Concerning Man's Freedom (Part 3)

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(continued)

The Lord flows in through man's inmost with good, and there conjoins truth with it: their root must be in the inmost. Unless a man is in freedom interiorly as to all his affections and as to all his thoughts, he can never be so disposed that good and truth may take any root.

Nothing else appears to a man as his (or what is the same, as his own) except that which flows from freedom. The reason is that all affection which is of love is his veriest life; and to act from affection is to act from life, that is, from himself, and thus from what is his, or what is the same, from his own.

In order therefore that man may receive an Own that is heavenly, such as have the angels in heaven, he is kept in freedom, and through freedom he is introduced into it.

It may be known to everyone that to worship the Lord from freedom appears as if it were from one's self, or from one's own; but that to worship Him under compulsion is not from one's self, but from a force from without, or from some other source, compelling him to do it; thus that worship from freedom is worship itself, and that worship under compulsion is no worship.

If man could have been reformed by compulsion, there would not be any man in the universe who would not be saved; for nothing would be easier for the Lord than to compel man to fear Him, to worship Him, and indeed as it were to love Him; the means being innumerable. But as that which is done under compulsion is not conjoined, and thus is not appropriated, it is therefore the furthest possible from the Lord to compel anyone.

So long as a man is in combats, or is one of the church militant, it appears as if the Lord compels the man, and thus that he has no freedom; for he is then continually combating against the love of self and of the world, thus against the freedom into which he was born and into which he has grown up; hence comes the appearance just referred to.

But that in the combats in which he overcomes, the freedom is stronger than when out of combats (a freedom not from himself, but from the Lord, and still appearing as his), may be seen in Arcana Coelestia no.s 1937, 1947).

Most of all does man believe that he has no freedom from the fact that he has learned that he cannot do good and think truth of himself. But let him not believe that anyone ever has or ever had any freedom of thinking truth and doing good of himself, not even the man who, from the state of perfection in which he was, was called a "likeness and image of God;" for the freedom of thinking the truth of faith, and of doing the good of charity, all flows in from the Lord. The Lord is Good itself and Truth itself; and is hence their fountain. All the angels are in such freedom, and indeed in the very perception that what we have just stated is the truth. The inmost angels perceive how much is from the Lord, and how much from themselves; and so far as it is from the Lord, they are in happiness; but so far as it is from themselves, they are not in what is happy.

In order therefore that a man may receive an Own that is heavenly, he must do good of himself, and think truth of himself; but still must know, and when reformed must think and believe, that all the good and all the truth are from the Lord, even as to the very least of all (and this because it is so); while its being given to man to think that it is from himself, is in order that the good and truth may become as his own.

(Arcana Coelestia 2879-2883)

Concerning Man's Freedom (Part 2)

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(continued)

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. John 3:8

The good of life, or the affection of good, is insinuated by the Lord by an internal way, without man's knowing anything about it; but the truth of doctrine, or faith, by an external way, into the memory, whence it is called forth by the Lord in His own time and according to His own order, and is conjoined with the affection of good. This is done in man's freedom; for as before said, man's freedom is from affection. Such is the insemination and inrooting of faith.

Whatever is done in freedom is conjoined, but that which is done under compulsion is not conjoined; as may be seen from considering that by no possibility can anything be conjoined except that by which we are affected: affection is the very thing that receives; to receive anything contrary to the affection is to receive it contrary to the life. Hence it is manifest that truth of doctrine, or faith, cannot be received except by the affection of it. But such as is the affection, such is the reception. It is only the affection of truth and good that receives the truth of faith; for they agree, and because they agree, they conjoin themselves together.

As no one can be reformed except in freedom, therefore freedom is never taken away from a man, insofar as the appearance is concerned; for it is an eternal law that everyone should be in freedom as to his interiors, that is, as to his affections and thoughts, in order that the affection of good and truth may be implanted in him.

Whenever the affection of truth and the affection of good are insinuated by the Lord, [which is done without man's knowledge], he then imbues himself with truth and does good in freedom, because from affection; for when anything is done from affection, then as before said there is freedom; and the truth of faith conjoins itself with the good of charity. Unless a man had freedom in everything he thinks and wills, the freedom of thinking truth and of willing good could never be insinuated by the Lord into anyone; for in order that a man may be reformed he must think truth as of himself, and do good as of himself; and what is done as of one's self is done in freedom. Unless this were so, there would never be any reformation or regeneration.

There are innumerable causes from which and on account of which a man loves to learn truth and to will good (very many from the world, and also very many from the body); and sometimes these things are not done for the sake of heaven, and still less for the sake of the Lord.

A man is thus introduced by the Lord into truth and good by affections, and one man altogether differently from another, each one according to his disposition, innate and acquired. And as he is continually being introduced into truth and good by affections, and thus continually by freedom, and at length into the affections of spiritual truth and spiritual good, the Lord alone knows the times and the states, and He alone arranges and governs them in application to each one's genius and life. This shows why man has freedom.

(Arcana Coelestia 2875-2878)

Concerning Man's Freedom (Part 1)

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Few know what freedom is, and what non-freedom is.

All that which is of any love and its delight appears to be freedom, and that which is contrary to these, non-freedom. 

• What is of the love of self and the love of the world, and of their cupidities [yearnings], appears to man as freedom, but it is infernal freedom.

• What is of love to the Lord and of love toward the neighbor, consequently of the love of good and truth, is freedom itself, and is heavenly freedom.

Infernal spirits do not know that there is any other freedom than that which is of the love of self and the love of the world; that is, of the cupidities [yearnings] of commanding, of persecuting and hating all who do not serve them, of tormenting everyone, of destroying the universe if they could for the sake of self; of taking away and claiming to themselves whatever is another's. When they are in these and similar things, they are in their freedom, because they are in their delight. Their life consists in this freedom to such a degree that if it were taken away from them, nothing more of life would remain to them than that of a newborn infant. This was also shown by living experience.

A certain evil spirit was in the persuasion that such things could be taken away from him, and that in this way he could come into heaven; consequently that his life could be miraculously changed into heavenly life; on which account those loves together with their cupidities [yearnings] were taken away from him (which is done in the other life by dissociation), and he then appeared like an infant paddling with his hands, which he could scarcely move; and he was at the same time in such a state as to be less able to think than any infant, and unable to speak anything at all, or to know anything. But he was soon restored to his delight, and thus to his freedom. 

From this it is manifest that it is impossible for anyone to come into heaven who has procured a life for himself from the love of self and the world, and consequently who is in the freedom of these loves; for if that life were taken away from such a person, he would not have anything of thought and will remaining.

But heavenly freedom is that which is from the Lord, and in it are all the angels in the heavens. 

As before said this is the freedom of love to the Lord and mutual love, and thus of the affection of good and truth. The quality of this freedom may be seen from the fact that everyone who is in it communicates his blessedness and happiness to another from inmost affection, and that it is a blessedness and happiness to him that he is able to communicate it. And because the universal heaven is such, it follows that everyone is a center of all forms of blessedness and happiness, and that all these belong at the same time to each angel. The communication itself is effected by the Lord, by wonderful inflowings in an incomprehensible form, which is the form of heaven. This shows what heavenly freedom is, and that it is from the Lord alone.

How far distant heavenly freedom (which is from the affection of good and truth) is from infernal freedom (which is from the affection of evil and falsity), is evident from the fact that when the angels in heaven merely think about such freedom as is from the affection of evil and falsity, or what is the same, from the cupidities [yearnings] of the love of self and the world, they are immediately seized with internal pain; and on the other hand, when evil spirits merely think about the freedom which is from the affection of good and truth, or what is the same, from the desires of mutual love, they at once come into anguish; and what is wonderful, so opposite is the one freedom to the other, that the freedom of the love of self and the world is hell to good spirits; and on the other hand, the freedom of love to the Lord and mutual love is hell to evil spirits.

Hence all in the other life are distinct according to their kinds of freedom, or what is the same, according to their loves and affections, consequently according to the delights of their life, which is the same as according to their lives; for lives are nothing else than delights, and these are nothing else than affections which are of the loves. 

From this it is now evident what freedom is, namely, that it is to think and will from affection, and that the freedom is such as is the affection; also that the one freedom is infernal, and the other freedom heavenly, and that infernal freedom is from hell, whereas heavenly freedom is from the Lord. It is also evident that they who are in infernal freedom cannot come into heavenly freedom (which would be coming from hell into heaven) unless the whole of their life is taken away from them; also that no one can come into heavenly freedom except by reformation from the Lord; and that he is then introduced into it by the affection of good and truth, that is, by the good of life in which the truth of doctrine is being implanted.

(Arcana Coelestia 2870-2874)

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)