Degrees of Affections and of Uses

Selection from Divine Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

• There are continuous degrees and there are discrete degrees. Both of these are in every form in the spiritual world and in the natural world. All are acquainted with continuous degrees; few, however, have any knowledge of discrete degrees, and those who have no knowledge of these grope as in the dark when they are investigating the causes of things....

• Continuous degrees, which all know about, are like the degrees from light to shade, from heat to cold, from rarity to density. Such gradations of light, of heat, of wisdom and of love, are in every society of heaven within itself.
      They who are in the midst of a society are in clearer light than those who are in the ultimates, the light diminishing according to distance from the center even to the ultimates.
      It is the same with wisdom; those who are in the midst or center of a society are in the light of wisdom, while those who are in the ultimates or circumferences are in the shade of wisdom and are simple.
      It is the same with love within societies. The affections of love, which make the wisdom of those in societies and the uses of the affections which make their life, continually lessen from the midst or center even to the ultimates or circumferences.

• Such are continuous degrees. But discrete degrees are wholly different. These do not advance in one plane to the sides around, but from highest to lowest; and for this reason they are called descending degrees.
      They are separated as efficient causes and effects are, which in their turn become efficient causes even to the lowest effect.
      They are also like a producing force in relation to the forces produced, which in turn become producing even to the last product.
      In a word, they are degrees of the formation of one thing from another; thus they are the degrees from first or highest to last or lowest, where formation subsists.
      Therefore things prior and posterior, also things higher and lower, are such degrees. All creation was effected through such degrees, and all production is by means of them, and likewise all composition in the nature that belongs to this world; for in analyzing anything that is composite you will see that one thing therein is from another, even to the very last, which is the general of them all.

• The three angelic heavens are distinguished from each other by such degrees and in consequence one is above another.
      The interiors of man, which belong to his mind, are distinguished from each other by such degrees;
      so, too, are light which is wisdom and heat which is love, in the heavens of angels and in the interiors of men;
      the same is true of the light itself that proceeds from the Lord as a sun, and of the heat itself that also proceeds from Him;
and for this reason the light in the third heaven is so refulgent, and the light in the second heaven is of such shining whiteness as to exceed the noonday light of the world a thousand fold.
      The same is true of the wisdom, for in the spiritual world light and wisdom are in equal degree of perfection.
      The same is true of the degrees of affections; and as this is true of the degrees of affections, it is true also of the degrees of uses, for the subjects of affections are uses.
      It is to be known further that in every form, both spiritual and natural, there are both discrete and continuous degrees. Without discrete degrees there is not that within a form that constitutes a cause or soul, and without continuous degrees there is no extension or appearance of it.

(Divine Love xi)

Affection First Become Something When In Act

Selection from Divine Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There are as many affections as there are uses.

• There are many things that bear witness that the Divine love is life itself, and that love therefrom with man is his life. Among these proofs, this is especially clear, namely, that man's spirit is nothing but affection, consequently that man after death becomes in affection — an angel of heaven if he be an affection of good use, and a spirit of hell if he be an affection of evil use. For this reason the whole heaven is divided into societies according to the genera and species of affections; and likewise, in an opposite manner, hell. From this it is that whether you speak of affections or of societies in the spiritual world, it is the same.

• By affections are meant the continuations and derivations of love. Love may be compared to a fountain, and affections to the streams issuing from it. Love may also be compared to the heart, and affections to the vessels leading out and continued from it; and it is well known that the vessels that convey blood from the heart resemble their heart in every point, so as to be as it were extensions of it - from this is the circulation of the blood from the heart through the arteries, and from the arteries into the veins, and back to the heart. So with affections — for these are derived and continued from love, and produce uses in forms, and in these proceed from the firsts of the uses to their ultimates, and from these they return to the love from which they started: from all which it is plain that affection is love in its essence; and that use is love in its form.

• The conclusion from this is, that the objects, that is, the ends of affections, are uses, therefore also their subjects are uses, and that the very forms in which affections exist are effects which are effigies of the affections; in which they proceed from the first end to the last, and from the last end to the first, and by them they perform their works, offices, and exercises.

• From what has now been said, who cannot see that-

affection alone is not anything, but that it becomes something by being in use; and that affection for use is nothing but an idea, unless it be in form; and that affection for use in form is nothing but a potency, the affection first becoming something when it is in act

This act is the very use that is meant, which in its essence is affection.

• Now, since affections are the essence of uses, and uses are the subjects of affections, it follows that there are as many affections as there are uses.

(Divine Love IX)

The Purpose of Creation — The Existence of an Angelic Heaven

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

• All things created by the Lord are uses, and that they are uses in that order, degree, and respect in which they have relation to man, and through man to the Lord from whom [they are]. It remains now that some things should be said in detail respecting uses.

• By man, to whom uses have relation, is meant not alone an individual but an assembly of men, also a society smaller or larger, as a commonwealth, kingdom, or empire, or that largest society, the whole world, for each of these is a man. Likewise in the heavens, the whole angelic heaven is as one man before the Lord, and equally every society of heaven; from this it is that every angel is a man. ... This makes clear what is meant by man in what follows.

• The end of the creation of the universe clearly shows what use is. The end of the creation of the universe is the existence of an angelic heaven; and as the angelic heaven is the end, man also or the human race is the end, since heaven is from that. From which it follows that all created things are mediate ends, and that these are uses in that order, degree, and respect in which they have relation to man, and through man to the Lord.

• Inasmuch as the end of creation is an angelic heaven out of the human race, and thus the human race itself, all other created things are mediate ends, and these, as having relation to man, with a view to his conjunction with the Lord, refer themselves to these three things in him, his body, his rational, and his spiritual.

Man cannot be conjoined to the Lord unless he be spiritual, nor can he be spiritual unless he be rational, nor can he be rational unless his body is in a sound state.

These three are like a house; the body like the foundation, the rational like the superstructure, the spiritual like those things which are in the house, and conjunction with the Lord like dwelling in it.

• From this can be seen in what order, degree, and respect uses (which are the mediate ends of creation) have relation to man, namely, (1) for sustaining his body, (2) for perfecting his rational, (3) for receiving what is spiritual from the Lord.

(Divine Love and Wisdom 327-330)

What Heaven Is

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Looking to what is infinite and eternal in the formation of the angelic heaven — that it may be before the Lord as one man, which is an image of Himself — is the inmost of the Divine providence.

The entire heaven is as one man before the Lord and likewise each society of heaven. It is from this that each angel is a man in complete form, and this because God the Creator, who is the Lord from eternity, is Man.

• in consequence there is a correspondence of all things of heaven with all things of man. ...

• As in the Lord's sight the entire heaven is as one man, so heaven is divided into as many general societies as there are organs, viscera, and members in a man. Each general society is divided into as many less general or particular societies as there are larger divisions in each of the viscera and organs. From this it is evident what heaven is:

Since the Lord is the very Man, and heaven is His image, to be in heaven is called being in the Lord. ...

• From all this, the arcanum, which may be called angelic, can in some measure be seen, namely, that every affection for good and at the same time for truth is in its form a man; for whatever goes forth from the Lord, by its derivation from His Divine love is an affection for good, and by its derivation from His Divine wisdom is an affection for truth. The affection for truth that goes forth from the Lord appears in angel and in man as a perception and consequent thought of truth, for the reason that attention is given to the perception and thought, and little to the affection from which these spring, although they go forth from the Lord as one with affection for truth.

• Since, then, man by creation is a heaven in the least form, and consequently an image of the Lord, and since heaven consists of as many affections as there are angels, and each affection in its form is a man, it follows that:

It is the continual aim of the Divine providence that man may become a heaven in form and consequently an image of the Lord, and since this is effected by means of the affection for good and truth, that he may become such an affection. This, therefore, is the continual aim of the Divine providence.

• But its inmost is that man may be in this or that place in heaven, or in this or that place in the Divine heavenly man; for thus is he in the Lord. This is accomplished, however, only with those whom the Lord can lead to heaven. And as the Lord foresees this, He also provides continually that man may become such; for thereby every one who permits himself to be led to heaven is prepared for his own place in heaven.

(Divine Providence 64-66)

Why The Universe Was Created

From True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

• All things that proceed from the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is Jehovah God, have relation to man. Therefore whatever things come forth in that world conspire towards the human form, and exhibit that form in their inmosts — thus all objects there that are presented to the sight are representative of man. Animals of all kinds are seen there, and they are likenesses of the affections of love and consequent thoughts of the angels. The same is true of the trees, flowers, and green fields there.

What affection this or that object represents the angels are permitted to know; and what is wonderful, when their inmost sight is opened, they recognize their own image in them; and this takes place because every man is his own love and his own thought therefrom.

• And because in every man affections and thoughts therefrom are various and manifold, some of them relating to the affection of one animal and some to that of another, the images of these affections become manifest in this way. ...

• From all this the truth is seen that 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 — for this reason the universe may be called a theater of uses.

• 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 — end, cause, and effect. 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)

How Conjunction of Heaven with the World is Effected by means of Correspondences

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

How conjunction of heaven with the world is effected by means of correspondences shall also be told in a few words:

The Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of ends, which are uses; or what is the same thing, a kingdom of uses which are ends. For this reason the universe has been so created and formed by the Divine that uses may be every where clothed in such a way as to be presented in act, or in effect, first in heaven and afterwards in the world, thus by degrees and successively, down to the outmost things of nature. Evidently, then, the correspondence of natural things with spiritual things, or of the world with heaven, is through uses, and uses are what conjoin; and the form in which uses are clothed are correspondences and are conjunctions just to the extent that they are forms of uses. In the nature of the world in its threefold kingdom, all things that exist in accordance with order are forms of uses, or effects formed from use for use, and this is why the things in nature are correspondences.

But in the case of man, so far as he is in accordance with Divine order, that is, so far as he is in love to the Lord and in charity towards the neighbor, are his acts uses in form, and correspondences, and through these he is conjoined to heaven.

To love the Lord and the neighbor means in general to perform uses.

Furthermore, it must be understood that man is the means by which the natural world and the spiritual world are conjoined, that is, man is the medium of conjunction, because in him there is a natural world and there is a spiritual world; consequently to the extent that man is spiritual he is the medium of conjunction; but to the extent that a man is natural, and not spiritual, he is not a medium of conjunction. Nevertheless, apart from this mediumship of man, a Divine influx into the world and into the things pertaining to man that are of the world goes on, but not into man's rational faculty.

(Heaven and Hell 112)

Read more:  THE OCCUPATIONS OF ANGELS IN HEAVEN

Use — The Ends of Creation

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

All uses, which are ends of creation are in forms, which forms they take from substances and matters such as are in lands.

All things ... as the sun, atmospheres, and lands, are only means to ends. The ends of creation are those things that are produced by the Lord as a sun, through the atmospheres, out of lands; and these ends are called uses.

• In their whole extent these are all things of the vegetable kingdom, all things of the animal kingdom, and finally the human race, and the angelic heaven which is from it. These are called uses, because they are recipients of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom also because they have regard to God the Creator from whom they are, and thereby conjoin Him to His great work; by which conjunction it comes that, as they spring forth from Him, so do they have unceasing existence from Him. They are said to have regard to God the Creator from whom they are, and to conjoin Him to His great work, but this is to speak according to appearance. It is meant that God the Creator causes them to have regard and to conjoin themselves to Him as it were of themselves....

• Divine Love and Divine Wisdom must necessarily have being and form in other things created by themselves

• All things in the created universe are recipients of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom.

• The uses of all created things ascend by degrees to man, and through man to God the Creator from whom they are.

• Who does not see clearly that uses are the ends of creation, when he considers that from God the Creator nothing can have form, and therefore nothing can be created, except use; and that to be use, it must be for the sake of others; and that use for the sake of self is also for the sake of others, since a use for the sake of self looks to one's being in a state to be of use to others? Whoso considers this is also able to see, that use which is use cannot spring from man, but must be in man from that Being from whom everything that comes forth is use, that is, from the Lord.

(Divine Love and Wisdom 307-308)