What Makes Heaven in Man

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:20-21)

Good and truth are in a perpetual endeavor to be conjoined, and good longs for truth and for conjunction with it. Between good and truth there is a kind of marriage.

The heathen equally with Christians are saved any one can see who knows what it is that makes heaven in man; for heaven is within man, and those that have heaven within them come into heaven. Heaven with man is acknowledging the Divine and being led by the Divine.

The first and chief thing of every religion is to acknowledge the Divine.

A religion that does not acknowledge the Divine is no religion. The precepts of every religion look to worship; thus to the way in which the Divine is to be worshiped that the worship may be acceptable to Him; and when this has been settled in one's mind, that is, so far as one wills this or so far as he loves it, he is led by the Lord. Everyone knows that the heathen as well as Christians live a moral life, and many of them a better life than Christians.

Moral life may be lived either out of regard to the Divine or out of regard to men in the world.

A moral life that is lived out of regard to the Divine is a spiritual life. In outward form the two appear alike, but in inward form they are wholly different; the one saves man, the other does not. For he who lives a moral life out of regard to the Divine is led by the Divine; while he who leads a moral life out of regard to men in the world is led by himself.

But this may be illustrated by an example —

He that refrains from doing evil to his neighbor because it is antagonistic to religion, that is, antagonistic to the Divine, refrains from doing evil from a spiritual motive.

He that refrains from doing evil to another merely from fear of the law, or the loss of reputation, of honor, or gain, that is, from regard to self and the world, refrains from doing evil from a natural motive, and is led by himself.

The life of the latter is natural, that of the former is spiritual.

A man whose moral life is spiritual has heaven within him; but he whose moral life is merely natural does not have heaven within him; and for the reason that heaven flows in from above and opens man's interiors, and through his interiors flows into his exteriors; while the world flows in from beneath and opens the exteriors but not the interiors. For there can be no flowing in from the natural world into the spiritual, but only from the spiritual world into the natural; therefore if heaven is not also received, the interiors remain closed. All this makes clear who those are that receive heaven within them, and who do not.

And yet heaven is not the same in one as in another. It differs in each one in accordance with his affection for good and its truth. Those that are in an affection for good out of regard to the Divine, love Divine truth, since good and truth love each other and desire to be conjoined.

(from Heaven and Hell 319)

Why the Word is Not Understood

Selections from The Heavenly Doctrines~ Emanuel Swedenborg

At this day everything in the understanding and the will is worldly, and they who think about heaven, and desire it, have and are willing to have no other idea of it than a natural and earthly one — where there is such an idea, and such a will, thus such a love — there the arcana of heaven have no place. Very different would it be if the mind were more delighted with heavenly things than with worldly ones, for a man apprehends what delights him; as when he is delighted with the arcana of the civil state in kingdoms, and with those of the moral state with man. By "the moral state" is meant that of the loves and affections, and of the derivative thoughts, the arcana of which a shrewd man easily perceives, because he delights to lead others by them, in order to secure honors, gain, or reputation for the sake of these. (from Arcana Coelestia 9993:3)

DISSENSIONS ARISING IN THE CHURCH WHEN THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORD IS DESTROYED

BY GOOD — THE GOOD OF LOVE TO THE LORD AND THE GOOD OF LOVE TOWARDS THE NEIGHBOR ARE MEANT — SINCE ALL GOOD IS OF LOVE.

When these goods do not exist with the man of the church, the Word is not understood; for the conjunction of the Lord and the conjunction of heaven with the man of the church is by means of good; therefore if there is no good with him no illustration can be given; for all illustration when the Word is being read is out of heaven from the Lord; and when there is no illustration the truths that are in the Word are in obscurity, thence dissensions spring up.

That the Word is not understood if man is not in good can also be seen from this, that in the particulars of the Word there is a heavenly marriage, that is, a conjunction of good and truth; therefore if good is not present with man when he is reading the Word, truth does not appear, for truth is seen from good, and good by means of truth.

The state of the case is this: so far as man is in good the Lord flows in and gives the affection of truth, and thus understanding; for the interior human mind is formed entirely in the image of heaven, and the whole heaven is formed according to the affections of good and of truth from good; therefore unless there is good with man, that mind cannot be opened, still less can it be formed for heaven; it is formed by the conjunction of good and truth. From this it can also be seen that unless man is in good, truths have no ground in which to be received, nor any heat by which to grow; for truths with the man who is in good are like seeds in the ground in the time of spring; while truths with the man who is not in good are like seeds in ground bound by frost in the time of winter, when there is no grass, nor flower, nor tree, still less fruit.

In the Word are all truths of heaven and the church, yea, all the secrets of wisdom that the angels of heaven possess — but no one sees these unless he is in the good of love to the Lord and in the good of love towards the neighbor.

Those who are not, see truths here and there, but do not understand them; they have a perception and idea of them wholly different from that which pertains to these same truths in themselves; although, therefore, they see or know truths, still truths are not truths with them, but falsities; for truths are not truths from their sound or utterance, but from an idea and perception of them.

When truths are implanted in good it is different; then truths appear in their own form, for truth is the form of good.

From this it may be concluded what the nature of the understanding of the Word is with those who make faith alone the sole means of salvation, and cast behind the back the good of life, or the good of charity. It has been found that those who have confirmed themselves in this, both in doctrine and life, have not even a single right idea of truth; this, moreover, is why they do not know what good is, what charity and love are, what the neighbor is, what heaven and hell are, that they are to live after death as men, nor, indeed, what regeneration is, what baptism is, and many other things; yea, they are in such blindness respecting God Himself that they worship three in thought, and not one except merely with the mouth, not knowing that the Father of the Lord is the Divine in Him, and that the Holy Spirit is the Divine from Him.

These things are said to make known that there is no understanding of the Word where there is no good.

TO TAKE PEACE FROM THE EARTH

"peace" signifies a peaceful state of the mind [mens] and tranquillity of the disposition [animus] from the conjunction of good and truth; therefore "to take away peace" signifies an unpeaceful and untranquil state from the disjunction of good and truth, which is the cause of internal dissensions; for when good is separated from truth evil takes its place; and evil loves not truth but falsity; because every falsity belongs to evil, as every truth to good; when, therefore, such a person sees a truth in the Word or hears it from another, the evil of his love, and thus of his will, strives against the truth, and then he either rejects or perverts it, or by ideas from the evil so obscures it that at length he sees nothing of truth in the truth, however much it may sound like truth when he utters it. This is the origin of all dissensions, controversies, and heresies in the church. (from Apocalypse Explained 365:2-4)

Communication with Heaven

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

We read in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light appeareth in the darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not.  And the Word was made flesh and dwelt within us; and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (1:1-5, 14).

Few know what is here meant by the "Word." That it is the Lord, is evident from the several particulars; but the internal sense teaches that it is the Lord as to His Divine Human that is meant by the "Word," for it is said: "the Word was made flesh and dwelt within us, and we beheld His glory." And because the Divine Human is meant by the "Word," all that Truth also is meant which relates to Him, and is from Him, in His kingdom in the heavens, and in His church on the earth. Hence it is said that "in Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light appeareth in the darkness." And because Truth is meant by the "Word," all revelation is meant, and thus also the Word itself or Holy Scripture.

As regards the Word specifically, it had existed in all times, but not the Word which we have at this day.

There had been another Word in the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood, and another Word in the Ancient Church which was after the flood; then came the Word written by Moses and the prophets in the Jewish Church; and lastly the Word that was written by the Evangelists in the new church. The reason why there has been a Word at all times, is that by the Word there is communication of heaven with earth; and also because the Word treats of good and truth, from which man is to live happy forever; and on this account in the internal sense it treats of the Lord alone, because all good and truth are from Him.

The Word in the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood was not a written Word, but was revealed to everyone who was of that church. For they were celestial men, and therefore were in the perception of good and truth, as the angels are (with whom moreover they were in company), so that they had the Word written on their hearts. As they were celestial men, and had companionship with angels, all the things which they saw and apprehended by any of the senses were to them representative and significative of the celestial and spiritual things which are in the Lord's kingdom; so that they indeed saw worldly and earthly things with their eyes, or apprehended them by some other sense, but from them and by means of them they thought of celestial and spiritual things. In this way, and in no other, were they able to speak with angels; for the things with the angels are celestial and spiritual things, and when they come down to man they fall into such things as are with him in the world. That each one of the things in the world represents and signifies something in the heavens, has been shown from the first chapter of Genesis up to this point. Thence came the representatives and significatives which, when communication with angels began to cease, were collected by those meant by "Enoch," as was signified by the words (Gen. 5:24) "Enoch walked by himself with God, and was no more, for God took him".

From this source was the Word in the Ancient Church which was after the flood. As the man of this church was spiritual and not celestial, he knew but did not perceive what the representatives and significatives involved; and as they involved Divine things, they came to be in use among those men, and were employed in their Divine worship; and this in order that they might have communication with heaven; for as before said, all things in the world represent and signify such things as are in heaven. They also had a written Word, which consisted of Histories and Prophecies, like the Word of the Old Testament; but in process of time that Word was lost. The Histories were called "Wars of Jehovah," and the Prophecies were called "Enunciations," as is evident in Moses (see Num. 21:14, 27), where they are quoted. Their histories were written in the prophetic style, and were, for the most part, made up histories, like those in the first eleven chapters of Genesis; as is plain from the quotations from them in Moses, where are these words:

Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah, Vaheb in Suphah, and the rivers of Arnon, and the slope of the rivers that inclineth toward the dwelling of Ar, and leaneth upon the border of Moab (Num. 21:14-15)

Their prophecies were written like the prophecies of the Old Testament, as is likewise plain from the quotations made from them also in Moses, where are these words:

Wherefore the Enunciations (or the Prophetic Enunciators) say, Come ye to Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and established; for a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it hath devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab; thou hast perished, O people of Chemosh; he hath given his sons as escapers, and his daughters into captivity, unto Sihon king of the Amorite. And we have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba (Num. 21:27-30).

That these prophecies involve heavenly arcana, as do the prophecies of the Old Testament, is clearly manifest not only from their having been transcribed by Moses and applied to the state of things of which he was then writing, but also from the fact that nearly the same words are found in Jeremiah, inserted in the prophecies of that book; in which it is evident, from what has been said about the internal sense of the Word, that there are as many heavenly arcana as there are words. The words in Jeremiah are:

A fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from among Sihon, and hath devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Woe unto thee, O Moab, the people of Chemosh has perished, for thy sons are taken into captivity, and thy daughters into captivity (Jer. 48:45-46).

From this also it is plain that that Word also had an internal sense.

That with them there were prophecies which in the internal sense treated of the Lord and of His kingdom, may be seen not only from what has been shown, but also from the prophecies of Balaam, who was from Syria, spoken of in Moses (Num. 23:7-10, 18-25; 24:3-10, 15-25), which are expressed in a style similar to the other prophecies of the Word, and plainly foretell the Lord's coming, in these words:

I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not nigh; there shall come forth a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel and shall smite through the corners of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth (Num. 24:17).

These prophecies, like the former, are called "Parables" [Enuntiata], for the same word is used (Num. 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15, 20).

A Word afterwards followed in the Jewish Church that in like manner was written by representatives and significatives, so that it might have within it an internal sense understood in heaven, and that thus by the Word there might be communication, and the Lord's kingdom in the heavens be united to the Lord's kingdom on earth. Unless everything in the Word represents, and unless all the words by which everything therein is written, signify the Divine things pertaining to the Lord, thus the celestial and spiritual things belonging to His kingdom, the Word is not Divine; but being so it could not possibly be written in any other style; for by means of this style and not possibly by any other, human things and human words correspond to heavenly things and heavenly ideas, even to the least jot. From this it is that if the Word is read even by a little child, the Divine things therein are perceived by the angels.

In regard to the Word of the New Testament which is in the Evangelists, as the Lord spoke from the Divine itself, the several things spoken by Him were representative and significative of Divine things, thus of the heavenly things of His kingdom and church.

(Arcana Coelestia 2894 - 2900)