AE 846 - The Dangers of Thinking From Natural Light

 AE 846 [3]

. . . the Lord wishes a person
both to know the truths of His church
and also to understand them;
not, however,
from natural light separated from spiritual light;
for natural light separated from spiritual light,
in the things of heaven or in spiritual matters,
is not light but thick darkness.
For a person,
from natural light separated from spiritual light,
views the things of the church from self
and not from the Lord,
and consequently
he can see them only from appearances and fallacies;
and to see them from these is to see falsities for truths,
and evils for goods.
The fire that propagates and enkindles that light
is the love of self
and the consequent pride of self-intelligence.
Man who thinks from that fire and that light
so far as he excels in genius
and thence in the ability to confirm whatever he pleases,
so far he is able to so confirm falsities and evils
as to make them appear to be truths and goods,
and can even set forth falsities and evils
in a resplendent natural light, which is, nevertheless,
a delusive light that has been thus exalted by art.
But to apprehend church matters by this light
is not to understand them,
but rather to not understand them,
since by that light alone a person sees truths as falsities,
and falsities as truths.
This is especially so when any accepted dogma
is assumed to be the truth itself,
with no previous investigation whether it be true or not;
or if investigated
is investigated only through what has been established
by reasonings from the natural person,
and by confirmations from the Word not understood.
When a person views
all the dogmas of his religion in this way
he can assume as a principle whatever he pleases,
and can so impart to it
the light of confirmation
as to make it to appear to be a truth from heaven,
although it is a falsity from hell.