Influx is Varied According to the Form of the Receiving Vessel

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The spiritual in its first origin is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord's Divine Human; which truth has in it Divine good, because the Divine truth comes forth from the Lord's Divine Human, which is Divine good. The Divine truth, in which is Divine good, is the spiritual itself in its origin, and is the life itself which fills heaven, nay, which fills the universe; and where there is a subject, there it flows in. But in its subjects it is varied according to their form. In the subjects which agree with good, it presents spiritual life; but in the subjects which disagree with good, it presents life opposed to spiritual life, which in the Word is called "death." From this it is now plain what spiritual life is, namely, that it is to be in truths from good, which proceed from the Lord.

(Arcana Coelestia 6685)

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...man's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification. A man who is being regenerated, like the man who is born, passes through the ages - infancy, childhood, youth or early manhood, and adult age; for a man who is being regenerated is born anew. When he is an infant, the truths in him have indeed life, but not yet spiritual life. It is only general truths without particulars and singulars with which good is then conjoined; consequently there is only exterior conjunction, not interior. Interior conjunction is effected successively, as the man advances into the following ages. It is the state of this infancy which is signified by the children being tender, and also by the words which now follow: "and the flocks and the herds are suckling with me, and if they drive them on in one day, all the flocks will die."

(Arcana Coelestia 4377)

The Quality of Men Within the Church When They Make Prudence to Consist in Cunning

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The evil, who have been alienated from truth and good, as being cunning;
for that which the evil do from cunning, and also from deceit, they call prudence.

Of the cunning which is signified by "prudence," something may here be related. All who are in evil call cunning "prudence," and make intelligence and wisdom to consist in nothing else. They who are of this character in the world become worse in the other life, and there act continually from cunning against things good and true; and those are recognized as intelligent and wise among them who seem to themselves able to invalidate and destroy truths by falsities, no matter by what art or wickedness.

From this it can be seen what is the quality of men within the church when they make prudence to consist in cunning: that they have communication with the hells.

Those who are true men of the church are so far removed from cunning that they absolutely abhor it; and those of them who are as the angels, desire that if it were possible their minds should be open, so that what they think may be manifest to everyone; for they intend nothing but good toward their neighbor, and if they see evil in anyone they excuse it.

It is otherwise with those who are in evil; these are afraid lest anything which they think and will should show itself; for they intend nothing but evil to the neighbor; if good, it is for the sake of self; and if they do what is good, it is only in the outward form, that they may appear good for the sake of gain and honor; for they know that what is good and true, just and fair, and also what is honorable, have a strong hidden power of attracting minds, even of those who are evil.

(Arcana Coelestia 6655)

In Delight there is Life

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Pleasure not only affects man, but also sustains him, like food

Pleasure without delight is not pleasure, but is something without life, and only from delight is and is called pleasure. Such also as is the delight, such is the pleasure. Corporeal and sensuous things are in themselves only material, lifeless, and dead; but from delights which come in order from the interiors, they have life. From this it is evident that such as is the life of the interiors, such is the delight in the pleasures, for in the delight there is life. The delight in which there is good from the Lord is alone living, for it is then from the very life of good; ...

Some think that no one ought ever to live in the pleasures of the body and its senses who wishes to be happy in the other life, but that all these should be renounced on the ground that they are corporeal and worldly, withdrawing man and keeping him away from spiritual and heavenly life. But those who think so and therefore reduce themselves to voluntary misery while they live in the world, are not well-informed as to what the real case is. No one is forbidden to enjoy the pleasures of the body and its senses, that is, the pleasures of possession of lands and wealth; the pleasures of honor and office in the state; the pleasures of conjugial love and of love for infants and children; the pleasures of friendship and of interaction with companions; the pleasures of hearing, or of the sweetness of singing and music; the pleasures of sight, or of beauties, which are manifold, as those of becoming dress, of elegant dwellings with their furniture, beautiful gardens, and the like, which are delightful from harmony of form and color; the pleasures of smell, or of fragrant odors; the pleasures of taste, or of the flavors and benefits of food and drink; the pleasures of touch. For these are most external or bodily affections arising from interior affections, as already said.

Interior affections, which are living, all derive their delight from good and truth; and good and truth derive their delight from charity and faith, and in this case do so from the Lord, thus from life itself; wherefore the affections and pleasures therefrom are living. And since genuine pleasures have this origin, they are denied to no one. Indeed, when they are from this origin their delight indefinitely surpasses delight not from this source, which is in comparison unclean.

For example, the pleasure of conjugial love, when it has its origin from true conjugial love, surpasses immeasurably pleasure that has not this origin, so much so that those who are in true conjugial love are in heavenly delight and happiness, since it comes down from heaven. This was acknowledged by the men of the Most Ancient Church. The delight from adulteries felt by adulterers was to those men so abominable that when they thought of it they shuddered. From all this it is evident what is the nature of the delight that does not flow from the true fountain of life, or from the Lord.

That the pleasures above mentioned are never denied to man, and that so far from being denied they are then first really pleasures when they come from their true origin, may also be seen from the fact that very many who have lived in power, dignity, and opulence in the world, and who had all pleasures in abundance, both of the body and of the senses, are among the blessed and happy in heaven, and with them now the interior delights and happinesses are living, because they have had their origin in the goods of charity and the truths that are of faith in the Lord. And since they had regarded all their pleasures as coming from charity and faith in the Lord, they regarded them from use, which was their end. Use itself was the most delightful thing to them, and from this came the delight of their pleasures.

(Arcana Coelestia 995)

Goods and Truths are Either of the Lord or Not of the Lord

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Goods and truths are either of the Lord or not of the Lord. Those which are of the Lord are those which the man does for the sake of his neighbor, for the sake of his country, for the sake of the church, and for the sake of the Lord's kingdom, thus for the sake of good and truth itself, and especially for the sake of the Lord. These goods and truths are those which are of the Lord; but the truths and goods which are not of the Lord are those which a man does for the sake of himself as the end, and for the sake of the world as the end. These latter sometimes appear like the former in the outward form, but in the inward form they are quite different; for these lead to self, but those away from self. The truths and goods which are not of the Lord are also for the most part those which a man does in a state of misfortune, of sickness, of grief, and of fear, and not in a free state, for these also are for the sake of self. All truths and goods do indeed flow in from the Lord, but when the goods and truths of the Lord are bent with a man to himself, they then become the man's and belong to him to whom they are bent, for they become goods of the love of self and of the world. Such are the goods of all the evil among themselves. From all this it is evident what goods and truths are meant by those which are of the Lord, and by those which are not of the Lord.

(Arcana Coelestia 7564)

Man's Mind is the Man Himself.

From Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

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 superinduced in the world, is not a human form by itself, but only by virtue of the spiritual form, to which it is added and superinduced 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.

(Divine Love and Wisdom 388)

Created to Perform Uses

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

As man was created to perform uses, and this is to love the neighbor, so all who come into heaven, however many there are, must do uses. All the delight and blessedness of these is according to uses and to the love of uses. Heavenly joy is from no other source. He who believes that such joy is possible in idleness is much deceived. No idle person is tolerated even in hell. Those who are there are in workhouses and under a judge who imposes tasks on the prisoners that they must do daily. To those who do not do them neither food nor clothing is given, but they stand hungry and naked; thus are they compelled to work there. The difference is that in hell uses are done from fear, but in heaven from love; and fear does not give joy, but love does. Nevertheless it is proper to vary occupations in different ways in company with others, and these serve as recreations, which are also uses. It has been granted me to see many things in heaven, many things in the world, and many things in the human body, and to consider at the same time their uses; and it has been revealed that every particular thing in them, both great and small, was created from use, in use, and for use; and that the part in which the ultimate that is for use ceases is separated as harmful and is cast out as condemned.

(Apocalypse Explained 1194)

see a previous post on entitled: Loving Uses for the Sake of Uses

The Use the Lord Performs through Man

Passages from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Inasmuch as the end of creation is an angelic heaven out of the human race, and thus the human race itself, all other created things are mediate ends, and these, as having relation to man, with a view to his conjunction with the Lord, refer themselves to these three things in him, his body, his rational, and his spiritual. For man cannot be conjoined to the Lord unless he be spiritual, nor can he be spiritual unless he be rational, nor can he be rational unless his body is in a sound state. These three are like a house; the body like the foundation, the rational like the superstructure, the spiritual like those things which are in the house, and conjunction with the Lord like dwelling in it. From this can be seen in what order, degree, and respect uses (which are the mediate ends of creation) have relation to man, namely:

(1) for sustaining his body

(2) for perfecting his rational

(3) for receiving what is spiritual from the Lord. 

Uses for sustaining the body relate to its nourishment, its clothing, its habitation, its recreation and enjoyment, its protection and the preservation of its state. ... in like manner, the uses for habitation, also for recreation, enjoyment, protection, and preservation of state. ... There are many things, to be sure, which are not used by man; but what is superfluous does not do away with the use, but ensures its continuance. Misuse of uses is also possible, but misuse does not do away with use, even as falsification of truth does not do away with truth except with those who falsify it.

Uses for perfecting the rational are all things that give instruction about the subjects above mentioned, and are called sciences and branches of study, pertaining to natural, economical, civil and moral affairs, which are learned either from parents and teachers, or from books, or from interaction with others, or by reflection on these subjects by oneself. These things perfect the rational so far as they are uses in a higher degree, and they are permanent as far as they are applied to life. ...

Uses for receiving the spiritual from the Lord, are all things that belong to religion and to worship therefrom; thus all things that teach the acknowledgment and knowledge of God and the knowledge and acknowledgment of good and truth and thus eternal life, which are acquired in the same way as other learning, from parents, teachers, discourses, and books, and especially by applying to life what is so learned; and in the Christian world, by doctrines and discourses from the Word, and through the Word from the Lord.  These uses in their full extent may be described under the same heads as the uses of the body, as nourishment, clothing, habitation, recreation and enjoyment, and preservation of state, if only they are applied to the soul; as nutrition to goods of love, clothing to truths of wisdom, habitation to heaven, recreation and enjoyment to felicity of life and heavenly joy, protection to safety from infesting evils, and preservation of state to eternal life. All these things are given by the Lord according to the acknowledgment that all bodily things are also from the Lord, and that a man is only as a servant and house-steward appointed over the goods of his Lord.

That such things have been given to man to use and enjoy, and that they are free gifts, is clearly evident from the state of angels in the heavens, who have, like men on earth, a body, a rational, and a spiritual. They are nourished freely, for food is given them daily; they are clothed freely, for garments are given them; their dwellings are free, for houses are given them; nor have they any care about all these things; and so far as they are rational-spiritual do they have enjoyment, protection, and preservation of state. The difference is that angels see that these things, - because created according to the state of their love and wisdom, - are from the Lord; but men do not see this, because their harvest returns yearly, and is not in accord with the state of their love and wisdom, but in accord with the care bestowed by them.

These things are called uses, because through man they have relation to the Lord; nevertheless, they must not be said to be uses from man for the Lord's sake, but from the Lord for man's sake, inasmuch as in the Lord all uses are infinitely one, but in man there are no uses except from the Lord; for man cannot do good from himself, but only from the Lord, and good is what is called use. The essence of spiritual love is doing good to others, not for the sake of self but for the sake of others; infinitely more is this the essence of Divine Love. It is like the love of parents for their children, in that parents do good to their children from love, not for their own sake but for their children's sake. This is especially manifest in a mothers love for her offspring. Because the Lord is to be adored, worshiped and glorified, He is supposed to love adoration, worship, and glory for His own sake; but He loves these for man's sake, because by means of them man comes into a state in which the Divine can flow in and be perceived; since by means of them man puts away that which is his own, which hinders influx and reception, for what is man's own, which is self-love, hardens the heart and shuts it up. This is removed by man's acknowledging that from himself comes nothing but evil and from the Lord nothing but good; from this acknowledgment there is a softening of the heart and humiliation, out of which flow forth adoration and worship.

From all this it follows, that the use which the Lord performs for Himself through man is that Man may be able to do good from love, and since this is the Lord's love, its reception is the enjoyment of His love. Therefore, let no one believe that the Lord is with those who merely worship Him, He is with those who do His commandments, thus who perform uses; with such He has His abode, but not with the former.

(Divine Love and Wisdom 330 - 335)