The Second Education
By the Reverend Theodore Pitcairn.
We read in the ARCANA
COELESTIA, n. 8552, that unless in respect to his spiritual life a man is
conceived anew, born anew, and educated anew, that is created anew, from
the Lord, he is damned.
The first education
is for the sake of the second education, and in so far as it prepares for
this it is good and true, and in so far as it does not prepare for the
second education it is evil and false. Wherefore without a knowledge of the
second education no true doctrine of education is possible, and as this
knowledge is at present lacking or is very slight, we can at this time only
deal in we have certain glimpses, that may be compared to a flash of
lightning in contrast to the steady light of the noon-day sun.
If the church had
perception in spiritual things it would have no need of elaborate theories
of education, for it would clearly see the nature of the second education,
and from this have the necessary knowledge as to the first or preliminary
education. This is involved in the statement in the MEMORABILIA, n. 4059:
"If man were in the love of true faith he would have no need to write so
many books about the education of infants and children".
The first education
is an education in the things of the world, and especially an education in
the things of the letter of the Word including the letter of the Writings.
All things that are acquired during this education must as it were die, in
order that man may be educated anew, for they are such things as appertain
to his natural memory, and are therefore quiescent in Heaven. They are like
a fruit which must decay in order that the seed may take root and live, or
like the shell of a nut which must break in order that the kernel may live
and grow. The words "Unless a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it
abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit" have a universal
application.
There is great danger
that the first education may, as it were, be too effective, so that it with
difficulty dies; it may become like a shell that is so hard that the kernel
cannot burst its bonds and come forth. We have said that a man
can take nothing that lie acquires by the first education into Heaven;
by Heaven is meant all things which appertain to the spiritual and celestial
mind, whether a man is living in this world or the next. It is of great
importance to realize that the letter of the Writings belongs to the first
education, which must, as it were, be left behind when one enters
upon the second education; if one confuses the letter of the Writings with
the spiritual and celestial things that are acquired by the second
education, no genuine doctrine of education is possible.
That the letter of
the Writings belongs to the first education is obvious from the fact that
this can be taught to any one and learned like any other subject; while the
second education is part of the new creation by the Lord, and is only
possible with those who have first been conceived and born anew by the Lord.
The word education
has the root meaning of leading out. The first education is a leading of the
mind out of merely corporeal and sensual things into natural things. The
second education is a leading out of the mind from natural things into
spiritual and celestial things. The first education is apparently done by
man, the second education is manifestly done by the Lord. The first
education is also performed by the Lord, but of this man is unconscious.
While in the case of the second education it is perceived that it is
the work of the Lord.
The second education
is an education in the genuine spiritual and celestial things of the
internal sense of the Word, and this is performed by the Lord by means of
the genuine Doctrine of the Church drawn from the Word.
In, the following we
will treat of certain general aspects of education in relation to science,
language and art.
Science.
Much is said in the
Writings concerning science, scientifics, and scientific truth. Scientific
truth is the second degree of truth, it is a discrete degree above sensual
truth, and it is below the higher forms of truth.
There are two kinds
of scientifics, the scientifics of the letter of the Word including the
Writings, and the scientific of the world. Scientifics when used
in the Writings, usually refer to the scientific of the Word, or as they are
called the scientifics of the Church. The scientifics of the world are only
useful as a scaffolding while the mind is being built up; as they are beyond
the borders of the Church they have no permanent place in the human mind.
Nevertheless the
scientifics of the world correspond to the scientifics of the Church, as is
evident from much that is said in the Writings concerning them, especially
in connection with the science of anatomy. The scientifics of the world are
mentioned in the letter of the Writings only for the sake of the
representation of interior things and have no part in the internal natural
sense of the Writings. To illustrate: when the Writings speak of optics and
mathematics as being useful sciences, the Angels of the natural 14eaven can
only think of the optics of the spiritual world, that is, the laws governing
spiritual light and the spiritual eye, that is, the laws of truth, and how
truth is accommodated to the understanding, by reflection and refraction.
Likewise when mathematics are mentioned they can have no idea of number such
as have the mathematicians of the world, but of the things that correspond
thereto.
The useful spiritual
scientifics of the Church are the spiritual science of astronomy, geometry,
optics, chemistry, mechanics, history, anatomy, medicine, civil law, and
such things also as are called philosophical (MEMORABILIA, CODEX MINOR,
4657), and above all the science of correspondences, the science of
sciences.
If we consider these
sciences correspondentially, it is clear that this is a description of the
Writings in their letter: astronomy is the science of cognitions, geometry
the science of degrees, optics the science of the influx of truth, chemistry
the science of means, history, the science of progression of state, medicine
the science of repentance and reformation, civil law the science of the
government of truth, and philosophy the science of cause and effect.
These scientifics of
the Church, like the scientifics of the world, belong to the first
education, for they are subjects which can be taught to any one.
Scientifics, we are
taught, are vessels which must be infilled with spiritual and celestial
things if they are to have life. It is this infilling of scientifics that is
meant by the second education. This infilling of scientifics takes place by
influx both immediate and mediate. At first on] immediately from the Lord
into the letter giving a general perception, afterwards both immediately
from the Lord and mediately through the Heavens. During the first period man
does not truly take part in the second education, for he remains in the
letter. It is only with the commencement of mediate influx that an is lead
by the Lord out of the letter. This twofold influx is treated of in the
eighteenth and nineteenth chapters of EXODUS. Here it may be noted that
exodus, going out, and education, leading out, are almost
identical in meaning. In fact the book of EXODUS is nothing else than a
description of the second education, by which man is led out of the letter
into the spirit, and with the New Churchman. specifically, a leading out of
the letter of the Writings into their spiritual and celestial senses. This
leading out is done by the Lord alone as described under the representation
of Moses. And it is involved in the words of the ARCANA COELESTIA, 8552;
"Unless in respect to his spiritual life a man is conceived anew, born anew,
and educated anew, that is created anew, from the Lord, he is damned".
The same teaching is
involved in the words of Jethro to Moses: "The word that thou doest is not
good", this signifies that a change must take place; "wearing thou wiIt wear
away, both thou, and this people that is with Thee", this signifies that
thus the truth which has been inseminated would perish (A. C. 8696).
Jethro had seen Moses
judging the people alone, and saw that this could not continue. The people
are the scientifics of the letter of the Writings or those who are in such
scientifics; Moses represents the immediate influx from the Lord into these
scientifics. At the commencement of the Church, and at the, beginning of
regeneration, this is the only influx from which the scientifics of the Word
have life. But this state cannot endure or all truth in time would perish.
This first state is a state of good from truth, or a state of mere obedience
to truth, afterwards the Church must come into a state in which it is in
good, and from this sees truth. Then truths are said to be implanted in
good. With this change mediate influx through the Heavens commences, by
which the interior degrees of the mind of the Church are built up. And it is
this building up of the mind that is meant by the second education or
education anew.
Previously the Lord
did inflow with good into the truths of the letter, for without good,
truth is but a dead shell, but this influx was immediate and not
perceptible. In the second state when a man is in truth from good, there is
a twofold influx, both immediate from the Lord, and mediate by means of the
Heavens; this influx is perceptible, and is called revelation.
Thus we read in the
ARCANA COELESTIA, n. 8694: "By revelation is meant enlightenment when the
Word is read, and then perception; for they who are in good and long for
truth are taught in this way from the Word; but they who are not in good
cannot be taught from the Word, but can only be confirmed in such things as
they have been instructed in from infancy, whether true or false. The reason
why those who are in good have revelation, and those who are in evil have no
revelation, is that in the internal sense each and all things in the Word
treat of the Lord and of His kingdom, and the Angels that are with man
perceive the Word according to its internal sense. This is communicated to
the man who is in good and reads the Word, and from affection longs for
truth, and consequently has enlightenment and perception. For with those who
are in good and from this in the affection of truth, the intellectual part
of the mind is opened into Heaven, and their soul, that is their internal
man, is in fellowship with the Angels; but it is otherwise with those who
are not in good. But what is the nature of the revelation of those who are
in good and from this in the affection of truth cannot be described. It is
not manifest, neither is it altogether hidden; but it is a certain consent
and favoring from within that a thing is true, and a non-favoring if it is
not true. . . . The cause of its being so is from the influx of Heaven from
the Lord; for through Heaven from the Lord there is light, that surrounds
and enlightens the intellect, which is the eye of the internal sight. The
things which are then seen in that light are truths, for this very light is
the Divine Truth which proceeds from the Lord.
That this Divine Truth is light in Heaven has been frequently shown".
This passage shows
that the scientifics in the Writings are not the source of light to the
mind, but are the objects which must be seen in light. The light itself is
from the Lord by means of the internal sense of the Writings which is with
the Angels and which may be communicated to a man who is in fellowship with
them, when reading the Writings. The spiritual and celestial sense, as it in
itself, cannot be expressed in natural language, and there ore is called
ineffable, nevertheless it may descend into corresponding natural language,
in which case the genuine Doctrine of the Church is born. The genuine
Doctrine of the Church is therefore the result of the education anew by the
Lord. The genuine Doctrine of the Church is in itself spiritual and
celestial and therefore can only be seen when in a state of enlightenment.
If one reads the letter of the Doctrine of the Church when not in a state of
enlightenment one acquires mere scientifics, as is the case when one reads
the letter of the Three Testaments.
From what has been
said it may be seen that there can be no knowledge of the second education
without mediate and immediate revelation from the Lord, and where there is
no knowledge of the second education there can be no genuine Doctrine as to
the first education.
The second education
is described in the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED as follows: "By prophets here and
elsewhere in the Word are meant in the nearest sense such prophets as those
were in the Old Testament through whom the Lord spoke; but in the spiritual
sense those prophets are not meant, but all whom the Lord leads; with these
also the Lord flows in and reveals to them the secrets of the Word, whether
they teach or not. . . . Prophets mean all whom the Lord teaches,
thus all who are in the spiritual affection of truth, that is who love truth
because it is truth; for the Lord teaches these, and flows into their
understanding and enlightens; and this is more true of these than of the
prophets of the Old Testament. From this it can be seen that prophets mean
in the spiritual sense all who are wise from the Lord; and this whether they
teach or do not teach. And as every truly spiritual sense is abstracted from
the idea of persons, places and
times, so the prophets also signify in the highest sense the Lord in
relation to the Word, and a- to Doctrine from the Word; and likewise the
Word and Doctrine. A prophet means Divine Truth, which is the Word, and
which is in the Church out of the Word" (n. 624).
Hence it may be seen
-that the Word, and to the New Churchman especially the Latin Word, Must be
as a vessel in his mind, and that the second education consists of an
immediate and mediate revelation from the Lord into this Divinely formed
receptacle.
Before passing on let
us consider briefly the place of what is called Swedenborg's scientific
works. From what has been said it can be seen that it is only in so far as
these works are seen as spiritual scientifics that they have a rightful
place within the borders of the Church, that is in so far as the
corresponding spiritual scientifics are seen within the apparent worldly
scientifics of their letter. In Providence the scientific works were not
written to give, man a literal or factual account of the physical world; but
to act as an ultimate basis for the giving of the Writings. The scientific
works were given because they . contain natural scientifics which correspond
to spiritual scientifics. In the future no one will think of even
discussing the point as to whether the scientific works agree with the facts
of worldly science; for to do so brings the mind down to the sensual
corporeal plane; just as now a New Church minister does not discuss whether
the account of creation given in Genesis agrees with the actual mode of the
creation of the World, for to do so brings him into the sphere of the
perverted Christian church.
If viewed from within
the Writings and philosophic works will indeed be seen to be in agreement
with the true scientifics of the world. but not if viewed from without, or
from the scientific. This may be illustrated by works of art: Those who
regard the works of art of Egypt, of Greece, of the Middle Ages, and other
works of art, merely from the science of anatomy, cannot see the agreement
between the work of art and human anatomy. But those who view art from
within, that is those who see art from the genuine love of art, see the
harmony and agreement between the things of art and of nature;
this is so because the agreement is internal, and the internal can
never be seen in the light of the external, but the external always in the
light of the internal.
Language.
The subject of
language in a sense runs parallel to that of science; there are the
languages of the world and the languages of the Word, the three sacred
Ianguages. Neither the one nor the other can enter into Heaven nor have they
any part in the internal sense, and therefore languages as such belong
solely to the first education. The spiritual language, which one comes into
without instruction when raised to the spiritual degree of the mind, is the
medium of the second education; while living on earth this language descends
into the natural mind and clothes itself with corresponding words of natural
language for the sake of communication.
Concerning the
spiritual language we read in HEAVEN AND HELL, n. 236: "All in the universal
Heaven have one language. . . . This language is not learned there, but is
implanted in everyone, for it flows from their very affection and thought".
A tongue or language represents Doctrine or the truth of Doctrine; the above
passage therefore signifies that spiritual Doctrine cannot be learned like
natural doctrine, but flows out of the very affections and thoughts, and
indeed from the Lord.
This was represented
by the tongues of flame descending upon the Apostles on the day of
Pentecost. The tongues of flame represented Doctrine from love. These
tongues caused the Apostles to speak in tongues, that is caused each one to
hear the Apostles in their own language. The descent of the tongues was the
descent of pure love, but those tongues of flame when received take on
external doctrinal form according to the nature of the mind of the one who
receives, thus each one heard according to his own tongue.
We read in GENESIS 11
: 1: "The earth was one lip", that is flier was but one Doctrine, the lip of
the Angels; yet the Ancient Church differed greatly as to doctrinals. But as
all these doctrinals were from the universal Doctrine they were united by
charity. Charity was the life or internal of their doctrinals,
wherefore they were- in true doctrinals, although in diverse ones. When
charity no longer was the life of doctrinals the doctrinals were separated
from the Doctrine, and when so separated they had no longer a uniting
medium, which is represented by Jehovah confounding the lip. What is said in
the ARCANA COELESTIA in this connection about charity does not mean
that charity can unite false and true doctrinals, but that if the doctrinals
are from genuine charity then they are in harmony, because from the
universal Doctrine, and this no matter bow they may differ as to doctrinals.
When an Angel speaks
to a man he speaks to him in his own language. An Angel represents the good
and truth of the internal mind; to speak represents influx of the Doctrine
out of Heaven; the man who hears represents the external mind; the language
of the man represents the doctrinal things that a man has acquired out of
the Word. When influx takes place it is according to the reception by
vessels.
We read in the ARCANA
COELESTIA, n. 7236: "From only twenty three letters, put together in
different ways, there can arise the words of all languages, and even with a
perpetual variety if there were thousands of languages". The twenty-three
letters signify the letter of the Word, the languages signify the Doctrine
that is drawn out of the letter of the Word. From the letters by arrangement
words are formed, from these sentences and from these chapters. It is only
in the chapter that the full use of the letters becomes evident, and, in
fact, in the meaning of the chapter; when one has learned to read fluently
one becomes unconscious of the letters. The same is true of the letter of
the Word including the letter of the Writings. From these words are formed,
the internal natural sense, from these sentences, the spiritual sense, and
from these chapters, the celestial sense. So far the Church has been
occupied largely with acquiring- the alphabet. Note that the language is
finite and limited, while the alphabet is unlimited and a-, it were
infinite.
But let us not forget
that the spiritual language which belongs to the second education is not
learned, but comes to a man from influx as he is raised into a spiritual
state.
Art.
The same universal
laws that rule in science and language rule in art. All genuine art is a
representation of celestial and spiritual things, it is not only a
representation but also corresponds. Thus all genuine art contains within it
what is spiritual and celestial, and within this what is Divine. All
internal art like all genuine Doctrine is due to immediate and mediate
influx from the Lord. Nevertheless art is natural, spiritual, or celestial,
according to the nature of the reception.
Spiritual natural art
is characterized by the fact that the artist is unaware of the influx, while
with the interior degrees the influx is perceptible. This is involved in the
following quotation from the ARCANA COELESTIA, n. 552: "that all the joy and
happiness in Heaven are from the Lord alone has been shown me by many
experiences, of which the following may be related. I saw that with the
utmost diligence some angelic spirits were fashioning a lampstand with its
lamps and flowers of the richest ornamentation in honor of the Lord. For an
hour or two I was permitted to witness with what great pains they labored to
make everything about it beautiful and representative, they supposing that
they were doing it of themselves. But to me it was given to perceive that of
themselves they could devise nothing at all. At last after some hours they
said that they had formed a very beautiful representative candelabrum in
honor of the Lord, whereat they rejoiced from their hearts. But I told them
that of themselves they had devised and formed nothing at all, but the Lord
alone for them. At first they would scarcely believe this, but being angelic
spirits they were enlightened, and confessed that I was so. So it is with
all other representative things, and with everything of affection and
thought both in general and in particular, and also with heavenly joys and
felicities, the very smallest bits of them is from the Lord alone". Here we
may note that the candlestick which the angelic spirits, that is the Angels
of the Lowest Heaven, formed, was Doctrine, without which they could not
have read the Word. The genuine Doctrine that The Church has drawn from the
Writings so far is included in what is here said concerning this
candlestick. For the Church has thought it has fashioned it in honor of the
Lord, when in truth the Church has devised and fashioned no genuine
Doctrine, but, the Lord alone for it.
Art is based on a
perception of nature as a representation of the Divine Human; in the lowest
degree of genuine art this perception, as such, is not consciously
realized by the artist.
While genuine art
contains within it spiritual and celestial things, as it is first seen it is
merely sensual, and unless there is influx from Heaven raising the mind
above what is sensual, art remains so to the beholder; just as in the case
of the Doctrine of the Church, if the mind is not raised into spiritual
light it is seen only as natural. As one in enlightenment draws Doctrine
from the infinite source of the letter of the Word, so the genuine artist
draws from the indefinite source of nature the spiritual and celestial
things that lie within. But if the beholder is not in enlightenment
he cannot see the spiritual and celestial things that have been drawn out
and let down again into the natural, but he only sees the sensual
appearances. In other words if the beholder does not come into something of
the same inspiration as the artist, he cannot see art. This is involved in
the following quotation, ARCANA COELESTIA, n. 1954: "The eye does not see
from itself, but from interior sight; interior sight, does not see from
itself, but from a still more interior sight, or that of man's rational.
Nay, neither does this see from itself, but does so from a still more
internal sight, which is that of the internal man. And even this does not
see from itself, for it is the Lord who sees through the internal man, and
He is the only one who sees, because He is the only one who lives, and He it
is who gives man the ability to see, and this in such a manner that it
appears as 'If lie saw of himself".
As this law has a
universal application, it applies to art as well as to other things, whence
it can be seen that there is no genuine sight of art except from the Lord,
and their this sight becomes more and more interior according to the opening
of the degrees of the mind. Hence it is evident why there is no real seeing
of art in the world as it is today; nothing is seen, but the sensual
appearance. As the genuine seeing of art belongs to the second
education, it cannot be taught, but is due to mediate and immediate influx
from the Lord. Man in art as in Doctrine can only act as midwife.
Education of Children in
Heaven.
The second or new
education is described in the Writings under the representation of the
education of children in Heaven. Heaven is the internal mind, into which a
man enters by the second birth. After this entrance a man must be educated
anew, for at first he is bit a child in the things of the spiritual world.
Here we will consider
but a few of' the thin-s which are said in the Writings concerning the
education of' children in Heaven, in order that we ma see bow they apply to
the education anew.
In the MIEMORABILIA,
n. 5660 and following numbers, we read: "How 'maidens are educated in the
other life and in Heaven". "Maidens" are the affections of truth, "in
Heaven" represents in the internal or spiritual mind "They are always kept
at their own work which is embroidery, and the things which they make are
either for themselves, or they give them to others. . . . They receive their
garments gratis, not knowing bow, which they put on daily, and a better one,
for festivals". "The garments which they receive gratis" represent the
truths or things of genuine Doctrine which the internal mind receives by
influx from the Lord without any effort on the part of man.
These garments are
woven by the Lord from within, or as said of the work of the weaver that it
is spiritual out of the celestial. "The festival days on which they receive
better garments" are such states -is are represented by the Sabbath days and
the days of feasts. Such days represent especially the conjunction of good
and truth, in such states more interior truths are received. "The
embroidery which is their work" represents the collection and arrangement of
spiritual scientifics. Concerning embroidery, we read as follows in the
ARCANA COELESTIA: "The work of the embroiderer signifies the things which
,ire scientific. The cause of this is from the representatives in the other
life. There appear their garments embroidered in various ways, by which are
signified scientific truths. Scientific truths differ from
intellectual truths as external things from internal ones, or as the natural
from the spiritual; for the intellectual is the visual of the internal man,
and scientifics are its objects in the external man" (n. 9688). "The work of
the embroiderer signifies the cognitions of good and truth. The work of the
embroiderer signifies that which is from the scientific. The reason it is
said by means of the cognitions of good and truth, is that by these are
meant interior scientifics, such as are those of the Church concerning faith
and love" (n. 9945).
The work of the
maidens in Heaven, that is, the work of the affection of truth in the
internal mind, is to collect and arrange interior scientifics, that is the
cognitions of good and truth, as if of themselves. It is obvious that these
scientifics which are called the cognitions of good and truth are by the New
Churchman gathered especially from the Writings. Yet this embroidery work
belongs to the external mind; man is given to do this work as if from
himself in order that he may perform uses, although reality this also is
done by the Lord. As to truths themselves here represented by the garments,
these are given to the man gratis by the Lord, man "not knowing how".
"When they see spots
on their garments, it is a sign that they have thought what is evil and that
they have done what is wrong". In relation to the Church this signifies that
when something of the love of self or the world enters in, blemishes begin
to appear in the Doctrine of the Church and this is a sign for the need of
repentance.
We read in the
MEMORABILIA, n. 5668: "On the education of little children in Heaven:
- They are with
their nurses whom they call their mothers"; a nurse represents innocence,
or the "spiritual celestial"; innocence guards, protects, and feeds the
spiritual affection of truth, for unless this ears for it as a mother, the
affection of truth perishes.
- "They read the
Lord's prayer, and learn prayers from nurses by influx out of Heaven".
The, Lord's prayer represents the Word, especially the Word as to worship.
Prayers we are told represent revelation, for in genuine prayer there is a
revelation from the Lord which is an answer to the prayer; it is here
clearly stated that the prayers are by means of influx out of Heaven.
- "There are
preachers for them". Preachers preach the Doctrine of good and truth,
wherefore abstractly from person the preacher signifies such Doctrine. It
is the Doctrine of genuine good and truth which instructs the newborn
internal affection of truth.
- "Intelligence
flows in and also wisdom, which surpasses the intelligence of the learned
in the world, although they have an infantile idea of these things". The
learned of the world represent the scientifics of the Word, and those who
are in such scientifics. After the second birth intelligence and wisdom
flow in from the internal sense of the Word; this intelligence surpasses
the intelligence that has been acquired merely from the letter, although
as yet, the man, being but a spiritual infant, has only an infantile idea
of these things.
- "They have
representations from Heaven". The representations signify doctrinals,
especially doctrinals as to their letter, for it is these that represent
interior things.
- "They
are dressed according to their diligence, especially with flowers and
garlands". As has been shown above their diligence refers to the acquiring
of scientifics; they who do this in humility and innocence are gifted with
garments. The flowers and garlands represent the things of intelligence,
with which they are endowed.
- "They are led into
paradises". Paradise represents the things of wisdom.
- "They are
tempted". During the first education man only undergoes natural
temptations, that is temptations as to the good and truth of the letter of
the Word. During the second education, that is, the education as to the
things of the internal sense of the Word, man undergoes spiritual
temptations, which are here represented by temptation of children in
Heaven.
- "They grow
according to their state of reception". Man's internal mind like his
external mind is a vessel, and the growth of this mind is according to its
opening to the reception of both immediate and mediate influx from the
Lord.
- "They are of
diverse genius". The things of the internal mind, like those of the
external mind, are of diverse genius; it is the Divine of the Lord which
makes each society of Heaven, it is the Divine of the Lord
which makes the spiritual sense of the Word with every man whose mind is
opened, yet the reception of the Divine of the Lord is different, with
every one and is indeed according to the genius of each individual.
- "Nurses are given
them who in the world have loved little children". As we have already
spoken of nurses we, will omit further elucidation.
- "They who are
educated is little children know no otherwise than that they were born in
Heaven". All birth takes place in the natural, wherefore the word natural
is derived from the word meaning birth. The birth of the .spiritual mind
originally takes place in The things of the letter of the Word and
Doctrine. Yet when it is perceived that all the things of the spiritual
mind are due to influx from the Lord immediately and through the Heavens,
it it' they were born in the spiritual mind instead of, as is really the
case, that they were raised by the Lord out of the things of the letter of
the Word in the natural mind.
- "They do not know
what time and space and such earthly things are". The things of time and
space as related to the Church, signify the things of the letter of the
Word; such things cannot enter into Heaven, nor can they enter into the
things of the interior mind, so much is this the ease that if man is in
interior thought the things of the letter it were disappear to such
an extent that he does not know what such things are.
- "They speak the angelic language within a month". When man's spiritual
mind is first opened by means of the second birth, he cannot speak the
spiritual language, that is he cannot talk from genuine Doctrine, but is
as it were dumb. But this period is of short duration; it only applies to
his first state as to faith. After a month he can speak the angelic
Ianguage, and this, as was shown above, without instruction.
The above are but a few preliminary
thoughts with regard to the second education; until we know more of this
education, as we have said, we can have scarcely any idea of the genuine
nature of the first education.
Before closing we wish to note that no
man merits the second education; introduction into the things of the
internal mind, that is introduction into the things of the
spiritual sense of the Word, is due to the merit of the Lord and not due to
any merit on man's part. No one merits Heaven; if any one imagines
that he can enter the things of the spiritual sense of the Word either by
study or by doing good works and not by means of the Lord, he is among those
in the other life who cut grass or chop wood to keep warm, under which is,
as it were, something of the Lord. Such do not enter into the sheep-fold by
the door, but like robbers climb up some other way.
From
http://www.theisticpsychology.org/books/dhl/mscan8.htm |
