The Animal Mind — The Human Mind

Selection from Doctrine of Life ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
A NATURAL MIND — A SPIRITUAL MIND

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (Matt. 7:22-27)

Man has a natural mind and a spiritual mind: the natural mind is beneath, and the spiritual mind is above. The natural mind is his worldly mind, and the spiritual mind is his heavenly mind. The natural mind may be called the animal mind, and the spiritual mind the human mind. Man is also distinguished from the animal by this circumstance, that he has a spiritual mind, by which he is capable of being in heaven while he is in the world. By virtue of this mind also man lives after death.

As to his understanding a man may be in his spiritual mind, and thence in heaven; but as to his will he cannot be in his spiritual mind, and thence in heaven, unless he shuns evils as sins. Moreover, if he is not in heaven as to his will also, he is still not in heaven; for the will draws the understanding downwards, and causes it to be just as natural and animal as itself.

Man may be compared to a garden, the understanding to light, and the will to heat. During winter a garden is in light and not at the same time in heat; but during summer it is in light and heat together. The man therefore who is only in the light of the understanding is like a garden in wintertime; but he who is in the light of the understanding, and at the same time in the warmth of the will, is like a garden in summer-time. Moreover, the understanding enjoys wisdom from spiritual light, and the will loves from spiritual heat; for spiritual light is Divine Wisdom, and spiritual heat is Divine Love.

So long as a man does not shun evils as sins, the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind on the part of the will. They are as a thick veil there, and as a dark cloud beneath the spiritual mind, preventing it from being opened. But as soon as a man shuns evils as sins, then the Lord flows in from heaven, removes the veil, disperses the cloud and opens the spiritual mind, and thus introduces the man into heaven.

So long as the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind, as was just said, so long a man is in hell; but as soon as these lusts are dispersed by the Lord, the man is in heaven. Moreover, so long as the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind, so long is he a natural man; but as soon as these lusts are dispersed by the Lord, he becomes a spiritual man. Further, so long as the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind, so long a man is an animal, differing only in this respect that he can think and speak, even of such things as he does not see with his eyes, a power which he derives from the faculty of elevating the understanding into the light of heaven; but as soon as these lusts are dispersed by the Lord, the man is a man, because he then thinks what is true in the understanding, from what is good in the will. Again, so long as the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind, so long man is like a garden in winter-time; but as soon as these lusts are dispersed by the Lord, he is like a garden in summer-time.

The conjunction of the will and the understanding in man is meant in the Word by the heart and soul, and by the heart and spirit; as where it is said that God should be loved.

With all the heart, and with all the soul. Matt.12: 37;

and that God would give

A new heart, and a new spirit. Ezek 11:19; 36:26, 27;

where by the heart is meant the will and its love; and by the soul and spirit, the understanding and its wisdom.

(Doctrine of Life 86)

Effects from Charity and Faith Together

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Good works are not produced by charity alone, still less by faith alone, but by charity and faith together.  This is because charity apart from faith is not charity, and faith apart from charity is not faith.

Wherefore charity cannot exist by itself or faith by itself; and it cannot be said that charity in itself produces any good works, or faith in itself. It is the same with these as with the will and understanding. The will by itself can have no existence and can therefore produce nothing; nor can the understanding have any existence by itself of produce anything; but all production is effected by both together, and is effected by the understanding from the will. There is this similarity, because the will is the abode of charity and the understanding is the abode of faith. It is said that still less can faith alone produce good works, because faith is truth, and faith operates to produce truths, and these illuminate charity and its exercises. That truths illuminate, the Lord teaches, saying:

He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest that they have been wrought in God (John 3:21).

Consequently when man does good works in accordance with truths, he does them in light, that is, intelligently and wisely.

The conjunction of charity and faith is like the marriage of husband and wife. From the husband as a father and the wife as a mother all natural offspring are born; and in like manner from charity as a father and faith as a mother all spiritual off spring, which are knowledges of good and truth, are born. This makes clear how spiritual families are generated. Moreover in the Word "husband" and "father" signify in the spiritual sense the good of charity, and "wife" and "mother" the truth of faith. This again makes clear that neither charity alone nor faith alone can produce good works, as neither the husband alone nor the wife alone can produce offspring.

The truths of faith not only illuminate charity, but also determine its quality, and, still further, nourish it; so that a man having charity but no truths of faith, is like one walking in a garden, at night, who plucks fruit from the trees, not knowing whether in its use it is good or bad fruit. As the truths of faith not only illuminate charity but also determine its quality, as before said, it follows that charity without the truths of faith is like fruit without juice, like a dried-up fig, or like a grape after the wine has been pressed out of it. As truths nourish faith, as has also been said, it follows that if charity is without truths of faith, it receives no nourishment except such as a man gets from eating burnt bread and drinking unclean water from some stagnant pond.

(True Christian Religion 377)

Charity and Faith - Fixed in Works

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Charity and faith are only mental and perishable things, unless they are determined to works and coexist in them when possible.

Has not a man a head and a body which are joined together by a neck? And in the head is there not a mind that wills and thinks, and in the body is there not power that performs and executes? Therefore if man merely wills well, or thinks from charity, and does not do good and thus perform uses, is he not like a head only, and thus like a mind only, which apart from a body cannot continue to exist?

From this is not anyone able to see that charity and faith are not charity and faith so long as they are merely in the head and its mind but not in the body? For they are then like birds flying in the air without any resting-place on the earth, or like birds ready to lay, but having no nests, in which case they would drop their eggs in the air or upon the branch of some tree, and the eggs would fall to the ground and be destroyed.

There can be nothing in the mind that does not have some correspondent in the body, and its correspondent may be called its embodiment. So when charity and faith occupy the mind only, they have no embodiment in the man, and may be likened to those aerial beings called specters, like Fame as painted by the ancients with a laurel about her head and a horn in her hand. Being such specters, and still being able to think, they must needs be disturbed by fantasies, which are caused by reasonings from various kinds of sophistry, almost as reeds in marshes are shaken by the wind, while beneath them shells lie at the bottom and frogs croak on the surface. Who cannot see that such things come to pass when men merely know from the Word some things about charity and faith, but do not practice them?

Moreover, the Lord says:

Everyone who heareth My words and doeth them I will liken to a prudent man who built his house upon a rock, and everyone who heareth My words and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand, or upon the ground without a foundation (Matt. 7:24, 26; Luke 6:47-49).

Charity and faith with their factitious ideas when not put in practice may be compared to butterflies in the air, which a sparrow darts upon and devours as soon as he sees them. The Lord also says:

The sower went forth to sow; and some fell upon the hard way, and the birds came and devoured them up (Matt. 13:3, 4).

That charity and faith do not profit a man so long as they remain only in one part of his body, that is, in his head, and are not fixed in works, is evident from a thousand passages in the Word, of which I will here adduce only these:

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire (Matt. 7:19-21).

He that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the Word and attendeth, who also beareth fruit and bringeth forth. And when Jesus had said these things, He cried, saying, Who hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matt. 13:3-9, 23, 43).

Jesus said, My mother and My brethren are these who hear the Word of God and do it (Luke 8:21).

Now we know that God heareth not sinners but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth (John 9:31).

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

He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him; and will come unto him and make My abode with him (John 14:15-21, 23).

Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit (John 15:8, 16).

For not the hearers of the law shall be justified by God, but the doers of the law (Rom. 2:13; James 1:22).

In the day of wrath and of righteous judgment God will render to every man according to his deeds (Rom. 2:5, 6).

For we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he hath done, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10).

For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father, and then He shall render unto everyone according to his deeds (Matt. 16:27).

I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow with them (Apoc. 14:13).

A Book was opened, which is the Book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Book; every man according to his works (Apoc. 20:12, 13).

Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every man according to his work (Apoc. 22:12).

Jehovah, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give to everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his works (Jer. 22:19).

I will punish him according to his ways, and will recompense him for his works (Hos. 4:9).

According to our ways, and according to our works Jehovah does with us (Zech. 1:6).

So also in many other passages.

From this it can be seen that charity and faith are not charity and faith until they exist in works, and that while they exist only in the expanse above works, that is, in the mind, they are like appearances of a tabernacle or temple in the air, which are nothing but a mirage, and vanish of themselves; or they are like pictures drawn on paper which moths consume; or they are like an abode on a housetop where there is no sleeping-place, instead of in the house.

All this shows that charity and faith are perishable things so long as they are merely mental or unless they are determined to works and coexist in them when possible.

(True Christian Religion 375-376)