Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. (Genesis 24:65)And she took a veil and covered herself.—
That this signifies appearances of truth is evident from the signification of the veil with which brides covered the face when they first saw the bridegroom, as being appearances of truth; for among the ancients brides represented the affections of truth, and bridegrooms the affections of good; or what is the same, brides represented the church, which was called a "bride" from the affection of truth; the affection of good which is from the Lord being the bridegroom, and hence all through the Word the Lord Himself is called the "bridegroom."
Brides veiled their faces on their first coming to the bridegroom, in order that they might represent appearances of truth. Appearances of truth are not truths in themselves, but they appear as truths; concerning which see below. The affection of truth cannot approach the affection of good except through appearances of truth; nor is it stripped of appearances until it is being conjoined; for then it becomes the truth of good, and becomes genuine insofar as the good is genuine.
Good itself is holy, because it is the Divine proceeding from the Lord, and flows in by the higher way or gate in man; but insofar as its origin is concerned, truth is not holy; because it flows in by a lower way or gate, and at first is of the natural man; but when it is elevated thence toward the rational man it is by degrees purified. At the first sight of the affection of good, it (truth) is separated from memory-knowledges, and puts on appearances of truth, and thus comes near to good; an indication that such is its origin, and that it could not endure the first sight of Divine good until it has entered into the bridegroom's chamber (that is, into the sanctuary of good), and the conjunction has been effected; for then truth no longer looks at good from appearances, or through appearances; but it is looked at from good apart from them.
Be it known, however, that neither with man, nor indeed with an angel, are any truths ever pure, that is, devoid of appearances; for all both in general and in particular are appearances of truth; nevertheless they are accepted by the Lord as truths, provided good is in them. To the Lord alone belong pure truths, because Divine; for as the Lord is Good itself, so He is Truth itself. ...
But what appearances are may be clearly seen from those passages of the Word where it speaks according to appearances. There are however degrees of appearances of truth.
Natural appearances of truth are mostly fallacies* [see definition below]; but with those who are in good they are not to be called fallacies, but appearances, and even in some respects truths; for the good which is in them, and in which is the Divine, causes another essence to be in them. But rational appearances of truth are more and more interior; in them are the heavens, that is, the angels who are in the heavens.
In order that some idea may be formed of what appearances of truth are, let the following examples serve for illustration.
- I. Man believes that he is reformed and regenerated through the truth of faith; but this is an appearance; he is reformed and regenerated through the good of faith, that is, through charity toward the neighbor and love to the Lord.
- II. Man believes that truth enables us to perceive what good is, because it teaches; but this is an appearance; it is good that enables truth to perceive, for good is the soul or life of truth.
- III. Man believes that truth introduces to good when he lives according to the truth which he has learned; but it is good which flows into truth, and introduces it to itself.
- IV. It appears to man that truth perfects good, when yet good perfects truth.
- V. Goods of life appear to man to be the fruits of faith; but they are the fruits of charity. From these few examples it may in some measure be known what appearances of truth are. Such appearances are innumerable.
(from Arcana Coelestia 3207)
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* From all that has thus far been presented respecting the life that is from the Lord and the existence of all things in the universe from it, everyone who is wise in heart can see that nature produces nothing from itself, but merely in the process of production serves the spiritual that proceeds from the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, as an instrumental cause serves its principal cause, or as a dead force serves its living force. This makes clear how mistaken those are who ascribe the generations of animals and the productions of plants to nature. This is the same as ascribing magnificent and splendid works to the tool and not to the workman, or like adoring a sculptured image and not God.From this spring the fallacies, which are innumerable, in all reasonings about spiritual, moral, and civil matters; for a fallacy is an inversion of order; it is the judgment of the eye, not of the mind; it is a conclusion from the appearance of a thing, not from its essence. Consequently to reason from fallacies respecting the world and the existence of things in it is like confirming by reasonings that thick darkness is light, that what is dead is alive, and that the body flows into the soul, and not the reverse. And yet it is an eternal truth that influx is spiritual and not physical, that is, influx from the soul, which is spiritual, into the body, which is material, or from the spiritual world into the natural world; also that as the Divine from itself and through that which proceeds from itself created all things, so it sustains all things; also that sustaining is perpetual creation, as subsistence is perpetual existence.
(from Apocalypse Explained 1215)