A Medium of Conjunction of Heaven with Man

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Those who think from interior reason can see that there is a connection of all things through intermediates with the First, and that whatever is not in connection is dissipated. For they know, when they think about it, that nothing can continue in existence from itself, but from what is prior to itself, thus all things from the First; also that the connection with what is prior is like the connection of an effect with its efficient cause; for when the efficient cause is taken away from its effect then the effect is dissolved and disappears. Because the learned thought thus they saw and said that continuing in existence is a perpetual coming into existence; thus that all things perpetually come into existence from the First, from which they came into existence, that is, they continue to exist. But what the connection of everything is with that which is prior to itself, thus with the First which is the source of all things, cannot be told in a few words, because it is various and diverse. It can only be said in general that there is a connection of the natural world with the spiritual world, and that in consequence there is a correspondence of all things in the natural with all things in the spiritual world; also that there is a connection and consequently a correspondence of all things of man with all things of heaven.

Man is so created as to have a conjunction and connection with the Lord, but with the angels of heaven only an association. Man has association with the angels, but not conjunction, because in respect of the interiors of his mind man is by creation like an angel, having a like will and a like understanding. Consequently, if a man has lived in accordance with the Divine order he becomes after death an angel, with the same wisdom as an angel. Therefore, when the conjunction of man with heaven is spoken of, his conjunction with the Lord and association with the angels is meant; for heaven is not heaven from the proprium of the angels but from the Divine of the Lord.  It is the Divine of the Lord that makes heaven.

But man has, in addition, what angels do not have, that he is not only in respect of his interiors in the spiritual world, but also at the same time in respect of his exteriors in the natural world. His exteriors which are in the natural world are all things of his natural or external memory and of his thought and imagination therefrom; in general, cognitions and knowledges with their delights and pleasures so far as they savour of the world, also many pleasures pertaining to the sensual things of the body, together with his senses themselves, his speech, and his actions. And all these are the ultimates in which the Lord's Divine influx terminates; for that influx does not stop midway, but goes on to its ultimates. All this shows that the ultimate of Divine order is in man; and being the ultimate it is also the basis and foundation.

As the Lord's Divine influx does not stop midway but goes on to its ultimates, as has been said, and as this middle part through which it passes is the angelic heaven, while the ultimate is with man, and as nothing can exist unconnected, it follows that the connection and conjunction of heaven with the human race is such that one continues in existence from the other, and that the human race apart from heaven would be like a chain without a hook; and heaven without the human race would be like a house without a foundation.

But man has severed this connection with heaven by turning his interiors away from heaven, and turning them to the world and to self by means of his love of self and of the world, thereby so withdrawing himself that he no longer serves as a basis and foundation for heaven; therefore the Lord has provided a medium to serve in place of this basis and foundation for heaven, and also for the conjunction of heaven with man. This medium is the Word.

I have been told from heaven that the most ancient people, because their interiors were turned heavenwards, had immediate revelation, and by this means there was at that time a conjunction of the Lord with the human race. After their times, however, there was no such immediate revelation, but there was a mediate revelation by means of correspondences, inasmuch as all their Divine worship was maintained by correspondences, and for this reason the Churches of that time were called representative Churches. For it was then known what correspondence is and what representation is, and that all things on the earth correspond to spiritual things in heaven and in the Church, or what is the same, represent them. Therefore the natural things that constituted the externals of their worship served them as media for thinking spiritually, that is, thinking with the angels. When the knowledge of correspondences and representations had been blotted out of remembrance then the Word was written, in which all the words and their meanings are correspondences, and thus contain a spiritual or internal sense, in which are the angels. In consequence, when a man reads the Word and perceives it according to the sense of the letter or the external sense, the angels perceive it according to the internal or spiritual sense; for all the thought of angels is spiritual while the thought of man is natural. These two kinds of thought appear diverse; nevertheless they are one because they correspond. Thus it was that after man separated himself from heaven and severed the bond, the Lord provided a medium of conjunction of heaven with man by means of the Word.

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There is also a conjunction of heaven by means of the Word with those who are outside the Church where there is no Word; for the Lord's Church is universal, and is with all who acknowledge the Divine and live in charity. Moreover, such are taught after death by angels and receive Divine truths.... The universal Church on the earth in the sight of the Lord resembles one man, just as heaven does; but the Church where the Word is and where the Lord is known by means of it is like the heart and lungs in that man. It is known that all the viscera and members of the entire body draw their life from the heart and lungs through various derivations; and it is thus that those of the human race live who are outside the Church where the Word is, and who constitute the members of that man.

Again, the conjunction of heaven by means of the Word with those who are at a distance may be compared to light radiating from a centre all around. The Divine light is in the Word, and there the Lord with heaven is present, and from that presence those at a distance are in light; but it would be otherwise if there were no Word. This may be more clearly seen from ... the form of heaven in accordance with which all who are in heaven have association and communication. But while this arcanum may be comprehended by those who are in spiritual light, it cannot be comprehended by those who are only in natural light; for those who are in spiritual light clearly see innumerable things, while those who are only in natural light do not see, or see as one obscure thing.

Unless such a Word had been given on this earth, the man of this earth would have been separated from heaven, and if separated from heaven he would have ceased to be rational, for the human rational comes into existence from an influx of the light of heaven.

Again, the man of this earth is such that he is not capable of receiving immediate revelation and of being taught about Divine truths by such revelation, as the inhabitants of other earths are, who have been described in a special little work (Earths in the Universe). For the man of this earth is more in worldly things, that is, in externals, than the men of other earths, and it is internal things that are receptive of revelation; if it were received in external things the truth would not be understood.

That such is the man of this earth is clearly evident from the state of those who are within the Church, which is such that, while they know from the Word about heaven, about hell, about the life after death, still in heart they deny these things, although among them there are some who have eagerly sought a pre-eminent reputation for learning, and who might for that reason be supposed to be wiser than others.

I have at times talked with angels about the Word, saying that it is despised by some on account of its simple style; and that nothing whatever is known about its internal sense, and for this reason it is not believed that so much wisdom lies hidden within it. The angels said that although the style of the Word seems simple in the sense of the letter, it is such that nothing can ever be compared with it in excellence, since Divine Wisdom lies concealed not only in the meaning as a whole but also in each word; and that in heaven this wisdom shines forth. They wished to declare that this wisdom is the light of heaven, because it is Divine Truth, for that which shines in heaven is the Divine Truth.

Again, they said that without such a Word there would be no light of heaven with the men of our earth, nor would there be any conjunction of heaven with them; for there is conjunction only so far as the light of heaven is present with man, and that light is present only so far as Divine Truth is revealed to man by means of the Word. This conjunction by means of the correspondence of the spiritual sense of the Word with its natural sense is unknown to man, because the man of this earth knows nothing about the spiritual thought and speech of angels, and how it differs from the natural thought and speech of men; and unless this is known it cannot in the least be known what the internal sense is, and that such conjunction is therefore possible by means of that sense. They said, furthermore, that if man knew that there is such a sense, and in reading the Word were to think in accordance with some knowledge of it, he would come into interior wisdom, and would be still more conjoined with heaven, since by this means he would enter into ideas like the ideas of the angels.

(from Heaven and Hell 303-306; 308-310)

Turning Away from the Lord

Selection from Charity ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
As far as anyone does not shun evils as sins
he remains in them

Man was created in the image and in the likeness of God, and so made that he may be a recipient of the Lord's love and wisdom.

But, because he was not willing to be a recipient, but desired to be love itself and wisdom itself, and thus as God, he inverted his form, and turned his affections and thoughts from the Lord to himself, and began to love himself more than the Lord, yea, to worship himself.

And so he alienated himself from the Lord, and looked back from Him; and in this way he perverted the image and likeness of God in himself, and made it the image and likeness of hell. This is signified by his eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

By the serpent which he obeyed is signified the sensual, which is the ultimate of the natural man, and its cupidities. This sensual of man, because it is still in existence in the world and receives its objects therefrom, loves the things of the world; and if dominion is given to it, it withdraws the mind from the objects of heaven, which are the goods of love and the truths of wisdom, in themselves Divine.

It is from this origin that, as to his proprium, man is nothing but evil, and is born into it from his parents.

But means are provided by the Lord that he may not therefore perish; which means are, that he shall look to the Lord and acknowledge that every good of love and every truth of wisdom is from Him, and nothing from himself.

He thus converts his form, by turning away from himself and turning to the Lord; and so returns to the state in which he was created, and which consisted, as has been said, in his being a recipient of good and truth from the Lord, and in no wise from himself.

And because the proprium of man, by the inversion of it, has become mere evil, the other means of recovering the image of God is to shun evils as sins.

For if a man does not shun evils as sins, but only because they are injurious, he does not look to the Lord, but only to himself, and so remains in his perverted state. But when he shuns evils as sins he fights against them because they are contrary to the Lord, and against His Divine laws; and then he prays to the Lord for help and for power to resist them, which power besought is never denied.

By these two means a man is purified from the evils that are in him from birth. If therefore he does not embrace these two means he can but remain as he was born.

He cannot be purified from evils if he only looks and prays to the Lord; for then after he has prayed, he believes that he is entirely without sins, or that they are remitted, by which he understands that they are taken away. And so he still remains in them; and to remain in them is to increase them. For they are like a disease which devours and mortifies all that is around it. Nor are evils removed by only shunning them; for in this way the man looks to himself, and thereby confirms the origin of evil, which was that he turned himself back, away from the Lord, and turned to himself.

(Posth. Charity 204)

An ONLY Substance

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Divine love and the Divine wisdom, which are a one in the Lord and go forth from Him as a one, are in every created thing in a certain image. The Divine is in every created thing, because God the Creator, who is the Lord from eternity, produced from Himself the sun of the spiritual world, and through that sun all things of the universe, consequently that that sun, which is from the Lord, and in which the Lord is, is not only the first substance but is also the only substance from which all things are; and since this is the only substance, it follows that it is in every created thing, but with infinite variety according to uses.

Now since Divine love and Divine wisdom are in the Lord, and since Divine fire and brightness are in that sun from Him, and spiritual heat and spiritual light are from that sun, and these two make a one, it follows that in a certain image this one is in every created thing. Because of this all things in the universe have relation to good and truth, and, in fact, to their conjunction, or what is the same, all things in the universe have relation to love and wisdom and to their conjunction, since good belongs to love and truth to wisdom; for love calls all that pertains to it good, and wisdom calls all that pertains to it truth. There is a conjunction of these in every created thing.

Many admit that there is an only substance which is the first substance and the source of all things, but what kind of a substance it is they do not know. They believe it to be so simple that nothing is simpler; that it may be compared to a point with no dimension; and that from an infinite number of such the forms of dimension came into existence. This, however, is a fallacy originating in the idea of space; for the idea of space makes the least to appear such. But the truth is that the simpler and purer any thing is, the more and the fuller it is. It is for this reason that the more deeply any object is examined, the more wonderful, perfect, and beautiful are the things seen in it; and thus that the most wonderful, perfect, and beautiful of all are in the first substance. This is true, because the first substance is from the spiritual sun, which, as has been said, is from the Lord, and in which the Lord is, therefore that sun is itself the only substance; and as this substance is not in space it is the all in all, and is in the greatest and the least things of the created universe.

Since that sun is the first and only substance, from which all things are, it follows that infinitely more things are in that substance than can appear in the substances that spring from it, which are called substantiate [or composite], and at length material. These things cannot appear in those substances, because they descend from that sun by degrees of a twofold kind — in accordance with which all perfections decrease. For this reason, as said above, the more deeply any thing is examined, the more wonderful, perfect, and beautiful are the things that are seen. This has been said to show that in a certain image the Divine is in every created thing, but becomes less and less apparent in its descent through the degrees, and still less apparent when a lower degree has become separated from a higher by the closing up of the higher, and by becoming itself choked up with earthy matters. ...

The end of the Divine providence is that every created thing, in general and in particular, shall be such a one; and if it is not, that it shall become such. That is, that in every created thing there shall be something both from the Divine love and from the Divine wisdom; or what is the same, that in every created thing there shall be good and truth, that is, a conjunction of good and truth. Since good is of love and truth is of wisdom, in the following, the terms good and truth will be used throughout instead of love and wisdom, and the marriage of good and truth, instead of the union of love and wisdom.

It is evident that the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, which in the Lord are one, and which go forth as one from the Lord, in a certain image are in every thing created by Him. And now something shall be said specifically about that oneness or union that is called the marriage of good and truth.

That marriage is —

(1) In the Lord Himself; for Divine love and Divine wisdom, as has been said, are a one in Him.

(2) It is from the Lord; for in every thing that goes forth from Him love and wisdom are fully united, these two going forth from the Lord as a sun, the Divine love as the heat, and the Divine wisdom as the light.

(3) These are, indeed, received by the angels as two, but are made one in them by the Lord; and the same is true of men of the church.

(4) Because of this influx of love and wisdom from the Lord as a one into angels of heaven and men of the church, and because of the reception of these by angels and men, the Lord is called in the Word the "Bridegroom" and the "Husband," and heaven and the church are called the "bride" and the "wife."

(5) Therefore, so far as heaven and the church in general or an angel of heaven and a man of the church individually are in that union, that is, in the marriage of good and truth, they are an image and likeness of the Lord, because good and truth are a one in the Lord, and, in fact, are the Lord.

(6) In heaven and in the church in general, or in an angel of heaven or a man of the church, love and wisdom are a one when the will and the understanding, and thus good and truth, make a one, or what is the same, when charity and faith make a one, or what is still the same, when doctrine from the Word and a life according to it make a one.

(7) How these two make a one in man and in all things belonging to him has been shown in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, in Part Five, where the creation of man and especially the correspondence of the will and understanding with the heart and lungs are treated of (n. 358-432).

(from Divine Providence 5-8)