The Love of Knowing Things Hidden - Wonder

Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are His:

And He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings: He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

He revealeth the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.    (Daniel 2:20-23)

That there is an innate love of being wise, this we perceive from the love of knowing things hidden, a love familiar to every one, it being this love that forms our whole intellect; for, in the case of an infant and child, all the things that are impressed on its memory had previously been hidden from it; but when they are impressed, it is at once seized with the eager desire to find out what lies still further hidden in that which is known, to wit, its qualities and much else.

This love rushes us into the sciences whereby we are persuaded we shall arrive at a knowledge of things hidden.

The whole learned world rushes to physical experiments in order that from these we may acquire wisdom, that is, may penetrate into the secrets of nature. The ancient philosophers were wholly carried off by this love; but they wished to penetrate into the secrets of nature a priori, that is, by means of principles and rational philosophy, while the philosophers of our day wish to do this a posteriori, that is, by means of experience. Both have the same love, for they concur as to the end in view.

Who does not desire that nature shall be seen in her inmost recesses and unveiled? Who does not desire to know what the soul is? where it resides? what will be its nature after death? what the highest good is. Who does not desire to know the inner contents of another's mind? the secrets of his own companions, of society, of kingdoms? Who is there that is not delighted when with telescopes he beholds the moon, a planet and its satellites? that does not wish to know whether there are inhabitants there, and how the planets pursue their daily and annual motions in this great vortex? Who does not love to discover by microscopes nature's tiniest objects, and insects invisible to the eye? not to mention an infinitude of other things which show that this love is implanted in the human mind, a love which is also the principle of becoming wise, and the efficient cause of the formation of our intellect; and, being this, is present within us before the formation, though we do not perceive its presence save by judging from its effect. It follows that it flows in from a superior mind within us - a mind whose property it is to know and understand all things universally, and to wish to communicate this its property to an inferior mind, whereby it may present itself in its body.

Wonder is the affection produced by all perfection as related to the subject thereof. We wonder at wisdom in a child, but not in an old man; at intellect in an insane man; at the analogue of virtue in a brute animal. So long as we know little or nothing concerning the object of our wonder, we wonder at its perfection, even though this be slight. Thus we wonder at the marvels of nature, which are infinite in number, at her hidden forms, and other like things. Therefore, little children wonder at all things, because to them what lies beneath is occult. This wonder, therefore, coincides with the love of knowing things hidden; for what we wonder at, that same is deeply fixed in our memory.

We wonder that nature in her kingdoms is so marvelous, but if we knew what she herself is, and that she is supremely perfect and can produce nothing else than marvels, we would cease to wonder.

We wonder at the miracles of God, and the proofs of His Providence, because we do not comprehend that He is Infinite, and His perfection infinite. Were we to perceive this, we would feel nothing of amazement but only veneration and adoration, thinking that what we comprehend with our mind is a minimum, and that there is an infinitude of things which surpass our understanding. He is most deeply hidden and unsearchable by any mind, that He may be the God whom, from His universe and the marvels of nature, we may wonderingly admire and adore. Who would God be were He not inscrutable?

(Pre-Revelatory work, Rational Psychology ~ Emanuel Swedenborg 319-320)

Love Produces by Wisdom

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Love as a bridegroom and husband produces or begets all forms, yet only by wisdom as a bride and wife, can be proved by things innumerable in both the spiritual world and in the natural world, provided only it is kept in mind that the entire angelic heaven is arranged in its form, and kept in it, from the Divine love through the Divine wisdom.

Those who deduce the creation of the world from any other source than the Divine love through the Divine wisdom, not knowing that these two constitute the Divine Essence, descend from reason's sight to eyesight, and bestow kisses on nature as the creator of the universe; and thereby conceive chimeras* and bring forth specters*. They devise fallacies, and reason from them; and their conclusions are eggs that contain birds of night.

Such should not be called minds, but eyes and ears without understanding, or thoughts without soul. They talk of colors as if these existed without light; of trees as if they existed without seed; and of all things in the world as existing without the sun; for they make derivatives to be first principles and things caused to be causes; thus they turn all things upside down, lull their reason to sleep, and the things they see are dreams.

(True Christian Religion 37:3)

* chimera
(1.) (in Greek mythology) a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.
(2.) a thing that is hoped or wished for but in fact is illusory or impossible to achieve.

* specters
a ghost. Something widely feared as a possible unpleasant or dangerous occurrence.

Knowing Love in Its Essence

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, and these two constitute His Essence. 

In the earliest ages it was seen that love and wisdom are the two essentials to which all the infinite things that are in God and proceed from God have reference. 

But succeeding ages, as they withdrew their minds from heaven and immersed them in things worldly and corporeal, gradually became unable to see this - for they gradually ceased to know what love is in its essence, and thus what wisdom is in its essence, not knowing that love abstracted from a form is impossible, and that love operates in a form and through a form. 

. . . God is the Itself and the Only, and thus the first substance and form, the essence of which is love and wisdom.

. . . From Him were made all things that were made, it follows that He created the universe with each thing and all things of it from love by means of wisdom; consequently the Divine love, together with the Divine wisdom, is in each and all created subjects. 

Love, moreover, is not merely the essence that forms all things, it is also that which unites and conjoins them, and thus, when they are formed, holds them in connection. 

(True Christian Religion 37:1)

Three Things That Are The Lord

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There are in the Lord three things that are the Lord - the Divine of love, the Divine of wisdom, and the Divine of use

These three are presented in appearance outside of the sun of the spiritual world - the Divine of love by heat, the Divine of wisdom by light and the Divine of use by the atmosphere which is their containant.

(Divine Love and Wisdom 296)

Accommodation of the Infinite to the Finite

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

. . . between Divine good and Divine truth there is this distinction: that Divine good is in the Lord, and Divine truth is from the Lord. It is as with the fire of the sun and the light which is therefrom; the fire is in the sun, and the light is from the sun; in the light there is not fire but heat.

Moreover, in the other life the Lord is the Sun, and also is the light. In the Sun there, which is Himself, is Divine fire, which is the Divine good of the Divine love. From that Sun is Divine light, which is Divine truth from Divine good. In this Divine truth, there is also Divine good, but not such as is in the Sun, it being accommodated to reception in heaven; for unless it were accommodated to reception, heaven could not have come into existence, because no angel can bear the flame from the Divine love. He would be consumed in a moment, as would a man if the flame of the sun of this world should blow directly upon him.

But how the Divine good of the Lord's Divine love is accommodated to reception, cannot be known by anyone, not even by the angels in heaven, because it is an accommodation of the Infinite to the finite; and the Infinite is such as to transcend all the understanding of the finite, insomuch that when the understanding of the finite desires to look in that direction, it falls as into the depth of the sea and perishes.

(Arcana Coelestia 8644)

Jehovah God Himself Descended and Became Man

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Jehovah God descended and assumed a Human that He might redeem men and save them. In the Christian churches at this day it is believed that God the Creator of the universe begat a Son from eternity, and that this Son descended and assumed a Human in order to redeem and save men. But this is an error, and of itself falls to the ground as soon as it is considered that God is one, and that it is worse than incredible in the sight of reason to say that the one God begat a Son from eternity, and that God the Father, together with the Son and Holy Spirit, each one of whom singly is God, is one God. This incredible notion is wholly dissipated, like a falling star in midair, when it is shown from the Word that Jehovah God Himself descended and became Man and also Redeemer.

The first statement, that it was Jehovah God Himself who descended and became Man, is made clear in the following passages:

Behold, a virgin shall conceive and shall bear a Son, who shall be called God-with-us (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:22, 23).

Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, God, Mighty, Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6).

It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him that He may deliver us; this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him; let us exult and be glad in His salvation (Isa. 25:9).

The voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah; make level in the wilderness a highway for our God, and all flesh shall see it together (Isa. 40:3, 5).

Behold, the Lord Jehovah cometh in strength, and His arm shall rule for Him behold, His reward is with Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd (Isa. 40:10, 11).

Jehovah said, Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come to dwell in the midst of thee. Then many nations shall cleave to Jehovah in that day (Zech. 2:10, 11).

I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and I will give thee for a covenant of the people. I am Jehovah; this is My name; My glory will I not give to another (Isa. 42:6-8).

Behold, the days come, that I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch and He shall reign as King, and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth, and this is His name, Jehovah our righteousness (Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16).

See also the places where the Lord's coming is called "the day of Jehovah" (as in Isa. 13:6, 9, 13, 22; Ezek. 31:15; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 2, 11; 3:1, 14, 18; Amos 5:13, 18, 20; Zeph. 1:7-18; Zech. 14:1, 4-21; and elsewhere).

That it was Jehovah Himself who descended and assumed the Human is especially evident in Luke, where it is said:

Mary said to the angel, How shall this come to pass, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing that is born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:34, 35).

And in Matthew:

The angel said to Joseph, the bridegroom of Mary, in a dream, that that which was begotten in her was of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called His name Jesus (Matt. 1:20, 25).

. . . that the Divine that goes forth from Jehovah God is what is meant by the Holy Spirit. Who does not know that the offspring has its soul and life from the father, and that the body is from the soul? Can anything, then, be more plainly declared than that the Lord had His soul and life from Jehovah God; and as the Divine cannot be divided, that the very Divine of the Father was His soul and life? This is why the Lord so often called Jehovah God His Father, and why Jehovah God called Him His Son. Can there be anything, then, more absurd than to say that the soul of the Lord was from His mother Mary? as is at this day dreamed by both the Roman Catholics and the Reformed, they not having yet been awakened by the Word.

(True Christian Religion 82)

Accommodated to Reception

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9)

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:5)

I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. (John 12:46)

A few words may here be said about Divine good and Divine truth. The Lord as to the Divine Itself which is called "the Father," and as to the Divine Human which is called "the Son," is the Divine love itself, thus Divine good itself; but the Lord as heaven, which is beneath the Lord as a Sun, is the Divine truth; yet this Divine truth has within it the Divine good accommodated to the reception of angels and spirits. This Divine is what is called "the Spirit of Jehovah" and "the Holy." The reason why this is called Divine truth, and not Divine good, is that angels and spirits are created, and from this are receptions of the Divine truth that proceeds from the Divine good. They, like men, enjoy two faculties, namely, understanding and will, and the understanding has been formed to receive Divine truth, and the will to receive Divine good. The understanding serves them for reception, and also for perception.

An idea of this subject can be obtained by the simple from a comparison with the sun of the world, and with the world that comes forth from it. In the sun of the world there is fire, but that which proceeds from it is heat and light. Everyone is able to know that the light is not in the sun itself, but that the light proceeds from it. And insofar as the light proceeding from the sun has heat in it, plants live and grow, and bring forth fruits and seeds. These things are said by comparison, because universal nature is a theater representative of the Lord's kingdom; and it is such a representative theater because the natural world came forth through the spiritual world from the Divine, and perpetually comes forth, that is, subsists; hence it is that in the Word by the "sun" is meant the Lord as to Divine love, in like manner by "fire;" and that by "light" is meant the Lord as to Divine truth.

(Arcana Coelestia 10196)