Good and Truth ~ The Universals of Creation

Passage from Conjugial Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Since then the Lord God the Creator is Love itself and Wisdom itself, and the universe was created by Him, which is therefore as a work proceeding from Him,-it cannot be but that in each and all things created there is something of good and of truth from Him. For what is done and goes forth from any one bears a likeness of him. And reason can also see that it is so, from the order in which each and all things were created in the universe, which is that one thing is for another and that therefore one depends upon another, like the links of a chain. For they are all for the sake of the human race, to the end that from this there may be an angelic heaven, through which the creation returns to the Creator Himself from whom it came. Hence there is a conjunction of the created universe with its Creator, and through conjunction perpetual conservation. It is on this account that good and truth are said to be the universals of creation. That it is so is plain to every one who reflects upon the matter from reason. He sees what relates to good and what relates to truth in every created thing.

(Conjugial Love 85)

We are Because God IS

A portion of a passage from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

["I think, therefore I am" coined by the French philosopher René Descartes in his Discourse on Method corrected should be "We are because God is."]*

• Divine essence is love and wisdom
• Divine love and wisdom are substance itself and form itself, and the one and only absolute
• God created the universe and everything in it from Himself and not from nothing

It follows from this that every created thing, and above all the human being and the love and wisdom in him, have real existence, and do not exist only in idea. For unless God were infinite, there would be nothing finite. So, too, unless the infinite were omni- or all- , there would be nothing real. And unless God created all things from Himself, there would be nothing at all.

In a word: We are because God is.

(Divine Providence 46:3)

*added by editor

The Other Christmas Story

We are all aware of the principle story surrounding the Christian biblical account of the Lord’s first advent. The story of God coming to earth and taking on the human form for the purpose of the salvation of man but there is a much more important story here, a much more monumental one for the Lord’s advent. The very creation itself was in jeopardy, our very existence as humans.

Swedenborg writing while his mind was opened into the spiritual world for over 30 years tells us about the other Christmas story. . . what was happening in the spiritual world outside of time and space . . . .the far more monumental one.

Swedenborg writes in The Arcana Coelestia [6373];

“. . .heaven and those things in hell could not be brought by means of that kingdom strong enough to serve as the means by which all things could be preserved in a state of order. And what is more, as a consequence hellish spirits were at the same time breaking out of hell and having dominion over souls who were coming from the world, as a result a situation was coming about in which none but the celestial ones could be saved. At length scarcely these could have been saved if the Lord had not taken on the Human and made that Human within Himself Divine.

. . .he goes on,

By doing this the Lord brought all things into a state of order, first those in Heaven and then those in hell.”

What becomes clear here is that the salvation of man is actually about the restoring of order in the spiritual world and not about the Divine scapegoating for man’s sins. It is also clear from Swedenborg that if God had not taken on this role, the heavens would have eventually been decimated leaving an overwhelming presence of hellish spirits. These being in absolute conflict with the Divine attributes, the God of infinite love and wisdom could not have allowed that to have happened and would have terminated his Divine proceeding ending the existence of everything in the natural and spiritual worlds. . . . . none of us nor the universe around us would have continued to exist beyond that point absent the Lord’s advent.

So the advent of the Lord was for the purpose of saving man but in a much more profound sense than portrayed in the literal sense of the word. It was the rescue of the entire creation itself.
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This article was written by Ron Vath. It is my prayer as we celebrate the Lord bowing the heavens and coming down that we keep these thoughts in the forefront of our thinking this season. Merry Christmas – Mike Cates

The Power of Truth from Good

A portion of a passage from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

He was called "the son of the right hand" because "son" signifies truth, and "right hand" signifies the power of truth from good, and in the spiritual world, truth that is from good in the natural man has all power.  All the power the spiritual man has is in this, because the effecting cause is in the spiritual man, and the effect is in the natural, and all the power of the effecting cause puts itself forth through the effect. (That all the power of the spiritual man is in the natural, and through the natural, see Arcana Coelestia, n. 9836.) For this reason he was called "Benjamin," that is, "the son of the right hand."

"Bethlehem" has a like signification, namely, truth conjoined to good in the natural man, David too was born there, and also anointed as king (1 Sam. 16:1-14; 17:12); for David as king represented the Lord in respect to truth from good, and this, too, is signified by "king" ....  For the same reason the Lord was born in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:1, 5, 6) because He was born a king, and truth conjoined to good was with Him from birth. For every infant is born natural, and the natural, because it is next to the external senses and the world, is first opened, and this with all men [the natural] is ignorant of truth and desirous of evil; but in the Lord alone the natural had a desire for good and a longing for truth; for the ruling affection in man, which is his soul, is from the father; and with the Lord, the affection or soul from the Father was the Divine Itself, which is the Divine good of the Divine love.

(Apocalypse Explained 449)

Brotherhood

Portion of a passage from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

By "brethren" in the internal sense are signified those who are in similar good and truth, that is, in a similar affection of good and truth. For in the other life all are consociated in accordance with the affections, and those who are consociated constitute a brotherhood. Not that they call themselves brethren, but that they are brethren by conjunction.
In the other life it is good and truth that produce that which on earth is called relationship by blood and by marriage; and therefore there is a correspondence between the two things; for regarded in themselves goods and truths acknowledge no other father than the Lord, for they are from Him alone. Hence all who are in goods and truths are in brotherhood; but still there are degrees of relationship according to the quality of the goods and truths. These degrees are signified in the Word by "brothers," "sisters," "sons-in-law," "daughters-in-law," "grandsons," "granddaughters," and by other family names.

On earth they are so named with reference to a common parentage, however they may differ in regard to affections; but this brotherhood or relationship is dissipated in the other life, and unless they have been in similar good on earth, they there come into other brotherhoods. At first indeed they for the most part come together, but in a short time are separated; for in that world it is not wealth that keeps men together, but as just said, affections, the quality of which is then manifest as in clear day, and also the kind of affection which one has had toward another.

And as these are manifest, and as everyone's affection draws him to his society, those who have been of a discordant disposition are dissociated; and all the brotherhood and friendship which had been of the external man are obliterated on both sides, and that which is of the internal man remains.

(Arcana Coelestia 4121)

Why Man Desires Recompense for the Good He Does

A portion from passage in Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Man's own righteousness, or his own merit

...truth without good is attended with such self-merit, because when anyone does good, not from the good of truth, he always desires to be recompensed, because he does it for the sake of himself; whereas when anyone does truth from good, this good is then enlightened by the light that is from the Lord. ...

In man there is no pure good, that is, good with which evil is not mingled; nor pure truth, with which falsity is not mingled. For man's will is nothing but evil, from which there continually flows falsity into his understanding; because, as is well known, man receives by inheritance the evil successively accumulated by his progenitors, and from this he produces evil in an actual form, and makes it his own, and adds thereto more evil of himself. But the evils with man are of various kinds; there are evils with which goods cannot be mingled, and there are evils with which they can be mingled; and it is the same with the falsities. Unless this were so, no man could possibly be regenerated. The evils and falsities with which goods and truths cannot be mingled are such as are contrary to love to God and love toward the neighbor; namely, hatreds, revenges, cruelties, and a consequent contempt for others in comparison with one's self; and also the consequent persuasions of falsity. But the evils and falsities with which goods and truths can be mingled are those which are not contrary to love to God and love toward the neighbor.

For example: If anyone loves himself more than others, and from this love studies to excel others in moral and civic life, in memory-knowledges and doctrinal things, and to be exalted to dignities and wealth in pre-eminence to others, and yet acknowledges and adores God, performs kind offices to his neighbor from the heart, and does what is just and fair from conscience; the evil of this love of self is one with which good and truth can be mingled; for it is an evil that is man's own, and that is born hereditarily; and to take it away from him suddenly would be to extinguish the fire of his first life. But the man who loves himself above others, and from this love despises others in comparison with himself, and hates those who do not honor and as it were adore him, and therefore feels a consequent delight of hatred in revenge and cruelty-the evil of such a love as this is one with which good and truth cannot be mingled, for they are contraries. ...

(From Arcana Coelestia 3993)

Love, Wisdom, Use Becoming Real

From True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

... the end of creation was an angelic heaven from the human race, and consequently man, in whom God can dwell as in His receptacle; and this is the reason why man was created a form of Divine order.

Previous to creation God was love itself and wisdom itself and the union of these two in the effort to accomplish uses; for love and wisdom apart from use are only fleeting matters of reason, which fly away if not applied to use.

The first two separated from the third are like birds flying above a great ocean, which are at length exhausted by flying, and fall down and are drowned.  Evidently, therefore, the universe was created by God to give existence to uses; and for this reason the universe may be called a theater of uses.  And as man is the chief end of creation, it follows that each and all things were created for the sake of man; and therefore each and all things belonging to order were brought together and concentrated in him, to the end that through him, God might accomplish primary uses.

Love and wisdom apart from their third, which is use, may be likened to the sun's heat and light; which, if they did not operate upon men, animals, and vegetables, would be worthless things; but by influx into and operation upon these they become real..

For there are three things that follow each other in order, namely, end, cause, and effect; and it is known in the learned world that the end is nothing unless it regards the effecting cause, and that the end and this cause are nothing unless an effect is produced.  The end and cause may indeed be contemplated abstractly in the mind, but still only on account of some effect which the end purposes and the cause secures.  It is the same with love, wisdom, and use; use is the end which love purposes, and through the cause accomplishes; and when use is accomplished, love and wisdom have a real existence; and in the use they make for themselves a habitation and foundation where they rest as in their home.  It is the same with the man who has in him the love and wisdom of God when he is performing uses; and to enable him to perform Divine uses, he was created an image and likeness of God, that is, a form of Divine order.

(True Christian Religion 66 - 67)