How Man is Brought to True Wisdom

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Few, if any, know how man is brought to true wisdom. Intelligence is not wisdom, but leads to wisdom; for to understand what is true and good is not to be true and good, but to be wise is to be so. Wisdom is predicated only of the life - that the man is such. A man is introduced to wisdom or to life by means of knowing [scire et nosse], that is, by means of knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones]. In every man there are two parts, the will and the understanding; the will is the primary part, the understanding is the secondary one. Man's life after death is according to his will part, not according to his intellectual part. The will is being formed in man by the Lord from infancy to childhood, which is effected by means of the innocence that is insinuated, and by means of charity toward parents, nurses, and little children of a like age; and by means of many other things that man knows nothing of, and which are celestial. Unless these celestial things were first insinuated into a man while an infant and a child, he could by no means become a man. Thus is formed the first plane.

But as a man is not a man unless he is endowed also with understanding, will alone does not make the man, but understanding together with will; and understanding cannot be acquired except by means of knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones] and therefore he must, from his childhood, be gradually imbued with these. Thus is formed the second plane. When the intellectual part has been instructed in knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones], especially in the knowledges of truth and good, then first can the man be regenerated; and, when he is being regenerated, truths and goods are implanted by the Lord by means of knowledges in the celestial things with which he had been endowed by the Lord from infancy, so that his intellectual things make a one with his celestial things; and when the Lord has thus conjoined these, the man is endowed with charity, from which he begins to act, this charity being of conscience. In this way he for the first time receives new life, and this by degrees. The light of this life is called wisdom, which then takes the first place, and is set over the intelligence. Thus is formed the third plane. When a man has become like this during his bodily life, he is then in the other life being continually perfected. These considerations show what is the light of intelligence, and what the light of wisdom.

(from Arcana Coelestia 1555)

What Wisdom is in Its Origin, Progress and Its Full State

Selection from Conjugial Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
WHAT WISDOM IS — IT MAKES ONE WITH THE CHURCH

With man there is knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom.

• Knowledge pertains to cognitions

• Intelligence to reason

• Wisdom to life.

Considered in its fullness, wisdom pertains simultaneously to cognitions, reason, and life. Cognitions precede, reason is formed by means of them, and wisdom by means of both—and this when a man lives rationally according to the truths which are his cognitions. Wisdom, therefore, pertains to reason and at the same time to life. It is becoming wisdom when it is the wisdom of reason and thence of life; and it is wisdom when it has become the wisdom of life and thence of reason.

The most ancient people in this world recognized no other wisdom than wisdom of life. This was the wisdom of those who of old were called SOPHI. The ancients who succeeded the most ancient recognized the wisdom of reason as wisdom, and they were called PHILOSOPHERS. But at this day many call even knowledge wisdom; for learned doctors are called wise, and also the erudite and mere knowers. Thus has wisdom fallen from its mountain peak to its valley.

Something shall also be said as to what wisdom is in its origin and progress, and thence in its full state.

• With man, things which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual, reside in his inmosts.

• Those which pertain to the commonwealth and are called civil, occupy a place below them.

• Those which pertain to knowledge, experience, and skill, and are called natural, make the seat on which they rest.

That those which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual, have their abode in man's inmosts is because they conjoin themselves with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; for with man, it is these alone that enter in from the Lord through heaven. That those which pertain to the commonwealth and are called civil, occupy a place below the spiritual, is because they conjoin themselves with the world; for they are things of the world, being the statutes, laws, and regulations which bind men, to the end that from them may be formed a stable and well-knit society and state. That those which pertain to knowledge, experience, and skill, and are called natural, make their seat, is because they closely conjoin themselves with the five senses of the body, and these are the ultimates on which interior things belonging to the mind, and inmost things belonging to the soul, are seated, as it were.

Now because those which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual reside in inmosts, and those which reside in inmosts make the head, while those which follow under them and are called civil make the body, and ultimate things which are called natural make the feet, it is evident, that when these three follow in their order, man is a perfect man; for then they flow in, in the same way that the things of the head flow into the body and through the body into the feet. So spiritual things flow into civil things and through these into natural. Now because spiritual things are in the light of heaven, it is evident that by their light they enlighten the things which follow in order, and by their heat which is love they animate them; and that when this is the case, the man has wisdom.

Since wisdom pertains to life and thence to reason, as said above, the question arises, What is wisdom of life? In a comprehensive summary it is this:

To shun evils because they are hurtful to the soul, hurtful to the commonwealth, and hurtful to the body; and to do goods because they are beneficial to the soul, the commonwealth and the body. This is the wisdom that is meant by the wisdom with which conjugial love binds itself; for it binds itself by shunning the evil of adultery as the pest of the soul, the commonwealth, and the body. And since this wisdom springs from the spiritual things which pertain to the Church, it follows that conjugial love is according to the state of the Church with man because according to the state of wisdom. By this, the same thing is meant as that which has been frequently said in the preceding pages, namely, that so far as a man becomes spiritual, so far he is in love truly conjugial, it being by means of the spiritual things of the Church that man becomes spiritual.

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THE WISDOM WITH WHICH CONJUGIAL LOVE CONJOINS ITSELF

Wisdom with men is twofold, rational and moral, their rational wisdom belonging to the understanding alone, and their moral wisdom to the understanding and at the same time to the life. This can be concluded and seen from mere intuition and exploration. But that it may be known what is meant by the rational wisdom of men, and what by their moral wisdom, some specimens thereof shall be enumerated.

The things pertaining to their rational wisdom are designated by various names, being called in general, knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, and in particular, rationality, judgment, genius, learning, sagacity. Knowledge, however, is manifold, there being knowledges peculiar to each individual in his particular office; knowledges peculiar to the clergy, peculiar to government officials and their subordinates, peculiar to judges, peculiar to physicians and chemists, peculiar to soldiers and sailors, peculiar to mechanics and workmen, peculiar to farmers, and so on. To rational wisdom pertain also all the knowledges into which young men are initiated in schools, whereby they are later initiated into intelligence. These also are called by various names, such as philosophy, physics, geometry, mechanics, chemistry, astronomy, jurisprudence, politics, ethics, history, etc., and by them, as by gateways, there is entrance into the rational things from which rational wisdom is formed.

The things with man which pertain to moral wisdom are all the moral virtues which have regard to life and enter into it; also all the spiritual virtues which flow from love to God and love towards the neighbor, and which together flow into the moral virtues. The virtues which pertain to the moral wisdom of men are likewise of various names and are called temperance, sobriety, probity, benevolence, friendship, modesty, sincerity, readiness to serve, courtesy; also assiduity, industry, alertness, alacrity, munificence, liberality, generosity, earnestness, intrepidity, prudence, besides many other virtues. The spiritual virtues with men are love of religion, charity, truth, faith, conscience, innocence, and many others. These and the former virtues may in general be referred to love and zeal for religion, for the public good, for country, for fellow- citizens, for parents, for the married partner, and for the children. In all these virtues, justice and judgment are dominant, justice pertaining to moral wisdom and judgment to rational wisdom.

That the conjunction of the wife with the rational wisdom of the man is from within, is because this wisdom is proper to the understanding of men and climbs into a light in which women are not. This is the reason why women do not speak from it, and when in the company of men where such matters are discussed, they are silent and simply listen. That nevertheless these rational things are with wives from within, is manifest from their listening, in that they inwardly recognize and favor what they hear and have heard from their husbands.

That the conjunction of the wife with the moral wisdom of the men is from without, is because the virtues of that wisdom are for the most part akin to the like virtues with women and partake of the intellectual will of the man, with which the will of the wife unites itself and makes a marriage. And because the wife knows these virtues in a man better than the man knows them in himself, it is said that the wife's conjunction with them is from without.

(from Conjugial Love 130: 163-165)

A Civil and Moral Life — A Receptacle of Spiritual Life

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

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.

• In judicial matters only by a knowledge of the laws.

• 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 every one. 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.

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Sound reason declares that all men were predestined to heaven, and no one to hell; for all are born men, and in consequence the image of God is in them.

The image of God in them IS the ability to understand truth and to do good. The ability to understand truth is from the Divine wisdom, and the ability to do good is from the Divine love. This ability is the image of God, which remains in every sane man, and is not eradicated. From this comes his ability to become a civil and moral man — and the civil and moral man can also become spiritual, for the civil and moral is a receptacle of the spiritual. He is called a civil man who knows the laws of the kingdom wherein he is a citizen and lives according to them; and he is called a moral man who makes these laws his morals and his virtues, and from reason lives them.

It shall now be told how a civil and moral life is a receptacle of spiritual life: Live these laws, not only as civil and moral laws, but also as Divine laws, and you will be a spiritual man. Scarcely a nation exists so barbarous as not to have prohibited by laws murder, adultery with the wife of another, theft, false-witness, and injury to what is another's. The civil and moral man observes these laws, that he may be, or may seem to be, a good citizen, but if he does not also regard these laws as Divine he is merely a civil and moral natural man; while if he does also regard them as Divine he becomes a civil and moral spiritual man. The difference is that the latter is both a good citizen of the earthly kingdom and a good citizen of the heavenly kingdom; while the former is a good citizen of the earthly kingdom only, and not of the heavenly kingdom. The difference is seen in the goods they do —

• the goods done by civil and moral natural men are not in themselves good, for the man and the world are in them.

• the goods done by civil and moral spiritual men are good in themselves, because the Lord and heaven are in them.

From all this it can be seen that as every man was born that he might become a civil and moral natural man, so, too, he was born that he might become a civil and moral spiritual man; and this is done simply by his acknowledging God and not doing evil because it is against God, but doing good because it is accordant with God, whereby a spirit enters into his civil and moral activities, and they live; otherwise there is no spirit in them, and therefore they are not living. And this is why the natural man, however civilly and morally he may act, is called dead; but the spiritual man is called living.

It is of the Lord's Divine providence that every nation has some religion; and the primary thing in every religion is to acknowledge that there is a God, otherwise it is not called a religion. Every nation that lives according to its religion, that is, that refrains from doing evil because it is contrary to its god, receives something of the spiritual in its natural. When one hears some Gentile say that he is unwilling to do this or that evil because it is contrary to his god, does he not say to himself, Is not this man saved? it seems as if it could not be otherwise. Sound reason declares this to him. On the other hand, when he hears a Christian say, I make no account of this or that evil; why is it said to be contrary to God? does he not say to himself, Is this man saved? it seems impossible. Sound reason declares this also.

If such an one says, I was born a Christian, I have been baptized, I have known about the Lord, I have read the Word, I have attended the sacrament of the Supper - does this amount to anything if he does not regard murders, or the revenge that breathes them, adulteries, secret thefts, false testimony or lies, and various kinds of violence, as sins? Does such a man think about God or any eternal life? Does he believe that there is any God or any eternal life? Does not sound reason declare that such a person cannot be saved?

All this has been said respecting a Christian, because a Gentile thinks about God from religion in his life more than a Christian does.

(from Divine Providence 317; 322)