THE WILL AND THE UNDERSTANDING (pt. 4)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
THE WILL AND THE UNDERSTANDING
(pt. 4)

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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.

(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 33)

• 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.