Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
A state of desolation caused by the privation of truth - the last stage of which state is despair.That despair is the last stage of this state, is because thereby the delight of the love of self and of the world is removed, and the delight of the love of good and of truth is instilled in its place.
In the case of those to be regenerated, the despair is about spiritual life, consequently is about the privation of truth and good, because when these persons are deprived of truth and good they despair of spiritual life; hence they have delight and bliss when they come out of their despair.
• Nothing shall be perceived therein of the truth previously there - the last state of desolation, when there is the despair which next precedes regeneration
Every man must be reformed and be born anew or regenerated that he may be able to come into heaven, for "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3, 5, 6).
Man is born into sin, which has been increased in a long line from parents, grandparents, and ancestors, and made hereditary, and thus transmitted to the offspring.
Every man who is born, is born into all these inherited evils thus increased in succession, and consequently is nothing but sin. Therefore, unless he is regenerated, he remains wholly in sin.
But in order that man may be regenerated, he must first be reformed, and this is done by means of the truths of faith; for he has to learn from the Word and from doctrine therefrom what good is. The knowledges of good from the Word, or from doctrine therefrom, are called the truths of faith, because all the truths of faith spring from good, and flow to good, for they look to good as the end.
This is the first state, and is called the state of re - formation.
During their childhood and youth most of those who are in the church, are introduced into this state, and yet few are regenerated; for most in the church learn the truths of faith or the knowledges of good for the sake of reputation and honor, and also for gain, and when the truths of faith have been introduced by means of these loves (hereditary inclinations), the man cannot be born anew or regenerated until these loves have been removed.
In order therefore that they may be removed, the man is let into a state of temptation, and this in the following manner. The loves referred to are excited by the infernal crew, for they desire to live in them; but the affections of truth and good that have been instilled from infancy in a state of innocence, and afterward stored up interiorly and preserved for this use, are then excited by angels. The result is a conflict between the evil spirits and the angels which is felt in the man as temptation; and because the conflict is about truths and goods, the truths previously instilled are as it were banished by means of the falsities injected by the evil spirits (by means of hereditary inclinations), so that they no longer appear. And then as the man suffers himself to be regenerated, the light of truth from good is instilled by the Lord through an internal way into the natural, into which light the truths are returned in order.
This is the case with the man who is being regenerated; but few at this day are admitted into this state. Insofar as they permit it, all do indeed begin to be reformed by means of instruction in the truths and goods of spiritual life; but as soon as they come to the age of early manhood, they suffer themselves to be carried away by the world, and thus go over to the side of infernal spirits, by whom they are gradually so estranged from heaven that they scarcely believe any longer that there is a heaven. Thus they cannot be let into any spiritual temptation, for if they were they would at once yield, and then their last state would be worse than the first (Matt. 12:45). From this it may be seen how the case is with what is here contained in the internal sense, namely, with the state of reformation and that of regeneration
• Desolation even to despair
Despair causes those who feel it to acknowledge in an effectual and feeling manner that there is nothing of truth and good from themselves, and that from themselves they are condemned; but that they are delivered from condemnation by the Lord; and that salvation flows in by means of truth and good.
Despair also causes them to feel the happiness of life which is from the Lord; for when they come out of that state, they are like those who have been condemned to death, and are set free from prison.
Moreover by means of desolations and temptations, states contrary to heavenly life are felt, the result of which is the implantation of a sense and perception of the satisfaction and happiness of heavenly life; for a sense and perception of what is satisfying and happy is impossible without comparison with the opposites. To the end therefore that full comparisons may be made, desolations and temptations are brought to their utmost, that is, to despair.
(from Arcana Coelestia 5279; 5280; 6144)