Becoming More Than Memory-knowledges

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The doctrinals of the church and its rituals, as also the knowledges of what spiritual things these represent and how, and the like, are nothing but memory-knowledges until the man has seen from the Word whether they are true, and in this way has made them his own.

There are two ways of procuring the truths which are of faith — by means of doctrinal things, and by means of the Word.

When man procures them only by doctrinal things, he then has faith in those who have drawn them from the Word, and he confirms them in himself to be true because others have said so; thus he does not believe them from his own faith, but from that of others. But when he procures them for himself from the Word, and thereby confirms them in himself to be true, he then believes them because they are from the Divine, and thus believes them from faith given from the Divine.

Everyone who is within the church first procures the truths which are of faith from doctrinal things, and also must so procure them, because he has not yet sufficient strength of judgment to enable him to see them himself from the Word; but in this case these truths are to him nothing but memory-knowledges. But when he is able to view them from his own judgment, if he then does not consult the Word in order to see from it whether they are true, they remain in him as memory-knowledges; while if he does consult the Word from the affection and end of knowing truths, he then, when he has found them, procures for himself the things of faith from the genuine fountain, and they are appropriated to him from the Divine.

(from Arcana Coelestia 5402)

What Makes the Spiritual Life of Man

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

How the truth of the literal sense of the Word serves spiritual truth, shall be briefly told.

The man of the church first learns truth from the literal sense of the Word, which is general truth accommodated to the apprehension of the external man, who is in natural light. This truth is received by an external way, that is, by hearing, and is stored up in the memory of the external man, where are also various memory-knowledges derived from the world (See AC 2469-2494 concerning the two memories - internal and external). Afterward the things stored up in this memory are subjected to the sight or view of the internal man, who sees from the light of heaven. The internal man calls forth therefrom by selection the truths which agree with the good which flows in from the Lord by the way of the soul, and which the man had received. There the Lord conjoins these truths with good. The truths which are thus conjoined in the internal man are called "spiritual truths," and the good with which the truths are conjoined is called "spiritual good." This good, formed by means of truths, is what makes the spiritual life of man. The truths themselves there are called "the truths of faith," and the good is called "the good of charity." The good in which truths have thus been implanted is the church with man.

From this it is plain in what manner the truths of the literal sense of the Word serve for the formation of spiritual truths, in general for the formation of faith and of charity, which make the spiritual life; which life consists in being affected with truths for the sake of good, and in being affected with good from truths, and finally in being affected with truths from good.

§§§

... the truths of the literal sense of the Word, stored up in the natural memory of man, form there as it were a field for the view of the internal man, into which light from heaven flows. From this field, as before said, the internal man selects such things as agree with the good in him, comparatively as the eye selects from the field of a garden such things as conduce to the uses of its life.

(from Arcana Coelestia 9034:3,4 - 9035)

The Formation of Faith

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

As to the formation of faith: it is effected by man's going to the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living according to them.

First: Faith is formed by man's going to the Lord, because faith that is faith, or that is a saving faith, is from the Lord and in the Lord. That it is from the Lord is evident from His words to His disciples:

Abide in Me, and I in you for apart from Me, ye can do nothing (John 15:4, 5).

That it is faith in the Lord, is evident from the passages presented in abundance (n. 337, 338), to the effect that men ought to believe in the Son. Since then faith is from the Lord and in the Lord, it may be said that the Lord is faith itself, for its life and essence are in Him, and thus from Him.

Secondly: Faith is formed by man's learning truths from the Word, because faith in its essence is truth; for all things that enter into faith are truths; consequently faith is nothing but a complex of truths shining in the mind of man; for truths teach not only that man ought to believe, but also in whom he ought to believe, and what he ought to believe. Truths ought to be taken from the Word, because all truths that conduce to salvation are in the Word, and there is efficacy in them because they are given by the Lord, and are therefore inscribed on the whole angelic heaven; consequently when man learns truths from the Word, he comes into communion and consociation with angels beyond what he knows. Faith destitute of truths like grain without inner substance, which when ground yields nothing but bran; while faith from truths is like useful grain, which when ground yields flour. In a word, the essentials of faith are truths; and if truths do not reside in and constitute the faith, it is only like the shrill sound of a whistle; but when they do reside in and constitute it, faith is like a voice of glad tidings.

Thirdly: Faith is formed by man's living according to truths, because spiritual life is life according to truths, and truths do not actually live until they are in deeds. Truths abstracted from deeds are merely matters of thought, and unless they become of the will also, are only in the entrance to the man, and thus are not inwardly in him; for the will is the man himself, and the thought is so far the man, in quantity and quality, as it adjoins the will to itself. He who learns truths and does not practice them, is like one who sows seed in a field and does not harrow it in; and consequently the seed becomes swollen by the rain and is spoiled. But he who learns truths and practises them, is like one who sows the seed and covers it, and the rain causes it to grow to a crop and to be of use for food. The Lord says:

If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them (John 13:17)

And again:

He that was sown upon the good ground, this is he that heareth the Word and giveth heed; who also beareth fruit and bringeth forth (Matt. 13:23);

also:

Everyone that heareth these My words, and doth them, I will liken him unto a prudent man, who built his house upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these My words and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand (Matt. 7:24, 26).

All words of the Lord are truths.

From the foregoing it is clear that there are three things by which faith is formed in man:

• First by going to the Lord

• Secondly, by learning truths from the Word

• Thirdly, by living according to them.

Now as these are three things, and one not the same as another, it follows that they can be separated; for a man may go to the Lord, and not know any but historical truths respecting God and the Lord; also a man may know truths from the Word in abundance, and yet not live according to them. But in the man in whom these three things are separated, that is, in whom one is apart from the other, there is no saving faith. Saving faith arises when the three are conjoined, and becomes such as the conjunction is.

Where these three things are separated, faith is like a sterile seed, which when dropped in the earth moulders into dust. But where the three are conjoined, faith is like a seed in the ground which grows up to a tree, and the fruit of it is according to their conjunction.

Where these three things are separated, faith is like an egg which contains no prolific principle; but where they are conjoined, faith is like an egg that can produce a beautiful bird.

The faith of those in whom these three things are separated, may be likened to the eye of a fish or of a crab when cooked; but the faith of those in whom the three are conjoined, may be likened to an eye translucent from the crystalline humor even to and through the uvea of the iris.

Separated faith is like a picture drawn in dark colors on a black stone; but conjoined faith is like a picture drawn in beautiful colors on a transparent crystal.

The light of a separated faith may be compared to that of a firebrand in the hand of a traveller at night; while the light of a conjoined faith may be compared to that of a blazing torch which when waved about shows plainly each step of the way.

Faith without truths is like a vine bearing wild grapes; but faith from truths is like a vine bearing clusters full of noble wine.

Faith in the Lord destitute of truths may be compared to a new star appearing in the expanse of heaven, which in time grows dim; but faith in the Lord together with truths may be compared to a fixed star, which remains constant.

Truth is the essence of faith; therefore, as the truth is, such is the faith; without truths it is a wandering faith, but with them it is fixed.

Moreover, faith from truths shines in heaven like a star.

(True Christian Religion 347-348)