Freedom and Rationality

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Freedom and Rationality - Those to whom it cannot be given or scarcely given

Every man possesses the faculty to will that is called liberty, and the faculty to understand that is called rationality; but it should be well understood that these faculties are, as it were, innate in man, for his human itself is in them.

It is one thing to act from freedom in accordance with reason, and another thing to act from freedom itself in accordance with reason itself. Only such as have suffered themselves to be regenerated by the Lord act from freedom itself in accordance with reason itself; all others act from freedom in accordance with thought to which they give the semblance of reason. And yet every man, unless born foolish or excessively stupid, is able to attain to reason itself, and through it to freedom itself. But there are numerous reasons why every man does not do this that will be made known in what follows. Here it will only be told who those are to whom freedom itself or liberty itself, together with reason itself or rationality itself, cannot be given; and to whom they can scarcely be given.

• Liberty itself and rationality itself cannot be given to those that are born foolish, or to those who have become foolish, so long as they remain so.

• They cannot be given to those born stupid and gross, or to any who have become so from the torpor of idleness, or from any disease that has perverted or wholly closed the interiors of the mind, or from the love of a beastly life.

• Liberty itself and rationality itself cannot be given to those in the Christian world who wholly deny the Lord's Divinity and the holiness of the Word, and have maintained this denial confirmed in them to the end of life; for this is meant by the sin against the Holy Spirit which is not forgiven either in this age or in the age to come (Matt. 12:31, 32).

• Neither can liberty itself and rationality itself be given to those who attribute all things to nature and nothing to the Divine, and who have made this to be their belief by reasonings from things visible; for such are atheists.

• Liberty itself and rationality itself can scarcely be given to those who have strongly confirmed themselves in falsities of religion, for a confirmer of falsity is a denier of truth. But they can be given to those who, whatever their religion may be, have not so confirmed themselves ...

• Infants and children cannot come into liberty itself and rationality itself until they are grown up; for the interiors of the mind in man are opened gradually; and in the meantime, they are like seeds in unripe fruit, that cannot sprout in the soil.

It has been said that liberty itself and rationality itself cannot be given to those that have denied the Lord's Divinity and the holiness of the Word, or to those that have confirmed themselves in favor of nature against the Divine, and scarcely to those that have strongly confirmed themselves in falsities of religion. Yet none of these have lost the faculties themselves.

I have known atheists who have become devils and satans to understand the arcana of wisdom as well as angels, but only while they heard them from others; and when they returned into their own thoughts they did not understand, for the reason that they had no desire to. But they were shown that they, too, might have the desire if they were not misled by the love and consequent enjoyment of evil; and this they understood when they heard it, and even asserted that they might, but that they had no wish to be able, since this would make them unable to will what they had willed, which was evil, from enjoyment in its lust. I have often heard such wonderful things in the spiritual world, by which it has been fully proved to me that every man possesses liberty and rationality; and that everyone can come into liberty itself and rationality itself provided he shuns evils as sins.

But a mature man who does not come into liberty itself and rationality itself in the world can in no wise come into them after death; for his state of life then remains forever such as it had been in the world.

(Divine Providence 98-99)

The Summaries of Faith

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Man acquires faith by going to the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living according to them.

The Summaries of Faith

Faith enters into all parts and each part of a system of theology, as blood flows into the members of the body and vivifies them.  The general principles which the New Church teaches respecting its faith are the following:

The Esse of the Faith of the New Church is:

1. Confidence in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ.

2. A trust that he who lives well and believes aright is saved by Him.

The Essence of the Faith of the New Church is:

Truth from the Word.

The Existence of the Faith of the New Church is:

1. Spiritual sight.

2. Accordance of Truths.

3. Conviction.

4. Acknowledgment inscribed on the mind.

The States of the Faith of the New Church are:

1. Infantile faith, adolescent faith, adult faith

2. Faith in genuine truth and faith in appearances of truth.

3. Faith of the memory, faith of reason, faith of light.

4. Natural faith, spiritual faith, celestial faith.

5. Living faith, and faith founded on miracle.

6. Free faith, and forced faith.

The Form itself of the Faith of the New Church, in its universal view, and its particular view, may be seen above (n. 2, 3).

As the constituents of spiritual faith have been presented in a summary, so also shall those of merely natural faith, which in itself is a persuasion counterfeiting faith, and a persuasion of what is false, which is called heretical faith. It may be designated as follows:

1. Spurious faith, in which falsities are mixed with truths.

2. Meretricious faith from truths falsified, and adulterous faith from goods adulterated.

3. Closed or blind faith, which is a faith in things mystical that are believed, although it is not known whether they are true or false, or whether they are above reason or contrary to it.

4. Wandering faith, which is a faith in several Gods.

5. Purblind faith, which is a faith in some other than the true God, and among Christians in any but the Lord God the Savior.

6. Hypocritical or Pharisaic faith, which is a faith of the lips and not of the heart.

7. Visionary and distorted faith, which is falsity made to appear like truth by ingenious confirmation of it.

It has been said above that faith, as to its existence in man, is spiritual sight. Now as spiritual sight which is the sight of the understanding, and thus of the mind, and natural sight which is the sight of the eye and thus of the body, mutually correspond, every state of faith may be compared with some state of the eye and its sight - a state of faith in what is true with every normal state of eyesight, and a state of faith in what is false with every perverted state of eyesight. Let us compare then the correspondences of these two kinds of sight, mental and bodily, as to their perverted states.

Spurious faith, in which falsities are mixed with truths, may be compared to that disease of the eye and consequently of the sight, called white specks on the cornea, which produces dimness of sight.

Meretricious faith which comes from truths falsified, and adulterous faith which is from goods adulterated, may be compared to that disease of the eye and consequently of the sight, called glaucoma, which is a drying up and hardening of the crystalline humor.

Closed or blind faith, which is a faith in things mystical that are believed, although it is not known whether they are true or false, or whether they are above reason or contrary to it, may be compared to the disease of the eye called gutta serena or amaurosis, which is a loss of sight while the eye still looks as though it saw perfectly, which arises from an obstruction of the optic nerve.

Erratic faith, which is a faith in several Gods, may be compared to the disease of the eye called cataract, which is a loss of vision, arising from a stoppage between the sclerotic coat and the uvea.

Purblind faith, which is a faith in any other than the true God, and among Christians in any but the Lord God the Savior, may be compared to the disease of the eye called strabismus.

Hypocritical or Pharisiac faith, which is a faith of the lips and not of the heart, maybe compared to atrophy of the eye, and consequent loss of sight.

Visionary and distorted faith, which is falsity made to appear like truth by an ingenious confirmation of it, may be compared to the disease of the eye called nyctalopia, which is seeing in darkness from an illusive light.

(True Christian Religion 343-346)

That Which Excuses Or Condemns

Selection from Brief Exposition ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

It is said in the church, that no one can fulfill the law, especially since whosoever offends against one commandment of the Decalogue, offends against all. This form of speaking, however, is not such as it sounds; for this is to be understood in this manner: -

that whosoever from purpose or from confirmation acts against one commandment, acts against all the rest, since to act thus from purpose or from confirmation is to deny altogether that it is a sin, and he who denies it to be sin, makes light of acting against all the rest of the commandments. 

Who does not know, that he who is a fornicator is not therefore a murderer, a thief, or a false witness, nor even willing to be such? But he who is an adulterer from purpose and confirmation, makes light of all things relating to religion, and consequently pays no regard to murders, thefts, and false witness, not abstaining from them because they are sins, but for fear of the law or loss of reputation.

The case is similar, if anyone from purpose or confirmation acts against any other commandment of the Decalogue; he then also offends against the rest, because he does not account anything a sin.

It is very similar with those who are in good from the Lord. These, if from the will and understanding, or from purpose and confirmation, they abstain from one evil because it is a sin, abstain from all, and still more if they abstain from many; for whenever anyone abstains, from purpose and confirmation, from any evil, because it is a sin, he is kept by the Lord in the purpose of abstaining from the rest; wherefore if through ignorance, or any predominant lust of the body, he does an evil, it nevertheless is not imputed to him, because he did not purpose it to himself, nor confirm it with himself.

A man comes into this kind of purpose, if he examines himself once or twice a year, and repents of the evil he discovers in himself.

It is otherwise with him who never examines himself. It is permitted to confirm this by the following. I have met with many in the spiritual world, who have lived like other people in the natural world, feasting sumptuously, being splendidly clothed, making interest by trade like others, frequenting play houses, joking on amatory affairs as if from lust, with other things of a similar nature, and yet the angels charged such things as evils of sin in some, and did not impute them as evils in others, declaring the latter innocent, and the former guilty. On being asked the reason of such distinction, when both had indulged in like practices, they replied, that they consider all according to their purpose, intention, and end, and distinguish them accordingly; and therefore that they excuse and condemn those whom the end excuses or condemns, inasmuch as good is the end that influences all who are in heaven, and evil is the end that influences all who are in hell.

From what has been said it now plainly appears, to whom sin is imputed, and to whom it is not imputed.

(from Breif Exposition 113)

Foresight and Providence

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

As regards foresight and providence in general, it is foresight relatively to man, and providence relatively to the Lord.

The Lord foresaw from eternity what the human race would be, and what would be the quality of each member of it, and that evil would continually increase, until at last man of himself would rush headlong into hell. On this account the Lord has not only provided means by which man may be turned from hell and led to heaven, but also from providence He continually turns and leads him.

The Lord also foresaw that it would be impossible for any good to be rooted in man except in his freedom, for whatever is not rooted in freedom is dissipated on the first approach of evil and temptation. This the Lord foresaw, and also that man of himself, or from his freedom, would incline toward the deepest hell; and therefore the Lord provides that if a man should not suffer himself to be led in freedom to heaven, he may still be bent toward a milder hell; but that if he should suffer himself to be led in freedom to good, he may be led to heaven. This shows what foresight means, and what providence, and that what is foreseen is thus provided.

And from this we can see how greatly the man errs who believes that the Lord has not foreseen, and does not see, the veriest singulars appertaining to man, and that in these He does not foresee and lead; when the truth is that the Lord's foresight and providence are in the very minutest of these veriest singulars connected with man, in things so very minute that it is impossible by any thought to comprehend as much as one out of a hundred millions of them; for every smallest moment of man's life involves a series of consequences extending to eternity, each moment being as a new beginning to those which follow; and so with all and each of the moments of his life, both of his understanding and of his will.

And as the Lord foresaw from eternity what would be man's quality, and what it would be to eternity, it is evident that His providence is in the veriest singulars, and as before said governs and bends the man to such a quality; and this by a continual moderating of his freedom.

(Arcana Coelestia 3854)

What Should a Man have More at Heart?

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

Falsities are principles and persuasions of what is false ... Persuasions immensely increase when men mingle truths with cupidities [yearning], or make them favor the loves of self and of the world; for then in a thousand ways they pervert them and force them into agreement. For who that has imbibed or framed for himself a false principle does not confirm it by much that he has learned; and even from the Word? Is there any heresy that does not thus lay hold of things to confirm it? and even force, and in diverse ways explain and distort, things that are not in agreement, so that they may not disagree?

For example, he who adopts the principle that faith alone is saving, without the goods of charity; can he not weave a whole system of doctrine out of the Word? and this without in the least caring for, or considering, or even seeing, what the Lord says, that "the tree is known by its fruit" and that "every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire"? What is more pleasing than to live after the flesh, and yet be saved if only one knows what is true, though he does nothing of good? Every cupidity [yearning] that a man favors forms the life of his will, and every principle or persuasion of falsity forms the life of his understanding. These lives make one when the truths or doctrinals of faith are immersed in cupidities [yearning].

Every man thus forms for himself as it were a soul, and such after death does his life become.

Nothing therefore is of more importance to a man than to know what is true. When he knows what is true, and knows it so well that it cannot be perverted, then it cannot be so much immersed in cupidities [yearning] and have such deadly effect.

What should a man have more at heart than his life to eternity? If in the life of the body he destroys his soul, does he not destroy it to eternity?

(from Arcana Coelestia 794)

The Office of Angels with Man

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders  and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’  I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:4-7

The angels, through whom the Lord leads and also protects a man, are near his head. It is their office to inspire charity and faith, and to observe in what direction the man's delights turn, and insofar as they can, without interfering with the man's freedom, moderate them and bend them to good. They are forbidden to act with violence and thus break the man's cupidities and principles; but are enjoined to act gently. It is also their office to rule the evil spirits who are from hell, which is done in innumerable ways, of which the following only may be mentioned. When the evil spirits pour in evils and falsities, the angels insinuate truths and goods, which, if not received, are nevertheless the means of tempering. Infernal spirits continually attack, and the angels protect; such is the order.

The angels especially regulate the affections, for these make the man's life, and also his freedom. The angels also observe whether any hells are open that were not open before, and from which there is influx with the man, which takes place when the man brings himself into any new evil. These hells the angels close so far as the man allows, and remove any spirits who attempt to emerge therefrom. They also disperse strange and new influxes that produce evil effects.

Especially do the angels call forth the goods and truths that are with a man, and set them in opposition to the evils and falsities which the evil spirits excite. Thus the man is in the midst, and does not perceive either the evil or the good; and being in the midst, he is in freedom to turn himself either to the one or to the other. By such means do angels from the Lord lead and protect a man, and this every moment, and every moment of a moment; for if the angels were to intermit their care for a single moment, the man would be precipitated into evil from which he could never afterward be brought out. These things the angels do from the love they have from the Lord, for they perceive nothing more delightful and happy than to remove evils from a man, and lead him to heaven. That this is a joy to them. Scarcely any man believes that the Lord takes such care of a man, and this continually from the first thread of his life to the last of it, and afterward to eternity.

(Arcana Coelestia 5992)

Examining One's Distinctive Characteristic

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

All spirits in the other life are distinguished in the following manner:

• those who desire evil against others are infernal or diabolical spirits
• those who desire good to others are good and angelic spirits.

A man can know among which he is, whether among the infernal or among the angelic:

• if he intends evil to his neighbor, thinks nothing but evil concerning him, and actually does it when he can, and takes delight therein, he is among the infernals, and also becomes infernal in the other life
• the man who intends good to his neighbor, and thinks nothing but good respecting him, and actually does it when he can, is among the angelic spirits, and also becomes an angel in the other life.

This is the distinctive characteristic. Let everyone examine himself by this, in order to learn what he is.

That a man does no evil when he is unable or afraid to do it, amounts to nothing; or that he does good for the sake of self; for these are external things that are removed in the other life. A man there is such as he thinks and intends. There are many who can speak well from a habit formed in the world; but it is instantly perceived whether the mind or intention agrees therewith; if not, they are rejected among the infernals of their own genus and species.

(from Arcana Coelestia 1680: 2,3)