Life Appears as Man's Own

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

the goods which are of faith and of charity cannot be given to man nor to angel so as to be their own, for men and angels are only recipients, or forms accommodated to receive life, thus good and truth, from the Lord. Life itself is from no other source, and as life is from the Lord, it cannot be appropriated otherwise than as appearing to be man's own; but they who are in the Lord plainly perceive that life flows in, consequently good and truth, for these belong to life. The reason why life appears as man's own is that the Lord from Divine love wills to give and to conjoin all His own to man, and as far as it can be effected, does conjoin it. This "own" which is given by the Lord, is called the heavenly own.

(from Arcana Cœlestia 8497)

Two Ways to Rationality

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

One who has never repented or has never looked into and searched himself, finally ceases to know what damning evil or saving good is.

As few in the Reformed Christian world practice repentance, this is here added, that he who has not looked into and searched himself, finally ceases to know what damning evil or saving good is, because he has no religion from which to know it

for the evil that a man does not see, recognize, and acknowledge — remains

and whatever remains becomes more and more enrooted, until it obstructs the interiors of the mind, whereby man becomes first natural, then sensual, and finally corporeal, and in such states he knows not any damning evil or saving good. He becomes like a tree growing on a hard rock, which spreads its roots among the crevices and finally withers away from lack of moisture.

Every man rightly educated is rational and moral; but there are two ways to rationality — one from the world and the other from heaven. He who has become rational and moral from the world only, and not from heaven, is rational and moral in word and gesture only, but is inwardly a beast, and even a wild beast, because he acts as one with those who are in hell, where all are wild beasts. But he who is rational and moral from heaven also, is truly rational and moral, because he is so at once in spirit, word, and body — the spiritual being within these two latter like a soul actuating the natural, sensual, and corporeal; it also acts as one with those who are in heaven. Therefore there can be a spiritual-rational and moral man, and also a merely natural-rational and moral man. These two are not distinguished from each other in the world, especially if the man has by practice become imbued with hypocrisy; but they are distinguished by the angels in heaven as easily as doves from owls or sheep from tigers.

The merely natural man can see good and evil in others, and also rebuke others; but not having looked into and examined himself, he does not see any evil in himself, and if any is discovered by another, he cloaks it by means of his rationality; as a serpent hides his head in the dust, and immerses himself in it, as a hornet buries himself in mud. This is done by the delight of evil, which encompasses him as a fog does a marsh, absorbing and extinguishing the rays of light. Infernal delight is no other. It is exhaled from hell, and flows into every man, into the soles of his feet, his back, and his occiput. And when it is received by the head in the forehead and by the body in the breast, man is made a slave to hell; and for the reason that the human cerebrum is devoted to the understanding and the wisdom it contains, but the cerebellum to the will and its love. This is why there are two brains. But that infernal delight can be corrected, reformed, and inverted solely by the spiritual-rational and moral.

(True Christian Religion 564)

A Brief Description of the "Merely" Natural-rational and Moral Man

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There shall now be given a brief description of the merely natural-rational and moral man, who viewed in himself is sensual, and if he goes on, becomes corporeal or fleshly; but the description shall be sketched in separate statements.

• The sensual is the outmost of the life of man's mind, adherent to and coherent with his five bodily senses.
• He is called a sensual man who judges of everything from the bodily senses, and believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, calling that something real, and rejecting everything else.
• The interiors of his mind, which have their vision from the light of heaven, are closed, so that he sees nothing of the truth that relates to heaven and the church.
• Such a man thinks in outermosts, and not interiorly from any spiritual light, because he is in gross natural light; therefore he is interiorly opposed to the things that pertain to heaven and the church, although outwardly he can speak in favor of them, even zealously, in proportion to his hope of gaining power and wealth by means of them.

Men of learning and erudition, who have confirmed themselves deeply in falsities, and still more those who have confirmed themselves against the truths of the Word, are more sensual than others.

• Sensual men reason acutely and skillfully, because their thought is so near to speech as to be almost in it, as it were, on the lips; also because they ascribe all intelligence to the speech that is from memory alone. Moreover, they can dexterously confirm falsities, and after confirming them they believe them to be true; but their reasoning and confirmation are from the fallacies of the senses, which captivate and persuade the common people.
• Sensual men are more cunning and malicious than others.
• The avaricious, adulterous, and crafty are especially sensual, although to the world they seem talented.
• The interiors of their minds are vile and filthy; by these they communicate with the hells; in the Word they are called dead.
• Those who are in the hells are sensual, and more so the more deeply they are in them; and the sphere of infernal spirits conjoins itself from behind with man's sensual. In the light of heaven their occiput seems hollow.
• Those who reasoned from sensual things only, were called by the ancients serpents of the tree of knowledge.

• Sensual things ought to occupy the last place, not the first; and in a wise and intelligent man they do occupy the last place, and are subordinate to things interior; but in a foolish man they occupy the first place, and are predominant.
• When things sensual occupy the last place, a way is opened by means of them to the understanding, and truths are perfected by the method of extraction.
• Such sensual things stand most near to the world, and admit what flows to them from the world, and, as it were, sift it.
• By means of sensual things man communicates with the world, and by means of rational things with heaven.
• Sensual things supply what is of service to the interiors of the mind.
• There are sensual things that supply what is serviceable both to the intellectual and to the voluntary part.

Unless thought is raised above sensual things man has but little wisdom. When man's thought is raised above sensual things, he comes into a clearer light, and at length into heavenly light, and then he has a perception of such things as flow down from heaven.


The outmost of the understanding is the natural knowing faculty, and the outmost of the will is sensual delight.

(True Christian Religion 565)

The "Merely" Natural-rational and Moral Man

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

As to his natural man, man is like a beast; he acquires the image of a beast by means of life. Consequently in the spiritual world there appear about such a man beasts of all kinds, which are correspondences. For man's natural, viewed in itself, is purely animal; but because there is a spiritual superadded, he can become a man; and if he does not become a man from the capacity to become so, he can counterfeit one, although he is then only a talking beast; for he talks from the natural-rational, but thinks from spiritual insanity, and he acts from natural morality, but loves from a spiritual satyriasis. His actions, seen by a spiritually rational man, are but little different from the dance of one bitten by a tarantula, or that called St. Vitus' dance, or the dance of St. Guy.

Who does not know that a hypocrite can talk about God, a robber about honesty, an adulterer about chastity, and so on. But unless man had the ability to shut and open the door between his thoughts and his words, and between his intentions and his actions, and unless prudence or cunning were the doorkeeper, he would rush into crimes and cruelties more fiercely than any wild beast. But in every man after death that door is opened; and then what he has been is apparent; but he is kept under restraint by punishments and confinements in hell. Therefore, kind reader, look into yourself, and find out one or another evil that is in you, and from religion dismiss it. If you dismiss evils from any other purpose or end, you do so only that they may not appear before the world.

(True Christian Religion 566)

"The Righteous," "Righteousness," "To Be Made Righteous"

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Mention is often made in the Word of "the righteous," of "righteousness," and of "to be made righteous;" but what is specifically signified by these expressions is not yet known.

The reason why it is not known is that hitherto it has been unknown that every expression in the Word signifies such things as belong to the internal church and to heaven, thus to the internal man (for the internal of the church, and heaven, are in the internal man), and also that these interior things in the Word differ from the exterior things which are of the letter, as spiritual things differ from natural, or as heavenly things differ from earthly — the difference of which is so great that to the natural man there scarcely appears any likeness — although there is full agreement. As this has been unknown, it could not be known what is signified in the Word, in its spiritual and celestial senses, by "the righteous," by "righteousness," and by "to be made righteous."

It is believed by the heads of the church that he is righteous, and has been made righteous, who is acquainted with the truths of faith from the doctrine of the church and from the Word, and consequently is in the trust and confidence that he is saved through the Lord's righteousness, and that the Lord has acquired righteousness by fulfilling all things of the Law, and that He acquired merit because He endured the cross, and thereby made atonement for and redeemed man. Through this faith alone a man is believed to be made righteous; and it is believed further that such are they who are called in the Word "the righteous."

Yet it is not these who are called "righteous" in the Word; but those who from the Lord are in the good of charity toward the neighbor; for the Lord alone is righteous, because He alone is righteousness. Therefore a man is righteous, and has been made righteous, insofar as he receives good from the Lord, that is, insofar, and according to the way, in which he has in him what belongs to the Lord. The Lord was made righteousness through His having by His own power made His Human Divine. This Divine, with the man who receives it, is the Lord's righteousness with him, and is the very good of charity toward the neighbor; for the Lord is in the good of love, and through it in the truth of faith, because the Lord is Divine love itself.

The good of charity toward the neighbor is exterior good, which is signified by "the righteous;" and the good of love to the Lord is interior good, which is signified by "the innocent"... That the good of love toward the neighbor from the Lord is "the righteous" in the proper sense, can be seen from the passages in the Word where mention is made of "the righteous," of "righteousness," and of "to be made righteous;" as in Matthew:

Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, When saw we Thee a hungered, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? When saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? But the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily, I say unto you, Insomuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me. And the righteous shall go into eternal life (Matt. 25:37-40, 46)

those are here called "the righteous" who have performed the goods of charity toward the neighbor, which are here recounted. And that the goods of charity are the Lord with them is said openly: "insomuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." These are also called "the sheep," for by "sheep" are signified those who from the Lord are in the good of charity; whereas by "the goats" which are on the left hand, and are condemned, are signified those who are in faith separate from charity. The same are signified by "the righteous" in another passage in Matthew:

The angels shall go forth, and shall sever the evil from the midst of the righteous (Matt. 13:49)

and in Luke:

Thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the righteous (Luke 14:14).

From this it is evident what is signified by,

The righteous shall shine forth as the sun in heaven (Matt. 13:43)

namely, that they are in the good of love from the Lord; for the Lord is the sun in the other life, and that which is from the Lord as the sun there is the good of love. Hence the Lord is called "the Sun of Righteousness" (Mal. 4:2). In Daniel:

The intelligent shall shine as the brightness of the expanse, and they that make many righteous as the stars for ever and ever (Dan. 12:3)

"the intelligent" denote those who are in the truth and good of faith; and "they that make many righteous" denote those who lead to the good of charity through the truth and the good of faith; "to shine forth as the stars" denotes to be in the intelligence of truth and the wisdom of good, consequently in eternal happiness; for the "stars" denote the knowledges of truth and good, from which are intelligence and wisdom.

"The righteous" is thus described in David:

Jehovah upholdeth the righteous; the righteous showeth mercy, and giveth. Every day the righteous showeth mercy, and lendeth. The righteous shall possess the land. The mouth of the righteous meditateth wisdom, and his tongue speaketh judgment; the law of his God is in his heart (Ps. 37:17, 21, 26, 29-31)

these things are goods of charity, which belong to "the righteous." The church knows that these goods of charity are from the Lord, insomuch that they are the Lord's in the man. "The righteous" is also described in Ezekiel 18:5-9, 21; 33:15-20.

From all this it can be seen what is signified by "the righteous," and by "righteousness," in the following passages of Matthew:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled (Matt. 5:6).

He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward (Matt. 10:41).

Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see, but have not seen them (Matt. 13:17).

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye build the sepulchers of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous; upon you shall come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel (Matt. 23:29, 35)"the prophets" denote those who teach the truths and goods of faith, and in the abstract sense, the doctrines of faith; and "the righteous" denote those who live a life of charity, and in the abstract sense the good of charity. (That Abel, who is called "righteous," represented the good of charity.)

(from Arcana Cœlestia 9263:1-7)

Truths Divine Impressed on the Life by the Lord

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Truths are said to be impressed on the life, when they become of the will and from this of the act. So long as they stay merely in the memory, and so long as they are looked at only intellectually, they have not been impressed on the life; but as soon as they are received in the will, they become of the life, because the very being of man's life is to will, and from this to act; and before this they have not been appropriated to the man.

(from Arcana Cœlestia 9386)

The Progression of Truth

Selection from Emanuel Swedenborg's Spiritual Diary

The progression of truth, or faith, from science, to understanding; after that, from understanding to will, and from will to act: from conversation with angels.

I spoke with angels about the progression of truth to good, thus of faith to charity [to the effect] that angels experience joy when man, as infant and boy, learns and imbibes truths from affection, thus when truths become of knowledge; and that they experience still greater joy when they becomes of the understanding: at such time the joy is experienced by the angels in the Lord's spiritual kingdom. There is still greater joy, when truth, from the understanding, becomes of the will: the joy then is to the angels in the Lord's celestial kingdom. And when, from will, it becomes of act, then is there joy with the angels of the three heavens. How much joy, and how great delights, dwell in that progression, cannot be described, because it is ineffable; for thus man enters more and more into heaven, and becomes a heaven in the least form. This I perceived, while I spoke with the angels, from the progression of the delights of conjugial love [the marriage of truth and good], even to the very ultimate effect, from which man is procreated. Such is the progression of conjunction with heaven, that is, with the Lord, and such is the new creation of man, and the formation of heaven, or of the angel, in him; for heaven is the form of Divine Truth thus progressing. Hence man becomes a love; and in no other way is the marriage of truth and good established in him.

(Spiritual Diary 6011)