Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
NO ONE IS REFORMED IN STATES THAT DO NOT SPRING FROM RATIONALITY AND LIBERTY
NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF FEAR
No one is reformed in a state of fear, because fear takes away freedom and reason, or liberty and rationality; for while love opens the interiors of the mind, fear closes them; and when they are closed man thinks but little, and only of what then presents itself to the mind or the senses. Such is the effect of all fears that take possession of the mind.
It has been shown above that man has an internal and an external of thought; fear can in no wise take possession of the internal of thought; this is always in freedom because in its life's love; but it can take possession of the external of thought, and when it does this the internal of thought is closed; and when that is closed man can no longer act from freedom in accordance with his reason, and therefore cannot be reformed.
The fear that takes possession of the external of thought and closes the internal is chiefly a fear of the loss of honor or gain. The internal of thought is not closed by a fear of civil punishments or of external ecclesiastical punishments, because such laws only prescribe penalties for those who speak and act contrary to the civil interests of the kingdom and the spiritual interests of the church, and not for those who merely think in opposition to them.
A fear of infernal punishments may take possession of the external of thought, but only for a few moments or hours or days; it is soon brought back to its freedom from the internal of thought, which belongs strictly to its spirit and its life's love, and is called the thought of the heart.
But a fear of the loss of honor and gain takes possession of the external of man's thought; and when it does this it closes the internal of thought from above against influx from heaven, and makes it impossible for man to be reformed. This is because every man's life's love from his birth is a love of self and the world; and the love of self makes one with the love of honor, and the love of the world makes one with the love of gain. When, therefore, a man has gained honor or wealth, from a fear of losing them he strengthens with himself the means that are serviceable to him for honor and gain, whether civil or ecclesiastical, both of which are means of power. One who has not yet gained honor and wealth does the like if he desires them; but he does it from a fear of the loss of reputation on their account.
It is said that that fear takes possession of the external of thought, and closes the internal from above against the influx from heaven. The internal is said to be closed when it completely makes one with the external, for it is not then in itself but in the external.
But inasmuch as the loves of self and the world are infernal loves, and are the fountain heads of all evils, it is clear what the internal of thought is in itself in those in whom these loves are the loves of the life, or in whom these loves rule, namely, that it is full of the lusts of evils of every kind. This is not known to those who from a fear of the loss of dignity and wealth are strongly persuaded respecting the religion they accept, especially if the religion involves their worship as deities, and also as having supreme power over hell. Such may seem to be in a blaze of zeal for the salvation of souls, and yet this may be from an infernal fire. As such a fear especially takes away rationality itself and liberty itself, which are heavenly in their origin, it is evidently a hindrance to man's ability to be reformed.
NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF MISFORTUNE
No one is reformed in a state of misfortune, if he thinks of God and implores His aid only in that state, because that is a compelled state; consequently as soon as he comes into a free state he goes back to his former state, in which he had thought little or nothing about God. It is otherwise with those who in their former free state had feared God. By "fearing God" is meant fearing to offend Him, "offending God" meaning to sin. This fear is not a matter of fear but of love, for when one loves another does he not fear to do him wrong? And does he not fear this the more, the more he loves? Without such a fear love is insipid and superficial, a mere matter of the thought and not at all of the will. By "states of misfortune" are meant states of despair from danger, as in battles, duels, shipwrecks, falls, fires, threatened or unexpected loss of wealth or of office and thus of honors, and other like things To think of God only when in such dangers is not from God but from self. For the mind is then as it were imprisoned in the body; thus not at liberty, and therefore not in rationality; and apart from these no reformation is possible.
NO ONE IS REFORMED IN UNHEALTHY MENTAL STATES
No one is reformed in unhealthy mental states, because these take away rationality, and consequently the freedom to act in accordance with reason. For the mind may be sick and unsound; and while a sound mind is rational a sick mind is not. Such unhealthy mental states are melancholy, a spurious or false conscience, hallucinations of various kinds, grief of mind from misfortunes, and anxieties and mental suffering from a vitiated condition of the body. These are sometimes regarded as temptations, but they are not. For genuine temptations have as their objects things spiritual, and in these the mind is wise; but these states have as their objects natural things, and in these the mind is unhealthy.
NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF BODILY DISEASE
No one is reformed in a state of bodily disease, because the reason is not then in a free state; for the state of the mind depends upon the state of the body. When the body is sick the mind is also sick, because of its separation from the world if for no other reason. For when the mind is removed from the world it may think about God, but not from God, for it does not possess freedom of reason. Man has freedom of reason by his being midway between heaven and the world, and by his ability to think from heaven or from the world, also from heaven about the world, or from the world about heaven. So when a man is sick, and is thinking about death and the state of his soul after death, he is not in the world; but in spirit he is withdrawn; and in this state alone no one can be reformed; but if before he fell sick he had been reformed this can then be strengthened.
It is the same with those who give up the world and all business there, and give themselves solely to thoughts about God, heaven, and salvation; but of this more elsewhere. As a consequence, if these persons had not been reformed before their sickness, if they die they afterwards become such as they were before the sickness. It is therefore vain to think that any can repent or receive any faith during sickness, for in such repentance there is nothing of action, and in such faith nothing of charity; thus both belong wholly to the lips and not at all to the heart.
NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF IGNORANCE
No one is reformed in a state of ignorance, because all reformation is effected by means of truths and a life according to them; consequently those who are ignorant of truths cannot be reformed; but if they desire truths from an affection for truths, after death in the spiritual world they are reformed.
NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF IN A STATE OF BLINDNESS OF THE UNDERSTANDING
Neither can any one be reformed in a state of blindness of the understanding. These, too, are ignorant of truths, and consequently of life; for the understanding must teach truths, and the will must do them; and when the will does what the understanding teaches its life comes into harmony with the truths. But when the understanding is blinded the will also is closed up; and from a freedom that is in accord with its reason it does only the evil that has been confirmed in the understanding, which is falsity. The understanding is blinded not only by ignorance but also by a religion that teaches a blind faith, also by false doctrine. For as truths open the understanding so falsities close it; they close it above but open it below; and an understanding that is opened only below cannot see truths, but can merely confirm whatever it wills, especially falsity. The understanding is also blinded by the lusts of evil. As long as the will is in these it moves the understanding to confirm them; and so far as the lusts of evil are confirmed the will cannot be in affections for good and to see truths from them, and thus be reformed.
When one, for example, is in the lust of adultery, his will, which is in the enjoyment of his love, moves his understanding to confirm it, saying, "What is adultery? Is there anything wicked in it? Is there not a like thing between husband and wife? Cannot offspring be born from adultery as well as from marriage? Cannot a woman admit more than one without harm? What has the spiritual to do with this?" So thinks the understanding that is then the will's harlot, and that has become so stupid from debauchery with the will as to be unable to see that conjugial love is the spiritual heavenly love itself, an image of love of the Lord and of the church, and derived from that love, and thus is in itself holy, is chastity itself, purity, and innocence; also that it makes men to be loves in form, since consorts can love each other mutually from inmosts, and thus form themselves into loves; while adultery destroys this form, and with it the image of the Lord, and, what is horrible, the adulterer mingles his life with the husband's life in his wife, since a man's life is in his seed.
Because this is profane hell is called adultery, and heaven on the other hand is called marriage. Moreover, the love of adultery communicates with the lowest hell, while love truly conjugial communicates with the inmost heaven; and the organs of generation in either sex correspond to societies of the inmost heaven. All this has been presented to make known how blinded the understanding is when the will is in the lust of evil; and that no man can be reformed in a state of blindness of the understanding.
(from Divine Providence 138 - 144)