November 25, 2018

THE INTERNAL AND THE EXTERNAL MAN (pt. 4)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
Doctrinal Series
THE INTERNAL AND THE EXTERNAL MAN
(pt. 4)

The man whose internal is in the light of heaven, and his external in the light of the world, thinks both spiritually and naturally; but then his spiritual thought flows into his natural thought, and is there perceived. But the man whose internal and external are in the light of the world, does not think spiritually, but materially; for he thinks from such things as are in the nature of the world, all which are material. To think spiritually is to think of things themselves as they are in themselves, to see truths in the light of truth, and to perceive goods from the love of good; also, to see the qualities of things, and to perceive their affections, abstractly from matter. But to think materially is to think, see, and perceive them together with matter, and in matter, thus in a gross and obscure manner respectively.
(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 39)
In the manuscript, the author, Emanuel Swedenborg, annexed to each section of the doctrine extracts from the Arcana Coelestia, because in the Arcana Coelestia the same things are more fully explained. Arcana Coelestia is available in print or online.