The Working of the Angels into the Truths of Faith with Man

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There must be truths in the natural mind in order that good may work, and the truths must be introduced by means of the affection which is of genuine love. All things whatever that are in man's memory have been introduced by means of some love, and remain there conjoined with it. So also it is with the truths of faith - if these truths have been introduced by means of the love of truth, they remain conjoined with this love. When they have been conjoined, then the case is as follows.

If the affection is reproduced, the truths which are conjoined with it come forth at the same time; and if the truths are reproduced, the affection itself with which they have been conjoined comes forth at the same time. Wherefore during man's regeneration (which is effected in adult age, because previously he does not think from himself about the truths of faith) he is ruled by means of angels from the Lord, by being kept in the truths which he has impressed upon himself to be truths, and by means of these truths in the affection with which they have been conjoined; and as this affection, namely, of truth, is from good, he is thus led by degrees to good.

That this is so is evident to me from much experience, for I have noticed that when evil spirits have injected evils and falsities, then angels from the Lord kept me in the truths which had been implanted, and thus withheld me from evils and falsities.

From this also it was plain that the truths of faith, which have been inrooted by means of the affection of truth, are the plane into which angels work. Wherefore they who have not this plane cannot be led by angels, but suffer themselves to be led by hell, for the working of the angels cannot then be fixed anywhere, but flows through. But this plane cannot be acquired unless the truths of faith have been put into act, and thus implanted in the will, and through the will in the life.

It is also worthy of mention that the working of the angels into the truths of faith with man seldom takes place manifestly, that is, so as to excite thought about this truth; but there is produced a general idea of such things as are in agreement with this truth, together with affection. For this working is effected by means of an imperceptible influx, which when presented to the sight appears like an inflowing light, which light consists of innumerable truths in good, which encompass some single thing in the man, and keep him while in truth also in the love of this truth. Thus the angels elevate the mind of the man from falsities, and protect him from evils.

(Arcana Coelestia 5893)

One's 'LOVE' is the Whole Man

From Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Every man's ruling affection or love remains with him after death, nor is it rooted out to eternity, since a man's spirit is wholly what his love is, and what is unknown, the body of every spirit and angel is the outward form of his love, exactly corresponding to his inward form, which is the form of his disposition and mind; consequently the quality of his spirit is known from his face, movements, and speech. While a man is living in the world the quality of the spirit would be known if he had not learned to counterfeit in his face, movements, and speech what is not his own. All this shows that man remains to eternity such as his ruling affection or love is.

(Heaven and Hell 363a)

Where the Word Is and Where the Word is Not

From Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Church [is] where the Word is, because the Lord's Church is in the whole world, but in a special sense where the Word is, and where the Lord is known through the Word.
...
The Lord, and thus the angels of heaven, are present with the men of this earth by means of the Word; for the Word is written by pure correspondences: from this it comes that the Lord and the angels of heaven are present also with those who are around or outside the church, who are called Gentiles [nations].
...
For the Church in the whole world is before the Lord as One Man, for it makes a one with the angelic heaven. ...

In this Man, the Church where the Word is and where the Lord is known thereby is like the heart and the lungs; with those who are in celestial love, the Church is like the heart, and with those who are in spiritual love like the lungs; consequently, as all the members, viscera, and organs of the body live from the heart and from the lungs, and from their influx and consequent presence, so all in the whole earth, who constitute the Church universal, live from the Church where the Word is; for the Lord flows in therefrom with love and with light, and vivifies and enlightens all who are in any spiritual affection for truth, wherever they are.

The light of heaven, or the light in which are the angels of heaven who are from this earth, is from the Lord by means of the Word; from this as from a center light is diffused into the circumferences in every direction, thus to those who are there, who, as was said, are the Gentiles that are outside of our church. But this diffusion of light is effected in heaven by the Lord, and what is done in heaven flows also into the minds of men, for the minds of men make one with the minds of spirits and angels. It is for this reason that those are especially treated of in [Revelation] this prophetical book who are of the Church where the Word is; then those also are treated of who are of the Church where the Word is not, although not proximately, for the arrangement of those who are in the circumferences follows according to the order in which those are who are in the center.

(Apocalypse Explained 351)