To What End Am I Doing Good?

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Those who believe that they merit heaven by the goods which they do, do goods from themselves, and not from the Lord.

None of the goods which men do from themselves are good, because they are done for the sake of self, being done for the sake of reward; thus from these works they have regard in the first place to themselves; but the goods which men do from the Lord are all good, because they are done for the sake of the Lord and for the sake of the neighbor; thus in these goods they have regard in the first place to the Lord and the neighbor.

Therefore those who place merit in works love themselves, and those who love themselves despise the neighbor, and even are angry with God Himself if they do not receive the hoped-for reward, for they do the works for the sake of the reward.

From this it is evident that their works are not from heavenly love, thus not from true faith; for the faith which regards good from self, and not from God, is not true faith. Such cannot receive heaven into themselves, for heaven with man is from heavenly love and true faith.

Those who place merit in works cannot fight against the evils which are from the hells, for no one can do this from himself; but the Lord fights and conquers for those who do not place merit in works.

The Lord alone had merit, because He alone, from Himself, has conquered and subdued the hells. Hence the Lord alone is merit and righteousness.

Moreover, from himself man is nothing but evil; thus to do good from self is to do it from evil.

That good must not be done for the sake of a reward, the Lord Himself teaches in Luke:

If ye love those who love you, what thanks have ye? If ye do well to those who do well to you, what thanks have ye? For sinners do the same. Rather love your enemies, and do well, and lend, hoping for nothing; then shall your reward be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High (Luke 6:32-35).

That a man cannot from himself do good that is good; but only from the Lord, the Lord also teaches in John:

A man can receive nothing unless it be given him from heaven (John 3:27).

Jesus said, I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5).

To believe that they will be rewarded if they do what is good, is not hurtful to those who are in innocence, as is the case with little children and with the simple; but to confirm themselves therein when they are grown up is hurtful; for a man is initiated into good by looking for a reward, and he is deterred from evil by looking for a punishment. But insofar as he comes into the good of love and of faith, he is removed from having regard to merit in the goods which he does.

To do good that is good must be from the love of good, thus for the sake of good. They who are in this love abhor merit, for they love to do, and perceive satisfaction from it; and on the other hand, they are saddened if it is believed that it is done for the sake of something of self. The case herein is almost as it is with those who do what is good to friends for the sake of friendship, to a brother for the sake of brotherhood, to wife and children for their own sake, to their country for their country's sake; thus from friendship and from love. They who think well also say and insist that they do not do well for the sake of themselves; but for the sake of those to whom they do it.

The delight itself which is in the love of doing what is good without any end of recompense, is the reward which remains to eternity; for every affection of love remains inscribed on the life. Into this there is insinuated by the Lord heaven and eternal happiness.

(Arcana Coelestia 9974-9984)

Active and Passive - Spiritual and Natural

Selection from Interaction of the Soul and Body ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THAT WHICH IS SPIRITUAL CLOTHES ITSELF WITH THAT WHICH IS NATURAL

AS A MAN CLOTHES HIMSELF WITH A GARMENT

It is well known that both an active and a passive are necessary to every operation, and that nothing can be produced from an active alone, and nothing from a passive alone. It is similar with what is spiritual and what is natural: what is spiritual, as a living force, being active, and what is natural, as a dead force, being passive. Hence it follows that whatever existed in this solar world from the beginning, and whatever comes into existence from moment to moment since, exists from what is spiritual by means of what is natural; and this not only in regard to the subjects of the animal kingdom, but also to those of the vegetable kingdom.

[2] Another similar fact is also known, namely, that in every effect which is produced there are both a principal and an instrumental cause, and that these two, when anything is done, appear as one, although they are distinctly two; hence it is one of the laws of wisdom, that the principal cause and the instrumental cause make together one cause; so also do what is spiritual and what is natural. The reason that in producing effects these two appear as one is that the spiritual is within the natural, as a fibre is within a muscle and blood within the arteries, or as thought is inwardly in speech and affection in the tones of the voice; and it causes itself to be felt by means of the natural. From these considerations - though thus far only indistinctly, as through a lattice - it appears that what is spiritual clothes itself with what is natural, as a man clothes himself with a garment.

[3] The organic body, with which the soul clothes itself, is here compared with a garment because it invests the soul; and the soul also withdraws itself from it, and casts it off as old clothing when it departs by death from the natural into its own spiritual world. Moreover, the body grows old like a garment, but not the soul; because this is a spiritual substance, which has nothing in common with the changes of nature, which advance from their beginnings to their ends, and are terminated at stated times.

[4] Those who do not consider the body as a vesture or covering of the soul, which in itself is dead, and only adapted to receive the living forces flowing into it through the soul from God, cannot avoid concluding from fallacies that the soul lives of itself, and the body of itself, and that there is, between their respective lives, a PRE-ESTABLISHED HARMONY. They likewise infer either that the life of the soul flows into the life of the body, or the life of the body into the life of the soul, whence they conceive INFLUX to be either SPIRITUAL or NATURAL: when, nevertheless, it is a truth attested by every object in creation that what is posterior does not act from itself, but from something prior, from which it proceeded; thus that neither does this act from itself, but from something still prior; and thus that nothing acts except from a First, which does act from itself, thus from God. Besides, there is only one life, and this is not capable of being created, but is eminently capable of flowing into forms organically adapted to its reception: all things in the created universe, in general and in particular, are such forms.

[5] It is believed by many that the soul is life, and thus that a man, since he lives from his soul, lives from his own life, thus of himself, consequently not by an influx of life from God. But such persons cannot avoid tying a sort of Gordian knot of fallacies, in which they entangle all the judgments of their mind till nothing but insanity in regard to spiritual things is the result; or they construct a maze, from which the mind can never, by any clue of reason, retrace its way and extricate itself. They also actually let themselves down, as it were, into caverns underground, where they dwell in eternal darkness.

[6] For from such a belief proceed innumerable fallacies, each of which is horrible: as that God has transfused and transcribed Himself into men, whence every man is a sort of deity that lives of himself, and thus that he does good and is wise from himself; likewise, that he possesses faith and charity in himself, and thus derives them from himself, and not from God; besides other monstrous sentiments, such as prevail with those in hell, who, when they were in the world, believed nature to live or to produce life by its own activity. When these look towards heaven, its light appears to them as mere thick darkness.

[7] I once heard from heaven the voice of someone saying that if a spark of life in man were his own, and not of God in him, there would be no heaven nor anything that exists there; whence also there would be no church on earth, and consequently no life eternal.

(from Interaction of the Soul and Body 11)

For further particulars relating to this subject, the memorable relation in the work on CONJUGIAL LOVE, nos. 132-136, may be consulted.  And in THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, no. 48 (Available online - Click)

The Ultimate of the Word

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The universal angelic heaven consists solely of the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord; the reception of this constitutes angels.

In the highest heaven this truth appears like a pure aura which is called ether; in the next lower heaven as less pure, almost like the atmosphere that is called air; in the lowest heaven it appears like something thinly aqueous over which is a vapor like a cloud; such is the appearance of Divine truth according to degrees in its descent. There is a like appearance when angels of the higher heavens speak about Divine truths; what they say is then presented to the view of those who are in the lowest heaven under the appearance of a cloud that floats hither and thither; the more intelligent of them know from its movement and brightness and form what the angels of the higher heavens are speaking about with each other. This makes evident why a "cloud" signifies Divine truth in ultimates.

As most things in the Word were taken from the appearances in the spiritual world, and thence have a like significance as they have there, so is it with "clouds."

That a "cloud" signifies in the Word the sense of the letter, which is Divine truth in ultimates, can be seen from the following passages. In the Gospels:

Jesus took Peter, James, and John into a high mountain; and He was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and His garments became as the light. And behold, there appeared Moses and Elijah speaking with Him. While Peter was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him (Matt. 17:1-10; Mark 9:1-11).

And in Luke:

While Peter thus spake there came a cloud and overshadowed them; hence they feared as they entered into the cloud. But there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him (9:34, 35).

In this transfiguration the Lord represented Divine truth, which is the Word; for the Lord, when He was in the world, made His Human Divine truth, and when He went out of the world He made His Human Divine good by uniting it with the Divine Itself, that was in Him from conception.

Consequently, the particular things that were seen when He was transfigured signify the proceeding of Divine truth from the Lord's Divine good. The Divine good of Divine love which was in Him, and from which He had Divine truth in His Human, was represented by "His face did shine as the sun;
• the "face" represents the interiors, since these shine forth through the face;
• the "sun" signifies the Divine love.
• the Divine truth was represented by the "garments" which became as the light; "garments" in the Word signify truths ... this is why they appeared "as the light;" for Divine truth makes the light in the angelic heaven, and is therefore signified by "light" in the Word.

Because it was the Word, which is Divine truth, that was represented, therefore "there appeared Moses and Elijah speaking with Him;"
• Moses and Elijah signifying the Word; "Moses" the historical Word, and "Elijah" the prophetical Word.

The Word in the letter was represented by the "cloud that overshadowed the disciples, and into which they entered;"
• the "disciples" represented in the Word the church, which at that time and afterwards was only in truths from the sense of the letter; and because revelations and responses are made by Divine truth in ultimates, and because this truth is such as is the truth of the sense of the letter of the Word, it came to pass that "a voice was heard out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him," meaning that He is Divine truth, or the Word.

He who does not know that a "cloud" in the spiritual sense of the Word means the Word in the letter, cannot know what arcanum is involved in this:

That in the consummation of the age they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory (Matt. 24:30; Mark 13:26; 14:61, 62; Luke 21:27).

And in Revelation:

Behold, Jesus Christ cometh with the clouds and every eye shall see Him (1:7).

And again:

I saw, and behold a white cloud, and on the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man (14:14).

And in Daniel:

I was seeing in the night visions, and behold, there was coming with the clouds of the heavens one like the Son of man (7:13).

He who is ignorant that "the clouds of heaven" signify the truths of the Word in the sense of the letter, cannot know otherwise than that in the consummation of the age, that is, in the end of the church, the Lord is to come in the clouds of heaven, and manifest Himself to the world; but it is well known that since the Word was given, the Lord manifests Himself through that only, for the Word, which is Divine truth, is the Lord Himself in heaven and in the church.

From this it can now be seen that the manifestation here predicted signifies His manifestation in the Word; and His manifestation in the Word was effected through His opening and revealing the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, for in that sense is the Divine truth itself, such as it is in heaven, and the Divine truth in heaven is the Lord Himself there. This makes clear that "the Lord's coming in the clouds of heaven with glory" signifies the revelation of Him in the sense of the letter of the Word from its spiritual sense. "The clouds of heaven" signify the things belonging to the sense of the letter, and "glory" signifies those belonging to the spiritual sense.

(from Apocalypse Explained 594:1-3)