Spiritual Equilibrium — Freedom of Choice

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

So long as man lives in the world, he is kept midway between heaven and hell, and is there in spiritual equilibrium, which is freedom of choice.

In order to know what freedom of choice is and the nature of it, it is necessary to know its origin.

Especially from a recognition of its origin it can be known, not only that there is such a thing as freedom of choice, but also what it is. Its origin is in the spiritual world, where man's mind is kept by the Lord.

Man's mind is his spirit, which lives after death, and his spirit is constantly in company with its like in the spiritual world, and at the same time by means of the material body with which it is enveloped, it is with men in the natural world. Man does not know that in respect to his mind he is in the midst of spirits, for the reason that the spirits with whom he is in company in the spiritual world, think and speak spiritually, while his own spirit thinks and speaks naturally so long as he is in the material body.  The natural man cannot understand or perceive spiritual thought and speech, nor the reverse; this is why spirits cannot be seen. But when the spirit of man is in company with spirits in their world, he is also in spiritual thought and speech with them, because his mind is interiorly spiritual but exteriorly natural; therefore by means of his interiors he communicates with spirits, while by means of his exteriors he communicates with men. By such communication man has a perception of things, and thinks about them analytically. If it were not for such communication, man would have no more thought or other thought than a beast, and if all connection with spirits were taken away from him, he would instantly die.

But to make it comprehensible how man can be kept midway between heaven and hell and thereby in spiritual equilibrium from which he has freedom of choice, it shall be briefly explained.

The spiritual world consists of heaven and hell; heaven then is overhead, and hell is beneath the feet, not however, in the center of the globe inhabited by men, but below the lands of the spiritual world, which are also of spiritual origin, and therefore not extended [spatially], but with an appearance of extension.

Between heaven and hell there is a great interspace, which to those who are there appears like a complete orb. Into this interspace, evil exhales from hell in all abundance; while from heaven, on the other hand, good flows into it, also in all abundance. It was of this interspace that Abraham said to the rich man in hell:

Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they who are there cross over to us (Luke 16:26).

Every man, as to his spirit, is in the midst of this interspace, solely for this reason, that he may be in freedom of choice.

Because this interspace is so large and because it appears to those who are there like a vast orb, it is called the World of Spirits. Moreover, it is full of spirits, because every man after death first goes there, and is there prepared either for heaven or for hell. There he is among spirits, in company with them, as formerly he was among men in the world. There is no purgatory there; that is a fiction invented by the Roman Catholics.

Every man from infancy even to old age is changing his locality or situation in that world.

When an infant he is kept in the eastern quarter towards the northern part; when a child, as he learns the first lessons of religion, he moves gradually from the north towards the south; when a youth, as he begins to exercise his own thoughts, he is borne southward; and afterwards when he judges for himself and becomes his own master, he is borne into the southern quarter towards the east, according to his growth in such things as have regard interiorly to God and love to the neighbor.

But if he inclines to evil and imbibes it, he advances towards the west. For all in the spiritual world have their abodes according to the quarters; in the east are those who are in good from the Lord, because the sun, in the midst of which is the Lord, is in that quarter; in the north are those who are in ignorance; in the south, those who are in intelligence; and in the west, those who are in evil.

Man himself is not kept as to his body in that interspace or middle region, but only as to his spirit; and as his spirit changes its state by advancing towards good or towards evil, so is it transferred to localities or situations in this quarter or in that, and comes into association with those who dwell there.

But it must be understood that the Lord does not transfer man to this or that place, but man transfers himself in different ways — if he chooses good, he together with the Lord, or rather the Lord together with him, transfers his spirit towards the east; but if man chooses evil, he together with the devil, or rather the devil together with him, transfers his spirit towards the west. It must be noticed that where the term heaven is here used, the Lord also is meant, because the Lord is the all in all things of heaven; and where the term devil is used, hell also is meant, because all who are there are devils.

Man is kept in this great interspace, and midway therein continually, for the sole purpose that he may have freedom of choice in spiritual things, for this is a spiritual equilibrium, because it is an equilibrium between heaven and hell, thus between good and evil.

All who are in that great interspace are, as to their interiors, conjoined either with the angels of heaven or with the devils of hell; or at the present day either with the angels of Michael or with the angels of the dragon.

After death every man betakes himself to his own in that interspace and associates himself with those who are in a love similar to his own, for love conjoins everyone there with his like, and causes him to breathe out his soul freely, and to continue in his previous state of life. But the externals that do not make one with his internals are then gradually put off, and when this has been done the good man is raised up to heaven, and the evil man betakes himself to hell, each to such as he is at one with as to his ruling love. ... ...

There is a freedom also belonging to beasts, birds, fishes and insects; but these are impelled by their bodily senses, prompted by appetite and pleasure. Man would not be unlike these if his freedom to do were equal to his freedom to think. He, too, would then be impelled by his bodily senses, prompted by lust and pleasure. It is otherwise with one who heartily accepts the spiritual things of the church, and by means of them restrains his freedom of choice. Such a man is led by the Lord away from lusts and evil pleasures and his connate avidity for them, and acquires an affection for what is good, and turns away from evil. He is then transferred by the Lord nearer to the east, and at the same time to the south of the spiritual world, and is introduced into heavenly freedom, which is freedom indeed.

(from True Christian Religion 475-478)

The Use which the Lord Performs for Himself

Selections from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23)

The essence of spiritual love is doing good to others, not for the sake of self but for the sake of others - infinitely more is this the essence of Divine Love. It is like the love of parents for their children, in that parents do good to their children from love, not for their own sake but for their children's sake. This is especially manifest in a mothers love for her offspring. Because the Lord is to be adored, worshiped and glorified, He is supposed to love adoration, worship, and glory for His own sake, but He loves these for man's sake, because by means of them man comes into a state in which the Divine can flow in and be perceived - since by means of them, [the adoration, worship, and glory], man puts away that which is his own, which hinders influx and reception, for what is man's own, which is self-love, hardens the heart and shuts it up. This is removed by man's acknowledging that from himself comes nothing but evil and from the Lord nothing but good; from this acknowledgment there is a softening of the heart and humiliation, out of which flow forth adoration and worship. From all this it follows, that the use which the Lord performs for Himself through man is that man may be able to do good from love, and since this is the Lord's love, its reception is the enjoyment of His love. Therefore, let no one believe that the Lord is with those who merely worship Him - He is with those who do His commandments, thus who perform uses - with such He has His abode, but not with the former.

Divine love and Divine wisdom must necessarily
have being [esse] and have form [existere]
in others created by itself.

It is the essential of love not to love self, but to love others, and to be conjoined with others by love.

It is the essential of love, moreover, to be loved by others, for thus conjunction is effected.

The essence of all love consists in conjunction - this, in fact, is its life, which is called enjoyment, pleasantness, delight, sweetness, bliss, happiness, and felicity.

Love consists in this, THAT ITS OWN SHOULD BE ANOTHER'S.

To feel the joy of another as joy in oneself, that is loving, but to feel one's own joy in another and not the other's joy in oneself is not loving - for this is loving self, while the former is loving the neighbor. These two kinds of love are diametrically opposed to each other. Either, it is true, conjoins; and to love one's own, that is, oneself, in another does not seem to divide, but it does so effectually divide that so far as any one has loved another in this manner, so far he afterwards hates him. For such conjunction is by its own action gradually loosened, and then, in like measure, love is turned to hate.

Who that is capable of discerning the essential character of love cannot see this? For what is it to love self alone, instead of loving some one outside of self by whom one may be loved in return? Is not this separation rather than conjunction? Conjunction of love is by reciprocation; and there can be no reciprocation in self alone. If there is thought to be, it is from an imagined reciprocation in others. From this it is clear that Divine Love must necessarily have being (esse) and have form (existere) in others whom it may love, and by whom it may be loved. For as there is such a need in all love, it must be to the fullest extent, that is, infinitely in Love Itself.

With respect to God: —

It is impossible for Him to love others and to be loved reciprocally by others in whom there is anything of infinity, that is, anything of the essence and life of love in itself, or anything of the Divine. For if there were beings having in them anything of infinity, that is, of the essence and life of love in itself, that is, of the Divine, it would not be God loved by others, but God loving Himself. Since the Infinite, that is, the Divine, is ONE Only, and if this were in others, Itself would be in them, and would be the love of self Itself and of that love not the least trace can possibly be in God, since it is wholly opposed to the Divine Essence. Consequently, for this relation to be possible there must be others in whom there is nothing of the Divine in itself. It is possible in beings created from the Divine. But that it may be possible, there must be Infinite Wisdom making one with Infinite Love; that is, there must be the Divine Love of Divine Wisdom, and the Divine Wisdom of Divine Love.

(from Divine Love and Wisdom 335; 47-49)

Man's Love is ...

Selection from Conjugial Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Man knows that love is, but does not know what it is. He knows that love is, from common speech, such as the expressions, he loves me; a king loves his subjects, and the subjects love their king; a husband loves his wife, and a mother her children, and vice versa; also this or that man loves his country, his fellow-citizens, his neighbor. Love is likewise said of things apart from person, as that one loves this thing or that.

But although love is so universal in speech, yet scarcely any one knows what love is. When he reflects upon it, being unable to form any idea of thought about it, and so to set it in the light of the understanding (for the reason that it is not a thing of light but of heat), he says either that it is not anything or that it is merely something flowing in from sight, hearing, and conversation, and thus affecting. It is entirely unknown to him that it is his very life, not only the general life of his whole body and the general life of all his thoughts, but also the life of all the single parts thereof. A wise man can perceive this from the following:

If you take away the affection of love, can you think anything? can you do anything? Is it not a fact that, so far as affection, which is of the love, grows cold, the thought, speech, and action also grow cold? and that, so far as it grows warm, these grow warm?

Love then, is the heat of man's life, that is, his vital heat; the heat of the blood and its redness are from no other source. What makes all this, is the fire of the angelic sun, which is pure love.

That every one has his own love, or a love distinct from another's love, that is, that the love of one man is not the same as that of another, is evident from the infinite variety of faces. Faces are the types of loves; for it is well known that countenances change and vary according to the affections of the love. Moreover, desires, which are desires of the love, and also the love's joys and sorrows, shine forth from the face. It is clear from this that a man is his love, yea, the form of his love. But it should be known that the form of man's love is the inner man, being the same as his spirit which lives after death, and not in the same way the outer man [which lives] in the world; for the latter has learned from infancy to conceal the desires of his love, yea, to simulate and make a show of desires other than his own.

The reason why his own love remains with every man after death is because, love is man's life, and hence is the man himself.

A man is also his own thought, and so his own intelligence and wisdom, but these make one with his love; for man thinks from his love and according to it, yea, if in freedom, he speaks and acts from it and according to it. From this it can be seen, that love is the esse or essence of a man's life, and that thought is the existere or existence of his life therefrom. Therefore the speech and action, which flow forth from thought, flow not from the thought but from the love by means of the thought. It has been given me to know from much experience, that after death man is not his thought but his affection and the thought therefrom, or that he is his love and his intelligence therefrom; and that after death he puts off everything that is not concordant with his love; yea, that he successively puts on the face, tone, speech, gestures, and manners of his life's love. Hence it is that the entire heaven is ordinated according to all the varieties of the affections of the love of good; and the entire hell according to all the [varieties of the] affections of the love of evil.

(from Conjugial Love 34-36)