CL 52 - Married Couples in Heaven

CL 52

. . . regarded in themselves,
spiritual things relate to love an wisdom.
Consequently, it is spiritual things
are born of their marriages.

. . . because conjugial love perfects an angel, 
since it unites him with his partner 
so that he becomes more and more human. 
For, as we said above, 
married couples in heaven are not two but one angel. 
Therefore by the conjugial union 
they fulfill themselves in respect to their humanity, 
which is to want to be wise
and to love what has to do with wisdom.

 

CL 46, 48r - Our Inner Being, Our Inner Love, After Death

CL 46

All a person's love goes with him after death, 
because love is the inner being of his life. 
And the dominant love, which heads the rest, 
remains in a person to eternity, 
along with other loves subordinate to it. 
These loves remain, 
because love is properly an affection 
of the spirit in a person 
and is felt in the body from the spirit. 
And since a person becomes a spirit after death, 
he consequently carries his love with him. 
Moreover, since love 
is the inner being of a person's life, 
it is apparent that a person's lot after death 
becomes such as his life was in the world.

CL 48 (repeated) [1-4]

Everyone is first introduced after death into a world 
that is called the world of spirits, 
which is midway between heaven and hell; 
and there he is prepared, 
for heaven if he is good, 
and for hell if he is evil.

The purpose of the preparation in that world 
is to bring the inner reality 
and the outer appearance into harmony, 
so that the internal and external become one, 
instead of being at variance and divided in two. 
They are divided in two in the natural world, 
and only in the case of people 
who have an honest heart 
do they become one. 
(That they are divided in two 
is apparent from crafty and deceitful people, 
especially from hypocrites, flatterers, fakes and liars.)

In the spiritual world, however, 
one is not permitted to have a mind divided like that, 
but a person who had been evil inwardly 
must also be evil outwardly. 
So, too, with a good person, 
who must be good in both ways.

For every person after death 
becomes what he had been like inwardly, 
and not what he had been like outwardly.

To achieve this end, 
the person is then brought by turns 
into his external character 
and alternately into his internal one. 
And everybody is wise 
so long as he is in his external character; 
that is, he tries to appear wise — 
even one who is evil. 
But if he is evil, 
the same person is irrational in his internal character. 
By these alternations 
he can see his insanities and recover from them. 
However, if he had not 
come to his senses in the world, 
he cannot do so afterward, 
because he loves his insanities 
and wants to remain in them. 
Therefore he forces his external character 
into becoming similarly irrational as well. 
So his internal and external characters become one, 
and when this happens, he is ready for hell.

It is quite different, on the other hand, 
if the person is good. 
Because he had looked to God 
and come to his senses in the world,
in his internal character 
he was wiser than in his external life. 
In his external life 
he sometimes even acted irrationally 
owing to the enticements and vanities of the world. 
Therefore his external character 
is also reduced to harmony with his internal one, 
which, as we said, is wise. 
And when this happens, 
he is ready for heaven.

 

CL 44 - Are There Marriages in Heaven?

CL 44 [10]

"There are marriages in heaven, as on earth, 
but only in the case of people there 
who already possess 
a marriage of goodness and truth. 
They are the only ones who become angels. 
Therefore spiritual marriages are meant in the Word, 
which are marriages of goodness and truth. 
These spiritual marriages take place on earth 
and not after death, 
thus not in heaven. 
So it is said of the five foolish virgins — 
even though they, too, were invited to the wedding — 
that they could not go in, 
because they did not have 
a marriage of goodness and truth, 
since they had no oil, but only lamps.

"Goodness is meant by oil, and truth by lamps. 
And to be given in marriage 
is to enter into heaven where that marriage is."

 

CL 36 - After Death A Person Is What He Loves and Thinks

CL 36

Everyone's own love remains in him after death 
for the reason that love is a person's life, 
and consequently it is the real person. 
A person is also what he thinks,
thus what his intelligence and wisdom are, 
but these are united with his love. 
For a person thinks because of his love
and according to it; 
in fact, if he is free to do so, 
he speaks and acts from it. 
From this it can be seen 
that love is the being or essence of a person's life, 
and that thought is the resulting expression 
or manifestation of his life. 
Speech and action that spring from thought, 
therefore, do not spring from thought, 
but from love acting through thought.

. . . a person after death is not what he thinks 
but what his affection is 
and what he thinks from that, 
which is to say that he is what his love is 
and subsequently his intelligence. 
. . . after death a person puts away 
everything that is not in harmony with his love; 
indeed, that he progressively takes on 
the look, sound, speech, behavior and manners 
of his life's love. 
It is for this reason that the whole of heaven 
has been set in order 
according to all the varieties in the affections 
connected with the love of good, 
and that the whole of hell has been arranged 
according to all the affections 
connected with the love of evil.

 

 

CL 29, 31 - Natural People Become Spiritual People

CL 29

. . . the Lord, who is Jehovah from eternity 
and the Creator of the universe . . . 
has provided that the condition of a person 
who conjoins himself with Him 
by living according to His commandments 
be more blessed and happy after death 
than his condition before it in the world, 
and that it be more blessed and happy 
for the reason that the person is then spiritual, 
and a spiritual person feels 
and experiences spiritual delight, 
which is superior to natural delight, 
because it exceeds it a thousand times. 

CL 31

. . . after death a person is not a natural person, 
but a spiritual person, 
and yet he appears just the same to himself, 
and so much the same that he is not aware 
of being anywhere else than still in the natural world. 
For he is the same in body, 
in facial appearance, 
in speech and in the sensations he feels, 
because he is the same in affection and thought, 
having the same will and intellect.

He is, in fact, not actually the same, 
because he is spiritual 
and therefore an interior person. 
But the difference is not apparent to him, 
because he cannot compare his present state 
with his earlier, natural state, 
having put off the natural state 
and being in a spiritual state.

A person after death 
is a spiritual or essential person 
because the spiritual or essential person 
lay hidden within the natural or material person. 
The latter served him as clothing, 
or like a shell to be put off, 
and when it is laid aside, 
the spiritual or essential person emerges, 
being thus purer, more interior and more perfect.

A spiritual person is still a complete person, 
even though not visible to a natural person.

 

CL 18 - Wisdom and the Bonds of Useful Service

CL 18

. . .  wisdom in the case of angels 
never comes to an end and stops, 
but grows and increases to eternity.

. . . the abode of wisdom . . . 
lies in useful service.

"When human beings were first created, 
they were imbued with wisdom 
and a love of wisdom, 
not for their own sake, 
but for the sake of their having it 
to share with others. 
Therefore it was engraved 
on the wisdom of the wise 
that no one should be wise 
and live for himself alone, 
unless he was wise 
and lived at the same time for others. 
This was the origin of society, 
which otherwise would not exist. 
To live for others is to perform useful services. 
Useful services are the bonds of society, 
there being as many bonds 
as there are good and useful services, 
and useful services are unlimited in number.

"Useful services are spiritual 
when they have to do with 
love toward God and love for the neighbor. 
They are moral and civic services 
when they have to do with love for 
the society or civil state in which a person resides, 
and with love of the companions and fellow citizens 
with whom he is associated. 
Useful services are natural 
when they have to do with 
love of the world and its necessities. 
And they are corporeal 
when they have to do with 
the love of self-preservation 
for the sake of higher uses.

 

"What Then Is Heavenly Joy?"

** (It is not simply in delightful associations 
and enjoyable conversations.)

CL 5 [3-4]

The angel answered, briefly, 
"It is the pleasure of doing something 
that is of use to oneself and to others, 
and the pleasure in being useful
takes its essence from love 
and its expression from wisdom. 
The pleasure in being useful, 
springing from love through wisdom,
is the life and soul of all heavenly joys.

"Angels in heaven enjoy delightful associations 
which stimulate their minds,
gladden their spirits, gratify their hearts, 
and recreate their bodies. 
But they enjoy these associations after 
they have performed useful services 
in their occupations and employments. 
The life and soul in all their delights and pleasures 
comes from the useful services they perform. 
If you take away that life or soul, however, 
the subsidiary joys gradually become no longer joys, 
but first matters of indifference, 
then stupid, and finally dreary and distressing."

** (It is not continual dining with esteemed leaders.)

CL 6 [6-7]

"Latent in the affection of every angel's will 
is a certain inner tendency 
which draws the mind to accomplish something. 
By accomplishment 
the mind finds peace and satisfaction. 
This satisfaction and peace produce 
a state of mind receptive of a love 
of useful service from the Lord. 
From the reception of this love comes 
heavenly happiness, 
which is the life in the joys just referred to.

"Heavenly food in its essence 
is nothing else than 
love, wisdom and useful service combined, 
that is, useful service accomplished 
through wisdom out of love. 
Consequently in heaven 
everyone is given food for the body 
in accordance with the useful service he performs — 
magnificent food in the case of those engaged in 
outstanding service, 
modest food but of excellent flavor and taste 
in the case of those in an intermediate degree 
of useful service, 
and humble food in the case of those 
in humble service, 
while the lazy receive none."

** (It is not in positions of great power.)

CL 7 [3-4]

Have you forgotten the Lord's words, 
that in heaven whoever desires to be great 
becomes a servant?

"Learn therefore what is meant by kings and princes 
and by reigning with Christ. 
It means to be wise and perform useful services. 
For the kingdom of Christ, namely, heaven, 
is a kingdom of useful services. 
The reason is that the Lord loves all people 
and so wills good to all, 
and good means useful service. 
Now because the Lord 
performs good or useful services 
indirectly through angels, 
and in the world through people, 
therefore to those 
who faithfully perform useful services 
He gives a love of being useful and its reward. 
The reward is internal blessedness, 
and this blessedness is eternal happiness.

"Positions of great power 
and possessions of great riches 
exist in heaven as well as on earth, 
for they have governments 
and forms of government in heaven 
and so also greater and lesser positions 
of power and rank.

. . . "Yet the people in the highest positions 
are chosen from those 
whose heart is in the public welfare, 
and only their bodily senses 
in the grandeur of magnificence 
for the sake of being obeyed. 
And because it contributes to the public welfare 
for everyone to be of some useful service in society, 
as in a common body, 
and because all useful service 
comes from the Lord 
and is rendered through angels and men 
as though from them, 
it is evident 
that this is what it is to reign with the Lord."

** (It is not in the delights of a paradise.)

CL 8 [4

". . . heavenly joy and so eternal happiness are . . .
not the outward delights of a paradise 
unless they include at the same time 
the inward delights of a paradise.

"The outward delights of a paradise," he said, 
"are only delights of the physical senses, 
while the inward delights of a paradise 
are delights of the affections of the soul. 
Unless the inward delights are in the outward, 
there is no heavenly life, 
because the soul is not in them, 
and every delight without its corresponding soul
at once grows weak and dull, 
wearying the mind more than labor. 
Garden paradises exist everywhere in the heavens, 
and they are also sources of joy to the angels, 
but the joys are joys to the angels to the degree 
that a delight of the soul is in them."

. . . "Delight of the soul comes from 
love and wisdom from the Lord. 
And because love is creative of effects, 
and is effective through wisdom, 
therefore the abode of both love and wisdom 
is in the effect, 
and the effect is useful service. 
This delight flows from the Lord into the soul, 
and it descends through 
the higher and lower regions of the mind 
into all the senses of the body 
and fulfills itself in them. 
Joy becomes joy from this, 
and it becomes eternal from Him 
who is its eternal source.

"You have seen what paradise holds, 
but I assure you that there is not one thing there, 
not even a tiny leaf, 
that does not originate from 
a marriage of love and wisdom in useful service. 
Consequently if a person is in this marriage, 
he is in a heavenly paradise, thus in heaven."

** (It is not continually glorifying God and
religious celebrations.)

CL 9 [4]

". . . what is meant by glorifying God. 
It means to bring forth the fruits of love, 
that is, to perform the work of one's occupation 
faithfully, honestly, and diligently. 
For this is the effect of love of God 
and love of the neighbor, 
and it is what binds society together 
and makes its goodness. 
It is by this that God is glorified, 
and afterwards by worship at prescribed times. 
Have you not read these words of the Lord:

By this My Father is glorified, 
that you bear much fruit 
and become My disciples.
(John 15:8)

** (It is not simply admission into heaven.)

CL 10 [7-8]

". . . the joys of heaven and eternal happiness 
do not have to do with location, 
but with the state of a person's life. 
The state of heavenly life 
comes from love and wisdom. 
And because useful service 
is the containing vessel 
of both love and wisdom, 
the state of heavenly life comes from
 a combination of these two in useful service.

"It is the same if we use the terms 
charity, faith, and good work, 
since charity is love, 
faith is truth that results in wisdom, 
and good work is useful service.

"Furthermore, in our spiritual world 
we have locations just as in the natural world. 
Otherwise we would not have dwellings 
and separate places to stay. 
Still a location there is not a place, 
but it is an appearance of place 
according to some state of love and wisdom 
or of charity and faith.

"Everyone who becomes an angel 
carries his own heaven within him, 
because he carries the love 
that belongs to his heaven. 
For a person from creation is 
a little effigy, image and replica of the larger heaven. 
The human form is nothing else. 
Therefore everyone comes into a society of heaven 
of which he is a form in individual effigy. 
Consequently when he comes into that society, 
he enters into a form corresponding to himself, 
thus passing as if out of himself into that larger self, 
and entering as if from that larger self 
into the same self within him, 
so that he draws its life as his own, 
and his own life as life belonging to it.

"Every society is like a whole unit, 
and the angels in it 
like similar parts out of which the whole is formed."

 

AR 962 - The Holy Spirit

AR 962 [11] 

Since the Lord's Divine operation 
and His Divine omnipresence 
are meant by the Holy Spirit, 
therefore when He spoke to His disciples about 
the Holy Spirit whom God the Father would send, 
He also said:

I will not leave you orphans . . . 
I am going away and coming back to you. 
(John 14:18, 28)

And:

At that day you will know 
that I am in My Father, 
and you in Me, 
and I in you. 
(John 14:20)

And just before He departed from the world He said:

Lo, I am with you always, 
even to the culmination of the age. 
(Matthew 28:20)

 

AR 961 - God is Absolute

AR 961 [4]

"God is absolute," they said, 
"because He is love itself, wisdom itself, 
good itself, truth itself, and life itself. 
If these were not absolute in God, 
they would have no reality in heaven 
or in the world, 
as they would have no relation to anything absolute. 
Every quality is accorded its quality from the fact 
that there is something absolute 
from which it springs 
and to which it has relation so as to be what it is.

"This absolute entity, 
which is the Divine being, 
does not exist in space, 
but is present with people and in people 
who live in space, 
in accordance with their reception, 
since love and wisdom, 
and goodness and truth, 
which are absolute in God, 
indeed which are God Himself, 
cannot have location predicated of them, 
or a progression from place to place, 
but are independent of space, 
and so omnipresent. 
Therefore the Lord says that He is 
in the midst of His disciples, 
and that He is in them and they in Him."

AR 956 - To Those Who Hear and Thirst: "Come!"

AR 956

And let him who hears say, "Come!" 
And let him who thirsts come. 
Whoever desires, 
let him take the water of life freely. 
(Revelation 22:17)

. . . "Let him who hears say, 'Come!'" 
symbolically means 
that anyone who hears about the Lord's coming 
and about the New Heaven and New Church, 
thus about the Lord's kingdom, 
and so has some knowledge of these, 
should pray for the Lord to come. 
"Let him who thirsts say, 'Come!'" 
symbolically means 
that anyone who longs for 
the Lord's kingdom and truths 
at that time should pray for the Lord to come with light. 
"Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely" 
symbolically means 
that whoever is moved by love to learn truths 
and assimilate them into himself 
will receive them from the Lord 
apart from any endeavors of his own. 
To desire symbolizes love, 
because whatever a person desires from the heart 
is something he loves, 
and whatever he loves 
is something he desires from the heart. 
The water of life symbolizes Divine truths 
obtained from the Lord through the Word, 
and to obtain them freely means, symbolically, 
apart from any endeavors of his own.

Something similar 
to the symbolic meaning in this verse 
is that of the wish contained in the Lord's Prayer, 
"Your kingdom come, 
Your will be done, 
as in heaven, so upon the earth". 
The Lord's kingdom 
is the church that is united with heaven. 
So it is that we are now told, 
"Let him who hears say, 'Come!' 
And let him who thirsts come."

. . . "To him who thirsts 
I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely."
(Revelation 21:6)

The last symbolically means 
that to those who desire truths 
for some useful spiritual purpose, 
the Lord will give of Himself through the Word 
everything conducive to that useful purpose.

 

AR 954 - Root and Offspring and the Bright and Morning Star

AR 954

"I am the Root and the Offspring of David, 
the Bright and Morning Star." 
(Revelation 22:15)

I am the root and the offspring of David 
means, symbolically, 
that He is the same Lord 
who was born into the world, 
thus the Lord in His Divine humanity. 
That is why He is called
the root and offspring of David . . ..

His being called the bright and morning star 
means, symbolically, that He was then the light, 
and that He is about to come with new light, 
which will arise before the eyes of His New Church, 
which is the Holy Jerusalem. 
He is called a bright star because of 
the light with which He came into the world. 
. . . He is called the morning star as well 
because of the light which will arise from Him 
before the eyes of the New Church, 
which is the New Jerusalem. 
For a star symbolizes light from the Lord, 
which in its essence is wisdom and understanding, 
and the morning or dawn
symbolizes His advent and a new church . . ..

 

AR 951 - "For Without Me You Can Do Nothing"

AR 951

Blessed are those who do His commandments, 
that they may have their power in the tree of life, 
and may enter through the gates into the city. 
(Revelation 22:14)

. . . The blessed symbolize people 
who possess the felicity of eternal life. 
To do the Lord's commandments 
means, symbolically, 
to live in accordance with His commandments. 
That they may have their power in the tree of life 
means, symbolically, in order that through love, 
that is, for the Lord's sake, 
they may be in the Lord and have the Lord in them, 
which we explain below. 
To enter through the gates into the city 
means, symbolically, 
that they may be in the Lord's New Church 
through concepts of Him. 
The gates in the wall of the New Jerusalem 
symbolize concepts 
of goodness and truth from the Word, 
and because each gate consisted of a single pearl, 
the gates symbolize principally concepts of the Lord. 
The city, that is, Jerusalem, symbolizes 
the New Church together with its doctrine.

That they may have their power 
in the tree of life means, symbolically, 
in order that through love, 
that is, for the Lord's sake, 
they may be in the Lord and have the Lord in them, 
because the tree of life symbolizes the Lord 
in respect to His Divine love. 
And the power in that tree 
symbolizes power from the Lord, 
because they are in the Lord 
and have the Lord in them. 
The symbolic meaning of this 
is similar to that of the declaration 
that they will reign with the Lord.

That people who are in the Lord 
and have the Lord in them 
possess all the power needed 
to be able to do whatever they will, 
the Lord Himself says in John:

He who abides in Me, 
and I in him, 
bears much fruit; 
for without Me you can do nothing . . . 
If you abide in Me, 
and My words abide in you, 
you will ask what you desire, 
and it shall be done for you.
(John 15:5, 7)

. . . This describes the power those people have 
who are in the Lord. 
They do not wish for and so do not ask for 
anything that does not come from the Lord; 
and whatever they wish for and ask from the Lord, 
this comes to pass, for the Lord says, 
"without Me you can do nothing. 
Abide in Me, and I in you." 
Such is the power that angels in heaven have, 
that they have only to wish for something 
in order to obtain it. 
But still they wish only for things 
that may be of useful service, 
wishing this as though of themselves, 
but in fact from the Lord.

 

AR 949 - "Behold, I Am Coming Quickly"

AR 949 [2]

People know that charity and faith come 
not from man, 
but from the Lord. 
And because they come from the Lord, 
they are received in accordance with 
a person's conjunction with Him, 
and a conjunction with Him is formed 
through faith in Him 
and living in accordance with His commandments. 
Faith in Him means 
a confidence that He will save, 
and this confidence is found in people 
who turn to Him directly 
and refrain from evils as being sins. 
Such a faith is not possible in others.

We said that "My reward is with Me" 
symbolically means 
that the Lord's very presence is heaven 
and the felicity of eternal life, 
for the reward is an inward bliss, called peace, 
and a consequent outer joy. 
This is possible only from the Lord, 
and whatever comes from the Lord 
not only emanates from Him, 
but also constitutes His very presence. 
For the Lord cannot emit anything from Himself 
without His being present in it. 
Indeed, He is omnipresent in everyone
in accordance with some conjunction, 
and the conjunction depends on reception, 
and the reception on love and wisdom, 
or if you please, on charity and faith, 
and charity and faith on the person's way of life, 
and the person's way of life 
on an aversion to evil and falsity, 
and an aversion to evil and falsity 
on knowing what evil and falsity are, 
and on repenting then 
and at the same time looking to the Lord.

 

AC 8455 - 'Dew' Means the Truth of Peace

AC 8455

'There was a deposit of dew around the camp' 
(Exodus 16:13) 

. . . The reason why 'dew' means the truth of peace 
is that it comes down in the morning 
from heaven or the sky 
and on grassland looks like a light shower of rain. 
But also it holds a certain sweetness or pleasantness, 
more so than a shower of rain does, 
and causes grass and crops in the field to rejoice. 
And 'morning' is a state of peace. 
. . . peace is . . . said to be like the dawn on earth, 
which fills people's minds with overall delight. 
And the truth of peace is like the light of dawn. 
This truth 
which is being called the truth of peace 
is the Divine Truth itself 
present in heaven and coming from the Lord; 
it influences all there without exception, 
and causes heaven to be heaven. 
Peace holds within itself trust in the Lord, 
the trust that He governs all things 
and provides all things, 
and that He leads towards an end that is good. 
When a person believes these things about Him 
he is at peace, 
since he fears nothing 
and no anxiety about things to come disturbs him.
How far a person attains this state 
depends on how far he attains love to the Lord.

 

AR 945 - John Saw In the State of His Spirit

AR 945 

Now I, John, saw and heard these things. 
And when I heard and saw, 
I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel 
who showed me these things.
(Revelation 22:8)

. . . The Lord sent the angel to John 
in order to keep him in a state of the spirit 
and to show him in that state the visions he saw. 
For whatever John saw, 
he saw not with the eyes of his body, 
but with the eyes of his spirit . . ..
And a person can enter that state 
and be kept in it 
only by angels 
who are closely attached to the person, 
who induce their own spiritual state 
on the interiors of his mind. 
For this raises the person into the light of heaven, 
and in that light 
he sees sights in heaven and not in the world.
 

AR 940 - The New Jerusalem Receives Into It

AR 940 [1]

. . . the New Jerusalem continually receives into it
people who possess truths 
from the goodness of love from the Lord,
because it has no falsity in its faith.

 

AR 937 - The Lord Is Present and Can Have Conjunction With Everyone

AR 937 [2, 3]

. . . the Lord is present with everyone 
in accordance with his faith, 
and conjoined with a person 
in accordance with his love. 
Faith and the Lord's consequent presence 
are brought about 
by concepts of truths from the Word, 
especially those concepts in it 
regarding the Lord Himself, 
while love and a consequent 
conjunction with the Lord 
are brought about by living 
in accordance with His commandments. 
For the Lord says,

He who has My commandments and keeps them, 
it is he who loves Me . . ., 
and I will love him and . . . 
make (My) abode with him. 
(John 14:21-24)

To the extent, therefore, 
that evils with their delights are thus removed, 
to the same extent the Lord's love enters, 
which, as we said, is universal toward all, 
and the person is then withdrawn from hell 
and introduced into heaven.

This process is something 
the person must accomplish in the world, 
for the character of a person in the world
in respect to his spirit 
remains the same to eternity, 
the only difference being 
that if he has lived rightly, 
his state becomes more and more perfect, 
because he is then not encompassed 
by a material body, 
but lives as a spiritual being in a spiritual body.

 

AR 936 - The Leaves of the Tree Are Rational Truths that Heal

AR 936 [1, 2-3]

The leaves of the tree 
were for the healing of the nations.
(Revelation 22:2)

. . . Nations . . . symbolize people caught up 
in evils and the accompanying falsities, 
because we are told 
that the leaves were for healing them, 
and people caught up in evils 
and the accompanying falsities 
cannot be healed by the Word, 
because they do not read it. 
However, if they have the judgment, 
they can be healed by rational truths.

That leaves symbolize rational truths 
is clearly apparent 
from things seen in the spiritual world. 
For trees are also seen there, 
with leaves and fruits. 
Gardens and parks are found there 
that consist of trees.
In the case of people possessing goods of love 
and at the same time truths of wisdom, 
fruit trees are seen 
with an abundance of beautiful leaves. 
But in the case of people 
who possess the truths of some wisdom, 
and who speak in accordance with reason, 
but lack goods of love, 
the trees appear full of leaves, 
but without any fruits. 
And in the case of people 
without any goods or truths of wisdom, 
the only trees seen are bare of any leaves, 
like trees in winter in the world. 
An irrational person is just such a tree.

Rational truths are truths 
which most readily welcome spiritual truths, 
for a person's rational mind 
is the first receptacle of spiritual truths. 
Indeed, seated in a person's rational mind 
is his perception of truth 
in a form that the person does not himself see 
by deliberation, as he does the ideas 
that reside beneath his rational mind 
in a lower level of thought 
that is connected with his outer sight.

 

AR 933, 935 - The Love That Comes From the Divine

AR 933 [1-2]

. . . inmostly present within the doctrinal truths
and consequent life in the New Church
is the Lord in His Divine love,
from whom flow all the goods that a person does,
apparently as though of himself.

This is the case with people 
who turn directly to the Lord
and refrain from evils because they are sins,
thus with people who will be in the Lord's New Church,
which is the New Jerusalem.
For people who do not turn directly to the Lord
cannot be conjoined with Him,
thus not with the Father either,
and therefore they cannot possess 
the love that comes from the Divine.
Indeed, it is sight that conjoins --
not an intellectual sight alone,
but a sight of the intellect
that springs from an affection of the will.
And an affection of the will is present
only if a person keeps the Lord's commandments.


AR 935 [2]

. . . the good that the Lord produces in a person
accords with the state of truth in him
that forms his understanding.

  

AR 932 - The Pure River of Truths

AR 932 [2]

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, 
bright as crystal, 
flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
(Revelation 22:1)

. . . the river of water of life here means in particular 
an abundance of Divine truths 
in the book of Revelation, 
which the Lord has now revealed . . .. 
The subject . . . is the book of this prophecy, 
and we are told 
that the things written in it must be kept.
They could not be kept 
before the things contained in it were revealed 
by showing their spiritual meaning, 
because they would not have been understood 
before then.

The book of Revelation, moreover, 
is also the Word, 
like the prophetic Word of the Old Testament, 
and disclosed now in the book of Revelation 
are the evils and falsities of the church 
that one must refrain from and avoid, 
and the goods and truths of the church 
that one must do, 
especially those regarding the Lord 
and eternal life from Him. 
These same things, indeed, 
are taught in the books of the prophets, 
but not so plainly as in the Gospels 
and the book of Revelation. 
These Divine truths regarding the Lord 
as being God of heaven and earth — 
truths which then emanate from Him 
and are received by people 
who will be in the New Jerusalem, 
truths that are contained in the book of Revelation — 
are those meant in particular 
by the river of water of life, 
bright as crystal, 
flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

 

AR 924 - A Lie

AR 924

A lie symbolizes doctrinal falsity
because that is what a spiritual lie is.
To create a lie, therefore,
symbolically means 
to live in accordance with doctrinal falsities.

 

AR 923 - The Church and Religion

AR 923

And they shall bring the glory and the honor 
of the nations into it. 
(Revelation 21:26)

This symbolically means 
that those who enter the New Jerusalem 
will bring with them 
a confession, acknowledgment and faith 
that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, 
and that every truth of the church 
and every good of religion 
comes from Him.

. . . Almost the same symbolism
occurs in the following verse in Isaiah:

. . . I will spread peace over (Jerusalem) . . .,
and the glory of the nations like a . . . stream. 
(Isaiah 66:12)

We say the truth of the church 
and the good of religion 
because the church is one thing 
and religion another. 
The church is called a church 
because of its doctrine, 
and religion is called religion
because of its life in accordance with doctrine. 
Every teaching of doctrine is called truth, 
and the good of doctrine is also truth, 
because doctrine only teaches it. 
But every effect of a life 
in accordance with what doctrine teaches 
is what we call good. 
Putting the truths of doctrine into practice 
is also good. 
This is the distinction 
between the church and religion. 
But still, where there is doctrine and not life, 
neither the church nor religion 
can be said to exist, 
because doctrine regards life as united with it, 
altogether like truth and good, 
faith and charity, 
wisdom and love, 
and intellect and will. 
Consequently, where there is doctrine and not life, 
the church does not exist.

 

AR 919 -The Sun and Moon; AR 950 - The Nations That Are Saved

AR 919

The city had no need 
of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, 
for the glory of God illuminated it, 
and the Lamb is its lamp.
(Revelation 21:23)

The sun here symbolizes natural love 
divorced from spiritual love, which is self-love. 
And the moon symbolizes a natural intelligence 
and faith divorced from 
a spiritual intelligence and faith, 
which is one's native intelligence 
and a self-made faith. 
This is the love and the intelligence and faith 
symbolized by the sun and moon here, 
which people of the Lord's New Church 
will have no need of 
to light their sight.

. . . the sun symbolizes love for the Lord, 
and in an opposite sense self-love . . .. 
. . . the moon symbolizes intelligence from the Lord 
and faith from Him . . .. 
Thus the moon in an opposite sense 
symbolizes one's native intelligence 
and a self-made faith.

Since the sun in an opposite sense 
symbolizes self-love, 
and the moon one's native intelligence 
and a self-made faith, 
therefore it was an abomination 
to worship the sun, moon and stars . . ..

AR 920

And the nations that are saved shall walk in its light. 
(Revelation 21:24)

. . . The nations symbolize 
people who live a good life, 
and also people who live an evil life. 
Here they symbolize people who live a good life 
and believe in the Lord, 
because they are called nations that are saved. 
To walk in light means, symbolically, 
to live in accordance with Divine truths 
and to see them inwardly in oneself 
as the eye sees objects. 
For the objects of spiritual sight, 
which are those of the inner intellect, 
are spiritual truths, 
and people who possess that intellect 
see them in a manner analogous to the way 
the eyes see natural objects. 
The light here 
symbolizes a perception of Divine truth 
from an inner enlightenment in those people 
from the Lord, 
and to walk symbolizes to live. 
From this it is apparent 
that to walk in the light of the New Jerusalem 
symbolically means to perceive and see 
Divine truths from an inner enlightenment 
and to live in accordance with them.

 

AR 916 - One Precious Pearl, One Concept of the Lord

AR 916

The twelve gates were twelve pearls: 
each gate was of one pearl. 
(Revelation 21:21)

. . . The twelve gates symbolize in sum 
the concepts of truth and goodness 
by which a person is introduced into the church. 
Twelve pearls also symbolize in sum 
concepts of truth and goodness. 
That is why the gates were pearls. 
Each gate was of one pearl 
because all the concepts of truth and goodness 
symbolized by the gates and by pearls 
relate to a single concept, 
one that is their containing vessel, 
and that single concept is a concept of the Lord. 
We say, a single concept, 
even though there are many 
that make up that single concept, 
for a concept of the Lord 
pervades all other doctrinal concepts, 
and so all concerns having to do with the church. 
All matters of worship 
take their life and soul from that concept, 
for the Lord is everything 
in the whole of heaven and the church, 
and so in the whole of worship.

An acknowledgment and concept of the Lord 
join all the concepts 
of truth and goodness in the Word into one 
because all spiritual truths are connected, 
and if you would believe it, 
their connection is like 
the connection between all the members,
viscera and organs of the human body. 
Consequently, as the soul holds everything together 
in their organization and connection, 
so that they are sensed only as a unit, 
so the Lord holds together 
all the spiritual truths that a person possesses.

. . . The one precious pearl 
is an acknowledgment and concept of the Lord.

 

AR 914 - Everything of the New Church Can Be Seen In a State of Light

AR 914 [1-2, 3]

People who fail to think rationally cannot believe 
that everything connected with the New Church
can be seen in a state of light. 
But I assure them that it is possible, 
for everyone has an outer thought 
and an inner one. 
The inner thought thinks in the light of heaven 
and is called perception, 
while the outer thought thinks 
in the light of the world. 
Moreover the intellect in everyone is so formed 
that it can be raised even into the light of heaven, 
and also is raised if it is moved 
by some delight to wish to see a truth. 
. . . For the delight of love and wisdom 
elevates the thought to see that something is so, 
as though in a state of light, 
even if it had not heard it before. 
This light that enlightens the mind 
flows in from no other source 
than the Lord and heaven. 
And because people 
who will be those of the New Jerusalem 
will turn directly to the Lord, 
this light will flow in in the orderly way, 
namely through the will's love 
into the intellect's perception.

On the other hand, 
people who entrench in themselves this dogma, 
that the intellect in theological matters 
is not going to see anything, 
but that people must believe blindly 
whatever the church teaches — 
people like that cannot see 
any truth in a state of light, 
for they have blocked up 
the path of the light in themselves.

Therefore turn to the Lord, 
my friend, refrain from evils as being sins, 
and reject faith alone. 
And then your intellect will be opened, 
and you will see marvels and be affected by them.

 

AR 912 - The City Was Pure Gold

AR 912

And the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 
(Revelation 21:18)

. . . The city, that is, Jerusalem, 
means the Lord's New Church 
in respect to everything in it or within its wall. 
Gold symbolizes the goodness of love from the Lord. 
Being like clear glass 
symbolizes its having Divine wisdom 
shining clearly through; 
and because that wisdom 
appears in heaven as light 
and flows in from the Lord as the sun, 
being like pure glass symbolizes
its flowing in together with light 
out of heaven from the Lord.

. . . everything connected with heaven and the church 
springs from the goodness of love, 
and that the goodness of love comes from the Lord. 
Now we say here 
that the city's looking 
as though it were pure gold means, symbolically, 
that everything connected with 
the New Church, the New Jerusalem, 
embodies the goodness of love from the Lord. 
Yet because the goodness of love 
does not exist by itself, 
divorced from the truths of wisdom,
but for it to be the goodness of love 
must take form and does take form 
through truths of wisdom, 
therefore the city is said here to be pure gold, 
like clear glass. 
For the goodness of love 
without truths of wisdom 
does not have any character, 
because it lacks form. 
Its form accords with the truths it has 
flowing in in their order 
and connection together with 
the goodness of love from the Lord, 
thus in accord with its reception in a person. 
We say, in a person, 
but we mean not that the truths are a person's, 
but that they are the Lord's in him.

 

AR 910 - A Son of Man or Son of the Word; AR 910 - The Divine Truth Shines

AR 910

A man in the Word symbolizes 
intelligence and wisdom gained from the Word, 
and intelligence and wisdom from the Word 
in a person constitute the church in him. 
Consequently a man in a concrete or generic sense —
that is, when a society 
or company of people is called a man —
in the spiritual sense means the church. 
That is why prophets were called sons of man, 
and why the Lord called Himself Son of Man. 
A son of man means a church's truth from the Word, 
and when applied to the Lord, 
it means the Word itself 
on which the church is founded.

A church that is founded on the Word, 
thus on the Lord, 
is a church affiliated with heaven 
and conjoined with the Lord . . ..

AR 911

The Divine truth shines through 
because Divine truth in the literal sense 
is seen in natural light, 
whereas Divine truth in the spiritual sense 
is seen in spiritual light. 
Consequently, when spiritual light 
flows into the natural sight 
in a person who is reading the Word, 
it enlightens him and he sees truths in it, 
for the objects of spiritual light are truths. 
The Word in its literal sense 
is also such that the more enlightened 
a person is by the influx of the light of heaven, 
the more truths he sees 
because of their connection and consequent form; 
and the more truths he sees in this way, 
the more interiorly is his rationality opened. 
For the rational faculty 
is the indispensable receptacle of heavenly light.

 

AR 904, 905, 906, 908 (portions) - The Spiritual New Jerusalem

AR 904 [2]

. . . the city Jerusalem does not mean a real city, 
but the church. 
Consequently everything said 
about Jerusalem as a city 
symbolizes such things as have to do with the church, 
and everything having to do with the church is, 
in itself, spiritual.

AR 905

The city was seen as square 
because a square or quadrilateral form 
symbolizes justice, 
inasmuch as a triangle symbolizes rectitude, 
all of these being symbols on the lowest level, 
which is the natural one.

AR 906 [1-2]

The length of a thing symbolizes goodness, 
here the goodness of the church, 
for the same reason that breadth symbolizes truth. 
The reason is 
that the sweep of heaven from east to west 
is meant by length, 
and the sweep of heaven from south to north 
by breadth, 
and angels who dwell 
in the eastern and western zones in heaven 
are impelled by the goodness of love, 
while angels who dwell 
in the southern and northern zones in heaven 
are impelled by truths of wisdom . . ..

It is the same with the church on earth, 
for everyone impelled 
by the church's goods and truths from the Word 
is associated with angels in heaven, 
and he dwells with them in the interiors of his mind — 
those impelled by the goodness of love 
in the eastern and western zones of heaven, 
and those impelled by truths of wisdom 
in the southern and northern zones of heaven. 
No one is aware of this, indeed, 
but everyone nevertheless 
goes to his place after death.

AR 908

. . . the goodness of love 
is everything in heaven and the church,
and exists in a person only from the Lord,
and why it flows in from the Lord
only in someone 
who refrains from evils and their delights as sins.

 

AR 902, 903 - Twelve Foundations

AR 902

And the wall of the city had twelve foundations. 
(Revelation 21:14)

. . . The wall of the city symbolizes the Word 
in its literal sense, 
and its twelve foundations 
symbolize all of the doctrines of the church — 
its foundations symbolizing doctrines, 
and the number twelve all. 
The church, moreover, is founded on doctrine, 
for it teaches how a person is to believe and live, 
and its doctrine is to be drawn only from the Word.
. . . For it is the Word itself
that provides a foundation for the church.

AR 903

And on them 
the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
(Revelation 21:14)

. . . The foundations had the names 
of the twelve apostles of the Lamb written on them 
because the twelve apostles 
symbolize the Lord's church 
and everything connected with it, 
in this case the church 
in respect to all of its doctrines,
because their names 
were written on the twelve foundations, 
which symbolize all 
of the doctrines of the New Jerusalem. 
The twelve names symbolize its whole character, 
and its whole character has to do with 
two elements in the doctrine and so in that church: 
the Lord 
and living in accordance with His commandments. 
Therefore these are what are symbolized.

. . . They are, indeed, two elements, 
but one cannot be divorced from the other. 
For to divorce them 
would be like divorcing the Lord from mankind, 
or mankind from the Lord, 
and in that case there would be no church.

. . . We say this to make it known 
that everything connected with 
the doctrine of the New Jerusalem 
relates to love toward the Lord 
and love for the neighbor. 
To love the Lord is to have faith in the Lord 
and obey His commandments, 
and to obey His commandments 
is to love the neighbor, 
since to obey the Lord's commandments 
is to be of useful service to the neighbor. 
People who love the Lord 
are those who obey His commandments . . .. 
And love toward the Lord and love for the neighbor 
are the two commandments 
on which hang the Law and the Prophets. 
The Law and the Prophets 
mean the Word in its entirety.

 

AR 901 - The Twelve Gates: East, North, South, West

AR 901

Three gates on the east, 
three gates on the north, 
three gates on the south, 
and three gates on the west.
(Revelation 21:13)

There were three gates on the east, 
three gates on the north, 
three gates on the south, 
and three gates on the west, 
because the east symbolizes love 
and an affection for goodness in a higher degree, 
thus in greater measure, 
whereas the west symbolizes love 
and an affection for goodness in a lower degree, 
thus in lesser measure; 
and the south symbolizes wisdom 
and an affection for truth in a higher degree, 
thus in greater measure, 
whereas the north symbolizes wisdom 
and an affection for truth in a lower degree, 
thus in lesser measure. 
The east, west, south and north 
have these symbolic meanings 
because the Lord is the sun in the spiritual world, 
and east and west 
are determined by the direction He faces, 
with the south and north on either side — 
to His right the south, and to His left the north. 
Consequently people 
who possess love toward the Lord 
and its attending affection 
in a greater measure live in the east, 
and in a lesser measure in the west, 
while those who possess wisdom 
from an affection for truth 
in a greater measure live in the south, 
and in a lesser measure in the north.