The Life of Truth

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

When a man is being regenerated, that is, when he is to be conjoined with the Lord, he proceeds to the conjunction by means of truth, that is, by means of the truths of faith; for no one can be regenerated except by means of the knowledges of faith, which are the truths by means of which he proceeds to conjunction. The Lord goes to meet these by means of good, that is, by means of charity, and adjusts and fits this in to the knowledges of faith, that is, to its truths; for all truths are recipient vessels of good, and therefore the more genuine the truths are, and the more they are multiplied, the more abundantly can good accept them as vessels, reduce them to order, and finally manifest itself; so that at last the truths do not appear, except insofar as good shines through them. In this way truth becomes the celestial spiritual.

As the Lord is present solely in the good which is of charity, the man is in this way conjoined with the Lord, and by means of good, that is, by means of charity, is gifted with conscience, from which he afterwards thinks what is true and does what is right; but this conscience is in accordance with the truths and right things into which the good or charity is adjusted and fitted.

(Arcana Coelestia 2063:3)

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It may be supposed that a man cannot but be saved if truths are full of goods. But be it known that there are very few truths with man, and that if there are any, they have no life unless there are goods in them; and that if there are goods in them, he is saved, but from Mercy. For, as before said, the truths with man are very few; and the goods which are in them have their quality in accordance with the truths, and the man's life.

Regarded in themselves, truths do not give life. It is goods that give life. Truths are only recipients of life, that is, of good. And therefore no one can ever say that he can be saved by truths (or as the common expression is, by faith alone), unless there is good in the truths which are of faith, and this good that must be in the truths must be the good of charity; hence faith itself, in the internal sense, is nothing else than charity.

As regards people's saying that the acknowledgment of truth is the faith that saves, be it known that with those who live in things contrary to charity, there cannot possibly be any acknowledgment but only persuasion, to which there has been adjoined the life of the love of self or of the world; thus in the acknowledgment they refer to there is not the life of faith, which is that of charity. The worst men of all - from the love of self or the world, that is, for the sake of being eminent above others in what is called intelligence and wisdom, and thus of winning honors, reputation, and gains - can learn the truths of faith, and confirm them by many things; but still with them these truths are dead.

The life of truth, and thus of faith, is solely from the Lord, who is life itself. The Lord's life is mercy, which is that of love toward the universal human race. In the Lord's life those can in no wise have part who although they profess the truths of faith despise others in comparison with themselves, and who, when their life of the love of self and of the world is touched, hold the neighbor in hatred, and take delight in his loss of wealth, of honor, of reputation, and of life. But the case with the truths of faith is that by means of them man is regenerated, for they are the veriest vessels recipient of good. Such therefore as are the truths, and such as are the goods in the truths, and such as is their conjunction and the consequent capability of being perfected in the other life, such is the state of blessedness and happiness after death.

(Arcana Coelestia 2261)

Vessels Formed to Receive Celestial Communication

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Regarded in itself, the truth learned from childhood is nothing but a vessel adapted to the reception of what is celestial.

Truth has no life from itself, but only from the celestial that flows in. The celestial is love and charity; all truth is therefrom, and because all truth is therefrom, it is nothing but a kind of vessel; and so are truths themselves plainly presented in the other life; truths there are never regarded from truths, but from the life which is in them; that is, from the celestial things which are of love and charity in the truths - from these it is that truths become celestial, and are called celestial truths. .... Truth in the memory [verum scientificum] is one thing; rational truth is another; and intellectual truth is another; they succeed one another. Truth in the memory is a matter of memory-knowledge; rational truth is this truth confirmed by reason; intellectual truth is conjoined with an internal perception that it is so. ...

(Arcana Coelestia 1496)

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By spiritual things are signified, all the things of faith, consequently all doctrinal things, for these are called things of faith, although they are not of faith until they have been conjoined with charity. Between these and the Lord there is not a parallelism and correspondence, for they are such things as do not flow in by internal dictate and conscience, as do those which are of love and charity, but they flow in by instruction, and so by hearing, thus not from the interior, but from the exterior, and in this way they form their vessels or recipients in man.

The greater part of them appear as if they were truths, but are not truths, such as those things which are of the literal sense of the Word, and are representatives of truth and significatives of truth, and thus are not in themselves truths; some of them even being falsities, which however can serve as vessels and recipients. ...

For example: with those who remain in the sense of the letter of the Word, and suppose that it is the Lord who leads into temptation and who then torments man's conscience, and who suppose that because He permits evil He is the cause of evil, and that He thrusts the evil down into hell, with other similar things: these are apparent truths, but are not truths; and because they are not truths that are such in themselves, there is no parallelism and correspondence. Still the Lord leaves them intact in man, and miraculously adapts them by means of charity so that they can serve celestial things as vessels. So also with the worship, the religious teachings and morals, and even with the idols, of the well-disposed Gentiles; these likewise the Lord leaves intact, and yet adapts them by means of charity so that they also serve as vessels.

The case was the same in regard to the very numerous rites in the Ancient Church, and afterwards in the Jewish Church; which in themselves were nothing but rituals in which there was not truth, but which were tolerated and permitted, and indeed commanded, because they were held as sacred by parents, and so were implanted in the minds of children and impressed upon them from infancy as truths. ...

For the things that are once implanted in a man's opinion, and are accounted as holy, the Lord leaves intact, provided they are not contrary to Divine order; and although there is no parallelism and correspondence, still He adapts them. These same things are what was signified in the Jewish Church by the birds not being divided in the sacrifices; for to divide is to place the parts opposite to each other in such a manner that they may adequately correspond; and because the things which have been spoken of are not adequately in correspondence, they are obliterated in the other life with those who suffer themselves to be instructed, and truths themselves are implanted in their affections of good. That in the Jewish Church for the sake of this representation and signification the birds were not divided, is evident in Moses:

If his offering to Jehovah be a burnt-offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtle-doves or of the sons of the pigeon. And he shall cleave it with its wings, he shall not divide it (Lev. 1:14, 17). 

And the same in the case of the sacrifices for sin (Lev. 5:7-8).

(Arcana Coelestia 1832)

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Man's very life is from the internal man, which cannot have communication with the external, except a most obscure communication, until the receiving vessels that are of the memory have been formed, which is effected by means of knowledges [cognitiones et scientiae].

The influx of the internal man goes into the knowledges of the exterior man; affection being the means. Meanwhile, before there are these knowledges, there is indeed a communication, but through affections alone, by which the external man is governed; but from this there exist only the most general motions, and certain appetites, also certain blind inclinations, such as show themselves in infants. But this life becomes by degrees more distinct in proportion as the vessels of the memory are formed by means of knowledges, and the vessels of the interior memory by means of rational things. As these vessels are formed, and are arranged in series - and indeed in such series that they mutually regard each other, comparatively like relationships by blood and by marriage, or like societies and families - thereby is perfected the correspondence of the external man with the internal, and still better is this done by means of rational things, which are intermediate.

But still there is a want of congruity unless the knowledges by which the vessels are formed are truths; for the celestial and spiritual things of the internal man find no correspondence for themselves except in truths. These are the genuine vessels in the organic forms of each memory, and to which the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith can be fitted in; for they are there arranged by the Lord according to the idea and image of the societies of heaven, or of His kingdom, insomuch that the man becomes, in least form, a heaven, or a kingdom of the Lord, as also the minds of those who are in the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith are called in the Word. But these things have been said for those who love to think more deeply.

(Arcana Coelestia 1900)

Understanding What Is Order

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of God can be clearly understood only when it is known what order is, and when it is known that God is order, and that He introduced order both into the universe and into each and all things of it at the time of their creation.

How many and how great absurdities have crept into the minds of men, and thus into the church, through the heads of reformers, from their not understanding the order in which God created the universe and each and all things in it, will be seen from the mere recital of them in the following pages. But we will now begin an explanation of order with a general definition of it, as follows:

Order is the quality of the arrangement, determination, and activity, of the parts, substances, or elements, which constitute a form; from which is its state; and its perfection is produced by wisdom from its love, or its imperfection is the outcome of unsoundness of reason from cupidity.

In this definition substance, form, and state are mentioned, and by substance form also is meant, because every substance is a form, and the quality of the form is the state of it, while perfection or imperfection of state is a result of the order. ...

God is order because He is substance itself and form itself.

• He is substance because all things that subsist have come forth and continue to come forth from Him.
• He is form because every quality of substances has sprung and continues to spring from Him, quality having no other source than form.

As God, then, is the very, the only, and the first substance and form, and at the same time the very and only love and the very and only wisdom, and as wisdom from love is what constitutes form, and its state and quality are in accordance with the order that is in it, it follows that God is order itself; consequently that God from Himself introduced order both into the whole universe and into all things and each thing in it; also that He introduced a most perfect order, because everything that He created was good, as we read in the Book of Creation. ... [E}vil things sprang up together with hell, thus after creation. ...

[E}ach and all things in the universe, that they might subsist by themselves, were created each into its own order, and in the beginning were so created as to conjoin themselves with the order of the whole universe, to the end that each particular order might have subsistence in the universal, and thus all might make one.

(from True Christian Religion 52 - 54)

Three Essentials of Love

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

It is the essence of Love to love others outside of one self, to desire to be one with them, and to render them blessed from oneself.

The essence of God consists of two things, love and wisdom; while the essence of His love consists of three things, namely, to love others outside of Himself, to desire to be one with them, and from Himself to render them blessed. And because love and wisdom in God make one, - the same three things constitute the essence of His wisdom; and love desires these three things, and wisdom brings them forth.

• The first essential, which is to love others outside of one's self, is recognized in God's love for the whole human race; and for its sake God loves all things that He has created because they are means; for when the end is loved the means also are loved. All men and things in the universe are outside of God, because they are finite and God is infinite. The love of God goes forth and extends not only to good men and good things, but also to evil men and evil things; consequently not only to the men and things in heaven but also in hell, thus not only to Michael and Gabriel but also to the devil and satan; for God is everywhere, and is from eternity to eternity the same. He says also:

That He makes the sun to rise on the good and on the evil, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5:45).

But the reason why evil men continue to be evil, and evil things continue to be evil, lies in the subjects and objects themselves, in that they do not receive the love of God as it is, and as it is inmostly in them, but as they themselves are; in the same way as thorns and thistles receive the heat of the sun and the rain of heaven.

• The second essential of the love of God, which is a desire to be one with others, is recognized in His conjunction with the angelic heaven, with the church on earth, with everyone there, and with everything good and true that enters into and constitutes man and the church. Moreover, love viewed in itself is nothing but an endeavor towards conjunction; therefore that this aim of the essence of love might be realized man was created by God into His own image and likeness, with which a conjunction is possible. That the Divine love continually seeks conjunction is evident from the Lord's own words:

That He wishes them to be one, He in them and they in Him, and that the love of God might be in them (John 17:21-23, 26).

• The third essential of the love of God, which is to render others blessed from Himself, is recognized in eternal life, which is the endless blessedness, happiness, and felicity that God gives to those who receive into themselves His love. For as God is love itself, so is He blessedness itself; for all love breathes forth delight from itself, and the Divine love breathes forth blessedness itself, happiness, and felicity to eternity. Thus God from Himself renders the angels blessed, and men after death; and this He does by conjunction with them.

(True Christian Religion 43)

Every Man After Death Goes The Way Of His Own Love

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Everything confirmed by the will and also by the understanding remains to eternity, because everyone is his own love, and his love belongs to his will; also because every man is his own good or his own evil, for everything that is called good, and likewise evil, belongs to the love.

As man is his own love he is also a form of his love, and may be called the organ of his life's love.

The affections of the love and consequent thoughts of man are changes and variations of the state and form of the organic substances of his mind. What these changes and variations are and their nature shall now be explained.

Some idea of them may be gathered from the heart and lungs, where there are alternate expansions and compressions or dilations and contractions, which in the heart are called systole and diastole and in the lungs respirations; these are a reciprocal distension and retraction or reciprocal stretching apart and closing together of their lobes. Such are the changes and variations of the state of the heart and lungs. There are like changes in the other viscera of the body, and changes more similar in their parts, by which the blood and the animal juice are received and carried onward.

Like things are to be found in the organic forms of the mind, which are the subjects of man's affections and thoughts, ... with the difference that their expansions and compressions, or reciprocations, are relatively in such higher perfection as cannot be expressed in the words of natural language, but only in those of spiritual language, and these can be defined in no other way than that they are vortex-like circlings inward and outward, after the manner of perpetual and incurving spirals wonderfully bundled together into forms receptive of life.

The nature of these purely organic substances and forms in the evil and in the good shall now be stated.

In the good these spiral forms are turned forward, but in the evil backward; and the spiral forms turning forward are turned towards the Lord and receive influx from Him, while those turning backward are turned towards hell and receive influx therefrom. It is to be known that so far as they are turned backward they are open behind and closed in front; and on the other hand, so far as they are turned forward they are opened in front and closed behind.

From all this it is evident what kind of a form or organ an evil man is, and what kind of a form or organ a good man is, namely, that they are turned in contrary directions; and as the turning when once fixed cannot be reversed it is clear that such as man is when he dies such he remains to eternity. It is the love of man's will that makes the turning, that is, that converts and inverts, ... every man is his own love. It is from this that every man after death goes the way of his own love - he that is in a good love to heaven, and he that is in an evil love to hell, and he finds rest only in that society where his reigning love is; and what is wonderful, everyone knows the way; it is like following a scent with the nose.

(Divine Providence 319)

The Circles of Things

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The consummation of the age can be illustrated by various things in the natural world, for here each and all things on the earth grow old and decay, but by alternate changes which are called the circles of things.

Times in general and in particular pass through these circles. In general, the year passes from spring to summer, through this to autumn, then ends in winter, and from this returns to spring; this is the circle of heat. In particular, the day passes from morning to noon, through this to evening, and ends in night, and from this returns again to morning; this is the circle of light.  Again, every man runs through the circle of nature, beginning life in infancy, advancing therefrom to youth and manhood, from this to old age, and dies.  So likewise every bird of the air and every beast of the earth. Also, every tree begins with a germ, goes on to its full stature, and gradually declines until it falls.  The same is true of every bush and every shrub, and even of every leaf and flower, also of the soil itself, which in time becomes barren; and of all still water which gradually becomes foul.

All these are alternative consummations, which are natural and temporal, and yet periodical; because when one has passed from its origin to its end, another like it arises; thus everything is born and dies and is born again, in order that creation may be continued. This is like what takes place in the church because man is a church and in general constitutes the church, and one generation follows another with a constant variation of disposition; and iniquity once enrooted, that is, an inclination to it, is transmitted to posterity, and is extirpated by regeneration only, which is wrought by the Lord alone.

(True Christian Religion 756)

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Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The very process of the glorification of the Lord's Human, and of the regeneration of man, is fully described by the things commanded concerning the sacrifices and burnt-offerings; and in order that this process may be apprehended, I may set it forth by means of such things as can fall into the understanding.

It is known that what is seen with the eyes and heard with the ears is perceived inwardly with man, and as it were passes out of the world through the eyes or ears into the thought, thus into the understanding, for the thought is of the understanding; and if they are such things as are loved, they pass from this into the will, and from the will by way of the understanding into the speech of the mouth, and also into the act of the body. Such is the circle of things out of the world through the natural man into his spiritual man, and from this again into the world. But be it known that this circle is instituted from the will, which is the inmost of man's life, and that it begins there, and is from this accomplished; and the will of a man who is in good is directed from heaven by the Lord, though it appears otherwise. For there is an influx from the spiritual world into the natural, thus through the internal man into his external, but not the reverse; for the internal man is in heaven, but the external in the world.

As this circle is the circle of man's life, therefore during man's regeneration he is regenerated according to the same, and when he has been regenerated, he lives and acts in accordance with it. Therefore during man's regeneration the truths which are to be of faith are insinuated through the hearing and sight, and these truths are implanted in the memory of his natural man. From this memory they are withdrawn into the thought that belongs to the understanding, and those which are loved become of the will; and insofar as they become of the will, they become of the life, for the will of man is his very life; and insofar as they become of the life, they become of his affection, thus of charity in the will and of faith in the understanding. Afterward the man speaks and acts from this life, which is the life of charity and of faith; from charity which is of the will goes forth the speech of the mouth and also the act of the body, both by way of the understanding, thus by the way of faith. From all this it is evident that the circle of the regeneration of man is like the circle of his life in general; and that it is in like manner instituted in the will by means of an influx out of heaven from the Lord.

Hence also it is plain that there are two states in the man who is being regenerated:

• the first when the truths of faith are being implanted and conjoined with the good of charity,
• the second when he speaks from the good of charity by means of the truths of faith, and acts according to these;

thus that the first state is from the world through the natural man into the spiritual, thus into heaven; and the second is from heaven through the spiritual man into the natural, thus into the world.

... the spiritual or internal man is in heaven, and the natural or external man is in the world. This circle is the circle of the regeneration of man, and consequently is the circle of his spiritual life (concerning this twofold state of the man who is being regenerated, see the places cited in Arcana Coelestia 9274).

From what has been said, some idea may be formed of the glorification of the Lord's Human; for as the Lord glorified His Human, so He regenerates man, and therefore, as already often said, the regeneration of man is an image of the glorification of the Lord.

From this it is evident that -

• the first state of His glorification was to make His Human Divine truth, and to unite it with the Divine good that was in Him;
• the second state was to act from Divine good through Divine truth. For heaven and the church are founded through the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord's Divine good; and through this are regenerated all who are in the church.

These are the things described by the sacrifices and burnt-offerings, and their rituals ... By the sacrifice from the bullock and by the burnt-offering from the first ram is described the first state; and by the fillings of the hand from the second ram is described the second state; and finally by the sacrifice from the bullock, and by the burnt-offerings, is signified the continuance of this.

Be it known that with a man who is being regenerated, purification from evils and their falsities goes on continually, for insofar as a man is purified from evils and falsities, so far are implanted the truths which are of faith, and these are conjoined with the good which is of charity, and insofar the man afterward acts from the good of charity. Purification from evils and falsities with man is not liberation from them, but is their removal (see Arcana Coelestia nos. 868, 887, 894, 929, 1581, 2269, 2406, 4564, 8206, 8393, 8988, 9014, 9333, 9446-9451, 9938).

But with the Lord there was not removal, but casting out of those things which He derived from the mother, thus full and complete liberation from them, insomuch that He was no longer the Son of Mary (see the places cited in n. 9315, at the end).

(Arcana Coelestia 10057)

Impressed on the Life by the Lord

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Truths are said to be impressed on the life, when they become of the will and from this of the act. So long as they stay merely in the memory, and so long as they are looked at only intellectually, they have not been impressed on the life; but as soon as they are received in the will, they become of the life, because the very being of man's life is to will, and from this to act; and before this they have not been appropriated to the man.

That "to write" denotes to impress on the life, is because the purpose of writings is remembrance to all posterity. So is it with the things impressed on a man's life.

Man has as it were two books, in which have been written all his thoughts and acts. These books are his two memories, the exterior and the interior. The things written on his interior memory remain to all eternity, and are never blotted out, and are chiefly those which have become of the will, that is, of the love; for the things of the love are of the will. It is this memory which is meant by every man's book of life.

(Arcana Coelestia 9386)