When The Two are One

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

. . . and breathed into his nostrils the breath [spiraculum] of lives, and man became a living soul.         (Genesis 1:7)

That "soul" signifies the spiritual life, is evident from the signification of "soul," as being the life of man, but the life of his faith, which is spiritual life.

In the Word throughout mention is made of "the heart" and of "the soul," and by "the heart" is signified the life of love, and by "the soul" the life of faith. Man has two faculties receptive of life from the Lord, the one called the will, and the other the understanding. To the faculty which is called the will belongs love, for the goods of love make its life. But to the faculty which is called the understanding belongs faith, for the truths of faith make its life. But these two lives with man are nevertheless one, and when they are one, then the things which are of faith are also of love, for they are loved; and on the other hand the things which are of love are also of faith, because they are believed. Such is the life of all in heaven.

The reason why the life of love, or what is the same thing, the will, is called in the Word "the heart;" and why the life of faith, or what is the same thing, the understanding, is called "the soul;" is that

• they who are in love to the Lord and are called celestial, constitute in the Grand Man or heaven the province of the heart;
• they who are in faith in the Lord and thereby in charity toward the neighbor constitute the province of the lungs.

From this it is that by "heart" in the Word is signified love, which is the life of the will, and by "soul" is signified faith, which is the life of the understanding; for in the original tongue "soul" is named from breathing, which is of the lungs.

• That faith pertains to the intellectual faculty, is because this faculty is enlightened by the Lord when man receives faith. From this he has light, or a perception of truth, in such things as are of faith, when he reads the Word.
• That love pertains to the will faculty, is because this faculty is kindled by the Lord when the man receives love. From this he has the fire of life, and a sensitive perception of good.

From all this it can be seen what is properly meant in the Word by "the heart," and what by "the soul;" as in the following passages:

Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God from all thy heart, and from all thy soul, and from all thy strength (Deut. 6:5).

Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God, and shalt serve Him, from all thy heart and from all thy soul (Deut. 10:12; 11:13).

These statutes and judgments thou shalt keep, and shalt do them, in all thy heart, and in all thy soul (Deut. 26:16).

Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God from all thy heart, and in all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with thy thought (Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30, 32; Luke 10:27).

• "The heart" denotes the life of love;
• "The soul," the life of faith;
• "The strength," those things which proceed from the life of love, thus which are from the heart or the will;
• "The thought," those things which proceed from the life of faith, thus which are from the soul, or an enlightened understanding.

In like manner in Isaiah:

A deluded heart maketh him go astray, that he rescue not his soul, and say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? (Isa. 44:20).

In Jeremiah:

I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in the land, in truth, with all My heart and with all My soul (Jer. 32:41);

speaking of Jehovah, that is, of the Lord;

• "The heart" is predicated of the Divine good, which is of love of mercy;
• "The soul" is predicated of the Divine truth, which is of faith with man.

That these things are signified by "heart" and "soul" in the Word, is at this day known to few within the church, for the reason that –

It has not been considered that man has two faculties distinct from each other, namely, the will and the understanding, and that these two faculties constitute one mind, in order that man may be truly man.

Neither has it been considered that all things in the universe, both in heaven and in the world, bear relation to good and truth, and that they must be conjoined together in order that they may be anything, and produce anything.

From ignorance of these things it has resulted that they have separated faith from love; for he who is ignorant of these universal laws cannot know that faith bears relation to truth, and love to good, and that unless these are conjoined together they are not anything; for faith without love is not faith, and love without faith is not love, because love has its quality from faith, and faith has its life from love; consequently faith without love is dead, and faith with love is alive.

That this is so, can be seen from everything in the Word; for where faith is treated of, there also love is treated of, in order that in this way the marriage of good and truth, that is, that heaven, and in the supreme sense the Lord, may be in each and all things of the Word. From all this it is now evident why the man of the church has not hitherto known what is meant in the Word by "heart," and what by "soul."

That "soul" in the Word denotes the life of faith, can be plainly seen from the passages where "the soul" is mentioned, as in the following.

In Moses:

Thou shalt not take the mill or the upper millstone to pledge; for he taketh the soul to pledge (Deut. 24:6).

It is said that "he who taketh a mill taketh the soul to pledge" because in the internal sense by "a mill" are signified those things which are of faith.

In Isaiah:

It shall be as when a hungry man dreameth, as if he were eating; but when he awaketh, his soul is fasting; or as when a thirsty man dreameth, as if he were drinking; but when he awaketh, behold he is weary, and his soul hath appetite (Isa. 29:8).

"A fasting soul," and "a soul that hath appetite," denote the desire of learning the goods and truths of faith.

In the same:

If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and sate the afflicted soul (Isa. 58:10).

"To draw out thy soul to the hungry" denotes to be desirous to instruct in the truths of faith; and "to sate the afflicted soul" denotes to instruct in the good of faith.

In Jeremiah:

Though thou clothest thyself with double-dyed, though thou deckest thee with ornament of gold, though thou rendest thine eyes with antimony, in vain shalt thou make thyself beauteous; thy lovers will abhor thee, they will seek thy soul (Jer. 4:30).

Here "soul" denotes the life of faith, consequently faith itself in man, because this makes his spiritual life. That faith is meant by "soul," is plain from the particulars in this verse.

In the same:

They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together unto the good of Jehovah, to the wheat, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the sons of the flock and of the herd; and their soul shall become as a watered garden; I will water the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul (Jer. 31:12, 25).

"The soul" denotes the life of faith in the man of the church, who is said "to become as a garden," because by "a garden" is signified the intelligence which is from the truths of faith; and the soul is said to be "watered," because by "being watered" is signified to be instructed.

In the same:

We bring our bread with the peril of our souls, because of the sword of the wilderness (Lam. 5:9).

"The peril of souls" denotes the danger of the loss of faith and consequently of spiritual life; for "the sword of the wilderness" denotes falsity fighting against the truths of faith.

In Ezekiel:

Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, these were thy traders, with the soul of man, and with vessels of brass, they furnished thy trading (Ezek. 27:13).

"The soul of man" denotes the interior truth of faith from good; "vessels of brass," exterior truths of faith from good; "vessels" denoting exterior truths or memory-truths, and "brass," the good of the natural. Unless it were known that "the soul of man" denotes faith, it could not be understood what is signified by "trading with the soul of man, and with vessels of brass."

In the same:

Every living soul that creepeth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live; whence is exceeding much fish; because these waters are come hither, and are healed (Ezek. 47:9);

speaking of the new temple, that is, of a new spiritual church from the Lord; "the living soul that creepeth" denotes memory-truths which are of faith; "much fish from thence" denotes memory-knowledges; "rivers" denote the things that are of intelligence, which are from the truths of faith. Neither in this passage would it be known without the internal sense what is meant by "much fish" in consequence of the rivers coming thither.

Again:

Save me, O God, for the waters are come even unto my soul (Ps. 69:1).

The waters compassed me about, even to my soul (Jon. 2:5).

In these passages "waters" denote falsities, and also temptations which are caused by injected falsities.

In Jeremiah:

Jehovah said, Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this? (Jer. 5:9, 29).

Admit chastisement, O Jerusalem, lest My soul be turned away from thee, and I make thee a waste (Jer. 6:8).

"The soul," when predicated of the Lord, denotes Divine truth.

In John:

The second angel poured out his vial into the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man, whence every living soul died in the sea (Rev. 16:3).

"The sea" denotes memory-knowledges in the complex; "blood," the truths of faith from good, and in the opposite sense, the truths of faith falsified and profaned; consequently "living soul" denotes life derived from faith.

In Matthew:

Be not anxious for your soul, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink (Matt. 6:25).

"Soul" denotes the truths of faith; "eating" and "drinking" denote to be instructed in the good and truth of faith, for here in the internal sense the subject treated of is spiritual life and its nourishment.

Again:

Whoever will find his soul shall lose it, and whoever shall lose his soul for My sake shall find it (Matt. 10:39).

"The soul" denotes the life of faith such as it is with those who believe, and in the opposite sense the life not of faith such as it is with those who do not believe.

In Luke:

In your patience possess ye your souls (Luke 21:19).

"To possess the souls" denotes those things which are of faith and consequently of spiritual life. The signification is similar in very many other passages.

(Arcana Coelestia 9050)
(series to be continued)

No Life is Possible Without Sensation

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The dwellings of the blessed in the other life are of many kinds, and are constructed with such art as to be as it were embodiments of the very art of architecture, or to come straight from the art itself. These dwellings appear not only to the sight, but also to the touch, for all things there are adapted to the sensations of spirits and angels, and hence are such as do not come to bodily sense like that of man, but to that possessed by those who are there. I know that this is incredible to many, but this is because nothing is believed which cannot be seen by the bodily eyes and felt with the hands of flesh. For this reason the man of this day, whose interiors are closed, knows nothing of the things which exist in the spiritual world or in heaven. He does indeed say from the Word and from doctrine that there is a heaven, and that the angels who are there are in joy and in glory, but he knows no more about the matter. How the case is there he would indeed like to know, but when told he still believes nothing, because at heart he denies the existence of such things, and his desire to know about them is prompted solely by his curiosity from doctrine, and not by any delight grounded in faith. They who are not in faith also deny at heart; but they who believe get ideas from various sources about heaven and its joy and glory, each person from such things as are of his own knowledge and intelligence, and the simple from the things of bodily sensation.

Nevertheless most people do not apprehend that spirits and angels enjoy sensations much more exquisite than those of men in this world, namely, sight, hearing, smell, something analogous to taste, and touch; and especially the delights of the affections. If men would only believe that their interior essence is the spirit, and that the body and its sensations and members are adapted to uses in this world merely, and that the spirit and its sensations and organs are adapted to uses in the other life, then from themselves and almost of their own accord they would come into ideas about the state of their spirit after death; for they would reflect that the spirit must be the man himself who thinks, and who desires, longs for things, and is affected with them; and further that all the power of sensation which appears in the body belongs properly to the spirit, and to the body merely by influx; and they would afterwards confirm themselves in this idea by many considerations, and in this way would at last take more delight in the things of their spirit than in those of their body.

It is also a real fact that it is not man's body which sees, hears, smells, and feels, but his spirit; and therefore when the spirit is divested of the body, it is in its own sensations, the same as when it was in the body, only now far more exquisite; for the things of the body, being comparatively gross, had rendered the sensations obtuse, and this the more because the man had immersed them in earthly and worldly things. This I can aver - that a spirit has much more exquisite sight than a man in the body, and also much more exquisite hearing, and, astonishing to say, the sense of smell, and especially the sense of touch; for spirits see one another, hear one another, and touch one another. Moreover, anyone who believes in the life after death might infer that this is the case from the fact that no life is possible without sensation, and that the quality of the life is according to the quality of the sensation, nay, that the intellectual faculty is nothing but an exquisite sense of interior things, and the higher intellectual of spiritual things; and it is from this that the things of the intellectual and its perceptions are called internal senses.

As regards man's power of sensation immediately after death the case is this: As soon as a man dies and all things of his body grow cold, he is raised up into life, and at the same time into a state of all sensations; insomuch that at first he scarcely knows but that he is still in the body, for the sensations he then enjoys lead him so to believe. But when he observes that he has more exquisite sensations, and especially when he begins to speak with other spirits, it dawns upon him that he is in the other life, and that the death of his body has been the continuation of the life of his spirit. I have spoken with two of my acquaintances on the day of their burial, and with one who through my eyes saw his coffin and his bier; and as this man enjoyed all the sensation he had in this world, he spoke to me about the burial rites while I was following in his funeral procession, and also about his body, saying that they should throw that away because he himself was alive.

Be it known, however, that they who are in the other life can see nothing whatever in this world through the eyes of any man; but that their being able to do so through mine was because I am in the spirit with them and at the same time in the body with those who are in the world. And be it further known that I did not see with my bodily eyes those with whom I have spoken in the other life, but with the eyes of my spirit; and yet I saw them as clearly, and sometimes more clearly, than with the eyes of the body; for of the Lord's Divine mercy the senses of my spirit have been opened.

~~~

As regards spirits and angels in general, who all are human souls living after the death of the body, I may say here that they have much more exquisite senses than men-that is, sight, hearing, smell, and touch-but not taste. Spirits however are not able, and angels are still less able, to see anything that is in the world by their own sight, that is, by the sight of the spirit; for the light of the world or of the sun is to them as thick darkness; just in the same way as man by his sight, that is, by the sight of the body, cannot see anything that is in the other life; for the light of heaven, or the Lord's heavenly light, is to man as thick darkness.

But still when the Lord pleases, spirits and angels can see the things in this world through the eyes of a man. But the Lord does not grant this except in the case of one whom He enables to speak with spirits and angels, and to be together with them. Spirits and angels have been permitted to see the things in this world through my eyes as plainly as I could see them myself, and also to hear men talking with me. It has sometimes happened that to their great astonishment, some through me have seen their friends whom they had had in the life of the body, just as they had seen them before. Some have also seen their married partners, and their children, and have desired me to tell them that they were close by and saw them, and to give an account of their state in the other life, but I had been forbidden to tell them or reveal to them that they were seen in this way, and this partly for the reason that they would have called me insane, or would have thought such things to be delirious fancies of the mind; for I was well aware that although they would acknowledge it with the lips, they did not believe in heart in the existence of spirits, or that the dead are risen.

When my interior sight was first opened, and through my eyes spirits and angels saw the world and the things that are in it, they were so amazed that they called it the miracle of miracles; and they were affected with a new joy, in that in this way communication was opened of earth with heaven, and of heaven with earth. This delight lasted for months, but afterwards it became familiar, and now they do not wonder at all. I have been instructed that the spirits and angels who are present with other men do not in the slightest degree see the things of this world, but only perceive the thoughts and affections of those with whom they are.

These things have shown that man was so created that while living on earth among men, he might at the same time also live in heaven among angels, and the converse; so that heaven and earth might be together, and might act as a one, and that men might know what is going on in heaven, and angels what in the world; and therefore that when men depart this life they would pass from the Lord's kingdom on earth into the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, not as into another kingdom, but as into the same as that in which they had been when living in the body. But in consequence of man's becoming so corporeal, he has closed heaven against himself.  (Arcana Coelestia 1880)

~~~

But I am aware that what I have so far said will not be believed by those who are immersed in bodily, earthly, and worldly things (that is, by those of them who have such things as their end), for such people apprehend no other things than those which are dissipated by death. I am also well aware that those will not believe who have thought much and investigated much about the soul, and who have not at the same time comprehended that the soul of man is his spirit, and that his spirit is the man himself who is living in the body; for such persons could have no other notion about the soul than as of a thinking principle, whether of flame or of ether, that acts solely into the organic forms of the body, and not into those purer forms which are of the spirit in the body; thus that the soul is such a thing as must be dissipated together with the body. And this is especially the case with those who have confirmed themselves in such things by views that are inflated with a persuasion of their own preeminent wisdom.

(from Arcana Coelestia 4622)

Breathed Into His Nostrils

Selections from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
— The Formation of the Celestial Man —

And Jehovah God formed man, dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)

To "form man, dust from the ground" is to form his external man, which before was not man; for it is said in verse 5 and 6 of this second chapter:

And there was no shrub of the field as yet in the earth, and there was no herb of the field as yet growing, because Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth; and there was no man to till the ground.

To "breathe into his nostrils the breath of lives" is to give him the life of faith and love; and by "man became a living soul" is signified that his external man also was made alive.

The life of the external man is here treated of-the life of his faith or understanding in the two former verses, and the life of his love or will in this verse. Hitherto the external man has been unwilling to yield to and serve the internal, being engaged in a continual combat with him, and therefore the external man was not then "man."

Now, however, being made celestial, the external man begins to obey and serve the internal, and it also becomes "man" being so rendered by the life of faith and the life of love. The life of faith prepares him, but it is the life of love which causes him to be "man."

As to its being said that "Jehovah God breathed into his nostrils" the case is this:

In ancient times, and in the Word, by "nostrils" was understood whatever was grateful in consequence of its odor, which signifies perception. On this account it is repeatedly written of Jehovah, that He "smelled an odor of rest" from the burnt-offerings, and from those things which represented Him and His kingdom; and as the things relating to love and faith are most grateful to Him, it is said that "He breathed through his nostrils the breath of lives." Hence the anointed of Jehovah, that is, of the Lord, is called the "breath of the nostrils" (Lam. 4:20).

And the Lord Himself signified the same by "breathing on His disciples" as written in John:

He breathed on them and said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit (John 20:22).

The reason why life is described by "breathing" and by "breath" is also that the men of the Most Ancient Church perceived states of love and of faith by states of respiration, which were successively changed in their posterity. Of this respiration nothing can as yet be said, because at this day such things are altogether unknown. The most ancient people were well acquainted with it, and so are those who are in the other life, but no longer anyone on this earth, and this was the reason why they likened spirit or life to "wind." The Lord also does this when speaking of the regeneration of man, in John:

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, and knowest not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth so is everyone that is born of the spirit (John 3:8).

So in David:

By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the army of them by the breath of His mouth (Ps. 33:6).

And again:

Thou gatherest their breath, they expire, and return to their dust; Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are created, and Thou renewest the faces of the ground (Ps. 104:29-30).

That the "breath" [spiraculum] is used for the life of faith and of love, appears from Job:

He is the spirit in man, and the breath of Shaddai giveth them understanding (Job 32:8).

Again in the same:

The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of Shaddai hath given me life (Job 33:4).

(Arcana Coelestia 94 - 97)