April 4, 2020

What I Have Written I Have Written

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Whatever enters with man, remains with him, especially what is received from affection.

It is believed that the things which enter have been completely obliterated and cast out when the man no longer remembers them; but they have not been obliterated or cast out, but they stick fast either in the interior memory, or in the exterior, among things which have become familiar. For the things which become familiar, are as it were natural, which flow of their own accord, and are not excited by a conscious recalling from the memory; like man's speech, the words of which flow spontaneously from thought, as also do the gestures and actions, and even the steps; and also the thought. These enter successively from infancy, and in time become familiar, and then flow spontaneously.

From these as well as from other similar facts, it is evident that all things which enter with man, remain, and that the things which have become habitual, that is, familiar, are no longer noticed as being in the man, although they are in him. Such is the case with the falsities and evils that enter with man, and also with the truths and goods. Such are the things that form him and determine his quality. ... all things which a man has seen, heard, thought, spoken, and done, have been inscribed on him.
(from Arcana Coelestia 7398)