What Should a Man have More at Heart?

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

Falsities are principles and persuasions of what is false ... Persuasions immensely increase when men mingle truths with cupidities [yearning], or make them favor the loves of self and of the world; for then in a thousand ways they pervert them and force them into agreement. For who that has imbibed or framed for himself a false principle does not confirm it by much that he has learned; and even from the Word? Is there any heresy that does not thus lay hold of things to confirm it? and even force, and in diverse ways explain and distort, things that are not in agreement, so that they may not disagree?

For example, he who adopts the principle that faith alone is saving, without the goods of charity; can he not weave a whole system of doctrine out of the Word? and this without in the least caring for, or considering, or even seeing, what the Lord says, that "the tree is known by its fruit" and that "every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire"? What is more pleasing than to live after the flesh, and yet be saved if only one knows what is true, though he does nothing of good? Every cupidity [yearning] that a man favors forms the life of his will, and every principle or persuasion of falsity forms the life of his understanding. These lives make one when the truths or doctrinals of faith are immersed in cupidities [yearning].

Every man thus forms for himself as it were a soul, and such after death does his life become.

Nothing therefore is of more importance to a man than to know what is true. When he knows what is true, and knows it so well that it cannot be perverted, then it cannot be so much immersed in cupidities [yearning] and have such deadly effect.

What should a man have more at heart than his life to eternity? If in the life of the body he destroys his soul, does he not destroy it to eternity?

(from Arcana Coelestia 794)

The Office of Angels with Man

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders  and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’  I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:4-7

The angels, through whom the Lord leads and also protects a man, are near his head. It is their office to inspire charity and faith, and to observe in what direction the man's delights turn, and insofar as they can, without interfering with the man's freedom, moderate them and bend them to good. They are forbidden to act with violence and thus break the man's cupidities and principles; but are enjoined to act gently. It is also their office to rule the evil spirits who are from hell, which is done in innumerable ways, of which the following only may be mentioned. When the evil spirits pour in evils and falsities, the angels insinuate truths and goods, which, if not received, are nevertheless the means of tempering. Infernal spirits continually attack, and the angels protect; such is the order.

The angels especially regulate the affections, for these make the man's life, and also his freedom. The angels also observe whether any hells are open that were not open before, and from which there is influx with the man, which takes place when the man brings himself into any new evil. These hells the angels close so far as the man allows, and remove any spirits who attempt to emerge therefrom. They also disperse strange and new influxes that produce evil effects.

Especially do the angels call forth the goods and truths that are with a man, and set them in opposition to the evils and falsities which the evil spirits excite. Thus the man is in the midst, and does not perceive either the evil or the good; and being in the midst, he is in freedom to turn himself either to the one or to the other. By such means do angels from the Lord lead and protect a man, and this every moment, and every moment of a moment; for if the angels were to intermit their care for a single moment, the man would be precipitated into evil from which he could never afterward be brought out. These things the angels do from the love they have from the Lord, for they perceive nothing more delightful and happy than to remove evils from a man, and lead him to heaven. That this is a joy to them. Scarcely any man believes that the Lord takes such care of a man, and this continually from the first thread of his life to the last of it, and afterward to eternity.

(Arcana Coelestia 5992)

Examining One's Distinctive Characteristic

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

All spirits in the other life are distinguished in the following manner:

• those who desire evil against others are infernal or diabolical spirits
• those who desire good to others are good and angelic spirits.

A man can know among which he is, whether among the infernal or among the angelic:

• if he intends evil to his neighbor, thinks nothing but evil concerning him, and actually does it when he can, and takes delight therein, he is among the infernals, and also becomes infernal in the other life
• the man who intends good to his neighbor, and thinks nothing but good respecting him, and actually does it when he can, is among the angelic spirits, and also becomes an angel in the other life.

This is the distinctive characteristic. Let everyone examine himself by this, in order to learn what he is.

That a man does no evil when he is unable or afraid to do it, amounts to nothing; or that he does good for the sake of self; for these are external things that are removed in the other life. A man there is such as he thinks and intends. There are many who can speak well from a habit formed in the world; but it is instantly perceived whether the mind or intention agrees therewith; if not, they are rejected among the infernals of their own genus and species.

(from Arcana Coelestia 1680: 2,3)