Heaven and The Church in Man

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
ANY ONE SOCIETY IS HEAVEN IN LESSER FORM, AND EACH ANGEL IN THE LEAST FORM

Any one Society is heaven in lesser form and each angel is heaven in the least form because it is the good of love and of faith that makes heaven, and this good is in every society of heaven and in every angel of a society. It does not matter that this good everywhere differs and varies. It is still the good of heaven. The difference is only that heaven is of one quality here and another there. So, when one is raised up into some society of heaven he is said to come into heaven, and those who are there are said to be in heaven, each in his own. All who are in the other life know this. Consequently, those who stand outside or below heaven, looking from a distance at companies of angels, say that heaven is in this or that place. It is comparatively like the governors, officials and servants in one palace or court. Although they dwell apart in their own apartments or rooms, one above, another below, still they are in one palace or court, each one in the performance of his own duty in the king's service. This makes evident the meaning of the Lord's words, that -

In His Father's house are many mansions. John 14:2.

also what is meant by -

The dwelling-places of heaven,

and by -

The heaven of heavens, in the Prophets

That any one society is heaven in lesser form might be evident from the fact that there is in every society a heavenly form as there is in the whole heaven. In the whole heaven those who are superior to the rest are in the middle, with the less excellent round about in decreasing order, even to the boundaries. It can be seen also from this that the Lord leads all in the whole heaven as if they were one angel. The same is true of those in any one society. Hence, an entire angelic society sometimes appears as a one in the form of an angel, as I have been enabled by the Lord to see. In fact, when the Lord appears in the midst of angels He does not appear thronged about by many but as one in the angelic form. This is why the Lord is called "an angel" in the Word, and so is an entire society. "Michael," "Gabriel", and "Raphael" are no other than angelic societies so named from their functions.

As an entire society is heaven in lesser form, so an angel is heaven in the least form. For heaven is not outside an angel but is within him. For the interior things that he has in his mind are arranged in the form of heaven, thus for the reception of all things of heaven that are outside him. These also he receives in accordance with the quality of the good which is in him from the Lord. From this he is an angel and also a heaven.

It can in no case be said that heaven is outside anyone; it is within him. For it is in accordance with the heaven that is within him that every angel receives the heaven that is outside him. This makes clear how greatly deceived is he who believes that to come into heaven is simply to be taken up among angels, whatever he may be as to his interior life, thus that heaven is granted to each one by immediate (immediata) mercy, when in fact, unless heaven is within anyone, nothing of the heaven that is outside inflows and is received. There are many spirits who are of this opinion. Because of this belief they were taken up into heaven; but their interior life being contrary to the life in which angels are, they began to be blinded as to their intellectual faculties when they came there, until they became like fools, and they began to be tortured in their voluntary faculties until they behaved like madmen. In a word, those who live wickedly and come into heaven gasp for breath and writhe about just like fish out of water in the air, or like animals in the ether in an air-pump when the air has been exhausted. From this it can be confirmed that heaven is within and not outside anyone.

Because all receive the heaven that is outside them in accordance with the quality of the heaven within them, so in like manner do they receive the Lord since the Divine of the Lord makes heaven. So it comes about that when the Lord shows Himself as present in any society, He appears there in accordance with the quality of good in which the society is, thus not the same in one society as in another. This diversity is not in the Lord, but in the angels who behold Him from their own good, thus in accordance with that good. They are even affected by His appearance in accordance with the quality of their love, those who love Him inmostly being inmostly affected and those who love Him less being less affected; while the evil who are outside heaven are tortured at His presence. When the Lord appears in any society, He appears there as an Angel, but He is distinguished from others by the Divine which shines through.

Unity Comes into Existence from Variety

Again, heaven is where the Lord is acknowledged, believed in and loved. Variety in worship of the Lord resulting from the variety of good in one society and another is not harmful but beneficial, for the perfection of heaven is therefrom. It can scarcely be made clear to the comprehension that the perfection of heaven is the result of variety, without employing terms in common use in the learned world and by them showing how unity, to be perfect, is formed from various parts. Every unity has its existence from diversity, for a unity that is not the result of diversity is not anything; it has no form and therefore no quality. When, on the other hand, a unity comes into existence from various parts, and these various parts are in a perfect form in which each attaches itself in series, like a congenial friend to another, then the quality is perfect. So heaven is a unity resulting from the arrangements of various parts in the most perfect form, for the heavenly form is the most perfect of all forms. That this is the origin of all perfection is evident from all the beauty, pleasantness and delight that affect the senses as well as the mind (animus). For these exist and flow from no other source than the concert and harmony of many concordant and harmonious parts, either co-existing in order or following in order, and not from a unity apart from plurality. From this comes the saying that variety gives delight, and it is known that it is the nature of the variety which determines the delight. From all this it can be seen, as in a mirror, how perfection comes from variety even in heaven. For the things that are in the spiritual world can be seen as in a mirror# from those that come into existence in the natural world.

The Church is The Lord's Heaven on Earth

What has been said of heaven can be said of the Church, for the Church is the Lord's heaven on earth. There are also many Churches, and yet any one of them is called the Church and indeed is a Church, so far as the good of love and of faith rules there. There again, the Lord out of diversity makes a unity, thus, one Church out of many Churches. The same, too, can be said of the man of the Church in particular as is said of the Church in general, namely, that the Church is within a man and not outside him, and that every man in whom the Lord is present in the good of love and of faith is a Church.

Again, the same can be said of a man in whom is the Church as of an angel in whom is heaven, namely, that he is a Church in least form as an angel is heaven in least form, and furthermore, that a man in whom is the Church, equally with an angel, is a heaven. For man has been created that he may come into heaven and become an angel. Consequently, he who has good from the Lord is an angel-man.

It may he mentioned what a man has in common with an angel and what he has in addition to what angels have. A man has this in common with an angel, that his interiors are equally conformed to the image of heaven and that he, too, in so far as he is in the good of love and faith, may become an image of heaven. In addition to what angels have, a man has these things, that his exteriors have been formed according to the image of the world, that so far as he is in good, the world with him is subordinated to heaven and serves heaven, and that then the Lord is present with him in both worlds, just as if he were in his heaven. For the Lord is in His Divine order in both worlds, since God is order.

Lastly, it must he mentioned that he who has heaven in himself, has it not only in the greatest or general things pertaining to him but also in the very least or particular things; and that these least things repeat in an image the greatest. This comes from the fact that everyone is his own love, and is such as is his ruling love. The ruling love inflows into particulars and arranges them, and everywhere induces a likeness of itself. In the heavens, love to the Lord is the ruling love, for there the Lord is loved above all things. Hence, the Lord there is the All-in-all things, flowing into all and each, arranging them, clothing them with a likeness of Himself, and making it to be heaven wherever He is. So it is that an angel is a heaven in the least form, a society in a greater form, and all the societies taken together a heaven in the greatest form. That the Divine of the Lord makes heaven and that He is the All-in-all things.

(Heaven and Hell 51-58)

Justified By The Lord

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
GOOD CANNOT DIE, BECAUSE EVIL CAN BE SEPARATED FROM IT

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22: 36-40)

In regard to justification, the case is not as is commonly supposed, namely, that all evils and sins are wiped away and utterly blotted out when men, as they imagine, believe - even if it were their last and dying hour - however they may have lived in evils and in misdeeds during the entire course of their lives; for I have been fully instructed that not the smallest evil which a man during his bodily life has thought and has carried out into act is wiped away and utterly blotted out; but that it all remains, even to the very least of it.

The truth is that with those who have meditated and practiced acts of hatred, of revenge, of cruelty, and of adultery, and who thereby have lived in no charity, the life thence contracted awaits them after death, nay, so do all things of that life both in general and in particular, which return in succession; and from this comes their torment in hell.

Whatever a man has done in the life of the body successively returns in the other life, and so does all that he has even thought. When his enmities, hatreds, and deceits return, the persons against whom he has indulged hatred and has clandestinely plotted are made present to him, and this in a moment. Such is the case in the other life....

The thoughts a man has harbored against others make their appearance openly, for there is a perception of all thoughts. Hence come lamentable states, for there concealed hatreds break out openly.

With the evil all their evil deeds and thoughts thus return, to the life.

But it is not so with the good. With these all their good states of friendship and love return, attended with the highest delight and happiness.

But with those who have lived in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, their evils of life also all remain, but they are tempered by the goods which during their life in the world they have received from the Lord by means of a life of charity; and thereby they are uplifted into heaven, nay, are withheld from the evils which they have appertaining to them, so that these do not appear.

They who in the other life doubt their having evils with them, because the evils do not appear, are let into them until they know that the case is really so, and then are again uplifted into heaven. (Arcana Coelestia 823)

This then is what is meant by being justified; for in this way men come to acknowledge not their own righteousness, but that of the Lord.

As to its being said that those are saved who have faith - this is true; but in the Word by "faith" nothing else is meant than love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, and thus a life from these loves. The doctrinal things and dogmas of faith are not faith, but belong to faith; for they are one and all for the sake of the end that a man may become such as they teach him to be, as may be clearly seen from the Lord's words that in love to God and love toward the neighbor consist all the law and the prophets, that is, the universal doctrine of faith (Matt. 22:34-39; Mark 12:28-35).

(from Arcana Coelestia 2116)

~~~

And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.... be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Genesis 18: 17-21; 25)

To cause the righteous to die with the wicked, that so the righteous be as the wicked. That this signifies that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it, is evident from the signification of "righteous," as being good, and of "wicked," as being evil. Hence to "cause the righteous to die with the wicked," is to make good die with evil. As this ought not to be done, and causes horror to think of, it is removed in the internal sense, and then there is presented this: that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it.

How this matter stands, is known to few, if any.

Be it known that all the good a man has thought and done from infancy even to the last of his life, remains; in like manner all the evil, so that not the least of it completely perishes. Both are inscribed on his book of life (that is, on each of his memories), and on his nature (that is, his native disposition and genius). From these he has formed for himself a life, and so to speak a soul, which after death is of a corresponding quality. But goods are never so commingled with evils, nor evils with goods, that they cannot be separated; for if they should be commingled, the man would eternally perish.

In relation to this the Lord exercises His providence, and when a man comes into the other life, if he has lived in the good of love and of charity, the Lord then separates his evils, and by what is good with him elevates him into heaven. But if he has lived in evils, that is, in things contrary to love and charity, the Lord then separates from him what is good, and his evils bring him into hell. Such is the lot of everyone after death; but it is a separation, and in no wise a complete removal.

Moreover, as the will of man, which is the one part of his life, has been utterly destroyed, the Lord separates this destroyed part from the other which is his intellectual part, and in those who are being regenerated, implants in this intellectual part the good of charity, and through this a new will; these are they who have conscience. Thus also, speaking generally, the Lord separates evil from good. These are the arcana which are meant in the internal sense by the statement that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it.

(from Arcana Coelestia 2256)

Entangled in Natural Knowledge

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

It is false memory-knowledge which chiefly infests those of the spiritual church; because they have no perception of truth from good, but only the memory-knowledge of truth from doctrine - they who are such are very much infested by memory-knowledges. For memory-knowledges are the most general vessels, which sometimes appear contrary to truths, until truths being let into them make them transparent, and thus not to be noticed. Moreover, memory-knowledges are full of the fallacies of the senses, which cannot be dispelled by those who are in mere knowledges from doctrine, and not in the perception of truth from good; mainly because the light of the world predominates with them, which light appears clear so long as the light of heaven does not flow into it, but as soon as the light of heaven flows in, instead of light it becomes obscurity. Hence it is that these persons are enlightened and clever in the things of the world, but obscured and dull in the things of heaven.

These believe themselves enlightened when they have confirmed in themselves the doctrinal things of the church, but it is a sensuous light from the light of the world which then deceives them; for doctrinal things of every kind can be confirmed, as — Jewish doctrinal things by the Jews - enthusiastic ones by enthusiasts - Socinian ones by the Socinians - heresies by heretics of every sort — when they have been confirmed, they appear to them in the sensuous light as very truths. But they who are in the light of heaven are in enlightenment from the Lord; and before confirmations, by looking into the memory-knowledges which are beneath and are there arranged in order, they discern whether it is a truth that may be confirmed or not. Hence it is evident that these latter have an interior view, which is above the memory-knowledges, and thus is distinct; whereas the former have a lower view, which is within the memory-knowledges, and thus is an entangled one.

(from Arcana Coelestia 6865)

~~~

Behind, caught in a thicket. (Genesis 22:13) That this signifies entangled in natural knowledge, is evident from the signification of being "caught," as here being entangled; and from the signification of a "thicket" or "tangle" as being memory-knowledge.

That the spiritual are held entangled in natural knowledge in regard to the truths of faith, is as follows.

The spiritual have not perception of good and truth, as the celestial have, but instead of it conscience formed from the goods and truths of faith which they have imbibed from infancy from their parents and masters, and afterwards from the doctrine of faith into which they were born. They who have no perception of good and truth have to be confirmed by knowledges. Everyone forms for himself some idea respecting the things he has learned, and also respecting the goods and truths of faith - for without an idea, nothing remains in the memory otherwise than as an empty thing. Confirmatory things are added thereto, and fill up the idea of the thing, from other knowledges, even from memory-knowledges. The confirmation of the idea itself by many things causes not only that it sticks in the memory, so that it can be called forth into the thought, but also that faith can be insinuated into it.

As regards perception in general, since few know what perception is, this must be declared.

• There is perception of what is good and true in celestial and spiritual things.
• There is perception of what is just and equitable in civil life.
• There is perception of what is honorable in moral life.

As regards the perception of what is good and true in celestial and spiritual things, the interior angels have this perception from the Lord, the men of the Most Ancient Church had it, and the celestial, who are in love to the Lord, have it. These know at once, from a kind of internal observation, whether a thing is good and whether it is true; for this is insinuated by the Lord, because they are conjoined with Him by love.

Spiritual men, however, have no such perception of good and truth in celestial and spiritual things, but instead of it have conscience which dictates; but as before said, this conscience is formed from the knowledges of good and truth which they have imbibed from their parents and masters, and afterwards from their own study in doctrine and in the Word; and in these, even though not entirely good and true, they put their faith. Hence it is that men can have conscience from any doctrine whatever; even the Gentiles have something not unlike conscience from their religion.

That the spiritual have no perception of the good and truth of faith, but say and believe that to be true which they have learned and apprehended, is sufficiently evident from the fact that everyone says that his own dogma is true, heretics more than others; and that they are not able to see the truth itself, still less to acknowledge it, although thousands of things should declare it. Let everyone explore himself and see if he is able to perceive from any other source whether a thing is true; and if when a thing most true is made manifest to him he still does not fail to acknowledge it. As for example, one who makes faith the essential of salvation, and not love: even if all should be read before him which the Lord spoke concerning love and charity —

Now will we do worse to thee than to them. That this signifies that they would reject the good of charity more than the Lord's Divine Human and Holy proceeding, is evident from the signification of "Lot," as being the good of charity; for Lot represents those who are in the good of charity; and from the signification of the "men," or "angels," as being the Lord as to the Divine Human and Holy proceeding.

Hence it is evident that to "do worse to thee than to them" has this meaning.

The reason why they who are in evil within the church reject charity more than they deny the Lord, is that in this way they can favor their concupiscences by a kind of religion, and have external worship with no internal (that is, worship of the lips and not of the heart), and the more they make this worship to be Divine and holy, so much the greater are their dignities and wealth, besides many other causes that are hidden and yet are manifest. Nevertheless the truth really is that he who rejects the one (that is, does so in doctrine and at the same time in life) rejects also the other (for even if he dare not do this openly he does it in his heart); and this is here expressed in the sense of the letter by its being said that the men of Sodom drew near to break open the door, by which is signified that they came even to the endeavor to destroy both. But that which prevents this endeavor from bursting forth into act is by no means hidden. (n. 2373)

— and if he should know from the Word that all the Law and the Prophets hang upon love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, he will nevertheless remain in the idea of faith, and will say that this alone saves. It is otherwise with those who are in celestial and spiritual perception.

As regards the perception of what is just and equitable in civil life, however, those in the world who are rational have this, and also the perception of what is honorable in moral life. These two perceptions distinguish one man from another, but by no means do such men for this reason have the perception of the good and truth of faith, because this perception is higher or more internal, and flows in from the Lord through the inmost of the rational.

The reason also why the spiritual have no perception of the good and truth of faith, is that good and truth are not implanted in their will part, as with celestial men, but in their intellectual part. Hence it is that the spiritual cannot arrive at the first degree of the light in which the celestial are, but have what is obscure in comparison. That the spiritual are entangled in natural memory-knowledge in respect to the truths of faith, follows from this.

That a "thicket" or "tangle" in the internal sense signifies natural memory-knowledge, that is, that knowledge which sticks fast in the exterior memory, may also be seen from other passages in the Word.

In Ezekiel:

Behold, Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful foliage, and a shady grove, and lofty in height, and his branch was among the tangled boughs (Ezek. 31:3);

where Egypt, which is memory-knowledge, is treated of; "Asshur" denotes the rational; which is also the "cedar," and also "Lebanon," in the Word; "among the tangled boughs" means among memory-knowledges, for the human rational is founded on its memory-knowledges.

In the same:

Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Because thou art exalted in stature, and he hath set his branch among the tangled boughs, and his heart is lifted up in its height, strangers, the violent of the nations, shall cut him down, and cast him out (Ezek. 31:10, 12);

concerning Egypt; to "set the branch among the tangled boughs" denotes sticking fast in memory-knowledges, and regarding spiritual, celestial, and Divine things from them. In the same:

To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their branch among the tangled boughs, nor that all that drink waters stand over them in their height, for they shall all be delivered unto death, to the lower earth in the midst of the sons of man, to them that go down to the pit (Ezek. 31:14);

here those are treated of who by reasonings from memory-knowledges desire to enter into the mysteries of faith - they are made altogether blind. To reason from memory-knowledges is to "set the branch among the tangled boughs."

In the same:

She had plants of strength for the scepters of them that bare rule, and her height was exalted among the tangled boughs (Ezek. 19:11);

this has a similar meaning.

In the same:

The slain of Israel shall be among their idols, round about their altars, and under every green tree, and under every tangled oak (Ezek. 6:13);

this treats of the worship which those form to themselves who have faith in themselves, and thus in the things which they hatch out from their memory-knowledges; the "tangled oak" denotes the memory-knowledges in such a state.

The like is found elsewhere in the same Prophet:

They saw every high hill, and every tangled tree, and there they sacrificed their sacrifices (Ezek. 20:28)

a "tangled tree" denotes the things which are dictated not by the Word, but by one's own memory-knowledge.

In Isaiah:

Wickedness burneth as the fire; it devoureth the briars and thorns, and kindleth in the thickets of the forest (Isa. 9:18);

the "briars and thorns" denote falsity and cupidity; the "thickets of the forest," memory-knowledges. In the same:

Jehovah Zebaoth shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one (Isa. 10:34);

the "thickets of the forest" denote memory-knowledges and "Lebanon," things rational.

In Jeremiah:

Set up a standard toward Zion, for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction; a lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make thy land a waste; thy cities shall be destroyed, without inhabitant (Jer. 4:6-7);

"from his thicket" denotes from memory-knowledge; and that which ascends into Divine arcana from this makes the "land a waste," that is, lays waste the church.

The reason why in the Word memory-knowledges are called "thickets," is that they are comparatively of such a character, especially when the cupidities of the love of self and of the world, and the principles of falsity, seek for them.

• Celestial and spiritual love is that which disposes into order the knowledges which are of the exterior memory.
• The love of self and of the world is that which perverts the order, and disturbs all things in it.

These things the man does not take notice of, because he places order in perverted order, good in evil, and truth in falsity. On this account these things are in entanglement; and also on this, that the things of the exterior memory, where these knowledges are, compared with those in the interior memory, where rational things are, are as in a thicket, or as in a dark forest. How shady, opaque, and dark it is there in comparison, a man cannot know so long as he is living in the body; for he then supposes that all wisdom and intelligence are from this source; but he will know in the other life, when he comes into the things of his interior memory. The exterior memory, which is proper to man while he is living in the world, nothing is less to be found than the light of intelligence and wisdom; but that all is relatively dark, disorderly, and entangled there.

(from Arcana Coelestia 2831)