Once Falsity Has Been Confirmed

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

How Man's State is Changed by Confirmations and Consequent Persuasions

There is nothing that cannot be confirmed, and falsity is confirmed more readily than the truth.

What is there that cannot be confirmed, when it is confirmed by atheists:-

• that God is not the Creator of the universe, but that nature is the creator of itself
• that religion is merely a restraint, and for the simple and the common people
• that man is like a beast, and dies like one
• that adulteries are allowable, likewise clandestine thefts, frauds, and deceitful contrivances
• that cunning is intelligence and shrewdness is wisdom

Does not everyone confirm his own heresy? Are there not volumes filled with the confirmations of the two heresies that reign in the Christian world? Make up ten heresies, however abstruse, ask an ingenious man to confirm them, and he will confirm them all. If afterwards you look at them solely from the confirmations, will you not see the falsities as truths? As all falsity is visible in the natural man from its appearances and fallacies, and truth is visible in the spiritual man only, it is clear that falsity can be confirmed more readily than truth.

To make clear that every falsity and every evil can be so confirmed as to make the falsity appear like truth and the evil like good, let it be proved, for example, that light is darkness and darkness light. May it not be asked, What is light in itself? Is it anything more than a something that appears to the eye according to its state? What is light to the closed eye? Have not bats and birds of night such eyes that they see light as darkness and darkness as light? I have been told that some men see in this way; and that the infernals, although they are in darkness, still see each other. Does not man have light in his dreams in the middle of the night? Thus is not darkness light, and light darkness? But it may be answered: What of this? Light is light as truth is truth; and darkness is darkness as falsity is falsity.

Take another example: It is to be proved that a raven is white. May it not be said that its blackness is only a shade that is not its real self? Its feathers are white within, so is its body; and these are the substances of which the bird is formed. As its blackness is a shade, so the raven grows white when it gets old-such have been seen. What is black in itself but white? Pulverize black glass, and you will see that the powder is white; therefore when you call the raven black you speak from the shadow and not from the reality. But the reply may be, What of this? In this way all birds might be called white. Although all this is contrary to sound reason it has been presented to show how confirmations can be found for falsity that is directly opposite to the truth, and for evil that is wholly opposite to the good.

When falsity has been confirmed the truth is not seen, but from confirmed truth falsity is seen.

All falsity is in darkness, and all truth is in light, and in darkness, nothing is seen, and what anything is is known only by handling it; in light, it is otherwise. For this reason, in the Word falsities are called darkness, and thus those that are in falsities are said to walk in darkness and in the shadow of death. On the other hand, truths are there called light, and therefore those who are in truths are said to walk in the light and are called children of light.

There are many things to show that when falsity has been confirmed truth is not seen, and that from confirmed truth falsity is seen. For example, who could see any spiritual truth if it were not taught in the Word? Would there not be merely thick darkness that could be dispelled only by means of the light in which the Word is, and only in him who is willing to be enlightened? What heretic can see his falsities unless he admits the genuine truths of the church? He does not see them before. I have spoken with those who have confirmed themselves in faith separate from charity; and when asked whether they saw how much is said in the Word about love and charity, about works and deeds, and keeping the commandments, and that he is called blessed and wise who does them, and foolish who does them not, they said, that while reading all this they saw it only as a matter of faith, and thus they passed it by with their eyes shut, as it were.

Those that have confirmed themselves in falsities are like those who see cracks in a wall; and in the shades of evening, they see them in their fancies as a horseman or a man, but this fanciful image is dispelled by the inflowing light of day. Who can have a sense of the spiritual uncleanness of adultery except one who is in the spiritual cleanness of chastity? Who can have a sense of the cruelty of revenge except one who is in good from love of the neighbor? Who that is an adulterer, or that is eager for revenge, does not sneer at those who call the delights of such things infernal, and on the other hand, call the delights of conjugial love and of love for the neighbor heavenly? And so on.

An ability to confirm whatever one pleases is not intelligence, but only ingenuity, which may exist even in the worst of men.

There are some who are very skilful in confirming, who have no knowledge of any truth and yet are able to confirm both truth and falsity; and some of them ask, What is truth? Is there any? Is not that true that I make true? And yet such are believed in the world to be intelligent; although they are but wall plasterers. Only those who perceive truth to be truth are intelligent, and they confirm truth by verities continually perceived. There is little discernible difference between these two classes, because there is little discernible difference between the light of confirmation and the light of the perception of truth; and those who are in the light of confirmation seem to be also in the light of the perception of truth, and yet the difference between them is like that between illusive light (light in the night) and genuine light (light of the day); and illusive light is such that in the spiritual world it is turned into darkness when genuine light flows in. Such illusive light prevails with many in hell, and when these are brought into genuine light they see nothing at all. From all this it is clear that the ability to confirm whatever one pleases is mere ingenuity, and may exist even in the worst of men.

There is confirmation that is intellectual and not at the same time volitional; but all volitional confirmation is also intellectual.

This may be illustrated by examples. Those who confirm the doctrine of faith separate from charity and yet live a life of charity, or in general those who confirm falsity of doctrine and yet do not live according to it, are those that are in intellectual confirmation and not at the same time in volitional, while those that confirm falsity of doctrine and live according to it are those that are in both volitional and intellectual confirmation. The reason of this is that the understanding does not flow into the will, but the will flows into the understanding. This also shows what falsity of evil is, and what falsity not of evil is. Falsity not of evil can be conjoined with good, but falsity of evil cannot, for the reason that falsity not of evil is falsity in the understanding and not in the will; while falsity of evil is falsity in the understanding from evil in the will.

The confirmation of evil that is volitional and also intellectual causes man to believe that his own prudence is everything and the Divine providence nothing; but this is not true of intellectual confirmation alone.

There are many who by worldly appearances confirm in themselves, their own prudence and yet do not deny the Divine providence; with such there exists only intellectual confirmation. While with those who at the same time deny the Divine providence there exists also volitional confirmation; but this, together with persuasion, exists chiefly with those who are worshipers of nature and also worshipers of self.

Everything confirmed by the will and also by the understanding remains to eternity, but not what has been confirmed by the understanding only.

For that which pertains to the understanding alone (intellectual) is not within the man but is outside of him; it is merely in the thought; and nothing enters into man and is appropriated to him except what is accepted by the will (volitional), for it then comes to be of his life's love. That this remains to eternity.

Everything confirmed by the will and also by the understanding REMAINS TO ETERNITY, because everyone is his own love, and his love belongs to his will

Because every man is his own good or his own evil, for everything that is called good, and likewise evil, belongs to the love. As man is his own love, he is also a form of his love and may be called the organ of his life's love.

The affections of the love and consequent thoughts of man are changes and variations of the state and form of the organic substances of his mind. What these changes and variations are and their nature shall now be explained.

Some idea of them may be gathered from the heart and lungs, where there are alternate expansions and compressions or dilations and contractions, which in the heart are called systole and diastole and in the lungs respirations. These are a reciprocal distension and retraction or reciprocal stretching apart and closing together of their lobes. Such are the changes and variations of the state of the heart and lungs. There are like changes in the other viscera of the body, and changes more similar in their parts, by which the blood and the animal juice are received and carried onward.

Like things are to be found in the organic forms of the mind, which are the subjects of man's affections and thoughts; with the difference that their expansions and compressions, or reciprocations, are relatively in such higher perfection as cannot be expressed in the words of natural language, but only in those of spiritual language, and these can be defined in no other way than that they are vortex-like circlings inward and outward, after the manner of perpetual and incurving spirals wonderfully bundled together into forms receptive of life.

The nature of these purely organic substances and forms in the evil and in the good shall now be stated.

In the good these spiral forms are turned forward, but in the evil backward; and the spiral forms turning forward are turned towards the Lord and receive influx from Him, while those turning backward are turned towards hell and receive influx therefrom. It is to be known that so far as they are turned backward they are open behind and closed in front; and on the other hand, so far as they are turned forward they are opened in front and closed behind.

From all this it is evident what kind of a form or organ an evil man is, and what kind of a form or organ a good man is, namely, that they are turned in contrary directions; and as the turning when once fixed cannot be reversed it is clear that such as man is when he dies such he REMAINS TO ETERNITY.

It is the love of man's will that makes the turning, that is, that converts and inverts, for, as has been said above, every man is his own love. It is from this that every man after death goes the way of his own love - he that is in a good love to heaven, and he that is in an evil love to hell, and he finds rest only in that society where his reigning love is; and what is wonderful, everyone knows the way; it is like following a scent with the nose.

(Divine Providence 318-319)

Consequences of Being Infatuated By One's Own Intelligence

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The character of those who are in their own prudence and of those who are in prudence not their own, and who are thus in the Divine providence, is described in the Word by "Adam and his wife Eve," in "the garden of Eden," where there were two trees, one of life and the other of the knowledge of good and evil, and by their eating of the latter tree.

• By "Adam and his wife Eve," in the internal or spiritual sense, the Most Ancient Church of the Lord on this earth, which was more noble and heavenly than the succeeding churches, is meant and depicted. The signification of the other things is as follows:-

• "The garden of Eden" signifies the wisdom of the men of that church
• "The tree of life" the Lord in respect to the Divine providence
• "The tree of knowledge" man in respect to his own prudence
• The "serpent" signifies the sensual of man and what is his own (proprium), which in itself is the love of self and the pride of self-intelligence, thus the devil and satan
• "Eating from the tree of knowledge" signifies the appropriation of good and truth, as being from man and consequently man's, and not from the Lord and consequently the Lord's.

As good and truth are the Divine things themselves with man (for by good everything of love is meant and by truth everything of wisdom), so when man claims these to himself as his he cannot but believe that he is as God; therefore the serpent said:-

In the day ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:5).

Thus do those do in hell who are in the love of self and in the conceit of their own intelligence therefrom.

• The condemnation of the serpent signifies the condemnation of one's own love and one's own intelligence
• The condemnation of Eve signifies the condemnation of the volitional (proprium)
• Adam's condemnation signifies the condemnation of the intellectual (proprium)
• "The thorn and the thistle" that the earth would bring forth to him signify pure falsity and evil
• The expulsion from the garden signifies the deprivation of wisdom
• "The guarding of the way to the tree of life" the Lord's care lest the holy things of the Word and the church be violated
• "The fig leaves with which they covered their nakedness" signify moral truths by which the things of their love and pride were veiled
• "The coats of skin" in which they were afterwards clothed signify the appearances of truth, which were all that they had.

Such is the spiritual meaning of these things. But let him who wishes remain in the sense of the letter; only let him know that in heaven this is the meaning.

The character of those who are infatuated by their own intelligence can be seen from their fancies in matters of interior judgment; for example, respecting influx, thought, and life.

Respecting influx — their thought is inverted, as that the sight of the eye flows into the internal sight of the mind, which is the understanding; and the hearing of the ear flows into the internal hearing, which also is the understanding; and they fail to perceive that the understanding from the will flows into the eye and the ear, and not only makes those senses but also uses them as its instruments in the natural world. But as this is not in accordance with the appearance they fail to perceive what is meant when it is simply said that the natural does not flow into the spiritual but that the spiritual flows into the natural, still thinking, "What is the spiritual but a purer natural?" also, "Is it not evident that when the eye sees any thing beautiful, or the ear hears any thing harmonious, the mind, which is the understanding and the will, is delighted?" And they are not aware that the eye does not see from itself, nor the tongue taste from itself, nor the nose smell from itself, nor the skin feel from itself; but that it is man's mind or spirit that there perceives things by the sense, and is affected by the sense in accordance with its nature; and still these things are not felt by man's mind or spirit from itself, but from the Lord; and to think otherwise is to think from appearances, and if these are confirmed, from fallacies.

Respecting thought — they say that it is something modified in the air, varied according to its objects and enlarged according to culture, thus that the ideas of the thoughts are images like meteors appearing in the air, while the memory is the tablet on which they have been impressed; and they are not aware that thoughts are as much in substances purely organic as the sight and the hearing are in theirs. Only let them examine the brain and they will see that it is full of such substances; injure them and you become delirious, destroy them and you will die. But what thought is and what memory is can be seen above.

Respecting Life — they know nothing else than that it is a certain activity of nature that makes itself felt in various ways, as a living body moves itself organically. If it is asserted that if this be so nature is alive, they deny it, and say that nature imparts life. If it is asked, Then is not life dissipated when the body dies? they answer that life remains in that body of air that is called the soul. If it is asked, What is God then? is He not Life itself? they are silent, and are unwilling to declare what they think. If it is asked, Would you admit that Divine love and Divine wisdom are life itself? they answer, "What are love and wisdom?" For in their fallacies they fail to see what these are or what God is. These things are adduced to make clear how man is infatuated by his own prudence, for the reason that he draws all conclusions from appearances and consequent fallacies.

One's own prudence persuades and corroborates that every good and truth is from man and in man, because man's own prudence is his intellectual self (proprium) flowing in from the love of self which is his voluntary self (proprium); and self cannot do otherwise than make all things its own, for it cannot be raised above that. All who are led by the Lord's Divine providence are raised above the self, and they then see that all good and truth are from the Lord; they even see that what is in man from the Lord is ever the Lord's and never man's. He who believes otherwise is like one who has his master's goods under his care, and claims them for himself or appropriates them as his - he is not a steward, but a thief. And as man's self (proprium) is nothing but evil, he also immerses them in his evil, whereby they are destroyed like pearls cast into dung or into acid.

Everything that a man has adopted by persuasion and confirmation remains in him as his own. Many believe that no truth can be seen by man except when it has been confirmed; but this is a falsity. In the civil and economical affairs of a kingdom or republic, what is useful and good can be seen only by a knowledge of many statutes and ordinances there; or in judicial matters only by a knowledge of the laws; or in the things of nature, like physics, chemistry, anatomy, mechanics, and so on, only when man has been well instructed in the sciences.

But in things purely rational, moral, and spiritual, truths are seen from the light of truth itself, provided man has from a right education become somewhat rational, moral, and spiritual. This is because every man, in respect to his spirit, which is that which thinks, is in the spiritual world, and is one among those who are there; and consequently is in spiritual light, which enlightens the interiors of his understanding, and as it were dictates. For spiritual light in its essence is the Divine truth of the Lord's Divine wisdom. From this it is that man can think analytically, can form conclusions about what is just and right in judicial affairs, can see what is honorable in moral life and good in spiritual life, and many other truths, which are sunk in darkness only by confirmed falsities. These are seen by man comparatively almost as he sees another's disposition from his face, and perceives his affections from the tone of his voice, with no other knowledge than what is inherent in everyone. Why should not man see in some measure from influx the interiors of his life, which are spiritual and moral, when there is no animal that does not know from influx its own necessities, which are natural? A bird knows how to build its nest, lay its eggs, hatch its young, and distinguish its food, besides other wonderful things which are called instincts.

(Divine Providence 313-317)

Without the Spiritual Sense, Heresy is Confirmed

An Excerpt From Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Word is such in the sense of its letter that it may be drawn aside to confirm any heresy whatever.

The sense of the letter consists of appearances of truth, which hold enclosed in them the genuine truths of heaven, which are called spiritual truths, and unless these truths are revealed and laid bare, that is, unless they are taught in the doctrines of the church, the appearances they present may be drawn over and perverted to favor any falsity whatever, and even to favor evil. For the genuine truths of the Word are like a man, and the appearances of truth, of which the sense of the letter consists, are like his garments, from which alone no judgment can be formed respecting who the man is or what he is. If a man were judged from his garments alone, a king might be called a servant, and a servant a king, and a good man might be called an evil man, and an evil man a good man; and so on.

Those who arrogate to themselves dominion over all things of the church and heaven can apply the sense in its letter a thousand ways to favor their dominion. And this is an easy task, because all things of the church, which are called holy, they place above the human understanding, and when this is assented to and no genuine truth is taught, infernal falsities may be called truths, and devilish evils may be called goods; and the simple may even be persuaded that the edicts of the Pope are just as holy as the commandments of the Word, and even more holy, and yet these are from heaven, while those edicts are for the most part from hell.

For every edict respecting government, faith, and worship in the church, that has for an end dominion in the world, however it may appear in the external form, and may sound as if from the Word, is from hell; while every commandment from the Word, because it has for its end the salvation of souls by the Lord, is from heaven.

(from Apocalypse Explained 1033)