A Very General Outline of Creation

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

(1) There are two worlds, a spiritual world where angels and spirits are, and a natural world where men are.

(2) In each world there is a sun. The sun of the spiritual world is nothing but love from Jehovah God who is in the midst of it. From that sun heat and light go forth; the heat that goes forth therefrom in its essence is love, and the light that goes forth in its essence is wisdom; and these two affect the will and understanding of man - the heat his will and the light his understanding. But the sun of the natural world is nothing but fire, and therefore its heat is dead, also its light; and these serve as a covering and auxiliary to spiritual heat and light, to enable them to pass over to man.

(3) Again, these two which go forth from the sun of the spiritual world, and in consequence all things that have existence in that world by means of them, are substantial, and are called spiritual; while the two like things that go forth from the sun of the natural world, and in consequence all things here that have existence by means of them, are material, and are called natural.

(4) In each world there are three degrees, called degrees of height, (discrete degrees) and in consequence three regions; and in accordance with these the three angelic heavens are arranged, and also in accordance with them human minds are arranged, which thus correspond to those three angelic heavens; and the same is true of every thing else in both worlds.

(5) There is a correspondence between those things that are in the spiritual world and those in the natural world.

(6) There is an order in which each thing and all things belonging to both worlds were created.

(7) It is necessary that an idea of these things should first be gained, for unless this is done the human mind from mere ignorance of these things easily falls into a notion of a creation of the universe by nature; while on mere ecclesiastical authority it asserts that nature was created by God; and yet, because it does not know how creation was effected, as soon as it begins to look interiorly into the matter, it plunges headlong into the naturalism that denies God. But it would be truly the work of a large volume to explain and demonstrate these statements properly one by one; moreover, the matter does not properly enter into the theological system of this book as a theme or argument therefore I will merely relate some memorable occurrences from which an idea of the creation of the universe by God may be conceived, and from such a conception some offspring that will represent it may be born.

— A MEMORABLE RELATION —

One day I was meditating upon the creation of the universe; and this being perceived by the angels above me on the right side, where were some who from time to time meditated and reasoned on this subject, one of them descended and invited me to join them; and coming into the spirit I went with him; and having joined them I was taken to the prince, in whose palace I saw some hundreds assembled, with the prince in the midst.

Then one of them said, "We perceived here that you were meditating upon the creation of the universe; and we too have sometimes indulged in like meditation; but we have never been able to reach a conclusion, because there clung to our thoughts the idea of a chaos, as having been the great egg, as it were, out of which each thing and all things in the universe in their order were hatched; whereas we now perceive that so great a universe could not have been so brought forth. Then there also clung to our minds another idea, namely, that all things were created by God out of nothing; but we are now able to see that out of nothing nothing comes. From these two ideas we have never yet been able to extricate our minds, and to see with any degree of clearness how creation was accomplished. Therefore we have called you from the place where you were, that you might set forth your mediation on this subject. "

Having heard this I replied, "I will do so." And I said, "I have meditated on this subject for a long time, but to no purpose. But since I have been introduced by the Lord into your world I have perceived how idle it would be to try to form a conclusion about the creation of the universe without first knowing that there are two worlds, one in which angels are, and the other in which men are; and that men through death pass from their world to the other. I then also saw that there are two suns, one from which all spiritual things flow, and the other from which all natural things flow; and that the sun from which all spiritual things flow is nothing but love from Jehovah God, who is in its midst, and that the sun from which all natural things flow is nothing but fire. Having learned these facts, at one time when in a state of enlightenment I was permitted to perceive that the universe was created by Jehovah God by means of the sun in the midst of which He is; and as there can be no love apart from wisdom, that the universe was created by Jehovah God from His love by means of His wisdom. The truth of this is evinced by all things and each thing I have seen in the world where you are, and in the-world where I am in the body.

It would take too much space to explain how creation progressed from its primordial state; but when I have been in a state of enlightenment I have perceived that by means of the heat and light from the sun of your world spiritual atmospheres, which are in themselves substantial, were created one from another. As there were three of these atmospheres, and consequently three degrees of them, three heavens were made; one for the angels who are in the highest degree of love and wisdom, a second for those who are in the second degree, and a third for those who are in the lowest degree. But as this spiritual universe cannot exist without a natural universe wherein it can work out its effects and uses, so at the same time a sun was created from which all natural things proceed, and through which in like manner, by means of heat and light, three atmospheres were created, encompassing the three former as a shell its kernel, or as bark its wood; and finally by means of these atmospheres the terraqueous globe was created where men, beasts, fishes, trees, shrubs, and herbs were formed of earthly substances, composed of soil, stones, and minerals.

This is a very general outline of creation and its progress. It would require many volumes to explain the particular and most particular things of it; yet all things point to the conclusion that God did not create the universe out of nothing, for as you have said, out of nothing nothing comes, but that He created it by means of the sun of the angelic heaven, which is from His very Esse, and is therefore nothing but love joined with wisdom. That the universe, by which is meant both the spiritual world and the natural world, was created from the Divine love by means of the Divine wisdom is attested and proved by each thing and all things in it; and this, if you will consider these things in their order and connection, you will be able to see clearly in the light that illuminates the perceptions of your understanding. But it must be kept in mind that the love and wisdom which make one in God are not love and wisdom in an abstract sense, but are in Him as substance; for God is the Very, the Only, and thus the primal Substance and Essence, which has Being and Subsistence in itself.

That it was from the Divine love and the Divine wisdom that each and all things were created is meant by these words in John:

The Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him, and the world was made by Him (John 1:1, 3, 10),

'God' signifying here the Divine love, and the 'Word' the truth or Divine wisdom; therefore in the same passage the Word is called 'Light', and in relation to God 'Light' means the Divine wisdom."

When I had finished and was bidding them adieu, some rays of light from the sun there descended through the angelic heavens into their eyes, and through these into the abodes of their minds; and when thus enlightened they assented to what I had said, and afterwards followed me into the hall; and my former companion took me to the house where he had found me, and from there he reascended to his own society.

(True Christian Religion 75, 76)

The Human Form After Death

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Man's mind is his spirit, and the spirit is the man, while the body is an external by means of which the mind or spirit feels and acts in its world.

That man's mind is his spirit, and that the spirit is the man, can hardly enter the faith of those who have supposed the spirit to be wind, and the soul to be an airy something like breath breathed out from the lungs. For they say, How can the spirit, when it is spirit, be the man, and how can the soul, when it is soul, be the man? They think in the same way of God because He is called a Spirit. This idea of the spirit and the soul has come from the fact that spirit and wind in some languages are the same word; also, that when a man dies, he is said to give up the ghost or spirit; also, that life returns, after suffocation or swooning, when the spirit or breath of the lungs comes back. Because in these cases nothing but the breath or air is perceived, it is concluded from the eye and bodily sense that the spirit and soul of man after death is not the man. From this corporeal conclusion about the spirit and soul, various hypotheses have arisen, and these have given birth to a belief that man after death does not become a man until the day of the last judgment, and that meanwhile his spirit remains somewhere or other awaiting reunion with the body, according to what has been shown in the Continuation concerning the Last Judgment (#'s 32-38): —

CONTINUATION ON THE SPIRITUAL WORLD

The spiritual world was described in a special book called HEAVEN AND HELL; this contains numerous descriptions of that world, and, since everyone after death comes into it, of what his state will be then. Is there anyone who does not know that he is going to live after death, seeing that he was born a human being and created to be an image of God, and that this is the Lord's teaching in His Word? But no one up to now has known what kind of life awaits him.

People have believed that they would then be a soul, and they formed no idea of a soul except as air or ether, having some residual power of thought, but deprived of the sight the eye has, the hearing the ear has, and the speech the mouth has. Yet a person is just as much a person after death, to such a point indeed that he is unaware that he is not still in the former world. He can see, hear and speak as in the former world. He can walk, run and sit as in the former world. He can eat and drink as in the former world. He can sleep and wake up as in the former world. He can enjoy the delights of marriage as in the former world. In short, he is a person down to the last detail. This makes it plain that death is no more than a continuation of life, being merely a passing over.

There are many reasons why people have not known that this will be their state after death. One is that they could not be enlightened, because they had too little faith in the immortality of the soul. This is evident from the many, including the learned, who think they are like animals, being only superior to them in having the power of speech. Although they profess with their tongues to believe in life after death, they deny it in their hearts. Thinking like this has made them so dependent on their senses that they cannot believe that a person is still a person after death, because they cannot see him with their eyes. They even say: 'How can a soul be like that?'

Those who believe they will continue to live after death are quite different. They think to themselves that they will go to heaven, enjoy its delights in company with angels, see the heavenly paradises and stand before the Lord dressed in white, and much more. This is what they think inwardly; but their outward thinking may diverge from this, when they allow the theories of the learned about the soul to influence their thinking.

It is evident that a person remains a person after death, even though not visible to the eyes, from the angels seen by Abraham, Gideon, Daniel and other prophets; or from the angels seen in the Lord's tomb, and many times after that by John, as described in Revelation; and above all from the Lord Himself, who showed Himself to the disciples to be a man by touch and by eating, yet was able to vanish from the sight of their eyes. The reason why they saw Him was that at that time the eyes of their spirits were opened, and when they are open objects in the spiritual world are as plain to see as those in the natural world.

The difference between a person in the natural world and one in the spiritual world is that one is clothed in a spiritual body, the other in a natural one; and a spiritual person sees another spiritual person as clearly as a natural person sees another natural person. But a natural person cannot see a spiritual person, nor can a spiritual person see a natural person because of the difference between the natural and the spiritual. This can be described, but not in a few words.

From what I have seen over so many years I can report as follows.

The spiritual world contains countries just as the natural world does, hills and mountains, plains and valleys; springs and rivers, lakes and seas; parks and gardens, woods and forests; palaces and houses; writing and books; official positions and businesses; precious stones, gold and silver. In short it contains everything that exists in the natural world of every kind, and those in the heavens are infinitely more perfect.

But there is one general difference: everything in the spiritual world is of spiritual origin and is consequently in essence spiritual, since it is the product of the sun of that world which is pure love. Everything in the natural world is of natural origin and is consequently in essence natural, since it is the product of the sun of that world which is pure fire. As a result a spiritual person needs to be fed with food of spiritual origin, just as a natural person with food of natural origin. See further in HEAVEN AND HELL.

Because man's mind is his spirit, the angels, who also are spirits, are called minds.

Man's mind is his spirit, and the spirit is the man, because by the mind all things of man's will and understanding are meant, which things are in first principles in the brains and in derivatives in the body; therefore in respect to their forms they are all things of man. This being so, the mind (that is, the will and understanding) impels the body and all its belongings at will. Does not the body do whatever the mind thinks and wills? Does not the mind incite the ear to hear, and direct the eye to see, move the tongue and the lips to speak, impel the hands and fingers to do whatever it pleases, and the feet to walk whither it will? Is the body, then, anything but obedience to its mind; and can the body be such unless the mind is in its derivatives in the body?

Is it consistent with reason to think that the body acts from obedience simply because the mind so wills? in which case they should be two, the one above and the other below, one commanding, the other obeying.

As this is in no way consistent with reason, it follows that man's life is in its first principles in the brains, and in its derivatives in the body (according to what has been said above); also that such as life is in first principles, such it is in the whole and in every part; and by means of these first principles life is in the whole from every part, and in every part from the whole.

All things of the mind have relation to the will and understanding, and that the will and understanding are the receptacles of love and wisdom from the Lord, and that these two make the life of man, has been shown in the preceding pages.

From what has now been said, it can also be seen that man's mind is the man himself. For the primary texture of the human form, that is, the human form itself with each and every thing thereof, is from first principles continued from the brain through the nerves, in the manner described above. It is this form into which man comes after death, who is then called a spirit or an angel, and who is in all completeness a man, but a spiritual man. The material form that is added and super induced in the world, is not a human form by itself, but only by virtue of the spiritual form, to which it is added and super induced that man may be enabled to perform uses in the natural world, and also to draw to himself out of the purer substances of the world a fixed containant of spiritual things, and thus continue and perpetuate life. It is a truth of angelic wisdom that man's mind, not alone in general, but in every particular, is in a perpetual conatus toward the human form, for the reason that God is a Man.

That man may be man there must be no part lacking, either in head or in body, that has existence in the complete man; since there is nothing therein that does not enter into the human form and constitute it; for it is the form of love and wisdom, and this, in itself considered, is Divine. In it are all terminations of love and wisdom, which in God-Man are infinite, but in His image, that is, in man, angel, or spirit, are finite. If any part that has existence in man were lacking, there would be lacking something of termination from the love and wisdom corresponding to it, whereby the Lord might be from firsts in outmosts with man, and might from His Divine Love through His Divine Wisdom provide uses in the created world.

(from Divine Love and Wisdom 386-389)

SUCH AS THE LOVE IS, SUCH IS THE WISDOM

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Such as the love is, such is the wisdom, consequently such is the man. For such as the love and wisdom are, such are the will and understanding, since the will is the receptacle of love, and the understanding of wisdom. These two make the man and his character.

Love is manifold, so manifold that its varieties are limitless; as can be seen from the human race on the earths and in the heavens. There is no man or angel so like another that there is no difference. Love is what distinguishes; for every man is his own love. It is supposed that wisdom distinguishes; but wisdom is from love; it is the form of love.

Love is the esse of life, and wisdom is the existere of life from that esse.

In the world it is believed that the understanding makes the man; but this is believed because the understanding can be elevated, as was shown above, into the light of heaven, giving man the appearance of being wise; yet so much of the understanding as transcends, that is to say, so much as is not of the love, although it appears to be man's and therefore to determine man's character, is only an appearance. For so much of the understanding as transcends is, indeed, from the love of knowing and being wise, but not at the same time from the love of applying to life what man knows and is wise in. Consequently, in the world it either in time passes away or lingers outside of the things of memory in its mere borders as something ready to drop off; and therefore after death it is separated, no more of it remaining than is in accord with the spirit's own love.

Inasmuch as love makes the life of man, and thus the man himself, all societies of heaven, and all angels in societies, are arranged according to affections belonging to love, and no society nor any angel in a society according to anything of the understanding separate from love. So likewise in the hells and their societies, but in accordance with loves opposite to the heavenly loves.

From all this it can be seen that such as the love is such is the wisdom, and consequently such is the man.

It is acknowledged, indeed, that man is such as his reigning love is, but only in respect to his mind and disposition, not in respect to his body, thus not wholly.

But it has been made known to me by much experience in the spiritual world, that man from head to foot, that is, from things primary in the head to the outmosts in the body, is such as his love is.

For all in the spiritual world are forms of their own love; the angels forms of heavenly love, the devils of hellish love; the devils deformed in face and body, but the angels beautiful in face and body. Moreover, when their love is assailed their faces are changed, and if much assailed they wholly disappear. This is peculiar to that world, and so happens because their bodies make one with their minds. The reason is evident — all things of the body are derivatives, that is, are things woven together by means of fibers out of first principles, which are receptacles of love and wisdom. Howsoever these first principles may be, their derivatives cannot be different; therefore wherever first principles go their derivatives follow, and cannot be separated. For this reason he who raises his mind to the Lord is wholly raised up to Him, and he who casts his mind down to hell is wholly cast down thither; consequently the whole man, in conformity to his life's love, comes either into heaven or into hell.

Man's mind is a man because God is a Man, and that the body is the mind's external, which feels and acts, and that they are thus one and not two, is a matter of angelic wisdom.

It is to be observed that the very forms of man's members, organs, and viscera, as regards the structure itself, are from fibers that arise out of their first principles in the brains; but these become fixed by means of such substances and matters as are in earths, and from earths in air and in ether. This is effected by means of the blood. Consequently, in order that all parts of the body may be maintained in their formation and rendered permanent in their functions, man requires to be nourished by material food, and to be continually renewed.

(from Divine Love and Wisdom 368-372)

The Doctrine is One When All are in Mutual Love

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

TO BECOME AN HEIR, OR TO INHERIT, SIGNIFIES ETERNAL LIFE IN THE LORD'S KINGDOM

All who are in the Lord's kingdom are heirs; for they live from the Lord's life, which is the life of mutual love; and from this they are called sons. The Lord's sons or heirs are all who are in His life, because their life is from Him, and they are born of Him, that is, are regenerate. They who are born of anyone are heirs; and so are all who are being regenerated by the Lord, for in this case they receive His life.

In the Lord's kingdom there are those who are external, those who are interior, and those who are internal. Good spirits, who are in the first heaven, are external; angelic spirits, who are in the second heaven, are interior; and angels, who are in the third, are internal. They who are external are not so closely related or so near to the Lord, as they who are interior; nor are these so closely related or so near to the Lord, as they who are internal. The Lord, from the Divine love or mercy, wills to have all near to Himself; so that they do not stand at the doors, that is, in the first heaven; but He wills that they should be in the third; and, if it were possible, not only with Himself, but in Himself. Such is the Divine love, or the Lord's love ...

What pertains to doctrine does not itself make the external, still less the internal, as before said; nor with the Lord does it distinguish churches from each other, but that which does this is a life according to doctrinals, all of which, provided they are true, look to charity as their fundamental.

What is doctrine but that which teaches how a man must live? In the Christian world it is doctrinal matters that distinguish churches; and from them men call themselves Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists, or the Reformed and the Evangelical, and by other names. It is from what is doctrinal alone that they are so called; which would never be if they would make love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor the principal of faith. Doctrinal matters would then be only varieties of opinion concerning the mysteries of faith, which truly Christian men would leave to everyone to hold in accordance with his conscience, and would say in their hearts that a man is truly a Christian when he lives as a Christian, that is, as the Lord teaches. Thus from all the differing churches there would be made one church; and all the dissensions that come forth from doctrine alone would vanish; yea, all hatreds of one against another would be dissipated in a moment, and the Lord's kingdom would come upon the earth.

The Ancient Church just after the flood, although spread through many kingdoms, was yet of this character, that is, men differed much among themselves as to doctrinal matters, but still made charity the principal; and they looked upon worship, not from doctrinal matters which pertain to faith, but from charity which pertains to life. This is meant where it is said (Gen. 11:1), that they all had one lip, and their words were one.

The whole earth was of one lip.

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:1-9)

In this verse, and by these few words, is described the state of the Ancient Church as it had been, that it had one doctrine in general; but in the following verse it is described how it began to be falsified and adulterated; and from that to the ninth verse, how it became altogether perverted, so that it no longer had any internal worship. Then, a little further on, the subject treated of is the second Ancient Church, that was begun by Eber; and, finally, the third Ancient Church, which was the beginning of the Jewish Church. For after the flood there were three churches in succession.

As regards the first Ancient Church, in that although it was so widely spread over the earth it was still one in lip and one in words, that is, one in doctrine in general and in particular, when yet its worship both internal and external was everywhere different - as shown in the preceding chapter, where by each nation there named a different doctrinal and ritual were signified - the case is this.

In heaven there are innumerable societies, and all different, and yet they are a one, for they are all led as a one by the Lord ...

In this respect the case is the same as it is with man, in whom, although there are so many viscera, and so many little viscera within the viscera, organs, and members, each one of which acts in a different way, yet all and each are governed as a one, by the one soul; or as it is with the body, wherein the activities of the powers and motions are different, yet all are governed by one motion of the heart and one motion of the lungs, and make a one. That these can thus act as a one, comes from the fact that in heaven there is one single influx, which is received by every individual in accordance with his own genius; and which influx is an influx of affections from the Lord, from His mercy, and from His life; and notwithstanding that there is only one single influx, yet all things obey and follow as a one. This is the result of the mutual love in which are they who are in heaven.

The case was the same in the first Ancient Church; for although there were as many kinds of worship - some being internal and some external - as in general there were nations, and as many specifically as there were families in the nations, and as many in particular as there were men of the church, yet they all had one lip and were one in words; that is, they all had one doctrine, both in general and in particular. The doctrine is one when all are in mutual love, or in charity. Mutual love and charity cause them all to be a one, although they are diverse, for they make a one out of the varieties. All men how many soever they may be, even myriads of myriads, if they are in charity or mutual love, have one end, namely, the common good, the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord Himself. Varieties in matters of doctrine and of worship are like the varieties of the senses and of the viscera in man, as has been said, which contribute to the perfection of the whole. For then, through charity, the Lord inflows and works in diverse ways, in accordance with the genius of each one; and thus, both in general and in particular, disposes all into order, on earth as in heaven. And then the will of the Lord is done, as He Himself teaches, as in the heavens, so also upon the earth.

(from Arcana Coelestia 1799; 1285)

The 'Very' Internal of the Church

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Love, and the faith derived from it, are the internal of the church. No other faith is meant as being the internal of the church than that which is of love or charity, that is, which is from love or charity.

Faith, in a general sense, is all the doctrinal teaching of the church.

But doctrine [doctrinale] separated from love or charity, by no means makes the internal of the church, for doctrine is only knowledge which is of the memory, and this exists also with the worst men, and even with infernals.

But the doctrine that is from charity, or that is of charity, does make the internal of the church, for this is of the life. The life itself is the internal of all worship; and so is all doctrine that flows from the life of charity and it is this doctrine that is of faith which is here meant. That it is this faith which is the internal of the church, may be seen from this consideration alone, that he who has the life of charity is acquainted with all things of faith. If you will, just examine all doctrinal things, and see what and of what quality they are; do they not all pertain to charity, and consequently to the faith that is from charity

Take only the Precepts of the Decalogue:

• The first of these is to worship the Lord God. He who has the life of love or of charity worships the Lord God, because this is his life.

• Another precept is to keep the Sabbath. He who is in the life of love, or in charity, keeps the Sabbath holy, for nothing is more sweet to him than to worship the Lord, and to glorify Him every day.

• The precept, "Thou shalt not kill," is altogether of charity. He who loves his neighbor as himself, shudders at doing anything that injures him, still more at killing him.

• So too the precept, "Thou shalt not steal;" for he who has the life of charity would rather give of his own to his neighbor, than take anything away from him.

• And so with the precept, "Thou shalt not commit adultery;" he who is in the life of charity the rather guards his neighbor's wife, lest anyone should offer her such injury, and regards adultery as a crime against conscience, and such as destroys conjugial love and its duties.

• To covet the things that are the neighbor's is also contrary to those who are in the life of charity; for it is of charity to desire good to others from one's self and one's own; such therefore by no means covet the things which are another's.

These are the precepts of the Decalogue which are more external doctrinal things of faith.

These are not only known in the memory by him who is in charity and its life, but are in his heart; and he has them inscribed upon himself, because they are in his charity, and thus in his very life; besides other things of a dogmatic nature which he in like manner knows from charity alone — for he lives according to a conscience of what is right. The right and the truth which he cannot thus understand and explore, he believes simply or from simplicity of heart to be so because the Lord has said so; and he who so believes does not do wrong, even though what he thus accepts is not true in itself, but apparent truth.

As for example —

if anyone believes that the Lord is angry, punishes, tempts, and the like. Or if he holds that the bread and wine in the Holy Supper are significative, or that the flesh and blood are present in some way in which they explain it — it is of no consequence whether they say the one thing or the other, although there are few who think about this matter, or even if they do think about it, provided this is done from a simple heart, because they have been so instructed, and nevertheless live in charity — these, when they hear that the bread and wine in the internal sense signify the Lord's love toward the whole human race, and the things which are of this love, and man's reciprocal love to the Lord and the neighbor, they forthwith believe, and rejoice that it is so. Not so they who are in doctrinal things and not in charity; these contend about everything, and condemn all whoever they may be that do not say (they call it "believe") as they do.

From all this everyone can see that love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor are the internal of the church.

(from Arcana Coelestia 1798)

The Delight of Conjugial Love

Selection from Conjugial Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

• DIVINE LOVE, BY DIVINE WISDOM, IN DIVINE USE

• UNLESS IT GOES ON TO PRODUCE SEED – OFFSPRING – 'USEFULNESS' – IT IS INTENTION WITHOUT REALIZATION

• ALL THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE THEREFORE ARE PROCREATED AND FORMED FROM USE, IN USE, AND FOR USE

— A MEMORABLE RELATION —

There appeared to me in the eastern quarter a grove of palms and laurels arranged in spiral convolutions. I approached and entered, and walked in the winding ways through some of the spiral turns; and at the end of the ways saw a garden, which formed the center of the grove. There was a small bridge that separated them, and a gate on the side towards the grove, a gate also on the side next the garden.

I drew near, and the keeper opened the gates.

I asked him, "What is the name of this garden?" He said, "Adramandoni," that is, The Delight of Conjugial Love. I went in, and lo! olive trees, and from olive tree to olive tree trailing and pendent vines, and under and among them shrubs in blossom. In the midst of the garden was a grassy circle on which husbands and wives were sitting, and young men and maidens in pairs; and on elevated ground in the midst of the circle there was a small fountain leaping high by the force of its stream. As I came near the circle I saw two angels in purple and scarlet, conversing with those who were sitting on the grass. They were speaking on the origin of conjugial love and on its delights. And because the conversation was about this love there was eager attention and full reception, and thence an exaltation in the speech of the angels as from the fire of love.

From their conversation I gathered briefly this: They spoke first of the difficulty of tracing and the difficulty of perceiving the origin of conjugial love, because its origin is Divine-celestial; for it is Divine love, Divine wisdom and Divine use, which three proceed from the Lord as one, and flow thence as one into the souls of men, and through the souls into the minds, and there into the interior affections and thoughts, through these into the desires near to the body, and from these through the bosom into the genital region, where all things derived from the first origin are together, and together with the successives constitute conjugial love.

After this the angels said, "Let the intercourse of speech be by question and answer; for the perception of a subject acquired from hearing alone, though it flows in, does not remain unless the hearer of himself also thinks from himself and questions about it."

Then some of that conjugial assembly said to the angels, "We have heard that the origin of conjugial love is Divine-celestial, because it is from the influx from the Lord into the souls of men; and that because from the Lord, it is love, wisdom, and use, which are the three essentials that together make the one Divine essence; and that nothing but what is of the Divine essence can proceed from Him and flow into the inmost of man, which is called his soul; and that in their descent into the body these three are changed into what is analogous and correspondent.

Now therefore we ask, "First, What is meant by the third essential proceeding Divine, which is called use?"

The angels replied, "Love and wisdom without use are but ideas of abstract thought, which also after some tarrying pass away as the winds. But in use the two are brought together and there make a one which is called real. Love cannot rest unless it is doing, for love is the active itself of life; nor can wisdom exist and subsist except from love and with it, while it is doing; and doing is use. We therefore define use to be doing good from love by wisdom. Use is the good itself. Since these three, love, wisdom, and use, flow in into the souls of men, it is evident why it is said that all good is from God; for everything done from love by wisdom is called good; and a use also is a thing done. What is love without wisdom but something illusory? And what is love with wisdom without use but a breath of the mind? But love and wisdom with use not only make the man, but also are the man. Yea, which will perhaps surprise you, they propagate man; for in the seed of man is his soul, in perfect human form, covered over with substances from the purest things of nature, out of which a body is formed in the womb of the mother. This use is the supreme and the ultimate use of Divine love by Divine wisdom."

Finally, the angels said, "Let this be the conclusion: That all fructification, all propagation, and all prolification come originally of the influx of love, wisdom and use from the Lord; of immediate influx from the Lord into the souls of men; of mediate influx into the souls of animals; and of influx yet more mediate into the inmosts of vegetables. And all these are effected in the ultimates from the firsts. It is plain that fructifications, propagations, and prolifications are continuations of creation; for creation cannot be from any other source than from Divine Love, by Divine wisdom, in Divine use. All things in the universe therefore are procreated and formed from use, in use, and for use."

Afterwards those that were sitting on the grassy banks asked the angels, "Whence are the delights of conjugial love, which are innumerable and ineffable?" The angels answered, "They are from the uses of love and wisdom. And this may be seen from the fact that in so far as one loves to be wise for the sake of genuine use he is in the vein and potency of conjugial love, and in so far as he is in these two he is in delights. Use effects this, because love by wisdom delight each in the other, and they play as it were like little children, and as they grow up, they enter into genial conjunction. This is as if by betrothals, nuptials, marriages, and propagations; and these continue with variety to eternity. These things take place between love and wisdom inwardly in use; but these delights in their beginnings are imperceptible, but become perceptible more and more as they descend thence by degrees and enter the body. They enter through degrees, from the soul into the interiors of man's mind, from these into its exteriors, thence into the inmost bosom, and from this into the genital region. Yet these heavenly nuptial sports in the soul are not in the least perceived by man; but they insinuate themselves thence into the interiors of the mind, under the form of peace and innocence; and into the exteriors of the mind in the form. of blessedness, pleasantness, and joy; but into the inmost bosom under the form of the delights of inmost friendship; and into the genital region, by influx continuous even from the soul, with the very sense of conjugial love, as the delight of delights. These nuptial sports of love and wisdom in use in the soul, in proceeding towards the inmost bosom become enduring, and in that bosom present themselves sensibly under an infinite variety of delights; and by virtue of the wonderful communication of the inmost bosom with the genital region, these delights become there delights of conjugial love, which are exalted above all delights that are in heaven and in the world, for the reason that the use of conjugial love is the most excellent of all uses, because therefrom comes the procreation of the human race, and from the human race the angelic heaven."

To this the angels added, "That they who are not in the love of becoming wise from the Lord for the sake of use, know nothing of the variety of delights innumerable, which come of love truly conjugial. For with those that do not love to become wise from genuine truths, but love to be in insanity from falsities, and through this insanity do evil uses from some love, with such the way to the soul is closed; whence it results that the heavenly nuptial sports of love and wisdom in the soul, intercepted more and more, cease, and together with them conjugial love, with its vein, its potency, and its delights."

To this the hearers responded, "That they perceived that conjugial love is according to the love of becoming wise for the sake of use, from the Lord." The angels replied, "So it is." And then upon the heads of some of them appeared garlands of flowers. They asked, "Why is this?" The angels said, "Because they have more profoundly understood." All then left the garden, and these in their midst.

(from Conjugial Love 183)

From the School of Wisdom

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
— A MEMORABLE RELATION —

I was once talking with two angels, one from the eastern* and the other from the southern heaven. When they perceived that I was meditating upon the arcana of wisdom respecting love, they said, "Do you know anything about the schools of wisdom in our world?"

I answered, "Not yet."

They said that there were many such, and that those who love truths from spiritual affection, or because they are truths, and because by means of them wisdom is acquired, come together at a given signal and discuss and settle those questions that spring from a deeper understanding.

They then took me by the hand, saying, "Follow us, and you shall see and hear; the signal has been given for a meeting today."

I was led over a plain to a hill; and behold, at the foot of the hill was an arcade of palms reaching to its very top. This we entered and ascended; and on the top or summit of the hill a grove was seen, and among its trees the raised ground formed a kind of theater, within which was a level spot paved with little stones of various colors. Around this in quadrangular form seats were placed upon which lovers of wisdom were sitting; and in the middle of the theater there was a table, upon which was laid a paper sealed with a seal.

Those who were seated invited us to the still vacant seats; but I answered, "I have been brought here by two angels to see and hear, not to sit."

Then the two angels went to the table in the middle of the level spot, and broke the seal of the paper, and read to those seated the arcana of wisdom written on the paper, which they were now to discuss and unfold. These arcana were written by angels of the third heaven, and let down upon the table. There were three:

First, What is "the image of God," and what is "the likeness of God," into which man was created?

Second, Why is man not born into the knowledge proper to any love, when even beasts and birds, both the noble and the ignoble, are born into the knowledges proper to all their loves?

Third, What does "the tree of life" and what does "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" signify, and what is signified by "eating" of them?

Underneath was written,

"Unite the answers to these three in one opinion. Write it on a fresh paper, and place it on this table, and we shall see. If the opinion seems well-balanced and correct, each one of you shall receive the prize for wisdom."

Having read this the two angels withdrew, and were taken up into their heavens.

Then those sitting upon the seats began to discuss and unfold the arcana proposed to them, speaking in this order, first those, who sat on the north side, then those on the west, next those on the south, and lastly those on the east. And they took up the first subject of discussion, which was, What is "the image of God" and what is "the likeness of God" into which man was created? In the first place there was read to all of them these words from the Book of Creation

God said, Let us make man into Our image, after Our likeness. So God created man into His own image, into the likeness of God made He him (Gen. 1:26, 27).

In the day that God created man, into the likeness of God made He him (Gen. 5:1).

Those who sat on the north spoke first, saying that an image of God and a likeness of God are the two lives breathed into man by God, which are the life of the will and the life of the understanding; for we read:

Jehovah God breathed into the nostrils [of Adam] the breath of lives, and man was made into a living soul (Gen. 2:7).

This seems to mean that there was breathed into him the will of good and the perception of truth, thus the soul of lives. And inasmuch as life from God was breathed into him, image and likeness signify integrity in him from love and wisdom, and from righteousness and judgment."

To this those sitting on the west assented, adding, however, that the state of integrity breathed into Adam from God is continually breathed into every man after him; but in man it is as into a receptacle; and man is an image and likeness of God in proportion as he becomes a receptacle.

Afterwards the third in order, who were those seated at the south, said, "An image of God and a likeness of God are two distinct things but in man they are united by creation; and we see as if from some interior light that while the image of God may be destroyed by man, the likeness of God cannot. This we see as through a network, in that Adam retained the likeness of God after he had lost the image of God; for after the curse we read:

Behold the man has become as one of us, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:22)

and after this he was called a likeness of God, but not an image of God (Gen. 5:1). But let us leave to our companions who sit at the east, and are therefore in superior light, to say what is properly an image of God, and what is properly a likeness of God."

Then after a period of silence, those seated towards the east arose from their seats and looked up to the Lord, and again took their seats, and said that an image of God is a receptacle of God; and as God is love itself and wisdom itself, an image of God is the reception in that receptacle of love and wisdom from God; while a likeness of God is a perfect likeness and full appearance that love and wisdom are in man, and are therefore entirely his. For man has no other feeling than that he loves from himself and is wise from himself, or that he wills what is good and understands truth from himself; nevertheless, this is not from himself in the least degree, but from God. God alone loves from Himself and is wise from Himself, because He is love itself and wisdom itself. The likeness or appearance that love and wisdom, or good and truth, are in man as his own, is what makes man to be man, and makes him capable of conjunction with God, and thus of living to eternity; from which it follows that man is man from his being able to will what is good and understand truth wholly as if from himself, and yet with the ability to know and believe that he does so from God; for as man knows and believes this, God puts His image in man; but not so if man believes that he does this from himself, and not from God.

When this had been said there came upon them a zeal arising from a love for the truth, from which they spoke as follows: "How can man receive anything of love and wisdom, and retain it and reproduce it, unless he feels it to be his own? And how is any conjunction with God by means of love and wisdom possible unless there has been given to man something by which he may reciprocate the conjunction? For without a reciprocal no conjunction is possible. And the reciprocal of conjunction is man's loving God and doing what is of God as if from himself, and yet believing that it is from God. Moreover, how can man live to eternity unless he is joined to the eternal God? Consequently, how can man be man without that likeness in him?"

These remarks were approved by all, and they said, "Let us form a conclusion from all this." This was done as follows: "Man is a receptacle of God, and a receptacle of God is an image of God; and as God is love itself and wisdom itself, man is a receptacle of these; and the receptacle becomes an image of God in the measure in which it receives. And man is a likeness of God from his feeling that the things that are from God are in him as his own; and yet from that likeness he is only so far an image of God as he acknowledges that love and wisdom, or good and truth, are not his own in him, and are not from him, but are solely in God, and consequently from God."

After this they took up the second subject of discussion, Why is man not born into the knowledge proper to any love, when even beasts and birds, both the noble and the ignoble, are born into the knowledges proper to all their loves? They first confirmed the truth of the proposition by various arguments, as, that man is born into no knowledge, not even into a knowledge of marriage love. They inquired and learned from investigators the fact that an infant from connate knowledge does not even know its mother's breast, but learns of it from the mother or nurse by being put to the breast; that it merely knows how to suck, and this it has acquired from continual suction in the mother's womb; that subsequently it does not know how to walk, or to articulate sound into any human word, and not even to express by sounds its love's affections as beasts do; furthermore, that it does not know what food is suitable for it, as beasts do, but seizes upon whatever comes in its way, clean or unclean, and puts it in its mouth. The investigators said that man without instruction knows nothing whatever of the modes of loving the sex, virgins and youths even knowing nothing about it until they have been taught by others. In a word, man is born a purely corporeal thing, like a worm, and so continues unless he acquires knowledge, understanding, and wisdom from others.

After this they confirmed the fact that both noble and ignoble animals, as the beasts of the earth, the birds of heaven, reptiles, fishes, and the smaller creatures called insects, are born into all the knowledges proper to their life's loves, as into all things pertaining to nutrition, to their habitations, to sexual love and prolification, and all things pertaining to the rearing of their offspring. All this they confirmed by wonderful facts which they recalled to memory from what they had seen, heard, and read in the natural world, where they had formerly lived, and where the animals are real and not representative. When the truth of the proposition had been thus established, they applied their minds to the investigation and discovery of the reasons by means of which this arcanum might be unfolded and made clear. And they all said that these things could spring only from the Divine wisdom, to the end that man might be man, and beast might be beast; and thus man's imperfection at birth becomes his perfection, and the beast's perfection at birth is its imperfection.

Then those on the north began to express their views; and they said that man is born without knowledges in order that he may be able to receive all knowledges; while if he were born into knowledges he would not be capable of receiving other knowledges beyond those into which he had been born, nor would he be capable of making any knowledge his own. This they illustrated by the comparison that man at birth is like ground in which no seed has been sown, but which nevertheless is capable of receiving all seeds and of causing them to grow and bear fruit; while a beast is like ground already sown, and full of grasses and herbs, which can receive no other seeds than those already sown, or if it did, would choke them. For this reason man is many years in coming to maturity, during which he can be cultivated, like soil, and bring forth, as it were, all kinds of crops, flowers, and trees, while the beast matures in a few years, during which it is capable of improvement only in the things into which it was born.

Afterwards those on the west spoke, and said, "Man is not, as a beast is, born a knowledge, but is born a faculty and inclination - a faculty for knowing and an inclination for loving. Moreover, he is born a faculty for loving both what pertains to self and the world and what pertains to God and heaven. Consequently, man at birth is merely an organ, living only an obscure life through the external senses, and with no internal senses, to the end that his life may develop step by step, and he may become first a natural man, then a rational man, and finally a spiritual man; and this he could not become if he were born into knowledges and loves as beasts are. For that development is limited by connate knowledges and affections of love, while mere connate faculties and inclinations do not limit it. This is what gives man the ability to be perfected to eternity in knowledges, intelligence, and wisdom.

Those on the south followed, and pronounced their opinion, saying that it is impossible for man to derive any knowledge from himself, and since he has no connate knowledge he can only gain it from others. "And as man can acquire no knowledge from himself, neither can he any love, since where knowledge is not love is not. Knowledge and love are inseparable companions, as inseparable as will and understanding, or as affection and thought, or even as essence and form. Therefore as man acquires knowledge from others, love unites with it as a companion. The most general love that unites itself is the love of knowing, and afterwards the love of understanding and of being wise. No beast has these loves, but man only; and they flow in from God.

We agree with our fellow-members on the west that man is not born into any love, and consequently not into any knowledge, but is born merely into an inclination for loving and thus into a faculty for receiving knowledge, not from himself but from others, that is, through others. We say through others, because neither do these receive anything from themselves, but originally from God. We agree also with our fellow-members on the north, that man at his birth is like soil in which no seeds have been planted, but in which all seeds, both noble and ignoble, may be planted. This is why man was called homo [man], from humus [soil], and Adam [Hebrew for man], from adamah, which means soil. To this we add that beasts are born into natural loves, and from these into knowledges corresponding thereto; and yet they have no ability to learn or to think or to understand or to be wise from knowledges; but are impelled to these by their loves, much as the blind are conducted through the streets by dogs (for beasts are blind so far as understanding is concerned; or rather, beasts are like persons walking in sleep, who do whatever they do from blind knowledge, their understanding being asleep)."

Finally those on the east spoke and said, "We assent to what our brethren have said, that man derives no knowledge from himself, but only from and through others, in order that he may recognize and acknowledge that all his knowledge, understanding, and wisdom are from God; also that man can in no other way be born and begotten of God, and become His image and likeness. For man becomes an image of God by acknowledging and believing that he has received and continues to receive from God every good of charity and every truth of wisdom and faith, and none whatever from himself; while he is a likeness of God by his feeling these goods and truths to be in himself as if they were from himself. This he feels because he is not born into knowledges but acquires them; and what he requires seems to him to be from himself. Moreover to so feel is bestowed upon man by God in order that he may be a man and not a beast, since it is through man's willing, thinking, loving, understanding, and being wise as if from himself, that he receives knowledges, and exalts them to intelligence, and, by using them, to wisdom; thus God conjoins man to Himself, and man conjoins himself to God. All this could not be done unless it had been provided by God that man should be born in total ignorance."

After this had been said it was the desire of all that a conclusion be drawn from the points discussed, and this was done as follows: "Man is born into no knowledge that he may be capable of entering into all knowledge and progressing into intelligence, and through this into wisdom; and he is born into no love that he may be capable of entering, into all love by the application of knowledges from intelligence, and into love to God through love of the neighbor, and thus of being conjoined to God, and thereby becoming man and living forever."

After this they took up the paper and read the third subject of discussion, which was, What is signified by "the tree of life," and by "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," and by "eating" of them? They all requested that those in the east should unfold this arcanum, because it was a matter of deeper understanding, and because those from the east were in flaming light, that is, in the wisdom of love, and this wisdom is meant by "the garden of Eden," in which those two trees were placed.

They replied, "We will speak; but as man receives nothing from himself, but everything from God, we will speak from Him, and yet from ourselves as if from ourselves." And they said, "A tree signifies man, and its fruit the good of life therefore 'the tree of life' signifies man living from God; and as love and wisdom, or charity and faith, or good and truth, constitute the life of God in man, 'the tree of life' signifies a man who has these within him from God, and in consequence, eternal life. The tree of life of which it shall be given to eat (mentioned in Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14) has the same signification.

'The tree of the knowledge of good and evil' signifies a man who believes that he lives from himself and not from God; thus that love and wisdom, or charity and faith, that is, good and truth, are not God's in man, but his own, the reason for this belief being that man thinks and wills and speaks and acts in all likeness and appearance as if from himself; and as man thereby persuades himself that he is himself a god, the serpent said

God doth know that in the day ye eat of the fruit of that tree your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:5).

"'Eating' of these trees signifies reception and appropriation, 'eating of the tree of life' reception of eternal life, and 'eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil' the reception of damnation. 'The serpent' means the devil in respect to the love of self and the conceit of one's own intelligence; this love is the possessor of that tree, and the men who are in the conceit derived from that love are such trees. It is therefore a monstrous error to believe that Adam was wise and did good from himself, and that this was his state of integrity; when in fact Adam was himself cursed on account of that belief; for this is what is meant by his 'eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil;' and this was why he then fell from his state of integrity, which had been his possession because of his believing that he was wise and did good from God, and in no respect from himself, which is what is meant by his 'eating of the tree of life.' The Lord alone when He was in the world was wise from Himself and did good from Himself, because the Divine Itself was in Him, and was His from His birth; therefore by His own power He became the Redeemer and Savior."

From all this they formed this conclusion: "'The tree of life, ' 'the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,' and 'eating' therefrom, mean that man's life is God in him, and when God is in him he has heaven and eternal life; while the death of man is the persuasion and belief that his life is not God, but himself, and this belief leads to hell and eternal death, which is damnation."

After this they looked at the paper left by the angels on the table, and saw written upon it, "Bring these three together in one opinion;" and bringing them together they saw that the three formed one coherent series, and the series or opinion was as follows: "Man was so created as to be capable of receiving love and wisdom from God, and yet in all likeness as if from himself, and this for the sake of reception and conjunction; and this is why man is not born into any love, nor into any knowledge, nor even into any power to love and be wise from himself. Therefore when he attributes every good of love and every truth of faith to God he becomes a living man; but when he attributes them to himself he becomes a dead man."

This they wrote on a fresh paper, and placed it on the table; and behold, immediately angels came in, a bright cloud and carried the paper away to heaven.

And when it had been read there, those sitting upon the seats heard from heaven the words, "Well done, well done, well done." And presently one from heaven was seen flying as it were with what appeared like two wings on his feet and two on his temples, bringing rewards, which were robes, caps, and laurel wreaths. He descended and gave to those sitting at the north robes of an opaline color; to those at the west robes of scarlet; to those at the south caps with borders ornamented with bands of gold and pearls, and with their tops on the left side adorned with diamonds cut in the form of flowers; while to those on the east he gave wreaths of laurel in which were rubies and sapphires. And all, decorated with these rewards, went home from the school of wisdom with joy.

(True Christian Religion 48)
* For a study of quarters in the spiritual world, see Heaven and Hell # 141 - 153; 154 - 161