heaven and earth.
Matthew 28:18

All things of the Father's are His.
John 3:35; 16:15

. . . faith in the Lord is faith itself . . ..
that the Lord is the Son of the living God,
is like the morning star to all who come into His church.

TCR 374, 377 - the workings of charity with faith

TCR 374.
Charity is having good will,
and good deeds are doing good from a good will.

Charity and deeds are distinct from each other,
just as are the will and the action,
and as are the affection on the part of the mind
and the functioning of the body.
This is the same distinction as between the internal and the external person;
these are respectively like cause and effect,
since the causes of everything take form in the internal person,
and all the effects arise from this source in the external.
Therefore charity, being a quality of the internal person,
is having a good will;
and deeds, which belong to the external person,
are doing good from a good will.

. . . deeds in essence belong to the will,
in form to the understanding,
and in performance to the body.
That is how charity comes down to become good deeds.

TCR 377
Charity alone does not produce good deeds,
much less does faith alone,
but charity and faith together do.

This is because charity without faith is not charity,
neither is faith without charity faith . . ..
This is similar to the case of the will and the understanding.
The will does not exist by itself, so neither does it produce anything;
nor does the understanding exist by itself, or produce anything.
Everything that is produced comes from both acting together,
and is the product of the understanding activated by the will.
The reason why this is similar is
that the will is the dwellingplace of charity,
and the understanding is that of faith.
Faith alone is said to be much less productive,
because faith is truth, and its function is to create truths,
and these enlighten charity and its exercise.
The Lord teaches about this enlightenment when He said:

He who does the truth comes to the light,
so that his deeds may be made apparent,
since they are done in God.
John 3:21

When therefore a person does good deeds in accordance with truths,
he does them in light, that is to say, intelligently and wisely.

TCR 372 - charity and faith conjoin

TCR 372 [2]
. . . in so far as a person is in possession
of the kinds of good which make up charity
and the truths which make up faith,
so far is he in the Lord
and the Lord is in him.
For conjunction with the Lord is spiritual conjunction,
and this takes place solely through charity and faith.

TCR 363, 364, 366 - the omnipresence of the Lord

TCR 363
. . . the Lord, charity and faith make one,
just as in a person's life, will and understanding do . . .

TCR 364 [3]
Also, the Lord is omnipresent,
and where He is present,
there He is with His whole essence.
It is impossible for Him to take anything away from that essence,
so as to give a part to one and another part to another,
but He gives it in its entirety,
enabling a person to take a little or much.
He says too that He has His dwelling
with those who keep His commandments,
and that the faithful are in Him and He is in them.
In short, everything is full of God,
and from that fulness each takes his own share.

TCR 366
How the influences flowing in from the Lord
are received by the person depends upon his form.
Form here means the person's state
as regards his love together with his wisdom, in other words,
as regards his affections for the various kinds of good of charity,
and at the same time his perceptions of the truths of his faith.
. . . God is one, indivisible, and the same from eternity and for ever,
but not the same as a simple object but infinitely the same,
all the variation being due to the subject in whom God is.
The form or state of the receiver brings about the variations . . ..

[2] God's life is present in all its fullness
not only with good and religious people,
but also with wicked and irreligious people;
and in no way differently with the angels of heaven and the spirits of hell.
The difference is that the wicked block the path and close the door,
to prevent God entering the lower levels of their minds;
whereas the good smooth the path and open the door,
also inviting God to enter the lower levels of their minds,
even as He dwells in the highest levels.
. . . Every person has this ability,
and this could by no means be the case,
if life coming from God were not in his soul.

TCR 359 - a dwelling for the Lord

TCR 359
. . . a person can only acquire by his own efforts natural faith,
which is a firm belief that a thing is so
because an authoritative person so declared it.
He can also acquire only natural charity,
which is working in someone's favor for the sake of some reward.
These two contain a person's self,
and there is no life as yet from the Lord.
Still a person by either of these prepares himself to receive the Lord.
In so far as he prepares himself,
so far does the Lord come in and make his natural faith spiritual,
and likewise his charity, and so make both living.
These results follow
when a person approaches the Lord as the God of heaven and earth.

Since man was created an image of God,
he was created to be a dwelling for God. Therefore the Lord says:

He who has my commandments and does them,
he it is who loves me; and I shall love him,
and come to him and make my dwelling with him.
John 14:21, 23

TCR 348 - truth, the essence of faith

Truth is the essence of faith,
and therefore the nature of truth determines the nature of faith;
without truths it is errant,
with them it is stable.
Faith based on truths also shines in heaven like a star.

TCR 344-345 - a summary of the different spiritual and natural states of faith

TCR 344-345
The being of the faith of the new church is:
(1) Complete faith in the Lord God, the Saviour Jesus Christ;
(2) Trust, that a person who lives a good life
and holds a proper belief
is saved by Him.

The essence of the faith of the new church is: Truth from the Word.

The coming into being of the faith of the new church is:
(1) Spiritual sight.
(2) A harmony of truths.
(3) Conviction.
(4) Acknowledgment imprinted on the mind.

The states of the faith of the new church are:
(1) Infant faith, youthful faith and adult faith.
(2) Faith from genuine truth and faith from the appearances of truth.
(3) Faith from memory, faith from reason, faith from enlightenment.
(4) Natural faith, spiritual faith, celestial faith.
(5) Living faith and miraculous faith.
(6) Free faith and faith under compulsion.

Having given a summary of the things which go to make up spiritual faith,
I shall now give too a summary of the things
which go to make up purely natural faith.
This is essentially a firm conviction which pretends to be faith,
but is a conviction of falsity, known as heretical faith. Its various types are:
(1) Spurious faith, in which falsities are mixed with truths.
(2) Meretricious faith coming from falsified truths,
and adulterous faith coming from different kinds of adulterated good.
(3) Concealed or blind faith,
which is faith in mysteries which are believed in,
despite ignorance whether they are true or false,
or whether they are above the level of reason or contrary to it.
(4) Erratic faith, which is in a plurality of gods.
(5) One-eyed faith, which is in some god other than the true one,
and in the case of Christians in a god other than the Lord God the Saviour.
(6) Hypocritical or Pharisaical faith,
faith which is a faith of the lips, but not the heart.
(7) Imaginary or upside-down faith,
which is falsity made by clever arguments to seem like truth.

TCR 339 - faith in the Lord God the Saviour

TCR 339 [3]
Since He is God and man,
and can be approached and seen in the mind's eye,
this faith is not without a goal,
but has a goal from which it proceeds and to which it is directed;
and once accepted, it remains. . . .
The vision that faith gives is like looking at a shining cloud,
with an angel in its midst,
calling the person to himself so that he can be raised to heaven.
That is how the Lord appears to those who have faith in Him,
and He comes near to each individual,
to the extent that he knows and acknowledges Him.
This happens in so far as he knows and does His commandments,
that is, to shun evils and do good deeds;
and finally He comes to his house
and makes His dwelling with him together with the Father,
who is in Him, as this passage of John promises:

Jesus said, He who has my commandments and does them,
he it is who loves me;
and he who loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I shall love him and show myself to him.
And we shall come to him and make our dwelling with him.
John 14:21, 23

Blessed Easter!

TCR 335 - knowledge, intelligence & wisdom

TCR 335 [6]
. . .knowledge, intelligence and wisdom,
the means by which love develops successively in human beings.

TCR 329 - first, shun evils as sins

TCR 329 [2]
For no one can be adopted by the Lord,
until he has parted with the devil.

TCR 326 - the Lord taught

TCR 326 [2]
It is well known that while He was in the world
the Lord taught the interior doctrines of the church;
and these forbid one to long for evil actions.
This He taught,
so that the internal and external of a person
should make one.