The Church WITH a People or The Church IN a People

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

It is one thing for the church to be with a people, and another for the church to be in a people — as for example, the Christian Church is with those who have the Word, and from doctrine preach the Lord; but still there is nothing of the church in them unless they are in the marriage of good and truth, that is, unless they are in charity toward the neighbor, and thence in faith; thus unless the internals of the church are in the externals. The church is not in those who are solely in externals separate from internals; neither is it in those who are in faith separate from charity, nor in those who acknowledge the Lord from doctrine and not life. Hence it is plain that it is one thing for the church to be with a nation, and quite another to be in the nation.

... [T]he shade of the understanding is in these things may be seen from the fact that at this day scarcely anyone knows what the internal of the church is. And who knows that charity toward the neighbor consists in willing, and from willing in acting, and hence that faith consists in perceiving? ... They who do not know that charity is the internal and thus the essential of the church, stand very remote from the first step toward the understanding of such things, and therefore very far from the innumerable and ineffable things that are in heaven, where the things relating to love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor are the all of life, and consequently the all of wisdom and of intelligence.

(Arcana Cœlestia 4899)

Why Scarcely Anyone Knows What the Heavenly Is

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

[T]hose who were of the Ancient Church — their doctrinals were doctrinals of love and charity, which contained innumerable things that at this day are wholly obliterated. From these doctrinals they knew what charity to exercise, or what duty they owed the neighbor, thus who were called widows, who orphans, who sojourners, and so on. Their knowledges of truth and memory-knowledges were to know what the rituals of their church represented and signified; and those who were learned among them knew what the things on the earth and in the world represented; for they knew that universal nature was a theater representative of the heavenly kingdom. Such things elevated their minds to heavenly things, and their doctrinals led to life.

But after the church turned aside from charity to faith, and still more after it separated faith from charity, and made faith saving without charity and its works, men's minds could no longer be elevated by knowledges to heavenly things, nor by doctrinals be led to life; and this to such a degree that at last scarcely anyone believes that there is any life after death, and scarcely anyone knows what the heavenly is. That there is any spiritual sense in the Word which does not appear in the letter, cannot be believed. In this way men's minds have been closed.

(Arcana Cœlestia 4844:17)

A Shell Without A Kernel

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.  And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.  And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.  So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.  And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.  So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.  And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.  And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.  For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.  And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.  And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.       (1 Kings 17:1-16)

What is related of Elijah, that when there was a famine for want of rain in the land he was sent to Zarephath to a widow, and that he asked of her a little cake, which she was first to make and to give to him, and was afterwards to make for herself and her son, and that then the barrel of meal with her was not consumed, and the cruse of oil did not fail, was representative, like all the other things related of Elijah, and in general all that are in the Word.

• The famine that was in the land because there was no rain, represented the vastation of truth in the church...
• The widow in Zarephath represented those outside of the church who desire truth.
• The cake which she was to make for him first, represented the good of love to the Lord... whom, out of the little she had, she was to love above herself and her son.
• The barrel of meal signifies truth from good...
• The cruse of oil charity and love...
• Elijah represents the Word, by means of which such things are done ...

This is meant also, in the internal sense, by the Lord's words in Luke:

No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there was a great famine over all the land; but unto none of them was Elijah sent, except to Zarephath of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow (Luke 4:24-26);

that is, to those without the church who desire truth. But the widows within the vastated church, to whom Elijah was not sent, are they who are not in truth, because not in good, for wherever there is no good there is also no truth, however much truth may appear with them in outer form like truth, and yet be as a shell without a kernel.

(Arcana Cœlestia 4844:12, 13)

When Truth Becomes the 'Truth of Intelligence'

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Nothing but truths constitute intelligence, since those who are in truths from good are in intelligence; for through truths from good the intellectual mind is in the light of heaven, and the light of heaven is intelligence, because it is Divine truth from Divine good.

The truth in man is not the truth of intelligence until it is led by means of good; and when it is led by means of good, it then for the first time becomes the truth of intelligence. For truth has no life from itself, but from good, and it has life from good when man lives according to truth; for then it infuses itself into man's will, and from his will into his actions, thus into the whole man.

The truth which man only knows or apprehends, remains outside of his will, and so outside of his life; for man's will is his life. But when man wills the truth, it is then on the threshold of his life; and when from willing he does it, then the truth is in the whole man; and when he does it frequently, it not only recurs from habit, but also from affection, thus from freedom.

Let anyone who pleases, consider whether man can be imbued with anything but that which he does from will. That which he only thinks and does not do, and still more that which he thinks and is not willing to do, is merely outside of him, and is also dissipated like chaff by the slightest wind, as it is in fact dissipated in the other life; from which it may be known what faith is without works.

From these things it is now plain what the truth of intelligence is, namely, that it is the truth which is from good. Truth is predicated of the understanding, and good of the will, or what is the same, truth is of doctrine and good is of life.

(from Arcana Cœlestia 4884)

Finding Respiration Similar To One's Own

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Love, when purified by wisdom in the understanding, becomes spiritual and celestial.

Man is born natural, but in the measure in which his understanding is raised into the light of heaven, and his love conjointly is raised into the heat of heaven, he becomes spiritual and celestial; he then becomes like a garden of Eden, which is at once in vernal light and vernal heat.

It is not the understanding that becomes spiritual and celestial, but the love; and when the love has so become, it makes its consort, the understanding, spiritual and celestial.

Love becomes spiritual and celestial by a life according to the truths of wisdom which the understanding teaches and requires. Love imbibes these truths by means of its understanding, and not from itself; for love cannot elevate itself unless it knows truths, and these it can learn only by means of an elevated and enlightened understanding; and then so far as it loves truths in the practice of them so far it is elevated; for to understand is one thing and to will is another; or to say is one thing and to do is another.

There are those who understand and talk about the truths of wisdom, yet neither will nor practise them. When, therefore, love puts in practice the truths of light which it understands and speaks, it is elevated. This one can see from reason alone; for what kind of a man is he who understands the truths of wisdom and talks about them while he lives contrary to them, that is, while his will and conduct are opposed to them?

Love purified by wisdom becomes spiritual and celestial, for the reason that man has three degrees of life, called natural, spiritual, and celestial, and he is capable of elevation from one degree into another. Yet he is not elevated by wisdom alone, but by a life according to wisdom, for a man's life is his love. Consequently, so far as his life is according to wisdom, so far he loves wisdom; and his life is so far according to wisdom as he purifies himself from uncleannesses, which are sins; and so far as he does this does he love wisdom.

That love purified by the wisdom in the understanding becomes spiritual and celestial cannot be seen so clearly by their correspondence with the heart and lungs, because no one can see the quality of the blood by which the lungs are kept in their state of respiration.

The blood may abound in impurities, and yet not be distinguishable from pure blood. Moreover, the respiration of a merely natural man appears the same as the respiration of a spiritual man. But the difference is clearly discerned in heaven — for there every one respires according to the marriage of love and wisdom; therefore as angels are recognized according to that marriage, so are they recognized according to their respiration. For this reason it is that when one who is not in that marriage enters heaven, he is seized with anguish in the breast, and struggles for breath like a man in the agonies of death; such persons, therefore throw themselves headlong from the place, nor do they find rest until they are among those who are in a respiration similar to their own; for then by correspondence they are in similar affection, and therefore in similar thought.

From all this it can be seen that with the spiritual man it is the purer blood, called by some the animal spirit, which is purified; and that it is purified so far as the man is in the marriage of love and wisdom. It is this purer blood which corresponds most nearly to that marriage; and because this blood inflows into the blood of the body, it follows that the latter blood is also purified by means of it. The reverse is true of those in whom love is defiled in the understanding. But, as was said, no one can test this by any experiment on the blood; but he can by observing the affections of love, since these correspond to the blood.

(Divine Love and Wisdom 422, 423)

Such As The Love Is, Such Is The Wisdom, Such Is The Man

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 ... and 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.

(Divine Love and Wisdom 368)

The Seat of the Understanding and the Will

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads a name of blasphemy (Revelation 13:1)

[T]he origins of all fibers are in the head, and from it they proceed to all the organs of sense and motion belonging to the face and the whole body; and there, too, are substances in infinite number that look like little spheres and are called by anatomists the cortical and cineritious substances; and from these go forth small fibers, the first of which are undiscernible; afterwards these are bundled together, and make up the medullary substance of the whole cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata. From this medullary substance discernible fibers extend, and these when conjoined are called nerves. By these the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the spinal marrow form the entire body and each and all things pertaining to it; and from this it comes that each and all things of the body are ruled by the brains.

From this it can be seen that the brains are the seat of the understanding and the will, which are called with one term, mind, and in consequence, of intelligence and wisdom, and that these are there in their first principles; also that the organs that are formed to receive sensations and to produce motions are derivations therefrom, precisely like streams from their fountains, or derivatives from their beginnings, or composite things from their substances; and these derivations are such that the brains are everywhere present, almost as the sun is present by its light and heat in each and all things of the earth.

From this it follows that the whole body, and each and all things of it, are forms that are under the observation, auspices, and obedience, of the mind, which is in the brain; thus these forms are so constructed after the mind's direction that any part in which the mind is not present, or to which it does not communicate its life, is no part of man's life.

From this it can be seen that when the mind is in its thought, which pertains to the understanding, and in its affection, which pertains to the will, it has an extension into every particular of the whole body, and there, by means of its forms, it spreads itself out as the thoughts and affections of the angels do into the societies of the universal heaven. The like is true here, since all things of the human body correspond to all things of heaven; consequently the form of the whole heaven before the Lord is the human form. (This is treated of at length in the Arcana Coelestia and in the work on Heaven and Hell.)

This has been said to make known why the "head" signifies wisdom and intelligence, as also in the contrary sense folly and insanity. For such as man is in his beginnings such is he in the whole, for the body with each and every part of it is a derivation, as has just been said. If, therefore, the mind is in the belief of falsity and in the love of evil, its entire body, that is, the entire man, is in a like state. This is also clearly evident when man becomes a spirit, whether good or evil; then his whole spiritual body, from head to foot, is wholly such as his mind is. If the mind is heavenly, the whole spirit, even as to its body, is heavenly. If the mind is infernal, the whole spirit, even as to its body, is infernal; and in consequence such a spirit appears in a direful form like a devil, while the former spirit appears in a beautiful form like an angel of heaven. ...

(Apocalypse Explained 775)