Out Of Egypt

The passages from the Writingscited in this paper contain the expression “the Writings” where the originaltext has “the Word.” This substitution is legitimate if one is willingto grant these two fundamental propositions:

Proposition 1: The Writings are the third portion thatcompletes the Threefold Word (i.e., Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Testaments).

Proposition 2: When the Writings makesassertions about the Word, the statements apply to the Threefold Word as awhole.

Proposition 1 has been the Divine Doctrine received andnurtured by the men of the General Church Academy Movement at the end of the 19^thcentury. Proposition 2 has been the Divine Doctrine received and nurtured bythe men of the General Church Dutch Branch, as documented in De HemelscheLeer publication in the 1930s. The two propositions together strengtheneach other and form the basis of spiritual enlightenment provided by the Lordthrough His Second Coming in the Writings.

Anyone in the world today can be enlightened by the Writingsand prepared for a heavenly life by simply following these two conditions: (A)To accept these two Fundamental Propositions while reading the Writings; (B) Toapply what is understood therefrom to one’s daily willing and thinking.

By following Condition A (accepting the two FundamentalPropositions), we are enlightened by the Lord. This means that ourunderstanding is elevated from the natural into the spiritual. When we read thesentences of the Writings, we can begin to perceive the more interior truthsthat are contained within it. By following Condition B (applying doctrine tolife), we begin to be regenerated.

Enlightenment and regeneration must go together. No one canbe regenerated without enlightenment. This is because regeneration is theup-building of a new will and this cannot be done except by spiritual ideasfrom the Writings. Regeneration begins in adult life, after reformation. Untilregeneration begins, we are in an unregenerate state, including those born andraised within the New Church. However, at one point, we complete reformation asan adult, and begin reading the Writings as the Word that is to guide us in ourregeneration efforts. One cannot be regenerated without the Writings as theWord to guide us.

Enlightenment is a gradual process and progresses to theperception of more and more interior truths. This gradual elevation of theunderstanding is proportional to the gradual regeneration of the will. Therewas a historical controversy in the General Church that attended the birthing ofProposition 2, which is that the Writings have an internal spiritual sense justlike the Old and New Testaments. Several forms of opposition and resistanceemerged to combat the notion that the Letter of the Writings are merely naturaland that in order to understand it spiritually, one needed to apply to it the orderlyand systematic methods of extraction taught in the Writings for the Old and NewTestaments. There was also some anxiety or concern about the idea thatunderstanding the deeper layers of the Writings was dependent on one’s progressin regeneration. This appeared threatening and a source of disturbance in theChurch since some individuals might claim a deeper understanding than othersand try to impose their doctrine on others who could not perceive these samethings in “the plain teachings of the Letter.” The peace would thus be brokenas one faction battled against another for supremacy and dominion.

Today, more than seven decades after the controversy in theGeneral Church regarding the Dutch Group, a more mature and objectiveunderstanding of it has become possible. Whereas before only a political andhistorical view on the Dutch Controversy was in the forefront, a new view isnow possible as we focus in on the objective details that have been presentedas an elucidation of the plain teachings of the Writings. Our generation todayneeds to become informed regarding the details of the Dutch Thesis. This is anobjective perspective, a scientific focus, a rational examination with apositive bias and sympathy for the goal.

While we immerse ourselves in the political and historicalfocus, seeing the Dutch proposals as a “controversy,” we are limited in ourobjectivity by the absence of a positive bias or affirmative attitude. As theWritings teach, no spiritual truth can be seen by anyone when approaching itwith a negative bias (xx). To examine the Dutch Doctrine with a negativebias one cannot possibly see any spiritual truth it may have, even assuming itwere to be genuine. The presence of a positive bias or affirmative stancein advance, prior to examination, is necessary for anyone to see any spiritualtruth. Our generation has been given a new opportunity for objectivity, as thepassage of decades has freed us from the historical and political context. Now forthe first time, we have the rational power to examine the Dutch Thesis with apositive bias, putting ourselves in a rational position to actually see what’sthere.

In particular, there is a clearer understanding today of thestructural properties of the Threefold Word. The Lord’s Divine Rationaldescends through the three heavens in successive lower degrees. As it descends,Divine Truth is accommodated to the minds of the angels in the three heavens. Thisaccommodation process is by means of higher to lower correspondences. Thespiritual angels of the second heaven can only understand by correspondencewhat the celestial angels understand. Similarly, the natural angels of thefirst heaven can only understand by correspondence what the spiritual angelsunderstand. Similarly, the natural mind on earth reading the Writings can onlyunderstand by correspondence what the natural angels understand. Clearly itcannot be that the natural mind on earth reading the literal of the Writings, can see and understand what the angelic spirits ofthe first heaven understand and see when they read the Writings. The naturalangels understand the sentences of the Writings spiritually, while the naturalmind on earth understands the Writings naturally. This is very clear.

Therefore, the natural mind reading the Letter of theWritings can understand only in a natural way. Since the Writings containspiritual topics like God, heaven, and regeneration, the natural mind understandsthese spiritual topics naturally, not spiritually. But the natural angels ofthe first heaven understand these spiritual topics, spiritually. Hence it isthat the Writings in the Letter are composed of pure correspondences, and theseare called natural-rational correspondences. They are a degree above thecorrespondences in which the New Testament is written, which are callednatural-sensuous correspondences.

Clearly then, the structural properties of the ThreefoldWord require that its sentences be written in correspondences that relate toeach other by discrete degrees. The highest degree of the natural mind iscalled natural-rational, and this is the mind that is opened and formed bystudying, understanding, and loving the Letter of the Writings. Later on weundergo reformation and then begin our regeneration. At that po0int we are enlightenedby the Lord by means of the opening and formation of interior-natural mind,which is also called the natural-spiritual or the spiritual-natural. This isthe mind in which live the angelic spirits of the first heaven. When, duringregeneration, the Lord opens our interior-natural mind, we experience aconscious elevation of our understanding. This new perception is the result ofbeing enlightened. Enlightenment is the operation of the interior-natural mind,which is formed within the natural-rational mind.

You can see that the new organ we have is more interior thanthe natural-rational understanding. The natural-rational understanding of theliteral meaning of the Writings is called “rational truth” (xx). This forms aduality with “intellectual truth” which is formed by the Lord in the interiormind, while “rational truth” is formed by the self in the external mind. TheLord as a Child had constructed for Himself rational truths out of thescientifics of cognitions He gathered from reading the Hebrew Word (xx). ThenHe instructed Himself from His inmost Divine that these rational truths basedon the Letter of the Word were going to be destroyed, and that He will receiveinstead, higher cognitions from the celestial of Himself, and that these highercognitions are genuine, while the lower ones are not. And so the Lord grievedlike a child who is told by parents he must give up some cherished toy in orderto advance in mental development (xx).

Our regeneration recapitulates the steps of the Lord’sregeneration, which is called Glorification, by which He made his Human onewith His Divine Essence (xx). We are saved by becoming spiritual throughregeneration, and this must involve enlightenment, for without enlightenmentthere is no regeneration (xx). Enlightenment refers to the elevation of theunderstanding from a lower to a higher degree. This is also what happened tothe Lord when He became conscious in His external man as a Child (“Abram”) thatHe must give up remaining in the scientifics of cognitions He had gathered fromthe Letter of the Word. Similarly, the New Church individual today grieves whentold of the Dutch Thesis, which is that we are to leave behind us the Letter ofthe Writings, almost as if the literal were “destroyed” (xx), and to be open tothe inner sense of the Letter, which is the spiritual sense.

We can now see what intellectual truth is, as alsothat with the Lord intellectual truth opened the way to celestial things. Truthin the memory [verum scientificum] is one thing; rational truth is another; andintellectual truth is another; they succeed one another. Truth in the memory isa matter of memory-knowledge; rational truth is this truth confirmed by reason;intellectual truth is conjoined with an internal perception that it is so. Thisintellectual truth existed with the Lord in His childhood, and with Him openedthe way to celestial things. (AC 1496)

Enlightenment is the journey from rational truth, which isbased on the external literal sense of the Writings, to intellectual truth,which is based on the internal sense. The external literal sense of theWritings and its rational understanding, requires theimmersion of our thinking in natural-rational correspondences. But theinternal spiritual sense of the Writings and its rational understanding,requires the immersion of our thinking in spiritual-rationalcorrespondences. These two are a duality, one within the other, or, one a discretedegree above the other. You can see objectively that this new more internal levelof thinking and cognitive operation cannot take place in the same region ororgan of the mind as the external one. Therefore before it can happen, the Lordmust create, open, and form a new organ called the interior-natural mind (xx). Thisorgan is formed within the natural-rational mind, that is, a discrete degreeabove. Now it is possible for us to be conscious of a higher level ofcorrespondence called spiritual-rational truths or appearances of truth (xx).

To be enlightened and thus to perceive the internal sense ofthe Writings means nothing else than to become conscious of the new organicactivity in the interior-natural mind. Now a simultaneous dual process happensin the mind when we read the Writings. The external of this process is thenatural-rational understanding of the literal sentences. The internal of thisprocess is the spiritual-rational understanding of the literal sentences. Thefirst gives us conscious semantic content constructed out of units callednatural-rational correspondences, while the second process gives us conscioussemantic content constructed out of units called spiritual-rationalcorrespondences. The later is within the former, and the two cannot existseparately, any more than diamonds can exist separately from carbon.

The natural-rational correspondences which compose theLetter of the Writings are first to be acquired in time and mental development.This instruction forms in our mind the scientifics of the Writings, of theHeavenly Doctrines, of the Doctrine of the Church, of the Doctrine of Life. Allthese are implanted in the form of natural-rational correspondences. This isour familiarity and love of the Writings by which we develop our rationalunderstanding of the universe and of the Lord’s Kingdom. This is the level atwhich we understand the Church’s teachings and sermons, and this is the levelthat serves for the education and formation of our rational and moral mind andcharacter.

Then, sometime in young adulthood we are empowered toundergo reformation, by which we reaffirm our faith and worship of the Letterof the Writings, and apply its doctrines and principles to our daily life,compelling ourselves to clean out our act of daily living and thinking.Everything in the mind must be realigned to fit and concord with ourunderstanding of the Writings. This is reformation and lasts for months and isvery intense and conscious and passionate and enthusiastic. Then, this passionis consummated and we begin the real work of regeneration, and its strugglesand pains.

Progress in our regeneration is gradual. In order for theprocess to proceed, we must be given by the Lord more interior truths by whichto overcome our spiritual temptations. If you examine your own case, you willsee that your progress in shunning evils as sins falters and fails over andover again, despite your quoting to yourself from the literal of the Writings. Thisis because the literal of the Writings, when emptied of its internal, is deadand has no power of intellectual or spiritual truth, let alone celestial. Thereforethe Lord must provide enlightenment, or else all is lost.

This is why the Lord had to give up in grief, His belovedexternal attachment to the Letter of the Hebrew Word. This had no power toeffect the Lord’s Glorification because it had no power against the hells whichwere in His human from the Virgin. Only spiritual-rational correspondences,called “intellectual truth,” had this power. Similarly for us, the natural-rationalcorrespondences of the Letter of the Writings have no power to save us, butonly the spiritual-rational correspondences that are contained within thenatural-rational correspondences. The Lord therefore creates a new organ withinthe natural-rational mind, and this spiritual-natural organ operates to give usconscious awareness of the appearances of Divine Truth in a higher degree, in a the degree in which are the angelic spirits of the firstheaven.

There is no mystical, mysterious, or subjectiveenlightenment, but only intellectual, organic, and objective enlightenment, aspart of the necessary operation for regeneration by every individual.

The angels of the three heavens must therefore have theirown Word since they dwell in different discrete levels of the mind and thespiritual world. The Letter of the Word in the third heaven contains thecelestial-rational truths hidden within that Letter. The Letter of the Word inthe second heaven contains both the celestial-rational truths and thespiritual-rational truths. This is because the celestial angels are within thespiritual angels. The Letter of the Word in the first heaven contains hiddenwithin it, the celestial-rational truths, the spiritual-rational truths, andthe natural-spiritual truths. And similarly, the Letter of the Word on earthcontains within it, the celestial-rational truths, the spiritual-rationaltruths, and the natural-spiritual truths. It is clear from this structural viewof the Word, that the Writings contain the Divine Truth laid down in layers ordegrees of meaning.

The Writings not only explain these structural relations butteaches the orderly and effective method by which Divine Truth is to beunderstood in a progressively more interior sense. Divine Truth descends fromthe Lord, and in its descent it is enfolded or covered more and more with eachsuccessive degree of descent or externalization. Divine Truth is therefore mostenfolded, most covered, in its ultimates, which is the Letter of the Word ineach heaven and on earth. The method taught by the Writings in understandingDivine Truth is an orderly unfolding process by means of fixed or givencorrespondences. These are not man made correspondences. They are not poeticinsights into figures of speech. Nor are they scientificdiscoveries from empirical and rational realizations. It is not possibleto unfold the layers of the Writings by means of individual insight or groupeffort. The only way possible is that provided by the Writings, which specifiesin exact terms or concepts, what correspondences are.

Enlightenment Is The Perception Of Spiritual Referents In One’s Experience

The unfolding of the layers of meaning of the Writings mustfollow the orderly method prescribed in the plain language and literal sense ofthe Writings. It is the Writings that demand an orderly procedure, asprescribed. This is not an individual decision. Every regenerating individualmust do this unfolding for oneself. The Writings provide that we progress inregeneration in a conscious and prescribed manner. There are natural temptations,spiritual temptations, and celestial temptations. We fight in these temptationsfrom Divine Truth, for only this has the power to contain the hells. We fightby applying to our life the Divine Truth that we have understood from theWritings. As we overcome in temptations by applying the truth, we acquire spiritualreferents for the truths of the literal sense.

“Spiritual referents” are the events in our mind to whichthe truths refer.

For instance, consider the DivineTruth expressed in this sentence of the Letter:

It is clear, then,that in the spiritual idea good is the neighbor that is to be loved, or the manaccording to his good. (Charity 71)

In our unregenerate state, which is the time prior to ourreformation in adult life, we read and memorize this sentence. We can recite,paraphrase it, translate it, compare it to otherpassages. Our level of understanding of this Divine Truth is natural, whichmeans that the referents to which the statement refer,are natural events in the natural mind. We can understand at this level that weare a given a Divine Commandment to obey, namely, to love the good in theneighbor. This level of understanding is natural because the statement refersto a natural event. If pressed for further explanation, we can say that goodpeople should be loved not evil people. Note that this level of thinkingequates “good” with “good people.” The referent of “good” is not spiritual, butnatural (“good people”). In this mode of reading the Writings, all our referentsare natural. Our ideas of heaven, the Grand Human, the Spiritual Sun, theLord’s omnipresence, proprium, regeneration—are all natural ideas. We think ofthe spiritual in similar terms as we think of the natural. We understand thespiritual topics of the Heavenly Doctrine in a natural way since all itsreferents are natural.

But this changes as we undergo reformation and begin ourregeneration. Victory in spiritual temptations by means of doctrine applied to life, is the necessary experience for acquiring spiritualreferents. As we fight during the temptation we defend ourselves by means ofthe Divine Truth we have gathered from the Writings. By heeding these truthsand obeying them as commandments, we overcome in the temptation. Now for thefirst time we see a new thing in ourselves. It is the spiritual referent forwhat we experienced in the struggle. We can see or perceive what activity inour mind, or spirit, is described by the literal expression of the Writings.This is the spiritual referent. It is a new perception and is called “enlightenment”because it raises the level of our thinking to a more interior degree, and whatis more interior is called enlightened relative to what is more exterior, whichis called obscure or cloudy.

Now as we read again the original text, we have a spiritualreferent for it:

It is clear, then,that in the spiritual idea good is the neighbor that is to be loved, or the manaccording to his good. (Charity 71)

For instance, we may have friends whom we love because theyfavor us and like us, and we may have enemies whom we fear because they desireto injure us. A situation may come up where we encounter some of our enemies ina life threatening situation, as for instance a car accident. We have a cellphone and can call for assistance, but hesitate, feeling conflictual, perhapseven seeing it as an opportunity for retaliation or revenge. But from the lightof the Writings we can see that we ought not to consider ourselves only in anysituation. Our enemies also have their human rights and fairness and compassiondictate that we provide the assistance we can. We feel relieved as we haveovercome a spiritual temptation. Now we have a totally new referent for theCommandment that “good is the neighbor that is to be loved.” We can now seethat despite fearing and resenting our enemy, we nevertheless owe himcompassion with respect to saving his life or limb. Our enemy’s life and limbis the good in him that we can see, as he lies there unconscious on thehighway. This good in him is what we are commanded to love, and therefore, toprovide him with assistance. We can see and understand this new principlebecause we have an actual referent for it in our experience.

The above example illustrates how regeneration is tied toenlightenment. As we progress in our regeneration, the Lord gives us moreinterior temptations by which we acquire more interior referents or meanings.Overcoming more interior temptations require enlightenment into more interiortruths. The Lord elevates our level of thinking to the next more interiordegree as regeneration progresses further by means of the more elevatedenlightenment. This is the orderly procedure for every regenerating individual.The Lord provides no other method for salvation.

Spiritual referents are discussed in the Writings as “internalperception”:

Factual truth is one thing, rational truth another,and intellectual truth yet another. They follow on consecutively. Factual truthis a matter of knowledge; rational truth is factual truth confirmed by reason;while intellectual truth is joined to an internal perception that the thing isso (AC 1496).

Note that the rational truth which we obtain from the Letterof the Writings, looks to the external natural worldand the self, since it is by the struggles of our own intelligence and effortby which we gain rational truth from the literal of the Writings. Butintellectual truth looks to the spiritual world and is not from self but fromthe Lord. What the Word calls “rational truth” here, refers to our externalrational understanding, while interior rational understanding is called“intellectual truth.” Anatomically these are necessarily distinguished, and weknow that rational truth operates in the natural-rational mind whileintellectual truth operates in the interior-natural mind, and in the spiritualmind. We are not conscious of the operation in the spiritual mind, but we areconscious of the operation in the interior-natural mind. This is the consciousoperation referred to in the passages as “internal perception.”

Prior to possession of spiritual referents, it is part ofthe development of our natural mind to oppose the idea of an internal spiritualsense of which we know nothing as yet. The Lord Himself in His Childhood feltthis resistance when He was instructed from Jehovah from within that He mustgive up the scientifics of the Letter that He had gathered from the OldTestament Word. It pleased the Lord as a very young Child to be imbued with the“science of cognitions” He had gathered from the Letter of the Hebrew Word. Then,He was instructed that these external cognitions of the Letter are to bedestroyed for the sake of receiving the celestial truths from within. It issaid that the Lord grieved on account of it:

Verse 18. And Pharaoh called Abram, and said,What is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didstthou not tell me that she is thy wife? "And Pharaoh called Abram,"signifies that the Lord bethought Himself; "and said, What is this thatthou hast done unto me?" signifies that it grieved Him; "Why didstthou not tell me that she is thy wife?" signifies seeing that He knew thatHe ought not to have any other truth than that which would be conjoined withwhat is celestial. (AC 1490)

From all this it is evident thatwhen the Lord as a child learned memory knowledges, He first of all knew nootherwise than that those knowledges were solely for the sake of theintellectual man, that is, in order that He might get to know truths from them;but it was afterwards disclosed that they had existed in order that He mightattain to celestial things; and this took place to prevent celestial thingsfrom suffering violence, and in order that they might be saved.

When man is being instructed, thereis a progression from memory-knowledges to rational truths; further, tointellectual truths; and finally, to celestial truths, which are here signifiedby the "wife." If the progression is made from memory knowledges andrational truths to celestial truths without intellectual truths as media, thecelestial suffers violence, because there can be no connection of rationaltruths-which are obtained by means of memory-knowledges-with celestial truths,except by means of intellectual truths, which are the media. (AC 1495)

Here, “rational truths-which are obtained by means ofmemory-knowledges” refers to appearances of truths that we obtain in ourexternal natural mind by means of “memory-knowledges,” which refers to ourcomprehension of the literal sense of the Writings. But “intellectual truthswhich are the media,” refers to appearances of truths in the interior naturalmind which the Lord creates for every individual within the external naturalmind.

The expression “when man is being instructed” refers to theprocess of our regeneration since that’s when we are being instructed by theLord from within, just as the Lord as a Child was instructed from His inmostDivine called Jehovah. When we are regenerating we are being instructed bothfrom without and from within. From without, by the Letter of the Writings,understood as natural-rational correspondences or appearances of truth. From within, by the Lord, through spiritual-rationalcorrespondences or appearances of truth. These two sources ofinstruction must go on simultaneously during regeneration. No one isregenerated by the Letter alone, but by the spiritual which is within theliteral. If one is not conscious of the spiritual, one remains in the Letter.Therefore the spiritual must be instructed, not directly for this is not possible,but indirectly, through “mediation” of higher-order appearances of truths orcorrespondences, called here, “intellectual truths.” Intellectual truths arespiritual-rational while “rational truths” are natural-rational. Intellectualtruths are taught by the substitution technique since they cannot be taughtdirectly. This will be illustrated in what follows.

The Number continues with a specific explanation of theprocess of inner instruction or internal perception, which is enlightenment:

[2] That it may be known how these things stand,something shall be said respecting order. The order is for the celestial toinflow into the spiritual and adapt it to itself; for the spiritual thus toinflow into the rational and adapt it to itself; and for the rational thus toinflow into the memory-knowledge and adapt it to itself. But when a man isbeing instructed in his earliest childhood, the order is indeed the same, butit appears otherwise, namely, that he advances from memory-knowledges to rationalthings, from these to spiritual things, and so at last to celestial things.

The reason it so appears is that a way must thus beopened to celestial things, which are the inmost. All instruction is simply anopening of the way; and as the way is opened, or what is the same, as thevessels are opened, there thus flow in, as before said, in their order,rational things that are from celestial spiritual things; into these flow thecelestial spiritual things; and into these, celestial things. These celestialand spiritual things are continually presenting themselves, and are alsopreparing and forming for themselves the vessels which are being opened; whichmay also be seen from the fact that in themselves the memory-knowledge andrational are dead, and that it is from the inflowing interior life that theyseem to be alive.

This can become manifest to anyonefrom the thought, and the faculty of judgment. (AC 1495)

Our level of thinking and understanding of Divine Truth ishere described as a lawful progression across pre-determined steps ofenlightenment. The first in our experiential order is the external Letter ofthe Writings and our mental struggle to comprehend the literal meaning of eachsentence and how they hang together. This is what the Lord did in Childhoodwith the Hebrew Word. This is what we do today with the Latin Word. This iswhat is called the “science of cognitions” or “memory-knowledges from theWord.” Despite the lofty subject matter and topics—God, sin, love, truth,commandments, worship—the understanding of them is natural, not yet spiritual.The Lord as a Child was instructed from within so that He came to therealization, obscure at first, that

All instruction is simply an opening of the way; andas the way is opened, or what is the same, as the vessels are opened, therethus flow in, as before said, in their order, rational things that are fromcelestial spiritual things; into these flow the celestial spiritual things; andinto these, celestial things (AC 1495)

Truth in the memory [verum scientificum] is onething; rational truth is another; and intellectual truth is another; theysucceed one another. Truth in the memory is a matter of memory-knowledge;rational truth is this truth confirmed by reason; intellectual truth isconjoined with an internal perception that it is so. This intellectual truthexisted with the Lord in His childhood, and with Him opened the way tocelestial things. (AC 1496)

As we progress in our regeneration, we are instructed by theLord from within, which means that we are enlightened, which means that we canperceive in ourselves the spiritual referents that are conveyed by the literalexpression in the Letter of the Writings. The Letter of the Writings is to beapplied to oneself, thus to one’s regeneration, for this is the method the Lordhas provided for our salvation. The literal of the Writings is general andapplies uniquely to every person. This unique particular application must beperformed mentally by the individual reading the Letter. As soon as the readermakes this application, he is enlightened by the Lord. It is automatic. TheLord maintains this built in organic operation for the sake of regeneration.

The application of the literal to oneself is a spiritualliteracy skill that needs to be taught by teachers or self-taught by researchand study of the Letter. Teaching the methods for extracting the internal senseof the Writings is merely an external preparation for facilitating an internalevent. The spiritual sense is the internal event, not the external teaching andreading, even though the external preparation is necessary for the internalevent to occur. The substitution technique of applying the Letter to the Letteris an external preparation that facilitates the perception of the internalsense at the moment that the Letter is applied to oneself. The internal senseof the Writings is nothing else than its particular meaning as applied by theindividual to self. This is what makes regeneration possible, namely, theapplying of the Letter to oneself, that is, to one’sdaily willing and thinking, hour by hour.

Everything we do, think, and feel, minute by minute, is tobe isolated, identified, and evaluated in the light of this or that literalsentence of the Writings. Every time in the course of a day that thisparticular application is performed, we are enlightened, whichmeans, that we perceive how the Letter applies to self. This is theinternal meaning of the Writings. Of course, there are discrete layers ofinternal meaning and we are here dealing with the first inward layer, closestto the surface of the literal meaning. This is why, when we first look atnatural-rational correspondences of the Letter and then at thespiritual-natural correspondences of the internal, they seem similar! We needto be careful not to make a hasty judgment and decide that the literal and thespiritual are the same because they appear similar upon first examination. This things will be made clear with the illustrations thatfollow.

Enlightenment is therefore an orderly process and aprogressive deepening of one’s understanding of theLetter in its internal structure. Like the Lord as a Child, we progress fromexternal truths about spiritual things to more interior truths about spiritualthings. Our interiors are opened by degree, which means that our understandingprogresses from external rational to interior natural, to rational-spiritual,then to celestial. This progression is by means of the degrees or layers inwhich the Letter of the Writings has been enfolded as it descends fromcelestial to spiritual to rational to natural degrees of our understanding.

Moreover these things also involve more arcana thanman can ever believe; but those which can be told are so few as to be almostnothing. Besides the most profound arcana concerning the Lord, they alsoinvolve arcana concerning the instruction and regeneration of man, that he maybecome celestial; as also concerning his instruction and regeneration, that hemay become spiritual; and not only concerning the instruction of the individualman, but also concerning that of the church in general. And, further, theyinvolve arcana concerning the instruction of little children in heaven; in aword, concerning the instruction of all who become images and likenesses of theLord. These things do not at all appear in the sense of the letter, for thereason that the historical narrative veils them over and obscures them; butthey appear in the internal sense. (AC 1502)

The “historical narrative” that “obscures” the spiritualmeaning refers to the literal sentences of the Writings. There are severalmodalities of text in the Letter of the Writings—

historical narratives such as the MemorableRelations and the history of Churches on earth

empirical descriptions such as resuscitation, orthe operations of the heart and lungs

scientific explanations of how the Lord maintainsthe universe in order

dictionary descriptions of natural-spiritualcorrespondences

literary analysis of sentences and theirrational content

descriptions of experiments involving theexploration of spirits by angels

and others.

Each of these modalities of text has its own way of“obscuring” the internal meaning. When we read the Memorable Relations, forinstance, there is a compelling visual and dramatic texture of detail thatabsorbs our thought and imagination to the extent that we have no idea of theinternal current of meaning that flows right along with the surface narrative.But it is clearly possible to isolate words and phrases in the narrative, andto look up the correspondences given somewhere else in the Letter. An exampleis given below regarding TCR 71 (see Section xx).

In order to allow ourselves to progress to an internalperception of the Letter of the Writings we need to acknowledge and understandour reluctance and opposition to this idea. We are in excellent company regardingthis fear or hesitation, for the Lord Himself had it. It is discussed in theWritings as a grieving process the Lord went through when He was instructedfrom within that the rational cognitions He had gathered from the Letter of theHebrew Word, were to be shattered and destroyed forthe sake of opening up the internal sense to the Word.

The grieving process during whichwe sense an opposition to the idea of an inner sense, ends as soon as the mindis opened to the next interior degree. Our opposition or resistance ends as weperceive new delights in the idea that the Writings have an internal sense thatwe are commanded to extract in a prescribed orderly manner according tocorrespondences and confirmations. We no longer see a loss or a threat, but again, and a tremendous one. We can look back to our earlier phase and wonderwhat is it that we so feared and distrusted in the idea.

About the Lord’s grief it is said:

grief from this, that thememory-knowledges which He had learned with pleasure and delight should be thusdestroyed. The case herein is like that of little children who when they lovesomething their parents see to be hurtful to them, and it is taken away fromthem, are thereby grieved. (AC 1492)

As regards memory-knowledges leaving the Lord, thecase is this. When celestial things are being conjoined with intellectualtruths, and these are becoming celestial, then all things that are empty aredissipated of themselves; this is in the nature of the celestial. (AC 1499)

Empty memory-knowledges leave celestial things, asvain things are wont to leave wisdom; they are as crusts and scales that separate themselves of their own accord. (AC 1500)

When we end our childhood phase of understanding theWritings, we begin to see enlightenment as an orderly process of spiritualdevelopment that everyone must go through. We now turn to the Letter with evenmore love and passion, scrutating its literal expressions in far greater detailthan before, analyzing them in the light of other passages, then seeing them comealive in our regeneration struggles day by day as we particularize the DivineTruth in the Word and apply it to self. Instead of a “dead letter” we now consumea living Word, for it is the inner meaning that gives life to the outermeaning, as seen in the passages quoted above.

The method of unfolding the inner sense of the Writings hasbeen described in detail by the insights and studies of the Dutch Group asrecorded in their periodical of De Hemelsche Leer (see End Notes). Thesestudies are fully objective, demonstrable, and consistent with the proceduresthat the Writings command us to follow when extracting or unfolding thespiritual sense of the Letter. The studies of the Dutch Group are a tremendousresource for the New Church and I expect that they will be fully claimed by themen of the General Church, once they are appreciated for what they are. It is afair statement to say that the important research and insights of the Dutch Grouphave not been evaluated or examined by the majority of General Church ministersand educators, generation after generation. The demonstrations and argumentspresented in this paper make it clear that the work of the Dutch Group is basedon sound Scriptural proofs based on the Letter of the Writings.

Nothing can be more important to the Church than itsDoctrine, which is its lifeline and purpose. Two fundamental principles of theDivine Doctrine have been granted to humankind through the men of the GeneralChurch. The first principle is that the Writings are the third and finalportion of the Threefold Word. The second principle of the Divine Doctrinegiven through the General Church is that the Writings are written innatural-rational correspondences and that every regenerating person must beenlightened by the Lord in order to see in the Letter interior truths by whichto fight and overcome in our temptations. These are the two fundamentalpropositions introduced at the beginning of this paper.

These two principles of Divine Doctrine are the purpose andlifeline of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. By these two principles,the General Church is able to instruct the people in the required and commandedmethod we are to use to extract more interior truths from the Letter of theWritings. These are the two Divine doctrinal principles by which spiritual literacyskills can be acquired by anyone anywhere in the world.

Without these two principles of the Doctrine of the Church,how are the people going to be regenerated? The people will starve when fed onthe dead flesh of the Letter. Living nutrition—the Mana of the SecondComing—must be provided, and only the internal sense is living. This sensecannot be learned by reading its description that is provided in a book or in alecture. It can only be seen by enlightenment, and this elevation of theunderstanding cannot be laid down naked in a natural language. Natural languagecan only convey natural ideas about spiritual topics. This is why the Writings teachin specific detail how the internal sense must be extracted or unfolded fromthe Letter. There is no other method for receiving this Mana of salvation thanspiritual perception from enlightenment by the Lord while we are engaged in applyingthe Letter to one’s willing and thinking.

It is a Divine Commandment that every New Church individual perform this extraction or unfolding process, for withoutthis there is no regeneration, consequently, no salvation.

Therefore these spiritual literacy skills must be taught byinstruction and demonstration.

The internal sense that is necessary for regeneration cannotbe obtained in any other way but by the orderly procedures commanded in theWritings for unfolding the Letter. The internal sense cannot be obtained byexplication, but only by performing the unfolding oneself. Explication byothers who are enlightened can be most useful, but they are not sufficient.Every individual must learn spiritual literacy skills that empower themto be enlightened by the Lord. The Lord Himself teaches these spiritualliteracy skills in the plain teaching of the Letter of the Writings.

Theinternal sense makes the Writings to be Divine (AC 1540)

Out Of Egypt Have ICalled My Son

The Lord’s instruction as a Child by means of the Letter ofthe Hebrew Word is discussed in Arcana Coelestia. Egypt represents theknowledge gathered by the Lord from the literal sense of the Word and Hisrational understanding of its spiritual topics.

From all this it is now evidentthat Abram's sojourn in Egypt represents and signifies nothing else than theLord, and in fact His instruction in childhood. This is also confirmed by whatis said in Hosea:

Out of Egypt have I called My son(Hos. 11:1; Matt. 2:15) ...

Thus by the "son out ofEgypt" (in Hosea 11:1) in the internal sense is signified the Lord. Thisis further confirmed by the fact that in the Word "Egypt" signifiesmemory-knowledge ... Besides the most profound arcana concerning the Lord, they also involve arcana concerning the instructionand regeneration of man... And, further, they involve arcana concerning theinstruction of little children in heaven; in a word, concerning the instructionof all who become images and likenesses of the Lord. (AC 1502)

But being historical, the mind ofthe reader cannot but be held in them; especially at this day, when mostpersons, and indeed nearly all, do not believe that there is an internal sense,and still less that it exists in every word.

That the internal sense is the Worditself, is evident from many things that have been revealed, as, "Out ofEgypt have I called My son" (Matt. 2:15); besidesmany others.

(...)

The men of the Most Ancient and ofthe Ancient Church, who, had they lived at this day, and had read the Writings,would not have attended at all to the sense of the letter, which they wouldlook upon as nothing, but to the internal sense. (AC 1540)

The following passages indicate that the Writings are“composed of appearances and correspondences.” It is said, further, that theLord conjoins Himself to us by means of correspondences.

The Writings iswritten throughout wholly by correspondences (DP 256)

The literal sense of the Writings isfor the simple, for those who are being initiated into the interior truths offaith, and for those who do not apprehend interior things; for this sense isaccording to the appearance before the sensuous man, thus is according to hisapprehension. (AC 9025)

The literal sense of the Writingswas composed out of what are called appearances and correspondences (TCR 650). TheLord conjoins Himself to uses by means of correspondences, and thus by means ofappearances in accordance with the confirmations of these by man (DP 220). Correspondencesare in great part appearances of truth enclosed within which, nevertheless,genuine truths lie concealed (DP 256).

We can know that the power of the Letter of the Writings isDivine since the Writings are the Word of the Second Coming, and the Letter ofthe Word contains nothing but the Divine. This power lies in its being writtenin natural-rational correspondences or appearances of truth within which iscontained spiritual-rational correspondences or appearances of genuine truth.These spiritual correspondences come forth from Divine Truth as it descends andexternalizes in the human mind. The literal sense of each expression in theWritings is a natural-rational correspondence. Within this, as in acognitive vessel or containant, lies infinite thingsin infinite series, since this is the character of the Word (AC 2619, 6620).

The living power of the Letter of the Writings comes fromwhat lies within its Letter.

The Writings in the natural sense, which is the senseof the letter, is in its holiness and its fullness. (...)In this sense the Writings is also in its power. (...)The power of Divine truth is directed especially against falsities and evils,thus against the hells. The fight against these must be waged by means oftruths from the sense of the letter of the Writings. Moreover it is by means ofthe truths in a man that the Lord has the power to save him; for man isreformed and regenerated and is at the same time taken out of hell andintroduced into heaven, by means of truths from the sense of the letter of the Writings.This power the Lord took upon Himself, even as to His Divine Human, after Hehad fulfilled all things of the Writings down to its ultimates. (SS 49)

The above passage indicates that every New Church individualmust be reformed and regenerated by means of the Letter of the Writings, withinwhich is Divine truth. It is not possible for anyone to be reformed andregenerated except by means of the Letter of the Writings, when we use it tofight our hereditary evils and acquired falsities.

Again:

Divine truth in the natural sense of the Writings,which is the sense of its letter is in its power(...). From this cause the literal sense is the basis, container, and supportof its spiritual sense (...). All power is in the ultimates which are calledthings natural consequently in the natural sense of the letter of the Writings,and in the natural light of man (...) (AR 148).

From this passage one can see that the ultimates of theWritings are in the Letter, which is “in the natural light of man. When ourthinking is immersed in the literal sense of the Writings we are in “naturallight,” that is, in natural-rational correspondences or appearances of truth.When we think and reason about the spiritual topics in the Writings, such asthe Lord, heaven, and regeneration, we think of them in natural appearances ofDivine truth. These are called natural-rational correspondences. When ourthinking is immersed in the Letter of the Writings, we are in natural light. Weare thinking naturally about spiritual topics. We are not yet thinkingspiritually about spiritual topics. In order to think spiritually aboutspiritual topics we must be enlightened by the Lord. When the Lord enlightensour understanding, our thinking is elevated to a discrete degree above thenatural-rational level. At this interior level, our thinking is immersed inspiritual-rational correspondences. Spiritual-rational correspondences are thesame as the internal sense of the Letter of the Writings.

Again:

Natural truths, which are the truths of the sense ofthe letter of the Writings, are not the very truths of heaven, but areappearances of them; and appearances of truth encompass, enclose, and containthe truths of heaven, which are genuine truths, and cause them to be inconnection and order and to act together (AE 1088)

The appearances of truths in the Letter of the Writings areconveyed by means of natural-rational correspondences. Within these, are moreinterior appearances of truths conveyed by spiritual-rational correspondences. In other words, the internal sense of natural-rational correspondences are conveyed bymeans of spiritual-rational correspondences. The latter are perceived byenlightenment from the Lord when the former are applied to life, that is, one’sdaily willing and thinking.

The Writings warn us not to confuse the spiritual-rationalcorrespondences of the internal sense with natural-rational correspondences ofthe Letter:

But he is greatly mistaken who separates appearancesof truth from genuine truths and calls these appearances holy by themselves andfrom themselves, and not the sense of the letter holyby genuine truths and from them and together with them. He separates these whosees only the sense of the letter and does not explore its meaning, as those dowho do not read the Writings from doctrine. The "cherubim" mean in theWritings a guard and protection that the holy things of heaven be not violated,and that the Lord be approached only through love; consequently these signifythe sense of the letter of the Writings, because that is what guards andprotects. It guards and protects in this manner that man can think and speakaccording to the appearances of truth so long as he is well-disposed, simple,and as it were an infant; but he must take heed not to so confirm appearancesas to destroy the genuine truths in the heavens. (AE 1088)

The warning here is for us to avoid separating “appearancesof truth from genuine truths.” We must not separate in our mind the built inconnection that exists between the natural-rational correspondences of the Letterand the spiritual-rational correspondences of the internal sense. Thenatural-rational correspondences are called “appearances of truth” while thespiritual-rational correspondences are called “genuine truths.” All truths areconveyed by means of correspondences. These are most interior with the highestangels, and less interior with the lower angels.

We can say “natural-rational correspondences” of the Letterof the Writings, or “natural-rational appearances of truths,” or “natural-rationaltruths” – the three expressions are equivalent. Similarly, we can say“spiritual-rational correspondences” of the internal sense of the Writings, or“spiritual-rational appearances of truths” or “spiritual-rational truths.” Itshould be recalled that anatomically, natural-rational correspondences areoperative in the external natural mind, while spiritual-rationalcorrespondences are operative in the interior-natural mind, which is alsocalled the spiritual-natural mind or First Heaven. In other words, the literalmeanings of the Writings are operative in the external natural mind while theinternal meanings are operative in the interior natural mind.

The Lord forms and opens the interior-natural mind to theextent that an individual applies one’s understanding of the Letter to one’sdaily willing and thinking. This opening of the interior-natural mind resultsin the conscious awareness of spiritual-rational correspondences. This is a newperception and is called enlightenment. Enlightenment is gradual over thecourse of regeneration and is proportional to the extent we keep re-applyingthe new truths we perceive, to our daily willing and thinking. This creates aspiral of ascension to heaven by means of regeneration. One perceives more andmore of the interior series of the Writings as one progresseswith regeneration, that is, as one applies each new perception to one’s willingand thinking all day long.

The idea that the Writings contain a spiritual meaningbeneath the letter can only come to us when we acknowledge it as the Word, justlike the Word of the Old and New Testaments. Once we acknowledge this fully,without hedging, we begin to substitute in our mind “the Writings” wherever wesee “the Word” as we read the Writings. The minute we start doing this, webegin to see some of the spiritual meaning within the letter. This is theresult of enlightenment from the Lord. The Lord works with our motive for doingthis substitution. To the extent that we do the substitution because we love theidea that the Writings are the primary Word for the New Church mind, tothat extent the Lord intensifies the enlightenment and allows us to see moreinterior truths. The more interior the truths we see within the Letter, themore there is enlightenment, and the closer we are to the celestial angels wholive in the spiritual truths of the Writings. But, as explained frequently,this enlightenment is proportional to the extent to which we apply ourunderstanding of Doctrine to our life.

I have discussed this extraction process as applying theLetter to the Letter. This is what protects the Church from false doctrines,not the intelligence of the priests, or their vigilance against heretical viewsspreading in the Church. For the priests spread false doctrines and dogmas justas anyone in the Church. When we are immersed in the natural-rationalcorrespondences, our interpretation of the literal meaning takes away by asubconscious lulling into sleep, like a ship is carried by an unfavorablecurrent to rocky waters where it will surely crash and break open. Whatprotects us from false doctrines in our mind is the ability to view thenatural-rational correspondences from the perspective or light ofspiritual-natural correspondences. It is the interior-natural mind lookingdown on the natural-rational mind. This is enlightenment.

Enlightenment is called seeing the spiritual sense withinthe literal meaning. This refers to seeing from the interior-natural mind as itlooks down on the natural-rational mind.

This enlightenment gives us a perception of SpiritualDoctrine, which is Divine Doctrine, spiritual and celestial in origin, withnothing at all from the world or self. This perception is the sole andsufficient means the Lord gives us to defeat false doctrines and idolatries.Note that the Beekman Doctrine failed and was rejected utterly because it couldnot be confirmed by the Letter of the Writings. This is what protects theChurch fully so that it is in no danger as long as we stay true to theCommandment from the Letter of the Writings, that all Doctrine must beconfirmed by the Letter of the Word.

In contradistinction to the Beekman Doctrine, the AcademyPosition and the Dutch Thesis were both fully and amply confirmed by the Letterof the Writings.

The spiritual sense of the Writings cannot be pervertedbecause it cannot exist in the speech of teachers or the writings of sermonsand articles. What is written down, or what is spoken verbally, about theSpiritual Doctrine, is automatically a natural correspondence of it. Thisnatural correspondence is at the same level of thinking as the Letter of theWritings. Consequently, we can apply the Letter to any proposed doctrinalnotion of spiritual things, and test it directly, level to level, correspondencelevel to correspondence level. False doctrines are also stated innatural-rational correspondences just as genuine Doctrine is. But falsedoctrines pervert and invert the correspondences while genuine Doctrine isDivine in our understanding.

Conjunction With The Lord By Means Of The Internal Sense

Consider for example the statement about “Nunc Licet” in theliteral: “Now it is permitted to enter intellectually into the mysteries offaith.” (TCR 508) For decades we can read and hear this sentence, and teach itto others, and not see its spiritual meaning, which is, that the New Churchmind is required to enter into the spiritual sense of the Writings. Thespiritual sense of this sentence is the Doctrine of the Church (xx). Even afterthis meaning is described, as I am doing here, it cannot be recognized as trueexcept from enlightenment in regeneration. Instead of recognizing that this isindeed its spiritual sense, we doubt it, we see it asjust conjecture, as an unproven hypothesis, possibly wrong, and so on. Thisdoubting shows the truth that the spiritual Doctrine can only be understoodwhen enlightened by the Lord to the extent of our regeneration efforts (xx).

The conjunction of the Lord withman is through the Writings, by means of the internal sense (AC n. 10375). (HH305)

For the New Church mind this means that conjunction of theLord with us is through the Writings, by means of the internal sense. Here yousee why it is required that we concern ourselves with the spiritual sense ofthe Writings, not merely with the literal. Without the spiritual sense of theWritings the New Church mind cannot be formed and be conjoined to the Lord, andwithout conjunction we cannot be saved.

There is conjunction by means ofall things and each particular thing of the Writings, and in consequence the Writingsis wonderful above all other writing (AC n. 10632-10634). (HH 305)

There is no comparison possible between the Writings and anyother written work. Every word, idea, or “particular thing” in the Writingsallows conjunction with the Lord through its spiritual sense, as shown above.

Since the Writings was written the Lord speaks with men by means of it (n.

10290). (HH 305)

The Writings are the only source the Lord has created forDivine Truth in the new dispensation of the Second Coming.

The church exists specificallywhere the Writings is, and where the Lord is thereby known, and thus where Divine truths are revealed (AC n. 3857, 10761). Still theywho are born where the Writings is, and where the Lord is thereby known, arenot of the church, but they who are regenerated by the Lord by the truths ofthe Writings, that is, they who live the life of charity (NJHD 246)

This means that the New Church mind is formed by Divinetruths that are revealed in the Writings and by which we are conjoined to theLord. But the New Church mind is not formed by mere membership in a New Churchreligious organization. Rather, it is formed by the Lord through regenerationto the extent that we guide our willing and thinking by means of Doctrine fromthe Writings. This Doctrine must be a spiritual Doctrine for only that isDivine Truth. The spiritual Doctrine is not the literal of the Writings but itsspiritual sense.

They who are of the church, or inwhom the church is, are in the affection of truth for the sake of truth, thatis, they love truth because it is truth; and they examine from the Word whetherthe doctrinals of the church in which they were born are true (AC n. 5432,6047). Otherwise the truth possessed by everyone would be derived from another,and from his native soil … (NJHD 246)

“They who are of the church, or in whom the church is”refers to the New Church mind. It is plainly Commandedhere that the New Church mind is required to examine from the Writings “whetherthe doctrinals of the church in which they were born are true.” The doctrinalsin which we are born is the literal of the Writings or the Heavenly Doctrine.The New Church mind cannot be formed without this rational examination of the literalof the Writings. This is what reformation consists of. When we become an adultthinker reasoning from what we have made our own, we are ready to undergoreformation. This involves examining the literal of the Writings andunderstanding it in a scholarly way by which we are real students of the Lord.This is our First Education, as discussed above.

We are told here that until we become experts in the literalof the Writings, within our own sphere of thinking and reasoning, we are merelyderiving the truth possessed by someone else, perhaps a teacher, preacher, orcommentator. This is not the “native soil” for Divine truth but only hearsayand is not usable for our regeneration and salvation.

The internal or spiritual sense ofthe Writings contains innumerable arcana. The Writings in its internal sense contains innumerable things, which exceed humancomprehension (AC n. 3085, 3086). It also contains inexplicable things (AC n.1965). Which are represented only to angels, and understood by them ... Innumerablethings are contained in every particular of the Writings (AC n. 6617, 6620,8920); and in every expression … (NJHD 260)

This means that the spiritual sense of the Writings containsinnumerable arcana in every word and expression. “Arcana” are spiritual truthsfrom heaven, that is, in our spiritual mind. The Writings are the Word for theCrown of Churches. There will not be another new Church in the future, anothernew Word given. This is it. The creation of the human race has now beencompleted in the Second Coming. It makes sense therefore that the numberlessgenerations still to come in the future should have an endless source ofspiritual truths, and that is the Writings. The literal of the Writings is notendless but has a fixed number of pages and sentences. But the spiritual sensecontained in this fixed literal, contains endless truths for the education andenlightenment of the future generations.

Not a singleword, nor even a single iota can be omitted in the sense of the letterof the Word, without an interruption in the internal sense, and therefore, bythe Divine Providence of the Lord, the Word has been preserved so entire as toevery word and every point (AC n. 7933). (NJHD 260)

This means that not a single word can be omitted in the Writingswithout interrupting or destroying the continuity of the internal sense. Notethis revelation: “By the Divine Providence of the Lord, the Word has beenpreserved so entire as to every word and every point.” This means that theWritings can be translated in many natural languages and that the Lord insuresthat the original sense of the letter is “preserved” in these translations. Inother words, a Russian or Japanese translation of Arcana Coelestia will containthe same internal sense as the English translation or the original Latin.Angels perceive the spiritual sense of the Writings when people read it in anynatural language (xx). I think we need to distinguish between a good andfaithful translation from bad or fanciful ones.

There are those who think that the Writings are Divinely inspired but not necessarily in every word. Thisnotion is a rational impossibility. We know from the Writings that not a singledetail or event in the universe can occur except from the Lord’s DivineProvidence (xx) and that every single thought we have or word we pronounce ismade possible by the Lord through His Laws of Permissions (xx). So if the Lordmanages everyone’s thinking, speaking, and writing, it is perfectly rational tosay that the Lord managed the writing down of every single word Swedenborgwrote. And of course this universal principle must be applied also to theprinting and processing of the Books of the Writings, thus, all the errors,missing numbers, repetitions, illustrations, and so on. Not a single detail ofthe Writings exists except from the Lord and by the Lord’s Divine supervisionand management.

Therefore it’s not rational to doubt that every word andletter of the Writings is Divine Truth and contains infinite arcana in itsinner spiritual sense. Swedenborg’s intelligence and genius notwithstanding, itis obvious that he could not know even a tiny portion of all that was containedin the words and sentences he wrote out, as-of self, but from the Lord.

Those who form a New Church mind for themselves out of theWritings are called “those whose interiors have been opened even into the lightof heaven” (HH 267). This refers to the opening of our spiritual mind by meansof the spiritual sense of the Writings and the Heavenly Doctrine. When our spiritualmind is opened, we become a new man with new abilities, as specified here:

So far as man is raised up fromthings external towards interior things he comes into light, that is, intointelligence … There is an actual elevation … Elevation from external to interiorthings is like elevation out of a mist into light … The exterior things withman are farther removed from the Divine and therefore are relatively obscure … Likewiserelatively confused … Interior things are more perfect because they are nearerto the Divine … In what is internal there are thousands and thousands of thingsthat appear in what is exterior as one general thing … Consequently, as thoughtand perception are more interior they are clearer … (HH 267)

This says that when we undergo reformation and form the NewChurch mind in ourselves, we then first come into “intelligence.” This newspiritual intelligence is a conscious experience that is “an actual elevation”into heavenly light. It is experienced as a more interior understanding that isclearly visible to us. The reason is that interior truths in the spiritual mindare seen in clarity while truths seen in the natural mind are relativelygeneral, obscure, and confused.

There cannot be any conjunction withheaven, unless somewhere on the earth there is a church where the Word is, andby it the Lord is known; for the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, andwithout the Lord there is no salvation. . (DE VERBO 17)

This means that in the new evolutionary age of the SecondComing, conjunction between heaven and the human race on earth requires thatthere be a New Church mind somewhere on earth who knows the Divine Human fromthe Writings. This conjunction is effective even if there are relatively fewindividuals who are forming the New Church mind in themselves through theWritings.

It is enough that there besomewhere on the earth a church where the Word is. Though it consist ofcomparatively few, still by means of it, the Lord is present everywhere in the wholeworld, and by means of it heaven is conjoined to the human race, forconjunction is effected by means of the Word. But without the Word somewhere inthe world there would not be conjunction with anyone. The reason of thepresence of the Lord and of the conjunction of heaven with the inhabitants ofthe earth everywhere by means of the Word, is, that the whole heaven is beforethe Lord as one man, and likewise the church, and it is also actually a man,because the Lord is heaven and also the church. (DE VERBO 17)

The Writings are the means of conjunction with the DivineHuman both on earth and in heaven:

The angels themselves declare thatall their wisdom comes through the Word; for the light they enjoy depends uponhow deep is their understanding of the Word. The light of heaven is Divinewisdom, which is visible to their eyes as light. In the shrine where a copy ofthe Word is stored, the light is flame-like and brilliant, surpassing inintensity any light in heaven outside it. (TCR 242)

Here it is stated that all the wisdom of the angels comesfrom the Writings, and their enlightenment isproportional to “how deep is their understanding” of the Heavenly Doctrine.Note that “a copy” of the Writings is “stored” there in a “shrine.” Thebrilliant light surrounding this shrine was witnessed by Swedenborg (xx).

These facts will allow one toconclude what wisdom there is lurking hidden in the Word we have in the world. For in it lies hidden all the wisdom of the angels, which is beyonddescription; and a person after death enters into possession of this wisdom, ifby means of the Word he is made an angel by the Lord. (TCR 242)

This says that in the Writings we have here on earth, thereis hidden “all the wisdom of the angels” and that the New Church mind that isformed through the Writings, “after death enters into possession of this wisdom.”Thus it is by means of the Writings exclusively that the New Church mind canbecome an angel.

In the next life,... it is not the truths themselves that are seen but the life they havewithin them, that is, the celestial things within them (AC 1496).

(2)Where The Writings Say That Enlightenment Is The Perception Of The Inner SenseOf The Writings.

The Doctrine in our mind is first natural from the Letterof the Writings, then spiritual from enlightenment as we apply the literalsentences to our daily willing and thinking.

When the Doctrine is understood literally, consequentlynaturally, we consider it the same as the Letter of the Writings. In otherwords the expressions “the Heavenly Doctrine” and “the Letter of the Writings”are taken to be the same. But when Doctrine is understood spiritually, it is asremote from the Letter as the light of the moon is in comparison to the lightof the sun (xx). The Heavenly Doctrine understood spiritually is called theSpiritual Doctrine. This is the Doctrine we must form for ourselves for makingprogress in our regeneration. Spiritual Doctrine understood spiritually has lightand power like the noonday sun in the summer in relation to a garden or field.We begin reformation through a natural understanding of Doctrine in its literalsentences, but by the time we complete reformation, and begin regeneration, more and more of Doctrine is now seenspiritually. In other words, our enlightenment grows in proportion to ourregeneration.

The Spiritual Doctrine is the Writings understoodspiritually.

At first we see the Heavenly Doctrine as something outsideof ourselves, something in the Letter. We take up the literal sentences intoour memory and into our natural-rational understanding. Note that we do this bydint of intellectual effort and reasoning. Now that a form of the HeavenlyDoctrine is in our natural-rational mind, we feel it as our own, to the extentthat we also love it, not merely understand it. Once we have this naturalunderstanding of the Heavenly Doctrine, it stays with us as we go about ourdaily willing and thinking, and not merely when we read the Writings. It’s asif the Writings are written in our memory and heart, rather than in a book orcomputer file.

We can now use the Heavenly Doctrine we have appropriated byapplying it to guide our daily willing and thinking. This is part of theprocess of regeneration, namely, taking up a natural understanding of theHeavenly Doctrine and then applying it to guide our daily willing and thinking.This natural understanding of the Heavenly Doctrine is nothing else than theunderstanding of the natural-rational correspondences in which its words andexpressions are written.

But the natural understanding of Doctrine does not havethe power to regenerate because the natural cannot enter the spiritual, and wemust be regenerated by what is spiritual entering the natural (xx).

Hence the Lord gives us enlightenment to the extent that weapply our natural understanding of Doctrine to daily willing and thinking. Thespiritual entering the natural consists of applying natural-rationalcorrespondences to our willing and thinking, an act or operation that the Lorduses to enlighten us. This effect is obtained because our willing and thinkingconstitute the interior level of the particular in creation, while the Doctrinein our mind constitute general principles andrelations. The particular is a discrete degree above the general, as will beshown in the diagram that follows.

Only after this enlightenment has occurred, do we have aconscious perception of the Spiritual Doctrine.

In old age, the New Church mind enters into the third degreeof the interior-natural mind, which is the level of understanding of Doctrinepossessed by the celestial angels of the highest or Third Heaven. This level isdiscussed in Volume 4 (in preparation).

A Diagram Showing The Formation Of The New Church Mind

The Nine InstallationSteps

Starting with level I at thebottom, you can see the duality external man / internal man. This is the firstinstallation step. Notice the two arrows. The arrow on the right pointingdownward represents the order of creation. In this case the internal manwas created to rule the external man, and gradually does so, as we areregenerated. The reverse arrow on the left pointing upward represents the orderof appearances. In the appearances of our biography it seems that theinternal man is discovered by the external man. For instance we might read thisin the Writings at which time we say to ourselves: “OK, I have an internal manof which I’m unconscious. This internal part of myselfis called a heaven in miniature (xx) because that portion of my spirit or mindis actually in heaven with angels” (cf. xx).

From this we live the appearance that the external mandiscovers the existence of the internal man. When this appearance is taken forreality, the internal man cannot descend into the external man and heavenremains unattainable and distant as long as we remain in that state of mind.

The two arrows must work together to achievefunctionality of the Divine operation.

The downward arrow represents the dominion of the internalover the external. Heaven then rules that person, and the individual is then inheaven already. The upward arrow represents the resistance we put up to obeyingthe Doctrine in our mind. It is our unregenerate state. Understanding thisduality moves us into level II of reformation. It is the first step up in ourreformation, which begins at some point in adulthood with the knowledge fromthe Writings that we must undergo reformation by subduing the external man andplace him in obedience to the internal man. Acknowledging this process allowsus to begin reformation but in order to progress we must take the secondinstallation step.

The first installation step that begins reformation (Volume1), is our acknowledgement from the Letter of theWritings that the internal man is superior even though invisible to theexternal man. Until reformation we were in our unregenerate state and webelieved the internal/external contrast in a natural way. The contrast in ourmind was a nonduality created by the idea of a continuum that stretches betweenthe internal and the external of our mind. We thought of it like we think aboutthe internal wall of the heart and its external wall. They are different alonga continuum of muscle-cartilage combinations. Both the external wall and theinternal wall of the heart belong to the same specialty in medicine, and thesame techniques are used for managing both during surgery and after. This is anonduality because the internal and external portions of the heart are made ofsimilar fibers and protein molecules. They are at the same discrete level.

But not so for the internal man and the external man—theyare at discrete levels relative to each other. The internal man can see theexternal man, but the external man cannot see the internal man (xx). Theirrelationship and interaction is by correspondence only since they are in two separaterealms of existence. Reformation begins when we acknowledge that the relationis a discrete duality. Then for the first time we can accept the idea that theexternal man did not discover the internal man, but it is the internal man thatrevealed himself to the internal man. This new acknowledgment completes thepaths of the two arrows and renders the duality functional, allowing the secondstep up.

Prior to the beginning of reformation sometime in adultlife, we have the Letter of the Writings in our understanding and we take theliteral meaning to be the spiritual meaning, especially when we had to workhard to finally understand some passage or see a relation between a collection of passages. We equate “hard to understand” with“deeper meaning,” and then we equate “deeper meaning” with “spiritual meaning.”Meanwhile, our thinking is immersed in the natural-rational correspondences ofthe Letter. We worship the Letter as one worships the Lord’s Body buried in atomb hewn out of rocks.

But when we acknowledge that the internal man revealshimself to the external man, we can begin to understand this as a scientific ormedical process of the growth of the human mind. This new understanding is thesecond installation step, as the diagram indicates. The third installation stepis above understanding into perception. We are in this final phase ofreformation we can perceive the particular within the general. This means: whenwe apply the Letter to our willing and thinking. Our willing and thinking isthe particular out of which the general is constructed. Another way to say thisis that our reformation is complete when we perceive the duality of theparticular within the general. The general refers to the general principles andlaws of Doctrine that we have in our mind from the Letter. When our reformationis completed (installation step III), our mind is then operating differentlyfrom before. We were not able to perceive how the Letter applied to our willingand thinking. We were not able to see the particular within the Letter, onlyits general on the exterior. Yet the general is for the sake of the particular,just as the external is for the sake of the interior.

Installation step 4 begins the operation of enlightenment(Volume 2).

This step is the acknowledgement of the duality between thespiritual sense and the natural sense. Until this first step of enlightenmentwe had believed that the natural sense of the Letter of the Writings is thesame as the spiritual sense of the Old and New Testaments. This point of viewcannot see a duality between them in discrete degrees, but only as a nondualitycontrast, or continuum within the same degree. The first step of enlightenmenttherefore comes when we acknowledge that the Writings are written in purecorrespondences.

The second step of enlightenment is installation step 5. Thediagram shows that this involves understanding the duality ofspiritual-rational correspondences within natural-rational correspondences. Weobtain this understanding when we practice reading the Letter of the Writingswith substitutions for parts from another part of the Writings. This techniqueand its enlightening consequences are described later in the Chapter.

The final step in enlightenment is installation step 6.

The diagram shows that this is the perception (III) of theduality Spiritual Doctrine within the Letter of the Writings. This is thehighest step of enlightenment when our perception is elevated to heavenly lightand we perceive spiritually like the angels do, though by means of naturalcorrespondences, ever higher and more discretely representative. When we arefully enlightened and can perceive the Spiritual Doctrine within the Letter, weare at last fully prepared for the operation of regeneration.

Note the two arrows again in installation step 6, or thefinal phase of enlightenment (III). From the order of creation, the SpiritualDoctrine creates a suitable natural vessel for itself called the Word. Thiscreative cause-effect relation is represented by the right arrow pointingdownward. But in biographical appearance, the order is reversed. It appearsthat the Letter comes to us first, and that we study it for many years,believing that our increasing understanding is the spiritual sense that we penetrate.This is represented by the left arrow pointing upward. But as soon as botharrows become functional, the process is completed. In this case, the SpiritualDoctrine is no longer seen as something we infer and figure out, but somethingwe derive or extract from the Letter because it is located within the Letter.It is a mining operation rather than a discovery and invention operation. Andthere are definite rules and techniques to be applied for the mining operationto be effective. This Chapter describes these methods of orderly an legitimate extraction of the Spiritual Doctrine from theLetter.

Installation step 7 is the first step of regeneration.

As the diagram shows, it is the acknowledgement of adiscrete duality between reformation and regeneration. Prior to this firststep, we believe that we have already been regenerating since childhood oradolescence. This is a nonduality notion of the unregenerate mind. We knewbefore that there was a distinction between reformation and regeneration. But wedid not understand this relationship spiritually, only naturally. But now, weacknowledge it as a discrete duality, so that we can recognize the task thatlies ahead. The task of regeneration has not begun until the tasks ofreformation and enlightenment have been completed. Only when we perceive theSpiritual Doctrine within the Letter can we acknowledge the discrete dualitybetween reformation and regeneration. We acknowledge reformation to be theexternal part of our work, while regeneration is the internal part. Theexternal part has to do with the understanding and the dualities therein, whilethe internal part has to do with the will and our infernal delights.

The second step of regeneration is installation step 8.

The diagram shows this is the understanding (II) of theduality of heaven within the Church on earth. You can see from the diagram thatthis understanding depends on the duality between spiritual-rationalcorrespondences and natural-rational correspondences established earlier(panning left to enlightenment, level II). We know from the Writings thatheaven is the Grand Human and that nothing can be inducted into that DivineForm but what is genuinely Human, that is, what isfrom the Lord. There is a purification process that we must undergo if our mindis to be a Church that is tied to heaven, thus a Church in which there is aninternal worship. Regeneration is the process of purification by which the Lordbrings our awareness to evil delights we cleave to, thus giving us theopportunity to reject them by turning our face toward Him. Thus we can desistfrom the evil delights, and at last hold them inaversion and detest them. Then the Lord can admit us into the innocence ofwisdom in old age (see Volume 4). This is the celestial mind, the Church onearth.

The final step of regeneration is installation step 9.

The diagram shows that this is the perception (III) of theduality conjugial love within marriage. Prior to this final phase of ourregeneration we could not perceive a discrete degree between the external ofour marriage an its internal, which is conjugial love.Volume 3 discusses the Doctrine of the Wife which is the central method forentering the last phase of one’s regeneration.

After completion of the nine installation steps, the NewChurch mind is fully regenerated. Then begins a new form ofregeneration that does not depend on combat, as before. This is thefirst time that we have become fully human, as a celestial mind on earth. It iscalled the innocence of wisdom in old age (volume 4—in preparation).

(3) Where The Writings Say That Enlightenment IsNecessary For Our Regeneration.

Enlightenment is the perception of the spiritual sensewithin the Letter of the Writings. This interior perception is given when thetruths we understand literally are applied to our daily willing and thinking.

Everything that proceeds from theLord is called spiritual. And since these truths and goods cannot be receivedby man unless he believes them and does them, it is added, which are of faithand life from the Writings. To live from the Writings is to live from the Lord,for the Lord is in the Writings, yea, He is the Writings. (CORONIS 0) (“the Writings” substituted for “the Word”)

In other words, the truths we take up from the Letter of theWritings are enlightened by the Lord when we make them “of faith and life,”that is, apply the truths to our willing and thinking all day long. When we dothis, and to the extent we do this, the Lord enlightens us to perceive theinternal sense within the literal. As a result our understanding and level ofthinking are elevated and immersed in higher level correspondences, which aremore interior appearances of those truths.

When we learn the truths of the Writings, we first have toput them into our external rational mind, which is natural, not spiritual. Butonce they are there, they can be elevated into spiritual truths when the Lordenlightens us to perceive these spiritual truths. And the Lord enlightens usonly when we struggle to arrange our willing and thinking to conform to thisliteral understanding in the natural mind. In that struggle to apply thetruths to our acts all day long, is the enlightenment that constitutes thespiritual Doctrine in our mind. This is what saves since this is what wemust acquire to live in heaven. Here is the Lord’s warning:

But he is greatly mistaken whoseparates appearances of truth from genuine truths and calls these appearancesholy by themselves and from themselves, and not thesense of the letter holy by genuine truths and from them and together withthem. He separates these who sees only the sense of the letter and does notexplore its meaning, as those do who do not read the Writings from doctrine.The "cherubim" mean in the Writings a guard and protection that theholy things of heaven be not violated, and that the Lord be approached onlythrough love; consequently these signify the sense of the letter of theWritings, because that is what guards and protects. It guards and protects inthis manner that man can think and speak according to the appearances of truthso long as he is well-disposed, simple, and as it were an infant; but he musttake heed not to so confirm appearances as to destroy the genuine truths in theheavens. (AE 1088:[5])

Note in this passage something is said about those who donot read the Writings from Doctrine. Doctrine here refers to the spiritualunderstanding of the literal sentences. The Doctrine understood naturally iscalled “appearances” of truth. When we are in that state, which is at the startof our reformation in adult life, we read the Writings and try to make sense ofit by means of our own intelligence and reasoning. In this state, we “see only thesense of the letter and do not explore its meaning.” This refers to thespiritual meaning within the natural meaning. We do not explore thespiritual meaning in what we read because we do not believe there is aspiritual meaning in the Writings before we begin to regenerate.

The idea that the Writings contain a spiritual meaningbeneath the letter can only come to us when we acknowledge it as the Word, justlike the Word of the Old and New Testaments. Once we acknowledge this fully,without hedging, we begin to substitute in our mind “the Writings” wherever wesee “the Word” as we read the Writings. The minute we start doing this, webegin to see some of the spiritual meaning within the letter. This is theresult of enlightenment from the Lord. The Lord works with our motive for doingthis substitution. To the extent that we do the substitution because we lovethe idea that the Writings are the primary Word for the New Church mind,to that extent the Lord intensifies the enlightenment and allows us to see moreinterior truths. The more interior the truths we see within the letter, themore there is enlightenment, and the closer we are to the celestial angels wholive in the spiritual truths of the Writings. But, as explained frequently,this enlightenment is proportional to the extent to which we apply ourunderstanding of Doctrine to our life.

It is very important to realize that striving to be a goodman and doing good to the neighbor and country, arenot sufficient to effect reformation and regeneration (xx). Only throughDoctrine can we be reformed and regenerated. This is how the Lord created theNew Heavens out of the old, by means of new spiritual truths He brought to theangels in the Word of His Second Coming. As the angels accepted and loved thesenew truths about the Divine Human, they appropriated them to themselves, and inthese higher truths they entered the New Heavens. The New Heavens were built bythe Lord out of these new spiritual truths that were in the angels from theWritings. The Lord does everything by means of Divine Truth from His DivineLove. Divine Truth is the same as the spiritual Doctrine, as accommodated toeach individual’s unique understanding. When the spiritual Doctrine is in ourunderstanding, it is the Lord who put it there. It is not possible to perceivethe spiritual Doctrine except from the Lord’s immediate enlightenment. Clearlythen, the spiritual Doctrine is only from the Lord, and therefore is the Lordwith us, dwelling in our understanding of His Divine Truth.

As we ponder these things there is a certain fear orhesitation: What is someone claims to have enlightenment from the Lord andpromulgates a spiritual Doctrine that is from himself, hence false. How wouldwe distinguish between the false and the true Doctrine? The answer is that thespiritual Doctrine is only from enlightenment in the understanding, and as soonas you try to write down or describe it in natural language, all you get is anatural view of it. The spiritual Doctrine cannot be expressed in a natural language, hence there is never the danger that someone’sclaim to enlightenment would influence our own thinking. We can read or reflecton the literal statements of the spiritual Doctrine this man claims to havefrom the Lord. But the literal and natural sentences do not give a spiritualview of the spiritual Doctrine, only a natural view.

You can see that this is also the case with the HeavenlyDoctrine. In Arcana Coelestia (AC) we read numerous descriptions of thespiritual sense of words and sentences in the Old Testament. We can be toldthat woman in the Word means Church, or that man means faith or truth, or thatJacob represents the external mind, or that blood signifies spiritual truth orthe falsification of spiritual truth, and so on. These correspondences areexplained and these explanations are about spiritual truths, but only as seenfrom a natural perspective. A spiritual perspective on these spiritualtruths cannot be obtained from the literal descriptions. This spiritualperspective on spiritual truths cannot reside in the natural mind, and we arenot conscious of what is in our interior or spiritual mind (xx). The onlyway we can see the spiritual truths is not form the literal, but within theliteral. And this perception within the literal is only there when we areenlightened by the Lord as we read the Writings. Let us try to write down thecontent of this enlightenment, and we have nothing left in the sentences but anatural perspective.

Note carefully that this enlightenment can only take placewith the literal of the Writings and in no other way. The Lord cannot enlightenus with spiritual truths from any other work, but only from His Word. Only theWord contains spiritual truths (xx). For the New Church mind only the Writingscontain spiritual truths. The Old and New Testaments are also the Word, but forthe New Church mind they can only be understood from the perspective of theWritings. Hence the Writings are the primary Word for the New Church mind.

The Lord is able to regenerate us by means o the spiritualDoctrine in our understanding. By methods unbeknownst to us, He adjoins good to the spiritual truths we acquired as-of self into ourunderstanding by studying the literal of the Word. Therefore gathering thespiritual Doctrine in our mind is the primary means by which we areregenerated. But this applies only to the extent that we shun evils in ourwilling and falsities in our thinking. If we fail to do this, the enlightenedunderstanding falls back to the level of the unregenerate will, where it dies,and becomes purely natural, which in itself is dead (xx). It is a stillbornspiritual Doctrine, never getting a breath of life. This breath of life is ourshunning evils because they are sins against the Divine Truth. When good isadjoined by the Lord, we become a genuine human being, a celestial mind, seeingthe spiritual within the natural and willing and thinking accordingly.

Diagram Of The Discrete Levels InThe Mind and the Writings

The mind is created into discrete degrees or levels. Eachupper level interacts with the level below itself by means of correspondences.The bottom level of the natural mind is corporeal and it is not active withangels in heaven (xx). But while we are in the physical body, the corporealmind provides us with the ability to memorize the Letter. Children are verygood at this and can be taught to recite large chunks of the Word, and to learnit by song and play. But this level of thinking does not allow them tounderstand a single sentence or rational concept. Above this is thenatural-sensuous mind which allows us to interpret the surface layer or meaningof the Letter. Anyone with education can paraphrase many sentences in theWritings, or translate them into another language. However this sensuous levelof thinking and understanding does not allow one to see general applications orsee the equivalence between different passages, or how they relate to oneanother and build on a theme or principle. These activities can only go on inthe natural-rational mind. You can see form the diagram that it is the highestportion of the external natural mind. Above this is no longer the externalnatural mind but its interior, called the interior-natural mind.

Note this important fact: While the natural-rational mindis built up by our own studious effort at figuring out the Writings, theinterior-natural mind is activated solely by the Lord.

This means that the interior-natural mind is theconsciousness of the Holy Spirit with us. It is the physiological organ of themind that provides for the dwelling of the Divine within our consciousawareness.

Note from the diagram that the interior-natural mind isactivated by the Lord simultaneously with our mental activity of rationallyfiguring out a sentence in the Writings. This is the process of enlightenmentfrom the Lord as one reads or reflects upon the Letter. It is provided by theLord for the sake of our regeneration, for without this enlightenment we couldnot perceive the spiritual sense, and without perceiving the spiritual sense noone can be regenerated. This is the physiological process the Lord provides andthere is no other method by which to be regenerated and saved.

The spiritual meaning that is in our interior mind is fromthe Lord. The natural-rational meaning that is in our external mind comes fromour intellectual effort to understand the literal of the Writings. Together theexternal truth springs into life and becomes a living truth. Living truths iswhat heaven is made of, therefore we need them toenter eternal life in heaven (xx). The living spiritual truths which formheaven in our mind is called the City, the NewJerusalem, the Heavenly Doctrine (xx). This is the spiritual truths we musthave in our mind in order to filter the packets and arrange them in theheavenly order, until at last, our mind is a heaven inminiature (xx). Without this spiritual Doctrine in our mind, nothing can happenbut the inevitable slide down to hell. Our spiritual acts of willing andthinking all day long will not be filtered by truth, and in the absence oftruth there is only hell forever (xx).

Keep in mind that in order to perceive the spiritual senseof the Letter of the Writings, two activities must go on simultaneously. One islocated in the interior-natural mind and the other in the natural-rationalmind. Prior to reformation our interior-natural mind was not activated by theLord. Our consciousness of the spiritual topics discussed by the Letter wasnon-existent. We only had a natural understanding of the spiritual topicsdiscussed in the literal sensed of the Writings. But after reformation the Lordis able to activate our interior-natural mind. Now when our natural-rationalreflects on the meaning of a sentence in the Letter, our interior-natural isalso activated, giving us a spiritual consciousness of the topics in thesentence. Now we can perceive the spiritual sense within the Letter of theWritings. The activation of the interior-natural mind is called enlightenment.

When we study the Writings in order to form spiritualDoctrine in the mind, we do so from a desire to be obedient to the Lord’s orderand to reject all the order we naturally prefer. This as of-selfself-compulsion is the discipline and effort into which the Lord can infusespiritual-rational light, which is the understanding of interior truths.But it’s an unending process (AC9334). So we must continue the daily discipline by modifying theDoctrine of life day by day, to reflect the new more interior light we receivefrom the Lord. Now in this new light, we must modify our willing and thinking toagree with the new light, which gives a higher and purer perception. This is acumulative process so that we grow spiritually every day.,This regimen or discipline requires that we turn to the Lord for power toovercome the old way of willing and thinking. Now even more interior light canbe given by the Lord, and this continues to eternity (AC 9410). For unless we improved every day to eternity, we could not be trulyhuman and truly happy (xx).

Note that the ever spiraling light to higher or moreinterior consciousness is not a sensation of ecstasy but a rationalconsciousness. It is a new rationality in the understanding. No truths residein the will but only in the understanding (AE 724). So it is the understanding that receives higherand higher consciousness to eternity. Charity cannot be exercised withoutDoctrine (xx). It is Doctrine that leads to charity, and from this charity, wereceive new, more interior Doctrine. Charity does not save unless it is fromDoctrine (xx). Charity is the primary, and Doctrine the secondary. Doctrinewithout charity cannot save (xx). Doctrine as primary and charity as secondary, cannot save. But Doctrine that leads to charity,from which new Doctrine is obtained, does save. It is not charity that saves bymeans of Doctrine, but Doctrine from charity saves (xx).

Enlightenment [is] received from the Lord when aperson focuses his attention on the Writings to the end that he may have a knowledge of truths. (AC 7012)

(4) Where The Writings Say That The Internal Sense MustBe Extracted By Every Regenerating Individual.

This clearly says that to live from the Writings is to livefrom the Lord and that He is the Writings. The Writings teach that theycannot be understood without Doctrine drawn from its Letter (xx).Note that Doctrine has to be drawn out, which means that Doctrine is not thesame as the Letter. Recall that the Letter of the Writings in a book orcomputer file is not what’s meant when regeneration is discussed in theWritings. The Letter of the Writings referred to is the literal meaning of thesentences that we have studied and understood in a rational way. Therefore theLetter of the Divine Truth now exists laid down in our natural mind. At firstit is laid down in our sensuous mind, but then as we grow more in intellectualability, the Literal is laid down in our natural-rational mind. This is theLetter we must think of when discussing regeneration, for only when it is inthe understanding can the Letter serve for our regeneration and salvation.

Be it known that the true doctrine of the church isthat which is here called "the internal sense;" for in the internalsense are truths such as the angels have in heaven. (AC 9095)

The spiritual sense of the Writings is identical withthe doctrine which is in heaven. (NJHD 7)

Without doctrine the Writings is not understood(NJHD 256)

The internal sense is the verydoctrine of the church (AC n. 9025, 9430, 10400). They who understand the Writingsaccording to the internal sense, know the essential true doctrine of thechurch, inasmuch as the internal sense contains it (NJHD 260)

He whodoes not know the arcana of heaven must needs believe that the Writingsis supported without doctrine from it; for he supposesthat the Writingsin the letter, or theliteral sense of the Writings, is doctrine itself. … But the doctrine must becollected from the Writings, and while it is being collected, the man must bein enlightenment from the Lord; and he is in enlightenment when he is in thelove of truth for the sake of truth, and not for the sake of self and theworld. These are they who are enlightened in the Writingswhen they read it, and who see truth, and from itmake doctrine for themselves. (AC 9424)

This clearly says that the literal of the Writings is notthe Doctrine. And it makes it clear that the spiritual Doctrine cannot beextracted from the literal sense except by enlightenment from the Lord. Notethat Doctrine in the natural form is natural, even though the topic can be aboutspiritual truths. Even though the topic is about spiritual truths, it is anatural idea about spiritual truths. The spiritual idea of spiritual truthsis spiritual and celestial. Further, the spiritual idea of natural truths isalso spiritual and celestial. So it’s not the topic that determines whether itis perceived naturally or spiritually. This is important to keep remembering.Just because spiritual topics are discussed, it doesn’t make the discussion orits level thinking spiritual! Only that level of thinking can be spiritualwhich is in the spiritual mind. Doctrine we study in the Writings is alwaysgoing to remain natural in so far as we limit ourselves to the literal level ofthinking.

At this level we can think about spiritual things like theDivine Human, Divine Providence, conjugial union, and so on, but thesespiritual topics are only understood naturally, not spiritually. IN order tounderstand them spiritually we must have the spiritual mind opened. This openingis done by the Lord to the extent that we apply the literal form of theDoctrine to our daily willing and thinking sequences. To that extent we arethen enlightened, and when we then read the letter again to confirm our newperception, our spiritual mind is gradually opened by the Lord. This gradualopening process is a conscious process of which we are aware. (These variouspoints have been discussed and cited above.)

The Writings in the sense of theletter is natural (AC n. 8783). (HH 305)

What in particular concerns thedoctrine that now follows, is that it also is out ofheaven, because it is from the spiritual sense of the Writings; and thespiritual sense of the Writings is identical with the doctrine which is inheaven. (NJHD 7)

This means that the Writings in the sense of the letter is natural. And therefore the Doctrine in the sense of theletter is natural. It is easy to forget this when we refer to the Writings asthe Heavenly Doctrine. We then might suppose that the literal of the heavenlyDoctrine is spiritual, when in fact it is natural. What then is the spiritualof the Heavenly Doctrine? This spiritual is only perceived by those who areenlightened by the Lord, as discussed and fully proven just above.

The Writings … waswritten by means of pure correspondences (HH 305)

This may sound amazing to those who have studied theWritings for many years and have paid attention only to its literal, thinkingthat the description of spiritual truths was spiritual. But when we undergoreformation in adult life and begin our regeneration by means of the Doctrinein the literal, then for the first time we are enlightened by the Lord andbegin to perceive through the literal into the spiritual. I can testify thatthis is an amazing experience. The same old passages which we have been readingand quoting for years, suddenly are perceived in theirinner sense. This spiritual sense was always there but we could not seeanything of it. Now that we see through the literal, asthrough a clear window pane or crystal. And we marvel at the fact thatthe literal can be read in the literal, and make good sense, and also can beread in the spiritual, and it makes good sense.

i The Writingscannot be understood without doctrine.

ii. Doctrine must be drawn from thesense of the letter of the Writings.

iii. But the Divine truth whichmust be of doctrine appears to none but those who are in enlightenment from theLord. (SS 50)

These three commandments must be kept in mind when thinkingabout Doctrine and regeneration. First, the Letter of the Writings is not theDoctrine and cannot be understood without Doctrine. Second, Doctrine must bedrawn or rationally extracted form the Letter of the Writings. Third, thespiritual Doctrine is of Divine origin and can be seen only by those who areenlightened by the Lord. Clearly, our regeneration and salvation goes throughorderly stages, and one is the imbibing of the Letter of the Writings andfiguring out their meaning in a rational way. This is our First Education inspiritual development or regeneration.

The second phase is to “draw from the sense of the letter ofthe Writings.” This drawing out process is a rational process of reasoning withour conscious natural mind. It is orderly and objective since others in theChurch must be able to also understand the extraction process. Genuine faithcannot be by persuasion or authority (xx). So every regenerating individualmust extract Doctrine from the Letter. But this cannot be done prior tostudying and figuring out the meaning of the Letter in a rational way. Byperforming this intellectual discipline we are insured that there will berational vessels in our natural mind that can serve for enlightenment by theLord.

You can see that the Lord desires to enlighten everyone, andwould instantly do so, if this were according to Order. But it is not possibleto do this according to Order, for rational and spiritual reasons that areexplained in the Writings. Therefore the Lord commands us to follow the precisecondition by which He can enlighten us, and this is the taking up of the Letterof the Writings into our rational mind. As we apply this natural understandingto our daily willing and thinking, the understanding become spiritual. This isdone by the Lord who animates the external rational understanding from within,as explained in several places in this book. So the Second Education we mustundergo is this drawing out of Doctrine from the Letter. Here not the externalphysical book is meant, neither the memorized sentences. What is meant is theLetter in our understanding. In other words, the intellectual effort we made intrying to understand the Letter we read in the book. This understanding of theLetter is the Letter within our understanding, and it is the Letter that iscalled a “vessel” within which the Lord can infuse spiritual truths.

The third step is to confirm the spiritual Doctrineextracted by means of the Letter in the book. Without this the entire processis not genuine but falsified. All three steps are necessary. The ThirdEducation is the development of our skill in confirming spiritual Doctrine inthe Letter of the Writings. This activity multiplies the consequences of thespiritual Doctrine and the spread throughout our conscious rational mind, fromwhich we have wisdom to defeat our evil affections.

The Third Education allows us to prove the correctness andpurity of the spiritual Doctrine and to disprove the false natural doctrinaltheories that many in the Church might put forth at one time or another. Theessential human is rational and since Doctrine is a rational entity, it isDoctrine that makes us more and more human. We are not fully human, genuinelyhuman, until we have confirmed the spiritual Doctrine which we received byenlightenment. Because the fully human is the celestial mind, and this is whatthe celestial mind does, and this is whereby the celestial mind is created bythe Lord.

You can see from all this that two things make the alland all of the New Church: the Letter of the Writings and the spiritualDoctrine we extract from it by enlightenment from the Lord.

The process of spiritual development, or regeneration, isgradual and by means (xx). It describes the process in numerous places in theLetter, as a computer search on “regeneration” will instantly demonstrate. Thefirst general step is to study the Letter of the Writings as the Word itselfand to gather into our rational mind the Literal form of the SpiritualDoctrine. The form of the Spiritual Doctrine lies within every sentence of theWritings. Even every single word of the Writings must be so honored, beingaware of the rational idea that the Divine spiritual Doctrine is laid down inthis or that translation. But faithful translations will insure thetransmission of the Literal in a genuine rational form that allows it torespond by correspondence to the details of the spiritual Doctrine. There is nodoubt that the Lord preserves the Letter of the Writings as He preserves theLetter of the Old and New Testaments.

The spiritual Doctrine is the understanding we have ofthe Letter in our mind when enlightened. This is a new spiritual understandingnot available to us before the enlightenment. It can be read and learned indescriptions given by others, but only a natural understanding can be had inthis by this external mechanism. Only a direct internal mechanism allows us toaccess the spiritual understanding of Doctrine, namely, what the Lord callsenlightenment or illustration (xx). Once enlightened, try to write down thespiritual understanding, and you end up with correspondences for it in thenatural-rational system of thinking. You can read the sentence “

Note well: the Letter of the Writings must be in our mindfor this to happen. Further, this happens only to the extent that our motivefor taking up the Literal in our mind, is a spiritualmotive in relation to regeneration. In other words, we read in the Writingsthat we must take up spiritual Doctrine from the Letter in order to cooperatein our regeneration. This is the right motive, and other motives will not allowthe Lord to enlighten us from the Letter we have in our mind. I have discussedthis issue throughout Volume 2 and in many places in Volume 1.

Enlightenment in the Letter from the Lord means that Hecreates a new interior-natural mind within the external-rational mind that isin the upper portion of the natural mind, above the sensuous. This new creationadmits nothing whatsoever from self and the world. This is most important tokeep in mind in order to be able to see the Divine origin of the Doctrine webring forth as-of self in the Church. The events in the interior-natural mindare nothing else but correspondences. These correspondences are nothing elsebut representations in our conscious rational mind of the events going on inthe spiritual mind. These events are totally unconscious and of which cannotbecome aware in this life. So the activity in the spiritual mind is purely aDivine Work. These activities involve the implantations of spiritual seeds andtheir nurturing and development by the angels from the Lord.

As this Divine procedure is achieved, the exact and fullcorrespondence is recorded in the interior-natural mind. You can see that thesecorrespondences are also Divine since only the Lorddeposits spiritual truths and their correspondences. Now e havea new thing entirely. We have an interior-natural mind which gives us consciousawareness of spiritual truths seen through spiritual correspondences that areDivine. In effect, we become conscious of Divine Truth in a spiritual way.Prior to this we only understood spiritual truths in a natural way through ourexternal rational mind. In other words, our First Education,was to implant the Letter into our rational by as-of self voluntaryintellectual effort. The Second Education is to become consciously aware of thespiritual correspondences of Divine origin in our interior-natural mind. Thisnew spiritual consciousness is purely of Divine origin, and there is nothing init from self and the Letter.

Again remember that the conscious awareness of the spiritualDoctrine in the interior-natural mind is there in exact proportion to themotive we have for putting the Letter into our rational mind.

It follows from all this that the Doctrine of the Churchplaced in the interior-natural by the Lord through correspondences, is a DivineDoctrine that has nothing from self or the world in it. This Divine Doctrine isnot man-made but man-received. All those who will honor it can receive it, seeit, and consciously understand it to the extent they are undergoingregeneration.

Prior to our ability to enjoy enlightenment from the Lord,we are immersed in the Letter. Our understanding of the revelations of theSecond Coming is an individual struggle. We grasp to understand more and moreand we go through various stages of confusion, and even doubt. One sign is thatwe can readily believe on sentence of the Letter, but not so readily some othersentences. When the literal meaning runs contrary to our beliefs systems andeducation, we experience some doubt as to the Divine origin of those sentences.Similarly, when we read that there is a Doctrine of the Church, and then readits description in the Letter, we merely believe that these explanations arethe Doctrine discussed.

As we undergo reformation in adult life, early or late, webegin to see that the Lord works in every detail of our regeneration, in ourthinking especially. He decides what we read when and tries to bend ourthinking so that we may receive the spiritual meaning that this within theLetter. We begin to trust that the Lord is supervising these details. A wrongmotive for doing this will only yield self-made doctrine, which is neitherDivine nor true or valid. But a right motive for doing it will only yieldDivine Doctrine. This duality must be fully accepted by being fully convincedof its truth. The wrong motive cannot yield the Divine Doctrine and the rightmotive must. It is an inevitable process the Lord has created for theregeneration of the old mind and the formation of the New Church mind. The NewChurch mind cannot be formed by anything from self-intelligence but only byintelligence form the Lord. Whatever comes into our intelligence form the Lordis Divine.

An example of the Spiritual Doctrine given by the Lord tothis generation is the Academy Movement of the General Church. This has twomain portions. First, the acknowledgement that the Writingsare the Word. And second, the acknowledgement that “the plain teachingsof the Writings as the sole authority in the Church." The expression plainteachings refers to the Letter of the Writings. Thephrase “sole authority in the Church” refers to the Spiritual Doctrine given bythe Lord to the men of the General Church. This divine Doctrine was born in aspecific New Church at a particular time in history. This Divine Seed wasnurtured by the men of the General Church and confirmed in many ways from theLetter. This Divine Doctrine which was revealed to the General Church as aChurch Specific, is to serve the entire human race.The Lord has an endless supply of spiritual-celestial truths to grant to allthe New Church organizations that will be formed to the endless future on thisearth. Each time it happens, the Divine Birth in the Church will be areplication or recapitulation by correspondence, of how the Lord Glorified HisHuman. The Spiritual Doctrine is solely a Divine Work with the men of theChurch who are undergoing regeneration and are enlightened by the Lord to seethe Divine Doctrine in their interior-natural mind.

To say that the sole authority of the Church is the plainteachings of the Writings is to say that the Spiritual Doctrine cannot form theChurch since it is in the interior-natural mind. The Church must be formed bythat which is external, hence the Letter of the Writings and ecclesiasticaladministrations (xx). Clearly no other possibility exists since the Churchspecific is a natural organization in society with a legal status andresponsibilities. It must have a literal constitution and a literal SacredScripture. So the Letter of the Writings must be the only and final authorityon all things concerning the Church administration and instruction.

It’s very important to understand why the Writings do notspecify in greater detail what the Church administration and rituals should be.The Old Testament gave the Jewish Church very precise and detailed proceduralsteps, rules, and principles to follow under penalty of death and misery. Butthe New Testament abrogated those details and the new Christian dispensationwas almost devoid of Church and worship specifications, leaving only these:Baptism, Holy Supper, the Lord’s Day, the Lord’s Prayer, the entire Word, Weddings, Charity.Clearly this was done to allow cultural differences in religious worship of theLord. The same is the case with the New Church. So many details could have beengiven in dozens of volumes of writing, so many details were given about so manysubjects, yet almost no details were given about Church administration andworship. Why?

For the same reason as before, to allowthe endless proliferation of organizations in the New Church. Only theinternal worship has become crucial (xx), and this is a matter of the SpiritualDoctrine. Almost all of the external Church procedures of worship andgovernment are therefore not part of the Letter, norpart of Doctrine. Ecclesiastical government, procedures, and rules aresocio-cultural natural issues, and these often become political issues whencharity in the Church is made less important than Church organization. TheSpiritual Doctrine does not enter into the Church organizational framework anddue process of grievance. Nor does the Letter. Toattempt to bring forth the Letter in support of a political dissent in theChurch can only lead to more dissent until all charity dies, and that Churchspecific becomes vastated.

Dissent in the Church organization will develop but theLetter of the Writings must not be used to support one side of the argument asagainst another. To do this would lead the Church into fundamentalism and froma celestial Church it becomes a Church of Cain (xx).

We may fear the social and political implications of sayingthat the Doctrine in our mind can be Divine. We immediately start imaginingthat a New Church pope will come along, or several of them, and will misleadthe people to their own power hungry or crazed motives and insanities. Sincethey are in a position of authority an prominence inthe Chr5uch, we fear for the destruction of the Church by heresies, just as weare told happened with the Christian Church (xx). As a result of this notionand fear, we might act to suppress the idea of a Divine Doctrine other than theLetter of the Writings.

But the Lord guides our thinking in this all important area,as He does all areas of lesser importance to our salvation. We cannot reallybecome convinced of the Divinity of some Doctrine brought forth by someone inthe Church unless we are fully confident that the Lord will also bring clearvision to all sincere men so that they may distinguish between bogus doctrineand spiritual Doctrine of purely celestial origin. If we fail to allow thiscertainty and confidence in the process, we are not yet acting from the Lordbut from ourselves.

When proposals are brought forth about new spiritualinsights form the Lord, those who read them may not see that what has beenbrought forward are genuine spiritual truths of Doctrine, even thought hey maybe. This is why all proposals of Spiritual Doctrine must be confirmed by theLetter in many ways, not just here and there. All members of the Church mustobey the Lord’s commandment to bring forth the Spiritual Doctrine through theLetter of the Writings. So when someone in the Church brings forth such aproposal, and confirms it by the Letter, the others in the Church must try do likewise. They must search the Letter to see if they canbuild their own case for the new proposals. Only the case you can buildyourself can be of value to your understanding and regeneration. It’s uselessfor your own regeneration to merely accept a new Doctrinal proposal merely bysomeone’s authority or intellectual ability to instruct and write.

All proposals of Doctrine must therefore be left toeveryone’s conscience and effort. But all proposals of ecclesiasticalgovernance must be left to the organization’s normal due process procedures.Whatever is not specifically in the Letter of the Writings in terms ofgovernance and worship procedure must be handled by the organization’sdemocratic due process procedures and written constitution. In this way therewill be no disturbance in the Church and the priesthood can lead the flock tothe good of life by means of instruction. I believe that the written constitutionor charter of every Church organization should contain an explicit policy thatthe Literal must not be used to support or impose any rule or procedure, withthe only exception being what is explicitly stated about the Word, Baptism,Weddings, Holy Supper, and the Lord’s Day.

The Letter of the Writings protects the Church from falseproposals of Doctrine since all Doctrine must be confirmed by the Letter (xx). Itis impossible to prove rationally that a false Doctrine is from the Letter.Note well: Many such attempts have been made in the Old Christian Church and inthe New Church, and this will no doubt continue for a long time, if notpermanently. The unregenerate mind born in the New Church will concoct falseDoctrine, but it will never be able to prove it from the Letter. If the attemptis made, no proof is produced, but only a correlated argument.

It’s very important to understand the difference betweenproof and correlated arguments.

An analogy from science may make this easier to understandrationally. Our culture makes us familiar with medical research reported in thenews and magazines. correlations are establishedbetween some behavior habit and the occurrence of a particular disease. Forexample, smoker have a higher rate of lung cancer thannon-smokers, even when other lifestyle factors are held common such as diet andexercise. For many years this finding served to fuel the campaign againstsmoking, and indeed it dropped as behavioral habit. The associated illnessesalso dropped in frequency. This is an example of relying on correlationargument. When this is done, sometimes the argument turns out to be wrong. Someother unknown correlated factor was present, and it is that actually producesthe illness. If this factor is not present, the behavior habits do not lead tothe sickness. In the case of smoking, causative proof was also obtained to someextent by means of causative procedures that involve control groups andmedically created groups that receive certain treatment.

It is similar with the attempt to distinguish betweenman-made false doctrine and Divine Doctrine from heaven. Note that we have nochoice to make this distinction since we cannot fall back on the earlier ideathat the Divine Doctrine is the Letter of the Writings. Now we know that it iswithin the Letter, hence cannot be written down except by descriptions that arecorrespondences. This is why it was necessary for the Writings to say that allderived Doctrine must be confirmed by the Letter in an endless process of verification,confirmation, and instruction, by every generation of the Church. This is theendless process of growth of the Church to the entire future to come. The Lordhas an endless number of Divine truths He desires to give to the Church fromnow to eternity. These Divine truths are placed in the spiritual mind, wherethey induce correspondences in the interior –natural mind, where we becomeconscious of the spiritual Doctrine, and we know from the Letter, that it isfrom Divine origin.

This system of Doctrinal evolution in the human race worksonly to the extent that the individuals of the Church are undergoing lawfulregeneration in accordance with the Letter of the Writings.

Since each individual is undergoing regeneration atdifferent rates and with different character, the process of confirming andestablishing the Divine Doctrine in the Church is not smooth and agreeable.People will disagree and the gnashing of teeth will be heard in the halls ofthe Church (xx). Nevertheless, the process will work, since bringing frothgenuine Doctrine is a Divine Work the Lord accomplishes through the human race,and this, on an evolutionary scale of permanent increase.

You can see that the Lord gives the Letter and the spiritualDoctrine and that both are tied to each other, one cannot live without theother. The spiritual Doctrine cannot be given in the Letter, but only a naturaldescription of it by means of correspondences. Therefore what we read in theLetter about Doctrine is not the spiritual Doctrine but the Letter of thespiritual Doctrine. The Lord alone can provide us with the spiritual Doctrinewithin our interior-natural mind.

Add to these most manifestevidences, that the spiritual sense of the Word has been disclosed by the Lordthrough me, which has never before been revealed since the Word was writtenamong the sons of Israel; and this sense is the very sanctuary of the Word: theLord Himself is in this sense with His Divine, and in the natural sense withHis Human. Not a single iota in this sense can be opened except by the Lordalone. This surpasses all the revelations that have hitherto been made from thecreation of the world. By means of this revelation a communication has beenopened between men and the angels of heaven, and conjunction of the two worldshas been effected; since when man is in the naturalsense, the angels are in the spiritual sense. See what has been writtenconcerning this sense in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture [in THE TRUECHRISTIAN RELIGION]. (INV 44)

We read in this passage that Swedenborg was enlightened bythe Lord who disclosed through him the “spiritual sense of the Word.” In ourFirst Education phase, we think that “the Word” refers to the Old and NewTestament. We think this because this is the plain appearance when Swedenborgquotes from these Two Testaments verse by verse, and phrase by phrase, andexplicates their spiritual sense by means of correspondences. In this passage,for instance, it says that the spiritual sense of the Word “has never beforebeen revealed since the Word was written among the sons of Israel.” Hence ournatural understanding compels us to think that the Word of the Old Testament isbeing referred to here.

But in our Second Education phase, we are willing to acceptthe idea that “the Word” here refers to the Writings. In other words, thepassage says that “the spiritual sense of the Writings has been disclosed bythe Lord through me.” We can accept the idea that since the Writings have aninner sense, there must be something internal signified by the expression “thesons of Israel.” The passage here is fully accurate and true in its literalmeaning by which “the sons of Israel” refer to the Jewish Church and the OldTestament. But it also fully accurate and true in itsspiritual sense. “The sons of Israel” has a spiritual sense in the Wordof all Three Testaments. The spiritual sense of it in the Old Testament meansthe Church or those of the Church (AC 6636). Applying this correspondence givenby the Letter to the passage above, we can see that it is discussing the men ofthe New Church, not merely the men of the Jewish Church. The passage thereforeis:

The spiritual sense of the Writingshas been disclosed by the Lord through me, which has never before been revealedsince the Writings was written among the New Church; and this sense is the verysanctuary of the Writings: the Lord Himself is in this sense with His Divine,and in the natural sense with His Human (INV 44) (“the Writings” substitutedfor “the Word”)

“By me” in the natural sense refersto Swedenborg, but in the spiritual sense it refers to every New Church mindundergoing regeneration by means of the Doctrine from the Letter of theWritings. So the passage actually says that the spiritual sense of the Writingsis disclosed by the Lord through every New Church mind for whom it was intendedto effect regeneration. This spiritual sense we obtain by enlightenment (orrevelation), but not in our First Education, about which it says that it “hasnever before been revealed.” But in our Second Education, it is for the firsttime “disclosed by the Lord.” In this spiritual sense is the Divine of theLord, while in the natural sense is the Human of the Lord. The spiritual senseof the Writings that is disclosed to us is the Spiritual Doctrine,is the spiritual within the natural, and this is the Lord in His Divine Human.

Again remember that the conscious awareness of the spiritualDoctrine in the interior-natural mind is there in exact proportion to themotive we have for putting the Letter into our rational mind.

We are not saved by the Letter of the Writings but by meansof the Divine truth within the Letter. The Letter itself is dead (xx). Hence itis a Divine commandment that the New Church mind avoidremaining in the dead Letter and must “scrutate” the Letter to find out what isin it (xx). This refers to systematic, scholarly, and scientific methods for“extracting” the spiritual sense from the Letter of the Writings.

We do our conscious rational thinking and reasoning in theportion of the mind called the natural-rational understanding. This level ofthinking and reasoning is constituted out of natural-rational correspondences,that is, spiritual-rational truths accommodated to the intellect of the naturalmind. The Word of the Old Testament is written in natural-corporeal correspondences,while the Word of the New Testament is written in natural-sensuous correspondences.The Word of the Writings is written in natural-rational correspondences.

The natural-rational correspondences of the Letter of theWritings are therefore a discrete degree above the New Testamentcorrespondences, which in turn are a discrete degree above the Old Testamentcorrespondences.

The Threefold Word has been given to the human race in threeportions, each part suitable to the intellectual level of the civilizationwhich received its portion. The natural-rational correspondences of theWritings required that they be written after modern science and the rationalage had matured. Swedenborg’s prepared mind, immersed in this modernclimate, served as the mechanism for delivering the Latin Word.

This indicates that Swedenborg’s level of conscious thinkingand reasoning was immersed in natural-rational correspondences. His thoughts,concepts, ideas were constituted out of natural-rational correspondences. As aresult, he was able to compose sentences and paragraphs in Latin that were madewholly of expressions that denote natural-rational correspondences. Manyillustrations and demonstrations of this fact are given in this Volume.Undoubtedly Swedenborg also operated at a higher degree of thinking andperceiving when he was in the company of angels, especially higher angels. Histhinking was then immersed in and was operating by means of spiritual-rationalcorrespondences. But when it came to composing Latinsentences, which are laid down in a natural language, Swedenborg’s thinking andreasoning operated at a natural level, not spiritual. Hence it is thatthe Letter of the Writings, that is, the literal meaning of the expressions,refers to natural-rational correspondences. By this process the Lord wasable to reveal His Divine Rational laid down in the natural.

The natural-rational correspondences of the Letter of theWritings give us the new rational ability to build up in our natural mind, arepresentation of this Letter in our knowledge, understanding, and perception.This representation of the Letter in our natural mind is constituted ofnatural-rational correspondences. These natural-rational correspondences arelocated in the natural-rational mind. This is the highest portion of thenatural mind, as will be illustrated in diagrams. These natural-rationalcorrespondences in the natural-rational mind serve for reformation.

But in order for regeneration to begin the natural-rationalcorrespondences of the Letter in our mind, must be applied to life, that is, toour daily willing and thinking. The moment we begin this activity, which isto be a daily activity for many years, the Lord enlightens us.

Enlightenment in the New Church mind refers to perception ofinterior meaning in the Letter of the Writings.

The Word is written in correspondences, as alreadymentioned. The natural-rational correspondences of the Letter of the Writingsare appearances of Divine Truth regarding the Divine Rational of the Lord.These natural-rational correspondences contain an interior spiritual meaningwhich is constituted of spiritual-rational appearances of truth. In otherwords, the spiritual sense of the Writings is nothing else than thespiritual-rational correspondences that are within the natural-rationalcorrespondences of its Letter.

You can see the all important difference between natural-rationalcorrespondences of the Letter, on the one hand, and on the other, spiritual-rationalcorrespondences of the internal sense of the Letter. The relationship is likethat between earth and heaven, or that between what is dead in itself as anultimate, and what is alive within it as Divine. Swedenborg’s thinking andperception was immersed in spiritual-rational correspondences when in thecompany of angels, but in natural-rational correspondences when writing inLatin or Swedish. Since the two correspond, we are able to extract from thenatural-rational correspondences, the spiritual-rational correspondences whichlie within. The Writings have provided detailed instructions on how to applythis method of extraction to the Letter, as is shown in this Volume.

For reformation we use natural-rational correspondences; forregeneration, we use spiritual-rational correspondences. One is a more interiorappearance of truth. This more interior appearance of truth is itself anappearance or correspondence, but it is a higher appearance, or highercorrespondence, and what is higher is superior.

Superior in this case means closeness of conjunction withthe Lord, which is the actual power that effects regeneration. Divine power isneeded to effect regeneration because we are born in the jaws of the infernalhells and when we try to change, we face those hells in all their ferocity andtenacity. And the hells are united so that each evil society draws power fromall the others there. Only the Lord can overcome the combined power of all thehells. But the Lord cannot effect regeneration without our cooperation. Hencewe must struggle and undergo temptations for many years. The following diagramdepicts the character of the Threefold Word as presented in the Writings.

The diagram above depicts theorderly relationship between the Threefold Word and the human mind. That such arelationship must exist is obvious when you consider that the Threefold Wordwas given for the purpose of effecting regeneration. There isno regenerations apart from the Word (xx).

Line 1 shows the Threefold Wordin relation to the its external and internal sense.Learning and understanding the Letter of the Word is called the “science ofcognitions” (xx). This knowledge has to do with the literal sense of the Wordalso called the external sense. Knowledge and understanding of the internalsense is called “spiritual doctrine” (xx).

Line 2 shows that the threeportions of the Word correspond to the three Heavens.

Line 3 shows that the ThreefoldWord has three degrees of correspondences in its Letter as well as in itsinternal sense. The Old Testament in its Letter is composed of natural-corporealcorrespondences. A Church based on this level of thinking has no inner worshipand consists solely of external rituals that are representative. The NewTestament in its Letter is composed of natural-sensuous correspondences.A Church based on this level of thinking has an inner worship whose elementsare significatives denoting spiritual-natural correspondences such asthe angelic spirits of the First Heaven possess. The Third Testament in itsLetter is composed of natural-rational correspondences. A Church basedon this level of thinking has an inner worship that consists of the spiritualDoctrine from the internal sense. The spiritual Doctrine in the Second Heavenis based on spiritual-rational correspondences. The spiritual Doctrinein the Third Heaven is based on celestial-rational correspondences.

Lines 4 and 5 identify theanatomical organs of the mind that are involved in operating within the threedegrees of correspondences for both the external and internal sense of theThreefold Word. The Letter of the Word is stored and understood by the“external man,” while the internal sense of the Word is stored and understoodby the “internal man.” The mind of the “external man” is also called thenatural mind, while the mind of the “internal man” is also called the spiritualmind. Each has three organs. The external or natural mind in its lowestdegree, is called the corporeal mind; in its middle degree, the sensuous mind;and in its highest degree, the external-rational mind. The internal or spiritualmind in its lowest degree is called the interior-natural mind (sometimes: thespiritual-natural mind); in its middle degree, the spiritual-rational mind; andin its highest degree, the celestial-rational mind.

Line 6 depicts humandevelopment in its progression from birth onward. We undergo mental developmentby elevating our understanding and rationality. In childhood our thinking isimmersed in corporeal correspondences. In adolescence our thinking is immersedin sensuous correspondences. And in young adulthood, our thinking is immersedin natural-rational correspondences. This is the first time that we can rightlyunderstand the Letter of the Writings, which is written in natural-rationalcorrespondences, as indicated on the diagram. At this point we are ready toundergo reformation. This process is of relatively short duration lasting weeksor months. Reformation begins when we become willing to apply the Letter of theWritings to our daily willing and thinking as we carry out our normal tasks andfunctions.

Until then we read theThreefold Word and understand it naturally. Those in the New Church read the OTand NT at the level of the natural-rational correspondences, in other words,through the perspective of the Writings. From the spiritual focus, reaching theage of adulthood means that we cease to think and act from inauthenticaffections, and begin to think and act from authentic affections. Prior toreformation we ascribe to beliefs and practices out of habit, training, andloyalty. When we begin reformation we open up to deeper affections, morepersonal, more authentic.

The Divine Doctrine is Unique With Each Individual

One of the deeper implications of Nunc Licet is that theindividual is a New Church in miniature, and that the Divine Doctrine is givento every New Church mind. Every individual now counts as a full Church to whomthe Lord is betrothed as the Groom, which is the Spiritual Doctrine extractedfrom the Letter of the Writings and ordered into a coherent collection ofprinciples of life. The individual must be enlightened by the Lord in order toperceive the spiritual sense of the Letter, hence the Spiritual Doctrine in theunderstanding of the New Church mind is a Divine Doctrine whose origin andcontent is heaven, and does not partake of the natural world or self. ThisSpiritual Doctrine is a Divine Seed. It lives as a Divine Child in the NewChurch, that is, in the individual who has the New Church mind in him. Eachdivine Child is unique because it represents a unique union between the Lordand the regenerated individual. This individual is called the celestial mind,in whom the Lord is a heaven, therefore, the all and all in it.

The following passage discusses the developmental phases theindividual undergoes as a New Church. The expression “the Church” signifies theindividual who is forming a New Church mind in himself.

As regards the first AncientChurch, in that although it was so widely spread over the earth it was stillone in lip and one in words, that is, one in doctrine in general and inparticular, when yet its worship both internal and external was everywhere different-asshown in the preceding chapter, where by each nation there named a differentdoctrinal and ritual were signified-the case is this. In heaven there areinnumerable societies, and all different, and yet they are a one, for they areall led as a one by the Lord, concerning which see what has been said before (ACn. 457, 551, 684, 685, 690). (AC 1285)

The “first Ancient Church” refers to the regenerating NewChurch mind. Historically, this refers to the first civilization of the newspiritual human race which followed after the Flood, that is, the Fall of the remnants of the Most Ancient Church. The newhuman race called the “first Ancient Church” was a spiritual mind, while theMost Ancient Church prior to the Flood was a celestial mind. The celestial mindwas of one “lip” or one Doctrine because the will and the understanding werefully united. The Divine Doctrine came down into the celestial mindsimultaneously as Divine Good in their will and Divine Truth in theirunderstanding. As a correspondence to this united spiritual organ, the physicalbrain was also united without a split between the two sides. But after theFlood, the spiritual mind of the human race was divided into two, withpartially independent operations for the will and understanding. This wasnecessary for the regeneration of the spiritual mind, which was to beaccomplished by the temporary elevation of the understanding into heavenlylight even while the will remained immersed in infernal loves!

The operations of this divided mind correspond to thesplit-brain operations between the right side that corresponds to theoperations of the will, and the left side that corresponds to the operations ofthe understanding (xx). This process of evolution was not completed until theSecond Coming which opened the way for the formation of the New Church mind.The Divine Doctrine could not exist in an individual prior to the SecondComing. But since then, the individual is a New Church in miniature, fully so,and consequently, can contain the Divine Doctrine for the first time. The NewChurch mind is called the Crown of Churches because it is a completed Church, hence it is known as a celestial mind, the same asthe mind of the people of the Most Ancient Church. You can see therefore thatthe New Church mind is the full recovery of the Fallof the human race. It is also its completion and final sublime phase.

In the passage quoted above (AC 1285) it is said that “Inheaven there are innumerable societies, and all different, and yet they are aone, for they are all led as a one by the Lord.” Heaven refers to the NewChurch mind. It is said that there are “innumerable societies” there becausethe New Church mind is universal and therefore must consist of the entirediversity of the human race in civilization, genius, and culture. The DivineDoctrine is within each individual of that race in accordance with the uniquereception of the Lord and the Holy Marriage, which is the appropriation andaccommodation of the Divine Truth to the Church that each unique individual is.This is what is meant by saying that “it was widely spread over the earth,”namely, that the Church was as diverse as possible, which isthe condition of each individual being a unique Church. This numberlessdiversity of unique forms of the Church, are described as “yet they are a one,for they are all led as a one by the Lord.” The Divine Doctrine, which isuniquely with each, is yet the same Divine Doctrine, because the DivineDoctrine with each leads them “as a one by the Lord.”

No disagreements are possible about the Divine Doctrinefrom this or that individual because each is lead by the Lord as a one with theother! This is the celestial mind, which is the New Church mind formed bymeans of the Letter of the Writings.

To continue with the Number quoted above:

In this respect the case is thesame as it is with man, in whom, although there are so many viscera, and somany little viscera within the viscera, organs, and members, each one of whichacts in a different way, yet all and each are governed as a one, by the onesoul; or as it is with the body, wherein the activities of the powers andmotions are different, yet all are governed by one motion of the heart and onemotion of the lungs, and make a one. That these can thus act as a one, comesfrom the fact that in heaven there is one single influx, which is received byevery individual in accordance with his own genius; and which influx is aninflux of affections from the Lord, from His mercy, and from His life; andnotwithstanding that there is only one single influx, yet all things obey andfollow as a one. This is the result of the mutual love in which are they who are in heaven. (AC 1285)

“They who are in heaven” refers to the regenerating NewChurch mind on earth, for this is the celestial mind of the human race that isnow being formed by the Lord by means of the Writings. “Mutual love” refers tothe celestial love that is in the New Church mind. The celestial mind is liveswithin a society that is a larger, and therefore moreperfect form, of the individual angel couple. The angelscouples that form a heavenly society are in mutual love, which is a celestialstate of communication whereby the truths and delights of the individual aretransmitted to all the other individuals so that they all are enriched by eachother to a far greater degree than one angel couple by itself (xx). In fact,the larger the society the greater is this mutual enrichment effect, andtherefore the more perfect is that society. The Lord’s purpose is to keepincreasing the size of each society in the Grand Human. This mutual love effectis communicated between societies as well, though in a more general way andless visibly than within a society or neighborhood.

It is the Divine Doctrine, in its unique form in each individual, that spreads mutually across individuals withinand across societies. This universal networked movement pattern is called “influxof affections from the Lord, from His mercy, and from His life.” Elsewhere itis also called the Lord’s Proprium which inflows with the angels and makes aone out of them (xx). The Lord’s Divine Proprium contains infinite distinctthings as one (xx). Therefore no matter how numberless the human race becomes,it can never exhaust the Lord’s affections that stream uniquely into eachperson to eternity. The Divine Doctrine is the Lord’s infinite Propriumcontaining an inexhaustible source of new affections for the human race. TheDivine Doctrine inflows into the human race through the New Church mind formedby the Crown of Churches taken up in the will and the understanding.

Continuing with the Number:

[3] The case was the same in thefirst Ancient Church; for although there were as many kinds of worship-somebeing internal and some external-as in general there were nations, and as manyspecifically as there were families in the nations, and as many in particularas there were men of the church, yet they all had one lip and were one inwords; that is, they all had one doctrine, both in general and in particular.The doctrine is one when all are in mutual love, or in charity. Mutual love andcharity cause them all to be a one, although they are diverse, for they make aone out of the varieties. All men how many so ever they may be, even myriads ofmyriads, if they are in charity or mutual love, have one end, namely, thecommon good, the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord Himself. (AC 1285)

It is said here “as many in particular as there were men ofthe church” which refers to the numberless humanity into the future that willgrow into a New Church mind by means of the Writings. It is said that “they allhad one lip and were one in words; that is, they allhad one doctrine, both in general and in particular.” This indicates that theNew Church mind is an integrated mind, so that all the generals fit all theparticulars. In other words, it is a reformed mind, rearranged from one end tothe other to fit the order and pattern of the truths in the Writings. Theformer pristine unity of the will and the understanding has been regained bythe human race in the New Church mind. All things in the New Church mind “makea one out of the varieties.” This applies to both the things to be found withinthe individual and the things communicated across individuals. The primaryagent that creates this unity is “charity” or “mutual love” or “the commongood,” all of which are references to “the Lord Himself” since these things arefrom the Lord.

Varieties in matters of doctrineand of worship are like the varieties of the senses and of the viscera in man,as has been said, which contribute to the perfection of the whole. For then,through charity, the Lord inflows and works in diverse ways, in accordance withthe genius of each one; and thus, both in general and in particular, disposes all into order, on earth as in heaven. And then thewill of the Lord is done, as He Himself teaches, as in the heavens, so alsoupon the earth. (AC 1285)

From all this you can now see and be sure that there isno threat in the idea that the Doctrine in our understanding is DivineDoctrine.

(5) Where The Writings Teach How To Extract The Internal Sense From The LetterOf The Writings

The Secret Of Extracting The Spiritual Sense Of TheWritings

But I proceed to the doctrineitself, which is for the New Church, and which is called Heavenly Doctrine,because it was revealed to me out of heaven; to deliver this doctrine is thedesign of the present book. (NJHD 7)

Note carefully what this process is that we discussed asapplying correspondences to the Letter of the Writings. Where do thesecorrespondences come from? From the Letter. Thereforewhat we are actually doing is applying one part of the Letter to another part.This is why it may be called the substitution technique, as discussed above. Toextract the spiritual sense within the Letter, we apply one passage to anotherpassage, modifying the original text in accordance with other text from any ofthe Books of the Writings.

This freedom to apply any part of itself to itself, is the secret of extracting the spiritual sense ofthe Writings.

The modified passage now discusses something we do not seewhen we just look at the origin passage. This new topic is a spiritual topicseen more interiorly. As you increase your scientifics of the spiritual senseas a topic, you can put them together in a rational system called the SpiritualDoctrine. You can write about the Spiritual Doctrine and lecture about it, but theessay or lecture will only give a natural idea or understanding, a naturalexplanation of some spiritual topic.

Despite this, when we read these scientifics of theSpiritual Doctrine, or reflect upon them, we are building external rationalcognitions that can react by correspondence, to spiritual consciousness. Thisspiritual perception of the spiritual topics is possible only when the Lordopens or activates the interior-natural mind, placing it within thenatural-rational mind, in a discrete degree more interior or higher (seediagram). This interior-natural is built to be able to react by correspondenceto the purely spiritual and Divine activity going onin our spiritual mind as we progress in our regeneration.

This unconscious spiritual and celestial activity in thespiritual mind is echoed by correspondence in the interior-natural mind. Thismind is conscious. Therefore for the first time we become conscious of thespiritual sense in a direct sensuous way, almost as if we were alreadyconscious in our spirit-body, which normally happens only when we arrive in theafterlife. Yet the Lord grants us to have a spiritual perception of interiortruths by correspondence in the interior-natural mind.

This spiritual enlightenment occurs when we apply the Letterto the Letter within the context of our own life of willing and thinking.

You can see how different it is to become more and moreknowledgeable about the Letter, on the one hand, and on the other, to becomeable to perceive the spiritual meaning within the Letter. The first is acontinuous progress from little to much, but the second is a discreteinteraction by correspondence. From my own experience, I can testify that thereis uneven progress along multiple fronts of our struggle in regeneration. Our willing and thinking all day long numbers in the thousands eachday. They present individual issues to be addressed in relation to theaffections that drive our thoughts and actions. The Lord has a precise map ofthe process, bringing to us an awareness of those issues we can handlespiritually, that is, that we can willingly give up because they are sinsagainst Him. Other issues are kept away, out of awareness, out of focus. Thisvery precise process takes into account relationships and mutual influences inour personality of which we are totally unaware.

You can see from these considerations that regeneration isan uneven process, advancing on multiple fronts in our personality. Even withinsimilar habits, like arrogance and meritoriousness, the issues to be resolvedwith each are numerous. Hence the Lord may grant us spiritual perception in onepassage, but not in another. No one can dominate another in the Church onaccount of his spiritual perception! No policy or organizational decision ismade on this spiritual perception. If person A sees the spiritual sense ofpassage X, then person B who doesn’t see it, hasnothing to do about it. We merely postpone what we cannot understand about theWord (xx). We do not contradict it, but only fail to confirm it. And since allpolitical and organizational policy must be set by the Letter only, person Acannot use his spiritual perception to influence the others. Thus democraticbalance an due process is maintained in order.

That falsities and evils from themare the boundaries of external worship which is without internal, anyone maysee. In such worship there is nothing but what is dead; and therefore whicheverway the man who is in such worship turns, he sinksinto falsities. There is nothing internal that leads and keeps him in the wayof truth, but only what is external, which carries him whithersoever cupidityand phantasm lead. As Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim are mentioned in boththe historical and prophetical parts of the Word, what each specificallysignifies, will of the Lord's Divine mercy be there explained. (AC 1212)

Applying this passage of the Letter to itself as a whole, wecan see in a more interior way what topic it is discussing. The idea of theDivinity of the Letter of the Writings is the cornerstone of the New Churchmind. The outward form of the Divine is called the Divine Natural. Hence theLetter of the Writings is the Divine Natural of the Divine Human, revealed inthe Word of the Second Coming, called here the Letter. If we truly think of theLetter in this way, it will be clearly seen that after we get to know theDivine Natural of the Divine Human, we desire to get to know the DivineRational of the Divine Human. The natural in itself is dead. What makes it bealive is the spiritual that is within the natural. The Lord’s Divine Body wouldnot be alive were it not for what it contains within. The within and thewithout are in discrete degrees so that they communicate by correspondenceonly.

In other words, the Divine Natural of the Divine Human isnothing but a correspondence of the Divine Human’s Divine Rational, also calledDivine Spiritual and Celestial.

When you can see this you will be happy to look for thespiritual sense, no longer fearing it.

Regeneration Is By The Spiritual Sense

We begin to perceive the spiritual sense of the Writingswhen we accept the interior rational idea that the Letter of the Writings iswritten in pure correspondences, in a way similar to the Old and NewTestaments. But the correspondences by which the Letter of the Writings iswritten, are made of concepts at the level of thinking called thenatural-rational, while the correspondences by which the Letter of the Old andNew Testaments is written, are concepts at the level of thinking calledcorporeal and sensuous. You can see therefore that the uses of the Letter inthe three Testaments are entirely different. For the New Church mind, only theLetter of the Writings is serviceable for drawing out the spiritual sense. Thisis because the concepts of the Second Coming are rational while those of theFirst Coming are sensuous. At His First Coming, the Lord made His appearance inHis Divine Sensuous, but at His Second Coming He made His appearance in HisDivine Rational. Therefore for the New Church mind access to the DivineRational is exclusively through the spiritual sense drawn form the Letter ofthe Writings. We cannot approach the Divine Human through the Old or NewTestament.

Regeneration is by the spiritual sense of the Word (xx).Therefore, our regenerations is by the spiritual senseof the Writings.

The Letter of the Writings is made up of natural-rationalcorrespondences. For example, consider this passage on self-examination andconfession:

There are two obligations incumbenton one after self-examination: prayer and confession.

Prayer should be that the Lord mayhave pity, grant the power to resist the evils of which one has repented, andsupply the inclination and affection for doing good, since man without Himcannot do anything (John 15:5).

Confession should be that one sees,recognizes and acknowledges one's evils, and reveals oneself as a wretchedsinner. There is no need to list one's sins before the Lord, norto pray that they may be forgiven. There is no need to list one's sins, becauseone has examined them and seen them in oneself; consequently they are presentto the Lord, because they are to oneself. The Lord has also guided the person in self-examination, disclosedthe sins, and inspired sadness and together with this an effort to desist fromthem and begin a new life.

[2] There are two reasons whyprayer ought not to be offered before the Lord for the forgiveness of sins.First, because sins are not wiped out, but taken away; and this happens as onesubsequently desists from them and embarks on a new life. For there arecountless longings attached like a cluster around every evil; these cannot betaken away in an instant, but only one after another, as a person allowshimself to be reformed and regenerated.

The second reason is that the Lord,being mercy itself, forgives everyone his sins, and does not hold even one ofthem against a person. For the Lord says, 'They do not know what they aredoing.' But still this does not mean that the sins are abolished; for whenPeter asked how many times he should forgive his brother his offences, whetheras many as seven times, the Lord said:

Not up to seven times, I tell you,but up to seventy times seven times. Matt. 18:21, 22.

What then will the Lord not do?Still there is no harm in someone, whose conscience is oppressing him, gainingrelief by listing his sins before a priest of the church, so as to receiveabsolution. This is because by this means he is led into the habit of examininghimself and reflecting on the evils he commits day by day. This, however, is anatural confession; the one described above is spiritual. (TCR 539)

This passage teaches the distinction between “naturalconfession” and “spiritual confession.” Confession of one’s sins by listingthem before a priest is natural confession. Confession before the Lord, is spiritual confession. It is not necessary to listour sins when making a spiritual confession. This is the subject of thepassage, along with others that can be specified.

Note that identifying a subject or topic in the passage islike a paraphrase of the original. In order to do this we must stay at level ofthinking of the Letter, which is natural-rational. theLetter talks about the meaning of confession and its purpose, making a rationaldistinction between natural and spiritual confession. Since the Letter iswritten at the natural-rational level, we can use that level of thinking tofigure out the literal meaning of the sentences, first. And second, toparaphrase them. And third, to figure out some of itsimplications. For instance, we can figure out rationally why confessionto a priest is called natural confession, while confession to the Lord iscalled spiritual confession. Why can’t both be called spiritual, since thepriest fulfills a spiritual function?

Answering this question requires that we figure out theimplications of the literal meaning, and we can do this because this literal iswritten at the level of the natural-rational. What is written at this level ofthinking carries implications that one figure out by analysis. Here we can saythat the confession we make to the priest is an external confession since it isdone publicly in a social dyad, while a confession to the Lord is done privately.The Lord is present with us privately, but the priest is not. We need to tellthe priest what is on our list of sins, but not to the Lord. And what isexternal is natural, but what is internal is spiritual.

This rational analysis and answer is a natural-rationallevel of mental operation. It is suited for the Letter of the Writings which iswritten in natural-rational correspondences. The expressions “naturalconfession” and “list of sins” are natural-rational concepts, ideas, or topics.

This method will be called“applying the letter to the letter” and is part of “the substitution technique”already illustrated.

When he went forth out of Haran. That this signifies an obscure state of the Lord,like that of man's childhood, is evident from the signification of"Haran" in the preceding chapter, whither Terah first came withAbram, and where Terah the father of Abram died (Gen. 11:31-32); and also fromwhat follows, in that Jacob went to Haran, where Laban dwelt (Gen. 27:43;28:10; 29:4). Haran was a region where worship was external; and indeed, asregards Terah, Abram, and Laban, it was idolatrous; yet in the internal sensethe same is not signified as in the external, but only something that isobscure. When from the external sense we pass to the internal the idea ofidolatry does not remain, but is wiped away, just as the idea of holy lovearises from the mention of a mountain (see n. 795); in passing from theexternal sense to the internal, the idea of a mountain first perishes, andthere remains the idea of height, and by height is represented holiness. So in all other cases. (AC 1430)

Note the series ofcorrespondences identified in this passage:

Haran==> External worship which is idolatrous ==> obscure worship ==>obscure state of the Lord ==> the level of our thinking in childhood==>sensuoustruths

(cf.AC 1430, 1434)

Mountain==> height ==> holiness ==> holy love==> the Lord

I call this type of simplediagram, an “extraction chain,” or the chain of higher correspondencesas we ascend Jacob’s Ladder in the enlightenmentprocess (xx). The Ladder, or extraction chain, rests on the ground with theLetter of the Threefold Word, namely, corporeal (OT), sensuous (NT), andrational (TT) correspondences.

In another Number:

'And Abramwent down into Egypt to sojourn' means instruction in cognitions from the Word.This is clear from the meaning of 'Egypt' and from the meaning of 'sojourning'.That 'Egypt' means knowledge comprised of cognitions, and 'sojourning'receiving instruction, will be seen in what follows shortly. That the Lordreceived instruction in childhood as anybody else does is clear from thoseplaces in Luke quoted previously at verse 9 in 1457, and also from what hasbeen stated just above concerning the external man, who cannot possibly be madeto correspond and accord with the internal man except by means of cognitions.The external man is seated in the body and the senses, and does not receiveanything celestial or spiritual unless cognitions are implanted in it as in thesoil. Celestial things are able to utilize these as their own recipientvessels, but those cognitions must be from the Word.

Cognitionsfrom the Word are such as lie open from the Lord Himself, for the Word itselfcomes from the Lord by way of heaven, and the Lord's life is present in everysingle detail of it, though this is not to be seen in the external form. Fromthis it may become clear that in childhood the Lord wished to take in no othercognitions than those of the Word, which, as stated, was laid open to Him fromJehovah Himself, His Father, with whom He was to be united and become one. (AC1461)

Here it is said that “theexternal man cannot possibly be made to correspond and accord with the internalman except by means of cognitions.” Elsewhere, “cognitions from the Word” arecalled the “scientifics of the Word” (xx). The Letter of the Writings iscomposed of natural-rational correspondences. These are called the scientificsof the Writings. Hence we have this extraction chain:

Egypt==> cognitions of the Word in the external man ==> in Childhood, theLord’s state of obscurity when in external scientifics of the Word ==> ourstate when our thinking is immersed in the Letter of the Writings

LETER OF THE WORD

CORRESPONDENCES

Egypt

natural-corporeal

cognitions from the Word in the external man

natural-sensuous

in Childhood, the Lord’s state of obscurity when in external scientifics of the Word

natural-rational

our state when our thinking is immersed in the Letter of the Writings

spiritual-rational

As children our thinking isimmersed in natural-corporeal correspondences. This is true whether we read theOT, NT, or the Writings. Reading the Writings at this corporeal level ofthinking keeps the content of our understanding focused on historical events,stories, and behavioral rituals. The OT references to “Egypt” for instance,keep the focus on its meaning as a country. The NT references to "I gounto My Father and ye shall see Me no more" keepsthe mind focused on “going to the Father” as a sensuous act (natural-sensuouscorrespondences). But when we outgrow our childhood, we begin to raise ourlevel of thinking from the sensuous to the rational, thus immersing ourthinking in natural-rational correspondences. At this level we are able tounderstand the Letter of the Writings in a rational way. For instance, insteadof the sensuous act of going to Heaven, we are able to focus the semantic content of “goingto the Father” as the act of “uniting the Human to the Divine to save the world”(AC 2235).

New Church children andadolescents think about the Writings at a level similar to how they think aboutthe OT and NT. Their thinking is immersed in corporeal and sensuouscorrespondences. They do their thinking, reasoning, and understanding by meansof these sensuous correspondences regardless of which part of the ThreefoldWord they are reading. This level thinking continues into adulthood, unlesssuperseded by rational thinking regarding the ideas in the Writings. Forinstance, a young adult can understand the idea of “going to the Father” in arational way by thinking that it means “uniting the Lord’s Human to HisDivine.” The idea of “uniting” two rational elements in the Lord,is more abstract than the idea Him physically floating up to Heaven through theclouds in the sky. This level of thinking is immersed in natural-rationalcorrespondences. For instance, the idea of the Lord’s “Human” vs. the Lord’s“Divine” as two distinct elements in Himself, is a rational idea of the naturalmind. It is called a natural-rational correspondence.

The Writings use the word “toglorify” when referring to the Lord’s act of purifying His assumed Human anduniting it to His Divine (xx). The idea of “the Lord purifying andglorifying His assumed Human and uniting it to His Divine,” is a natural-rational correspondence.

This idea is not available tothe mind immersed in sensuous correspondences. Before our adult age of reason,our thinking is immersed in and composed of ideas and reasonings at the levelof sensuous science or knowledges about the natural world and the natural mind.At this level we are unable to comprehend rationally concepts like “the Lorduniting His Human to His Divine” When presented with this phrase, the mind onlythinks of sensuous correspondences when thinking and reasoning about the Lord’sglorification. The Table below illustrates this phenomenon.

Letter of the Word	Thinking in natural-corporeal and natural-sensuous correspondences LETTER OF OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS	Thinking in natural-rational correspondences LETTER OF THE WRITINGS	Thinking in spiritual-rational correspondences INNER SENSE OF THE WRITINGS
Egypt	A country mentioned many times in the Bible; What the Bible says, or the facts we know from the Bible (cognitions in the external man)	Cognitions of the scientifics of the Word, resulting in obscurity of thinking when the Lord was in His Childhood (AC 1461)	Our mental state when our thinking is immersed in the Letter of the Writings, which is a natural understanding of spiritual things
I go to the Father	The Lord floating up to Heaven through the clouds of the sky to be together with His Father	The Lord uniting the Human and the Divine in Himself (AC 2235)	Our own regeneration which consists of uniting our understanding of Doctrine and our willing or loves
Father glorify Thy Son (John 13:31-32; 17:2).	Jesus is praying to God that he may be taken up to Heaven to be with his Father	The Lord expelled hereditary evil in His assumed Human and from being dead, made it alive (AC 1603)	Our own regeneration by spiritual temptations, especially our cooperation by desisting from willing evils

The Substitution Technique For Teaching The Spiritual Doctrine

The Spiritual Doctrine is a system of thinking about lifeand regeneration. It cannot be instilled or instructed in the way we learnnatural-sensuous and natural-rational things of the Letter of the Writings.Nevertheless, it is necessary to first understand the Spiritual Doctrine as anatural-rational topic. This natural understanding is not the perception of thespiritual sense, but its correspondence in the natural. We can thereforeaccumulate knowledges about the Spiritual Doctrine which help us to apply it tolife. It is during the activity of applying the Spiritual Doctrine to life thatwe receive perception by enlightenment. Clearly, the more distinctly weunderstand the Spiritual Doctrine in a rational way, the more these knowledgescan be illumined by the Lord during enlightenment. The question then arises asto how can one learn and teach the Spiritual Doctrine?

I have found two methods that are effective. One is thesubstitution technique (see Chapter 8, Section 4 in Volume 2). , and the otheris theistic science (see Chapter 7, Section 8).

The substitution technique involves parallelism in theWritings that are explicitly stated in the Letter. For example, the followingsentences are all preceded by the sentence “it is the same whether you say that...”:

it is the same whether you say that	Permissible substitutes
Divine worship consists of these truths and goods, or that man consists of them, (AC 10298)	Divine worship	man
truth or faith, since everything of faith is truth; also it is the same whether you say good or love, since everything of love is good (HH 232)	good	love
conjunction of understanding and will or conjunction of truth and good. Conjunction (HH 370)	conjunction of understanding and will	conjunction of truth and good
ruling love or that which he loves above all things. (HH 486)	ruling love	that which he loves above all things
truth or faith (NJHD 35)	truth	faith
"begotten of God" or "proceeding from God;" (TCR 23)	begotten of God	proceeding from God
God is Good itself and Truth itself or He is Love itself and Wisdom itself (CAN 8)	God	Good itself and Truth itself
	God	Love itself and Wisdom itself
Lord's Divine Human, or the Divine Love (AE 146)	Lord's Divine Human	Divine Love
the understanding of truth is described, or those who are in it are described (AE 355)	the understanding of truth	those who are in the understanding of truth
the spiritual and natural mind or the spiritual and natural man. (AE 406)	spiritual and natural mind	spiritual and natural man
falsities from the hells, or the hells (AE 538)	falsities from the hells	the hells
faith or conscience (AC 2325)	faith	conscience
higher and lower ones, or more internal and more external (AC 10051)	higher and lower	more internal and more external

Let’s take a passage that allows several substitutionsaccording to the table. I have bolded the words in the original, and also inits duplicate paragraph below to indicate the substitutions:

The natural mind, by its twocapacities called rationality and freedom, is in this state that it is capableof ascending through three degrees, or of descending through three degrees. Itascends by reason of goods and truths, and descends by reason ofevils and falsities. And when it ascends, the lower degrees whichtend towards hell are closed, but when it descends, the higher degrees whichtend towards heaven are closed. The cause for this is that they are inreaction. These three degrees, higher and lower, have neitherbeen opened nor closed in man in earliest infancy, for he is then ignorant of goodand truth, and of evil and falsity. (DLW 274)

[makingthe substitutions;]

The natural man, by its twocapacities called rationality and freedom, is in this state that it is capableof ascending through three degrees, or of descending through three degrees. Itascends by reason of love and faith, and descends by reason ofevils and the hells. And when it ascends, the external degreeswhich tend towards hell are closed, but when it descends, the internaldegrees which tend towards heaven are closed. The cause for this is that theyare in reaction. These three degrees, internal and external, haveneither been opened nor closed in man in earliest infancy, for he is thenignorant of love and faith, and of evil and the hells.

It this case, it turns out that the original and thesubstitutions are so close that the two paragraphs hardly seem different inmeaning. Nevertheless, the second paragraph is not merely synonymous with theoriginal but reveals new features that are more interior. To see this requiresmore detailed study and examination.

Let us take another passage where the substitutions create amore dramatic difference:

The very essence and life of faithis the Lord alone (AC 30)

The very essence and life of conscienceis the Lord alone

The second sentence containing the substitution is a moreinterior meaning than the original. We knew that the life of faith is the Lordsince faith is truth from the Lord, and what is form the Lord is the Lord.Hence: The very essence and life of faith is the Lord alone. But we did notknow that the very essence and life of conscience is the Lord alone. This is anew spiritual revelation contained within the first revelation of the Letter.We can now confirm this new perception by finding a passage in the Letter thatstates that the life of conscience is the Lord. As for example:

The new will with the spiritualregenerate man is conscience (NJHD 1919)

[2] A person does not feel thisstruggle to be anywhere but in himself, and he feels it as the pangs ofconscience. Yet it is the Lord and the devil (that is, hell) who struggle inman; their struggle is to gain control of the person, to see which is topossess him. The devil, or hell, attacks the person and calls forth the evil inhim, while the Lord protects him and calls forth the good in him. (TCR 596)

Genuine conscience is given by theLord through the knowledges of a true faith (SE 3615)

With angelical spirits there arebonds of conscience, which conscience is from the Lord. (SE 3850)

Judgments are based on what is theLord's when they accord with truths and spring from conscience. (AC9160)

When conscience dictates, it is inlike manner said in the Word that "Jehovah speaks;" becauseconscience is formed from things revealed, and from knowledges, and from theWord; and when the Word speaks, or dictates, it is the Lord who speaks; hencenothing is more common, even at the present day, when referring to a matter ofconscience, or of faith, than to say, "the Lord says." (AC 371)

You can see from these series of passages that a consciencethat is genuine is from the Lord and is the Lord: “nothing is more common, evenat the present day, when referring to a matter of conscience, or of faith, thanto say, "the Lord says."

So we went through the three steps that teach the SpiritualDoctrine. First, find parallelisms in the Letter that are explicitlyidentified. Second, make the substitutions and reflect on the new formulation.This new meaning is more interior than the original Letter. It has beenenriched by the different series or contexts which are brought together by thesubstitution. Third, find new passages that explicitly confirm the new meaning.Performing this three step method builds natural-rational vessels needed laterfor influx and enlightenment as we apply the new meaning to our hourly willingand thinking all day long.

The quality of things becomes apparent by theinternal sight (AC 3869)

The Correspondence Technique For Teaching The Spiritual Doctrine

The correspondence technique is a special application of thesubstitution technique. We are familiar with the correspondence techniqueapplied to the Old Testament in Arcana Coelestia (AC), and to the NewTestament in Apocalypse Explained (AE). For forming the New Church mind,the Writings are the primary form of the Word to be used for extracting theSpiritual Doctrine needed for our regeneration. We can therefore consider anexample of the correspondence technique applied to the Letter of the Writings.

To this shall be added threeMemorable Relations. First:

I once heard beneath mesomething like the roaring of the sea; and I asked what it was; and onesaid to me that it was a tumult among those assembled in the lowerearth, which is just above hell. And presently the ground thatformed a roof over them opened, and behold, birds of night flewforth through the opening in flocks, and spread themselves towards the left;and immediately after them there swarmed forth locusts, which leapedupon the grass and made a desert everywhere (TCR 71)

The first step in extracting the Spiritual Doctrine is toidentify the correspondences in the literal and substitute the original textwith the correspondences. This activity will bring the spiritual sense nearerto our conscious awareness. The following table is constructed on the basis ofthe correspondences explicitly identified by the Letter in other passages.

Correspondences		Citations
heard beneath me	"a valley" signifies what is beneath the mountains, that is, what is lower in worship	AC 1292
roaring of the sea	consummation of the age, when there is no faith, that is, no charity	AC 1808
tumult	disturbance, a slaughter, perplexity, indignation	AC 375, 4951; LORD 4 TCR 116
those assembled in the lower earth	infested by falsities, which cause darkness in the mind	AC 7240; HH 487
ground opened	interior thought and affection, teaching or doctrine	SE 3640; AC 378
a roof over them	their inmost state	AC 10184
birds of night	to see in darkness, to see falsities as truths and truths as falsities, love of evil	DP 117; TCR 13
spread themselves towards the left	those who are in falsities from evil	AC 4809
swarmed forth locusts	falsity in the extremes	AC 8764
made a desert	vastated truth or church within the mind in which there is no truth	AC 3900

The spiritual sense of the passage, as extracted form itscorrespondences, indicates that the passage discusses what happens to the NewChurch mind when it falls into a “lower form of worship.” That Swedenborg heardsomething in the world of spirits refers to falling into a lower or externalform of worship. Swedenborg represents the New Church mind since he was thefirst of the new human race that started with the Second Coming. What is thefirst also represents what comes next, henceSwedenborg represents the New Church mind. Falling into a lower form of worshipis to be in an external worship without the internal. This happens when the NewChurch mind still believes that the Letter of the Writings is the spiritualsense of the Old and New Testaments. This belief is the lower worshipdiscussed in this passage of the Memorable Relations (TCR 71). It islower because external without the internal. After reformation the externalworship acquires a living internal when we acknowledge that the Letter of theWritings discusses the spiritual meaning but only in an external natural way.

The unwillingness to extract the spiritual sense from theLetter of the Writings is compared in the passage to the “roaring of the sea”which represents vastation or “the consummation of the age.” In this state ofour mind we have “no faith, that is, no charity.” To honor the Letter withoutthe Spiritual within it is therefore “no faith” and the reason is that we arenot regenerated. Prior to regeneration we have “no charity.” As long as thespiritual sense is not turned into the Spiritual Doctrine of life, we are notenlightened by the Lord. Our love for Him is not from Him, hence not genuine,therefore infernal. Many there are in the hells whopray to the Lord and exercise charity, but they do so from a self-projectedidea of the Lord, and their charity is from their proprium, hence meritoriousand evil.

The external worship of the Letter is compared in thepassage to a “tumult” which signifies a disturbance in the mind caused by indignationand hatred. The spiritual sense of the Memorable Relations reveals to us whatis hidden in the Letter. It warns us that the worship of the Letter whileignoring its spiritual sense, is caused by anunregenerate hatred for the true worship, which is the spiritual sense of theLetter, since only what is interior is genuine truth and worship, that is, fromthe Lord and not from self. To remain stubbornly in the Letter is to attempt tolive by self-intelligence since the Letter can only enter as far as thenatural-rational mind. It is impossible for the Letter to enter the spiritualfor this is contrary to influx between discrete degrees. (xx).

The state of being in the Letter alone leads to an“infestation of falsities,” which corrupt the interior of the natural mindwhich is then filled with “birds of night,” which means to “see in the dark andnot in the light” (DP 117). In other words, the Letter in itself is sensuous,not rational-spiritual, and to think from the Letter about our regeneration isto see falsities as truths, and truths as falsities. Those remain in the Letterof the Word who are not shunning their evils of lifesince this can only be done through regeneration, and regeneration requires thespiritual sense for only the spiritual truth can regenerate. The Letter of theWritings can be used to support evil loves and self-intelligence. The Lettercomes to us from the outside in a natural corporeal. It is through our ownstudy and intellect by which we conquer the Letter, and we don’t want to hearthat the truths we have from this activity is only natural truths devoid ofcharity and good, which lie only in the spiritual sense of the Letter.

Shunning the spiritual sense of the Writings creates a“desert” church which is a mind devoid of truths. Without the spiritual sense,the Letter of the Writings turn against us into a“swarm of locusts” which refer to falsities in the extreme that inundates themind, unprotected by the Spiritual Doctrine.

You can see from this example that using the technique ofsubstitution by correspondences lead us to newrevelations not seen before. Now the new revelations must be confirmed by theLetter. In this last step of the method we are able to read other passages inthe new light of the Spiritual Doctrine.

Teaching the Spiritual Doctrine by expounding oncorrespondences, as is done in this Section, is only teaching from a naturalpoint of view. This cannot be escaped since the sentences we say or write arein a natural language, and this is incapable of leading from itself tospiritual expression or understanding, as has been shown above. Nevertheless,we need to learn about these natural explanations of the Spiritual Doctrine bymeans of correspondences. This learning establishes natural-rational cognitionswithin which the Lord can implant interior truths that correspond to theexternal

Teaching and learning about the Letter of the Writings mustcome first. This is what effects reformation to the extent we apply the Letterto willing and thinking all day. Then, after reformation, teaching and learningabout the Spiritual Doctrine is a step necessary for enlightenment, henceregenerating. Teaching and learning about the Spiritual Doctrine is a moreadvanced form of rational activity than teaching and learning the Letter. TheLetter is a guide for our reformation and regeneration cannot begin until wecomplete reformation. The Spiritual Doctrine is a guide for our regeneration,which cannot be effected by the Letter in itself.

The Spiritual Doctrine can be discussed in the literallanguage in a natural way. This verbal expression or description of theSpiritual Doctrine is not the Spiritual Doctrine itself, which can only beperceived in the interior-natural, and as soon as itstaken outward into the natural-rational, it is no longer spiritual. Thespiritual is left behind in the interior mind. Only pure correspondences canresult. Then, when the Spiritual Doctrine is confirmed by the Letter, the mandoing the confirming activity perceives a new spiritual meaning in the Letterthat is used for confirmation. The man who is not doing the confirmation is ina different position. Or, when you are confirming the Spiritual Doctrine youextracted form the Letter, you are enlightened to perceive the spiritual sensewithin the confirming passages, but I, who read those passages to begin with,cannot see the Spiritual Doctrine confirmed within it.

And vice versa, when I confirm the Spiritual Doctrine in newpassages, you may not see the spiritual meaning of the new passages. But we canboth go through the confirmation process after extracting the SpiritualDoctrine, and in that case, both of will see the spiritual sense of the newpassages. In this way the whole Church can be enlightened form theenlightenment of its members. An enlightened Church can better prepare itsyoung to undergo reformation.

Consider the sentence in the sub-title above, quoting TCR 773.Its literal meaning is clear to the natural-rational understanding. Itdiscusses how the New Church mind is to be formed so that it may live inheaven. In a more general sense, it discusses the formation of the spiritualmind since that is what’s called heaven within us (xx). Still in this naturalsense, we can see that the sentence asserts the principle of life that we areto support and encourage the Church organization because it is through theinstruction and worship in the Church that we know the way to heaven.

In the spiritual sense, which we can consider by applyingcorrespondences to the literal, “man” signifies “one who is intelligent andwise” (AC 158), or “the affection of truth” (AE 280); and also, “faith andtruth” (AC 427; 4823). “Heaven” “signifies the internal man,” which designatesour spiritual mind. Therefore, the phrase “man enters heaven,” in its spiritualsense discusses the physiology whereby our spiritual mind is opened andactivated. Since “man” signifies the “affection for truth” the sentence assertsthat it is the affection for truth that opens the spiritual mind. This openingprocess is accomplished “through the Church.” The “Church,” when applied to ourmind, signifies conjunction with the Lord.

The Lord is indeed present with aman through the reading of the Word, but he is conjoined with him through theunderstanding of truth from the Word, and according thereto; and in proportionas the Lord has been conjoined with a man, in the same proportion the church isin him. The church is within man; the church that is outside of him is thechurch with a number of men who have the church within them. This is meant bythe Lord's words to the Pharisees who asked when the kingdom of God would come:

The kingdom of God is within you(Luke 17:21).

Here the "kingdom ofGod" means the Lord, and from him, the church.

(SS 78) (seealso AC 9305)

From this related passage we can see from the literalmeaning that the church within us is the forming of the New Church mind, and“in proportion the church” is in this mind, to that extent “the Lord has beenconjoined” with us. To go back then to the original sentence whose spiritualsense we are discussing:

“Man Enters Heaven Through TheChurch,” we can now elaborate its spiritual topic by rationally expanding onit. To form the spiritual mind we need to start with an affection for truth andbecoming wise, which means a love of the Writings and its daily study. To theextent that we then apply these truths to our daily willing and thinking, tothat extent the spiritual mind is opened, and to that extent we are conjoinedto the Lord. This elaboration is elevated into a Spiritual Doctrine byconfirming all its elements in the Letter. The correspondences have beenconfirmed above, but the thesis as a whole also must be confirmed by theLetter.

Searching the Writings, we find this:

[2] With the regeneration of thespiritual man the case is this. He is first instructed in the truths of faith,and then he is held by the Lord in the affection of truth. The good of faith,which is charity toward the neighbor, is at the same time insinuated into him,but in such a way that he is scarcely aware of it; for it lies hidden in theaffection of truth, and this to the end that the truth which is of faith may beconjoined with the good which is of charity.

As time goes on, the affection oftruth which is of faith increases, and truth isregarded for the sake of its end, that is, for the sake of good, or what is thesame, for the sake of the life, and this more and more. Thus is truthinsinuated into good, and when this takes place the man imbues himself with thegood of life according to the truth that has been insinuated; and so he acts orseems to himself to act from good. Previous to this time, the truth of faith wasprincipal, but afterwards the good of life becomes so.

[3] When this is the case the manis regenerate; but he is regenerate according to the quality and the amount ofthe truth that has been insinuated in good; and when truth and good act as one,he is regenerate according to the quality and the amount of the good: such isthe case with all regeneration. Regeneration is effected to the end that manmay be received into heaven. Heaven is nothing else than the marriage of truthand good, and of good and truth (see n. 2508, 2618, 2728, 2729); and if themarriage of truth and good be not formed with a man, he cannot be in theheavenly marriage, that is, in heaven. (AC 2979)

You can see that this passage discusses in the Lettersomething about the “regeneration of the spiritual man.” This refers to theopening of the spiritual mind since we are not regenerated unless the spiritualmind is opened by the Lord (xx). It describes several stages of this process.

(1) First, we are “instructed in the truths of faith” bymeans of the Letter of the Writings.

(2) Second, we are “held by the Lord in the affection oftruth.”

(3) Third, we apply the truth we obtain to our willing andthinking all day long. This is called “charity toward the neighbor.”

(4) Fourth, to the extent that we do the third step. the Lord conjoins the truth with good in our spiritual mind,an unconscious process of which we are “scarcely aware of it; for it lieshidden in the affection of truth.” The affection of truth from the Letter ofthe Writings applied to our life, is the mind withinwhich the Lord implants the good of charity. This good of charity is implantedin two places, one totally unconscious, in the spiritual mind, the otherconsciously, in the interior-natural-mind.

This new conscious awareness of spiritual good and truth isa correspondence of the actual activity of the Lord in the spiritual mind. Thisrelationship by correspondence between the spiritual mind and theinterior-natural mind, is described in the passage as“scarcely aware” and “lies hidden.” The hidden part is the interior-rationaltruths implanted in the spiritual mind. The partial awareness of these truthsrefers to our awareness of the correspondences in the interior-natural mind.Perceiving interior truths by correspondences in a lower degree is to havepartial awareness of those interior truths.

(5) Fifth, “As time goes on, the affection of truth ...increases, and truth is regarded for the sake of ... life, and this more andmore.” To the extent that we apply the truths of the Letter to our dailywilling and thinking, to that extent we are being regenerated and conjoined tothe Lord by means of the opening of the spiritual mind. By continuing thissteady process, “the man imbues himself with the good of life ... and so heacts or seems to himself to act from good. Previous to this time, the truth offaith was principal, but afterwards the good of life becomes so.“ This is the mark of the celestial mind that lives inheaven, namely, that it loves truth from a motive to have it govern theirwilling and thinking. The celestial mind is called here “the man who isregenerate.” This is the mind that is “received into heaven.”

The mind so prepared acts from the “marriage of good andtruth” in it. This marriage is called the church in man: ”truthconjoined to good, is the ultimate of the church in man” (AE 449).

In summary, you can see that the three steps we took were asfollows: First, we applied correspondences to the original sentence “Man entersheaven through the Church” (TCR 773). Second, we expanded the spiritual senseinto a Spiritual Doctrine. Third, we confirmed the Spiritual Doctrine by meansof the Letter.

DemystifyingTheDivinity Of The Spiritual Doctrine

The New Church mind has to struggle mightily to receive theidea that the Letter of the Writings is nothing but correspondences and thatthe real message of the Second Coming lies in the spiritual sense within. Thisidea is at first threatening, and even mightily threatening. It is the samegiant anxiety that the angels experienced when the Lord on earth was to becrucified. The Writings tell us that this angelic doubt about His Missionresulted in one of the greatest temptations the Lord had to endure (xx). TheRational Divine was within the Lord’s non-glorified human which He assumed uponIncarnation. This Rational was the total cumulative intelligence of the entirehuman race, and it was with the angels. Their heaven was this Rational Divinewith them from the Lord. This Rational Divine was the internal man of the Lordon earth prior to glorification. After Glorification and Ascension, a newRational was with the human race and the angels in heaven. This new Rationalwas not revealed until the Second Coming. And so we now know that it is theRational of the Divine Human. A whole new history now starts with the evolutionof the human race.

This new capability of the natural mind on earth is the abilityto perceive spiritual truths, also called, spiritual-rational truths. The Lordre-created all the Heavens at His Second Coming, just as He re-created theHeavens at His First Coming (xx). The New Heavens of the Second Coming arecreated out of the new spiritual-rational truths revealed by the Divine Humanconcerning Himself and the universe. These spiritualand celestial revelations are contained within the Letter of the Writings. Thisis why the Letter of the Writings is called the Body of the Divine Natural ofthe Divine Human. You can see that the Divine Human has a Divine Proprium orSelf, and has a history of Divine Birth on this earth. Inside this Divine Humanis the Lord from Eternity, Unchanging, Unfathomable.The names “Jehovah” and “Divine Father” represent the Lord in His Esse. Humanbeings cannot relate in any way to the Lord in His Esse. The only relation wecan have with this Divine Esse is a mere universal and simplistic idea, namely,that the Lord in His inmost is this Esse, and that this infinite substance iscalled Divine Love. Our relation to the Divine is therefore possible only withthe Lord in His Divine Human.

The Letter of the Writings is the Divine Human in His DivineNatural. Clearly, we want to know the Lord in His Divine Rational, not just inHis Divine Natural. By studying and understanding the Writings we are acquiringa view of the Lord that is His Divine Rational laid down in His Divine Natural.Note this expression: “His Divine Rational laid down in His Divine Natural.”

The Lord’s Second Coming was to reveal Himself in His DivineRational. Ask yourself this: How can the Lord deliver to us a revelation aboutHis Divine Rational?

You no doubt thought: “Through a man whose mind was preparedfor receiving it, and then writing it down.” This is correct. But we also needto understand the particulars of this Divine Work if we are going to overcomethe great anxiety of losing the Body of the Lord by death. For the Writings saythat the Letter must as it were die or vanish, in order for the spiritual sensewithin to be perceived (xx), as one perceives a bright flashing jewel through awindow that was suddenly made clear and spotless. This sudden illumination iscalled “enlightenment” in the Writings (xx). From this you can see thatthere is a structural relationship between the natural language sentences ofthe Word and the spiritual truths contained within. The Letter or DivineBody of the Lord contains His Divine Rational, that new Rational that the Lordhas bestowed upon the human race in His Second Coming.

The Lord has provided an infallible Two-Step Method by whichHe can regenerate every individual for entry into the New Heavens where Hereigns as the Divine Human, visible to the angels, and to Swedenborg (xx). ThisTwo-Step Method is to first approach Him as He is in His Divine Natural calledthe Letter of the Writings, and second, to prepare our mind by reformation tobe enlightened by Him when we approach Him in the Divine Letter. Thisenlightenment is the second step and in this step we receive the spiritualsense. This spiritual sense is the Spiritual Doctrine, which is His DivineRational with the human race. When one completes this Two-Step Method, the Lordhas successfully recreated the Second Coming in an individual. In this way, Herecreates His Second Coming into the endless future of the race, insuring thatanyone henceforth who wants to live in the NewHeavens, can.

TheDivine Rational Cannot Be Approached In The Letter

To ease our anxiety about the “vanishing” of the Letter weneed to think that it is not possible to approach the Divine Rational of theLord by means of natural-rational ideas. These ideas make up theunderstanding we have of the Letter of the Writings prior to reformation. Untilreformation we have been studying the Divine Natural in the Letter andaccumulating natural-rational cognitions, or “vessels” in our natural-rationalmind. This is the only mind we control as-of self and are conscious of. Puttingthe Writings into our rational understanding is an awesome task that requiresmuch study and scholarly effort. We must maintain consistency and be able tosee the relations between many parts, and not merely maintaining the originalsequential view. The relations between the Numbersconstitutes an underlying semantic network in the Writings, a system ofcross-references for comparison between them. This cognitive or semanticnetwork can be mapped out by scholarly effort, which brings a superiorunderstanding of the Letter. It requires love for the Lord in His DivineNatural to be able to succeed at this task, done on a daily basis for years!

The more we love the Letter of the Writings, the more weconstruct and collect suitable rational ideas in our natural-rational mind.This as-of self effort is commanded by the Lord (xx). The Lord commands us tolove Him in His Divine Natural. For the New Church mind, this Divine Natural ofthe Lord is not the New Testament. It is the Writings. This is because theDivine Natural of the Lord in His First Coming was not the Divine Human untilafter His Ascension. The human race at that time could not perceive Him in HisDivine Human. He was invisible to them in the new Form of the Glorified HumanBorn in Time. In order to see the Lord in His new Divine Human, the human racehad to first receive the interior-rational truths of Himself.The angels received this right away, and entered the New Heavens where they nowdwell. But the human race on earth must be reborn and reformed before theseinterior truths can be received.

This rebirth and reformation process is a requirement foreveryone regardless of background or birth because the entire human race hasfallen spiritually. By heredity everyone now has embedded in the mind spiritualties to the hells that cannot be repaired by the Lord and must be given upvoluntarily by every individual regardless of religion or philosophy. The Lordthen recreates new ties to heaven and our mind can now be regenerated. Thisprocess goes on until the end.

What allows us to perceive the new interior-truths that theHeavens are now made of?

The answer is the same for us on earth and for the angels inthose Heavens: We can perceive the new interior-rational truths when the Lordenlightens us. We can then perceive them in our mind as we are peering throughthe Letter of the Writings. This peering applies to their reading, but also toour reflection of them in our conscious memory.

The angels have a celestial script in which they read theWritings (xx). The Spiritual Doctrine is within this script of the Letter. Itis not in the script of the Letter, but in their understanding of the sensewithin it. This spiritual understanding is in their spiritual and celestialmind. The Lord’s Divine Rational is this Spiritual Doctrine in theirunderstanding. This is called their Doctrine and all their wisdom is from thatsource (xx). The Doctrine they draw out of the Letter of the Writings when theyare enlightened by the Lord, is the Lord’s DivineRational of the New Heavens. This is the sense of the Writings in which theydwell. And the richness and power of this sense creates the marvelous habitationsin heaven and all of life there.

You can see that the structural relation between the Letterand the spiritual sense within it, is a necessarytwo-step method for both men on earth and angels in heaven. The spiritual andcelestial ideas or truths cannot be laid down in a “naked” form in the Letter.This is because the Letter is laid down in a sensuous script, and this externalsensuous appearance is nothing but a correspondence of the spiritual sense. Whateverexplanations and ideas are laid down in a script or in an external language,are automatically nothing but correspondences. Nothing but correspondencescan result from the action of the spiritual being laid down in the naturalsensuous or in the spiritual sensuous.

The Lord enlightens us in a similar way now and when we areangels—through the Letter of the Word.

Form these considerations it is clear that we have nothingto lose by letting go of the Letter as an opaque glass, and allowing the Lordto clarify it spotlessly, so that we can see the spiritual-rational truths Hewants us to have of Him.

Note also that this Two-Step Method is not a once and forall deal. It is endlessly to be repeated hour by hour, every day. This is thecyclical process of regeneration, by which the Lord gives us new truths bywhich we can guide our willing and thinking. By the light of these new truthswe can improve our willing and thinking still more, and thereby receive morenew truths. And so on, until the end. Therefore we are not going to let go ofthe Letter, thinking that is dead and unimportant. This would be spiritualsuicide and an act of crucifying the Word. We must increase our love for theLetter of the Writings because it is the containant of the holy spiritualtruths the Lord wants to give us. And this increase in love shows itself bywhat I have called Step 3 elsewhere in the book (See Chapter 8 Section 3).

This step is the confirmation in the Letter of thespiritual sense we receive by enlightenment from the Lord.

This requires dedicated scholarly effort and love for theLetter of the Writings as the Lord’s Divine Natural within which is His DivineRational. Rather than being dead, the Letter of the Writings becomes even moreHoly and beloved, as we begin to fathom the magnitude of the truths beingopened to us by the Lord. We begin to love every sentence in the Writings, andrevere it. And this reverence is not external as it was prior to ourregeneration, but is our internal worship within which is the external reverencefor the Letter.

Besides all of the above considerations, there is also thisscientific one: That the structural relation between the Letter of the Writingsand the Spiritual Doctrine within, is reproduced everywhere in our mind and inthe world, though in a different way because one involves the Divine only, andthe other involves created human beings. The Writings point out the analogy ofthe sentences we write and speak in everyday discourse (xx). For example, if astranger approaches me on the street and says, “Do you have a light?” I need tobypass the literal meaning, and perceive that he wants me to provide him with aflame for his cigarette. But if he says, “Do you have a quarter?” I perceivethat he is begging for some money. When I was in graduate school in the late1950s we used to study these relationships and called that type of research“psycholinguistics” because it was a focus on relating sentences to thinking. Asimilar phenomenon obtains when reading children’s stories, which can be understoodsensuously or rationally. The child listens to them sensuously, withimagination, while the adult reads it with a conscious focus on the morallessons that the stories exemplify. The moral understanding is a perception ofthe interior of the letter of the story.

Similarly when we read the Old and NewTestament as we continue to advance in our study of the Writings. We canno longer read them except from the perspective of the Writings, seeing thesentences as correspondences, and being able to perceive what spiritual truthsthey stand for. Now here we need to take a giant step: For years prior to ourreformation we had not acquired this distinction: “understanding spiritualtruths naturally” vs. “understanding spiritual truths spiritually.” We merelywent along with the automatic assumption that because the topic and subjectmatter of the Letter was about spiritual truths, therefore we were understanding them spiritually, when actually, we wereunderstanding them naturally. Only by enlightenment can we understand themspiritually, and the Lord does not enlighten until after we complete ourreformation sometime in adult life.

After reformation we can make the distinction and we canacknowledge that until now we had not made the distinction. Once we make thisdistinction we lose our fear of letting go of the Letter in order that we maybe enlightened with the spiritual sense.

[2] Falsity within factualknowledge is what most of all molests those who belong to the spiritual Church.The reason for this is that they do not have a perception of truth that springsfrom good, only a knowledge of truth derived fromreligious teaching. People like these are subject very much to molestation fromfactual knowledge, for known facts serve as very general vessels, and untiltruths have been introduced into them to make them translucent, so that one nolonger notices them, they may sometimes appear to be contrary to truths.Furthermore factual knowledge is full of the illusions of the senses whichcannot be dispelled by those who have only a knowledgeof things derived from religious teaching and no perception of truth thatsprings from good. The main reason for this is that the light of the worldholds sway with these people, a light which seems to be clear light as long asthe light of heaven does not flow into it but which turns from light intoobscurity the moment that the light of heaven penetrates it. This explains whythese people are enlightened and clever in worldly matters but dull and obtusein heavenly ones. (6865)

We belong to the “spiritual Church” when we have acquiredknowledges from the Letter of the Writings and suppose that this understandingis a spiritual understanding. We are vulnerable in this state to heresies andpersuasions, and because we sense our vulnerability, we vehemently oppose theidea that someone else can extract a spiritual meaning where we only see thenatural. Thus we are led to doubt or deny that the Letter of the Writings are written in pure correspondences. When we are in that state,it is said of us: “This explains why these people are enlightened and clever inworldly matters but dull and obtuse in heavenly ones. .”To be “clever in worldly matters” refers to knowledges about the Letter of theWritings separate from their internal. To “be dull and obtuse in heavenlymatters” means to doubt or deny that the Writings as the Word are written incorrespondences in the same way as the Old Testament and New Testament arewritten in pure correspondences. Not to be able to apply to itself what theWritings say about the Word, makes us “dull and obtuse in heavenly matters.”The spiritual sense of the Writings is called “heavenly matters.”

The Divinity Of The Spiritual Sense We Extract From TheLetter

Now take another example, this time from a MemorableRelations:

I once saw an angel flying beneaththe eastern heaven, holding in his hand and at his lips a trumpet, which hesounded towards the north, towards the west, and towards the south. (CL 2)

By finding other sentences in the Writings that relate tothis one, we can extract a spiritual sense by applying the correspondences.

The Letter in the original sentence	Correspondences from other parts of the Letter	Citation
Angel	wisdom from the Lord	HH 179
trumpet	celestial goods and celestial things of faith	AR 276; AC 420
eastern heaven	those who are in love to the Lord	AR 875
lips	Doctrine from the Lord	AC 1288
hand	the power which is of truth	AC 8910
north	exteriors in which truth is in obscurity	AC 3708
south	a state of truth in its light	AC 9648
west	a state of good declining	AC 9648
I once saw an angel flying beneath the eastern heaven, holding in his hand and at his lips a trumpet, which he sounded towards the north, towards the west, and towards the south. (CL 2)

Note that when correspondences are applied to the Writingswe are applying one part of the Letter to another part of itself. This isextremely important to understand. There is no self-intelligence that can enterinto this process, or else its spiritual significance vanishes. This isactually a faithful process of ritual worship wherein the self is effaced, andto the extent that this effacement is genuine, to that extent the applicationof correspondences is a Divine work. One need not fear creating popes in theNew Church! Everyone can verify that the Letter is applied to the Letter in acorrect manner without distortion in the same way as anyone can verify the sizeof a box by measuring it and recording the numbers. And if our brother comes upwith a spiritual meaning from correspondences correctly applied, should we notlisten to him? We should then examine the observation or proposal as someDivine Seed given to the Church through this individual.

If it is a genuine Divine Seed, the Lord will enlightenevery one who examines it from an appropriate emotive and perspective, asexplicitly stated in the Letter of the Writings. This is not a matter of merit,of position, or of representation by the individual who is describing theDivine Seed he received by enlightenment. It is solely a scientific matter ofchecking A with B. Because the Spiritual Doctrine that a manreceives from the Lord by enlightenment is a Divine Doctrine given to theChurch that it may spread it to the human race. It is not somethingmystical and hard to understand, or it would be useless. The embodiment of theDivine Seed in literal language is clear and simple to understand since it isgiven to the natural-rational mind, a level of thinking that all educatedpersons use in daily life. Extracting the spiritual sense from the literal cannotbe a mystical affair that confuses or persuades others. It is like extractingmeaning from something someone says to us. It is normally automatic, though attimes it arouses puzzlement and problem-solving. Anyone with loving practice, can teach themselves to extract the spiritualmeaning of the majority of sentences on any page in the Writings. To return toour example:

Applying these correspondences to the sentence in thisMemorable Relation, we can extract a spiritual sense that lets us see that itis actually discussing the various states of our mind in relation to the Lord.It is telling a story about what an Angel did as Swedenborg watched from adistance. This event did occur. But the reason these details are told is onaccount of their correspondences.

Wisdom from the Lord (“angel flying”) is available to us inour love to the Lord (“I once saw in the eastern heaven”). The SpiritualDoctrine (“celestial things of faith”), isappropriated to us as the power of truth (“holding in his hand”). The greatestwisdom and power is received in our love to the Lord (“eastern heaven”). Lesswisdom and intelligence is received in lower forms of the Doctrine inaccordance with our love (“towards the south, west, north”).Exterior truths (“north”) are less enlightening than truths seen in light fromthe Lord (“east” and “south”).

If we now put together the two sentences, they look likethis:

originalsentence in the Letter:

I once saw an angel flying beneath the easternheaven, holding in his hand and at his lips a trumpet, which he sounded towardsthe north, towards the west, and towards the south. (CL 2)

spiritualsense extracted by the application of correspondences:

Wisdom from the Lord is availableto us in our love to the Lord. The spiritual is appropriated to us as the powerof truth. The greatest wisdom and power is received in our love to the Lord.Less wisdom and intelligence is received in external forms of the spiritual inaccordance with our love. Exterior truths are less enlightening than truthsseen in light from the Lord.

Note at the outset that the “spiritual sense” is alwaysdiscussed in a natural-rational way. A spiritual understanding of what is “thespiritual sense” cannot be obtained directly from understanding the extractedsentence. Nevertheless, we must engage in this process for it is a commandment(xx). At some point we begin to understand the physiology of regeneration andthen it becomes clear that we must create natural-rational vessels for the Lordto enlighten us so that we can have a spiritual understanding of those vessels.We then proceed with the natural-rational description of extracting theSpiritual Doctrine from the Letter.

Note also at the outset that the extracted sentence is asmuch the Word as the original, to the extent that appropriate procedures werefollowed, as explicitly instructed in the Letter of the Writings (xx). Iftherefore truly appropriate procedures were followed, you can see that theextracted sentence is also Divine since you have notintroduced anything from self-intelligence and the world. This is why we saythat we are applying the Letter to the Letter, when extracting the spiritualsense that is contained within it. In other words, we are applying the Divine(in the form of passages from the Letter) to the Divine (in the form of theoriginal sentence), and the result is Divine (in the form of the extractedsentence).

But in order to generalize the extracted sentence and relateit to ourselves, we need to expand it into an argument, or a series ofconnected sentences that amount to a thesis called the Spiritual Doctrine.Compare the original with the extracted. The original is one sentence,the extraction from it is five sentences. In other words a sentence of theLetter was expanded by extraction into a paragraph that constitutes a SpiritualDoctrine laid down in the natural-rational language. This Spiritual Doctrine isalso Divine Doctrine in the Church (xx). This is true to the extent that theexpansion was done following appropriate rules given in the Letter of theWritings regarding how the Spiritual Doctrine must be extracted by the man ofthe Church (xx).

Once the Spiritual Doctrine is formulated and written downit becomes as holy as the Letter, for the Spiritual Doctrine in the Church isDivine Truth, and is the Lord with the Church (xx). This is true to the extentthat genuine appropriate procedures were applied, as already indicated. Now itis required that we confirm the Spiritual Doctrine with the Letter of theWritings. This confirmation is necessary as part of the process of applying theLetter to the Letter, for the Lord reveals truths to us from Firsts to Lastsand from Lasts to Firsts (xx). The Letter is called “Lasts” while the SpiritualDoctrine is called “Firsts.”

Let us then confirm the Spiritual Doctrine we extracted.This can be done with some research. Automated computer research programs ofthe Writings such as NewSearch, makes this process efficient. In this case wecan confirm the Spiritual Doctrine we extracted by many other passages thatrelate to it, as for instance: xx, and many others.

originalsentence in the Letter:

I once saw an angel flying beneaththe eastern heaven, holding in his hand and at his lips a trumpet, which hesounded towards the north, towards the west, and towards the south. (CL 2)

spiritualsense extracted by the application of correspondences:

confirmingpassages:

All things of the man who is in thegood of celestial love, both interior and exterior, ...receive the influx of Divine truth from the Lord and from this are inenlightenment (AC 10331)

[4] With those who are in the goodof love to the Lord, wisdom, intelligence, knowledge, and work, follow togetherin order from inmost to outermost. With such men, wisdom is inmost, for it isto will well from love; intelligence is second, for it is to understand wellfrom willing well. These two are of the internal man. Knowledge consists inknowing well, and work in doing well, both fromwilling well. These two are of the external man. (AC 10331)

They who are of the church are in alife of good, and have faith in truths (AC 2832)

The interior power of truth, is the power of the interior man acting into theexterior, or of the spiritual man into the natural (AC 4015)

Human beings who possess Divinetruths from the Lord have power against evils and falsities (TCR 87)

Water denotes truths,the heavens denote the interior things of truth, and clouds, the exterior, suchas they are in the sense of the letter of the Word. (AE 594)

The confession of the Lord and theacknowledgment of His Divine in His Human is the life of all truth, both in theWord and in doctrine from the Word. (AE 392)

The confirming passages add a deeper layer of meaning to thespiritual sense that was extracted by applying the Letter to the Letter. Againthis deeper layer of meaning or higher level of understanding, is in thenatural-rational mind, not in the spiritual mind or in the interior-natural mind. Butwhen this higher level of understanding is applied to our willing and thinking,then we perceive the spiritual sense of it, which wasnot perceived in previous states of enlightenment. The sateof one’s enlightenment progress gradually by a Divine series which areexpounded in the Writings when treating of the journeying of Abraham, Isaac,and Jacob in the Old Testament (xx).

(6) Where The Writings Teach That The Internal Sense Cannot Be Written Down InA Natural Language

The internal sense exists only in the interior-natural mind,of which we are conscious as spiritual-rational correspondences

It is very important to realize that striving to be a goodman and doing good to the neighbor and country, arenot sufficient to effect reformation and regeneration (xx). Only throughDoctrine can we be reformed and regenerated. This is how the Lord created theNew Heavens out of the old, by means of new spiritual truths He brought to theangels in the Word of His Second Coming. As the angels accepted and loved thesenew truths about the Divine Human, they appropriated them to themselves, and inthese higher truths they entered the New Heavens. The New Heavens were built bythe Lord out of these new spiritual truths that were in the angels from theWritings. The Lord does everything by means of Divine Truth from His DivineLove. Divine Truth is the same as the Spiritual Doctrine, as accommodated toeach individual’s unique understanding. When the Spiritual Doctrine is in ourunderstanding, it is the Lord who put it there. It is not possible to perceivethe Spiritual Doctrine except from the Lord’s immediate enlightenment. Clearlythen, the Spiritual Doctrine is only from the Lord, and therefore is the Lordwith us, dwelling in our understanding of His Divine Truth.

As we ponder these things there is a certain fear orhesitation: What is someone claims to have enlightenment from the Lord andpromulgates a Spiritual Doctrine that is from himself, hence false. How wouldwe distinguish between the false and the true Doctrine? The answer is that theSpiritual Doctrine is only from enlightenment in the understanding, and as soonas you try to write down or describe it in natural language, all you get is a naturalview of it. The Spiritual Doctrine cannot be expressed in a natural language, hence there is never the danger that someone’sclaim to enlightenment would influence our own thinking. We can read or reflecton the literal statements of the spiritual Doctrine this man claims to havefrom the Lord. But the literal and natural sentences do not give a spiritualview of the spiritual Doctrine, only a natural view.

Diagram OfNatural Vs. Spiritual Understanding Of The Writings

The diagram depicts the Four Windows of the New Church Mind.

The New Church mind is formed by the Writings exclusivelyand its conscious awareness operates in four distinct realms or heavens. Eachperceptual realm or domain is a window to reality. It is the true and onlyabsolute reality, that which the Writings reveal and explain rationally in away that is accessible to every individual in the universe, regardless ofpersonal background. This is henceforth the new mind for the new human race.These four windows to reality are defined by the discrete degree of correspondencesthrough which Divine Truth descends and is received at each discrete level bymeans of the correspondences that create that level.

The Writings and the mind are connected in that the levelsof the Writings are also the levels of the regenerated mind. We are born with anatural mind and a spiritual mind. Both are spiritual organs made of spiritualfibers coiled in appropriate vortices, and both exist in the spiritual world(xx). The natural and the spiritual mind are tied to the body on earth. Thebody on earth moves and is animated by the mind in the spiritual world. Thenatural mind is turned outward and is set to receive sensations from the brainand sensory organs. As the body grows, the natural mind fills itself with thethings of the world and self, organizes it into comprehensive chunks, acquiresthereby culture and knowledge, and thus becomes a moral and rational humanbeing. The spiritual mind is turned inward and is set to receive sensationsfrom the spiritual world and the Lord. As the natural mind matures, so does thespiritual mind, but, while the operations in the natural mind give us consciousawareness of them, the operations in the spiritual mind remain unconsciousuntil we cut the tie to the physical body.

These two minds develop, eachaccording to its own laws and content, yet their development is preciselycoordinated by the Lord so that what happens in the spiritual mind activates bycorrespondence what happens in the upper portion of the natural mind. Thisupper portion is called the natural-rational mind. This mind operates by meansof natural-rational correspondences. It is immersed in them and can see onlythem. All natural-rational correspondences in the New Church mind are nothingelse than the sentences of the Letter of the Writings, either word for word insome language, or, an accurate paraphrase that is equivalent. This Letter ofthe Writings forms the natural-rational portion of the New Church mind, allelse having been removed by undergoing reformation, as discussed in Volume 1.

To think of the Lord, heaven, and regeneration fromnatural-rational correspondences is to think naturally abouta spiritual topics. This is the top left window of the diagram. It isour understanding of the Letter of the Writings prior to reformation. It is theoutward worship of the Lord prior to receiving an internal worship within it.

The bottom left window is to look upon reality withnatural-sensuous correspondences located in the natural-sensuous mind. Thismind is a discrete degree above the corporeal mind and a discrete degree belowthe rational mind. The Letter of the New Testament is written in sensuouscorrespondences and gives a sensuous consciousness of the Lord’s DivineNatural. This is seeing the Lord’s Divine Natural in terms of natural-sensuouscorrespondences. It is a natural view of the Lord’s Divine Natural. It is thewindow by which the Writings are seen by children and those in the Church whohave not yet studied the Writings on their own. The Lord, heaven, regeneration,the Laws of Divine Providence, discrete degrees are all natural topicsunderstood naturally. Those who read the Writings as a human literary work alsosee reality through natural-sensuous correspondences.

The upper right window to reality in the New Church mind isimmersed and thinks from spiritual-natural correspondences located in theinterior-natural mind of all regenerating individuals on earth. Theconsciousness we have through thinking from spiritual-natural correspondencesis a spiritual consciousness that originates in heaven from the Lord. Thisspiritual consciousness is not contaminated or degraded in any way by the self,for this is organically impossible. The only permissible correspondences in theinterior-natural mind are those placed there by the Lord Himself (xx). This iswhy a regenerating New Church mind begins life after reformation as anenlightened human being, able to be consciously aware of a spiritual light ofunderstanding not possible before reformation by means of the Letter of theWritings. Conscious spiritual awareness of spiritual topics is called rationalconsciousness to distinguish it from sensuous consciousness.

The fourth window at the bottom right is closed to ourconscious awareness while we are tied to the physical body, but it is fullyopened in our spirit-body shortly after resuscitation in the afterlife, barelytwo or three days after the tie to the physical body is cut by the Lord atdeath. As angles our spiritual mind is fully active and our celestialconsciousness is immersed in spiritual sensuous correspondences. This is thelevel at which the Letter of the Writings is written in the heavens, and has adistinct script that varies with the three heavens (xx).

Our regeneration on earth proceeds therefore by means of ourperception of reality through three windows, each of which is constructed outof correspondences at its own level of discrete degree. The view we have of theWritings and its revelations about the universe is therefore dependent on thetype of correspondences by which we read it and internalize it. When we readthe Writings as the work and intelligence of Swedenborg, all its topics arenatural and our understanding of it is natural. Our thinking is then immersedat the level of natural-sensuous correspondences such as we have from dailyexperience and science education. We can take courses on the Writings, writeanalyses and critiques, give speeches and lectures.Both our reading and our teaching the Writings will be entirely from the bottomleft window.

When we begin reading the Writings as a Divine revelationgiven by the Lord to the human race through Swedenborg’s mind and pen, then forthe first time we begin to immerse our thinking in natural-rationalcorrespondences. this is looking at reality throughthe upper left window in the New Church mind. We then worship the Letter of theWritings as we worship the Lord’s Divine Natural, indeed, as the Lord Himself.We see the Lord from the very perspective of the Holy sentences of the Letterof the Writings. These sentences are written in natural-rationalcorrespondences and our understanding of them is by means of thenatural-rational mind, the highest portion of the natural mind. Now we knowthat the topics of the Writings are spiritual because we know that the Lord isspiritual, heaven is spiritual, and regeneration must be spiritual since it isour preparation for spiritual and celestial life. The upper left window givesus a natural understanding of spiritual topics.

This is as far as we can go, as-of self, through our ownintellectual effort in struggling to understand the complex sentences of theLetter of the Writings. We continue to understand this Letter more and more aswe study and cumulate our understanding. But at no point can this necessaryprogress cross over into the discrete degree above it, which is the upper rightwindow. This gives a view of spiritual topics that is immersed in spiritual-naturalcorrespondences. The instant we begin to enjoy this view, we are enlightened. Anew world, the spiritual, is now accessible to our conscious awareness calledrational consciousness. This rational consciousness is made of spiritual-rationalcorrespondences activated by the Lord in the interior-natural mind (see anatomydiagrams of the mind).

This is now the first time that the New Church mind is ableto read the Writings and to derive a spiritual sense form its expressions andsentences. The interior-natural mind is immersed in these correspondences andour conscious level of thinking and perceiving is also immersed in these spiritual-natural consciousness. This new light of thespiritual world now can guide our regeneration. Without this light, we cannotform the New Church mind which must be regenerated by means of being immersedin spiritual-natural correspondences extracted from the Writings. Manyillustrations are given in this chapter as to how this process of extraction ismade operational by our intellectual effort.

The spiritual-natural correspondences interact with thenatural-rational correspondences in such a way that they are ordered andgrouped into chunks and collections, or societies of good and truth. Thenatural-rational correspondences must first be established in the mind as theLetter and its accurate paraphrases. Then as we apply the Letter to our dailywilling and thinking, the Lord activates spiritual-natural correspondenceswithin the natural-rational correspondences of the Letter in our mind. This iscalled seeing the spiritual sense of the Writings. It is the Lord who makes useof the natural-rational correspondences we have acquired as-of self from theLetter. Within these, He inserts spiritual-natural correspondences that reflectthe operation going on in the unconscious spiritual mind.

The natural-rational correspondences of the Letter in ourmind cannot enlighten on their own, cannot give usspiritual power to regenerate. But when they are applied to our willing andthinking, the Lord enlightens us, animates the natural-rational correspondencesso that now we perceive within them the spiritual sense, which is nothing elsethan the natural-spiritual correspondences in our interior-natural mind. Whenthese correspondences are ordered into rational series and groupings, they arecalled the Spiritual Doctrine, which is Divine Doctrine in our mind.

Thus proceeds the anatomy andphysiology of regeneration by means of the Letter of the Writings.

55. SummaryOf TheDoctrine That The Writings Have A Spiritual Sense

What benefit do we receive from the substitution technique?The answer is that without it we would not know crucial facts that arenecessary to form the New Church mind in ourselves, and therefore we would notbe able to be regenerated by the Lord. I have discussed just a few of thosefacts above. Here is a summary of the points that were discussed in thissection, and also in Chapter 7, especially Section 9:

The Writings are Divine Truth emanating from the Lord

The New Church is made of Divine Truth within which is Divine Good, and this is given by the Lord through the Writings.

The Letter of the Writings by itself is not the New Church for Divine Truth must have Divine Good in it in order to be Divine Truth in its integrity.

The spiritual sense within the Letter is Divine Good within the Divine Truth. This is the New Church.

The spiritual sense of the Writings cannot be discovered from the Letter, but must be a new perception obtained by enlightenment form the Lord when the Letter is applied to the Letter without any reasoning from self-intelligence intervening. Applying the Letter to the Letter is the same as applying correspondences given by the Writings to itself.

The Writings are both on earth and in heaven. In each case the Writings are embodied in a Letter, which is a visual script. The script of the Writings on earth is in a natural language, but the script of the Writings in heaven is in a spiritual or celestial language.

The Spiritual Doctrine is the source of all wisdom for the angels and humans on earth. For humans on earth, the Spiritual Doctrine is the spiritual sense organized in a rational system or thesis. This is the Doctrine of Life, the Doctrine of Faith in the Church. It is Divine Doctrine in the Church and in the mind because its origin is spiritual and celestial without anything adhering to it from self-intelligence and the world.

The Writings are given for all religions. Regeneration of the human race is by the Writings and not by membership in the New Church. However the New Church is necessary for the preservation of the Letter in its intact and pristine original form, for without this the human race cannot be saved. On this account, the New Church is to endure forever on earth.

The Writings have an inner spiritual sense just as the Old and New Testaments have. Since all three Testaments are the Word equally and fully, whatever is said in the Writings about “the Word” applies to all three Testaments. For the New Church mind, the Word of the Writings is the primary Word while the Old and New Testaments are to be read only from the perspective of the Writings.

The spiritual sense of the Writings can be written down or expressed in a natural language, but the resultant text itself is not that spiritual sense. Once written down or expressed verbally, the spiritual sense, or the Spiritual Doctrine, is laid down in the natural-rational. It is of benefit to study the Spiritual Doctrine in a natural-rational way because this allows us to build cognitive vessels ready to be infilled by the spiritual sense when the Lord enlightens us. Without these cognitive vessels, enlightenment cannot take place. These natural-rational cognitions allow us to think and reflect upon the Spiritual Doctrine in a natural way.

The opening of the spiritual sense of the Writings is done by the Lord from whom we are enlightened when reading its Numbers for the purpose of our reformation and regeneration. Enlightenment is given in two sub-steps. First, the Letter must be applied to the Letter, which means substituting an original phrase with another phrase from some other passage. The passages in the Writings are related to each other by complex internal series. By using the substitution technique we are uncovering some of these spiritual interconnections. Second, the newly created passage must be built into a coherent thesis by confirming the new passage by means of other passages one can find in the Letter.

It is a Divine Commandment that we enter into the spiritual sense of the Writings so that we may form the Spiritual Doctrine in our mind.

It is required that we confirm the Spiritual Doctrine in our understanding by the letter of the Writings. This is called the opening of our spiritual mind by the Lord. Without the spiritual mind being opened we cannot be regenerated and thence, be prepared for heavenly life. The activity in the spiritual mind is unconscious while we are bound to earth, but we can perceive this activity by correspondence as it affects the interior-rational mind. This mind is created by the Lord within our natural-rational mind during reformation.

Prior to our reformation in adult life, our study and understanding of the Writings is only in the literal sense. This is by means of the external-rational mind, which is natural, not yet spiritual. Similarly with the Doctrine in our understanding: it is not the Spiritual Doctrine until our interior-natural mind is created by the Lord, and this happens only with reformation and regeneration in adult life.

Before reformation it is not possible to successfully enter into the spiritual meaning of the Writings, and one cannot see any spiritual sense in its Letter or in the doctrinals of the Church. Instead, what we suppose is spiritual in the Writings is actually natural, for it is merely the literal without the genuine spiritual. Nevertheless we are to be taught that we will receive enlightenment when we undergo reformation, and we ought to look forward to reaching that blessed state of conjunction with the Divine Human of the Lord. It is also to our benefit to study the Spiritual Doctrine as laid down in the explanations of those who are already enlightened, but realizing that our understanding of it is natural-rational, not spiritual-rational.

Until our reformation we have only a natural idea of the Writings, of what is spiritual, and of what is the Heavenly Doctrine.

Without Spiritual Doctrine the Writings cannot be understood in a spiritual way. Spiritual Doctrine is to be extracted from the Letter of the Writings when we are in enlightenment. When we write it down, Spiritual Doctrine then exists in a natural-rational form expressed in a natural language, while its spiritual form is expressed only in the spiritual mind, in a spiritual script of which we are unconscious until we become spirits and angels. The natural form of the Spiritual Doctrine is the Spiritual Doctrine laid down in natural language, and is called the Letter of the Heavenly Doctrine. The spiritual form of the Spiritual Doctrine is in the interior mind, and is called the spiritual sense of the Heavenly Doctrine.

Spiritual Doctrine from the Writings is Divine Doctrine because it is Divine Truth from the Lord in which there is nothing adhering of self-intelligence and the world. But not its natural form without the spiritual in it. The Spiritual Doctrine laid down in the natural as written out by those who are enlightened, is not Divine Doctrine but a natural expression of it.

Spiritual Doctrine is the Divine Seed given to the Church by the Lord so that it may be spread in a natural form throughout the Church and the world. The Spiritual Doctrine ought not to be used for justifying policies and procedures in the Church specific or the New Church organization. Attempting to do this would bring dissention and disturbance that would destroy the Church organization, which will thus become vastated, a Church of Cain where charity is nonexistent and the priests can no longer lead the flock to the good of life. Only the explicit statements of the Letter in their literal meaning are to be binding for ecclesiastical government, and whatever is not explicitly stated, ought to be dealt with by democratic due process according to the constitution of the Church organization. The Spiritual Doctrine is to be applied only to oneself as a necessary procedure for regeneration.

The spiritual sense of the Writings, and its arrangement into the Spiritual Doctrine, cannot be profaned, perverted, adulterated, or falsified, because it is Divine and nothing of self adheres to it. As soon as something of self-intelligence is adjoined to it, the spiritual sense vanishes. The spiritual sense cannot appear in the literal sentences, but only within it, from perception by enlightenment. But the Letter of the Writings can be perverted and distorted because it is in a natural form that is available to analysis by self-intelligence. Similarly, the Spiritual Doctrine or the Doctrine of the Church and Faith, cannot be perverted or falsified, but its literal expression in a natural language can be perverted. The literal expression of the Spiritual Doctrine is not its spiritual meaning. This is another reason why the Spiritual Doctrine must not be used for justifying ecclesiastical government. Different factions in the Church can each push their own interpretations of the Spiritual Doctrine, which agree with their self-intelligence and values. But this is not possible with the spiritual meaning of the Spiritual Doctrine, which cannot be written out.

The natural form of Spiritual Doctrine expressed in a natural language, cannot be used for our regeneration. We can be regenerated only through the Spiritual Doctrine that we form in our mind by enlightenment from the Lord as we apply the Letter to the Letter and thereby extract the Spiritual Doctrine. The Spiritual Doctrine from the Writings in our mind is called enlightenment from the Lord. This is the only way we can perceive and understand the Spiritual Doctrine, and be saved thereby, to the extent that we apply it to our willing and thinking every day.

The Writings were written by means of pure correspondences. The copy of the Writings in Heaven is read by the angels but its literal there is not the same as its literal here on earth. The relationship is by correspondence, such as between the Church on earth and the Church in heaven.

Conjunction of the Lord with us is through the Writings, by means of the internal sense. There is no conjunction with the Lord by means of the literal sense that does not have a spiritual within it. Thus, there is no conjunction with the Lord by the Writings until we undergo reformation and regeneration, and then, only by means of the spiritual sense which we perceive by enlightenment from the Lord, and only in proportion to our progress in regeneration.

There is conjunction by means of all things and each particular thing within the Writings, and in consequence the Writings is wonderful above all other merely human writing. There is no metric of comparison possible between the Writings and any other written work.

Since the Writings were written and published, the Lord speaks with the human race by means of it. The Writings are the only source the Lord has created for communicating Divine Truth to the human race in the new dispensation of the Second Coming. This dispensation or age is to endure forever so that no new dispensation will be ever given again. The entire future generations will from now on receive their spiritual life and truths from the spiritual sense, which is infinite and an endless source of new truths. The new truths will be given to each Church specific only through enlightenment of individuals who are regenerated by means of the Writings.

The New Church mind is formed by Divine Truths that are revealed in the Writings and by which we are conjoined to the Lord. But the New Church mind is not formed by mere membership in a New Church religious organization. Rather, it is formed by the Lord through regeneration to the extent that we guide our willing and thinking by means of Spiritual Doctrine drawn from the Letter of the Writings.

It is Commanded that the New Church mind is required to examine by means of the Letter of the Writings, whether the doctrinals of the Church are true. The doctrinals of the Church include what we learn from sermons and doctrinal classes. This examination involves rational thinking and reasoning. Priests and teachers ought to teach how to perform these doctrinal examinations.

The spiritual sense of the Writings contains innumerable arcana within every word and expression. “Arcana” are spiritual truths from heaven understood spiritually, that is, in our interior-natural mind.

The intellectual creation of the human race has been completed since the Second Coming of the Lord was brought about through the publishing of the Writings. This is why the New Church mind is called the Crown of Churches.

Not a single word can be omitted in the original Latin Letter of the Writings without interrupting or destroying the continuity of the internal sense.

When we undergo reformation in adult life and form the New Church mind in ourselves, we then first come into spiritual intelligence or wisdom This new spiritual intelligence is a conscious experience that is “an actual elevation” into heavenly light. It is experienced as a more interior understanding that is clearly and consciously visible to us. The physiology of this new spiritual consciousness takes place in the interior-natural mind that the Lord creates within our natural-rational understanding.

In the new evolutionary age of the Second Coming, conjunction between heaven and the human race on earth requires that there be a New Church mind somewhere on earth who knows the Divine Human from the Writings and is being regenerated by means of the Writings.

The Writings are the means of conjunction with the Divine Human both on earth and in heaven. No one can come to heaven without interior truths from the Writings in the mind. Those who do not know the Writings but have lived a life of good from conscience, are instructed by the angels upon arrival in the afterlife. Only those who are willing to receive the new truths of the Divine Human can be admitted into heaven.

All the wisdom of the angels comes from the Writings, and their enlightenment is proportional to how deep is their spiritual understanding of the Heavenly Doctrine. The depth of spiritual understanding is proportional to the love we have for the Lord since only this love allows the Lord to enlighten anyone. And love for the Lord is gauged not by a feeling or declaration, but by willingness to perform all our willing and thinking solely and exclusively from the Divine Truth we obtain from the Writings.

It is by means of the Writings exclusively that the New Church mind can be formed into an angel. The New Church mind is enlightened when reading and studying the Writings, to the extent that we apply it to ourselves. When reading the Writings in this way, it is the Lord Himself who is enlightening us. When we read the Writings as the Word applied to our willing and thinking, our interior-natural mind is activated, and we receive into it spiritual perception from the angels who are with us while we read or reflect upon the Writings. The influx from the angels is into the unconscious spiritual mind, but this activity is reflected by correspondence in our interior-natural mind, which is conscious.

Our reformation and regeneration can progress only to the extent that we are enlightened when reading and applying the Writings. The deeper spiritual truths we can thus perceive must be internalized as the Spiritual Doctrine in the mind. From this alone can we change our willing and thinking as performed all day long in our routines and habits of life. Our spiritual enlightenment is proportional to the extent to which we shun whatever is not from the Lord, that is, whatever is not pure, in our willing and thinking.

The doctrine ... is out of heaven, because it isfrom the spiritual sense of the Writings; and the spiritual sense of the Writingsis identical with the doctrine which is in heaven. (NJHD 7)

(7) Why New Church Education Should Teach IntegratedConcepts or Scientific Dualism

(to becompleted)

(8) Why New Church Education Should Teach TheInternal Sense Of The Writings.

Among priests, and among the men of the church, thereare those who teach and who learn the truths of the church from the literalsense of the Writings; and there are those who teach and those who learn fromdoctrine drawn from the Writings, which is called thedoctrine of faith of the church. The latter differ very much from the former inperception, but they cannot be distinguished by the common people, because theyboth speak from the Writings nearly alike.

But those who teach and who learnonly the literal sense of the Writings without the doctrine of the church as aguide, apprehend only those things which belong to the natural or external man;whereas those who teach and who learn from true doctrine drawn from the Writings,understand also things which are of the spiritual or internal man. The reasonis that the Writings in the external or literal sense isnatural, but in the internal sense it is spiritual. The former sense is calledin the Writings a "cloud," but the latter sense is called the"glory" in the cloud (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 8106, 8781).(AC 9025)

(9) Why New Church Education Should TeachSelf-Witnessing Skills For Regeneration

Self-witnessing skills are systematic methods for monitoringone’s willing and thinking in one’s daily choices and roles.

(to becompleted)

End Notes

This article is based on Chapter 1 of Volume 2 of “A Manof the Field: Forming the New Church Mind in Today’s World. Volume 1:Reformation—the Struggle Against Nonduality. Volume 2:Enlightenment--The Spiritual Sense of the Writings. Volume 3: Regeneration--Spiritual DisciplinesFor Daily Life. Volume 4: Uses--The New Church Mind InOld Age (in preparation). The completed first three volumes are available onthe Web at http://www.theisticpsychology.org/articles/nonduality.html

The author, Dr. Leon James,is Professor of Psychology at the University of Hawaii. His Web site andinformation on his professional background is located here: www.theisticpsychology.org

A directory of articles and books by Leon James, with fulltext access is available here: www.theisticpsychology.org/leonarticles.html

For comments and questions, I welcome your email: leon@hawaii.edu

James, Leon (2002) “The Substitution Technique: A Method forExtracting What the Writings Say About Themselves as the Word” De HemelseLeer, Vol. XIV No. 2 (April 2002), 103-109.

Leon James. “Do the Writings Contain ScientificRevelations?” New Church Life, July 1995, 115(7), 325-330.

Also available on the Web at www.theisticpsychology.org/articles/contain_revelations.htm

Leon James. “Dualist Science and the Writings of Swedenborg”New Church Life ,June 1995, 115(6), 264-270.

Leon James. “Overcoming Objections to Swedenborg's Writings Through the Development of Scientific Dualism” NewPhilosophy 2001 v.CIV n.3 & 4 pp. 153-217. Available online at:

www.theisticpsychology.org/articles/np98.html

Leon James. “The Fourteen Scientific Fallacies in AC5084:Implications for Science Education.” New Philosophy, July-December,1996, XCIX(3 & 4), 439-450

www.theisticpsychology.org/articles/fallacies.html

Harrie G.D. Groeneveld “The Second Coming of the Lord in theDoctrine of the Church” De Hemelsche Leer, First Fascicle, 38-43, 1930(quoted above in Chapter 7 Section 8) Available online at www.theisticpsychology.org/books/dhl/mscan1.htmSee also its reprint version in the restart issues of De Hemelse Leer,April 2002 issue, Dr. Rutger Perizonius, Editor (Van der Heimstraat 5, 2582 RX,The Hague)

Rev. Ernst Pfeiffer “Elucidation of Mr. Groeneveld'sAddress” De Hemelsche Leer, First Fascicle, p.82-95; 127-131, 1930(quoted above in Chapter 7 Section 8) Available online at www.theisticpsychology.org/books/dhl/mscan2.htmSee also its reprint version in the restart issues of De Hemelse Leer,April 2002 issue, Dr. Rutger Perizonius, Editor (Van der Heimstraat 5, 2582 RX,The Hague)

Rev. Theodore Pitcairn, “The secondEducation” De Hemelsche Leer, Third Fascicle, p.22. 1935 (quotedabove in Chapter 7 Section 8; Chapter 8 Section 3) (Available online at www.theisticpsychology.org/books/dh/mscan8.htm)

Rev. Theodore Pitcairn, “The Internal Sense of the Chapteron Ecclesiastical and Civil government in “The New Jerusalem AndIts Heavenly Doctrine. (March 1930)” Discovered recently and published inthe restart issues of De Hemelse Leer, April 2002 issue, pp. 83-91. Dr.Rutger Perizonius, Editor (Van der Heimstraat 5, 2582 RX, The Hague) (quotedabove in Chapter 7 Section 8 and 9; Chapter 8 Section 3)

RutgerPerizonius. “The Regeneration of the Grand Man.” DeHemelse Leer July/October 2002 Issue, pp. 135-151.