The Two Faculties of the Mind

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Thought Is Not Imputed To Anyone, But Will Only

Every educated man knows that the mind has two faculties or parts, the will and the understanding; but few know how to distinguish them aright, to examine their properties separately, and again unite them. Those who are unable to do this can form for themselves only the most obscure idea respecting the mind. Therefore. unless the properties of each are first separately described, this statement that thought is not imputed to anyone, but will only, cannot be understood. In brief, the properties of the two are as follows:

1. Love itself and the things pertaining to it reside in the will, and knowledge, intelligence and wisdom in the understanding; and these the will inspires with its love, and secures their favor and agreement; and the result is, that such as the love is, and the consequent intelligence, such is the man.
2. From this it also follows that all good as well as all evil belongs to the will; for whatever proceeds from the love is called good, even if it be evil, this being the result of delight, which constitutes the life of the love, the will, through its delight entering the understanding and producing consent.
3. Consequently the will is the being or essence of man's life, while the understanding is the outgo or existence therefrom. And as an essence is nothing except it is in some form, so the will is nothing unless it is in the understanding; wherefore the will takes form in the understanding, and thus comes to light.
4. Love in the will is the end, and in the understanding seeks and finds the causes whereby it advances into effect. And because the end is the purpose, and this is what the man intends, purpose also belongs to the will and through the intention enters the understanding and impels it to consider and evolve the means, and to conclude upon such things as tend to effects.
5. Everything that is man's very own is in the will, and is evil from the first birth, but it becomes good by means of the second birth. The first birth is from parents, but the second from the Lord.

From these few statements it can be seen that the property of the will and the property of the understanding are different; and that from creation these are conjoined like being and existence; consequently that man is man primarily from the will, and secondarily from the understanding. This is why thought is not imputed to man, but will, and consequently good and evil, because these, as before said, reside in the will and from that in the thought of the understanding.

(True Christian Religion 658)

According to the Angel's Use

Selection from Divine Lovea ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Each use draws its life from the general use and from that the necessary, useful and enjoyable things of life flow in according to the quality of the use and the quality of its affection.

This is an arcanum that has not yet been disclosed.

Something of it, indeed, appears in the world, but not in such clearness that it can be seen to be so, for in the world every man receives from the general use the necessary, useful and enjoyable things of life according to the excellence and extent of his service.  Some are remunerated from the general use, some are enriched from it. The general use is like a lake from which remunerations and riches flow. These are determined and produced by uses and pursuits which pertain to the affection — nevertheless what the uses themselves are in themselves cannot be concluded from these results — for in the world the evil as well as the good, those who perform no uses, and those who perform evil uses as well as those who perform good uses, are sometimes remunerated and grow rich. In the spiritual world it is otherwise. Uses are there laid bare, and their origin is revealed, and their place in the spiritual Man which is the Lord in the heavens. There everyone is rewarded according to the nobleness of his use, and at the same time according to his affection for use. There no idler is tolerated, no lazy vagabond, no indolent boaster claiming credit for the zeal and vigor of others; but everyone must be active, skillful, attentive and diligent in his office and business, and must put honor and reward not in the first place, but in the second or third.

So far as this is the case, the necessary, useful, and enjoyable things of life flow in with them. These flow in from the general use, because they are not gotten together for oneself, as in this world; but they exist in a moment, and are bestowed by the Lord gratuitously. And because in the spiritual world there is communication and extension of all thoughts and affections, and in heaven communication and extension of the affections of use according to their quality, and because all who are in the heavens are affected by uses and delight in them, on this account the necessary, useful, and enjoyable things of life flow abundantly out from the general use into the use of the man, and into the man who does the use, as a usufruct*.

The necessary things of life that are bestowed by the Lord gratuitously and that exist in a moment, are food, clothing and habitation, and these correspond throughout to the use in which the angel is. Things useful are those that are tributary to these three, and are delightful to him who receives them, as well as a variety of embellishments for the table, dress, and home, which are beautiful according to the angel's use, and of a splendor commensurate to his affection. Things enjoyable are those connected with wife, friends, and associates, all of whom love him and are loved by him. Such mutual and reciprocal love springs from every affection for use.

There are such things in heaven because there are such things in man, for heaven corresponds to all things of man.  The man who is in the affection of use from use or for the sake of use is a heaven in the least form. There can be in man no member, or any part in a member, that does not draw from the general use what is necessary, useful, and enjoyable, here the general use provides for every part according to its use; whatever is needed for its work by any part is conveyed to it from neighboring parts, and to these from parts that are near them, and thus from the whole; and the part in like manner shares its own with the rest according to their need. And so it is in the Divine spiritual Man, which is heaven, for so it is in the Lord.

From all this it is clear that every use is representative of all the uses in the whole body, and thus in every use there is the idea of the whole, and thereby an image of man. From this it is that an angel of heaven is a man according to use; and if it is permissible here to speak spiritually, it is from this that a use is a man-angel.

*usufruct - the right to enjoy the use and advantages of another's property short of the destruction or waste of its substance.

(from Divine Love XII)

That Which Makes Man Man

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The very life of man is his love; and such as his love is, such is his life; nay, such is the whole man. But it is the ruling or reigning love, that is, the love of that which he has as the end, which makes the man. This love has subordinate to itself many particular and singular loves, which are derivations, and appear under a different shape, but still the ruling love is in each one of them, and directs them, and through them, as through mediate ends, looks to and aims at its end, which is the first and last of them all and this both directly and indirectly.

There are two things in the natural world which make the life there, namely, heat and light. There are two things in the spiritual world which make the life there, namely, love and faith. Heat in the natural world corresponds to love in the spiritual world, and light in the natural world corresponds to faith in the spiritual world. Hence it is that when spiritual heat or fire is mentioned, love is meant; and when spiritual light is mentioned, faith is meant. Moreover, love is actually the vital heat of man, for it is known that man grows warm from love, and faith is actually the light of man, for it can be known that man is illumined from faith.

The heat and light in the natural world arise from the sun of the world; but spiritual heat and light, or love and faith, arise from the sun of heaven. The sun of heaven is the Lord; the heat which comes from Him as a sun is love, and the light which comes from Him as a sun is faith. That the Lord is light is evident from these words in John:

Jesus said, I am the light of the world, he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life (John 8:12);

and that the Lord is a sun is evident in Matthew:

When Jesus was transfigured, His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as the light (Matt. 17:2).

From this correspondence it can also be known how the case is with faith and with love. Faith without love is like light without heat, as is the light of winter. Faith with love is like light with heat, as is the light of spring. That in the light of spring each and all things grow and flower, is known and also that in the light of winter all things become torpid and die. It is similar with faith and love.

Now as love is the source of man's life, and as the whole man is such as is his love, and also as love is spiritual conjunction, it follows that all in the other life are consociated according to the loves — for everyone's life, that is, his love, follows him. They who are in love toward the neighbor, and in love to God, are consociate in heaven, but they who are in the love of self and the love of the world are consociate in hell; for the love of self is opposite to love to God, and the love of the world is opposite to love toward the neighbor.

It is said "love to God," and there is meant love to the Lord, because in Him is the Trinity, and He is the Lord of heaven, for He has "all power in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28:18).

(from Arcana Coelestia 7081-7086)