The General Meaning of Beast in the Scripture

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And Jehovah God formed out of the ground every beast of the field, and every fowl of the heavens, and brought it to the man to see what he would call it; and whatsoever the man called every living soul, that was the name thereof. And the man gave names to every beast, and to the fowl of the heavens, and to every wild animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a help as with him. Genesis 2:19, 20

By "beasts" are signified celestial affections, and by "fowls of the heavens" spiritual affections; that is to say, by "beasts" are signified things of the will, and by "fowls" things of the understanding.

To "bring them to the man to see what he would call them" is to enable him to know their quality, and his "giving them names" signifies that he knew it. But notwithstanding that he knew the quality of the affections of good and of the knowledges of truth that were given him by the Lord, still he inclined to his Own*, which is expressed in the same terms as before - that "there was not found a help as with him."   (Arcana Coelestia 142)

*Innumerable things might be said about man's Own in describing its nature with the corporeal and worldly man, with the spiritual man, and with the celestial man.

• With the corporeal and worldly man, his Own is his all - he knows of nothing else than his Own, and imagines ... that if he were to lose this Own he would perish.

• With the spiritual man also his Own has a similar appearance, for although he knows that the Lord is the life of all, and gives wisdom and understanding, and consequently the power to think and to act, yet this knowledge is rather the profession of his lips than the belief of his heart.

• But the celestial man discerns that the Lord is the life of all and gives the power to think and to act, for he perceives that it is really so. He never desires his Own, nevertheless an Own is given him by the Lord, which is conjoined with all perception of what is good and true, and with all happiness. The angels are in such an Own, and are at the same time in the highest peace and tranquility, for in their Own are those things which are the Lord's, who governs their Own, or them by means of their Own. This Own is the veriest celestial itself, whereas that of the corporeal man is infernal."   (Arcana Coelestia 140)

That by "beasts" and "animals" were anciently signified affections and like things in man, may appear strange at the present day; but as the men of those times were in a celestial idea, and as such things are represented in the world of spirits by animals, and in fact by such animals as they are like, therefore when they spoke in that way they meant nothing else. Nor is anything else meant in the Word in those places where beasts are mentioned either generally or specifically. The whole prophetic Word is full of such things, and therefore -

One who does not know what each beast specifically signifies, cannot possibly understand what the Word contains in the internal sense.

 But, as before observed, beasts are of two kinds - evil or noxious beasts, and good or harmless ones -and by the good beasts are signified good affections, as for instance by sheep, lambs, and doves; and as it is the celestial, or the celestial spiritual man, who is treated of, such are here meant.   (Arcana Coelestia 143)

The Lord as A Householder

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: (Matthew 21:33)

It is permitted him [the celestial man] to enjoy all these things, but not to possess them as his own, because they are the Lord's.

• The celestial man acknowledges, because he perceives, that all things both in general and in particular are the Lord's.
• The spiritual man does indeed acknowledge the same, but with the mouth, because he has learned it from the Word.
• The worldly and corporeal man neither acknowledges nor admits it; but whatever he has he calls his own, and imagines that were he to lose it, he would altogether perish.

That wisdom, intelligence, reason, and knowledge [scientia] are not of man, but of the Lord, is very evident from all that the Lord taught; as in Matthew, where the Lord compares Himself to a householder, who planted a vineyard, and hedged it round, and let it out to husbandmen (21:33); and in John:

The Spirit of truth shall guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself, but what things soever He shall hear, He shall speak; He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall declare it unto you (John 16:13-14).

And in another place:

A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven (John 3:27).

That this is really so is known to everyone who is acquainted with even a few of the arcana of heaven.

(Arcana Cœlestia 122 - 124)

What are not from Love and Faith, and Thus from the Lord...

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Be it known ... that there is no wisdom which is not from love, thus from the Lord; nor any intelligence except from faith, thus also from the Lord; and that there is no good except from love, thus from the Lord; and no truth except from faith, thus from the Lord. What are not from love and faith, and thus from the Lord, are indeed called by these names, but they are spurious.

(Arcana Cœlestia 112)

Where There is Little Good, There is Little Truth

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

They who are in the affection of truth have little truth in comparison with those who are in the affection of good, this is evident from the fact that it is from the meager and obscure good appertaining to them that they regard truth.

The truth in a man is exactly according to the good that is in him.

Where there is little good, there is little truth. They are in a like ratio and in a like degree, or, as we say, they march with even step. This indeed may seem a paradox, but still the case is so.

Good is the very essence of truth, and truth without its essence is not truth, although it appears as if it were; it is merely a sounding brass, and is like an empty vessel.

In order that anyone may have truth in himself, he must not only know it, but also acknowledge it, and have faith in it; he then for the first time has truth, because it then affects him, and remains. It is otherwise when he only knows truth, and does not acknowledge it, and have faith in it; for in this case he has not the truth in himself. This is the case with many who are in evil: they are able to know truths, sometimes more than other men; but still they have not the truth; nay, they have it so much the less, because at heart they deny it.

(Arcana Cœlestia 2429:2, 3)

Loving the Lord's Kingdom

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Lord's kingdom is the neighbor in a higher degree than the church in which one is born; for the Lord's kingdom consists of all who are in good, both on earth and in the heavens — thus the Lord's kingdom is good with every quality of it in the complex; and when this good is loved, everyone who is in good is loved. Thus the whole, which is all good in the complex, is the neighbor in the first degree, and is that Grand Man ... which Man is a representative image of the Lord Himself. This Man, that is, the Lord's kingdom, is loved, when from inmost affection those are benefited who are men through that man from the Lord, thus with whom is the Lord's kingdom.

(Arcana Cœlestia 6823)

A Man is Our Neighbor According to the Love in which He Is

Extracts from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There are two affections, namely, the affection of good, and the affection of truth. The affection of good is to do what is good from the love of good, and the affection of truth is to do what is good from the love of truth. At the first view these two affections appear to be the same; but in reality they are distinct from each other both as to essence and as to origin. The affection of good, or doing what is good from the love of good, is properly of the will; but the affection of truth, or doing what is good from the love of truth, is properly of the understanding. Thus these two affections are distinct from each other in the same way as are the will and the understanding. The affection of good is from celestial love, but the affection of truth is from spiritual love.

***

Within the affection of truth of those who are in this affection, there is the affection of good, but so obscurely that they do not perceive, thus do not know, what the affection of good is, and what genuine charity is. They do suppose that they know, but it is from truth, thus from memory-knowledge, and not from good itself. Nevertheless they do the goods of charity, not in order to merit anything thereby, but from obedience; and this insofar as they apprehend that it is the truth.

For they suffer themselves to be led by the Lord out of their obscurity of good by means of the truth which appears to them to be truth.

For example: being ignorant what the neighbor is, they do good to everyone whom they suppose to be the neighbor; especially to the poor, because these call themselves poor on account of being destitute of worldly wealth; to orphans and widows, because they are so termed; to strangers, because they are such; and so on with all the rest and this they do -

so long as they are ignorant what is signified by the poor, by orphans, widows, strangers, and others.

Nevertheless seeing that in their affection of apparent truth there lies in obscurity the affection of good, by which the Lord leads them to such action, they are at the same time in good as to their interiors, and in this good the angels are present with them, and are delighted there with their appearances of truth by which such persons are affected.

But they who are in the good of charity, and from this in the affection of truth, do all things with discrimination, for they are in light; since the light of truth is from no other source than good, because the Lord flows in by means of good.

These persons do not do good to the poor, to orphans, to widows, and to strangers, for the mere reason that they are so termed;

for they know that those who are good, whether poor or rich, are neighbors more than all others;

since by the good, good is done to others; and therefore insofar as these persons do good to the good, they do it to others through them. They also know how to make distinctions among goods, and so among good men.

They call the general good itself their neighbor in a greater degree, for in this there is regarded the good of still greater numbers. As still more their neighbor to whom charity is to be done they acknowledge the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the church; and the Lord's kingdom itself in the heavens even still more. But they who set the Lord before all these - who adore Him alone and love Him above all things - derive the neighbor in all these degrees from Him; for the Lord alone is the neighbor in the highest sense, thus all good is the neighbor insofar as it is from Him.

But they who are in the opposite derive the degrees of the neighbor from themselves, and acknowledge only those as neighbor who favor and serve them - calling no others brethren and friends - and this with a distinction, accordingly as they make one with them.

All this shows what the neighbor is, namely, that a man is our neighbor according to the love in which he is; and that he is truly the neighbor who is in love to the Lord and in charity toward his neighbor, and this with every possible difference; thus it is the good itself with everyone that determines the point in question.

(Arcana Cœlestia 1997; 2425)

God Assumed the Human in Accordance with His Divine Order

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

God assumed the Human in accordance with His Divine Order.

God introduced order into the universe and into each and all things of it at the time of their creation, and therefore His omnipotence in the universe and in each and all things of it, proceeds and operates in accordance with the laws of His order. ... Since, then, it was God who descended, and since He is Order itself, it was necessary, if He was to become man actually, that He should be conceived, carried in the womb, born, educated, acquire knowledges gradually, and thereby be introduced into intelligence and wisdom. In respect to His Human He was, for this reason, an infant like other infants, a boy like other boys, and so on; with the sole difference that this development was accomplished in Him more quickly, more fully, and more perfectly than in others. That this development was in accordance with order is evident from these words in Luke:

And the child Jesus grew and waxed strong in spirit. And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and in the stages of life, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:40, 52).

That this was done more quickly, more fully, and more perfectly than with others is evident from what is said of Him in the same Gospel, that-

When He was twelve years old He sat in the temple in the midst of the doctors and taught them and that all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers (Luke 2:46, 47; and afterwards, 4:16-22, 32).

This took place because Divine order requires that man should prepare himself for the reception of God; and in proportion as he prepares himself, God enters into him as into His dwelling-place and home; and this preparation is effected by means of knowledges respecting God and the spiritual things pertaining to the church, and thus by means of intelligence and wisdom. For it is a law of order that in proportion as man approaches and gets near to God (which he must do wholly as if of himself) does God approach and get near to man, and conjoin Himself with man in man's interiors. It was in accordance with this order that the Lord progressed even to a oneness with His Father.

(True Christian Religion 89)