AE 1174 - The Lord Gently, Quietly Leads As If By the Hand

AE 1174 [2-3]

The affections of man,
from which are his thoughts,
have extension
into societies in the spiritual world on every side,
into more or fewer of them
according to the amount and quality of the affection.
Man as to his spirit is within these societies,
and to them he is attached as it were with extended cords,
which determine the space where he can walk.
As he passes from one affection into another,
so he passes from one society into another,
and the society he is in,
and the place where he is in the society,
is the center from which the affection and its thought
extends to other societies as circumferences,
and these are thus in unbroken connection
with the affection at the center,
and from that affection man then thinks and speaks.

Man acquires this sphere,
which is the sphere of his affections and thoughts therefrom,
while he is in the world;
from hell if he is evil,
from heaven if he is good.
Of this man is ignorant,
because he does not know that such things exist.
Through these societies man, that is, man's mind,
although bound walks free;
but he is led by the Lord,
and he takes no step into which and from which
the Lord does not lead;
and yet the Lord grants continually
that man shall have no other thought
than that he goes of himself in full liberty;
and he is permitted to persuade himself of this
because it is according to a law of the Divine providence
that man shall go whithersoever his affection wills.
If his affection is evil
he is conveyed through infernal societies;
and if he does not look to the Lord
he is carried into these societies more interiorly and deeply.
And yet the Lord leads him as if by the hand,
permitting and withholding
as far as man is willing to follow in freedom.
But if man looks to the Lord
he is led forth from these societies gradually,
according to the order and connection in which they stand,
which order and connection no one knows
but the Lord only,
and thus he is brought by continual steps
out of hell up towards heaven and into heaven.


The Lord does this without the man's knowing it,
because if man knew it
he would disturb the continuity of that process
by leading himself.
It is enough for man to learn truths from the Word,
and by means of truths to know what good is,
and from truths and goods what evils and falsities are,
in order that he may be affected by truths and goods,
and not be affected by falsities and evils.
Before he knows goods and truths
he may have a knowledge of evils and falsities,
but he is not able to see them and perceive them.
In this and in no other way
can man be led from one affection into another
in freedom and as if of himself.
This is done
by leading according to the affection of truth and good
when man acknowledges
the Lord's Divine providence in every particular;
and it is done by permission
according to an affection for evil and falsity
when man does not acknowledge such a providence.
So, too, man becomes capable of receiving intelligence
corresponding to affection;
and this he receives so far as from truths
he fights against evils as if of himself.
This must be revealed,
because it is not known
that the Divine providence is continual,
and enters into the most minute things of man's life,
and because it is not known how this can be.