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)

From Spiritual to Celestial

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host [the army] of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.   (Genesis 2:1-3)

• Man is now rendered so far spiritual as to have become the "sixth day"
• "heaven" is his internal man, and "earth" his external
• "the army of them" are love, faith, and the knowledges thereof, which were previously signified by the great luminaries and the stars

That the internal man is called "heaven" and the external "earth" is evident from the passages of the Word from Isaiah:

I will make a man more rare than solid gold, even a man than the precious gold of Ophir; therefore I will smite the heavens with terror, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place (Isa. 13:12-13).

Thou forgettest Jehovah thy Maker, that stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundations of the earth; but I will put My words in thy mouth, and I will hide thee in the shadow of My hand, that I may stretch out the heaven, and lay the foundation of the earth (Isa. 51:13, 16).

From these words it is evident that both "heaven" and "earth" are predicated of Man; for although they refer primarily to the Most Ancient Church, yet the interiors of the Word are of such a nature that whatever is said of the church may also be said of every individual member of it, who, unless he were a church, could not possibly be a part of the church, just as he who is not a temple of the Lord cannot be what is signified by the temple, namely, the church and heaven. It is for this reason that the Most Ancient Church is called "Man" in the singular number.

WHEN THE CELESTIAL PRINCIPLE, AND NOT THE SPIRITUAL, BEGINS TO BE THE PRINCIPAL

The "heavens and the earth and all the army of them" are said to be "finished" when man has become the "sixth day" for then faith and love make a one. When they do this, love, and not faith, or in other words the celestial principle, and not the spiritual, begins to be the principal, and this is to be a celestial man.

GOD BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY, AND HALLOWED IT

God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God in making created.

The celestial man is the "seventh day" which, as the Lord has worked during the six days, is called "His work;" and as all combat then ceases, the Lord is said to "rest from all His work."

THE SABBATH

On this account the seventh day was sanctified, and called the Sabbath, from a Hebrew word meaning "rest." And thus was Man created, formed, and made.

That the celestial man is the "seventh day" and that the seventh day was therefore hallowed, and called the Sabbath, are arcana which have not hitherto been discovered. For none have been acquainted with the nature of the celestial man, and few with that of the spiritual man, whom in consequence of this ignorance they have made to be the same as the celestial man, notwithstanding the great difference that exists between them.

As regards the seventh day, and as regards the celestial man being the "seventh day" or "Sabbath" this is evident from the fact that the Lord Himself is the Sabbath; and therefore He says:

The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27)

which words imply that the Lord is Man himself, and the Sabbath itself. His kingdom in the heavens and on the earth is called, from Him, a Sabbath, or eternal peace and rest.

THE MOST ANCIENT CHURCH WAS THE SABBATH OF THE LORD

The Most Ancient Church, which is here treated of, was the Sabbath of the Lord above all that succeeded it.

Every subsequent inmost church of the Lord is also a Sabbath; and so is every regenerate person when he becomes celestial, because he is a likeness of the Lord.

The six days of combat or labor precede.

These things were represented in the Jewish church by the days of labor, and by the seventh day, which was the Sabbath; for in that church there was nothing instituted which was not representative of the Lord and of His kingdom. The like was also represented by the ark when it went forward, and when it rested, for by its journeyings in the wilderness were represented combats and temptations, and by its rest a state of peace; and therefore, when it set forward, Moses said:

Rise up, Jehovah, and let Thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee flee before Thy faces. And when it rested, he said, Return, Jehovah, unto the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel (Num. 10:35-36).

It is there said of the ark that it went from the Mount of Jehovah "to search out a rest for them" (Num. 10:33).

The rest of the celestial man is described by the Sabbath in Isaiah:

If thou bring back thy foot from the Sabbath, so that thou doest not thy desire in the day of My holiness, and callest the things of the Sabbath delights to the holy of Jehovah, honorable; and shalt honor it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own desire, nor speaking a word; then shalt thou be delightful to Jehovah, and I will cause thee to be borne over the lofty things of the earth, and will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob (Isa. 58:13-14).

Such is the quality of the celestial man that he acts not according to his own desire, but according to the good pleasure of the Lord, which is his "desire." Thus he enjoys internal peace and happiness — here expressed by "being uplifted over the lofty things of the earth" — and at the same time external tranquility and delight, which is signified by "being fed with the heritage of Jacob."

When the spiritual man, who has become the "sixth day" is beginning to be celestial, which state is here first treated of, it is the "eve of the Sabbath" represented in the Jewish Church by the keeping holy of the Sabbath from the evening. The celestial man is the "morning" to be spoken of presently.

COMBAT CEASES WHEN HE BECOMES CELESTIAL

Another reason why the celestial man is the "Sabbath" or "rest" is that combat ceases when he becomes celestial. The evil spirits retire, and good ones approach, as well as celestial angels; and when these are present, evil spirits cannot possibly remain, but flee far away. And since it was not the man himself who carried on the combat, but the Lord alone for the man, it is said that the Lord "rested."

WHEN THE SPIRITUAL MAN BECOMES CELESTIAL

When the spiritual man becomes celestial, he is called the "work of God" because the Lord alone has fought for him, and has created, formed, and made him; and therefore it is here said, "God finished His work on the seventh day;" and twice, that "He rested from all His work."

By the Prophets man is repeatedly called the "work of the hands and of the fingers of Jehovah;" as in Isaiah, speaking of the regenerate man:

Thus hath said Jehovah the Holy One of Israel, and his Former, Seek ye signs of Me, signs concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me. I have made the earth, and created man upon it; I, even My hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their army have I commanded. For thus hath said Jehovah that createth the heavens, God Himself that formeth the earth and maketh it; He establisheth it, He created it not a void, He formed it to be inhabited; I am Jehovah and there is no God else besides Me (Isa. 45:11-12, 18, 21).

THE WORK OF THE LORD ALONE

Hence it is evident that the new creation, or regeneration, is the work of the Lord alone. The expressions to "create" to "form" and to "make" are employed quite distinctively, both in the above passage — "creating the heavens, forming the earth, and making it" — and in other places in the same Prophet, as:

Everyone that is called by My name, I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him (Isa. 43:7),

and also Genesis chapters one and two: "He rested from all His work which God in making created."

In the internal sense this usage always conveys a distinct idea; and the case is the same where the Lord is called "Creator" "Former" or "Maker."

(from Arcana Coelestia 83 - 88)

The Creation of a Church

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

• The celestial man is delighted with celestial things alone, which being in agreement with his life are called celestial food.

• The spiritual man is delighted with spiritual things, and as these are in agreement with his life they are called spiritual food.

• The natural man in like manner is delighted with natural things, which, being of his life, are called food, and consist chiefly of memory-knowledges.

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• All things relating to the knowledges of faith are called spiritual.

• All things that are of love to the Lord and our neighbor are called celestial.

The spiritual belong to man's understanding; the celestial to his will.

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THE WORK OF THE FINGERS OF GOD

The times and states of man's regeneration in general and in particular are divided into six, and are called the days of his creation; for, by degrees, from being not a man at all, he becomes at first something of one, and so by little and little attains to the sixth day, in which he becomes an image of God.

Meanwhile the Lord continually fights for him against evils and falsities, and by combats confirms him in truth and good. The time of combat is the time of the Lord's working; and therefore in the Prophets the regenerate man is called the work of the fingers of God.

Nor does He rest —

until love acts as principal

then the combat ceases.

When the work has so far advanced that faith is conjoined with love, it is called "very good;" because the Lord then actuates him, as His likeness. At the end of the sixth day the evil spirits depart, and good spirits take their place, and the man is introduced into heaven, or into the celestial paradise. (from Arcana Coelestia 62 -63)

FROM BEING A DEAD MAN, HE BECOME SPIRITUAL, THEN FROM SPIRITUAL, HE BECOMES CELESTIAL

• Genesis chapter one addresses the spiritual man — who was formed out of a dead man.
• Genesis chapter two addresses the celestial man — the seventh day, on which the Lord rests.

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THE NATURE OF THE CELESTIAL MAN — THE SPIRITUAL MAN — THE DEAD MAN

First,
•  A dead man acknowledges nothing to be true and good but what belongs to the body and the world, and this he adores.
• A spiritual man acknowledges spiritual and celestial truth and good; but he does so from a principle of faith, which is likewise the ground of his actions, and not so much from love.
• A celestial man believes and perceives spiritual and celestial truth and good, acknowledging no other faith than that which is from love, from which also he acts.

Secondly:
• The ends which influence a dead man regard only corporeal and worldly life, nor does he know what eternal life is, or what the Lord is; or should he know, he does not believe.
• The ends which influence a spiritual man regard eternal life, and thereby the Lord.
• The ends which influence a celestial man regard the Lord, and thereby His kingdom and eternal life.

Thirdly:
• A dead man, when in combat almost always yields, and when not in combat, evils and falsities have dominion over him, and he is a slave. His bonds are external, such as the fear of the law, of the loss of life, of wealth, of gain, and of the reputation which he values for their sake.
• The spiritual man is in combat, but is always victorious; the bonds by which he is restrained are internal, and are called the bonds of conscience.
• The celestial man is not in combat, and when assaulted by evils and falsities, he despises them, and is therefore called a conqueror. He is apparently restrained by no bonds, but is free. His bonds, which are not apparent, are perceptions of good and truth.  (from Arcana Coelestia 81)