Attending to Thoughts and Purposes

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THE EXTERNAL MAN
MUST BE REFORMED BY MEANS OF
THE INTERNAL
AND NOT THE REVERSE

By the internal and external man the same is meant as by the internal and external of thought, which have been frequently defined above. The reformation of the external by means of the internal means that the internal flows into the external, and not the reverse. It is admitted in the learned world that there is an influx of the spiritual into the natural, and not the reverse; and it is admitted in the church that the internal man must be first cleansed and renewed and thereby the external. This is admitted because it is taught by the Lord and declared by the reason. It is taught by the Lord in these words:—

Woe unto you, hypocrites; for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside of them may become clean also (Matthew 23:25, 26).

That reason declares this has been abundantly shown in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. For what the Lord teaches He gives man ability to perceive rationally, and this in two ways,

In one, man sees in himself that a thing is so as soon as he hears it.

In the other, he understands it by means of reasons.

His seeing it in himself is in his internal man.
His understanding it by means of reasons is in the external man.

Does not every one see it in himself when he hears that the internal man must be cleansed first, and the external by means of it? But one who does not receive a general idea of this subject by influx from heaven may be misled when he consults the external of his thought; from that alone no one sees otherwise than that the external works of charity and piety, apart from internal works, are what save. So in other things; as that sight and hearing flow into thought, and that smell and taste flow into perception, thus the external into the internal, when, nevertheless, the contrary is true. The appearance that things seen and heard flow into the thought is a fallacy — for it is the understanding that sees in the eye and hears in the ear, and not the reverse. So in everything else.

HOW THE INTERNAL MAN IS REFORMED, AND THE EXTERNAL BY MEANS OF IT

The internal man is NOT reformed merely by knowing, understanding, and being wise, consequently NOT by thought alone; but by willing that which knowledge, understanding, and wisdom teach. When a man from his knowledge, understanding, and wisdom sees that there is a heaven and a hell, and that all evil is from hell, and all good is from heaven, if he ceases to will evil because it is from hell, and wills good because it is from heaven, he is in the first stage of reformation, and is at the threshold from hell into heaven. When he goes further and wills to refrain from evils he is in the second stage of reformation, and is outside of hell, but not yet in heaven; he sees heaven above him. Man must have such an internal in order to be reformed; and yet he is not reformed unless the external is reformed as well as the internal. The external is reformed by means of the internal when the external refrains from the evils that the internal does not will because they are infernal, and still more when the external for this reason shuns evils and fights against them. Thus willing is the internal and doing is the external; for unless one does that which he wills, there is within a failure to will, and finally the willing ceases.

From these few statements it can be seen how the external man is reformed by means of the internal. This is what is meant by the Lord's words to Peter:—

Jesus said, If I wash thee not thou hast no part with Me. Peter said unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said unto him, He that hath bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit (John 13:8-10).

"To wash" means spiritual washing, which is to cleanse from evils

"washing the head and the hands" means to cleanse the internal man

"washing the feet" means to cleanse the external man.

That when the internal man has been cleansed the external must be cleansed is meant by this, "He that hath bathed needeth not save to wash his feet." That all cleansing from evils is from the Lord is meant by this, "If I wash thee not thou hast no part with Me." That among the Jews washing represented cleansing from evils, and this is what "washing" signifies in the Word, and "washing the feet" signifies the cleansing of the natural or external man, has been shown in the Arcana Coelestia, in many places.

Since man has an internal and an external, and both must be reformed that the man may be reformed, and since no one can be reformed unless he examines himself, sees and acknowledges his evils, and afterwards refrains from them, it follows that not only the external but also the internal must be examined. If the external alone is examined, a man sees only what he has actually done, as that he has not committed murder, adultery, or theft, has not borne false witness; and so on. Thus he examines the evils of his body, and not the evils of his spirit. Nevertheless, one cannot be reformed unless the evils of the spirit are examined, for after death man lives as a spirit, and all the evils that are in the spirit remain. The spirit is examined only by man's attending to his thoughts, especially his purposes, for purposes are thoughts from the will; that is where evils are in their origin and in their root, that is, in their lusts and in their enjoyments; and unless these are seen and acknowledged the man is still in evils, although in externals he has not committed them. That to think from purpose is to will and to do is clear from the Lord's words:—

Everyone that looketh on another's woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matthew 5:28).

Such is the examination of the internal man, whereby the external man is essentially examined.  I have often wondered, that although it is known by the whole Christian world that evils must be shunned as sins, and that otherwise they are not remitted, and unless they are remitted there is no salvation, yet this is known by scarcely one among thousands. Inquiry was made about this in the spiritual world, and it was found to be so. This is known by everyone in the Christian world from the exhortations read before those who come to the Holy Supper, for it is openly declared in these; nevertheless when they are asked whether they know this, they answer that they do not, and that they have never known it. This is because they have not thought about it, and because most of them have thought only of faith, and of salvation by it alone. I have also wondered that faith alone so closes the eyes that when those who have confirmed themselves in it are reading the Word they see nothing that is there said about love, charity, and works. It is as if they had daubed faith over all things of the Word, as one might so smear a manuscript with red lead that nothing underneath it would appear. Or if anything does appear, it is absorbed by faith and is said to be faith.

(from Divine Providence 150 - 153)

The Truth Shall Make You Free

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

To Compel Oneself is NOT Contrary to Rationality and Liberty

It has been shown already that man has an internal of thought and an external of thought, and that these are distinct like what is prior and what is posterior, or like what is higher and what is lower; and because they are so distinct they can act separately and can act conjointly.

These act separately when from the external of his thought a man speaks and acts in one way while interiorly he thinks and wills in another way

These act conjointly when a man speaks and acts as he interiorly thinks and wills.

The latter is generally true of the sincere, the former of the insincere.

Inasmuch as the internal and the external of the mind are so distinct, the internal can even fight with the external, and can force it by combat into compliance. Combat arises when a man thinks that evils are sins and therefore resolves to refrain from them; for when he refrains a door is opened, and when it is opened the Lord casts out the lusts of evil that have occupied the internal of thought, and implants affections for good in their place. This is done in the internal of thought. But as the enjoyments of the lusts of evil that occupy the external of thought cannot be cast out at the same time, a combat arises between the internal and the external of thought, the internal wishing to cast out these enjoyments because they are enjoyments of evil and not in accord with the affections for good in which the internal now is, and to bring in, in place of these enjoyments of evil, enjoyments of good that are in accord. The enjoyments of good are what are called goods of charity. From this contrariety a combat arises; and when this becomes severe it is called temptation.

Since, then, a man is a man from the internal of his thought, for this is a man's very spirit, it is clear that when a man compels the external of his thought to acquiescence or to an acceptance of the enjoyments of his affections, which are goods of charity, he is compelling himself. This evidently is not contrary to rationality and liberty, but is in accord with them, for rationality excites the combat and liberty carries it on. Moreover, liberty itself with rationality has its seat in the internal man, and from that in the external.

When, therefore, the internal conquers, as it does when the internal has reduced the external to acquiescence and compliance, the Lord gives man liberty itself and rationality itself; for the Lord then withdraws man from infernal freedom, which in itself is slavery, and brings him into heavenly freedom, which is in itself real freedom, and bestows upon him fellowship with the angels. That those who are in sins are servants, and that the Lord makes free those who accept truths from Him through the Word He teaches in John (8:31-36)

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall MAKE you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

This may be illustrated by the example of a man who has had a sense of enjoyment in fraud and secret theft, and who now sees and internally acknowledges that these are sins, and therefore wishes to refrain from them. When he refrains a combat of the internal man with the external arises. The internal man has an affection for sincerity, while the external still finds an enjoyment in defrauding; and as this enjoyment is the direct opposite of the enjoyment of sincerity, it only gives way when it is compelled; and it can be compelled only by combat. But when the victory has been gained the external man comes into the enjoyment of the love of what is sincere, which is charity; afterwards the enjoyment of defrauding gradually becomes unenjoyable to him. It is the same with other sins, as with adultery and whoredom, revenge and hatred, blasphemy, and lying. But the hardest struggle of all is with the love of rule from the love of self. He who subdues this easily subdues all other evil loves, for this is their head.

HOW THE LORD CASTS OUT THE LUSTS OF EVIL
WHICH OCCUPY THE INTERNAL MAN FROM BIRTH
AND
HOW HE IMPARTS IN THEIR STEAD AFFECTIONS FOR GOOD
WHENEVER A MAN
AS IF FROM HIMSELF
PUTS AWAY EVILS AS SINS

Man has a natural mind, a spiritual mind, and a celestial mind; and that so long as a man is in the lusts of evil and in their enjoyments, he is in the natural mind alone, and the spiritual mind is closed. But as soon as a man after examination acknowledges evils to be sins against God, because they are contrary to Divine laws, and resolves in consequence to refrain from them, the Lord opens his spiritual mind and enters into his natural mind through affections for truth and good, and He also enters into the rational, and from it arranges in order the things that are contrary to order below it in the natural. This is what appears to man as combat; and in those that have indulged much in the enjoyments of evil, it appears as temptation, for there is grief of mind when the order of his thoughts is being reversed. And as there is a combat against the things that are in the man himself and that he feels to be his own, and as one can fight against himself only from an interior self and from freedom there, it follows that the internal man then fights against the external, and fights from freedom, and compels the external to obedience. This, therefore, is compelling one's self; and this, evidently, is not contrary to liberty and rationality, but in accordance with them.

EVERY MAN WISHES TO BE FREE

Furthermore, every man wishes to be free, and to put away from himself non-freedom or servitude. Every boy subject to a teacher wishes to be his own master, and thus free; the same is true of every servant under his master, and every maidservant under her mistress. Every maiden wishes to leave her father's house and to marry, that she may act freely in her own house; every youth who desires employment or to be in business or to perform the duties of some office, while he is subject to others longs to be released, so as to be at his own disposal. All such who willingly serve for the sake of liberty compel themselves; and when they compel themselves they act from freedom in accordance with reason, but from an interior freedom, from which exterior freedom is looked upon as a servant. This has been presented to show that it is not contrary to rationality and liberty to compel oneself.

Man does not wish, in like manner, to come out of spiritual servitude into spiritual liberty, for the reason —

first, that he does not know what spiritual servitude is and what spiritual liberty is; he does not possess the truths that teach this; and without truths, spiritual servitude is believed to be freedom, and spiritual freedom to be servitude.

Another reason is that the religion of the Christian world has closed up the understanding, and faith alone has sealed it; for both of these have placed around themselves, like a wall of iron, the dogma that theological matters transcend the comprehension, and cannot therefore be reached by any exercise of the reason, and are for the blind, not for those that see. In this way have the truths been hidden that teach what spiritual liberty is.

A third reason is, that few examine themselves and see their sins; and he who does not see his sins and refrain from them is in the freedom of sin, which is infernal freedom, in itself bondage; and from this to see heavenly freedom, which is freedom itself, is like seeing day when immersed in thick darkness, or like seeing what is from the sun above when under a dark cloud.

For these reasons it is not known what heavenly freedom is, and that the difference between it and infernal freedom is like the difference between what is alive and what is dead.

(from Divine Providence 145 - 149)

Reformed in States of Rationality and Liberty

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN STATES THAT DO NOT SPRING FROM RATIONALITY AND LIBERTY

Nothing is appropriated to man except what he does from freedom in accordance with reason. This is because freedom belongs to the will and reason to the understanding; and when man acts from freedom in accordance with reason he acts from the will by means of his understanding; and whatever is done in a conjunction of these two is appropriated. Since, then, it is the Lord's will that man should be reformed and regenerated, that he may have eternal life or the life of heaven, and no one can be reformed and regenerated unless good is so appropriated to his will as to be as if it were his, and truth is so appropriated to his understanding as to be as if it were his, and since nothing can be appropriated to any one except what is done from freedom of the will in accordance with the reason of the understanding, it follows that no one is reformed in states that do not spring from liberty and rationality. These states are many, but in general they may be referred to the following, namely states of fear, of misfortune, of disordered mind, of bodily disease, of ignorance, and of blindness of the understanding. Something shall be said of each state in particular.

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF FEAR

No one is reformed in a state of fear, because fear takes away freedom and reason, or liberty and rationality; for while love opens the interiors of the mind, fear closes them; and when they are closed man thinks but little, and only of what then presents itself to the mind or the senses. Such is the effect of all fears that take possession of the mind.

It has been shown above that man has an internal and an external of thought; fear can in no wise take possession of the internal of thought; this is always in freedom because in its life's love; but it can take possession of the external of thought, and when it does this the internal of thought is closed; and when that is closed man can no longer act from freedom in accordance with his reason, and therefore cannot be reformed.

The fear that takes possession of the external of thought and closes the internal is chiefly a fear of the loss of honor or gain. The internal of thought is not closed by a fear of civil punishments or of external ecclesiastical punishments, because such laws only prescribe penalties for those who speak and act contrary to the civil interests of the kingdom and the spiritual interests of the church, and not for those who merely think in opposition to them.

A fear of infernal punishments may take possession of the external of thought, but only for a few moments or hours or days; it is soon brought back to its freedom from the internal of thought, which belongs strictly to its spirit and its life's love, and is called the thought of the heart.

But a fear of the loss of honor and gain takes possession of the external of man's thought; and when it does this it closes the internal of thought from above against influx from heaven, and makes it impossible for man to be reformed. This is because every man's life's love from his birth is a love of self and the world; and the love of self makes one with the love of honor, and the love of the world makes one with the love of gain. When, therefore, a man has gained honor or wealth, from a fear of losing them he strengthens with himself the means that are serviceable to him for honor and gain, whether civil or ecclesiastical, both of which are means of power. One who has not yet gained honor and wealth does the like if he desires them; but he does it from a fear of the loss of reputation on their account.

It is said that that fear takes possession of the external of thought, and closes the internal from above against the influx from heaven. The internal is said to be closed when it completely makes one with the external, for it is not then in itself but in the external.

But inasmuch as the loves of self and the world are infernal loves, and are the fountain heads of all evils, it is clear what the internal of thought is in itself in those in whom these loves are the loves of the life, or in whom these loves rule, namely, that it is full of the lusts of evils of every kind. This is not known to those who from a fear of the loss of dignity and wealth are strongly persuaded respecting the religion they accept, especially if the religion involves their worship as deities, and also as having supreme power over hell. Such may seem to be in a blaze of zeal for the salvation of souls, and yet this may be from an infernal fire. As such a fear especially takes away rationality itself and liberty itself, which are heavenly in their origin, it is evidently a hindrance to man's ability to be reformed.

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF MISFORTUNE

No one is reformed in a state of misfortune, if he thinks of God and implores His aid only in that state, because that is a compelled state; consequently as soon as he comes into a free state he goes back to his former state, in which he had thought little or nothing about God. It is otherwise with those who in their former free state had feared God. By "fearing God" is meant fearing to offend Him, "offending God" meaning to sin. This fear is not a matter of fear but of love, for when one loves another does he not fear to do him wrong? And does he not fear this the more, the more he loves? Without such a fear love is insipid and superficial, a mere matter of the thought and not at all of the will. By "states of misfortune" are meant states of despair from danger, as in battles, duels, shipwrecks, falls, fires, threatened or unexpected loss of wealth or of office and thus of honors, and other like things To think of God only when in such dangers is not from God but from self. For the mind is then as it were imprisoned in the body; thus not at liberty, and therefore not in rationality; and apart from these no reformation is possible.

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN UNHEALTHY MENTAL STATES

No one is reformed in unhealthy mental states, because these take away rationality, and consequently the freedom to act in accordance with reason. For the mind may be sick and unsound; and while a sound mind is rational a sick mind is not. Such unhealthy mental states are melancholy, a spurious or false conscience, hallucinations of various kinds, grief of mind from misfortunes, and anxieties and mental suffering from a vitiated condition of the body. These are sometimes regarded as temptations, but they are not. For genuine temptations have as their objects things spiritual, and in these the mind is wise; but these states have as their objects natural things, and in these the mind is unhealthy.

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF BODILY DISEASE

No one is reformed in a state of bodily disease, because the reason is not then in a free state; for the state of the mind depends upon the state of the body. When the body is sick the mind is also sick, because of its separation from the world if for no other reason. For when the mind is removed from the world it may think about God, but not from God, for it does not possess freedom of reason. Man has freedom of reason by his being midway between heaven and the world, and by his ability to think from heaven or from the world, also from heaven about the world, or from the world about heaven. So when a man is sick, and is thinking about death and the state of his soul after death, he is not in the world; but in spirit he is withdrawn; and in this state alone no one can be reformed; but if before he fell sick he had been reformed this can then be strengthened.

It is the same with those who give up the world and all business there, and give themselves solely to thoughts about God, heaven, and salvation; but of this more elsewhere. As a consequence, if these persons had not been reformed before their sickness, if they die they afterwards become such as they were before the sickness. It is therefore vain to think that any can repent or receive any faith during sickness, for in such repentance there is nothing of action, and in such faith nothing of charity; thus both belong wholly to the lips and not at all to the heart.

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF IGNORANCE

No one is reformed in a state of ignorance, because all reformation is effected by means of truths and a life according to them; consequently those who are ignorant of truths cannot be reformed; but if they desire truths from an affection for truths, after death in the spiritual world they are reformed.

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF IN A STATE OF BLINDNESS OF THE UNDERSTANDING

Neither can any one be reformed in a state of blindness of the understanding. These, too, are ignorant of truths, and consequently of life; for the understanding must teach truths, and the will must do them; and when the will does what the understanding teaches its life comes into harmony with the truths. But when the understanding is blinded the will also is closed up; and from a freedom that is in accord with its reason it does only the evil that has been confirmed in the understanding, which is falsity. The understanding is blinded not only by ignorance but also by a religion that teaches a blind faith, also by false doctrine. For as truths open the understanding so falsities close it; they close it above but open it below; and an understanding that is opened only below cannot see truths, but can merely confirm whatever it wills, especially falsity. The understanding is also blinded by the lusts of evil. As long as the will is in these it moves the understanding to confirm them; and so far as the lusts of evil are confirmed the will cannot be in affections for good and to see truths from them, and thus be reformed.

When one, for example, is in the lust of adultery, his will, which is in the enjoyment of his love, moves his understanding to confirm it, saying, "What is adultery? Is there anything wicked in it? Is there not a like thing between husband and wife? Cannot offspring be born from adultery as well as from marriage? Cannot a woman admit more than one without harm? What has the spiritual to do with this?" So thinks the understanding that is then the will's harlot, and that has become so stupid from debauchery with the will as to be unable to see that conjugial love is the spiritual heavenly love itself, an image of love of the Lord and of the church, and derived from that love, and thus is in itself holy, is chastity itself, purity, and innocence; also that it makes men to be loves in form, since consorts can love each other mutually from inmosts, and thus form themselves into loves; while adultery destroys this form, and with it the image of the Lord, and, what is horrible, the adulterer mingles his life with the husband's life in his wife, since a man's life is in his seed.

Because this is profane hell is called adultery, and heaven on the other hand is called marriage. Moreover, the love of adultery communicates with the lowest hell, while love truly conjugial communicates with the inmost heaven; and the organs of generation in either sex correspond to societies of the inmost heaven. All this has been presented to make known how blinded the understanding is when the will is in the lust of evil; and that no man can be reformed in a state of blindness of the understanding.

(from Divine Providence 138 - 144)