THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 89)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 89)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS FALSE
WITNESS OF EVERY KIND AS SIN,
IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE LOVES THE TRUTH

In proportion as anyone loves the truth, in the same proportion he desires to know it, and in the same proportion is affected at heart when he finds it. No one else comes into wisdom.

And in proportion as anyone loves to do the truth, in the same proportion he is sensible of the pleasantness of the light in which the truth is.

It is the same with all the other things spoken of above [in the foregoing articles]; with sincerity and justice in the case of one who shuns thefts of every kind; with chastity and purity in the case of one who shuns adulteries of every kind; and with love and charity in the case of one who shuns murders of every kind; and so forth.

On the other hand, one who is in the opposites to these heavenly things knows nothing about them, although everything that is truly something is present in them.

(LIFE 89)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 88)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 88)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS FALSE
WITNESS OF EVERY KIND AS SIN,
IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE LOVES THE TRUTH

As lying and the truth are two opposite things, it follows that in proportion as anyone shuns lying as sin, in the same proportion he loves the truth.

(LIFE 88)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 87)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 87)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS FALSE
WITNESS OF EVERY KIND AS SIN,
IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE LOVES THE TRUTH

• To "bear false witness," in the natural sense, means not only to play the false witness, but also to lie, and to defame.

• In the spiritual sense, to "bear false witness" means to declare some false thing to be true or some evil thing good, and to persuade others that it is so; and the converse.

• And in the highest sense, to "bear false witness" means to blaspheme the Lord and the Word.

These are the three senses of "bearing false witness." That these make a one in the man who bears false witness, utters a lie, or defames, is evident from ... the three senses of all things of the Word....

(LIFE 87)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 86)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 86)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS THEFTS OF EVERY KIND
AS SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE LOVES SINCERITY.

Man possesses a natural mind and a spiritual mind.

The natural mind is below, and the spiritual mind above. The natural mind is the mind of man's world, and the spiritual mind is the mind of his heaven. The natural mind may be called the animal mind, and the spiritual mind the human mind. Man is discriminated from the animal by possessing a spiritual mind. By means of this mind he can be in heaven while still in the world; and it is by means of this mind also that man lives after death.

In his understanding a man is able to be in the spiritual mind, and consequently in heaven, but unless he shuns evils as sins he cannot be in the spiritual mind and consequently in heaven, as to his will. And if he is not there as to his will, he is not in heaven, in spite of the fact that he is there in understanding, for the will drags the understanding down, and causes it to be just as natural and animal as it is itself.

Man may be compared to a garden, his understanding to light, and his will to heat. 

In wintertime a garden is in light but not in accompanying heat, but in summertime it is in light accompanied by heat. Just so a man who is in the light of the understanding alone is like a garden in wintertime, whereas one who is in the light of the understanding and at the same time in the heat of the will is like a garden in summertime. Moreover the understanding is wise from spiritual light, and the will loves from spiritual heat, for spiritual light is Divine wisdom, and spiritual heat is Divine love.

So long as a man does not shun evils as sins, the concupiscences of evils block up the interiors of the natural mind on the part of the will, being like a thick veil there, and like a black cloud beneath the spiritual mind, and they prevent its being opened. But in very deed the moment a man shuns evils as sins, the Lord inflows from heaven, takes away the veil, dispels the cloud, opens the spiritual mind, and so introduces the man into heaven.

So long as the concupiscences of evils block up the interiors of the natural mind (in the way we have indicated), so long is the man in hell; the moment, however, that these concupiscences have been dispersed by the Lord, the man is in heaven. Furthermore: so long as the concupiscences of evils block up the interiors of the natural mind, so long is the man natural; but the moment they have been dispersed by the Lord, he is spiritual.

Furthermore: so long as the concupiscences of evils block up the interiors of the natural mind, so long is the man animal, differing only in his ability to think and speak, even of such things as he does not see with his eyes, which ability he derives from his capacity of uplifting his understanding into the light of heaven. The moment however that these concupiscences have been dispersed by the Lord, the man is a man, because he then thinks what is true in the understanding from what is good in the will.

And furthermore:

so long as the concupiscences of evils block up the interiors of the natural mind, the man is like a garden in winter time, but the moment these concupiscences have been dispersed by the Lord, he is like a garden in summer time.

The conjunction in a man of the will and the understanding is meant in the Word by "heart and soul," and by "heart and spirit." For example:

that we must love God:
With all the heart, and with all the soul (Matt. 22:37).

And that God will give:
A new heart, and a new spirit (Ezek. 11:19; 36:26-27).

The "heart" means the will and its love, and the "soul" and the "spirit," the understanding and its wisdom.

(LIFE 86)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 85)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 85)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS THEFTS OF EVERY KIND
AS SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE LOVES SINCERITY.

... the evil of theft enters more deeply into a man than any other evil because it is conjoined with cunning and deceit, and that cunning and deceit insinuate themselves even into the spiritual mind of man in which is his thought with understanding. Something shall therefore now be said about the mind of man — the mind of man is his understanding and will together.

(LIFE 85)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 84)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 84)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS THEFTS OF EVERY KIND
AS SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE LOVES SINCERITY.

Sincerity is to be understood as including integrity, justice, fidelity, and rectitude. In these no man can be from himself so as to love them from and for themselves. But he is in them who shuns as sins, fraud, cunning, and deceit, and is therefore in them not from himself but from the Lord (as shown above, n. 18-31) Such is the case with a priest, a magistrate, a judge, a trader, and with everyone in his own office and his own work.

This is taught by the Word in many passages, among which are the following:

• He that walketh in righteousnesses, and speaketh uprightnesses; he that despiseth oppressions for gain, that shaketh his hands from holding bribes, that stoppeth his ears from the hearing of bloods, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high (Isa. 33:15-16).

•  Jehovah, who shall abide in Thy tent? who shall dwell in the mountain of Thy holiness? He that walketh uprightly, and doeth righteousness; he that slandereth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his companion (Ps. 15:1-3, etc.).

• Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with Me he that walketh in the way of the upright, he shall minister unto Me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell in the midst of My house; he that speaketh lies shall not stand before Mine eyes. In the dawning will I cut off all the wicked of the land, to cut off from the city all the workers of iniquity (Ps. 101:6-8).

That unless a man is interiorly sincere, just, faithful, and upright, he is insincere, unjust, unfaithful, and base, is taught by the Lord in these words:

• Except your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5:10).

The "righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees" means the interior righteousness in which is the man who is in the Lord. That he is in the Lord is taught by the Lord Himself in John:

• The glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected into one; that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:22-23, 26).

From this it is evident that they are "perfect" when the Lord is in them. These are they who are called:

• The pure in heart, who shall see God and, Those who are perfect as is their Father in the heavens (Matt. 5:8, 48).

(LIFE 84)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 83)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 83)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS THEFTS OF EVERY KIND
AS SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE LOVES SINCERITY.

Sincerity is to be understood as including integrity, justice, fidelity, and rectitude. In these no man can be from himself so as to love them from and for themselves. But he is in them who shuns as sins, fraud, cunning, and deceit, and is therefore in them not from himself but from the Lord (as shown above, n. 18-31) Such is the case with a priest, a magistrate, a judge, a trader, and with everyone in his own office and his own work.

(LIFE 83)