What Shall We Do?

Selection from Doctrine of Life ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.   (John 6:26-29)

Man has two faculties, one called the will and the other the understanding. They are distinct from each other, but they are so created that they may be one; and when they are one, they are called the mind. The human mind then, consists of these two faculties, and the whole life of man resides therein. As all things in the universe which are according to Divine order have relation to good and truth, so all things with man have relation to the will and the understanding —

• For good with man pertains to his will
• Truth with him pertains to his understanding.

For these two faculties are the receptacles and subjects of good and truth: the will is the receptacle and subject of all things belonging to good, and the understanding is the receptacle and subject of all things belonging to truth. Goods and truths with man reside nowhere else; nor, consequently, do love and faith, since love has relation to good, and good to love, while faith has relation to truth and truth to faith.

Nothing is of greater importance to know than how the will and the understanding constitute one mind.

They make one mind as good and truth make one; for there is between the will and the understanding a marriage similar to that between good and truth. The nature of this marriage was stated in some measure in the preceding article; and to this it should be added that, as good is the very being (esse) of a thing and truth is its consequent existing (existere), so the will with man is the very being (esse) of his life and the understanding is its consequent existing (existere); for good, which is of the will, forms itself in the understanding, and in a certain manner renders itself visible.

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They who are in good and truth have will and understanding, but they who are in evil and in falsity have not will and understanding; but instead of will they have cupidity, and instead of understanding they have science. For the truly human will is the receptacle of good, and the understanding is the receptacle of truth; for which reason will cannot be predicated of evil, nor can understanding be predicated of falsity, because they are opposites, and opposites destroy each other. Hence it is, that the man who is in evil and thence in falsity, cannot be called rational, wise, and intelligent.

With the evil, also, the interiors of the mind, in which the will and the understanding principally reside, are closed. It is believed that the evil also have will and understanding, because they say that they will, and that they understand; but their willing is only cupidity, and their understanding is only knowing.   (New Jerusalem and Heavenly Doctrine 33)

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There are many truths which appear to pertain to faith only; as, that there is a God, that the Lord, who is God, is the Redeemer and Saviour; that there is a heaven and a hell; that there is a life after death; and many others, of which it is not said that they are to be done, but that they are to be believed.

These truths which pertain to faith are also dead with the man who is principled in evil, but alive with the man who is principled in good.

The reason is, that the man who is principled in good does well from the will, and also thinks well from the understanding not only before the world but also before himself, when he is alone. It is otherwise with the man who is principled in evil.

It was stated that these truths appear to pertain to faith only; but the thought of the understanding derives its existence (existere) from the love of the will, and this love is the being (esse) of the thought in the understanding, as was said above.

For whatever any one wills from love, that he wills to do, wills to think, wills to understand and wills to speak; or what is the same thing, what any one loves from the will, this he loves to do, loves to think, loves to understand and loves to speak.

Moreover, when a man shuns evil as sin, he is then in the Lord and the Lord works all things. Therefore, to those who asked Him what they should do that they might work the works of God, the Lord said:

This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. (John 6:28, 29).

To believe on the Lord is not only to think that He is, but also to do His words, as He teaches elsewhere.

(from Doctrine of Life 43; 47, 48)

Inheriting the Lord's Kingdom

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

WHAT IS EXTERNAL SHALL NOT BE THE HEIR OF THE LORD'S KINGDOM

To become an heir, or to inherit, signifies eternal life in the Lord's kingdom.

All who are in the Lord's kingdom are heirs; for they live from the Lord's life, which is the life of mutual love; and from this they are called sons. The Lord's sons or heirs are all who are in His life, because their life is from Him, and they are born of Him, that is, are regenerate. They who are born of anyone are heirs; and so are all who are being regenerated by the Lord, for in this case they receive His life.

In the Lord's kingdom there are those who are external, those who are interior, and those who are internal.

• Good spirits, who are in the first heaven, are external
• Angelic spirits, who are in the second heaven, are interior
• Angels, who are in the third, are internal.

They who are external are not so closely related or so near to the Lord, as they who are interior; nor are these so closely related or so near to the Lord, as they who are internal. The Lord, from the Divine love or mercy, wills to have all near to Himself; so that they do not stand at the doors, that is, in the first heaven; but He wills that they should be in the third; and, if it were possible, not only with Himself, but in Himself.
 
What pertains to doctrine does not itself make the external, still less the internal; nor with the Lord does it distinguish churches from each other, but that which does this is a life according to doctrinals, all of which, provided they are true, look to charity as their fundamental.

What is doctrine but that which teaches how a man must live?

The heir of the Lord's kingdom is not what is external, but what is internal. What is external is so too, but through what is internal, for they then act as a one. That it may be known how the case herein is, it is to be kept in mind that all who are in the heavens — as well those who are in the first and in the second, as those who are in the third, — that is, as well those who are external and those who are interior, as those who are internal — are heirs of the Lord's kingdom; for they all make one heaven. In the Lord's heavens, the internals and the externals are circumstanced exactly as they are in man.

The angels in the first heaven are subordinate to those in the second, and these are subordinate to the angels in the third heaven. The subordination, however, is not that of command, but is, as in a man, the influx of things internal into things more external; that is, the Lord's life inflows through the third heaven into the second, and through this into the first, in the order of their succession, besides that it inflows immediately into all the heavens. The inferior or subordinate angels do not know that this is so unless reflection is given them by the Lord; thus there is no subordination of command.

• In proportion to the existence of what is internal in an angel of the third heaven is he an heir of the Lord's kingdom;
• In proportion to the same in an angel of the second heaven is he an heir;
• In proportion to the existence of what is internal in an angel of the first heaven, is he too an heir.

It is that which is internal that causes anyone to be an heir.

With the interior angels there is more of what is internal than there is with the more external angels, and therefore the former are nearer to the Lord, and are more fully heirs. That which is internal is love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; in proportion therefore to the love and the charity which they have, in the same proportion are they sons and heirs, for in the same proportion are they partakers of the Lord's life.

But no one can possibly be taken up from the first or external heaven into the second or interior heaven until he has been instructed in the goods of love and the truths of faith. So far as he has been instructed, so far he can be taken up, and can come among angelic spirits. It is the same with angelic spirits before they can be taken up or come into the third heaven, or among angels. By instruction the interiors are formed, and thereby the internals, and are adapted to receiving the goods of love and the truths of faith, and thereby the perception of what is good and true.

No one can perceive what he does not know and believe, consequently he cannot be gifted with the faculty of perceiving the good of love and the truth of faith except by means of knowledges, so as to know what they are and of what nature.

It is so with all, even with infants, who are all instructed in the Lord's kingdom. But these are easily instructed, because they are imbued with no principles of falsity; they are however instructed in general truths only; and when they receive these they perceive things without number or limit.

The case in this respect is the same as it is with one who has been persuaded respecting any truth in general:

The particulars of the general truths, and the singulars of the particulars, which are confirmatory, he easily learns, as it were of himself, or spontaneously; for he is affected by the truth in general, and thence also by the particulars and singulars of the same truth, which confirm; for these enter into the general affection with delight and pleasantness, and thus constantly perfect it.

These are the internal things on account of which they are called "heirs," or by means of which they can inherit the Lord's kingdom.

But they first begin to be heirs, or to have a heritage, when they are in the affection of good, that is, in mutual love, into which they are introduced by the knowledges of good and truth, and by the affections of them; and in proportion as they are in the affection of good, or in mutual love, in the same proportion are they "heirs," or have an inheritance. For mutual love is the veriest life [vitale] which they receive from the Lord's essence, as from their Father.

(from Arcana Coelestia 1799; 1802)

Moved from the Understanding to Living

Selections from The Heavenly Doctrines ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

It is better not to know and apprehend the truths of faith, than to know and apprehend them and yet live a life of evil.

NO ONE CAN HAVE CELESTIAL GOOD UNLESS HE ACKNOWLEDGES THE LORD

• Two affections, namely, of good and of truth
• The affection of good, constitutes the Celestial Church — "daughter of Zion
• The affection of truth, constitutes the Spiritual Church — "daughter of Jerusalem."

Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. Verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see, but did not see them (Matt. 13:16-17; John 12:40)

They were not blessed because they saw the Lord, and saw His miracles, but because they believed; as may be seen from these words in John:

I said unto you, that ye also have seen Me, and believe not. This is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, should have eternal life. Not that anyone hath seen the Father, save He that is with the Father, He hath seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath eternal life (John 6:36, 40, 46-47)

"Seeing and not Believing" denotes knowing the truths of faith and not receiving them; "seeing and believing" denotes knowing and receiving them; "no one having seen the Father save He that is with the Father" denotes that Divine good cannot be acknowledged except by means of Divine truth.

FAITH IS THE EYE OF LOVE

The Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; I will not leave you orphans; I come unto you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me; because I live ye shall live also (John 14:17-19)

Where "seeing" signifies having faith, for the Lord is seen only by faith, because faith is the eye of love, the Lord being seen by love through faith, and love being the life of faith; wherefore it is said, "Ye see Me; because I live, ye shall live also."

FAITH FROM THE LORD vs FAITH FROM SELF

"Seeing," in the internal sense, signifies faith from the Lord, for there is no other faith which is faith than that which comes from the Lord. This also enables man to "see," that is, to believe; but faith from self, or from what is man's own, is not faith, for it causes him to see falsities as truths, and truths as falsities; and if he sees truths as truths, still he does not see, because he does not believe, for he sees himself in them, and not the Lord.

(portions from Arcana Coelestia 2362; 3863; )

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CAN A MAN BE SAVED UNLESS HE BE FIRST REFORMED?

Man is born into the love of self and of the world; and as these loves do not bear within themselves any love to God and towards the neighbour, except for the sake of self, he is born also into evils of every kind. Is there any love or mercy in these loves? Does he regard it of any moment to defraud another, to defame him, to hate him even to death, to commit adultery with his wife, to act cruelly to him when moved by revenge, while he cherishes in his mind (animus) the desire to be supreme over all, thus regarding others compared with himself as insignificant and worthless?

In order that such a man may be saved must he not first be led away from these evils, and so be reformed?

This can only be effected in accordance with several laws, which are laws of the Divine Providence. These laws are for the most part unknown; and yet they are laws of the Divine Wisdom and at the same time of the Divine Love; and the Lord cannot act contrary to them, for to do so would be to destroy man, not to save him.

There is no immediate influx from heaven, but only mediate influx through the Word, doctrine and preaching.  The Word to be Divine could only have been written throughout wholly by correspondences.

THE ESSENTIALS THINGS OF THE CHURCH

When the Church itself has assumed as its essentials things which belong to the understanding only, that is, to doctrine, and not things which belong to the will, that is, to the life; and when those things which belong to the life are not made essentials of the Church, then man from his understanding is in complete darkness and wanders about like a blind man, everywhere running up against things and falling into pits. For the will must see in the understanding, and not the understanding in the will; or what is the same, the life and its love must lead the understanding to think, speak and act, and not the reverse. If the reverse were the case the understanding, from an evil, indeed a diabolical love, might seize upon whatever presents itself through the senses and insist upon the will doing it.

Yet it has been provided that everyone, no matter in what heresy he may be with respect to his understanding, may still be reformed and saved, if only he shuns evils as sins and does not confirm heretical falsities in himself. For by shunning evils as sins, the will is reformed, and through the will, the understanding, which then first emerges out of darkness into light.

There are three essentials of the Church:

• An acknowledgment of the Divinity of the Lord
• An acknowledgment of the holiness of the Word
• The life that is called charity.

According to the life which is charity is every man's faith; from the Word he has a rational perception of what the life should be; and from the Lord he has reformation and salvation. Had these three been held as essentials of the Church intellectual dissensions would not have divided but would have merely varied it, as light varies colors in beautiful objects, and as the various emblems of royalty constitute the beauty of a kingly crown.

(from Divine Providence 259)