What is it to meditate on the Word Spiritually and Materially?

Selection from Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
~ A Memorable Relation ~

All who are prepared for heaven, which is effected in the world of spirits, which is in the midst between heaven and hell, after a certain time, desire heaven with a certain longing, and presently their eyes are opened, and they see a way which leads to some society in heaven. They enter this way and ascend, and in the ascent there is a gate, and a keeper there. The keeper opens the gate, and thus they go in. Then an examiner meets them, who tells them from the governor, that they may enter in still further, and inquire whether there are any houses which they can recognize as their own, for there is a new house for every novitiate angel; and if they find any, they give notice of it and remain there. But if they do not find any, they come back and say they have not seen any. And then they are examined by a certain wise one there, to discover whether the light that is in them agrees with the light of that society, and especially whether the heat does; for the light of heaven in its essence is Divine truth, and the heat of heaven in its essence is Divine good, both proceeding from the Lord as the sun there. If any other light and any other heat than the light and heat of that society is in them, they are not received; that is, if any other truth and any other good is in them. Therefore, they depart thence and go in the ways which are opened among the societies in heaven, and this till they find a society which agrees in every respect with their affections, and here they take up their abode to eternity. For they are here among their like, as among relations and friends whom, because they are in a similar affection, they love from the heart and there they are in the enjoyment of their life, and in a fullness of bosom delight derived from peace of soul; for there is in the heat and light of heaven an ineffable delight, which is communicated. Such is the case with those who become angels.

But they who are in evils and falsities may, by leave given to them, ascend into heaven; but when they enter, they begin to draw their breath or to respire with difficulty, and presently their sight is obscured, their understanding is darkened, and thought ceases, and death seems present before their eyes, and thus they stand like a stock. And then they begin to have a beating at the heart, and a straitness over the breast, the mind is seized with anguish, and they become more and more tormented, and in that state writhe themselves about like a serpent laid before the fire; therefore, they roll themselves away, and cast themselves headlong down a precipice which then appears to them; nor do they rest till they are in hell among their like, where they can respire, and their heart can vibrate freely. Afterwards they hate heaven, and reject truth, and in heart blaspheme the Lord, believing that their tortures and torments in heaven proceeded from him.

From these few things it may be seen what their lot is who make no account of truths, which yet make the light in which the angels of heaven dwell, and who make no account of goods, which yet make the heat in which the angels of heaven are.

From these things it may appear how much they are in error, who believe that everyone may enjoy heavenly beatitude by mere admission into heaven. For the faith at this day is, that heaven is received from mercy alone; and that reception into heaven is like being admitted, in this world, into a house where there is a marriage, and then at the same time into the joy and gladness.

But let them know, that there is a communication of affections in the spiritual world, man being then a spirit, and the life of a spirit is affection, from which, and according to which, is thought; and that homogeneous affection conjoins and heterogeneous affection disjoins, and that heterogeneity would torment a devil in heaven, and an angel in hell. For which reason they are separated exactly according to the diversities, varieties, and differences of the affections which are of love.

It was granted me to see upwards of three hundred of the clergy of the Reformed world, all men of learning, who knew how to confirm the doctrine of faith alone even to justification, and some of them still further. And because there prevailed a belief among them also, that heaven consists only in admission by favor, leave was given them to ascend to a society in heaven, though not one of the higher ones. And as they ascended together, they appeared at a distance like calves. And when they entered into heaven they were received with civility by the angels, but when they discoursed with them, they were seized with trembling, afterwards with horror, and lastly with the agonies as it were of death, and then they cast themselves down headlong, and in their descent they appeared like dead horses. The reason of their appearing like calves as they ascended, was, because from correspondence the natural affection of seeing and knowing appears gamboling like a calf; and the reason why they appeared like dead horses as they fell, was, because from correspondence the understanding of truth from the Word appears like a horse, and the non-understanding of truth in the Word, like a dead horse.

There were boys below, who saw them falling, to whom in their descent they seemed like dead horses. And then they turned away their faces, and said to their master, who was with them, "What is this portent*? We beheld men and now instead of them there are dead horses, the sight of which we could not bear, and we therefore turned away our faces. Master, let us not stay in this place, but let us go away:" and they departed. The master then instructed them in the way what "a dead horse" is, saying, "'A horse' signifies the understanding of the Word; all the horses which you saw, signified that; for when a man goes meditating from the Word, then his meditation, at a distance, appears as a horse, noble and lively, as he meditates spiritually on the Word, and, on the contrary, poor and dead, as he meditates materially."
* a sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen.

The boys then asked, "What is it to meditate on the Word spiritually and materially?" And the master replied, "I will illustrate it by examples. Who, when he reads the Word, does not think of God, his neighbor, and heaven?

Everyone who thinks of God only from Person, and not from Essence, thinks materially; also he who thinks of the neighbor only from form, and not from quality, thinks materially; and he who thinks of heaven only from place, and not from the love and wisdom which heaven is, he also thinks materially."

But the boys said, "We have thought of God from Person, of the neighbor from form, that he is a man, and of heaven from place; did we therefore, when we were reading the Word, appear to anyone as dead horses?"

The master said, "No, you are yet boys, and could not think otherwise; but I have perceived in you an affection of knowing and understanding, which, because it is spiritual, shows that you have also thought spiritually. But I will return to what I said at first, that he who thinks materially, when he reads the Word or is meditating from it, appears at a distance like a dead horse; but he who reads it spiritually, like a living horse; and that he thinks materially concerning God and the Trinity, who thinks of God only from Person, and not from essence. For there are many attributes of the Divine essence, such as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, mercy, grace, eternity, and others; and there are attributes proceeding from the Divine essence, which are creation and preservation, salvation and redemption, enlightenment and instruction. Everyone who thinks of God only from person, makes three Gods, saying that one God is the Creator and Preserver, another the Saviour and Redeemer, and the third the Enlightener and Instructor. But everyone who thinks of God from essence, makes one God, saying, God created and preserves us, redeems and saves us, enlightens and instructs us. "This is the reason why they who think of the Trinity in God from Person, and thus materially, cannot, from the ideas of their thought, which are material, do otherwise than out of one God make three; but yet, contrary to their thought, they are held to saying, that in each there is a communion of all the attributes, and this solely because they have also thought of God obscurely from essence.

Therefore, my pupils, think of God from His essence, and from that of His Person, and not from His Person, and from this of His essence, for to think of His essence from Person, is to think materially of His essence also; but to think of His Person from essence, is to think spiritually even of His Person.

The ancient Gentiles, because as they thought materially of God, and also of the attributes of God, not only imagined three gods, but many even to the number of a hundred.

Know then that the material does not flow into the spiritual, but the spiritual into the material.

It is similar with the thought of the neighbor from form, and not from his quality, and with the thought of heaven from place, and not from the love and wisdom which heaven is. It is similar with each and everything in the Word. Therefore, he who cherishes a material idea of God, and likewise of the neighbor and of heaven, cannot understand anything there. The Word is to him a dead letter, and he himself, when he reads it or meditates on it, appears at a distance as a dead horse.

"They whom you saw falling from heaven, and who appeared in your sight like dead horses, were such as had closed the rational sight in themselves and others by this peculiar dogma, that the understanding is to be kept in subjection to their faith; not considering that the understanding, when closed by religion, is as blind as a mole, and there is mere thick darkness in it, and such thick darkness as rejects from itself all spiritual light, opposes its influx from the Lord and from heaven, and sets up a barrier against it in the sensual corporeal part, far below the rational in matters of faith, that is, places it near the nose, and fixes it in its cartilage, on which account they cannot afterwards so much as scent spiritual things; whence some have become such that when they sensate the odor from spiritual things they fall into a swoon; by odor I mean perception. These are they who make God three. They say indeed from essence that God is one; but yet when they pray from their faith, which is that "God the Father would have mercy for the sake of the Son and send the Holy Spirit," they evidently make three Gods. They cannot do otherwise, for they pray to one to have mercy for the sake of another, and send a third."

And then their master taught them concerning the Lord, that He is the one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity.

(Apocalypse Revealed 611)

Entangled in Natural Knowledge

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw, and behold a ram behind, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went, and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. (Genesis 22:13)

Behind, caught in a thicket. 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 — explained in what follows. —

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,

They would reject the good of charity more than the Lord's Divine Human and Holy proceeding. 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) (from Arcana Coelestia 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; "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. 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. (That "oaks" are apperceptions from memory-knowledges.)

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. (That worship was performed in groves, and was significative according to the qualities of the trees.)

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; and 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. That in 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. (for further study on the memory after death, see AC 2469-2494).

~~~

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, and heresies by heretics of every sort; and 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 2831; 6865:2, 3)

Looking Downward or Looking Upward

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
ALL WITH WHOM THE CHURCH CAN BE SET UP

As few know how the case is with the influx of Divine truth and with the consequent enlightenment with man, something may here be said about this.

INFLUX AND ENLIGHTENMENT FROM THE DIVINE TRUTH WHICH IS FROM THE LORD'S DIVINE GOOD

Influx is predicated of all the good and of all the truth that come out of heaven from the Lord; and as this influx enlightens man, enlightenment is predicated of man.

That no good of love and no truth of faith are from man, but that they are with him from heaven from the Divine there, is known in the church; and also that those are in enlightenment who receive this. But the influx and enlightenment are effected in the following way —

Man is of such a nature that in respect to his interiors, which are of thought and will, he can look downward, and he can look upward. To look downward is to look outward into the world and to self, and to look upward is to look inward to heaven and to God. Man looks outward from self, and this is called looking downward, because when he does so from himself he looks to hell. But man looks inward not from self, but from the Lord; and this is called looking upward, because in respect to his interiors which are of the will and understanding he is then raised by the Lord to heaven, and thus to the Lord. Moreover, the interiors are actually raised, and are then actually withdrawn from the body and from the world. When this is done, the interiors of the man come actually into heaven, and into its light and heat. From this he has influx and enlightenment, for the light of heaven illumines his understanding, because this light is the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord as a Sun; and the heat of heaven enkindles the will, because this heat is the good of love which at the same time proceeds from the Lord as a Sun. As the man is then among the angels, there is communicated to him from them, that is, through them from the Lord, the understanding of truth and the affection of good. This communication is what is called influx and enlightenment.

But be it known that influx and enlightenment take place according to the capability of reception on the part of man, and the capability of reception is according to the love of what is good and true; and therefore those are raised who are in the love of what is good and true for the sake of what is good and true as ends; whereas those who are not in the love of what is good and true for the sake of what is good and true, but for the sake of self and the world, cannot be raised, because they continually look and gravitate downward; thus they cannot receive the Divine influx from heaven, and be enlightened. The intelligence which with them appears like the intelligence of truth, is from a deceptive light which, whether it is false or true, shines before their eyes from things confirmed and consequently persuasive. But this brightness becomes mere thick darkness when light from heaven flows in, as has been shown me by living experience.

From all this it can be seen why it is that so many heresies arise in the world, namely, because leaders and guides have looked to themselves and have had their own glory as their end, and accordingly the things of the Lord and of heaven as means to this end.

(from Arcana Coelestia 10330)