SD 663 - a ability to do good is a gift from the Lord

SD 663
Indeed it is evil when he thinks from himself to will to do good . . .
for whatever is from the Lord in a person is good.
(February 6,1748)

AC 751, 760 - evil spirits, angels, and direction of sight

AC 751
. . . few, if any, know the nature of temptations
(because at this day there are few who undergo such temptations,
and those who do undergo them know not
but that it is something inherent in themselves which thus suffers) . . ..
There are evil spirits who . . . in times of temptation
call up a person's falsities and evils,
and in fact call forth from his memory
whatever he has thought and done from his infancy.
Evil spirits do this with a skill and a malignity so great as to be indescribable.
But the angels with the person draw out his goods and truths,
and thus defend him.
This combat is what is felt and perceived by the person,
causing the pain and remorse of conscience.

AC 760
. . . no one can love worldly and heavenly things at the same time,
seeing that to love worldly things is to look downward,
and to love heavenly things is to look upward.
Much less can anyone love himself and at the same time the neighbor,
and still less the Lord.
He who loves himself, hates all who do not render him service;
so that the person who loves himself
is very far from heavenly love and charity,
which is to love the neighbor more than one's self,
and the Lord above all things.
From this it is evident
how far removed the life of a person is from heavenly life,
and therefore he is regenerated by the Lord through temptations,
and is bent so as to bring him into agreement.

SD 635 - saving faith is when we are governed by the Lord

SD 635
Because it is a truth,
it is therefore to be believed
that the Lord governs heaven and earth,
and that no one lives but the Lord.
From this faith,
when it is given by the Lord,
it follows that a person cannot commit sin;
for he knows that the spirits who believe
that they live of themselves, and govern themselves,
excite in a person those things which,
although they are in the person,
still are not excited by him,
because he then lives passively,
and suffers himself to be governed.
When a person is in such a state
he can also be gifted with peace by the Lord,
for he then trusts solely in the Lord
and is not concerned about other things.
. . . Such is the state of the angels who live in peace.

AC 734 - is it repetition?; AC 737 - how the angels use remains

AC 734
But here as elsewhere
there is not the least word that is superfluous and vain;
for it is the Word of the Lord.
There is therefore no repetition,
except with another signification.
And here, in fact, as before,
the signification is that it is the first temptation,
which is temptation as to things of his understanding;
but afterwards it is his temptation as to things of the will.
These temptations follow one after the other
with him who is to be regenerated.
For to be tempted as to things of the understanding
is quite another thing from being tempted as to what is of the will.
Temptation as to things of the understanding is light;
but temptation as to things of the will is severe.

AC 737
For the case is this:
. . . [the person] was furnished by the Lord
with truths of the understanding and goods of the will.
These truths and goods are remains,
which are not brought out so as to be recognized
until the person is being regenerated.
In the case of those who are being regenerated through temptations,
the remains in a person
are for the angels that are with him,
who draw out from them
the things with which they defend the person
against the evil spirits who excite the falsities in him,
and thus assail him.

SD 597 - spirits, not so pleasant; SD 604 - glorying the Lord

SD 597
. . . there are genii through whom the Lord governs people,
and He permits them to excite people for many reasons,
both for the sake of punishment and for the sake of the removal of evils.

There are evil spirits
who also excite the pleasure of sitting a long time in privies,
and of staying there beyond a stated time;
for devils are especially delighted with privies . . .
(January 29, 1748)

SD 604
Moreover, when I was in bed, before sleep overtook me,
I then heard a general singing of heaven around me
consisting of very many angels of the interior heaven,
and at the same time I was then in a visual glorying.
I heard that glorying which became audible;
at the same time it was general,
because I could perceive nothing
of what they were representing and singing.
It was told me that the whole heaven in thus manner
continually attributes glory to the Lord, and thus are glorying.
(January 30, 1748)

AC 725 - "male and female", "man and wife"

AC 725
That by "male and female" are signified truths and goods,
is evident from what has been said and shown before,
namely, that "man" and "male" signify truth,
and "wife" and "female" good.
But "male and female" are predicated of things of the understanding,
and "man and wife" of things of the will,
for the reason that marriage is represented by man and wife,
and not so much by male and female.
For truth can never of itself enter into marriage with good,
but good can with truth;
because there is no truth which is not produced from good
and thus coupled with good.
If you withdraw good from truth,
nothing whatever remains but words.

AC 719 - unclean and clean beasts

AC 719
'The beast that is not clean' means evil affections.
. . . The clean ones are so called
because they are gentle, good, and useful.
Those that are not clean are the opposite
- savage, evil, and useless - of which there are genera and species.

. . . In the present verse it is said that unclean beasts, or evil affections,
were to be taken into the ark as well, for the following reason:
The character of the member of this Church is being described here,
specifically by means of the ark,
and thus by the things that were in or rather had been brought into the ark,
that is, the things that already resided with a person
prior to his being regenerated.
Truths and goods resided with him already,
which the Lord had supplied and granted prior to his regeneration,
for without truths and goods no one can possibly be regenerated.
Here the evils that resided with him are referred to
and are meant by 'unclean beasts' that are mentioned.
While a person is being regenerated
evils are present that have to be dispersed,
that is, broken down and modified by means of goods.
For no evil with a person,
that of his own doing or that which is hereditary,
can ever be dispersed so far as to be banished,
but remains implanted for ever.
Yet it is broken down and modified
by means of goods from the Lord so as to be innocuous and not seen.
This is an arcanum that is still unknown.
It is the evils of a person's own doing that are broken down and modified,
rather than those which are hereditary - something else which is not known.

SD 564 - rainbows

SD 564
1) . . . what the Light of understanding is,
namely that it is the light of truth flowing in from our Lord,
and in fact, a higher knowledge of universal truths,
such as that our Lord governs all things,
then [I understood] that personal knowledge obscures this light,
and that such details, or truths about details,
are in that general light like the variations that cause colors in the world -
for which reason regeneration is also compared to the rainbow.

2) Furthermore, [I perceived]
that thoughts are what make a person to be such as he is:
When the thinking only clings to worldly and bodily things,
then the understanding attaches itself to them to such an extent
that the person cannot possibly speak with the heaven of spirits;
for the thought rushes outwards, and into oneself, the world, and nature,
causing persisting fantasies in the other life that must be shaken off and die,
which takes place by a painful separation process.
It is different in the case of those
who are absorbed only in thoughts about the Lord,
thus about things of heaven.

3) There is therefore a double arch of the rainbow,
the one consisting of fantasies joined to spiritual things,
which is what souls love;
the other consisting of a variety
of spiritual and celestial things without the natural,
which is the character of the more interior heaven.
(January 26,1748)

AC 687 - the nature of heaven - a harmony of many

AC 687
A society is nothing but a harmony of many,
for no one has any life separate from the life of others.
Indeed no angel, or spirit, or society can have any life
(that is, be affected by good, exercise will,
be affected by truth, or think),
unless there is a conjunction thereof through many of his society
with heaven and with the world of spirits.
And it is the same with the human race:
no person, no matter who and what he may be,
can live (that is, be affected by good, exercise will,
be affected by truth, or think),
unless in like manner he is conjoined with heaven
through the angels who are with him,
and with the world of spirits,
and even with hell, through the spirits that are with him.
For every person while living in the body
is in some society of spirits and of angels,
though entirely unaware of it.

SD 519 - the glory of God

SD 519
There can be nothing in the universe
which does not ultimately relate to the glory of God,
and thus [serve] as means to those
who can perceive things heavenly and Divine.

677, 678 - "Give us this day our daily bread."

AC 677, 678

As regards the food of the person who is to be regenerated,
the case is this:

Before a person can be regenerated
he needs to be furnished with all things
that may serve as means –
with the goods and delights of the affections
as means for the will;
and with truths from the Word of the Lord,
and also with confirmatory things from other sources,
as means for the understanding.
Until a person is furnished with such things
he cannot be regenerated;
these being for food.
This is the reason why a person is not regenerated
until he comes to adult age.
But each person has his peculiar and as it were his own food,
which is provided for him by the Lord before he is regenerated.

. . . goods and delights constitute a person's life;
and not so much truths,
for truths receive their life from goods and delights.

From infancy to old age
nothing of knowledge or of reason is ever insinuated
except by means of what is good and delightful,
and such things are called "food"
because the soul lives and derives its sustenance from them;
and they are food,
for without them a person's soul cannot possibly live,
as anyone may know if he will but pay attention to the matter.

SD 497 - affections, the intellect, the proprium

SD 497
Every spirit can be governed by affections,
and so [led] to whatever is well-pleasing to the Savior.
They are then carried whithersoever He pleases,
but, nevertheless,
they must be carried by intellectual things for several reasons,
especially because the disposition and thus the will
must be formed by things intellectual,
in order that the person
may at the same time have his part [in the formation],
for without his intellectual
a person would not know that his proprium is present . . .
(January 21, 1748)

SD 491 - angelic choirs

SD 491
I again heard the hymn-singers,
or those who were singing the praise of our Savior,
about diverse objects by means of representations and ideas.
There were a number of choirs together,
and still it was one choir consisting of very many,
and at the same time acting as one,
without confusion from one another:
thus they acted as one upon the other,
or within the other, and also outside the other.
In this way the universal angelic heaven
is accustomed to be devoted to the praise and glory of the Savior.
Consequently with the heavenly ones
there is such delicious musical harmony and singing,
when the thoughts of people are concordant with their ideas,
as I have often experienced in churches . . ..
(January 21, 1748)

AC 665, 666 - a covenant, regeneration, the Lord

AC 665
. . .the only kind of covenant that can exist between the Lord and a person
is conjunction by virtue of love and faith.
And so a covenant means conjunction;
indeed it is the heavenly marriage that is the supreme covenant of all.
The heavenly marriage or conjunction does not show itself however
except with people who are being regenerated.
Regeneration itself therefore in the broadest sense is meant by a covenant.
The Lord enters into a covenant with a person when He regenerates him . . .

AC 666
Since the Lord is the very covenant itself,
it is evident that all that which conjoins a person with the Lord
is of the covenant as love and faith,
and whatever is of love and faith -
for these are of the Lord, and the Lord is in them;
and so the covenant itself is in them,
where they are received.
These have no existence except with a regenerated person,
with whom whatever is of the Regenerator or of the Lord
is of the covenant . . .

AC 653 - when a person is being reformed

AC 653
When a person is being reformed,
which is effected by combats and temptations,
the evil spirits associated with him at that time
are such as activate nothing else
but his factual knowledge and his rational concepts.
At that time any spirits who activate evil desires
are kept entirely at bay.
For there are two kinds of evil spirits,
namely those who work upon a person's reasonings
and those who work upon his desires.
The evil spirits who activate a person's reasonings
draw out all his falsities
and try to persuade him that the falsities are truths.
Indeed they even convert truths into falsities.
In times of temptation a person ought to fight against them,
though it is the Lord who in fact fights
by means of the angels who are allied to that person.
After falsities have been separated by means of conflicts
and so to speak dispersed,
the individual is then ready and able to receive truths of faith.
For as long as falsities rule,
a person cannot possibly receive the truths of faith
because false assumptions are blocking the way.
Once he has been made ready and able to receive the truths of faith,
heavenly seeds, which are the seeds of charity,
can now for the first time be implanted.
Seeds of charity cannot possibly be implanted in ground where falsities reign,
only where truths do so.
This is how the reformation or regeneration
of a spiritual person takes place . . .

SD 465 - a state of heavenly peace and happiness

SD 465
Again also, as often before in first wakefulness,
I perceived a state of quiet from peace,
namely a most pleasant delight,
but it was not peace:
and at the same time I perceived a happiness
which I am unable to describe in its own terms.
(January 11, 1748)

AC 633 - the will of good and the understanding of truth with people & angels

AC 633
The case is this:
With no person is there any understanding of truth and will of good,
not even with those who were of the Most Ancient Church.
But when people become celestial
it appears as if they had a will of good and understanding of truth,
and yet this is of the Lord alone,
as they also know, acknowledge, and perceive.
So is it with the angels also.
. . . so far as a person or an angel is capable of being perfected,
so far of the Lord's Divine mercy he is perfected,
and receives as it were an understanding of truth and a will of good;
but his having these is only an appearance.
Every man can be perfected -
and consequently receive this gift of the Lord's mercy -
in accordance with the actual doings of his life,
and in a manner suited to the hereditary evil implanted by his parents.

AC 634
But it is extremely difficult to say, in a manner to be apprehended,
what is the understanding of truth and the will of good in the proper sense,
for the reason that a person supposes
everything he thinks to be of the understanding,
since he calls it so;
and everything that he desires he supposes to be of the will,
since he calls it so.
And it is the more difficult to explain this so as to be apprehended,
because most people at this day are also ignorant of the fact
that what is of the understanding is distinct from what is of the will,
for when they think anything they say they will it,
and when they will a thing they say they think it.
This is one cause of the difficulty,
and another reason why this subject can with difficulty be comprehended
is that people are solely in what is of the body,
that is, their life is in the most external things.

[2] And for these reasons they do not know
that there is in every person something that is interior,
and something still interior to that,
and indeed an inmost;
and that his corporeal and sensuous part is only the outermost.
Desires, and things of the memory, are interior;
affections and rational things are interior still to these;
and the will of good and understanding of truth are inmost.
And these are so distinct from each other
that nothing can ever be more distinct.
The corporeal person makes all these into a one, and confounds them.
This is why he believes that when his body dies all things are to die;
though in fact he then first begins to live . . .

SD 436 - running around

SD 436
There are those whom their fantasies punish in this way:
namely, they seem to themselves to be running around a circuit backward,
or from right to left, or by their fantasies in some other way;
and thus as often as they go and return by short enough gyres,
they draw something with them which aggravates them.
This kind of punishment
is for those who suffer themselves to be led by their cupidities,
and although they see and acknowledge truths,
they nevertheless still return [to their fantasies],
being drawn away by their cupidities.
Thus they make excursions into the intellectual field,
and acknowledge [what they see],
but being drawn by their cupidity they return to their repugnances.
This is more applicable to women,
in whom cupidities usually have predominance,
who meddle with those things which concern the doctrines of faith, like men.
(December 31,1747)

[Cupidity - avarice, greed, lust]

Oh, oh.

SD 419 - love of infants

SD 419
On account of their love of infants,
they are more acceptable than many others,
for this is the heavens love.
(December 30, 1747)

AC 624 - "God", "Jehovah"

AC 624
When there is not a church "God" is the term used,
and when there is a church "Jehovah;"
as in the first chapter of Genesis,
when there was no church,
it is said "God;"
but in the second chapter,
when there was a church,
it is said "Jehovah God."
The name "Jehovah" is most holy,
and belongs only to the church;
but the name "God" is not so holy,
for there was no nation that had not gods,
and therefore the name God was not so holy.
No one was permitted to speak the name "Jehovah"
unless he had knowledge of the true faith;
but anyone might speak the name "God."