Food for the Celestial, Spiritual, & Natural Man

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

• The celestial man is delighted with celestial things alone, which being in agreement with his life are called celestial food.

• The spiritual man is delighted with spiritual things, and as these are in agreement with his life they are called spiritual food.

• The natural man in like manner is delighted with natural things, which, being of his life, are called food, and consist chiefly of memory-knowledges.

~~~

As regards the food of the man who is to be regenerated, the case is this:

         Before a man can be regenerated he needs to be furnished with all things that may serve as means — with the goods and delights of the affections as means for the will; and with truths from the Word of the Lord, and also with confirmatory things from other sources, as means for the understanding. Until a man is furnished with such things, he cannot be regenerated; these being for food. This is the reason why man is not regenerated until he comes to adult age. But each man has his peculiar and as it were his own food, which is provided for him by the Lord before he is regenerated.

         Goods and delights constitute man's life; and not so much truths, for truths receive their life from goods and delights.

         From infancy to old age nothing of knowledge or of reason is ever insinuated except by means of what is good and delightful, and such things are called "food" because the soul lives and derives its sustenance from them; and they are food, for without them a man's soul cannot possibly live, as anyone may know if he will but pay attention to the matter.

THE THINGS THAT ARE IN MAN'S MEMORY

         Both goods and truths should be gathered in man before he is regenerated; for without goods and truths gathered together, through which as means the Lord may operate, a man can never be regenerated.

         That goods and truths are the genuine foods of man must be evident to everyone, for he who is destitute of them has no life, but is dead.

         When a man is spiritually dead the foods with which his soul is fed are delights from evils and pleasantnesses from falsities — which are foods of death — and are also those which come from bodily, worldly, and natural things, which also have nothing of life in them.

GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD

         Moreover, such a man does not know what spiritual and celestial food is, insomuch that whenever "food" or "bread" is mentioned in the Word he supposes the food of the body to be meant; as in the Lord's prayer, the words "Give us our daily bread" he supposes to mean only sustenance for the body; and those who extend their ideas further say it includes also other necessaries of the body, such as clothing, property, and the like. They even sharply deny that any other food is meant; when yet they see plainly that the words preceding and following involve only celestial and spiritual things, and that the Lord's kingdom is spoken of; and besides, they might know that the Word of the Lord is celestial and spiritual.

         From this and other similar examples it must be sufficiently evident how corporeal is man at the present day; and that, like the Jews, he is disposed to take everything that is said in the Word in the most gross and material sense. The Lord Himself clearly teaches what is meant in His Word by "food" and "bread."

Concerning "food" He thus speaks in John:

Jesus said, Labor not for the meat [or food] which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you (John 6:27).

And concerning "bread" He says, in the same chapter:

Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the Bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living Bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this Bread he shall live eternally (John 6:49-51, 58).

But at the present day there are men like those who heard these words and said: "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" and who "went back and walked no more with Him" (John 4:60, 66), to whom the Lord said: "The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life" (John 4:63).

And so with respect to "water" which signifies the spiritual things of faith, and concerning which the Lord thus speaks in John:

Jesus said, Everyone that drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life (John 4:13-14).

But at the present day there are those who are like the woman with whom the Lord spoke at the well, and who answered, "Lord, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw" (John 4:15).

That in the Word "food" means no other than spiritual and celestial food, which is faith in the Lord, and love, is evident from many passages in the Word, as in Jeremiah:

The enemy hath spread out his hand upon all the desirable things of Jerusalem; for she hath seen that the nations are entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom Thou didst command that they should not enter into Thy congregation. All the people groan, they seek bread; they have given their desirable things for food to refresh the soul (Lam. 1:10-11).

No other than spiritual bread and food are here meant, for the subject is the sanctuary.

Again:

I have cried out for my lovers, they have deceived me; my priests and mine elders in the city expired, for they sought food for themselves, to refresh their soul (Lam. 1:19),

with the same meaning.

In David:

These wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their food in its season; Thou givest them, they gather; Thou openest thine hand, they are satisfied with good (Ps. 104:27, 28).

Here likewise spiritual and celestial food is meant.

In Isaiah:

Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no silver; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without silver, and without price (Isa. 55:1),

where "wine" and "milk" denote spiritual and celestial drink.

Again:

A virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and thou shalt call His name Immanuel; butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good; and it shall come to pass that for the abundance of milk that they shall give they shall eat butter; for butter and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the midst of the land (Isa. 7:14-15, 22).

Here to "eat honey and butter" is to appropriate what is celestial-spiritual; "they that are left" denote remains, concerning whom also in Malachi:

Bring ye all the tithes into the treasure house, that there may be food in My house (Mal. 3:10).

"Tithes" denote remains.

The nature of celestial and spiritual food can best be known in the other life.

The life of angels and spirits is not sustained by any such food as there is in this world, but by "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord" as the Lord teaches in Matthew 4:4.

Reception and affection are according to the form of the recipient.

         The truth is that the Lord alone is the life of all, and that from Him come all things both in general and in particular that angels and spirits think, say, and do, and also what evil spirits think, say, and do. The reason why these latter say and do evil things is that they so receive and pervert all the goods and truths that are of the Lord. Reception and affection are according to the form of the recipient.

         This may be compared to the various objects that receive the light of the sun, some of which turn the light received into unpleasing and disagreeable colors, while others turn it into pleasing and beautiful colors, according to the form, determination, and disposition of their parts.

         The whole heaven and the entire world of spirits thus live by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord, and from this each individual has his life; and not only the whole heaven and the world of spirits, but also the whole human race.

         I know that these things will not be believed, nevertheless from the continuous experience of years I can assert that they are most true. Evil spirits in the world of spirits are not willing to believe that this is so; and therefore it has often been demonstrated to them - to the life - even until they have acknowledged with indignation that it is true. If angels, spirits, and men were deprived of this food they would expire in a moment.

(portions from Arcana Coelestia 56; 671 - 681)

How the Human Race Continues to Exist

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THROUGH THE CHURCH
THOSE ARE SAVED
WHO ARE OUT OF THE CHURCH

THE SALVATION OF ALL WHO ARE IN GOOD

No others are in the faith of charity than those within the church, for the faith of charity is — truth of doctrine adjoined to good of life.

There is no faith except where there is charity, it is charity itself which is meant in the internal sense by "seed."

SEED — THE FAITH OF CHARITY

It is evident that not only the man who is within the church is meant, but also the man who is without the church, thus the whole human race. Wherever there is charity, even among nations most remote from the church, there is "seed" — for heavenly seed is charity.  No man can do anything of good from himself, but all good is from the Lord.  The good which the Gentiles do is also from the Lord.

And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.   (Genesis 3:14, 15)

That the "seed of God" is faith.  By faith there, and elsewhere, is meant the charity from which is faith; for there is no other faith that is faith, than the faith of charity.   (from Arcana Coelestia 1025)

The case is this: The Lord's kingdom on earth consists of all those who are in good, who though scattered over the whole earth, are still one, and as members constitute one body.  Such is the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, where the whole heaven represents one man, which is therefore also called the Grand Man, and what is wonderful and hitherto unknown, all parts of the human body correspond to societies in heaven.

THE SOCIETIES WHICH CONSTITUTE HEAVEN

 

There are three heavens: the First is the abode of good spirits, the Second of angelic spirits, and the Third of angels. And one heaven is more interior and pure than another, so that they are most distinct. Each heaven, the first, the second, and the third, is distinguished into innumerable societies; and each society consists of many individuals, who by their harmony and unanimity constitute as it were one person; and all the societies together are as one man. The societies are distinct from one another according to the differences of mutual love, and of faith in the Lord. These differences are so innumerable that not even the most universal genera of them can be computed; and there is not the least of difference that is not disposed in most perfect order, so as to conspire most harmoniously to a common unity, and the common unity to unanimity of individuals, and thereby to the happiness of all from each, and of each from all. Each angel and each society is therefore an image of the universal heaven, and is as it were a little heaven.   (Arcana Coelestia 684)

And therefore it is sometimes said that some societies belong to the province of the head, some to the province of the eye, others to that of the chest, and so on, which correspondence will of the Lord's Divine mercy be spoken of by itself.

WITHOUT A CHURCH SOMEWHERE ON THE EARTH
THE HUMAN RACE COULD NOT SUBSIST

The case is the same with the Lord's church on earth, where the church is like the heart and lungs; while those outside the church answer to the parts of the body which are supported and live from the heart and lungs. Hence it is manifest that without a church somewhere on the earth the human race could not subsist, as the body could not without the heart and lungs.

From this cause it is that whenever any church is consummated, that is, becomes no church because there is no longer any charity, a new one is of the Lord's providence always raised up; as when the Most Ancient Church called "Man" perished, a new one was created by the Lord, which was called "Noah," and was the Ancient Church that was after the flood; and when this degenerated and became none, the Jewish and Israelitish representative Church was instituted; and when this became altogether extinct, the Lord then came into the world, and set up again a new one; and this for the purpose that there might be conjunction of heaven with the human race through the church.

(from Arcana Coelestia 2853)

The 'Miraculous' Change

Selections from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  (Genesis 1:26, 27)

In the Most Ancient Church, with the members of which the Lord conversed face to face — the Lord appeared as a Man... On this account they called no one "man" but the Lord Himself, and the things which were of Him; neither did they call themselves "men" but only those things in themselves — as all the good of love and all the truth of faith — which they perceived they had from the Lord. These they said were "of man" because they were of the Lord.  (from Arcana Coelestia 49)

Male and female created He them. What is meant by "male and female" in the internal sense, was well known to the Most Ancient Church, but when the interior sense of the Word was lost among their posterity, this arcanum also perished.

Their marriages were their chief sources of happiness and delight, and whatever admitted of the comparison they likened to marriage, in order that in this way they might perceive its felicity. Being also internal men, they were delighted only with internal things. External things they merely saw with the eyes, but thought of what was represented. So that outward things were nothing to them, save as these could in some measure be the means of causing them to turn their thoughts to internal things, and from these to celestial things, and so to the Lord who was their all, and consequently to the heavenly marriage, from which they perceived the happiness of their marriages to come. The understanding in the spiritual man they therefore called male, and the will female, and when these acted as a one they called it a marriage.  (from Arcana Coelestia 54)

• The state of the Most Ancient Church was such that they had from the Lord a perception of good and the derivative truth.

• The state of the Ancient Church, or "Noah" became such that they had a conscience of good and truth.

Such as is the difference between having perception and having conscience, such was the difference of state of the Most Ancient and the Ancient Churches.

• Perception is not conscience: the celestial have perception; the spiritual have conscience.

The Most Ancient Church was celestial — The Ancient was spiritual.

With the celestial man, who possesses perception from the Lord; for in him particulars and singulars of particulars can be insinuated.

For example:

True marriage is that of one man with one wife; and that such marriage is representative of the heavenly marriage, and therefore heavenly happiness can be in it, but never in a marriage of one man with a plurality of wives.

The spiritual man, who knows this from the Word of the Lord, acquiesces in it, and hence admits as a matter of conscience — that marriage with more wives than one is a sin; but he knows no more.

The celestial man however perceives thousands of things which confirm this general, so that marriage with more wives than one excites his abhorrence.

As the spiritual man knows generals only, and has his conscience formed from these, and as the generals of the Word have been accommodated to the fallacies of the senses, it is evident that innumerable falsities, which cannot be dispersed, will adjoin and insinuate themselves into them.  (from Arcana Coelestia 865)

The Most Ancient Church had immediate revelation from the Lord by consort with spirits and angels, as also by visions and dreams; whereby it was given them to have a general knowledge of what was good and true; and after they had acquired a general knowledge, these general leading principles, as we may call them, were confirmed by things innumerable, by means of perceptions; and these innumerable things were the particulars or individual things of the general principles to which they related. Thus were the general leading principles corroborated day by day; whatever was not in agreement with the general principles they perceived not to be so; and whatever was in agreement with them they perceived to be so. Such also is the state of the celestial angels.

The general principles of the Most Ancient Church were heavenly and eternal truths — as that the Lord governs the universe, that all good and truth is from the Lord, that all life is from the Lord, that man's Own is nothing but evil, and in itself is dead; with many others of similar character. And they received from the Lord a perception of countless things that confirmed and supported these truths. With them love was the principal of faith. By love it was given them of the Lord to perceive whatever was of faith, and hence with them faith was love, as was said before.

But the Ancient Church became entirely different.  (Arcana Coelestia 597)

~~~

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. ... And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.  (Genesis 9:1;8,9)

And I, behold, I establish My covenant. That this signifies the presence of the Lord in charity, is evident from the signification of "covenant" — a "covenant" signifies regeneration, and indeed the conjunction of the Lord with the regenerate man by love; and that the heavenly marriage is that veriest covenant itself, and consequently so is the heavenly marriage with every regenerate man.

With the man of the Most Ancient Church the heavenly marriage was in the Own of his will part, but with the man of the Ancient Church the heavenly marriage was effected in the Own of his intellectual part. For when man's will part had become wholly corrupt, the Lord miraculously separated the Own of his intellectual part from that corrupt Own of his will part, and in the Own of his intellectual part He formed a new will, which is conscience, and into the conscience insinuated charity, and into the charity innocence, and thus conjoined Himself with man, or what is the same, made a covenant with him. So far as the Own of man's will part can be separated from this Own of the intellectual part, the Lord can be present with him, or conjoin Himself, or enter into a covenant with him. Temptations and the like means of regeneration cause the Own of man's will part to be quiescent, to become as nothing, and as it were to die. So far as this is done the Lord through conscience implanted in the Own of man's intellectual part can work in charity. And this is what is here called a "covenant."

(Arcana Coelestia 1023)