A Life According to Truths Divine

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Whether you say charity toward the neighbor, or truth from good, it is the same thing, because those who are in charity are in the life of truth, and a life of truth, that is, a life according to truths Divine, is charity.

(Arcana Coelestia 10485)

The Church of the Lord is not Here, nor There

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Those Who are of the Spiritual Church, Who are in Faith Conjoined with Charity

They who are of this church are in this faith both as to doctrine and as to life. The good of faith, or charity, is the essential, thus is in the first place, with those who are of the genuine spiritual church; whereas with those with whom faith is separate from its good, both as to doctrine and as to life, the truth of faith, or faith itself, is the essential, or in the first place. These do not belong to this church, for the life makes the church; but not doctrine, except insofar as it becomes of the life. For this reason it is plain that the church of the Lord is not here, nor there, but that it is everywhere, both within those kingdoms where the church is, and out of them, where men live according to the precepts of charity. Hence it is that the church of the Lord is scattered through the whole world, and yet that it is a one; for when the life makes the church, and not doctrine separate from life, then the church is a one; but when doctrine makes the church, then there are many.

(Arcana Coelestia 8152)

What Charity Is, and What Faith Is

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THE DOCTRINE OF CHARITY

What Charity is, and what Faith is, with man, must now be told. Charity is an internal affection which consists in a heartfelt desire to do the neighbor good, and in this being the delight of life; and this without any reward.

On the other hand, Faith is an internal affection which consists in a heartfelt desire to know what is true and what is good, and this not for the sake of doctrine as the end in view, but for the sake of life. This affection conjoins itself with the affection of charity through the desire to do according to the truth, thus to do the truth itself.

They who are in the genuine affection of charity and faith believe that from themselves they do not desire anything good, and that from themselves they do not understand anything true; but that the will of good and the understanding of truth are from the Lord.

This then is charity, and this is faith. They who are in these have within them the kingdom of the Lord and heaven, and within them is the church; and these are they who have been regenerated by the Lord, and from Him have received a new will and a new understanding.

They who have the love of self or the love of the world as the end in view, cannot possibly be in charity and faith. They who are in these loves do not even know what charity is, and what faith is, and do not at all comprehend that to will good to the neighbor without any reward is heaven in man, and that in this affection there is happiness as great as is that of the angels, which is unutterable; for they believe that if they are deprived of the joy arising from the glory of honors and of wealth all joy ceases to be possible; when yet heavenly joy, which infinitely transcends every other joy, then first begins.

(Arcana Coelestia 8033-8037)

The Word in the Purely Spiritual Sense Derives Nothing from the Idea of Time or Space

From Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Word in the purely spiritual sense does not derive anything from the idea of time nor from the idea of space, because times and spaces in heaven do indeed appear like times and spaces in the world, but still they are not there; wherefore the angels cannot measure times and spaces, which there are appearances, otherwise than by states, according to their progressions and changes; from which it may appear that in the purely spiritual sense by "quickly" and "at hand" is not meant quickly and near as to time, but quickly and near as to state; this may indeed appear as if it were not so, the reason is because with men, in every idea of their lower thought, which is merely natural, there is something from time and space; but it is otherwise in the ideas of the higher thought, in which men are when they revolve natural, civil, moral, and spiritual things in interior rational light, for then spiritual light, which is abstracted from time and space, flows in and enlightens.

You may experience this and thus be confirmed, if you will, by only attending to your thoughts; when you will also be convinced that thought is higher and lower, inasmuch as simple thought cannot survey itself, except from some higher thought; and if man did not have a higher and a lower thought, he would not be a man but a brute.

(Apocalypse Revealed 947:2)

The Divine, Apart from Space, Fills All Spaces of the Universe

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Real interior thought does not cause distance, but exterior thought, which acts as one with the sight of the eyes; and for the reason that exterior thought, but not interior, is in space; and when not in space, as in the spiritual world, it is still in an appearance of space. But these things can be little understood by the man who thinks about God from space. For God is everywhere, yet not in space. Thus He is both within and without an angel; consequently an angel can see God, that is, the Lord, both within himself and without himself; within himself when he thinks from love and wisdom, without himself when he thinks about love and wisdom. ...

Let every man guard himself against falling into the detestable false doctrine that God has infused Himself into men, and that He is in them, and no longer in Himself; for God is everywhere, as well within man as without, for apart from space He is in all space; whereas if He were in man, He would be not only divisible, but also shut up in space; yea, man then might even think himself to be God. This heresy is so abominable, that in the spiritual world it stinks like carrion.

(Divine Love and Wisdom 130)

No Pantheism In Conjunction

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Rev 3:21

The reason why the Lord says, "To him that overcometh will I give to sit with Me in my throne, as I overcame and sit with the Father in His throne," is because the union of the Lord with the Father, that is, with His Divine within Himself, took place, to the end that it might be possible for man to be conjoined to the Divine which is called the Father in the Lord; because it is impossible for man to be conjoined with the Divine of the Father immediately, but mediately through His Divine Human, which is the Divine natural; therefore the Lord says:
No one hath seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath manifested Him (John 1:18).

I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one cometh to the Father, but by Me (John 14:6).

The Lord's conjunction with man is by His Divine truth, and this in man is of the Lord, thus the Lord, and by no means man's, consequently is not man. Man, indeed, feels it as his own, but still it is not his, for it is not united to him, but adjoined; not so the Divine of the Father, this is not adjoined but united to the Lord's Human, as the soul to its body. He who understands these things may understand the following words of the Lord:

He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5).

In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you (John 14:20).

Sanctify them in Thy truth; Thy Word is truth; for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified in the truth: that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us; I in them and Thou in Me (John 17:17, 19, 21, 23).
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Conjunction is of the Lord with the angel and of the angel with the Lord; conjunction, therefore, is reciprocal. On the part of the angel it is as follows: The angel, in like manner as man, has no other perception than that he is in love and wisdom from himself, consequently that love and wisdom are, as it were, his or his own. Unless he so perceived there would be no conjunction, thus the Lord would not be in him, nor he in the Lord. Nor can it be possible for the Lord to be in any angel or man, unless the one in whom the Lord is, with love and wisdom, has a perception and sense as if they were his. By this means the Lord is not only received, but also, when received, is retained, and likewise loved in return. And by this, also, the angel is made wise and continues wise. Who can wish to love the Lord and his neighbor, and who can wish to be wise, without a sense and perception that what he loves, learns, and imbibes is, as it were, his own? Who otherwise can retain it in himself? If this were not so, the inflowing love and wisdom would have no abiding-place, for it would flow through and not affect; thus an angel would not be an angel, nor would man be a man; he would be merely like something inanimate. From all this it can be seen that there must be an ability to reciprocate that there may be conjunction.

... Every angel has freedom and rationality; these two he has to the end that he may be capable of receiving love and wisdom from the Lord. Yet neither of these, freedom nor rationality, is his, they are the Lord's in him. But since the two are intimately conjoined to his life, so intimately that they may be said to be joined into it, they appear to be his own. It is from them that he is able to think and will, and to speak and act; and what he thinks, wills, speaks, and does from them, appears as if it were from himself. This gives him the ability to reciprocate, and by means of this conjunction is possible.

Yet so far as an angel believes that love and wisdom are really in him, and thus lays claim to them for himself as if they were his, so far the angelic is not in him, and therefore he has no conjunction with the Lord; for he is not in truth, and as truth makes one with the light of heaven, so far he cannot be in heaven; for he thereby denies that he lives from the Lord, and believes that he lives from himself, and that he therefore possesses Divine essence.

In these two, freedom and rationality, the life which is called angelic and human consists. From all this it can be seen that for the sake of conjunction with the Lord, - the angel has the ability to reciprocate, but that this ability, in itself considered, is not his but the Lord's. From this it is, that if he abuses his ability to reciprocate, by which he perceives and feels as his what is the Lord's, which is done by appropriating it to himself he falls from the angelic state. That conjunction is reciprocal, the Lord Himself teaches (John 14:20-24; 15:4-6); also that the conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord, is in those things of the Lord that are called His words (John 15:7).

(Apocalypse Revealed 222; Divine Love and Wisdom 115,116)

The Difference Between Spiritual Faith and Mere Natural Faith

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There is spiritual faith, and there is faith merely natural. Spiritual faith is wholly from charity, and in its essence is charity. Charity, or love towards the neighbor, is to love truth, sincerity, and what is just, and to do them from willing them. For the neighbor in the spiritual sense is not every man, but it is that which is with man; if this be truth, sincerity, and what is just, and the man is loved on account of these, then the neighbor is loved. That this is what charity means, in the spiritual sense, anyone may know if he will but reflect.

Everyone loves another, not for the sake of his person, but for the sake of what is with him; this is the ground of all friendship, all favor, and all honor.  From this it follows, that to love men for the sake of what is true, sincere, and just in them is spiritual love; for what is true, sincere, and just are spiritual things, because they are out of heaven from the Lord. For no man thinks, wills, and does any good thing that is good in itself, but it is all from the Lord; and what is true, sincere, and just are good things that are good in themselves when they are from the Lord.  These things, then, are the neighbor in the spiritual sense; from which it is clear what is meant in that sense by loving the neighbor, or by charity.  From that is spiritual faith; for whatever is loved is called truth when it is thought.  Everyone can see that this is so if he will reflect upon it, for everyone confirms that which he loves by many things in the thought, and all things by which he confirms himself he calls truths; no one has truth from any other source. From this it follows, that the truths a man has are such as is the love with him; consequently, if the love with him is spiritual, the truths will also be spiritual, since the truths act as one with his love.  All truths, because they are believed, are called in one complex, faith.  From this it is clear that spiritual faith in its essence is charity. So far concerning spiritual faith.

But faith merely natural is not a faith of the church, although it is called faith, but is merely knowing [scientia].  It is not a faith of the church, because it does not proceed from love to the neighbor, or charity, which is the spiritual itself from which faith comes, but proceeds from some natural love that has reference either to love of self or to love of the world, and whatever proceeds from these loves is natural.   Love forms the spirit of man; for man in respect to his spirit is wholly as his love is; from that he thinks, from that he wills, and from that acts; therefore he makes no other truth to be of his faith than that which is of his love; and truth that is of the love of self or the world is merely natural, because it comes from man and from the world, and not from the Lord and from heaven; for such a man loves truth, not from a love of truth but from a love of honor, of gain and of fame, which he serves; and as his truth is such, his faith also is such.  This faith, therefore, is not a faith of the truth of the church, or faith in a spiritual sense, but only in a natural sense which is a mere knowing [scientia].  And again because nothing of this is in man's spirit but only in his memory, together with other things of this world, therefore also after death it is dissipated.  For only that which is of man's love remains with him after death, for it is love that forms man's spirit, and man in respect to his spirit is wholly such as his love is.

(Apocalypse Explained 204:2-3)