One Depends on the Other

Selection from Conjugial Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
LIKE A CHAIN ON LINKS

Good and truth are the universals of creation and hence are in all created things, but are in the created subjects according to the form of each of these.

Good and truth are the universals of creation inasmuch as they are in the Lord God the Creator, indeed are God, for He is Divine Good itself and Divine Truth itself. This may fall more clearly into the perception of the understanding and into the idea of thought, if instead of good we say love, and instead of truth, wisdom. To put it so, there are in the Lord God the Creator, Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and these are God, that is, He is Love itself and Wisdom itself. These two are the same as good and truth, good being of love, and truth of wisdom, for love consists of goods and wisdom of truths. Since the two sets of terms mean the same thing, in what follows we shall use now one and now the other, intending no difference of meaning. We premise this note, lest the understanding conceive a difference when the terms are used in what follows.

Since, then, the Lord God the Creator is Love itself and Wisdom itself, and the universe was created by Him and is like a work proceeding from Him, something of good and truth from Him cannot but be in each and all created things; for what is made and proceeds from any one, derives from him something similar. Reason can see this from the order impressed upon each and all things of the created universe: one thing is for another, and hence one depends on the other, as a chain on links. For all things are for the sake of the human race, that there may arise from it an angelic heaven, in which creation returns to its Creator, from whom it is; so there is conjunction of the universe with its Creator, and by conjunction everlasting maintenance. Hence it is that good and truth are called the universals of creation. That they are universals, is plain to any reasoning observer. In everything created he sees something referable to good, and something referable to truth.

Good and truth are in created subjects according to the several forms of these for the reason that everything receives influx according to its form. The maintenance of the whole is nothing but the perpetual influx of Divine Good and Divine Truth into forms created by them, for subsistence or maintenance is perpetual existence or creation. The fact that an object receives influx according to its form, may be illustrated by various things,

as by the influx of heat and light from the sun into growths of every kind; each growth receives of these what accords with its form, thus every tree, shrub, herb and grain, each according to its form.

Influx is the same into all, but reception according to the form causes each species to continue what it is. We might illustrate the fact further

from the influx into animals of every sort according to the form of each.

The simplest person can see that influx is according to form, if he considers various instruments of sound: reed-pipes, flutes, trumpets, horns and organs; all give forth sounds according to their forms under the same afflatus or influx of air.

(Conjugial Love 84-86)

Why the Lord Permits

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
WHY MAN CAN BE IN GOOD AND AT THE SAME TIME IN TRUTH
AND IN EVIL AND AT THE SAME TIME IN FALSITY
OR IN MIXTURES OF THEM.

THE LAWS OF PERMISSION ARE ALSO LAWS OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE

There are no laws of permission by themselves or separate from the laws of the Divine Providence: they are indeed the same. When, therefore, it is said that God permits, this does not mean that He wills, but that He cannot avert on account of the end, which is salvation. Whatever is done for the sake of the end, namely, salvation, is according to the laws of the Divine Providence. For, as was said before, the Divine Providence, keeping this end continually in view, is constantly moving in ways different from and contrary to man's will. Therefore, at every moment of its operation or at every step of its progress, when it perceives man to deviate from this end, it directs, bends and disposes him in accordance with its laws by withdrawing him from evil and leading him to good.  This cannot be done without permitting evil. Moreover, nothing can be permitted without a cause, and such a cause is only to be found in some law of the Divine Providence which explains why it is permitted.

***
THE LORD DOES NOT SUFFER THAT ANYTHING SHOULD BE DIVIDED;
THEREFORE IT MUST BE EITHER IN GOOD AND AT THE SAME TIME IN TRUTH
OR IN EVIL AND AT THE SAME TIME IN FALSITY.

The Divine Providence of the Lord has especially for its end that a man should be in good and at the same time in truth, and for this it works; for thus a man is his own good and his own love, and also his own truth and his own wisdom; for thereby a man is man, since then he is an image of the Lord. However, because a man, while he lives in the world, can be in good and at the same time in falsity, and also in evil and at the same time in truth, and even in evil and at the same time in good, and thus as it were a double man; and because this division destroys that image, and so destroys the man; therefore the Divine Providence of the Lord, in all its operations both in general and in particular, has in view that this division shall not be. Moreover, since it is better for a man to be in evil and at the same time in falsity than to be in good and at the same time in evil, the Lord permits this, not as if He willed it, but as if He were unable to prevent it, on account of the end in view, which is man's salvation.

The reason why a man can be in evil and at the same time in truth, and why the Lord cannot prevent this on account of the end, which is salvation, is that man's understanding can be raised up into the light of wisdom and see truths or acknowledge them when he hears them, while his love remains below. Thus he can be in heaven with his understanding but with his love in hell; and this cannot be denied to him, because the two faculties - rationality and liberty - cannot be taken from him; for by virtue of these he is a man, and is distinguished from the beasts; and only by means of these faculties can he be regenerated and consequently saved. By means of these a man is able to act according to wisdom, and is also able to act according to a love that is not of wisdom. He can from wisdom above view the love that is below, and in this way can view his thoughts, intentions, affections, and therefore the evils and falsities as well as the goods and truths of his life and doctrine; and without a knowledge and acknowledgment of these in himself he cannot be reformed. What has been said explains why man can be in good and at the same time in truth, and in evil and at the same time in falsity, and also in alternations of these.

(from Divine Providence 234; 16)

The State of the Interiors of the Mind

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Of the Will and Thought

Whoever gives any thought to man's life and speech and action can know that everyone has exteriors and interiors, that is, exterior and interior thoughts and intentions. This he can know from these things. —

In civil life one thinks about others in accordance with what he has heard and learned of them by report or conversation; but he does not talk with them in accordance with his thought; and if they are evil he nevertheless treats them with civility. That this is so is known especially in the case of pretenders and flatterers, who speak and act in one way and think and will in a wholly different way; also in the case of hypocrites, who talk about God and heaven and the salvation of souls and the truths of the Church and their country's good and their neighbour as if from faith and love, although in heart they believe otherwise and love themselves alone.

From these things it can be established that there are two kinds of thought, one exterior and the other interior; and that there are those who speak from exterior thought, while from their interior thought they have other sentiments, and that these two kinds of thought are kept separate, since the interior is carefully prevented from flowing into the exterior and becoming manifest in any way.

By creation man is so formed as to have his interior and exterior thought make one by correspondence; and these make one in those who are in good, for such both think and speak what is good only. But in those who are in evil, interior and exterior thought do not make one, for such think what is evil and say what is good. With such there is an inversion of order, for good with them is on the outside and evil within; and in consequence, evil has dominion over good, and subjects it to itself as a servant, that it may serve it as a means for gaining its ends, which are of the same nature as their love. Because there is such an end in the good that they seek and do, it is evident that good with them is not good, but is infected with evil, however good it may appear in external form to those not acquainted with their interiors.

It is otherwise with those who are in good. With such, order is not inverted; but good from interior thought flows into exterior thought, and thus into speech and act. This is the order into which man was created; for in heaven, and in the light of heaven, such are the interiors of those there. And as the light of heaven is the Divine Truth that goes forth from the Lord, and consequently is the Lord in heaven, therefore such are led by the Lord.

All these things have been said to make known that every man has interior thought and exterior thought, and that these are distinct from each other. When thought is mentioned, will also is understood, for thought is from the will, and no one can think apart from the will. All this makes clear what is meant by the state of man's exteriors and the state of his interiors.

When will and thought are mentioned, then by will is also meant affection and love, and all the delight and pleasure that spring from affection and love, since all these relate to the will as to their subject; for what a man wills he loves and feels to be delightful or pleasurable; and on the other hand, what a man loves and feels to be delightful or pleasurable, that he wills. But by thought is then meant everything by which he confirms his affection or love, for thought is simply the will's form, or that whereby what is willed may appear in light. This form is made apparent through various rational analyses, which have their origin in the spiritual world and belong properly to the spirit of man

It is to be known that man is wholly such as his interiors are, and not such as his exteriors are, separate from his interiors. This is because his interiors belong to his spirit, and the life of his spirit is the life of man, for from it his body lives; and because of this, such as a man is as to his interiors, such he continues to be to eternity. But as the exteriors pertain to the body, they are separated after death, and those of them that adhere to the spirit are laid asleep, and serve purely as a plane for the interiors, as has been shown above in treating of the memory of man which continues after death. This makes clear what is man's own and what is not his own, namely, that with the evil nothing belonging to the exterior thought from which they speak, or to the exterior will from which they act, is their own, but only that belonging to their interior thought and will.

(Heaven and Hell 499 - 501)