AC 560-561 - What Are Remains?

AC 560 - 561

From remains, that is, through remains from the Lord,
man is able to be as man,
to know what is good and true,
to reflect upon matters of every kind,
and consequently to think and to reason;
for in remains alone is there spiritual and celestial life.

But what are remains?
They are not only the goods and truths
that a man has learned from the Lord's Word from infancy,
and has thus impressed on his memory,
but they are also all the resulting states,
such as states of innocence from infancy;
states of love toward parents, brothers, teachers, friends;
states of charity toward the neighbor,
and also of pity for the poor and needy;
in a word, all states of good and truth.
These states
together with the goods and truths impressed on the memory,
are called remains,
which are preserved in man by the Lord
and are stored up,
entirely without his knowledge, in his internal man,
and are completely separated from the things
that are the person's own, that is, from evils and falsities.
All these states are so preserved in man by the Lord
that not the least of them is lost . . ..