Charity and Good Works (pt. 18)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 18)
v Doctrinal Series v

IV. THE COLLECTIVE MAN, THAT IS, A COMMUNITY SMALLER OR GREATER
AND THE COMPOSITE MAN FORMED OF COMMUNITIES, THAT IS, ONE'S COUNTRY
IS THE NEIGHBOR THAT IS TO BE LOVED.

Those who do not know what the term neighbor means in its true sense, suppose that it means nothing else than the individual man, and that loving the neighbor means conferring benefits upon him.  But the neighbor and love to him have a wider meaning and a higher meaning as individuals are multiplied. Who cannot understand that loving many men in a body is loving the neighbor more than loving one individual of a body? Thus, a community smaller or greater is the neighbor because it is a collective man; and from this it follows that he who loves a community loves those of whom the community consists; therefore he who wills and acts rightly towards a community consults the good of each individual. A community is like a single man; and those who enter into it form as it were one body, and are distinct from each other like the members of one body.

When the Lord and the angels from Him look down upon the earth, they see an entire community just like a single man, with a form according to the qualities of those in it.

It has been granted me to see a certain community in heaven precisely as a single man, in stature like that of a man in the world.

That love towards a community is a fuller love to the neighbor than love towards a separate or individual man, is obvious from this, that dignities are measured out according to the kind of administration over communities, and honors are attached to offices according to the uses they promote. For in the world there are higher and lower offices subordinated according to their more or less universal government over communities; and the king is he whose government is the most universal; and each one has remuneration, glory, and the general love according to the extent of his duties, and the goods of use which he promotes.

Nevertheless, the rulers of this age can perform uses and consult the good of society, and not love the neighbor; as those do who perform uses and consult the good of others with reference to the world or to self, or for the sake of appearances, or that they may be thought worthy to be elevated to higher dignities. But although the character of such is not discerned in the world, it is discerned in heaven; and in consequence those who have promoted uses from love to the neighbor, are the ones placed as rulers over heavenly communities, and there enjoy splendor and honor; and yet such do not set their hearts upon these things, but upon uses. But the others, who have performed uses from love of the world and of self, are rejected.

(True Christian Religion 412)

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 17)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 17)
v Doctrinal Series v

III. EVERY MAN INDIVIDUALLY IS THE NEIGHBOR WHO IS TO BE LOVED,
BUT ACCORDING TO THE QUALITY OF HIS GOOD.
(Continued)

Since charity itself has its seat in the internal man, wherein it is willing well, and from that is in the external man, wherein it is well-doing, it follows that-

the internal man is to be loved, and from that the external; consequently that a man is to be loved according to the quality of the good that is in him.

Therefore good itself is essentially the neighbor. This may be illustrated thus:

When one selects for himself from among three or four a steward for his house, or a servant, does he not try to find out about his internal man, and choose one who is sincere and faithful, and for that reason love him? 

In like manner a king or magistrate from three or four persons would select one competent for office, and would refuse the incompetent, whatever his looks, or however favorable his speech and actions.

Since, then, every man is the neighbor, and the variety of men is infinite, and everyone is to be loved as a neighbor according to his good, it is plain that there are genera and species and also degrees of love to the neighbor. And because the Lord is to be loved above all things, it follows that the degrees of love towards the neighbor are to be measured by love to the Lord, that is, by how much of the Lord or of what is from the Lord the other possesses in himself; for thus far he possesses good, since all good is from the Lord.

But as these degrees are in the internal man, and the internal man rarely manifests itself in the world, it is sufficient that the neighbor be loved according to the degrees that are known. But after death these degrees are clearly perceived; for the affections of the will and the consequent thoughts of the understanding form a spiritual sphere round about those in the spiritual world, which is felt in various ways; while in this world this spiritual sphere is absorbed by the material body, and encloses itself within a natural sphere, which then flows forth from man.

That there are degrees of love towards the neighbor, is plain from the Lord's parable of the Samaritan who showed mercy to the man wounded by thieves, whom the priests and the Levite saw and passed by; and when the Lord asked which of those three seemed to have been the neighbor, He was answered,

He who showed mercy (Luke 10:30-37).

It is written,

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God above all things, and thy neighbor as thyself (Luke 10:27).

To love the neighbor as oneself is, not to hold him in light esteem in comparison with oneself, to deal justly with him, and not to pass evil judgments upon him.

The law of charity set forth and given by the Lord is this:

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them; for this is the law and the prophets (Matt. 7:12; Luke 6:31, 32).

So do they love the neighbor who are in the love of heaven; while those who are in the love of the world love the neighbor from the world and for the sake of the world; and those who are in the love of self love the neighbor from self and for the sake of self.

(True Christian Religion 410 - 411)

To be continued ...

What 'Should Be' Common in Society

Selection from Doctrine of Charity ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The general good consists in these things:

That in the society or kingdom there shall be,

I. What is Divine with them.

II. That there shall be justice with them.

III. That there shall be morality with them.

IV. That there shall be industry, knowledge, and uprightness with them.

V. That there shall be the necessaries of life.

VI. That there shall be the things necessary to their occupations.

VII. That there shall be the things necessary for protection.

VIII. That there shall be a sufficiency of wealth; because from this come the three former necessaries.

From these arises the general good; and yet it does not come of these themselves, but from the individuals there, and through the goods of use which individuals perform.

As that what is Divine is there through ministers; and justice through magistrates and judges; so morality exists by means of the Divine and of justice; and necessaries by means of industrial occupations and commerce; and so on.

(Doctrine of Charity 130 - 131)