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The Correspondential Sense of Sacred Scriptures Proving that there is a Unified Theistic Psychology Hidden Within the World’s Historical Sacred Writings
Dr. Leon James April 2009, version 2 Table of Contents
Relationship Between Sacred Scriptures, Religion, and Theistic Psychology The Incarnation Event: God Enters the World of History and Science How Divine Speech Descends In the Human Mind Through Discrete Layers Conceptual Charts of the Physiology of God and the Human Mind The Process of Enlightenment and Regeneration: The Scientific Meaning of Genesis 24 Quotes from the Bhagavad Gita and Their Correspondential Meaning The Source of Conjugial Love With Husbands: The Correspondential Sense of CL 88 Repentance as the Gateway to the Interior Sense of Sacred Scripture Correspondential Sense of Ancient Forms of Sacred Scripture and Their Derivatives The Trinity of God: A Correspondential Analysis of Concepts from Hindu Sacred Scriptures
Introduction
The purpose of this electronic book is to present the evidence for three Propositions about Sacred Scriptures. Proposition 1 The literal sense of Sacred Scriptures is a cultural and historical document associated with a specific religion. There is a hidden correspondential sense within Sacred Scriptures which reveals a universal biological science that may be called theistic psychology. Proposition 2: Any text that contains an extractable interior sense by the application of correspondences, is Sacred Scriptures. The interior sense is then arranged in a complete rational series of interrelated meanings and propositions about the development and anatomy of the human mind (or “spirit body”). Proposition 3: The Theological Writings of Swedenborg are Sacred Scriptures. Proposition 4: The holy books known in the major world’s religions today are Sacred Scriptures.
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) wrote a verse by verse, and word by word, analysis of the first two books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus) and the last book of the New Testament in the Bible (Apocalypse or Book of Revelations). He identified the correspondential sense of every word, and then confirmed that sense by giving numerous examples from other parts of the Bible where the same word or expression is meant also in this correspondential sense. What is totally amazing is that the same correspondential sense is present across all the books of the Bible, even though these books were written by different prophets over the course of two millennia.
And even more stupendous is the amazing possibility explored below that all the books of Sacred Scriptures from around the world comprising all the major historical religions across millennia, also contain this same correspondential sense that Swedenborg discovered is present in the Old and New Testaments. The evidence I present strongly suggests such a possibility.
The correspondential sense of Sacred Scriptures was called by Swedenborg “spiritual sense” and the “interior sense of the Word.” The plain text meaning of the words and verses he called the “literal sense” or meaning. He showed by thousands of examples from across all the books of the Bible that the entire Old and New Testaments is “written in correspondences.” The correspondential sense in Sacred Scriptures is the spiritual message that God wants us to know about, and not just the literal sense.
Swedenborg honored the literal sense of the Old and New Testaments as “the Word of God.” He asserted and insisted that the literal sense is historically true and accurate in every detail, having been dictated by God to each prophet from within the mind. God is the actual author of the literal text of Sacred Scriptures. Swedenborg shows by many passages from the Old and New Testaments that God speaks the literal words in Sacred Scriptures, and these are therefore Divine and Holy. He shows by many examples from the Bible that God often speaks the literal in one way, and then follows it up by explaining its meaning another way. For instance, in the Parables of Jesus in the New Testament Sacred Scriptures, God speaks the parable or story, and then explains the spiritual meaning of the story. The story events in the literal “stand for” or correspond to some spiritual meaning, which is the message of the story as a whole, a message God wants us to understand by deciphering the symbolism and rational implications of the literal meaning.
Swedenborg states that God has always spoken in this way to humanity, since the beginning of the race on earth. He says that among the most ancient people on earth there were scientists called “wise men” and “sages” who studied the “laws of correspondences” and used them to extract new meanings from their Sacred Scriptures. This ancient science was later called “the science of correspondences.” In its modern version as rediscovered by Swedenborg in the eighteenth century, correspondences are cause-effect laws of creation that link the vertically arranged discrete degrees of existence in the mental world of eternity and in the physical world of time and space.
Swedenborg painstakingly demonstrates with thousands of examples in two dozen volumes that God speaks in correspondences because that is how meanings about truth and love descend from God and enter the minds of human beings. Swedenborg describes the anatomy of the human mind showing that it is layered in vertically arranged discrete degrees or layers of consciousness, some closer to God in authenticity of truth and love, and some more distant. God gives each of us the opportunity to settle in any of these mental regions of life. When God speaks, the audience is the entire human race. God’s meanings are celestial, spiritual, and rational in their purest form. They descend first into the highest layers of the human mind called celestial. When our consciousness is elevated into the celestial layer of thinking and loving, we have a celestial-rational understanding of the spiritual meaning of God’s message or communication.
In daily activities our consciousness is in the material or natural layer of thinking and loving, and we have reduced understanding of God’s message. It is still God’s Divine message, equally as before. But it is a lower form of God’s meaning or presence in our understanding and love.
We know what is God’s message to us in the material consciousness of the literal sense of Sacred Scriptures. When we talk about the content of the Bible we normally refer to the historical details of the physical events that took place at some place in some century. This is the literal sense. If there is also a correspondential sense hidden within this, then what is it? What is God talking about in the correspondential sense of Sacred Scriptures? The evidence presented below will show the astonishing fact that God is talking about details of theistic psychology and science, namely, about mental development, mental anatomy, steps in regeneration, discrete degrees in cause-effect laws, correspondences, and conjugial love between soulmates.
When God speaks the Divine Words reach us here in our conscious material mind as we read Sacred Scriptures. Said differently: When we read Sacred Scriptures God speaks Divine Words to us and they are reaching us through a series of discrete layers of meaning in our mind called correspondences. First we understand God’s meaning through celestial-rational correspondences. We are not conscious of this operation. When we operate with our material consciousness of daily life, we understand God’s meaning through material-natural correspondences. Celestial-rational correspondences of God’s Speech and material-natural correspondences of it, are different and contrastive, and this difference needs to be understood.
Celestial and rational correspondences of God’s meaning (“spiritual sense”) deal with · love and truth as substance within the mind, being God there · dying and resuscitating · the second death and organic induction into heaven and hell · synergy of breathing of spiritual societies · nature of life in eternity and the vertical community connection · mental development, remains, temptations, reformation, and regeneration · conjugial love and eternal marriage between soulmates · God’s management methods and goals · mental anatomy and spiritual genetics · discrete degrees and correspondences.
Material or natural correspondences of God’s meaning (“literal sense”) deal with · animal sacrifices to gain forgiveness from God · worship rituals that must be performed as a group or society · outward conduct of appropriate social behavior towards others · punishment of bad behaviors that are forbidden by God · historical and cultural events, places, and details · natural disasters, famines, migrations, miracles · promises and reassurances of God’s forgiveness and love
You can see from the contrast between the two lists that the higher correspondential sense that can be extracted from the literal sense results in a change of content or topics. The more interior “spiritual sense” exists in a more rational understanding that is above the natural or material understanding. We can read Sacred Scriptures at two levels of meaning. One is the literal or surface meaning of God’s Speech, and the other is the underlying or spiritual meaning of God’s message. The literal meaning of God’s message deals with sacrifices, worship, punishment, and promises, while the spiritual meaning deals with mental development and anatomy, discrete degrees and the laws of correspondences, regeneration and temptation, marriage and community in eternity. In other words, the correspondential or spiritual sense of Sacred Scriptures deals with theistic psychology.
It is clear that God gives both of these components of Sacred Scriptures because both are important and necessary to humankind. Religion and science are both necessary. If God gave only the theistic psychology component to science there would be no religion. Without religion there would be no civilized world, hence no science or community. If the literal of Sacred Scriptures were written as theistic psychology, only few people would read it and acknowledge it. Further, when God speaks the Divine Words are rational truths that come down to the conscious material mind through stages of transformation by the laws of correspondences. The celestial-rational meanings represent the first transformation. As this descends into the material mind there is another transformation. Each transformation changes the content. By the time it reaches the mind of the prophet the transformation has reached its final state in the form of a particular language and culture on earth.
The literal meaning of the written Word is therefore the basis and source of a religion. The literal meaning now contains all the previous transformations. Knowledge of correspondences allows science to extract these prior or more interior meanings. Hence it is that we can list the content and many of the details of theistic psychology. The knowledge of theistic psychology is extractable by any scientist or scholar from any Sacred Scriptures. Its methodology has been described as rational empiricism.
Swedenborg did not use the expression “theistic psychology” but it is obvious to me that this is what he was in fact describing, namely, that while the literal sense of Sacred Scriptures is given for religion, the correspondential sense is given for theistic science.
In line with the discoveries and developments by Swedenborg, I investigated the following proposition: Proposition 2: Any text that contains an extractable spiritual sense by the application of correspondences, is Sacred Scriptures. My research after several years of investigation indicates two preliminary findings that I believe will be fully established by other researchers and scholars. Proposition 3: The Theological Writings of Swedenborg are Sacred Scriptures.
Proposition 4: The holy writings known in the major world’s religions today are Sacred Scriptures.
A critical methodological issue facing the Propositions is to distinguish between “contains correspondences” vs. “contains a complete series of correspondences.” Swedenborg states that the Book of Job which forms part of the modern Bible, is written in the ancient style of correspondences, but does not contain a complete rational series, as do the other books of the Old Testament. While there are “holy books” it doesn’t mean that all holy books have a complete internal series of correspondences. The definition of Sacred Scriptures is that they contain an arrangement that forms a complete rational series. This series must cover all the anatomical layers of descent.
The following presents samples of my research selected from my online collection of books Principles of Theistic Psychology (18 volumes) and from my other essays and articles.
Evidence
Relationship Between Sacred Scriptures, Religion, and Theistic PsychologySacred Scripture is Divine Speech transformed by correspondence into a natural language . All genuine Sacred Scripture has therefore two levels of meaning. The clearly visible literal sense is historical and cultural, leading to particular religions. The hidden correspondential sense is universal and culture-free. Hence although the literal sense of the various collections of Sacred Scripture is necessarily cultural and ethnic, also divisive against each other, the hidden correspondential sense of all Sacred Scripture is unified and consistent, relating to the rationality and love of Divine Speech as One God for all.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch1p1.htm#topic3 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To understand how we are alive and what it means to be alive, we need to know what God has revealed to humanity. These Divine revelations are known in most cultures today as Sacred Scriptures. The literal meaning of Sacred Scriptures in a natural language was given to serve as the basis a specific religion at some time in history. The scientific meaning hidden within the literal meaning, was given to serve as the basis for theistic science and theistic psychology. Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg: (Note:
The words in italics are substitutions for the original expressions (see Table
below): SS 78. Further, it is through Sacred Scripture that God the Divine Psychologist is present with us and is conjoined with us, for God the Divine Psychologist is Sacred Scripture, and as it were speaks with us in it. God the Divine Psychologist is also Divine truth itself, as likewise is Sacred Scripture. From this it is evident that God the Divine Psychologist is present with us and is at the same time conjoined with us, according to our understanding of Sacred Scripture, for according to this we have truth and the derivative rational knowledge in our cognitive organ, and also pro-social motivation in our affective organ. God the Divine Psychologist is indeed present with us through the reading of Sacred Scripture, but we are conjoined with Him through the understanding of truth from Sacred Scripture, and according thereto; and in proportion as God the Divine Psychologist has been conjoined with us, in the same proportion theistic psychology is active in our mind. Theistic psychology is within us; theistic psychology that is outside of us is the institutionalized scientific discipline with a number of us who have theistic psychology within them. This is meant by the words of the Incarnated Divine Human to those who study theistic psychology without applying it to their daily willing and thinking who want to know how heaven is established in our mind: "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). Here the "kingdom of God" means God the Divine Psychologist, and from Him, knowledge of theistic psychology. (SS 78) (see Note below) Note:
The following substitutions were made in the above paragraph indicated by
italics:
The conversion Table above illustrates the way in which theistic psychology is extracted from the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture, in this case, the Writings of Swedenborg. As you can see, all traces of the original historical or ethnic references vanish when this is done, and what remains is universal science applying to all human beings. Many more illustrations will be given in what follows. The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch1p1.htm#topic3A ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Why We Need Sacred Scripture
This is why it is absolutely necessary that God give people guidelines and definitions of what is heavenly and what hellish. We cannot rely on our own judgment. Hence it is that God gives Sacred Scripture to the human race. This is the Divinely given definition and criterion for what is good vs. evil, true vs. false, heavenly vs. hellish. In Sacred Scripture God gives us several distinct layers of meanings and definitions. Our first encounter with Divine Speech through Sacred Scripture is the literal sense of the sentences that make up the books of Sacred Scripture. These sentences can be read by anyone and be understood in the literal sense. What are the topics of Sacred Scripture at this literal level of meaning? What is God talking to us about? At the literal level Sacred Scripture has a historical and religious content. For instance, the Old Testament Sacred Scripture reads like the history of an ancient people, and contains poetry about God, visions and dreams by prophets, various prophecies of future history, numerous commandments and rituals that must be performed, and punishments and rewards are received accordingly. This literal-historical level of meaning of Sacred Scripture forms the basis for religion and its various denominations and varieties. What happens when people form religions and belief systems based on the literal sense of Sacred Scripture? People interpret this literal content to suit themselves and what they love. People focus on the parts they like and ignore the parts of Sacred Scripture they don’t like. There is no consistency, no rational responsibility for being consistent. It is necessary therefore for people to go to the next layer of meaning in Sacred Scripture. This is called the spiritual meaning or the interior meaning, whereas the literal sense is called the natural meaning or the external meaning. People are able to penetrate to the hidden correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture by making these steps: (1) Acknowledging that the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture can only be understood by being received from God. No one can do this on their own or from their own. Those who try come up with much improbable fantasy rather than truth and reality. (2) Studying Sacred Scripture by rational and scientific methods. One must be completely consistent, explain apparent contradictions, and ignore no parts. This is called forming for oneself the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture. Theistic psychology is an instance of this approach. (3) Applying each truth and idea to our daily willing and thinking. We must monitor the hundreds of choices we make every day. Every choice must be distinguished in our mind as either heavenly or hellish, as defined by the spiritual meaning of Sacred Scripture that God reveals to us on a daily basis. If we practice these three steps on a daily basis, we are slowly building up our heaven and cutting our ties with hell. After resuscitation we happily and easily let go of whatever hellish traits remain, and we enter our heaven. The correspondential sense of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures are revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg Sacred Scriptures. The Writings Sacred Scriptures teach us how to extract the correspondential sense of all Sacred Scriptures. The literal sense of the Writings Sacred Scriptures makes up the Swedenborg Reports in about 30 volumes that describe his experiments, observations, and rationale. It is revealed there that life in eternal heaven is a conjugial life, that is, everyone there is married to their soulmate. Swedenborg interviewed many married couples who live in their heavens. A husband and wife are soul mates and live out their immortal life in happiness and blessedness in company with other similar couples with who they form a society or city. Swedenborg describes the details of life in heaven and hell.
The Hidden Correspondential Sense of Sacred Scriptures
What is God talking to us about in the hidden correspondential sense of Sacred Scriptures? And why is it hidden?
The idea of “God talking” is the same as the idea of “Divine Truth” because God thinks and speaks Divine Truth and nothing else. Remember that the mental world of eternity is the world created by God’s thoughts and purposes. God has no beginning and no end, and therefore God’s thoughts are eternal, which is the same as saying that God’s thoughts, or Divine Truth, forms the world of eternity. Remember also that the physical world of time and space is an effect or consequence of a mental cause. This mental cause of the physical world is Divine Truth, which is God’s thinking.
We at first think that the physical world is concrete and solid while the mental world is ephemeral, almost non-existent in concrete reality. We have sayings in popular culture like “It’s only in his imagination. It’s not real.” A popular song about an island the singer is dreaming of ends with “But there is no island at all, just a picture on my wall.” So we grow up with the idea that the mental world is less real than the physical world.
But as we progress in our rational thinking we discover from the hidden correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture that the mental world is more real than the physical world. Everything in the physical world is temporary and breaks down with time. Nothing is permanent. But in the mental world created by God’s thoughts every single thing is permanent. We are immortal because our mental world is created by the thoughts of God, that is, by Divine Truth. A human mind constructed out of God’s thoughts and feelings is an immortal being because nothing in it can die; everything in it is permanent in eternity. Animals do not have the same mental body we have.
While we have a natural or material mind and a spiritual-rational or celestial-rational mind, animals only have a natural mind. Upon the death of the animal the mental body containing the animal’s natural mind cannot remain itself, cannot survive, and so dissipates. It is our rational mind that makes us different from all animals. Our spiritual-rational mind is constructed as a receptor organ for God’s thoughts and feelings, while animals do not have such an organ. The natural mind that animals have are similar to our natural mind in that its content is constructed through the sensory signals of the physical body. In contrast to this, the spiritual or celestial-rational mind does not receive any input whatsoever from the physical body and the natural world. All the input into our spiritual mind comes from the spiritual world, that is, the mental world of eternity.
The input or inflow of God’s thoughts and feelings into our spiritual mind is unconscious and automatic. This is the source of rationality, that is, our ability to think and reason rationally in our natural mind. We are not conscious of the inflow of God’s rational thoughts. We are only conscious of the rational thoughts as we are thinking about something or solving a problem.
Why then are we not perfectly rational all the time? Why is the Divine Truth hidden in Sacred Scripture as its correspondential sense? Why not reveal the truth to everybody?
To understand the answer you need to recall that God’s thoughts and feelings flow out into the created mental world of eternity where the minds of human beings exist and live. God’s thoughts and feelings spread out into the mental world of humanity like sunlight and heat spread out into physical space and into the planets. Divine Truth as Divine Speech, spreads into the unconscious spiritual mind of every human being, insuring the rationality and immortality of every member of the human race. But where does Divine Truth go from there? How does it go from the unconscious spiritual mind to the conscious natural mind where we do our thinking?
The answer is that the natural mind and the spiritual mind are connected by the laws of correspondences. These laws govern the functional connection between the layers of reality, starting with the spiritual mind and its layers, spreading outward to the natural mind, and finally being written down as sentences in a book. At each level of descent there is a corresponding reaction so that the upper level causes the lower level to react in correspondence with itself. When Divine Speech, or Divine Truth, reaches the bottom of the natural mind, the meaning of the ideas are natural, not spiritual. The literal sense that the prophet writes down in sentences is not what God said or thought, but a correspondence to what God thought and said. See the Layers Diagram.
For instance the literal sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture often speaks of water, different forms of it, like rain, ocean, storm, flood, river, spring waters, etc. When Swedenborg read the Sacred Scripture people use in the heavens of their eternity, there was no mention of water anywhere. Instead, when Swedenborg compared the specific passages and phrases where the Old Testament Sacred Scripture mentions water, there was mention of various forms of truth, like external vs. internal truth, or mediate truth vs. genuine truth, or truth of doctrine, truth of religion, natural truth vs. spiritual truth, falsified truth, etc. In other words, Divine Speech discusses the varieties of truth in human minds, not the weather or bodies of water on earth. Another example is the frequent mention and description of wars conducted by the children of Israel in the Holy Land. All sorts of sordid details are given, some quite revolting. In several passages God is quoted as saying that He orders the children of Israel to invade the land that was promised them, wage holy war against the inhabitants, and destroy their cities, and decimate their population. God orders that no one should be spared the sword, -- women, children, and cattle. Many people today are puzzled or offended by such a barbaric treatment commanded by God. But you can understand it if you look for the hidden spiritual meaning of these events. Every detail of war mentioned in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture can be analyzed and seen to deal with the details of the psychology of regeneration.
Swedenborg was conscious in both the natural mind, as we are now, and in his spiritual mind, as we will be after resuscitation, which is the process of awakening in the spiritual mind a few hours after the death of the physical body . Because Swedenborg was conscious in both minds simultaneously he was in a position of making direct empirical observations of how natural and spiritual phenomena are interrelated. He was able to read the literal meaning of the Bible in Hebrew and Greek so that he was conscious of its meaning in the natural mind, as we are, but also of its meaning in the spiritual mind, since the two are interrelated. This is how he empirically discovered the natural-spiritual correspondences in the Bible.
The Correspondential Sense of the Genesis Creation Story
Let's see what he discovered about the Genesis creation story as he compared passages in the Bible with Sacred Scripture that exists in every person's unconscious spiritual mind. In the following passages people are called "angels" when, after death and resuscitation, they become conscious in their spiritual and celestial layers of the mind. The expression "the Word" refers to Sacred Scripture. "The Lord" refers to the universal God the Divine Human . The expression "the Word in the world" refers to the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture as we are conscious of it in our natural mind, which is referred to as "the church." Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg: [comments in italics are not in the original] De Verbo 14. XIV The Word in the heavens. The Word [= Sacred Scripture] exists in all the heavens [= layers of the mind], and it is read there as it is in the world [= the meaning of it in our natural mind] , and sermons [= knowledge of theistic psychology] are based on it. For it [= Sacred Scripture]
is the Divine Truth which is the source of the angels' [= people in the
afterlife already conscious in their celestial layers] intelligence and
wisdom. For without the Word no one knows anything about the Lord [= God the
Divine Human], love and faith, redemption, and all the other secrets of
heavenly wisdom. In fact without the Word heaven [= consciousness in the
afterlife in our celestial layers] would not exist, just as without the
Word there would be no church in the world [= no way of regenerating our
character], so that there would be no linking with the Lord.
(...) The nature of the spiritual sense [= correspondential sense] has been demonstrated at length in my Arcana Coelestia, where the whole contents of Genesis and Exodus have been explained in accordance with that sense. The difference is such that no word is the same. Things take the place of names, and likewise of numbers; the histories are replaced by matters concerning the church [= the natural mind]. The surprising thing is that, when an angel reads it, he is unaware that it is not the same as what he read in the Word while in the world [= after resuscitation, we become conscious in the spiritual mind and unconscious in the natural mind]. This is because he no longer has any natural ideas, since they are replaced with spiritual ones; and the natural and the spiritual are linked by correspondences into a kind of unity. So when someone passes from the
natural into the spiritual [= at our death and immediate resuscitation],
it seems to him as if they were the same. In fact an angel does not know that
he is wiser than he was in the world, though his wisdom is really so superior
as to be comparatively indescribable. He is unable to recognize the difference,
because in his spiritual state he knows nothing of the natural state, which he
had in the world; and he is unable to compare and differentiate them [= as
Swedenborg was able to do], because he cannot return to his former state so
as to make a comparison [= but Swedenborg was conscious in both before his
death]. Still an angel in heaven is constantly being brought to a higher
degree of perfection in wisdom than he had in the world, because his affection
for spiritual truth is purer [= more rational and perfect]. For that Word contains an inmost sense, called celestial, which in all its details refers to nothing but the Lord [= how God the Divine Human manages our mental operations]. In this Word [= celestial layer of our mind] the Lord [= God the Divine Human ] is read in place of "Jehovah" [= God's literal Name in the Bible], and of "Abraham", "Isaac" and "Jacob"; and also the Lord is named in place of "David", "Moses," "Elijah" and the rest of the Prophets; and His divinity is distinguished by special marks [= in the written version of Sacred Scripture that exists in our celestial mind]. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and also the names of the Apostles, when read there, convey something about the Lord as regards the church [= how we can change our inherited character]; and so with all the rest. From this it became plain to me
that the whole of the Sacred Scripture deals in its inmost sense with nothing
but the Lord. The difference which distinguishes the two Words, the spiritual
and the celestial, is like that between thoughts, the province of the intellect
[= our cognitive organ], and affections, the province of the will [=
our affective organ]. For the angels of the celestial kingdom are guided [=
our chief motives and loves] by love to the Lord and so affection for good
[= wanting to be conjoined with God the Divine Human ]; the angels of
the spiritual kingdom are guided by faith in the Lord and so by perception of
truth [= wanting to be conjoined with the truths of God the Divine Human].
The script of the celestial Word,
however, is made up of letters not known in the world. They are indeed
alphabetical, but each one of them is composed of curved lines with serifs above
and below, and there are small marks or dots in the letters, and also above and
below them. I was told that the most ancient people on this earth had such a
script. Some details agree with the Hebrew script, but not much. Such a script
expresses the affections which make up a love; so it contains more secrets than
they themselves can ever utter. They express these unutterable secrets which
they perceive from their Word by means of representations. The wisdom hidden
away in this Word surpasses the wisdom in the spiritual Word as a thousand does
one. In the natural Word which we have in this world there is a description of the creation of the world, the first creation of man, and the earthly pleasures and delights of man and the world. By the persons named following him up to the Flood [= hellish traits we inherit and acquire ] are meant his descendants, and the numbers mean their ages. But in the spiritual Word the angels of the spiritual kingdom have, this is not what is meant. The first chapter is a description of the reform and regeneration of the people of the most ancient church [= celestial traits we inherit and acquire]; this too is called a new creation. The second chapter describes as the Garden the intelligence of the people of that church; Adam and his wife stand for the church itself, and their descendants down to the Flood describe the changes in the state of that church [= evolution of mental states in the human race], up to the time when it came to an end and was finally destroyed by the Flood [= hellish traits we inherit and acquire]. But in the celestial Word possessed by the angels of the Lord's celestial kingdom, the first chapter describes the glorification of the Lord's Human; the Garden describes his Divine wisdom. Adam himself is understood to mean the Lord as regards the Divine itself and at the same time the Divine Human. His wife stands for the church, which since it has life from the Lord is called Eve from [the Hebrew word for] life. Adam says of her that she was to be his bone and his flesh, and [they should be] one flesh, because the church comes from the Lord, and is out of Him and with Him as if one. The names of the descendants of Adam describe the successive states by which the Lord was received by the people of that church and linked with them, until there was nothing at all received and so no linking. [6] So when the first chapters in our Word are read by upright people, especially by boys and girls, and they feel joy at the state when everything was created and at the Garden, then these meanings are unfolded, and the spiritual angels [= those in the afterlife connected to the natural mind of people still on earth] understand them in accordance with their Word, and the celestial angels in accordance with theirs, without being aware that a person or a child is reading it [= hence without prior knowledge or biased teaching]. These meanings are unfolded in their due sequence because they correspond, and correspondences are from creation like this. This makes it plain what the Word is like in its depths, that is, it has three senses. The last is the natural one for men on earth; this deals mainly with worldly matters [= historical narratives] and where it deals with Divine matters [= spiritual meanings about the afterlife], they are still described by the kind of things which the world contains [= spiritual ideas described and understood naturally, not spiritually]. The middle sense is the spiritual one, which describes the kind of things which belong to the church [= mental world of eternity in the afterlife]. The inmost sense is the celestial one, which contains the kind of things which belong to the Lord [= how we are conjoined to God by loving Him]. For the whole of nature is a theatre representing the Lord's kingdom; and the Lord's kingdom, heaven and the church, is a theatre representing the Lord Himself. For just as the Lord glorified His Human [during the Incarnation Event], so too He regenerates a person; and as He regenerates a person, so too did He create him. [7] These facts may establish what the Word is like in its depths. The natural Word as possessed by the Christian part of the world contains within itself a spiritual and a celestial Word. For the spiritual sense of our Word is the Word in the heavens which make up the Lord's spiritual kingdom; and the celestial sense of our Word, its inmost sense, is the Word in the heavens which make up the Lord's celestial kingdom. Our Word therefore contains both the spiritual and the celestial Words; but the spiritual Word and the celestial Word do not contain the natural Word. The Word of our world is therefore the one most full of Divine wisdom, and consequently more holy than the Word of the heavens [= because it contains the other two Sacred Scripture within itself]. (DE VERBO 14) AC 4. While the mind cleaves to the literal sense alone [= of Sacred Scripture], no one can possibly see that such things [= heavenly secrets in the form of correspondences] are contained [= hidden] within it. Thus in these first chapters of Genesis [= Chapters 1 to 11], nothing is discoverable from the sense of the letter other than that the creation of the world is treated of, and the garden of Eden which is called Paradise, and Adam as the first created man. Who supposes anything else? But it will be sufficiently established in the following pages that these matters contain arcana [= secrets] which have never yet been revealed; and in fact that the first chapter of Genesis in the internal sense treats in general of the new creation of man, or of his regeneration [= mental character change from inherited hellish traits to heavenly], and specifically of the Most Ancient Church; and this in such a manner that there is not the least expression which does not represent, signify, and enfold within it these things. (AC 4) AC 67. CHAPTER 2 As of the Lord's Divine mercy it has been given me to know the internal meaning of the Word, in which are contained deepest arcana that have not before come to anyone's knowledge, nor can come unless the nature of the other life is known (for very many things of the Word's internal sense have regard to, describe, and involve those of that life), I am permitted to disclose what I have heard and seen during some years in which it has been granted me to be in the company of spirits and angels. (AC 67) AC 68. I am well aware that many will say that no one can possibly speak with spirits and angels so long as he lives in the body; and many will say that it is all fancy, others that I relate such things in order to gain credence, and others will make other objections. But by all this I am not deterred, for I have seen, I have heard, I have felt. (AC 68) AC 69. Man was so created by the Lord as to be able while living in the body to speak with spirits and angels, as in fact was done in the most ancient times; for, being a spirit clothed with a body, he is one with them. But because in process of time men so immersed themselves in corporeal and worldly things as to care almost nothing for aught besides, the way was closed. Yet as soon as the corporeal things recede in which man is immersed, the way is again opened, and he is among spirits, and in a common life with them. (AC 69) AC 70. As it is permitted me to disclose what for several years I have heard and seen, it shall here be told, first, how the case is with man when he is being resuscitated; or how he enters from the life of the body into the life of eternity. In order that I might know that men live after death, it has been given me to speak and be in company with many who were known to me during their life in the body; and this not merely for a day or a week, but for months, and almost a year, speaking and associating with them just as in this world. They wondered exceedingly that while they lived in the body they were, and that very many others are, in such incredulity as to believe that they will not live after death; when in fact scarcely a day intervenes after the death of the body before they are in the other life; for death is a continuation of life. (AC 70) Here is a summary of the correspondential sense of the first chapters of Genesis: From: BibleMeanings.info (paraphrased from the Writings of
Swedenborg): AC 6. The six days, or periods, which are so many successive states of the regeneration of man, are in general as follows. AC 7. The first state is that which precedes, including both the state from infancy, and that immediately before regeneration. This is called a "void," "emptiness," and "thick darkness." And the first motion, which is the Lord‘s mercy, is "the Spirit of God moving upon the faces of the waters." AC 8. The second state is when a distinction is made between those things which are of the Lord, and those which are proper to man. The things which are of the Lord are called in the Word "remains," and here are especially knowledges of faith, which have been learned from infancy, and which are stored up, and are not manifested until the man comes into this state. At the present day this state seldom exists without temptation, misfortune, or sorrow, by which the things of the body and the world, that is, such as are proper to man, are brought into quiescence, and as it were die. Thus the things which belong to the external man are separated from those which belong to the internal man. In the internal man are the remains, stored up by the Lord unto this time, and for this use. AC 9. The third state is that of repentance, in which the man, from his internal man, speaks piously and devoutly, and brings forth goods, like works of charity, but which nevertheless are inanimate, because he thinks they are from himself. These goods are called the "tender grass," and also the "herb yielding seed," and afterwards the "tree bearing fruit." AC 10. The fourth state is when the man becomes affected with love, and illuminated by faith. He indeed previously discoursed piously, and brought forth goods, but he did so in consequence of the temptation and straitness under which he labored, and not from faith and charity; wherefore faith and charity are now enkindled in his internal man, and are called two "luminaries." AC 11. The fifth state is when the man discourses from faith, and thereby confirms himself in truth and good: the things then produced by him are animate, and are called the "fish of the sea," and the "birds of the heavens." AC 12. The sixth state is when, from faith, and thence from love, he speaks what is true, and does what is good: the things which he then brings forth are called the "living soul" and the "beast." And as he then begins to act at once and together from both faith and love, he becomes a spiritual man, who is called an "image." His spiritual life is delighted and sustained by such things as belong to the knowledges of faith, and to works of charity, which are called his "food and his natural life is delighted and sustained by those which belong to the body and the senses; whence a combat arises, until love gains the dominion, and he becomes a celestial man. AC 13. Those who are being regenerated do not all arrive at this state. The greatest part, at this day, attain only the first state some only the second; others the third, fourth, or fifth; few the sixth; and scarcely any one the seventh. Continued here: http://www.biblemeanings.info/Bible/genesis.html Let us examine a Number from the Writings Sacred Scripture that will demonstrate to you how the scientific sense is extracted from the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture. This passage gives an analysis of a phrase in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. Try to keep track of the topic by translating certain words from the literal meaning into theistic psychology concepts. See if you can memorize these correspondences:
Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: (words in italics appear in the table above) AC 9278. Six days thou shalt do thy works. [Exodus. 23:12] That this signifies the state of labor and of combat when the man is in external delights that are to be conjoined with internal, is evident from the signification of the "six days" which precede the seventh, as being a state of labor and of combat (see n. 737, 900, 8510, 8888, 8975). The labor and combat then are signified by the "works" which they were to do in the six days. By the "works of the six days," and the "rest on the seventh day," are signified those things which come forth in man in his first, and in his second state, during regeneration, and also those which come forth in him when he has been regenerated. (Concerning the first and second states of man during regeneration, see above, n. 9274; and concerning those things which come forth with him when he has been regenerated, n. 9213.) These things take place to the end that external things may be conjoined with internal; for there is an external man, which is also called natural; and there is an internal man, which is also called spiritual. The external man communicates with the world, and the internal man with heaven. [2] The Divine order is that heaven should rule the world in man, and not the world rule heaven in him; for when heaven rules man, then the Lord rules him. Man is born into loving the world and himself more than heaven and the Lord. And because this is opposite to Divine order, there must be an inversion by means of regeneration; and this inversion is effected when the things of heaven and the Lord are loved more than those of the world and of self. This is the reason why the man who has been regenerated, as also he who is in heaven, is alternately in external and in internal things; for external things are thereby disposed so as to agree with internal things; and finally to be subject to them. [3] When a man is in external things, he is in labor and combat, for he is then in a life which savors of the world, into which the hells flow from all sides, continually endeavoring to infest, and even to subjugate in the man the things of heaven; but the Lord continually protects and sets him free. From this arise the labor and combat which are signified by the "six days of the week in which works are to be done." But when the man is in internal things, then, because he is in heaven with the Lord, the labor and combat cease, and he is in the tranquility of peace, in which tranquility conjunction also is effected. These are the things which are signified by the "seventh day." That the interiors of man have been created according to the image of heaven, and his exteriors according to the image of the world; thus that man is a heaven and a world in a little form, and according to the maxim of the ancients, is a microcosm, may be seen above (n. 6057); and consequently that it is according to Divine order that the Lord through heaven directs the world in man, and by no means the reverse. [4] The nature of the labor and combat when a man is in external things, can be seen from the fact that he is then in such a state as to be in heat from the world and to be cold toward heaven, unless heaven be to him as the world; and that he is consequently in such a shade that he cannot conceive otherwise than that external things flow into internal, and consequently that the eye sees and the ear hears of itself, and that their objects bring forth thoughts, and produce the intellect, and that thereupon he is able of himself to believe, and likewise to love God; consequently from the world to see heaven. From this fallacy he can scarcely be withdrawn until he has been raised from external things into internal, and thus into the light of heaven. Then for the first time he perceives that the things in him which are of the world, thus which are of the body and its senses, see and act through influx from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord, and not at all from themselves. From this it is evident why a sensuous man believes that everything of his life is from the world and from nature; that there is no hell, nor heaven; and finally that there is no God; consequently why he ridicules everything of the church insofar as he is concerned; but is in favor of it insofar as it concerns the simple, so that they may be in bonds, in addition to those of the laws. [5] From this it can be known what it is to be in external things, and not at the same time in internal things, and that when a man is in external things, he is in cold and shade in respect to the things which are of heaven and which are of the Lord. From this also it can be known who in this world are intelligent and wise, namely, those who are in the truth and good of the church, because these are wise from heaven; and also who are foolish and insane, namely, those who are not in the good and truth of the church, because their knowledge is derived solely from the world; and that those among them who by means of the sciences of the world have confirmed themselves against the truths and goods of the church, are more insane and foolish that the rest, however much they may believe themselves intelligent and wise in comparison with others, and may call those simple who are in the good of life from the truths of doctrine; when yet the simplicity of these latter is wisdom in the eyes of the angels, and moreover after death they are raised by the Lord into angelic wisdom. (AC 9278) You can see from the above that the hidden meaning of the verse "Six days thou shalt do thy works" in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture refers to the process of regeneration by which the natural mind is made to correspond to the rational mind by compelling our thinking and willing to conform to the truths of Sacred Scripture in our understanding. This self-compulsion on a daily and hourly basis is referred to as "six days of doing one's works." In God's purpose our main task on earth is to regenerate, hence the methods of regeneration is a major topic of Divine Speech hidden throughout Sacred Scripture. For other demonstrations of extracting the hidden meaning of Sacred Scripture using correspondences, see Sections: 9.1.1 || 1.8.8.1 || 1.8.8.2.3 || 1.8.8.12 || 1.8.8.2.1 || 1.8.2 The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch1p1.htm#need-SS +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Why We Need Theistic PsychologyThis is what God wants us to know. Divine Love wants each human being to live in the heaven of eternity that is constructed out of God’s rational feelings and thoughts. God has arranged things so that He cannot make us to be in our heaven if we don’t want to. This is called spiritual freedom. God puts spiritual freedom above all other properties of human beings. Through His Divine omnipotence God maintains the spiritual freedom of every human being from birth to endless eternity. God makes sure that we remain totally unaware of the fact that our thoughts and feelings are nothing but reactions or adaptations in our mind to His thoughts and feelings in the form of the spiritual substances of good and truth inflowing from Him. His thoughts and feelings are not our thoughts and feelings! But our reactions to the substances of good and truth inflowing into our mental organs, are our thoughts and feelings. Our thoughts and feelings are never God's thoughts and feelings, and vice versa, but they are related to each other by correspondence.
God does not want us to actually sense or be sensuously aware of the fact that our thoughts and feelings are mere reactions and adaptations to His thoughts and feelings inflowing as good and truth substances. Why not?
Because we would not like it, and could not be happy in heaven. In order for us to feel happy it is a necessity that we feel like an independent self or person, and that we act from our free will according to our own desires and understanding. We don’t want our thoughts and feelings to be controlled by God. And so because God has made us this way, He makes sure that we are unconscious of the source of our thinking and feeling as being from God rather than from self.
God gives us the sense and feeling that we think and feel from ourselves. This is called the as-of self . In other words, we do not have a self that originates in ourselves. The collection of thoughts and feelings we call a human person is not built up by ourselves, but by God’s actions in our mind, and to which each of us reacts in a unique fashion. Every human being is born from parents so that the mental world of the offspring is an actual offshoot to the mental world of the parents. This has been true since the beginning of the race so that everyone lives in the same inherited mental world of humanity. Our mental body contains all the qualities of our parents, and they inherited their mental qualities from their parents. Various specific genealogies thus evolve as races, blood lines, families, and nations, each sub-variety of culture being a particular zone in the mental world. The inheritance of the visible physical traits are correspondences to the inheritance of the mental traits.
Over the many generations of human beings on this planet there occurred a progressive decline in mental traits because people falsified the thoughts of truth that came into their conscious natural mind from their spiritual mind. The original generations lived in a paradise on earth because this corresponded to their mental states, which were heavenly . They were in direct communication with conscious awareness, of their family and friends already in the afterlife of eternity. This was through their spiritual mind, which in those days was still conscious. But later generations began to falsify the thoughts of truth in their natural mind. Falsified truths serve to justify feelings and intentions that are contrary to good. In this way they created a hell in the mental world and became unconscious of their spiritual mind while on earth.
Hell in the thoughts and feelings of our natural mind is nothing but the perversion of the thoughts and feelings in our spiritual mind or heaven, because evil, which is hell, is nothing but the corruption or adulteration of good, which is heaven. The hells of the human mind then kept growing and accumulating from generation to generation. The New Testament Sacred Scripture reveals that every human being born on this earth had become a hell by the time of the Incarnation Event two thousand years ago, by which God made Himself be born as a human child on earth. By acquiring a Divine Natural Body, God radically changed His relationship to the human race and our evolution of consciousness. The Divine Child, while on earth, created in His natural mind a new mental organ that did not exist before in the human race. This organ is called the spiritual-natural mind. The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch1p1.htm#need-tp ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Incarnation Event: God Enters the World of History and Science
About two thousand years ago an extraordinary and totally unique event took place that altered the course of human evolution in a fundamental way that is only now being discovered by science. The Universal God the Divine Human, Creator and Manager of the universe, entered history and science by the Incarnation Event (see entry for Incarnation Event in the Subject Index in Volume 18).
This event had been foretold in the most ancient Sacred Scriptures.
The ancient prophecy was given at the beginning of a phase of human evolution called The Fall . Before this, the celestial human race existed on this earth . At the end of this phase called the Golden Period, the new spiritual phase began on this earth. We are of this race. We are called spiritual in contradistinction to the earlier race called celestial. The human mind was created in three discrete layers -- celestial, spiritual, natural. Hence the evolution of the race must follow the anatomical composition of the human mind. The celestial layer of the human race was evolved, developed, and completed through the lives of the individuals that lived in the early generations on this earth. When the celestial anatomical layer was complete, the celestial race was "consummated" or extinguished. A few "remnants" whose anatomical structures deviated from the norm were the carriers that insured the connection between the extinguished celestial race and the newly beginning spiritual race.
As we are part of the spiritual race we possess a functioning operational celestial layer of our mind even though nothing of its operations is conscious to us. Our celestial mind is above our spiritual mind, a discrete degree within it, and whatever is within or above, is far superior all that is below it. Our celestial mind is far superior to our spiritual mind. But even so, we only become conscious of our spiritual mind after resuscitation . This happens just a few hours after physical death. When we are resuscitated we at first are conscious in our natural mind, which is the layer we know ourselves in everyday life here on earth. This natural layer forms the content of who we know ourselves to be. But shortly thereafter our natural mind begins to fade like a distant memory -- our identity, profession, hobbies, knowledge of history and science -- all of this that is stored up in our natural mind, slowly begins to fade like a distant memory from childhood or some land we once visited. See the Layers Diagram.
This happens because the natural mind is totally unsuited for life in eternity which is a mental world without time, space, matter, or sickness and death. Everything now depends on our rational feeling and thinking. What kind of people we are with and what the environment and situation is like, depends entirely on our ruling loves. Not like before on earth out of which the content of the natural mind was formed. Now in eternity the laws that govern reality are purely rational laws. To try to operate with the natural mind after resuscitation doesn't get you anywhere. You have to disregard your identity, your culture, your nominal religion, your citizenship awards, your achievements and reputation -- all of these things are formed in your natural mind and are part of the natural mind. But after resuscitation you are existing in your spiritual mind.
Swedenborg reports that some people he talked to after resuscitation insisted on not letting go of the natural mind. The only way this is possible is to act insane in the spiritual mind, pretending by fantasy that you are still in your natural mind and in your physical body on earth. The result of this spiritual inanity is very sad and frightening. People in this mental state are victims of their own emotions and feelings. In the spiritual mind the environment around you is created by correspondences of your emotions and thoughts. So if you have insane thoughts and emotions the environment you exist in are correspondences to them in the natural world. For instance the intention to rob someone by misleading them and posing as a friend, immediately causes deadly scorpions and poisonous flying snakes with an ominous darkening of the skies. So the intended victim can immediately recognize the stranger's evil intentions. Nevertheless, some victims who are also spiritually insane, fantasize something totally different that is going on. And so they fall victim to the machinations of others. And Swedenborg reports that no matter how clever someone is, there is one who is more clever in and endless series of the layer of the human mind called the hells.
Everyone is born into eternity with a permanent and immortal mental body and temporary physical body . After the celestial race was extinguished, as discussed above, what happened to those people who had been celestial and had lived on earth all those generations? Well, they were in the immortal heavens of their mind called the celestial heavens of the most ancient peoples . Swedenborg visited with them in their mental states, seeing the habitations they lived in that corresponded to their feelings and thoughts. So even though the celestial race died out on earth, the people of that race continued to evolve in their celestial heavens.
This fact is of greatest importance for us to understand because our unconscious celestial mind is made up of their celestial heavens. Whatever the mental operations they experience, these are the causes of the operations in our unconscious spiritual mind. And whatever we experience here in our conscious natural mind is a consequence of the operations going on in our spiritual mind, which are connected by correspondence to the celestial mind of those who are in that state. Hence it is that the various distinct layers of the human mind are connected by the laws and operations of correspondence.
The Universal God the Divine Human manages the layers of the human mind through the laws of correspondences. Divine Speech or Divine Truth issues forth from God's mind into the layers of the human mind, first into the inmost or highest layer called celestial heavens, and from there in descends or externalizes by correspondence into the spiritual layer of our mind, and from there by correspondence into the conscious natural layer of our mind where it presents itself as Sacred Scripture in a natural historical language. This process of the sequence of correspondences initiated by Divine Speech is the continuous and permanent method by which God rules the universe. See the Layers Diagram.
Until two thousand years ago the long history of evolution of the race on earth was managed by God the Divine Human in this way through correspondences. But there was a creeping mentality of materialism that came about as the natural mind of the human race on earth was becoming more scientific and more rational in consciousness, mentality, and civilization. In order to allow for democratic modernism to evolve on this planet it was necessary to develop the sensuous sub-layer of the natural mind as opposed to its rational layer. The sensuous layer of the natural mind tends to be submerged into materialism to such an extent that we start denying the existence of God or the afterlife of eternity. These concepts require a rational understanding and when people reject rational understanding as not important to them, they lose the ability to comprehend spiritual things like theistic psychology. See the Layers Diagram.
So materialism was strengthened while religious ideas and practices became cultural and national expressions rather than spiritual. Once people lost their rational ability to see spiritual truths and realities, they could no longer be conscious or aware of the existence of God and the afterlife. Even those who had religious ideas and practices could not understand Sacred Scripture in a universal scientific or rational sense.
What was God going to do about this? This was a serious situation where the human race could die out so that those who were already in their eternity could also be destroyed since the created order no longer worked to keep all things into one synergistic unit. Of course God had already provided for the solution since the beginning of creation, since to God all things are united into one -- past, present, and all future. The solution had to be such that the natural mind could once more recognize that God exists.
God cannot exist for us in full strength or conjunction unless each individual reciprocates God's love for the individual. We must acknowledge God's love for us or else we cannot closely be conjoined to God. And without this there are consequences. God manages molecules, planets, animals, and all things directly by correspondences which provide for the cause-effect relation between adjacent layers of discrete degrees . God manages human beings in two ways. One is immediately and unconsciously across the layers of the mind. The second is mediately and consciously through the conscious layers of the mind. The celestial race is conscious at the celestial level. The spiritual race is conscious at the natural level prior to resuscitation, and afterwards at the spiritual level. When materialism took hold of the natural mind on earth, God disappeared from conscious awareness of people on earth.
The prior conscious awareness of God was replaced by a blind faith in God. But a blind faith is not the same as a rational faith based on conscious understanding of God such as we have in theistic psychology. Blind faith only enters the natural layer of the mind. The spiritual layer requires rational faith. So while people on earth had a rational faith in their unconscious celestial and spiritual mind, they only had a blind faith at the conscious natural level. The only way God could remedy this situation was by entering history and science.
God made Himself be born as a Divine Human Child. This Child was at first not conscious of who He was, namely the Incarnated God in the natural or physical world. God the Divine Human was always both Divine and Human. This is why He created human beings who are in His Image as the Divine Human. So God has always been in the Human Form. However, God's Human Form was a mental body that consisted of a celestial affective organ and a spiritual cognitive organ. The affective organ is in the Human Form and the cognitive organ is in the Human Form. This is therefore also true of us. Our affective and cognitive organs are both in the human form.
However, God did not have a physical body. This was completely unnecessary in the prior generations because people could see spiritually, and therefore they could see God's Human Form replicated in their own mental body. People were able to look upon the human form they had and see God's Human Form. But after the Fall, the spiritual race was no longer able to see God's Human Form in their own body and mind. Whenever God wanted people to have a communicative exchange with Him He would "possess" or take over the conscious mind of an individual in the celestial or spiritual race in their heavens. They were called "angels" when they appeared to people's natural consciousness. God spoke through the angels and everyone could see and hear that.
But once materialism crept into the mind, people were no longer able to even believe that there are angels, let alone see and hear them through their internal mind. In the past God could communicate with people's internal mind and thereby influence them and protect them. But this path of communications was destroyed by materialistic thinking which denied God and taught the negative bias in science. This is what you and I were taught in our generation. Hence we no longer had the ability to hear God, to recognize Divine Speech in Sacred Scriptures.
But when God entered the physical world, this suddenly changed. The Divine Child grew into an adult male and He declared Himself to be Divine. God's life on earth as a citizen of a small mid-eastern nation created a historical biography, which makes God's presence on earth a historical fact. This was His mission, to make Himself once more visible to humankind on earth. Now people had a choice as to whether to acknowledge God or not. People did not have that choice before God's Incarnation.
Furthermore, by entering history, God entered science.
It is true that the literal sense of the New Testament Sacred Scripture is used as a religion by various groups who disagree with each other on almost everything about God and the afterlife. It is the literal sense of the New Testament Sacred Scripture that gives the historical account of God's Incarnation and its details.
Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scriptures: AC 2803. (...) But the Divine Human which was born from eternity was also born in time; and what was born in time, and glorified, is the same. Hence it is that the Lord so often said that He was going to the Father who sent Him; that is, that He was returning to the Father. And in John: [New Testament Sacred Scripture] In the beginning was the Word (the "Word" is the Divine Truth itself), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-3, 14; see also John 3:13; 6:62). (AC 2803) Doc. Lord 1. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth (John 1:14). From these passages [in the New Testament Sacred Scripture] it is evident that the Lord is God from eternity, and that this God is the selfsame Lord who was born in the world; for it is said that the Word was with God, and God was the Word, and also that without Him was not anything made that was made; and it is added that the Word was made flesh, and they beheld Him. (Lord 1) TCR 3. (...) Jehovah God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, or Good itself and Truth itself. He came down in the form of Divine Truth, which is the Word and which was God with God, and took upon Himself human form, so as to reduce to order everything in heaven, in hell and in the church. For at that time the power of hell was stronger than the power of heaven, and on earth the power of evil was stronger than the power of good, so that utter damnation stood threatening at the gates. This impending damnation was removed by Jehovah God by means of His Human, which was Divine Truth, and thus angels and men were redeemed. Afterwards He united in His Human Divine Truth with Divine Good, or Divine Wisdom with Divine Love, and so returned into the Divinity which was His from eternity, together with and in His glorified Human. This is the meaning of the passage in John: [New Testament Sacred Scripture] The Word was with God and the Word was God; and the Word was made flesh. John 1:1, 14. (TCR 3) Here there is an explanation about the New Testament Sacred Scripture saying that "the Word was God ... And the Word was made flesh." The Word" = Divine Truth or Divine Speech = God the Divine Human. "Was made flesh" = incarnation in a physical body on earth. That this was God who incarnated is clear from the statement that "the Word was God' and that the Word was made flesh. Hence it was God who incarnated in a physical body on earth. This is the Divine Child.
The literal sense of Sacred Scripture is always used by religion, not science. Hence there are disagreements according to culture and interpretation. But the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture reveals its scientific sense, which is universal because it does not mention culture or anything in the natural mind, but only the spiritual and celestial mind. Theistic psychology is based only on the correspondential sense and hence cannot be identified with any religion. The Incarnation Event is therefore not only an religious event but an evolutionary scientific event.
The correspondential sense of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scripture reveals that the Divine Child created a new layer in His Natural mind that did not exist before in the human race. This new layer is called the spiritual-natural layer or the interior-natural layer. Once this layer was created in the Divine Child's mind, it became available to every human being, past, present, and future. This was the momentous new evolutionary step that was taken by the human race about two thousand years . See the Layers Diagram.
From then on we would be able to be consciously aware of spiritual truths. This fact then restored the race to its celestial level, though in a totally different way. Now we would be able to receive a new mind that was not contaminated by inherited evils. This new mind then could form the basis for our heavenly eternity. This new mind was constructed within our natural mind, so that we could be conscious of it. But this ability would be dependent on our regeneration. Only when we are willing to undergo character reformation, can we see anything with this new spiritual-natural capacity. This requires the positive bias and theistic psychology.
There remains a logical puzzle about the Incarnation Event. The New Testament Sacred Scripture records few biographical facts about God's life on earth as a citizen of the Ancient Holy Land. Almost all the facts reported about Him are external, belonging to His social and political life. Almost nothing is recorded about His state of mind, what He thought of as a Divine Man on earth, or what He was busy doing in the universe while He was growing up as a Divine Child. But these biographical facts about God's inner life while on earth are revealed in the correspondential sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, written hundreds of years prior to the Incarnation Event! For instance, the Psalms of David, one of the Books of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, records the thoughts and feelings that King David had when he was stressed under attack from his political enemies from whom he was forced to flee for awhile.
By Divine Providence David was allowed to think, compose, and write down only those thoughts and emotions, that corresponded to what the Divine Child would undergo mentally when stressed under the attack of the hells. And similarly with the histories of the the patriarchs and their families that make up a large portion of the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. Every recorded detail fits by correspondence all the developmental stages that the Divine Child went through in order to create the new human organ called the interior-natural organ within the conscious natural mind. This new creation was one of the central purposes for God's Incarnation, as explained above.
So we have all these biographical details of the thoughts and feelings of the Divine Child during the Incarnation Event. So the puzzle is this: What explains the strange history of God, portrayed as a political problem to the authorities of the land and was put to death by them at age 33? What happened to God on earth so that these events could befall Him? After all He was God, and so He was still omnipotent and running all things in the universe. He was of course running the details of His Own Incarnation. He was running the minds of the authorities who tried and condemned Him, and He was running the Roman soldiers who executed Him.
After the execution and His death, He caused Himself to be resuscitated in His physical or natural body.
This was a unique event in the history of the human race. God the Divine Human was now equipped with a Natural Body, born and grown on earth in time-space, in history and science. God's relationship to the human race took a whole new turn, that was not possible before. Now God could be seen in the conscious awareness of the natural mind. It is easy to picture and see in one's mind the event of God as a Man with a Natural Body, a Face, Hands, Feet, Heart, Lungs, Liver, etc. God was always in the Human Form, as explained above, but now in addition to the mental human form, God acquired the natural human form.
Note carefully this detail: human beings do not resuscitate in the physical body. We resuscitate in the mental body in the afterlife of eternity. The physical body or corpse, disintegrates. But with Himself, God caused His resuscitation with the physical body. Swedenborg confirms that He often saw God's Natural Body in eternity , and in fact, we will all be able to confirm this with our own observation when we are resuscitated. All those who were in their heaven in eternity could also see God's Natural Body there.
God's Natural Body in eternity is not physical but substantial. This is described and explained under the topic of "glorification".
Note that without the idea of God's Natural Body born on this earth it is not possible to picture God in any way since He is infinite and we cannot picture something that is not in the human form. The religions based on the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, including the Koran Sacred Scripture, created the rule that it is not permitted to picture God in human form. And this is understandable for it is not possible to picture an infinite God who is not in the human form. Now if you allow the Incarnation Event as part of theistic psychology, it is permitted to picture God in the human form. Now we know what God looks like in the Natural Form, namely like we do. And this is why it is said in Sacred Scripture that we were created in God's Image and Likeness.
So by creating a Natural Body for Himself God changed His relationship to the human race. In this way He repaired the loss suffered by the race called the Fall (see above). The race had already completed the celestial and spiritual layers of the mental world of eternity, and now it was necessary to complete the last layer called the spiritual-natural or interior-natural layer of the mental world. This required that God obtain for Himself a Natural Body on earth.
The sad and ignominious details of God's short life on earth was constructed by God for the sake of correspondences. In Sacred Scripture God's incarnation is called "the Word made flesh" (as discussed above). He is Divine Speech, He is Divine Truth, He is Sacred Scripture or "the Word." Written Sacred Scripture had been given to people since the Fall, but with the rise of materialistic thinking people lost the spiritual meaning of Sacred Scripture and interpreted all its meanings with materialistic ideas. For instance, they pictured the afterlife as happening here in the physical world. They rejected the idea of an afterlife in mental eternity. They could not comprehend such a thing.
As a result, they reinterpreted Sacred Scripture to suit their pet philosophies and political lifestyles. Hence Sacred Scripture lost all its spiritual value and it became useless for the purpose of preparing oneself for a life in eternity. In other words, they "killed the Word." Since God was "the Word" or Sacred Scripture, He enacted in physical life by correspondence, what people had done to Sacred Scripture over the generations. They perverted Sacred Scripture for their political gain, thus killing God in their own mind. When God incarnated, He created those details in His biography on earth that corresponded and represented the details of how Sacred Scripture was killed in the minds of people.
Henceforth people would no longer be able to kill Sacred Scripture in their mind because it is now known in history and science that God is a Man, and that His Divine Speech is Sacred Scripture. The human race is now on a permanent rise in evolution so that any individual regardless of cultural or religious background, can have a living relationship with God the Divine Human born on this earth. In theistic psychology this living relationship is called the Divine Psychologist.
It is important to have a rational understanding of God. This understanding requires knowing about correspondences, that is, knowing how God has formed all things in discrete non-overlapping layers of existence. The only connection between the layers is that they operate together by correspondences. The layers have no independent existence of functioning. It is that the human mind, or the world of eternity, was created by God in corresponding layers so that all the layers react to each other as cause and effect. In this way the entire creation is held together as one in God's Mind.
Further, you need to remember the distinction between "God as He is in Himself" and "God as He is Outside of Himself". God as He is in Himself is changeless from eternity to eternity, is infinite, incomprehensible, and cannot be approached directly. Because of this, God created the mental world of eternity, and then the physical world of time linked to it by correspondences. God's creative activities are rational and developmental. When the human mental world evolved sufficiently in the course of numerous generations, it reached a phase where God could reveal Himself in a Natural Body taken up from earth. So God made Himself be born a Divine Child in the land that had been entrusted by Him centuries before, to study and protect the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. This Sacred Scripture was a theistic psychology textbook on what the Divine Child is going to do, what thoughts He is going to have, and how He is going to change the psychobiology of the mental world in eternity. Every human being past, present, and future will therefore be directly affected by this change.
God's Natural Body is Divine because it is made of Divine substances. All the substances of earth or matter that formed His inherited physical body had been replaced by the death and resurrection process. Now God had a Divine Natural Body along with His Divine Natural Mind He constructed for Himself on earth. This is the Body that can now be seen by anyone from the spiritual and celestial layers of their mind.
But it is necessary to think of this Natural Body as Divine, and therefore infinite. This is a difficult idea to comprehend rationally and without the idea of space, time, or place.
God's Natural Body can be seen by anyone, regardless of where they are or which way they turn. Swedenborg confirmed this amazing phenomenon. He observed with the people who live in the third heaven or celestial mind, that whichever way they turn turn or face, the Spiritual Sun in which God's Natural Body appears, remains in front of them at the same altitude of height on the horizon, and, equally brilliant in light. God can now appear in this Natural Body in every individual's mind. This is why the Incarnation Event had to happen. This Divine Human Natural Body is in every place but apart from space . It is therefore omnipresent. That is, God the Divine Human is omnipresent and omnipotent in this Divine Human Natural Body.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch1p1.htm#incarnation
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How Divine Speech Descends In the Human Mind Through Discrete Layers
Our mental heaven in eternity is inborn. This heaven is already present in our mind when we are born, just as hell is present in the human mind at birth. Physiologically, our mind is constructed out of heavenly feelings and traits and out of hellish feelings and traits. In other words, heaven and hell are located within the spiritual organs of the mind. This awesome secret has been revealed thousands of years ago in the literal sense of Sacred Scripture. An example is the scientific revelation in the New Testament Sacred Scripture: Being demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them, and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20-21). The phrase "cometh not with observation" means that the natural mind, which is formed by physical content, cannot be in heaven. In the literal sense it means that heaven is not in the natural world but in the spiritual world of eternity. Hence this passage, among others in the New Testament Sacred Scripture, reveals the scientific reality of dualism, that is, of the existence of this world in time-space, and the world of eternity which is snot in time-space. The phrase "the kingdom of God is within you" means that eternity is in our mind. "Within you" contrasts with the phrase "with observation" which is outward through the physical senses, while "within you" is mental and is not observable outwardly by the physical senses. I am amazed that I did not realize the meaning of this passage the first time I read it thirty years ago . And I am astonished that no one until Swedenborg in the eighteenth century, took note of this amazing scientific revelation in the New Testament. It wasn't until I became an expert on Swedenborg and then read this passage again that its meaning hit me. It is the Divine revelation of scientific dualism . Similar scientific revelations occur in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, as for instance the Genesis verses: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Gen. 1:1). And the heavens and the earth were finished (Gen. 2:1). These are the nativities of the heavens and of the earth (Gen. 2:4), In the literal sense it plainly says that God created the spiritual world of eternity ("the heavens") and the natural world of time, space, and energy. This is the Divine confirmation of scientific dualism as a reality, not a hypothesis or theory. What is not revealed here is that the world of the heavens in eternity is the same as the mind. For thousands of years people who derived their religion from the Old Testament had a materialistic worldview, not abstracted from the senses. They were not willing to think of the heavens as being created in a separate universe, outside time, space, or region. To think of the universe of eternity, not in space, not in time, involving no material substances, and yet still supportive of human life and happiness, requires a rational spirituality, not material or sensuous. It requires a rational consciousness of God. This level of thinking had not yet developed in the human mind until the age of science and modernism starting in the 18th century. This is the reason that 20 centuries of Christian scholarship and adoration of the New Testament were not able to uncover this obvious heavenly secret, namely, that "the Kingdom of God is within you." In theistic psychology I render this statement by the following formulaic expression: the Kingdom of God = eternity and human life there = the heavens = within you = your mind = your mental organs = your feelings, thoughts, and loves = the self = immortality Is this not an astonishing realization? You too will be astonished as soon as you begin to reflect on this amazing rational equation. This equation shows that all human beings are born immortal! Who knew this? The vast majority of people on this planet today belong to the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist religions and practices. None of these religions give a clear and factual description of our immortality or life in eternity. None of the religions give any clear explanation of the most basic facts that Swedenborg presents in the Writings Sacred Scripture. As for instance the fact that every human being who dies is resuscitated within 36 hours and continues life in eternity as himself or herself. Which religious leader, prophet, or scholar has known this? The reason is that Sacred Scripture reveals almost nothing about life after death -- when you consider the literal meaning of the sentences of Sacred Scripture. This is why all sorts of imaginative and fantastic interpretations have been given of the Book of Revelations, which is the last book of the New Testament Sacred Scripture, and is written in a prophetic and visionary style, rather than historical narrative, as the rest of the New Testament is written.
The most popular beliefs surrounding the symbolism and interpretation of the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation, have been that its visionary scenes that John witnessed "while being in the spirit," describe symbolically the historical scenes that will take place on earth at the so-called "end of times" or when the physical planet is destroyed and instantaneously remade, while the faithful who are saved, are "caught up in the air" and kept safe during these tumultuous events that destroy earth. Then a "new earth" is created by God for those who are "resurrected from the graves," put back together again with new and immortal bodies, to enjoy forever on the new earth. These amazingly imaginative ideas come from one source -- the practice of interpreting the literal sense of Sacred Scripture in accordance with one's own ideas, beliefs, scholarship, intelligence, or imagination. None of these approaches can yield the true spiritual meaning that is hidden within the literal sense of Sacred Scripture . Instead, it was necessary to wait until God reveals the appropriate method for extracting the hidden meaning from the literal sentences. This method had been revealed before by God to the most ancient peoples on this earth. Swedenborg interviewed some of these people who have been living since then in their celestial heavens. They informed him that when they were on earth they called this knowledge the Science of Correspondences.
This therefore is the most ancient science on the planet. It has to do with how the spiritual world of causes relate or act upon the natural world of effects. In other words, the science of correspondences was the rational revelation of scientific dualism and how the two worlds are connected by laws. Swedenborg interviewed people in eternity who were from different historical eras on earth. He was thus able to piece together a historical chart of the succeeding civilizations on this earth , describing the mentality and character of those people. After some generations, the most ancient civilization died out and in its place arose a series of civilizations. By the time the Old Testament Sacred Scripture was written about three thousand years ago, almost nothing was left of the knowledge of the science of correspondences. It was so well hidden that no one knew, not even the prophets who wrote the Bible, that the sentences of Sacred Scripture were written in correspondences because they represented the content of Divine Speech.
This history is necessary for us to know because of a rational principle that I would like to phrase as follows: Individual biography recapitulates human evolution and history In other words by knowing the details of the mental evolution of the human race on earth we are able to know details of our own mental states and how they develop in our life from birth to eternity. It wasn't until the Writings of Swedenborg in the eighteenth century that the human mind was first given knowledge again of the lost science of correspondences. Now for the first time we are able to read Sacred Scripture and extract from it the Divine Speech that is hidden within it. In order for God to revive this consciousness in the human race it was necessary that He select a scientist, like Swedenborg, who was given the scientific genius, rationality, and reputation, to bring this science of dualism back into modern times and the modern person of the future. In order to succeed, it was necessary for this person to be given access to the laboratory of eternity. This was done by making Swedenborg's spiritual mind to be conscious while he was still living on earth. At age 57, he became a dual citizen, living and interacting in both worlds simultaneously! Only a scientist who had access to both worlds simultaneously could make the necessary observations of this science of correspondences, since it is the science of how the worlds are connected by functional cause-effect laws for all phenomena. Now any person who studies these laws of correspondences can read Sacred Scripture and figure out its hidden correspondential sense. This correspondential sense is the content of Divine Speech. Theistic psychology is the knowledge extracted from the literal sense of the Writings Sacred Scriptures. In order to understand this more clearly, it is necessary to have a mental chart of the human mind and how it is created, ordered, and managed by God through Divine Speech. Study the following conceptual diagrams which are explained elsewhere in theistic psychology (see Volume 6): Conceptual Charts of the Physiology of God and the Human MindChart 1
Chart 2
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch1p1.htm#layers (to be continued) +++++++++++++++++++++
The Method of Correspondences With Enlightenment
Enlightenment is not a mystical experience. Nor is it difficult to understand precisely what it is. From the perspective of theistic psychology enlightenment is a psychobiological process of the human mind corresponding to the biological process by which sunlight and its heat are received by plants and use it to fabricate their nutrition. Spiritual light in which there is spiritual heat proceeds from the Spiritual Sun into the mental world of humanity where it enters the mind of every existing human being simultaneously and proceeds outward and downward by successive degrees of correspondence. The cognitive (light) and affective (heat) organs of the mind are constructed and animated by this universal “influx,” and we use it for willing and thinking in daily activities.
The operation of enlightenment in the cognitive organ is also called “revelation”: Quoting: By "revelation" is meant enlightenment when the Word is read, and perception then” (AC 8694). When we read the Writings Sacred Scripture (“the Word”) we can comprehend the revelations in a spiritual way when we are enlightened while reading and reflecting. It is not necessary that we read the printed sentences on the page or screen. It is equally effective if we think the sentences or phrases and reflect upon their universal meaning.
In this reflection upon the universal meaning, we are to be motivated to apply the truth to self. To be motivated to apply the truth to one’s willing and thinking is to search for the universal meaning. This universal meaning applies to every individual regardless of background, culture, and religion. Hence we call this universal meaning theistic psychology. This process of extracting the scientific meaning from the Writings Sacred Scripture is the process of practicing the method of correspondences with enlightenment.
Enlightenment is the comprehension of scientific meaning within the literal meaning. It is to perceive how the sentence applies to self and to all other human beings. This is what makes it into a science – universal and objective applicability. Enlightenment, or the perception of spiritual meaning, is not received when our motivation for reading and reflecting upon the Writings is other than application to one’s own willing and thinking. Our interest must be no other than the desire to reform our inherited character by facing spiritual combat in temptations. The truths we extract that apply to our willing and thinking are to be formed into a doctrine of justification by which we can fend off doubts and relapses. This is the ultimate purpose of enlightenment.
Enlightenment is not something superfluous or special, reserved for certain types of scholarship and piety. Enlightenment is the psychobiological process by which every person’s affective and cognitive organs are regenerated and prepared for life in heaven. Without enlightenment no one can be prepared for heaven. Either we are enlightened in this world, or failing that, in the afterlife. No one enters heaven without being enlightened while reading the Writings Sacred Scripture. Everyone who is resuscitated in the world of spirits is given instruction in the Writings Sacred Scripture since they alone contain the rational heavens of our immortality. Those who have lived a life of conscience and use are happy and willing receivers of the truths of the Writings. Others are unwilling.
The extracted knowledge of theistic psychology may be studied by anyone for any purpose, but everything in it will be understood naturally, and nothing in it will be understood spiritually – unless one is enlightened by the Divine Psychologist while it is being read or applied. It is not possible to perceive spiritual meanings without being ‘online’ as it were, connected to “mediate influx” in a deliberate and conscious way. This ‘online’ feature applies to enlightenment since it is the organic operation of spiritual light in the cognitive organ of thinking and reasoning. As long as we are plugged in the correct way, enlightenment flows and operates in our conscious mind. The organic venue for the process is the interior-natural organ.
When the Writings discuss some particular historical ethnic group or religion, we are to search for the scientific meaning behind the discussion, just as Swedenborg performed for us with the Old and New Testament portion of Sacred Scripture. The Writings teach that all Sacred Scripture is written in correspondences and that we are to extract spiritual doctrine from them. The Writings Sacred Scripture are written in natural-rational correspondences, which is a discrete degree above the New Testament Sacred Scripture. The angelic spirits in the first heaven of the mind read the Writings Sacred Scripture as we do, but it is clear that they know nothing about any of the historical names, nations, periods, and places mentioned in the Writings. Instead of these things, they see the interior-natural correspondences. Our interior-natural organ can give us enlightenment to see these spiritual-natural correspondences of the Letter of the Writings, not exactly as they do, but in an image that is so close that we can speak with them and think with them.
The scientific meaning of “Abraham” is a celestial mental state in every person’s mind regardless of religion or planet. Similarly with “Jerusalem,” which refers to the spiritual-rational correspondences out of which is constructed the second heaven of every human mind. By this method of correspondences the reader makes the historical names “vanish,” and likewise, with all references to natural things (AC 1405; 3776). When we read the Writings Sacred Scripture we think and reason in our external natural understanding by means of the natural-rational correspondences of the literal meaning. But the angels who are with us, only perceive the interior-natural, the spiritual-rational, and celestial-rational correspondences that are within the literal meaning we are reading.
Quoting: AC 1963 When the Word is being read by man, angels neither know nor perceive what eighty-six is, nor are they concerned about what age Abram was when Hagar bore him Ishmael. Rather, when such a number is read, the real things embodied in that number instantly present themselves to them, as when all other expressions are read, these present themselves as the things which they have been shown to mean in the internal sense. (AC 1963) when the Word is being read by man the angels may thereby be in their happiness of wisdom (AC 5398) this sense is for the angels who are with man while the Word is being read, consequently that there is from this source an influx of holiness, and a perception of it, with those who are in the life of faith and charity (AC 8971) They said that these persons are mentioned with honour in the Word for the reason that in the internal sense the Lord is meant by them-by "Abraham", "Isaac", and "Jacob", the Lord in respect of the Divine and the Divine Human; by "David" the Lord in respect of the Divine Royalty; and by the "Apostles" the Lord in respect of Divine Truths; also that when the Word is read by man the angels have no perception whatever of these men, for their names do not enter heaven (HH 526) When we read passages in the Writings Sacred Scripture that discuss Abraham or King David or one of the Apostles, these names repeatedly appear within the literal meaning of the Writings. What is the scientific or universal meaning of these names? They each refer to human mental states and their dynamic activity in regeneration and spiritual growth. This applies to all people regardless of background, religion, or planet, though no doubt with realistic differences. When we read one of the many superb Memorable Relations throughout the Writings, what do the angels who are with us get out of it? Especially when our children read them in the innocence of ignorance? The angels have no idea of number or age. What then do they think of when numbers and ages are mentioned in the Memorable Relations? Neither do they know of directions like north or south. Neither do they know of the European nations and cities, as those which are mentioned in many places throughout the Writings, nor the names of the bishops of the Church, and so on.
It is clear that the Writings Sacred Scripture exists at discrete levels and that the Letter is different at each level. The method of correspondences starts at the natural-rational level of the literal meaning, collecting facts and organizing them into an orderly doctrine that we use as a tool in daily spiritual combat with our temptations brought to us by the Divine Psychologist for this very purpose. This doctrine may be called abstracted, to distinguish it from the later doctrine that is extracted.
Abstracted doctrine does not use the method of correspondences, and hence does not depend on enlightenment. We all start with principles of life and religious doctrines that are abstracted, paraphrased, contrasted, and reflected on. They are the foundation of our moral-rational life, and hence of civilization and society. Further on down the road of maturity we begin to go beyond abstraction. We leave the discrete degree of the literal and its rational abstractions in our mind, by making the literal meaning “vanish” from central focus, and as a result, we begin to think with angels (AC 1405; 3776). Quoting: But as he grows into a young adult, if he develops his power of reason, he employs what is in his interior natural to work out the reasons for things, which are truths of a yet higher nature. These are extracted so to speak from what is present in the interior natural. (...) This is the manner in which a person rises with his understanding from the world up to heaven. (AC 5497) The phrase “to rise with the understanding from the world up to heaven” refers to enlightenment through Sacred Scripture. Our thoughts suddenly begin to operate by means of spiritual-natural correspondences of the Writings Sacred Scripture. We are with the angelic spirits that inhabit the first heaven in our mind. And by progressive enlightenment in our interior-natural organ we climb up Jacob’s ladder of discrete correspondences in our mind, “as though” we actually were in the presence of the angels who dwell in our spiritual mind.
We receive this light of heaven when we read the Writings as Divine Speech rendered in the correspondences of Sacred Scripture. To read the Writings as Divine Speech in correspondences is to read them with enlightenment. The abstract doctrine of the literal meaning is suddenly seen infused with heavenly light so that its interiors are perceived as truth from the Divine Human. This interior perception in enlightenment cannot possibly be at the same discrete level of meaning as the literal. The literal Sacred Scripture and the abstracted doctrine of the literal, now become spiritually empowered with a comprehension that is a discrete degree above them.
We learn and memorize and apply abstracted doctrine for decades before we begin reformation and regeneration. Abstracted doctrine is necessary for making us ready for reformation, and we could not become ready without it. But the Writings tell us that the time must come in adulthood when we choose to begin our reformation and regeneration. Now we must enter a discrete degree within the abstracted doctrines that we have collected in our mind until then. We do this under the supervision of the Divine Psychologist who provides the spiritual light or enlightenment.
The Divine Psychologist is commanding us, through the literal meaning of the Writing Sacred Scripture, that we must begin practicing the method of correspondences with enlightenment. This involves the deliberate intention and systematic application procedures called extractive research, that is, spiritual meaning that is “drawn out” by means of correspondences and illustration.
Quoting: AC 8694 [3] But what is the nature of the revelation with those who are in good and from this in the affection of truth, cannot be described. It is not manifest, neither is it altogether hidden; but it is a certain consent and favoring from within that a thing is true, and a non-favoring if it is not true. When there is a favoring, the mind is at rest and is serene, and in this state there is the acknowledgment which is of faith. The cause of its being so is from the influx of heaven from the Lord; for through heaven from the Lord there is light, that surrounds and enlightens the intellect, which is the eye of the internal sight. The things which are then seen in that light are truths, for this very light is the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord. That this Divine truth is light in heaven, has been frequently shown. (AC 8694) This passage describes in natural expression a spiritual phenomenon that we experience mentally when extracting theistic psychology knowledge for ourselves. The extracted information is called “revelation” because it cannot be perceived as true except by enlightenment. The spiritual meaning which is the content of revelation or enlightenment, “cannot be described” with natural expressions because “it is not manifest.” But “neither is it altogether hidden.”
What does this mean? Something that cannot be described in language that refers to natural objects and conditions, which are “not manifest” in natural perception? The closest specific description given for it is that “it is a certain consent and favoring from within that a thing is true, and a non-favoring if it is not true.” If we were to become conscious in our third heaven, we would be nearly omniscient, because whatever we were curious about would instantly be present in our thoughts as an answer in Divine Truth, which is omniscient.
Methods of ExtractionThe procedures for extracting scientific facts from the Writings Sacred Scripture are surely endless in number when we consider that the Writings Sacred Scripture mark themselves as the last portion of the overall Sacred Scripture that took thousands of years to deliver to humanity. It calls itself “the Crown of Revelations” because “it will endure forever.” Quoting: Coronis 0 LII. This New Church, truly Christian, which at this day is being established by the Lord, will endure to eternity, as is proved from the Word of both Testaments; also it was foreseen from the creation of the world; and it will be the crown of the four preceding churches, because it will have true faith and true charity. (CORO 0) We need to extract the correspondential sense of the above passage to see how it applies to theistic psychology:
We now know that heaven and earth must stay connected in creation so that there will never be an end to earths in the natural world. An endless series of civilizations and generations will be using the Writings Sacred Scripture for extracting the information they will need to regenerate. Every generation must extract its own information because each generation is unique in relation to all the others, and their regeneration will depend on new truths that prior generations have not seen. This is why it is rational to think that the number of methods by which spiritual information can be extracted from the Writings, is endless. But here are three methods of extraction that it was given me to discover. Perhaps others have also made these and similar discoveries in their study of the Writings. They are serviceable to our generation for extracting certain types of spiritual facts that are suitable to a civilization whose genes of consciousness is formed by natural-rational correspondences. I use the expression genes of consciousness to refer to the basic semantic units that define our mentality levels.
The Method of SubstitutionThe substitution technique involves parallelisms in the Writings that are explicitly stated in the Letter. It may also be called the method of applying the Letter to the Letter. The Letter of the Writings must define the substitution for it to be permissible. Some substitutions are near to each other, as they are mentioned closely to each other in the text, while other substitutions are more distant from each other, so that several steps of parallelisms must be reconstructed and demonstrated.
I illustrate near substitutions in the following table which is based on a search for equivalence statements in the text, as for instance "it is the same whether you say that...", besides others like it that could also be searched.
Let’s take a passage that allows several substitutions according to the table above. I have bolded the words in the original, and also in its duplicate paragraph below to indicate the substitutions: Quoting: The natural mind, by its two capacities called rationality and freedom, is in this state that it is capable of ascending through three degrees, or of descending through three degrees. It ascends by reason of goods and truths, and descends by reason of evils and falsities. And when it ascends, the lower degrees which tend towards hell are closed, but when it descends, the higher degrees which tend towards heaven are closed. The cause for this is that they are in reaction. These three degrees, higher and lower, have neither been opened nor closed in man in earliest infancy, for he is then ignorant of good and truth, and of evil and falsity. (DLW 274) [making the substitutions;] The natural man, by its two capacities called rationality and freedom, is in this state that it is capable of ascending through three degrees, or of descending through three degrees. [The man] ascends by reason of love and faith, and descends by reason of evils and the hells. And when [the man] ascends, the external degrees which tend towards hell are closed, but when [the man] descends, the internal degrees which tend towards heaven are closed. The cause for this is that they are in reaction. These three degrees, internal and external, have neither been opened nor closed in man in earliest infancy, for he is then ignorant of love and faith, and of evil and the hells. It this case, it turns out that the original and the substitutions are so close that the two paragraphs hardly seem different in meaning. Nevertheless, the second paragraph is not merely synonymous with the original but reveals new features that are more interior. To see this requires more detailed study and examination. (see Note 8).
Let us take another passage where the substitutions create a more dramatic difference: · The very essence and life of faith is the Lord alone (AC 30) · The very essence and life of conscience is the Lord alone The second sentence containing the substitution is a more interior meaning than the original. We knew that the life of faith is the Lord since faith is truth from the Lord, and what is from the Lord is the Lord. Hence, the very essence and life of faith is the Lord alone. But we did not know that the very essence and life of conscience is the Lord alone. This is a new spiritual revelation contained within the first revelation of the Letter. We must now confirm this new more interior perception by finding a passage in the Letter that states that the life of conscience is the Lord. As for example: Quoting: The new will with the spiritual regenerate man is conscience (NJHD 1919) [2] A person does not feel this struggle to be anywhere but in himself, and he feels it as the pangs of conscience. Yet it is the Lord and the devil (that is, hell) who struggle in man; their struggle is to gain control of the person, to see which is to possess him. The devil, or hell, attacks the person and calls forth the evil in him, while the Lord protects him and calls forth the good in him. (TCR 596) Genuine conscience is given by the Lord through the knowledges of a true faith (SE 3615) With angelical spirits there are bonds of conscience, which conscience is from the Lord. (SE 3850) Judgments are based on what is the Lord's when they accord with truths and spring from conscience. (AC 9160) When conscience dictates, it is in like manner said in the Word that "Jehovah speaks;" because conscience is formed from things revealed, and from knowledges, and from the Word; and when the Word speaks, or dictates, it is the Lord who speaks; hence nothing is more common, even at the present day, when referring to a matter of conscience, or of faith, than to say, "the Lord says." (AC 371) You can see from these series of passages that a conscience that is genuine is from the Lord and is the Lord. Quoting: “nothing is more common, even at the present day, when referring to a matter of conscience, or of faith, than to say, "the Lord says."
In summary, we go through three steps in the method of substitution. First, we find parallelisms in the Letter that are explicitly identified in the plain meaning of the sentences. Second, we make the substitutions and reflect on the new formulation. This new meaning is more interior than what could be seen in the original text of the Letter. It has been spiritually enriched by the different series or contexts which are brought together by the substitution. Third, find new passages that explicitly confirm the new meaning.
Note that the new perception after substitution is more interior than the older perception before substitution. Despite this, the new perception is not yet a discrete degree higher than the old perception. It is in the same degree, which is natural-rational at a more interior continuum. Performing this three-step method builds natural-rational vessels that are needed later for influx and enlightenment. This occurs when we apply the new meaning to our hourly willing and thinking all day long. Then, at some point -- unexpected point -- we receive enlightenment. That’s when for the first time we can see the meaning of the new perception in a spiritual degree.
Without having practiced the substitution method regarding some topic, there are not any such cognitive “vessels” that can be enlightened. Of course, it is possible for people to practice the substation technique implicitly, not as a formal research technique, but spontaneously, since our thinking about Sacred Scripture is always in the company of angels who prompt the train of our thoughts in favorable directions for noticing parallelisms and discovering the substitutes.
The Method of Rational SeriesQuoting from the Writings Sacred Scriptures: 210. III. THE SENSE OF THE LETTER OF THE WORD IS THE BASIS, THE CONTAINANT, AND THE SUPPORT OF ITS SPIRITUAL AND CELESTIAL SENSE. In everything Divine there is a first, a middle, and a last, the first passing through the middle to the last, and so existing and subsisting; consequently the last is the basis. Again, the first is in the middle, and through the middle in the last; thus the last is the Containant. And since the last is the Containant and the Basis, it is also the Support. The learned can understand that these three may be called end, cause, and effect; also being [esse], becoming [fieri] and standing forth [existere]; and that the end is being, the cause is becoming, and the effect is standing forth; consequently that in every complete thing there is a trine, which is called the first, the middle, and the last, also end, cause, and effect. When this is understood, it can also be understood that every Divine work is complete and perfect in its last; also that the whole is in the last, because in it prior things are together. (TCR 210)
The triconcentric diagram visually exhibits the three "discreet degrees of height" (A----> C ---> S) which are called "successive order", and the three "continuous degrees of breadth" which are called "simultaneous order." Picturing the triconcentric diagram while reading a sentence or paragraph in the Writings Sacred Scripture, greatly enhances our capacity to see the meaning distinctly. Quoting from the Writings: The human mind always dwells in the trine called end, cause and effect. If one of these is lacking, the mind is not possessed of its life. An affection of the will is the initiating end; the thought of the understanding is the efficient cause; and bodily action, utterance or external sensation is the effect from the end by means of the thought. (DLW 178) The first sentence may be graphically analyzed using the triconcentric method, as shown on the left of the diagram below: Diagram 2
Note that the three degrees of existence are connected by "correspondences" which are functional relations as indicated by the arrows. Thus, "ends" (also called "essence" elsewhere) descend by correspondence into "causes" and these in turn descend into "effects," the three being in functional correspondence with each other, both successively and simultaneously. By adding the concepts in the third sentence of the quotation above, we can enlarge the graphic diagram to include them and obtain a slightly more complex form of Swedenborg's thought, as shown on the right of the diagram above. In theory, there is no limit to the size of the graphic diagram, but in practice we restrict each diagram to a particular topic or topic domain under study.
Swedenborg's Writings are replete with sentences that mention one element of each of the three degrees of existence, as in the two quotations above. The Table below illustrates this same pattern in collateral works by various others discussing Swedenborg's ideas. Try to picture the concepts in a triconcentric diagram, as above.
This kind of conceptual "matrix" reveals a great deal about the system of thought in the Writings Sacred Scripture. The more a person studies the Writings the more one gains in one's thought a new way of classifying ideas or concepts by which one can then apprehend phenomena in an entirely new way; that is, in an integrated rather than loose system. By running your eye up and down within a column of such a matrix, you get a good indication of the specific character of that degree as applied to a particular topic domain. In the above instance, note how the A-words (affective organ) are inmost in degree, hence highest or earliest in successive order. Note how the C-words (sensorimotor organ) are outermost in degree of existence, and thus are the lowest or ultimate in succession. When you run your eye across a row horizontally, you are getting a good indication of the mechanism of that particular phenomenon, how it comes into existence and what are its successive steps of existence from origin / end, through cause, to effect. For instance, the GOOD OF LOVE (second line) must occur first in order to externalize as RATIONAL TRUTH in the intermediate stage and as MEMORY or MEMORY-KNOWLEDGES in its ultimate stage. Or to take the last line, HELPING is a consequence or effect of prior UNDERSTANDING, which in turn originates from LOVING.
The next diagram shows the trigrammatic series applied to contemporary concepts and authors in social psychology. Diagram 3
The method of rational series for extracting scientific information from the Writings Sacred Scripture is illustrated in the section 15.3 Genes of Consciousness. It consists of arranging words or phrases from the Writings in sets that they belong to.
If you inspect each column up and down you are creating a new rational set in the organization or thesaurus that you carry in your memory-knowledge. Now, when you read about Abraham you can supply the rest of the series in your mind, thus giving it a new meaning which is more interior than what you had before. Now, this new semantic gene of a higher continuous level will serve as a vessel for enlightenment. This occurs the moment you apply this new semantic gene to your willing and thinking in daily activities.
The Method of MappingThis method is illustrated in section 15.3.5 titled Enneadic Gene Structures. It uses a chart or matrix created by putting together two series obtained from the method of rational series. This chart is made of intersections that have dynamic properties relating to mental states, as described in the Writings when explicating the correspondential sense of the Old Testament. In the example below, the first column lists the phrases in the Writings and in the second column, their mental state map location is given. A refers to the affective organ (“the will”), C refers to the cognitive organ (“the understanding”). Levels 3, 2, and 1 refer to the three degrees: celestial, spiritual, natural.
When you identify the map location of “Divine good of the rational” as A3, you are thinking in a more interior way about this concept. “A” means affective and level “3” means celestial. So to recognize in your mind that “Divine good of the rational” is celestial willing (A3), you are providing an enlarged context for it that can be hooked up to other mapped areas, as is illustrated in the section below. Now this enlarged more interior thesaurus becomes a vessel for enlightenment the moment that you apply this larger interior thesaurus to some part of your willing and thinking at some point during the day. The method of extraction can only be applied to the Writings Sacred Scripture. Only Divine text is written in such a way that it may contain endless information to be extracted until eternity. It may appear at first that the extracted knowledge is of the same degree as the original, but deeper analysis shows that the extracted knowledge is at a higher degree, all the way to the celestial-rational. The elevation of meaning during the extraction process is due to the operation of the interior-natural organ, as discussed section 8 titled Thinking With Angels -- Our Virtual Heavens.
External and Internal RevelationFrom Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia (AC 5121): "And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it." That this signifies revelation from perception from the celestial in the natural as to what it had in itself, is evident from the signification of "saying" in the historic parts of the Word, as being perception (n. 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2080, 2619, 2862, 3395, 3509), here revelation from perception, because said of a dream and its interpretation - all revelation being either from speech with angels through whom the Divine-Human speaks, or from perception (of which hereafter); and from the representation of Joseph, as being the celestial in the natural (of which above, n. 5086, 5087, 5106); and from the signification of "interpretation," as being what it had in itself (of which also above, n. 5093, 5105, 5107). From this it is plain that by "Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it" is signified revelation from perception from the celestial in the natural as to what it had in itself. The above is a passage from the Writings that discusses the scientific sense of the verse in Genesis 40:12. Note the expression "revelation from perception from the celestial in the natural ." You need to know what is being referred to before you can understand it. What does "the celestial in the natural" refer to? Here, "the celestial" refers to the celestial mind or the celestial portion of our mind. This is the organ that is able to receive direct influx from the Spiritual Sun so that spiritual heat (or love) and spiritual light (or truth) stream into it, a process called "Divine influx." This influx is called divine not because God can enter into us, but because the love and truth that enter into us are from the Spiritual Sun and this is the expanse around the Divine-Human, hence it is Divine. Note this very important principle: Whatever is from God must be fully God since God cannot be divided into portions. This is because God is infinite and the infinite cannot be divided but remains the infinite wherever it enters the finite. So the infinite enters the finite, not the other way around. The finite contains the infinite fully, not just a part of the infinite, but all of it, since as already said, the infinite cannot be divided into lesser portions of itself.
You need to understand rationally the way the infinite enters the finite and "dwells" there in fullness of itself,
You can see that this is the same as saying: You need to understand rationally the way God enters the human mind and "dwells" there in fullness of itself,
God or the infinite "dwells" in the finite mind by adjoining love and truth to the mind as-if they belong to the person. We experience love as a feeling, like wanting to be useful to society, and we experience truth as an understanding, like seeing that selfishness is destructive. God dwells within the feeling of wanting to be useful, and the seeing that selfishness is destructive. God dwells in the loves and truths we acquire and feel as-if our own. How can that be? That's because the love and truth we experience as-if our own is not our own but came into our celestial mind from the Spiritual Sun. Now that they are in our organs, love in the affective organ and truth in the cognitive organ, they feel like our own, as-if they were own. Even if we know from revelation that all love and truth are God's, we still feel as-if they are own within us.
This is where God dwells, where God is in us. It's possible only because the love and truth in us is God's love and truth, and whatever is God's cannot be separated from God but forever remains God's. God is infinite and unchanging, and therefore the love and truth emanating from Himself as the Spiritual Sun, must remain God's. God cannot give them away to created things like the finite human mind. So if we now have the experience that the love and truth in us is our own, then it is equivalent to being adjoined or connected to God. But note carefully: It is never the case that we can be conjoined to God, or merging with God, or being one with God. If this were possible, we would become God, and each of us would be God, as some people believe.
Clearly, the possibility of being connected or adjoined to God depends on this sensation or feeling that the love and truth in us is as-if our own.
The moment we would actually sense the influx, or become aware of it, the as-if position is destroyed and we can never be conjoined to God, hence not receive love and truth from God, and thus instantaneously disappear from existence.
Consider again the phrase in the passage above: "revelation from perception from the celestial in the natural." The celestial mind is "within" the natural mind, which means that it is higher and superior to it. Whenever something is said to be "within" another portion of the mind, it is always superior to it in excellence, by far. So the celestial portion of the mind is superior to the natural portion of the mind in mode and level of operation in its affective organ (feelings, loves) and in its cognitive organ (thoughts, truths). The phrase "revelation from perception" refers to the influx of truth which is felt as-if it is our own. God prevents us from sensing influx so that we can maintain the as-if feeling. By maintaining the as-if feeling, we can be connected to God's love and truth, hence to God. The connection depends on our feeling that the love and truth is as-if our own.
Scientific revelations are Divine truths contained in Divine Speech. When we understand scientific revelations found in Sacred Scripture we are receiving revelation from perceiving the scientific sense of a word or phrase in Sacred Scripture. Perceiving the scientific sense is an intellectual effort that feels like our very own effort. This is the as-if feeling we have that those truths are our own from the effort of understanding them. Once we understand some scientific revelation, the truth of it becomes as-if our own. This is called rational consciousness. It does not work with sensuous consciousness. Feeling something we call "oneness with God" is an effort to connect with God through sensuous consciousness. This can only translate into mystical spirituality, which inhibits all forms of rational spirituality.
Rational spirituality is necessary for the appropriation of love and truth to self by means of the as-if feeling. The appropriation of love and truth to self is necessary in order to be connected to God. Hence all connection to God is based on rational understanding and not on sensuous experience. If we appropriate the sensuous consciousness of God, we become God, and this is impossible. It is therefore destructive of rational consciousness, our only means of connection to God. Our heaven is embedded in our rational consciousness, while our hell is embedded in sensuous consciousness or corporeal spirituality, this being a state of anti-rationality or irrationality.
Going on with the Number (AC 5121): [2] In regard to revelations being either from perception, or from speech with angels through whom the Divine-Human speaks, it is to be known that they who are in good and thence in truth, and especially they who are in the good of love to the Divine-Human, have revelation from perception; whereas they who are not in good and thence in truth, can indeed have revelations, yet not from perception, but through a living voice heard within them, and thus through angels from the Divine-Human. This revelation is external, but the former is internal. The angels, especially the celestial, have revelation from perception, as also had the men of the Most Ancient Church, and some too of the Ancient Church, but scarcely anyone at this day; whereas very many, even those who have not been in good, have had revelations from speech without perception, and also by means of visions or dreams.
This fascinating paragraph reveals and specifies many details about scientific revelations viewed from an evolutionary perspective. The highest portion of the mind called celestial receives revelation directly from perception of the scientific sense of Divine Speech. But we are not conscious of our celestial mind while we are attached to the physical body on earth, with the unique exception of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). Therefore in order for us to become conscious of the scientific sense of Sacred Scripture, our understanding must be enlightened by gradual acquisition of knowledge which we must consciously build up into a coherent framework called "doctrine." We can also call it theistic psychology, from the perspective of organized and institutional science. The passage above reveals that anyone can have revelation from perception if they are willing to love the scientific revelations enough to guide their daily life according to it. This is expressed as "they who are in good and thence in truth." To be in good refers to our willingness to love the Divine-Human as the source of all that we have in our mind and in our future. When we love scientific revelations as God's Speech to us, we love good and thence truth. The truth we perceive is loved because it is from the Divine-Human. When we are in this state of mind, we experience perception from revelation. We can perceive how the truth applies specifically to us, and particularly to our feelings and thoughts. What we think must be according to truth or else we must reject what we think. And what we feel or enjoy must be according to the love or else we enjoy what is the opposite of love, namely love of self as god, which is not properly love, but cupidity. When we are unwilling to love the Divine-Human as the source of all that we have, we can still be enlightened to see the scientific sense of Sacred Scripture. But not by perception, only by mediation, through the intermediary of others. Others who have perception can translate for us through correspondences that are lower and easier to understand within the natural perspective. It is said in the passage above that when we are in this state we can hear a "living voice" within our mind. This refers to the sensuous consciousness of a spiritual vision that the prophets had in the Old Testament. The spiritual vision could be heard rather than seen, and the words heard could be written down as Sacred Scripture. This is called an "external revelation" to contrast with the "internal revelation" by direct perception. Swedenborg was raised into his celestial mind and made conscious there so that he had revelation from perception like all the inhabitants of the higher heavens. Continuing: [3] Such were most of the revelations of the prophets in the Jewish Church; they heard a voice, they saw a vision, and they dreamed a dream; but as they had no perception, these were merely verbal or visual revelations without any perception of what they signified. For genuine perception comes through heaven from the Divine-Human, and affects the intellect spiritually, and leads it perceptibly to think as the thing really is, together with internal assent, the source of which it knows not. It supposes that it is in itself, and that it flows from the connection of things; whereas it is a dictate through heaven from the Divine-Human, flowing into the interiors of the thought, about such things as are above the natural and sensuous, that is, about such things as are of the spiritual world or of heaven. From what has now been said it may be seen what revelation from perception is. But the revelation from perception which the Divine-Human had (who is here represented by Joseph, and which revelation is here treated of in the internal sense), was from the Divine in Himself, thus was from Himself. (AC 5121) It is clear from these details that God is very much involved in the details of our thinking and feeling. You need to maintain rational thinking to understand this enough in order not to feel disappointed or angry at God. My grown up children have always expressed a distaste for this idea that God is so involved in their thinking. It seems to them from their natural perspective, that if this were so, there would be no point or desire to keep thinking and living. They lose all enthusiasm for living when thinking about how it is God who directs their attention, focus, and memory. They suddenly feel that they are not free in that case and all joy of life leaves them, and all desire to do anything. But as they continue to grow in rational consciousness of God they will start feeling less and less troubled by the idea, and eventually, they will start feeling more and more that it is their joy to know it is God within them that activates and guides these processes in the mind, thus insuring that we are well and that our future is well. If it were left to us to think on our own even for a few seconds, we would instantly hate God and precipitate ourselves into the lowest hell of our mind, where we stay forever, being unwilling to emerge from there by loving God.
Another quote from Swedenborg (NJHD 51). (Reference numbers refer to numbered paragraphs in Arcana Coelestia): The Sciences and Knowledges through which the internal spiritual Man is opened. Those things are called scientifics which are in the external or natural man and in its memory, but not those which are in the internal or spiritual man, nos. 3019, 3020, 3293, 3309, 4967, 9918, 9922. Because scientifics belong to the external or natural man, they are respectively things of service, because the external or natural man was made to serve the internal or spiritual man, just as the world was made to serve heaven, nos. 5077, 5125, 5128, 5786, 5947, 10272, 10471. The external man is respectively a world, because the laws of the Divine order which are in the world, are inscribed upon it, and the internal man is respectively a heaven, because the laws of the Divine order which is in heaven, are inscribed upon it, nos. 4523, 5424, 5368, 6013, 6057, 9278, 9279, 9283, 9706, 10156, 10472; and in the work on Heaven and Hell, nos. 51 to 58. There are scientifics which concern natural things; there are such as relate to the civil state and life, and again there are such as relate to the moral state and life, and such as relate to the spiritual state and life, nos. 5774, 5934. But for distinction those which relate to the spiritual state and life, and which are chiefly doctrinals, are called knowledges, no. 9945. A man ought to become imbued with sciences and knowledges, because through them he learns how to think; afterwards how to understand what is true and good, and at length how to be wise; that is how to live according to what is true and good, nos. 129, 1450, 1451, 1453, 1548, 1802. Scientifics and knowledges are the first things, on which a man's civil, moral, and spiritual life are built and founded; but they ought to be learned for the sake of the use of life as an end, nos. 1489, 3310. Knowledges open the way to the internal man, and afterwards conjoin the internal with the external man according to uses, nos. 1563, 1616. The Rational is born through sciences and knowledges, nos. 1895, 1900, 3086. Still, not through the sciences and knowledges themselves, but through the affection of uses from them, and according to such affection, no. 1895. The internal man is opened and successively perfected through sciences and knowledges, if the man has for an end some good use; particularly the use which has respect to eternal life, no. 3086. In this case, the spiritual things from the celestial and spiritual man, go to meet the scientifics and knowledges which are in the natural man, and adopt those that agree, no. 1495. The uses of a heavenly life are then extracted, eliminated, and elevated by the Divine-Human, through the internal man, from the scientifics and knowledges which are in the natural man, nos. 1895, 1896, 1900-1902, 5871, 5874, 5901. And the scientifics which do not agree, and which are inimical, are rejected to the sides and exterminated, nos. 5871, 5886, 5889. The sight of the internal man calls forth from the scientifics and knowledges of the external man, only such as belong to its love, no. 9394. Scientifics and knowledges are arranged in bundles, and conjoined according to the loves by which they have been introduced, no. 5881. The things belonging to the love are then in the middle and in clearness, under the sight of the internal man, but those which do not belong to the love are at the sides and in obscurity, nos. 6068, 6084. Scientifics and knowledges with a man are successively implanted in his loves, and dwell in them, no. 6325. A man would be born into every science, and into intelligence from it, if he were born into the love of the Divine-Human, and into love towards the neighbour but since he is born into the love of self and the world, he is therefore born into [a state of] entire ignorance, nos. 6323, 6325. Knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom are the sons of love to the Divine-Human and love towards the neighbour, nos. 1226, 2049, 2116. Since scientifics and knowledges belong to the external or natural man, they are in the light of the world; but the truths, which have become matters of love and faith, and have thus obtained life, are in the light of heaven, no. 5212. Still, the truths which have thus obtained life, are comprehended by a man by means of natural ideas, no. 5510. Spiritual influx takes place through the internal man into the scientifics and knowledges which are in the external man, nos. 1904, 8005. Scientifics and knowledges are receptacles, and as it were vessels, of the truth and good belonging to the internal man, nos. 1469, 1496, 3068, 5489, 6004, 6023, 6052, 6071, 6077, 7770, 9922. Vessels in the Word, therefore, signify, in the correspondential sense, scientifics and knowledges, nos. 3068, 3069, 3079, 9394, 9544, 9723, 9724. Scientifics are a kind of mirrors, in which the truths and goods of the internal man appear, and are perceived, as in an image, no. 5201; they are together in them, as in their ultimate, nos. 5373, 5874, 5886, 5901, 6004, 6023, 6052, 6071, 6077. Because scientifics are in the light of the world, they are confused and obscure when compared with the things which are in the light of heaven; consequently, so also are the things which are in the external man, when compared with those which are in the internal man, no. 2831. Therefore, what is intertwined or confused, signifies in the Word the Scientific, no. 2831; likewise by the obscurity of a cloud, nos. 8443, 10551. The starting-point ought to be made from truths of doctrine which are from the Word, and they ought first to be acknowledged; it is permitted afterwards to consult scientifics in order to confirm these truths, which are corroborated in this manner, no. 6047. Those who are in an affirmative principle in respect to the truths of faith, are therefore permitted to confirm these truths intellectually by means of scientifics, but not those who are in a negative principle; for the affirmation which precedes inclines all things in favour of its own side, while the negation which precedes inclines them to its side, nos. 2568, 2588, 3913, 4760, 6047. There is an affirmative principle of doubt, and a negative principle of doubt; the former is with some who are good, and the latter with the evil, no. 2568. Entering into scientifics from the truths of faith, is agreeable to order; but, conversely, entering into the truths of faith from scientifics, is contrary to order, no. 10236. For influx is spiritual, and not physical, that is, natural; and, therefore, it takes place from the truths of faith because they are spiritual, into scientifics because they are natural, nos. 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427, 5428, 5779, 6322, 9109, 9110. Whoever is in a principle of negative doubt, which in itself is negative, and who says that he will not believe until he is persuaded through scientifics, will never believe, nos. 2094, 2832. Those who do so, become insane as to the things which belong to the Church and Heaven, nos. 128-130. They lapse into falsities of evils, no. 232, 233, 6047. And in the other life, when thinking about spiritual things, they are like drunken persons, no. 1072. A further description of their quality, no. 196. Instances to illustrate that spiritual things cannot be comprehended, if you enter into them in an inverted order, nos. 233, 2094, 2196, 2203, 2209. Many of the learned are more insane in spiritual things, than the simple-minded, because they are in a negative principle, and are furnished in abundance with scientifics by which they confirm the negative [state], no. 4760. An instance of an educated person, who was unable to understand anything concerning the spiritual life, no. 8629. Those who reason from scientifics in opposition to the truths of faith, reason sharply, because [they do so] from the fallacies of the senses, which are captivating and persuasive; for they can be shaken off only with difficulty, no. 5700. Those who do not understand anything of truth, and they also who are in evil, are able to reason concerning the truths and goods of faith, and yet they are not able to be in any enlightenment, no. 4214. The mere confirmation of a dogma is not the part of an intelligent man, because a falsity can be confirmed as easily as a truth, nos. 1017, 2482, 2490, 4741, 5033, 6865, 7012, 7680, 7950, 8521, 8780. Those who reason concerning the truths of the Church, whether a thing be so or not, are totally in the dark with respect to truths, and are not yet in spiritual light, nos. 215, 1385, 3033, 3428. There are scientifics which admit Divine truths, and others that do not, no. 5213. Useless scientifics ought to be destroyed, nos. 1489, 1492, 1499, 1500. Those scientifics are useless which regard as their end, and confirm, the loves of self and the world, and which withdraw [the mind] from love to the Divine-Human and love towards the neighbour; because such scientifics shut up the internal man, so that the man is afterwards unable to receive anything from heaven, nos. 1563, 1600. Scientifics are means for becoming wise, and means for becoming insane; and through them the internal man may either be opened or shut; and thus the Rational may either be cultivated or destroyed, nos. 4156, 8628, 9922. After death the sciences are of no account, but only what a man through the sciences has imbibed into his understanding and life, no. 2480. Still all scientifics remain after death, but they are quiescent, nos. 2476-2479, 2481-2486. (( NOTA BENE!)) The same scientifics which are false with the wicked because they are applied to evils, are true with the good because they are applied to goods, no. 6917. Scientific truths are not truths with the evil, however they may appear like truths while they pronounce them for interiorly there is evil in them, and from it they are falsified; science with the evil does not even deserve to be called science, because it is without life, no. 10331. Being wise is one thing, understanding another, being acquainted with a thing is a further, and doing is another still; nevertheless with those who lead a spiritual life, they follow in order and correspond, and in the doing or the works they are together simultaneously, no. 10331. It is also one thing to know, another to acknowledge, and still another to have faith, no. 896. An instance of the quality of the desire of knowing with spirits, no. 1973. The angels have an immeasurable desire of knowing and of becoming wise, because knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, are spiritual food, nos. 3114, 4459, 4792, 4976, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5410, 5426, 5576, 5582; 5588, 5655, 6277, 8562, 9003. The chief science with the ancients was the science of correspondences, but this science at the present day has perished, nos. 3021, 3419, 4280, 4844, 4964, 4966, 6004, 7729, 10252. The science of correspondences existed among the eastern nations, and in Egypt, no. 5702, 6692, 7097, 7779, 9391, 10407. Their hieroglyphics were derived from that source, nos. 6692, 7097. Through the science of correspondences the ancients introduced themselves into the knowledges of spiritual things, nos. 4749, 4844, 4966. The Word was written by mere correspondences, and its internal or correspondential sense is from that source; and without the science of correspondences it is impossible to know that this sense exists, or yet what the quality of the Word is, nos. 3131, 3472-3485, 8615, 10687. How much the science of correspondences excels the other sciences, no. 4280. (NJHD 51)
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch4.htm#enlightenment ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Process of Enlightenment and Regeneration: The Scientific Meaning of Genesis 24Here is the text of Genesis 24 as it appears in the Writings, where it is given a word by word and phrase by phrase analysis regarding their spiritual meaning or “internal sense.” The passage opens with the comment that Sacred Scripture (“the Word”) has a literal meaning which has “stored within it” a different meaning which is “heavenly secret” because no one can know what it is except through a knowledge of correspondences. The internal sense is revealed to anyone who knows the correspondences in which Sacred Scripture is written. This is the secret now revealed to humankind through the Writings of Swedenborg (see also the analysis of Genesis 22 in Section xx): Arcana Coelestia
3011. GENESIS 24 1. And Abraham being old was come into days; and Jehovah blessed Abraham in all things. 2. And Abraham said unto his servant, the elder of his house, who administered all that he had, Put I pray thy hand under my thigh. 3. And I will make thee swear by Jehovah the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a woman for my son of the daughters of the Canaanite, in the midst of whom I dwell; 4. But thou shalt go unto my land, and to my nativity; and take a woman for my son for Isaac. 5. And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land; bringing shall I bring back thy son unto the land whence thou camest out? 6. And Abraham said unto him, Beware that thou bring not back my son thither. 7. Jehovah the God of heaven, that took me from my father's house, and from the land of my nativity, and that spoke unto me, and that swear unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land, He shall send His angel before thee, and thou shalt take a woman for my son from thence. 8. And if the woman be not willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this mine oath; only thou shalt not bring back my son thither. 9. And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his lord, and sware to him concerning this word. 10. And the servant took ten camels, of the camels of his lord, and departed, and every good of his lord was in his hand; and he arose and went to Aram-naharaim, unto the city of Nahor. 11. And he made the camels kneel down, without the city, by the well of waters, about the time of evening, about the time the drawers go out. 12. And he said, O Jehovah God of my lord Abraham, cause to meet I pray before me this day; and do mercy with my lord Abraham. 13. Behold, I stand by the fountain of waters; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw waters. 14. And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink, and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also, her hast Thou appointed for Thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that Thou hast done mercy with my lord. 15. And it came to pass that scarcely had he done speaking, when behold Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. 16. And the damsel was exceeding good to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her; and she went down to the fountain, and filled her pitcher, and came up. 17. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me I pray sip a little water from thy pitcher. 18. And she said, Drink, my lord; and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and made him drink. 19. And she finished making him drink, and she said, I will draw for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. 20. And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw, and drew for all his camels. 21. And the man marveling at her, withheld himself, to know whether Jehovah had prospered his way or not. 22. And it came to pass when the camels had done drinking, that the man took a jewel of gold, of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands, ten of gold their weight. 23. And he said, Whose daughter art thou? Tell me I pray is there room in thy father's house for us to pass the night? 24. And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bare unto Nahor. 25. And she said unto him, We have both straw and much provender, also room to pass the night. 26. And the man bent himself, and bowed himself down to Jehovah. 27. And he said, Blessed be Jehovah the God of my lord Abraham, who hath not forsaken His mercy and His truth from my lord. I being in the way, Jehovah hath led me to the house of my lord's brethren. 28. And the damsel ran, and told her mother's house according to these words. 29. And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban; and Laban ran out of doors unto the man, unto the fountain. 30. And it came to pass when he saw the jewel, and the bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spoke the man unto me, that he came unto the man; and behold he stood by the camels at the fountain. 31. And he said, Come thou blessed of Jehovah, wherefore standest thou without? For I have swept the house, and there is room for the camels. 32. And the man came into the house, and loosed the camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the feet of the men that were with him. 33. And there was set before him to eat; and he said, I will not eat until I have spoken my words. And he said, Speak. 34. And he said, I am Abraham's servant. 35. And Jehovah hath blessed my lord exceedingly, and hath made him great, and hath given him flock and herd, and silver and gold, and menservants and maidservants, and camels and asses. 36. And Sarah, my lord's wife, bare a son to my lord after she was old; and he hath given unto him all that he hath. 37. And my lord made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a woman for my son of the daughters of the Canaanite, in whose land I dwell. 38. But thou shalt go unto my father's house, and to my family, and take a woman for my son. 39. And I said unto my lord, Peradventure the woman will not follow me. 40. And he said unto me, Jehovah, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a woman for my son from my family, and from my father's house. 41. Then shalt thou be clear from my oath, when thou comest to my family; and if they give not to thee, thou shalt be clear from my oath. 42. And I came this day unto the fountain, and said, O Jehovah God of my lord Abraham, if now Thou do prosper my way wherein I do walk; 43. Behold I stand by the fountain of waters; and let it come to pass that the maiden which cometh forth to draw, and to whom I shall say, Let me drink I pray a little water from thy pitcher; 44. And she shall say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels, let her be the woman whom Jehovah hath appointed for my lord's son. 45. I scarcely had done speaking in mine heart, when behold Rebekah came forth; and her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the fountain and drew; and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray. 46. And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from upon her, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also; and I drank, and she gave drink to the camels also. 47. And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, whom Milcah bare unto him. And I put the jewel upon her nose, and the bracelets upon her hands. 48. And I bent and bowed myself down to Jehovah, and blessed Jehovah God of my lord Abraham, who led me into the way of truth, to take the daughter of my lord's brother for his son. 49. And now if ye will do mercy and truth with my lord, tell me; and if not, tell me; and I will look to the right hand, or to the left. 50. And Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The word hath gone forth from Jehovah; we cannot speak unto thee evil or good. 51. Behold Rebekah is before thee; take her, and go, and let her be the woman of thy lord's son, as Jehovah hath spoken. 52. And it came to pass that when Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth unto Jehovah. 53. And the servant brought forth vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and garments, and gave to Rebekah; he gave also precious things to her brother and to her mother. 54. And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him; and they passed the night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my lord. 55. And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us days, at least ten; afterwards thou shalt go. 56. And he said unto them, Do not delay me, and Jehovah hath prospered my way; send me away, and I will go to my lord. 57. And they said, Let us call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth. 58. And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. 59. And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. 60. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Our sister, be thou for thousands of ten thousands; and may thy seed inherit the gate of those that hate thee. 61. And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man; and the servant took Rebekah, and went away. 62. And Isaac came from coming from Beer-lahai-roi; and he dwelt in the land of the south. 63. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening; and he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold there were camels coming. 64. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and saw Isaac, and she alighted from off the camel. 65. And she said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant said, It is my lord. And she took a veil and covered herself. 66. And the servant told Isaac all the words that he had done. 67. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent; and he took Rebekah, and she was to him for a woman, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother. This charming and moving love story is written in the natural-corporeal correspondences of the Old Testament mentality and consciousness (see Section xx). Hidden within the corporeal correspondences are higher order rational correspondences that can be extracted through a deeper understanding of theistic psychology (see Section xx). The Writings inform us that all historical events and descriptions in Sacred Scripture are accurate to the detail. There are two portions to this idea that we need to think about. First, that the Divine Human brought these precise historical events into existence at the time they occurred. This idea includes the surrounding natural and social setting of the events, which is always specified in Sacred Scripture. For instance, some of the cities in which the events took place were named hundreds of years before the events recorded took place. The Divine Human also brought about that these particular names be chosen for those places because each name had its correspondence from the Most Ancient version of Sacred Scripture on this earth, and this was from heaven itself (see Section xx). Correspondences are from creation and they are eternal and unchangeable. The human mind is constructed on the pattern of correspondences, as are material objects and laws (see Section xx). Understanding correspondences will give you a deeper understanding of how we think and feel, and how things in nature are related to things in the mind or human spirit. The knowledge of correspondences is important for understanding both psychological phenomena and the physical environment around us. The revelation of correspondences and how to use them has the potential of raising the rational thinking potential of humankind and of every individual. So the first portion of the idea is that the events described in Sacred Scripture are historically accurate, brought about by means of correspondences. The second portion of the idea is that the Divine Psychologist used correspondences to restrict the thoughts of each prophet and revelator who wrote down the books of Sacred Scripture. In this way the literal sentences of Sacred Scripture in their original -- Hebrew, Greek, and Latin – were written out in an exact sequence of words, phrases, and sentences, that would allow the extraction of their inner scientific meaning to which they corresponded. This inner scientific meaning contains
These are then the two portions involved in the concept of Sacred Scripture: (1) the Divine production of actual historical events through the laws of correspondences, and (2), the Divine control by means of correspondences over what details are written down by the prophet and in what exact sequence, that would make them correspond with the inner rational series of scientific revelations to be extracted. You might be wondering why all this is necessary. Why didn’t God dictate the sentences of Sacred Scripture to make a textbook for theistic psychology. Why should we have to go through this elaborate methodology of extracting this scientific knowledge from historical descriptions? As you study theistic psychology you will be able to give may answers to this question. You may be sure that if this had been possible, God would have done that! So we need to understand why that is not possible, and the more theistic psychology you know, the clearer this dynamic will become. The human mind has a built in or wired in thinking syntax based on rationality which is based on Divine Truth. There is a developmental pattern of elevating the conscious understanding across the discrete levels of correspondences (see Section xx). If Sacred Scripture were written out purely in spiritual correspondences, it would be incomprehensible. The sentences of Sacred Scripture contain names of people and of places, details about the number of days or years that something took, time of the day or season, natural things like mountains, lakes, oceans, various objects like pitchers, swords, chariots, houses, food, and as well, various animals and plants. Each of these items are natural objects or qualities. The law of correspondences, by creation, dictates that spiritual events are the instrumental cause in the creation of natural events. In other words, spiritual events originate physical events. The spiritual law of correspondences is a mental law because the objective spiritual world = the objective mental world. There is only one objective mental world and only one spiritual world. They overlap and everyone’s mind exists in that overlap. The Writings say that it was the Ancients living throughout Asia, who chose the names of places which are named in the Old and New Testaments. They always gave names according to their knowledge of correspondences, which they inherited from the celestial race prior to the Fall (see Section xx). This is why we can reconstruct the spiritual correspondences hidden within the sentences of Sacred Scripture. Every sentence of Sacred Scripture was written by means of correspondences, but this was not known to the prophets and Gospel writers. This great “heavenly arcanum” or secret, was revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg (1745-1771). Theistic psychology is the process of extracting the higher-order correspondences from the literal sentences of the Threefold Sacred Scripture – the Hebrew Old Testament, the Greek New Testament, and the Latin Final Testament (= the Writings of Swedenborg) (see Section xx). Now that the third and final portion of the Threefold Sacred Scripture has been delivered to the human race, theistic psychology as a science has been made possible. Now anyone from any culture or religion can read through the historical and cultural details so that these vanish from view. Left in place are the concepts and principles of theistic psychology that God wants every human being to know and understand. What follows is an illustration and exploration of Chapter 24 in the Book of Genesis of the Old Testament. The discussion will proceed along three simultaneous columns or pathways. First, the details and dramatic sequence of the “story” in Genesis, as told in natural events that are correspondences. The content for this first column is taken from the Old Testament text. Second, we need to follow the spiritual correspondences of each natural detail that is mentioned. This is taken from the Writings, in particular the work known as Arcana Coelestia. Third, we need to state the scientific meaning of the spiritual correspondences. This is taken from theistic psychology. The Topics of Genesis 24 in Relation to Theistic PsychologyWe begin with Number 3012 from the 12-volume set of Arcana Coelestia, as translated into English. AC 3012 THE CONTENTS In the internal sense there is described the whole process of the conjunction of truth with good in the Lord's Divine rational; in this chapter, the process of initiation which precedes conjunction. "Isaac" is the good of the rational; "Rebekah" here is truth to be initiated into good; "Laban" is the affection of good in the natural man. The above paragraph is like a table of contents of Chapter 24 of Genesis, viewed in their spiritual correspondences or “internal sense.” It lists the topics of theistic psychology that are dealt with in this Chapter of Sacred Scripture. These are the things that the Divine Human wants to communicate to the human mind for the sake of its regeneration and preparation for eternal happiness in heaven (see Section xx). Overall, the Chapter deals with “the whole process of the conjunction of truth with good.” When extracting celestial-rational correspondences, the topic discusses how the Divine Child in the Incarnation Event actually performed and achieved this conjunction in His Own Mind (see Section xx). But when extracting spiritual-rational correspondences, the topic discusses what every person must actually perform in order to achieve this conjunction in himself or herself (see Section xx). This makes sense in view of the fact, explained elsewhere, that the Incarnation Event was the creation of a new psychobiological mind by means of which every human being could henceforth step through the same mental procedures that the Divine Child created in Himself (see Section xx). The celestial-rational correspondences of Sacred Scripture discuss how the Divine Child created the conjunction process in His Mind. The spiritual-rational correspondences discuss theistic psychology. The literal sentences of the Writings are written in natural-rational correspondences. At this level of meaning the Writings give the external appearance of being a new Christian theology located within the Western cultural history and mind-frame. While this level is admirably suited for the Christian religion everywhere, it cannot form the content of a cross-cultural and pan-religious curriculum. But this literal meaning “vanishes from view” when one translates it into its spiritual correspondences. This is why theistic psychology can be suitable as the content of a cross-cultural and pan-religious curriculum about
These are the topics of theistic psychology. They are spiritual correspondences extracted from the natural correspondences of the Writings Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). They are the topics of Divine Speech. This is what God wants to talk to us about. This is what God wants every human being to know. This is what every human being must know in order to manage one’s own future in immortality. The scientific meaning of Genesis 24 gives the details about the process of regenerating our natural mind so that it is set into correspondence with our spiritual mind. This is the central issue in theistic psychology. The quality of life in our immortality is determined by how successful we are in regenerating the natural mind with which we are born. Anatomically, the natural mind has three organs layered into three discrete levels of operation. This can be rendered schematically as follows:
In the chart above, the conscious natural mind covers layers 1 to 4. Layers 5 to 7 constitute the unconscious spiritual mind. Layers 8 and 9 are uncreate, infinite, and Divine, referring to the Divine Human's Mind or Spirit. Upon the death of the body and subsequent resuscitation of the "spirit," the natural mind (layers 1, 2, 3, 4) is quickly rendered non-operational and our conscious awareness is thenceforth located forever in the spiritual mind (layers 5, 6, 7). The seven human layers of consciousness (1 to 7 in the chart), are created by the correspondences of Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). Here, individual development recapitulates history and evolution. Each level that succeeds is a discrete degree higher or more interior and rational. The Old Testament mentality or level of thinking (1) is our first concept of God, heaven, and hell (see Section xx). The New Testament mentality or level of thinking (2) is our next understanding of God, heaven, and hell (see Section xx). The Writings mentality or level of thinking (3) is our third concept of God, heaven, and hell (see Section xx). Our fourth concept of God, heaven, and hell is theistic psychology, which is a level 4 mentality or thinking, and is extracted from the Writings according to prescribed methods specified in the Writings (see Section xx). Level 4 becomes operational when we undergo conscious character reformation in adult life and begin our regeneration by applying the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture to our daily willing and thinking (see Section xx). Level 4 thinking is called "enlightenment" because its information base is from the spiritual mind and its reasoning quality is genuinely rational. This genuinely rational thinking is only the first layer of understanding genuine truth. Layer 3 is natural-rational, which is a rationality whose concepts are bounded by materialism, time and place. On the other hand, layer 4 reasoning is interior-natural, which also means spiritual-natural reasoning. Layer 4 is a new organ created within the natural mind by the Incarnation Event (see Section xx).
The scientific analysis by correspondences of Genesis 24, 25, and 26 yields a complete anatomical and developmental description of level 4 thinking (see Section xx). The natural mind cannot be regenerated through layers 1, 2, and 3, which constitute the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). The Incarnation Event was the process by which the Divine Human created the interior-natural organ within the natural mind of the human race (layer 4). This tool two steps. First, the Divine Child created this new layer of thinking in Himself by extracting theistic psychology from the literal meaning of the Hebrew Old Testament, which He studied in His earliest years of conscious awareness as an infant (see Section xx). This took several rational steps, as described in Genesis 24, 25, and 26. When the process was completed in Himself, the second step was to create this new mental organ within the mind of every human being who were already in the afterlife, then every human being who was alive in the natural universe, and finally, every human being that is being born since then, and to the endless future of new humanity.
The interior-natural organ that makes possible conscious level 4 meanings, may be called a virtual heaven with three discrete layers of correspondences. This is because layers 5, 6, and 7 of the unconscious spiritual mind are virtually represented in our conscious natural mind (see Section xx). This is accomplished by virtual higher-order correspondences that can be operational in the interior-natural organ, while they cannot be operational in the exterior-natural organ (layers 1, 2, 3). The thinking level of people in their First Heaven is at layer 5 by means of spiritual- natural correspondences. This meaning level is virtually represented in our conscious natural mind through our understanding of spiritual-natural correspondences of Sacred Scripture. We are similarly conscious of layers 6 and 7 by means of spiritual-rational and celestial-rational correspondences of Sacred Scripture in their virtual form (see Section xx).
Regeneration cannot occur at the natural level of thinking (1, 2, 3) about Sacred Scripture because the literal meaning is always bound up in materialistic thinking that includes historical names of places or people, time and number and, matter and motion. This is true of all Sacred Scripture because it is always expressed in a natural language -- Hebrew, Greek, Latin. Theistic psychology is a level of thinking that goes into the interior of the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture (level 4). At this level we learn to think and reason only from the universal concepts contained in Divine Speech. Sacred Scripture is only a window to Divine Speech, and the window is opened or made transparent when we apply correspondences as prescribed. Nevertheless, there are different discrete levels at which correspondences can be applied to one's thinking and willing. One's degree of enlightenment or consciousness of higher meanings in theistic psychology is proportional to one's degree of regeneration, a process that goes on throughout life and never ceases to eternity.
Genesis 24 describes the process by which the natural mind is set to order by means of the higher correspondences in the interior-natural organ. Setting in order the natural mind means to make it correspond with the spiritual mind. When we are born we inherit a natural mind in disorder, and in fact, in an order that is dead set against the spiritual order. The symptoms of this include a civilization of materialism, the negative bias in science, numerous societal problems, violent conflict between people, and individual inadequacies (depression, addiction, deception, cynicism, intolerance, hatred). The natural correspondences of Sacred Scripture in the human mind are powerless to overcome this inbred negativity. Despite what people can read in Sacred Scripture, and the religious doctrines that are justified through them, people seem incapable of reforming themselves through these ideas and concepts. They endlessly fall back to their inherited enjoyments and inclinations, unwilling to give them up. Their concept of heaven and hell (levels 1, 2, 3), isn't powerful enough in their mind to effect character change.
This is why "salvation" of the human race was necessary in order to rescue the human mind from hellish attachments people are unwilling to give up, consequently condemning themselves to an eternity of hellish life. New and more powerful mental tools had to be created, concepts and truths that could overcome the hellish attachments with which we were born. Only God could do that. But now consider the task of communicating these new mental reasoning tools to the human race. God could not implant the new concepts into the conscious natural mind of every individual. That would have felt like some unknown power taking over our mind. It i snot possible to acquire concepts without wanting to, without some motivation or love for them.
The method this required involved these nine steps.
These nine steps collectively constitute the Incarnation Event (see Section xx). It created a way out for "fallen" humanity (see Section xx). A new interior-natural organ was created within the conscious natural mind.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch4.htm#Genesis 24 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Table Illustrating the Extraction ProcessIn theistic psychology, “Divine truth” in our conscious natural mind is called the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech. The phrase “as Divine Speech” means that Sacred Scripture is read by means of the correspondences revealed and explained in the Writings. The scientific details extracted from this Chapter of Genesis are arranged in an orderly series that unfolds through the dramatic sequence of the story. Let us review in an encapsulated form what this Chapter has told us. The following Table presents the threefold analysis that is typical for extractive research in theistic psychology (see Section xx). Table 4.4.5
The above Table summarizes the discussion so far and shows the parallelism between the meaning of natural-corporeal correspondences (Old Testament Sacred Scripture), natural-rational correspondences (the Writings Sacred Scripture), and spiritual-natural correspondences (theistic psychology). These are three discrete levels of correspondences (see Section xx). Theistic psychology depends on thinking with spiritual-natural correspondences, which is also called the “first heaven” (see Section xx). From the Table above you can easily notice that there is a much greater similarity in content between the Writings (column 2) and theistic psychology (column 3), than there is between the Writings (column 2) and the Old Testament (column 1). This is because the Old Testament Sacred Scripture is written in corporeal correspondences, while the Writings are written in rational correspondences. Though both are natural correspondences, they are at different sub-levels of the natural mind. The corporeal level of thinking is the lowest operation of the natural mind (see Section xx). Next comes the sensuous level of thinking in which the New Testament Sacred Scripture is written. Finally, comes the rational level of thinking, and this is the consciousness level in which the Writings Sacred Scripture are written. The spiritual-natural correspondences of theistic psychology (or first heaven), are spiritual, and therefore they are superior to any of the natural correspondences in which the threefold Sacred Scripture is written. Yet their meanings are closely related to the natural-rational correspondences of the letter of the Writings. In this Table these similarities are more noticeable but in other passages the extraction process can be more involved (see Volume 2 of A Man of the Field listed in the Readings). Try to memorize the contents and patterns in Table 4.4.5 above. This will help you as you continue reading the analysis of Genesis 24, the passage in the Old Testament that discusses the theistic psychology of enlightenment. More specifically, it describes the mechanism by which our thinking and willing in daily life set themselves in agreement with the rational doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture that we have acquired for ourselves. In this way, the natural mind is regenerated and we enter the phase of the genuine human life. This process is called "salvation of the human race" because without it every individual born on earth would enter the hells of their mind when they become spirits in eternity. We must be willing to undergo this process of re-alignment of our external self, which involves setting it in agreement with our rational doctrine. Our rational doctrine is spiritual in origin. It is not created by materialistic ideas of self-intelligence. It is extracted from Sacred Scripture using prescribed methods of extraction. This requires
This evolutionary mechanism of spiritual regeneration did not exist in the human race prior to the birth of the Divine Child on this earth two thousand years ago. The Incarnation Event was the mechanism which God used to set up the glorification process, that is, the process by which the Divine Human from eternity is conjoined as one to the Human born on earth in time and place. The human born on earth is called the Divine Child and it is this Person who underwent the mental changes that created the new pathway of regeneration for the human race. The glorification process was completed in the Divine Man, when He reached the age of 33, died, resurrected, and "ascended to Heaven." The expression "ascending to heaven" refers to the completion of the glorification process. The instant this process was completed, the entire human race now possessed a new biological mechanism of unparalleled significance for the race. The natural mind now had a new spiritual organ within itself that did not exist before the glorification process. In the Incarnation Event, God the Divine Human, acquired a human from earth and united it with His Divine. This produced a new entity in existence -- the Divine Natural of God. But note carefully that the Divine Natural Mind of God had to be a product of the same mechanism that produces the natural mind of every human being on some earth. The Divine Child made His external self limited and vulnerable, full of the inheritance of evil that every individual possesses. Think of the difficulty of the task involved in glorifying this natural mind full of evil! How can it be purified so that it could become one with the Divine? That's what we are told in the Genesis Chapters 18 and onward as we read the story of the four Jewish patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. An excellent and stimulating study of these chapters was made by Geoffrey Childs (see The Path in the Readings). The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch4.htm#table1 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Scientific Revelations in Sacred ScriptureNote: For a more detailed justification for extracting the correspondential sense of the Writings of Swedenborg, please consult my online book at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/v2ch1-nonduality.html Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg: I am well aware that many will say that no one can possibly speak with spirits and angels so long as he lives in the body; and many will say that it is all fancy, others that I relate such things in order to gain credence, and others will make other objections. But by all this I am not deterred, for I have seen, I have heard, I have felt. (AC 68) As it is permitted me to disclose what for several years I have heard and seen, it shall here be told, first, how the case is with man when he is being resuscitated; or how he enters from the life of the body into the life of eternity. In order that I might know that men live after death, it has been given me to speak and be in company with many who were known to me during their life in the body; and this not merely for a day or a week, but for months, and almost a year, speaking and associating with them just as in this world. They wondered exceedingly that while they lived in the body they were, and that very many others are, in such incredulity as to believe that they will not live after death; when in fact scarcely a day intervenes after the death of the body before they are in the other life; for death is a continuation of life. (AC 70)
By focusing on the universal meaning of Sacred Scripture, the natural historical meaning recedes in the background. From a sectarian religion, Divine Speech is reconstructed into a science of the human mind and God. Note that the literal sense is also true and is unaffected by the scientific sense drawn from it. Hence it is not accurate to say that the scientific sense destroys religion or impairs it in any way. In fact, it's quite obvious that when both the literal and scientific senses are known, the literal and historical meaning is strengthened, not weakened. Theistic psychology supports all religions and is dependent on the literal sense as a foot is dependent on a shoe, or as the head is dependent on a hat for protection, or as the egg is dependent on the egg shell. The literal sense is the eggshell and the scientific sense is the egg, or, the hat is the literal sense while the head is the scientific sense. Take away the hat and your head has no protection, or, take away the egg shell and the egg is lost. In the passage below, "the internal or correspondential sense of the Word " refers to the scientific sense of Divine Speech.
Quoting from Swedenborg: The
internal or correspondential sense of the Word contains innumerable arcana.
Quoting from Swedenborg: But man has severed this connection with heaven by turning his interiors away from heaven, and turning them to the world and to self by means of his love of self and of the world, thereby so withdrawing himself that he no longer serves as a basis and foundation for heaven; therefore the Divine-Human has provided a medium to serve in place of this basis and foundation for heaven, and also for the conjunction of heaven with man. This medium is the Word. How the Word serves as such a medium has been shown in many places in ARCANA COELESTIA, all of which may be seen gathered up in the little work on THE WHITE HORSE mentioned in Revelation; also in the APPENDIX TO THE NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE, from which some notes are here appended. For the reason that the natural is the ultimate in which spiritual and celestial things, which are interior things, terminate and on which they continue in existence, like a house upon its foundation (n. 9430, 9433, 9824, 10044, 10436). That the Word might be such it was written by means of pure correspondences (n. 1404, 1408, 1409, 1540, 1619, 1659, 1709, 1783, 8615, 10687). Because the Word is such in the sense of the letter it is the containant of the spiritual and celestial sense (n. 9407). And it is accommodated both to men and to angels at the same time (n. 1769-1772, 1887, 2143, 2157, 2275, 2333, 2395, 2540, 2541, 2547, 2553, 7381, 8862, 10322). And it is a means of uniting heaven and earth (n. 2310, 2495, 9212, 9216, 9357, 9396, 10375). The conjunction of the Divine-Human with man is through the Word, by means of the internal sense (n. 10375). There is conjunction by means of all things and each particular thing of the Word, and in consequence the Word is wonderful above all other writing (n. 10632-10634). Since the Word was written the Divine-Human speaks with men by means of it (n. 10290). The Church where the Word is and the Divine-Human is known by means of it, in relation to those outside the Church where there is no Word and the Divine-Human is unknown is like the heart and lungs in man in comparison with the other parts of the body, which live from them as from the fountains of their life (n. 637, 931, 2054, 2853). Before the Divine-Human the universal Church on the earth is as one Man (n. 7396, 9276). Consequently unless there were on this earth a Church where the Word is, and where the Divine-Human is known by means of it, the human race here would perish (n. 468, 637, 931, 4545, 10452). (HH 305)
In its scientific sense "the Church" refers to our mental state when we are regenerating or developing spiritually through progressive character reformation by temptations. "The Word" refers to Divine Speech and "the Divine-Human" refers to God. "Those who are outside the Church" refers to our mental states prior to entering the states of regeneration. Read again the passage above by focusing away from the literal sense and towards the scientific sense. Then do the same for the passage below. "The Church of the Divine-Human" refers to the fact that every individual regardless of religion is led into the states of regeneration by the same one and only God. The "universal Church on earth" refers to every individual who acknowledges God and God's commandments.
The church of the Divine-Human is with all in the whole world who live in good according to their religious principles (n. 3263, 6637, 10765). All who live in good wherever they are, and acknowledge one God, are accepted by the Divine-Human and come into heaven; since all who are in good acknowledge the Divine-Human, because good is from the Divine-Human, and the Divine-Human is in good (n. 2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 3263, 4190, 4197, 6700, 9256). The universal church on earth before the Divine-Human is as one man (n. 7396, 9276). As heaven is, because the church is heaven or the kingdom of the Divine-Human on earth (n. 2853, 2996, 2998, 3624-3629, 3636-3643, 3741-3745, 4625). But the church, where the Divine-Human is known and where the Word is, is like the heart and lungs in man in respect to the other parts of the body, which live from the heart and lungs as from the fountains of their life (n. 637, 931, 2054, 2853). Hence it is, that unless there were a church where the Word is, and where the Divine-Human is thereby known, the human race could not be saved (n. 468, 637, 931, 4545, 10452). The church is the foundation of heaven (n. 4060).
Quoting from Swedenborg: The angels themselves declare that all their wisdom comes through the Word; for the light they enjoy depends upon how deep is their understanding of the Word. The light of heaven is Divine wisdom, which is visible to their eyes as light. In the shrine where a copy of the Word is stored, the light is flame-like and brilliant, surpassing in intensity any light in heaven outside it. The wisdom of the celestial angels exceeds that of the spiritual angels, more or less to the same extent as that exceeds that of human beings. This is because the celestial angels have the good of love from the Divine-Human, and the spiritual angels have the truths of wisdom from the Divine-Human. Where the good of love is, there too dwells wisdom; but where truths are, wisdom does not dwell except to the extent that the good of love is there too. This is why the Word is written differently in the Divine-Human's celestial kingdom from that in His spiritual kingdom. For in the Word of the celestial kingdom the expressions convey the different kinds of good of love and the characters the affections of love; in the Word of the spiritual kingdom the expressions convey the truths of wisdom, the characters the inward perceptions of truth. These facts will allow one to conclude 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 beyond description; and a person after death enters into possession of this wisdom, if by means of the Word he is made an angel by the Divine-Human. (TCR 242) As the external of the Word appears in heaven of a scarlet color, and as there is an influx out of heaven into man's memory, in which what is drawn from the Word appears of such a color, therefore scarlet was employed in relation to the remembrance of things. (AC 9468)
Sacred Scripture or Divine SpeechTheistic psychology is the scientific knowledge extracted from Sacred Scripture according to the laws of correspondences revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg (see Section xx). When the authors of the Old and New Testament wrote down their sentences they did not know that within those sentences are hidden scientific revelations from Divine Speech. Swedenborg's sentences are also of this Divine style called "the Word" though he himself, being a mere human, could not see the infinite depth of meanings contained in the sentences he wrote. His job was to write about what he saw in the spiritual world according to his own understanding and scientifically trained mind. This he did. Surely, when he reflected upon it, Swedenborg must have realized that his sentences had that property of Divine Speech. He does state that he only wrote what the Lord inspired him to write, and frequently he says that he can't go further into some subject because the Lord did not allow it.
Swedenborg says that no one can discover the inner layers of Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech, except those to whom it is revealed by the Divine Human. Swedenborg was commissioned by the Divine Human to be the revelator of the code of correspondences through which all Divine Speech enters the human mind. Divine Speech is nothing but Divine Truth, and Divine Truth is the syntax by which our rational thinking proceeds. Our ability to think rationally allows us to understand spiritual concepts contained in Divine Speech. This is the only source of spiritual concepts for human beings. Without spiritual concepts, the human race would fall into animal life, which is purely natural, and of this world only. Heaven and hell, and immortality, would not be possible without spiritual concepts forming human minds.
Divine Speech contains spiritual concepts that descend from the Divine Human into the minds of human beings, thus forming their rational mind, by which they have immortality. Divine Speech is therefore the source of immortality and the source of life. But we need to consider the fact that human beings are in different states of rationality at different times of their biography. Rational understanding of spiritual concepts varies from high to low. For instance, when children read Sacred Scripture their ability to understand is at first limited mainly to historical and natural events and stories. their concept of God is a natural one, and so is their idea of heaven and hell. They think hell is a place of physical punishment and torment, and heaven as a place of physical rewards and enjoyments. Many adults continue along this natural approach to spiritual ideas. For instance, many religious people believe that this world will physically end, and a new physical world will be created, upon which will live those who are resurrected from their graves.
The physicalistic understanding of God, heaven, hell, salvation, sin, etc. is expressed in a language called "natural correspondences." These are lower-order cognitions or thought patterns. It is the way we think when all our knowledge is based in materialistic input -- our physical senses, or facts based on observations with the physical senses. Thus, nothing of the spiritual world can enter this knowledge since these cannot be observed with the physical senses. The only source of spiritual knowledge is Sacred Scripture. This spiritual knowledge is in Sacred Scripture, but it is hidden from the surface meaning of the sentences, which is purely natural in content and thinking level or mentality.
Individuals progress spiritually to deeper levels of understanding and rationality when they learn the laws of correspondences in which Sacred Scripture is written. They can now read the sentences of Sacred Scripture with higher-order cognitions called "spiritual correspondences." The Writings of Swedenborg analyze major portions of the Old and New Testaments, applying the method of correspondences revealed to him through his direct observations in the spiritual world (see Section xx). The Writings do not analyze themselves in the same way for reasons I can understand. If Swedenborg had tried to include this self-exegesis, his books would have been incomprehensible to most people. Instead, the exegesis of the Writings is to be done by others in the ensuing centuries and millennia, in their scholarship and research of the scientific revelations hidden within its sentences. Theistic psychology is the organized research effort that has begun this task that will be so critical to the evolution of the human race.
Let us see how how Swedenborg applies the method of correspondences to two common words in the Old Testament: "foes" and "enemies." Quoting from the Writings:
AE 671. And their enemies saw them.- That this signifies cognition and acknowledgment with those who are interiorly opposed to the goods and truths of the Word and of the church, is evident from the signification of seeing, as denoting to understand, consequently to know and to acknowledge (concerning which see above 11, 37, 260 a, 354, 529); and from the signification of enemies, as denoting those who are opposed to the goods of love and the truths of doctrine, consequently those who are in evils and falsities, for these are meant, in the Word, in its correspondential sense by enemies (inimicos) and foes (hostes). It is therefore evident, that by their enemies saw them, is signified cognition and acknowledgment with those who are against the two witnesses, which are the goods of love and truths of doctrine. [2] The interior truth involved is as follows: by enemies are here meant those who are interiorly, but yet not outwardly, opposed to the goods of love and the truths of doctrine, for with the lips they act as friends, but in heart as enemies. Therefore before the world they profess those things, but in their spirit, in which they are when engaged in meditating alone, they deny them. These, therefore, are the enemies who see; for when they are in corporeal-natural thought, which is the case when they are in the company of others, they see, that is, know and acknowledge goods and truths; but when they are in spiritual-natural thought, which is the case when they are alone, and think concerning the things of faith, then they do not acknowledge them. This is why it is said, that those two witnesses ascended into heaven in a cloud; for the cloud Signifies the external of the Word, of the church, and of worship, which, and from which, they see. That the cloud there signifies this external, may be seen in the article just above. [3] In numerous passages of the Word, mention is made of foes and enemies, and by them are meant evils and falsities, by foes (hostes), evils, and by enemies (inimici), falsities, for the Word in its bosom is spiritual; therefore in that sense foes and enemies mean only spiritual foes and enemies. That this is the case is evident from the following passages. In David: "Jehovah, how are my foes increased, many are they that rise up against me, that say of my soul, no safety (salus) for him in God" (Psalm iii. 1, 2). In the same: "Make wonderful thy mercy, O Saviour of them that trust, from them that rise up against me: keep me by thy right hand, from the wicked who are against my soul, who compass me about" (Psalm xvii. 7-9). In the same: "Deliver me not up to the desire of my foes, for witnesses of a lie have risen up against me, who breathe out violence; unless I had trusted to see good in the land of life" (Psalm xxvii. 12, 13). In the same: "Deliver me from my foes, O my God, from them that rise up against me, lift me up: deliver me from the workers of iniquity behold they lay snares for my soul" (Psalm lix. 1-3). In Isaiah: "The wicked acteth perversely in the land of uprightness, but Jehovah, thine hand is lifted up, fire shall devour thine enemies " (xxvi. 10, 11). Besides in many other places in the prophetic Word, where foes and enemies are mentioned, and also in the historic Word, where foes, wars, and battles are treated of. For as war signifies spiritual war, which is that between truths and falsities, and as the weapons of war, such as spears, bows, arrows, and swords, signify those things that pertain to spiritual war, so also do foes and enemies. That wars, in the Word, and also weapons of war, as bows, arrows, and swords, signify such things, has been frequently shown in the preceding pages. (AE 671)
The above analysis gives an indication of some of the content of Divine Speech. While the natural correspondences refer to foes and enemies in a natural sense, the spiritual correspondences of "foes" and "enemies" refer to the mental state of being opposed to what is good and true. Natural foes and enemies refer to the horizontal community of people in our geographic area. In the Psalms, David frequently refers to King Saul's soldiers who are chasing him. They are his foes and enemies from whom he asks God for protection. This is the literal, historical, religious meaning. But when we extract the spiritual correspondences, we get an entirely new meaning, this time not natural, but spiritual, which means mental, since spiritual=mental (see Section xx). The content of Divine Speech in its higher correspondences is about mental states and how we can change them to prepare them for heavenly life. This is obviously the most critical topic God can talk about to the human race since the purpose of the human race on earth is to become regenerated, to acquire a heavenly character, and thus to enter immortal life in heaven. It is for this single overarching purpose that God creates human beings, and therefore it is also the chief content of Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture. In the passage above the scientific meaning of "enemies" is given as "cognition and acknowledgment with those who are interiorly opposed to the goods and truths of the Word and of the church." To understand this definition as theistic psychology we need to apply correspondences to it. What is designated here by "the goods and truths of the Word and of the church" to which we are opposed in certain mental states? "The Word" refers to Sacred Scripture and "the church" refers to our developing spiritual understanding based on it. We are called "enemies" by Divine Speech when we reject or contradict the spiritual concepts we derive from Sacred Scripture. Our concepts of good or love, on the one hand, and our concepts of truth on the other, are called "the two witnesses." These are the means by which we can be regenerated for heavenly life. The "goods of love" are for regenerating the affective organ of the will, while the "truths of doctrine" are for regenerating the cognitive organ of understanding. God talks about our mental states, teaching us to differentiate them so that we can learn to control them. This is called regeneration (see Section xx), without which we enter our hells upon entering the spiritual world of immortality. Hence God is intent on giving us the rational consciousness of the spiritual world. Our heaven of immortality is located inside this rational consciousness. Without it, we have nothing but the sensuous consciousness of the corporeal mentality, which is the hell in everyone's mind. Rational thinking about spiritual ideas opens the heaven in everyone's mind, makes it functional and operational.
The passage above discusses the exterior and interior mental states relative to each other, a distinction that must be understood and taken into account. It is said that "by enemies are here meant those who are interiorly, but yet not outwardly, opposed to the goods of love and the truths of doctrine, for with the lips they act as friends, but in heart as enemies." In other words, we need to recognize a particular mental state within ourselves in which we are of a divided mind, one part of our mind being an enemy to the other part. In this state we are "outwardly" supportive of the spiritual ideas we extract from Sacred Scripture but "interiorly" we are "opposed" to them. The reason we are inwardly opposed to the ideas of good and truth we learn about is that our hellish loves are enemies to the heavenly truths. Why?
Because heavenly truths, or truths of doctrine from Sacred Scripture, point to what good we must love and do. We don't like to do these heavenly goods because we already love to do the hellish things. these are the things we call good -- what we enjoy and already love, and they are evil enjoyments that benefit self only and lead to the destruction of all heavenly good and truth we could have.
The passage says that "before the world they profess those things, but in their spirit, in which they are when engaged in meditating alone, they deny them. These, therefore, are the enemies who see" The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch4.htm#scientific-revelations +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Correspondences in Sacred Scripture and Divine SpeechQuoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: 66. There are in the Word, in general, four different styles. The first is that of the Most Ancient Church. Their mode of expression was such that when they mentioned terrestrial and worldly things they thought of the spiritual and celestial things which these represented. They therefore not only expressed themselves by representatives, but also formed these into a kind of historical series, in order to give them more life; and this was to them delightful in the very highest degree. This is the style of which Hannah prophesied, saying: Speak what is high! high! Let what is ancient come out of your mouth (1 Sam. 2:3). Such representatives are called in David, "Dark sayings of old" (Ps. 78:2-4). These particulars concerning the creation, the garden of Eden, etc., down to the time of Abram, Moses had from the descendants of the Most Ancient Church. [2] The second style is historical, which is found in the books of Moses from the time of Abram onward, and in those of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and the Kings. In these books the historical facts are just as they appear in the sense of the letter; and yet they all contain, in both general and particular, quite other things in the internal sense, of which, by the Lord's Divine mercy, in their order in the following pages. The third style is the prophetical one, which was born of that which was so highly venerated in the Most Ancient Church. This style however is not in connected and historical form like the most ancient style, but is broken, and is scarcely ever intelligible except in the internal sense, wherein are deepest arcana, which follow in beautiful connected order, and relate to the external and the internal man; to the many states of the church; to heaven itself; and in the inmost sense to the Lord. The fourth style is that of the Psalms of David, which is intermediate between the prophetical style and that of common speech. The Lord is there treated of in the internal sense, under the person of David as a king. (AC 66) Recall that all details of reality and events are produced by God. This is the dictionary meaning of the word "omnipotence" which is attributed to God by definition. Since nothing exists before God creates it, all things that exist must be created out of the infinite and immortal spiritual substances that are in God. These spiritual substances are called "uncreate" to distinguish them from created objects. We are familiar with many of these uncreate substances, calling them by such names as life, love, good, truth, intelligence, and freedom, along with all their sub-varieties like different kinds of loves, different types of truths, different variety of sensations and mental delights. These uncreate substances are infinite and alive in themselves. When we receive them in our mental organs by inflow, these spiritual uncreate substances set in motion mental operations that we subjectively experience as loves and attractions we feel, the truths we think and understand, the delights and pleasures we experience, the will and determination we exercise when pursuing a goal, and so on. These operations in our mind are created by the inflow of the uncreate spiritual substances. In what sense are we then different from a television, a computer, or a robot? The scientific answer is revealed in the Writings Sacred Scripture. It is one of the most astonishing ideas in theistic psychology. It's called the "as-of self" (see Section xx). In other words, God has created our mental organs not only to be able to receive the inflow of the uncreate spiritual substances, but also to make us feel that these living operations in our mind are our own, not something that comes into us from outside ourselves. We don't want to be TV sets. We don't want to be computers and robots. We want to have a mind of our own, our own thoughts, our very own feelings. This human sentiment is discussed in the story of Adam and Eve in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). The explanations are laid out in the scientific sense of the story once it is determined what the words in the literal meaning tell us by correspondence between the natural events and the mental operations. The natural event is about Adam, who is presented there as the first created human being, who complained to God about being alone. God responded by taking one of Adam's ribs while he was asleep, and creating a woman out of it, and the two became a married couple. This is the natural event or story line. It is written in a special Divine language where every detail mentioned hides some universal fact about mental states and about their proper preparation for immortality. The mental operations to which it corresponds involve the "as-of self" in the evolution of the human race (see Section xx). Adam stands for the self. Eve represents the "as-of self." The self of a human being could not be happy without feeling that our willing and thinking are our very own and that we can act in freedom in accordance with our desire. That refers to the feeling of inner freedom and privacy, but since it was revealed to our rational mind that God is omnipotent, we can reason that the rationality of our mental operations in our willing and thinking cannot really be our own. Both of these must be present in our mind – the feeling of freedom to act and the understanding that God is actually the only animating power and rationality. On the one hand, we understand rationally that the life and intelligence in us is not our own. On the other hand, we would be inhuman unless we had the sensation and feeling that our willing and thinking are our very own. This is why we need the "as-of self" concept. It is one of the most productive and beneficial ideas in theistic psychology. It is the as-of self that makes us human and fundamentally different from other receptors -- TVs, radios, computers, robots. Animals do not reflect rationally on the world and themselves. They do not have an as-of self, which is a purely human operation of the rational organ of the mind. God rules all created things by means of the uncreate spiritual substances that stream forth from the infinite Spiritual Sun and enter every created object from within. These living immortal substances create different operational effects depending on the structure or form of the receiving object. Rocks and atoms are physical receptors that receive the uncreate substances within themselves from within, and this makes up the basis or infrastructure of their existence. Plants and animals receive the inflow of uncreate spiritual substances still differently, and clearly in a higher level of function. This is why plant and animal species can adapt, survive, and propagate, while structures of rocks and atoms fall apart in time. Human minds receive the inflow of uncreate spiritual substances at the highest possible level, which is called rationality. This is the level that creates the operation of the as-of self. The above discussion was about how God creates and manages things through their inner reception of the uncreate substances. Recall that the uncreate substances are living in themselves as part of God's life. There are two main categories of uncreate substances -- good and truth. Divine Good is also called Divine Love, while Divine Truth is also called Divine Wisdom. You can see from the above discussion that good and truth are spiritual substances that form the basis of every object and quality in the created universe. This is difficult to grasp at first because we think of good and truth in materialistic ideas, not spiritual or rational. But you can see why and in what way theistic psychology uses the concept Divine Speech. God's "speech" refers to God's love and truth, since that's what God is -- infinite Divine Love and Truth. God creates and manages the universe by means of love and truth. Divine Speech is always about love and truth, the very source and structure of all reality, including worlds, atoms, and minds. The good and truth we receive form the basis of our mind, our immortality, our conjugial happiness, and our ability to make others happy from ourselves. God gives the human race love and truth in many different ways. One of the ways involves our conscious rationality as human beings. This is the "as-of self" spoken of above. God uses Divine Speech to elevate the consciousness of human beings. Divine Truth in Divine Speech is the primary and most powerful agent of creation. The Divine Truth in Divine Speech is expressed in meanings called correspondences -- the same correspondences that governs the laws between natural events and spiritual events, as discussed above. This is understandable when you consider that God manages the natural world as a world of effects whose causes are in the spiritual world. The cause-effect relation is achieved by means of correspondences. If X in the natural world corresponds to Y in the spiritual world, then Y is the cause of X.
In the following passage from Arcana Coelestia ("Heavenly Secrets"), Swedenborg is analyzing the phrase "When it is well with thee" which appears in Genesis 40, Verse 14. In its inner scientific sense, this phrase refers to a developmental phase of character reformation involving the sensuous or empirical level of thinking and feeling. Swedenborg takes the opportunity here to say something more about correspondences, a subject that he discusses progressively throughout the 12-volume set of Arcana Coelestia. AC 5131 "When it is well with thee." [Gen. 40:14] That this signifies when there is correspondence, is evident from the signification of its "being well with thee," when the rebirth or regeneration of the exterior natural or sensuous is treated of, as being correspondence; for it is not well with it until it corresponds. At the end of the different chapters it may be seen what correspondence is. There is a correspondence of sensuous with natural things, a correspondence of natural with spiritual things, a correspondence of spiritual with celestial things, and finally a correspondence of celestial things with the Divine of the Lord; thus there is a succession of correspondences from the Divine down to the ultimate natural. [2] But as an idea of the nature of correspondences can with difficulty be formed by those who have never thought about them before, it may be well to say a few words on the subject. It is known from philosophy that the end is the first of the cause, and that the cause is the first of the effect. That the end, the cause, and the effect may follow in order, and act as a one, it is needful that the effect should correspond to the cause, and the cause to the end. But still the end does not appear as the cause, nor the cause as the effect; for in order that the end may produce the cause, it must take to itself administrant means from the region where the cause is, by which means the end may produce the cause; and in order that the cause may produce the effect, it also must take to itself administrant means from the region where the effect is, by which means the cause may produce the effect. These administrant means are what correspond; and because they correspond, the end can be in the cause and can actuate the cause, and the cause can be in the effect and can actuate the effect; consequently the end through the cause can actuate the effect. It is otherwise when there is no correspondence; for then the end has no cause in which it may be, still less an effect in which it may be, but is changed and varied in the cause, and finally in the effect, according to the form made by the administrant means. [3] All things in general and in particular in man, nay, all things in general and in particular in nature, succeed one another as end, cause, and effect; and when they thus correspond to one another, they act as a one; for then the end is the all in all things of the cause, and through the cause is the all in all things of the effect. As for example, when heavenly love is the end, the will the cause, and action the effect, if there is correspondence, then heavenly love flows into the will, and the will into the action, and they so act as a one that by means of the correspondence the action is as it were the love; or as when the faith of charity is the end, thought the cause, and speech the effect, then if there is correspondence, faith from charity flows into the thought, and this into the speech, and they so act as a one, that by means of the correspondence the speech is as it were the end. In order however that the end, which is love and faith, may produce the cause, which is will and thought, it must take to itself administrant means in the rational mind that will correspond; for without administrant means that correspond, the end, which is love or faith, cannot be received, however much it may flow in from the Lord through heaven. From this it is plain that the interiors and the exteriors of man, that is, what is rational, natural, and sensuous in him must be brought into correspondence, in order that he may receive the Divine influx, and consequently that he may be born again; and that it is not well with him till then. This is the reason why here by "when it is well with thee" is signified correspondence. (AC 5131) We can highlight the above passage by summarizing some of the assertions contained in it. This will give us a more rational understanding of correspondences and the key role they have in our lives. (1) There is a succession of correspondences produced by Divine Speech, from the Spiritual Sun down and out to the ultimate physical plane of reality. (2) The end, the cause, and the effect follow in order, and act as a one because the effect corresponds to the cause, and the cause to the end. Hence correspondences are the means by which all phenomena (natural effects) are produced (spiritual causes). (3) The end is in the cause and actuates the cause. The cause is in the effect and actuates the effect. Consequently the end through the cause actuates the effect. The “end” refers to God’s goal of adequately preparing human beings for their life in immortality. This is Divine Love. The “cause” refers to the exteriorization of God’s goal by means of Divine Truth within which Divine Love is contained and hidden. Thus truth is nothing but the outward visible appearance of love, which itself remains invisible within it. (4) In order that the end may produce the cause, it must take to itself administrant means from the region where the cause is, by which means the end may produce the cause; and in order that the cause may produce the effect, it also must take to itself administrant means from the region where the effect is, by which means the cause may produce the effect. These “administrant means” are what correspond. This means that there is no direct contact across degrees between the spiritual and the natural realities. There is only a correspondential function that automatically ties them together in the position of cause and effect. The impossibility of direct contact between the natural and the spiritual, or between the effect and its cause, is because the effect and the cause are each in separate substances or realities that can never appear to each other. But they do appear to each other by correspondence, which is a functional connection, not direct and continuous. (5) All things in general and in particular in the human mind and in nature, succeed one another as end, cause, and effect; and when they thus correspond to one another, they act as a one. This is the basis of reality. Correspondences are the laws that hold all things in the right position, structure, and action. (6) In human action, the mental organ of “the will” operates our motivated affective goal states. This is experienced as a striving to achieve a particular “end” or purpose. The mental organ of the “understanding” operates our cognitive thinking sequences. These cognitive operations are motivated, initiated, and directed by the will to produce a plan to reach the desired goal state. A particular action is the ultimate result of the three-step process. In this behavioral series, the “will,” or the operations of the affective organ, defines and selects the “end” or particular motivated goal state. The “understanding,” or the operations of the cognitive organ, provides the “cause” or particular reasoning and plan. The action is the “effect” and it is executed or performed by the sensorimotor organ of the mind. Once the sequence affective-cognitive-sensorimotor is complete in the mind, the physical body reacts by correspondence and produces appropriate movement, action, perception, and sensation. These four things correspond to each other --
(7) The Divine Human's love in the form of spiritual heat, inflows into the affective organ, and the Divine Human's truth in the form of spiritual light, inflows into the cognitive. No matter how much love and truth flow into our mind from God, they remain inactive on their own, until we consciously decide to make our willing and thinking to correspond to the inflowing love and truth. Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture instructs us on how to achieve this correspondence. Our willing and intending, or motivational goal states, must be made consciously to correspond to the inflowing Divine love, and our thinking and reasoning processes, must be made consciously to correspond to the inflowing Divine truth. Thus can we be “reborn” as an individual with new character. This new and superior spiritual character makes it possible for us to live in the heavens of our mind, when we pass into the immortality of the afterlife. (8) The love and truth to which our intending and reasoning have been made to correspond, is nothing else than the Divine Love and the Divine Truth activating and operating by correspondence the new willing mind. We must continuously keep in mind that this love and truth are both infinite and uncreate, hence they cannot belong to us. When we fail to keep this in mind, we are spiritually insane and irrational. We must think rational thoughts, namely, that God wills that His Divine Love and Truth entering our mind, appear to us as-if our very own. In other words, it feels to us that we are free to think or do as we choose. This is a real feeling based on our actual reality. It is not an illusion or delusion. It is God who creates this reality. He makes it such that His love and truth, which operate our willing and thinking, feel to us like our own love and truth, our own willing what we like, and our own thinking what we want. We can forget, or we can deny, that it is God’s power and God’s rationality that activates our willing and thinking. God allows people to forget or deny reality. If God did not allow people to deny reality, and forced them to think only rationally, we would not have freedom, hence we would not be human. We could not reciprocate God’s love, for which He longs, and for which He created the universe. Hence it is absolutely essential that God give people actual freedom, not bogus freedom as an appearance to fool us. To give people actual freedom means that He must compel Himself to make things happen that He would not choose to on His Own, because they are evil things that make human beings suffer, instead of the good things that He Himself wills for them, which make them eternally happy. The revelation of this Divine Law of Permissions, as it is called in the Writings Sacred Scripture, proves that human freedom is actual, not a mere appearance or illusion, despite God’s omnipotence (see Section xx). Without the reality of this as-if appearance, we could not be maximally happy, hence we could not dwell in our heaven. But we must constantly acknowledge to ourselves that they are only as-if our own, and not actually our own. The moment we think they are truly our own, they turn instantly into their opposites -- negative love (hatred, fear, anger, dissatisfaction) and negative truth (invalid conclusions, false assumptions, delusional explanations). It’s like a car you are allowed to own for free given to you by a wizard. You are told that the moment you think that the car is actually yours, it will disappear. Our rationality is an ability or power that gives us the ability to reason truthfully. It feels like it’s our own rationality. But we are told in the Writings Sacred Scripture that if we assume that our intelligence is actually our own, not God’s, we lose it. Our rationality vanishes. We now start thinking and reasoning with flaws. Our conclusions are no longer accurate and real. Our assumptions are false. Our motivational states slip into negative zones. We have lost the status of humanity. We can regain it, but only by giving up how we think and feel. (9) The anatomy of the mind shows three discrete layers in the natural mind, from top to bottom-- rational, natural, and sensuous. Another way of saying this is natural-rational, natural-sensuous, and natural-corporeal (see Section xx). Love and truth inflowing from the Divine Human cannot activate anything in our will and understanding unless we ourselves consciously create rational concepts in our understanding. These rational concepts are called "administrant means" in the passage above. Elsewhere they are called rational "vessels" that can “contain spiritual truths.” Theistic psychology is the knowledge that consists of these rational concepts and principles organized into a science (“scientifics of doctrine”). Divine Love and Truth can inflow into these rational concepts. The more interior these rational concepts are, the higher the form of the Divine Love and Truth that we can receive into our consciousness. In other words, the thoughts and feelings are at a level of consciousness or mentality that correspond to Divine Love and Truth. It is Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture that forms the content of consciousness at each discrete level of the mind. You can see from this discussion that the revelation of the existence of correspondences and what they are, will be a great boon to the evolution of human civilization on this earth. The Table below shows how Divine Speech expressed in Sacred Scripture gradually raised the evolution of consciousness of the human race.
You can see that Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture has been given to the human race on this earth over a period of thousands of years in Western culture comprising three periods or phases of evolution. Prior to this history, Divine Speech was received in earlier forms of Sacred Scripture whose character is described in the Writings. These earlier forms of Sacred Scripture formed the consciousness and religions of the Asiatic people. Subsequently, the East and the West cultures and religions have developed separately, but at the beginning all cultures on this earth had religions from the ancient Sacred Scripture given to the first human generations born on this planet. These historical details are revealed in the Writings. They are important to know because of the universal law that individual biography recapitulates cultural history, or that the developmental steps of our consciousness recapitulate the evolution of mentality in the race (see Section xx). In the table above, the first phase is marked by the Hebrew Old Testament Sacred Scripture which was written in a style and mentality called "natural-corporeal" correspondences of Divine Speech. The meaning of Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture was cast in a mentality that corresponded to the level and style of thinking of the civilization of the Old Testament in the Middle East and surrounding regions. The prophets through whose mind these Sacred Scriptures were written down, had this mentality and they wrote down the Divine Speech that came to their natural mind at the level of their own mentality, which was natural-corporeal. Hence the Old Testament Sacred Scripture had to be written in natural-corporeal correspondences of Divine Speech. The second phase is marked by the Greek New Testament Sacred Scripture, which is written in a higher mentality level called "natural-sensuous" correspondences of Divine Speech. When you contrast the numbered entries in the table which describe that mentality, you can see that Divine Speech in correspondences at the natural-sensuous level, comes through and speaks to a more universal level of the human mind, less sectarian and ethnic. From a general or distant relationship to God, humanity could now develop a personal and close relationship. God as a Divine Human has a relationship directly to the individual (phase 2 consciousness), not just collectively to a nation or religion (phase 1 consciousness). The third phase is marked by the Writings Sacred Scripture which are written with the highest level of natural correspondences called "natural-rational" correspondences of divine Speech. At this level of thinking Divine Speech describes the particulars of our relationship to God in universal scientific ideas, such as we have in theistic psychology based on the Writings Sacred Scripture. Theistic psychology is based on the systematic methodical activity of extracting layers of correspondences in the Writings Sacred Scripture. This extraction process must follow the procedures specified in the Writings regarding how to extract higher order correspondences from all Sacred Scripture. Theistic psychology was made possible when the Divine Child during the Incarnation Event created the interior-natural organ in Himself, and consequently in every human being’s mind (see Section xx). Considered in its literal meaning, the Old and New Testament Sacred Scripture appears to be historical, ethnic, and religious, and sometimes even sectarian and sexist. This literal content has been used in history to wage cruel wars against other religions and ethnic groups. Even within one religion that is based on the same historical Sacred Scripture, there are sub-varieties of interpretations that have fueled passions and aroused discrimination, disagreement, cruelty, and bitterness. All this negativity and dogmatism associated with religion and Sacred Scripture disappear totally when we go below the surface literal meaning to the inner level of correspondences, as is illustrated and demonstrated in the Writings Sacred Scripture. It is understandable why Divine Speech is of such a negative character by the time it comes down to the lowest common denominator, which is the ethnic mind of a prophet who is a member of a community somewhere and has a cultural or socialized mentality reflecting his tribe and times. All portions of Sacred Scripture are constructed of written sentences in some natural language like Hebrew (Old Testament), Greek (New Testament), or Latin (the Writings). In each case the literal-historical content reflects the age and culture. But the inner sense that is extracted through correspondences has no cultural, historical, and religious content. Its content is theistic psychology, a universal scientific revelation of endless proportions, delivered through the modern scientific mind of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). It is very significant to note that the modern scientific revelations in the Writings could not have been delivered by Swedenborg in the same way as the revelations contained in the Old Testament, and the New Testament. None of the authors of the Old and New Testament books had any idea of the hidden inner correspondences of the sentences they wrote down. Their thinking mentality was pre-modern. They could not possibly understand the rational scientific descriptions of the human mind, its anatomy, and relation to the spiritual world, heaven, and regeneration. For instance, the people who wrote the New Testament were eyewitnesses to the physical Incarnation of God as the Divine Human. They were able to relate to Him only at the natural-sensuous level. They would not have been able to read and understand the Writings, written 17 centuries later in natural-rational correspondences of Divine Speech. They had only natural-sensuous concepts by which to comprehend God and the Divine Human that walked among them. For instance, they could not understand why it was that the physical Divine Human had to undergo death and had to vanish from their sensuous consciousness. They tried to hold Him back, not being able to understand His explanations that He must return to a state of spiritual existence in order that He might appear to them in a more eternal manner. This new more real Presence is the Divine Human in their conscious rational mind and is called the “Holy Spirit.” The co-Presence of God with us is in our rational consciousness. The Divine Human, once He was present physically on earth, could have remained within their sensuous consciousness, as they urged Him to do. But He refused to do that for their sake and the sake of all humanity. It took 17 more centuries of evolution before a modern scientist like Swedenborg could be introduced into the spiritual world while still on earth, so that he might give an empirical rational account of the spiritual world and God. Nothing but an empirical and scientific account could serve for the new modern science of theistic psychology. From this discussion you can see how it is that the evolution of human consciousness is brought about by God through Divine Speech expressed in levels of correspondences matching the ability of people to understand God's management techniques. Human consciousness is therefore an expression of our relationship to God -- general, personal, and particular. For more on this topic see Section xx and my other online book Moses, Paul, and Swedenborg: Three Steps in Rational Spirituality available online: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/moses.html See also AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PRESENCE OF CORRESPONDENCES WITHIN THE WORD by Rev. Dr. Reuben P. Bell available online at: http://highermeaning.org/Authors/RPB/CORRESPO.shtml Here is an example of how we transform or translate natural-rational ideas into spiritual-natural correspondences:
The Table above is a comparison of the discrete levels of operation of Divine Speech in our mind as it descends from the Spiritual Sun (see Diagrams above). Divine Speech is also called Divine Truth and also, spiritual light. Truth is therefore a substance, which is why sunlight or electric light is a form of matter or physical energy. Light is not "nothing." It is constructed of something. Natural light is constructed of physical energy and matter. Spiritual light is constructed of the uncreate substances that stream forth from the eternal Spiritual Sun, which was not created because it exists in eternity, without a beginning point in time. Time itself is a created natural thing or process. It is not yet known when time, space, matter and the expanding physical universe was first created. This was not revealed explicitly in Sacred Scripture. But it is possible that future research in theistic psychology may discover this knowledge by extraction, using the method of extraction specified in Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). It is not possible to know all that there is hidden and extractable from the Sacred Scripture we now possess (see Section xx). The Writings Sacred Scripture explicitly state that no new revelations are to be expected for the human race, and that the Writings Sacred Scripture complete the full creation and evolution of the human race. The mental anatomy is now in place in every human mind for Divine Speech to be consciously interpretable through applying the method of correspondences with enlightenment (see Section xx). Through this extraction process every individual now has the ability to construct true doctrine of life for oneself, and thereby be regenerated by the Divine Psychologist who is now operating at the level of the natural mind, as a result of the Incarnation Event (see Section xx). The Table above gives an illustration of what this process of extraction yields. Divine Speech descends to its lowest possible point in the natural mind, which is called the corporeal mind (see Section xx). Sometimes this is referred to as the sensuous mind, or the corporeal-sensuous mind. To understand this, it is necessary to remember that the natural mind operates at three discrete levels of rationality, called the corporeal level, the sensuous level, and the rational level (see Section xx). The history of civilization shows a gradual progression of level of thinking from savage and barbaric to civilized and humane. The more civilization becomes humane, the more it is rational in its laws and practices. One sign of this is that new laws are constantly passed to give additional protections of human and individual rights. The more we are advanced in our civilization the more we practice justice, fairness, equal treatment, equal opportunity, compassionate government, spreading the wealth, helping neighbor countries and living in peace, etc. This progression in human mentality is created and managed by Divine Speech descending into the mind of every person. In recent history, Divine Speech has brought on a new progressive mentality in civilization through the levels of correspondences in which Sacred Scripture was delivered to a person or prophet, who wrote it down, and then studied and transmitted through generations and culture. The Old Testament Sacred Scripture was delivered Book by Book, over several centuries, starting with the first five books written by Moses about four millenniums ago. It was completed with the last Book delivered by a prophet several hundred years before the next portion was delivered, called the New Testament Sacred Scripture. Then, seventeen centuries later, the third and final portion was delivered in the Writings Sacred Scripture (completed near the end of the18th century). These three portions of Sacred Scripture provide a full set of revelations for the human race. This fact is established and justified through scientific and rational arguments and evidence for it is presented in the Writings of Swedenborg. Any literate person or scientist can verify this argument and this evidence. I have done so continuously for the past 24 years (see Section xx). The more I study the Writings the more I can present scientific arguments and evidence verifying its statements. This course in theistic psychology is the presentation of that evidence. The level of truths contained in Divine Speech correspond to the elevation of our rational understanding of God. It is Divine Speech that forms the content of our understanding at each level. Our understanding of God is higher and higher as we proceed from corporeal-sensuous correspondences of truth to natural-rational understanding, to spiritual-natural understanding. This is the highest level of thinking we are capable of as earthlings restricted to our natural mind in consciousness. At this level we are capable of character reformation and regeneration (see Section xx). Here is another example of how we apply the correspondential sense of the Ten Commandments to theistic psychology:
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch3.htm#correspondences-SS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Levels of Descent of Divine SpeechGod creates and manages all the details of the dual universe through Divine Speech (historically known to many as "the Word of God" or "Logos"). Divine Speech issues or proceeds from the Infinite Rational Mind of the Divine Human. Swedenborg has described the Spiritual Sun as a brilliant aura around the Divine Human so that all whose consciousness is in the highest portion of their rational mind, can visually or sensually see the Divine Human amidst the Spiritual Sun as an aura around Him. In that state of mind called our “third heaven,” we know that the visual and sensuous appearance of the Divine Human outside of themselves at a seeming distance in the sky, is only an appearance that represents the Omnipresence and the Co-Presence of the Divine Human within themselves. They know that He is actually co-Present inside their mind, not sensuously, but rationally in the good and truth that inflows from Him and activates their will and their understanding. They know that the Spiritual Sun seen outside of themselves is actually within themselves. They cannot see the infinite, but the infinite can be within what is their finite and never the other way round (see Section xx). The sensuous consciousness of God is distant, but the rational consciousness of God is close up. Co-Presence with God is possible only in rational consciousness of Him. This is why the Divine Human had to depart the physical plane of reality. To remain would have condemned humanity to a distant relationship when God was longing for a close relationship. He departed from a distant sensuous consciousness for the sake of close up rational consciousness. It is revealed in the Writings Sacred Scripture that God created the universe in order to bestow eternal conjugial happiness and wisdom to every human being. It was not possible for us to be human, rational, and free by being created ready made angels in the eternity of heaven. That's what God would have done had He wanted a race of sensuous robots. While such a race could worship and obey God, it would not be able to love God. But God wants love, not worship and obedience for its own sake. God Himself is infinite love and truth, and the nature of love, as revealed in the Writings, is "spiritual conjunction." In other words, God's love is such that it desires to make every human being He creates, happy and rational to eternity by having them experience His infinite love and truth as if they are their own. For instance, when we walk, we feel like we are walking from our own power to exercise our will to move towards a goal. And yet, we know from rational revelation that our will has no power of its own but must be moved by God's Divine Speech which inflows into our affective organ in the form of love or spiritual heat (see Section xx). It is God's spiritual heat, or love, inflowing, that moves our legs while walking toward a particular goal. And yet, if feels like it is our own will that moves our legs towards the goal we have chosen. Another example is given by our ability to study and learn. It feels like we are putting up the effort to read, analyze, comprehend, memorize, apply. And we are happy with ourselves when we succeed. But in reality, it is God's moment by moment interventions that puts one thought next to another, or supplies the reasoning procedure by which we can make an appropriate conclusion. These examples show how God wills that what is actually His, to be as-if ours. God's inflowing love and truth, activating our will and intelligence, appear ours, yet are not actually ours, but appear as-if they are ours (see Section xx). This is the actualizing form that God's love takes. Swedenborg was told by the celestial angels that they actually perceive the inflowing love and truth from the Divine Human. They also told him that if they should for a moment think that their powers, intelligence, and wisdom are their own, rather than appear as-if their own, they would instantly fall out of heaven. The heavenly state of consciousness attributes every detail of one's thoughts and feelings to the Divine Human. But it is otherwise for the unenlightened person informed by sensuous consciousness rather than by rational ideas from Sacred Scripture. When we are in this materialistic mentality of the sensuous, we attribute some things to God and some things to ourselves. I have sometimes been told by people that they hate the idea of this "as-of self" that I was explaining to them. They react to the idea as something that removes their motivation or incentive to do or think anything. People want the credit for their effort and abilities. Of course, this is a practical attitude when we are interacting with other people in society, but it is an insane idea spiritually when we are considering our interactions with God who activates all our activities. Rational reception of Divine Speech by each individual is the mechanism that God has created for human beings so that they can be consciously co-Present with God. Co-presence with God is called "conjunction" with Him. When we are in a state of conjunction with God we are consciously aware of His interior presence in our rational mind. We can talk to Him as if He were present face to face on the outside, but He does not engage in sensuous or physical dialog by voice or apparition. He makes His thoughts known to us instantly, so that we think it in the form and meaning that is at our level of mentality. This is rational consciousness of God and it affords us conscious co-Presence. In that state of closeness to Him He is able to give us conjugial bliss in eternity. It is most important to underscore the fact that this co-Presence and communication with the Divine Human is not sensuous but rational. There are no voices or visions like the prophets of old experienced in their sensuous consciousness. There is no interlocutor who takes turns in a dialog, as we do with other people. There is only rational perception and rational love. In other words, God arranges our thoughts and feelings in a way that corresponds to His message. We experience His message as our own thinking, feeling, and rational perception. It is only rationally that we know that it is God who has rearranged our thoughts and feelings in any particular situation. In terms of sensuous experience, it appears that it is our own rearrangement or insight. It is easy to deny that it is God's. God makes it easy for us to deny that it is He that arranges our thoughts and feelings. In the modern age of science, God would not speak to us in living voice or appear to us visually because this would paralyze our rational consciousness of Him and thus deny us His co-Presence, rob us of conjugial bliss in eternity. God appearing at the United Nations tomorrow and making a Divine Declaration in the world media, would paralyze our ability to be co-Present with Him in our rational mind, which is where our eternal heavens are. God created heaven in our rational mind so that He can be co-Present with us to eternity, and by this conjunction to make us happy and intelligent to eternity. It is through Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture that God is present with us in our rational consciousness of Him. This rational consciousness is built up in our mind by the correspondences of Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture – and in no other way. God’s co-Presence varies from clear to obscure. "Clear" means that we are able to receive more interior meanings of Divine Speech in higher order correspondences of Sacred Scripture. When God is clearly co-Present in our rational consciousness we are able to receive a more perfect happiness and wisdom, than what we can receive when His co-Presence in our mind is somewhat "obscure.” Our consciousness or level of mentality reflects the clarity of His co-Presence within our rational understanding of His Sacred Scripture. The following chart shows the levels of descent of Divine Speech from the Rational Mind of the Divine Human to human minds at various levels of mentality or consciousness and enlightenment (from clear to obscure). This descent is sequential in successive order, but it is simultaneous in existential order. The descent of Divine Speech occurs simultaneously into every human mind but it is perceived according to one’s clarity or obscurity of His co-Presence. The clarity of His co-Presence depends on one main thing: The intensity or purity of our love of His truth and good. This purity is measured by how much we are willing to cooperate with Him in our endless regeneration process. Hence it all comes down to the bottom line of spiritual accounting – how much we are willing to let go of our own desires and justifications, in exchange for His desires and justifications, as explained to humanity through Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture. Our consciousness would be elevated instantaneously to the highest human potential of near omniscience (“third heaven”) if we were willing right this moment to let go of one hundred percent of our desires and justifications. But, assuming we can let go of all of them, would we be as happy as we can be? When the answer is Yes, we are in that third heaven.
Note: in the following discussion about the table above on levels of descent, the word "level" refers to this table, but "layer" refers to the layers chart of mental anatomy located elsewhere. They agree with each other but the levels of descent table above collapses some of the layers in the layers chart of mental anatomy. This is indicated in the first column.
Note that Divine Speech "descending" through correspondences in Sacred Scripture creates each layer of our mental anatomy successively, and causes them to operate by correspondences in these successive degrees or layers. In Itself (level 1) Divine Speech is incomprehensible and inexpressible because it is infinite and our understanding cannot comprehend the infinite. In the Rational Mind of the Divine Human infinite things make one distinguishably. In other words the infinite individual items each remain unique and mutually distinguished from all others. Divine Speech flows out of the Divine Human's Mind into the created universe from within by means of correspondences arranged in exteriorizing discrete degrees and operating in simultaneous order. Divine Speech as an outflow or emanation from the Spiritual Sun, is the means by which the Divine Human creates all things and maintains them in a rational and loving order. The Divine Speech exits or proceeds from the Spiritual Sun, which is an aura of spiritual heat (love) and spiritual light (truth) that is continuously proceeding, united as one, into the created universe. This proceeding is called Divine Influx and as it descends it makes first contact with humanity through the soul of every created individual (layer 3). The soul is immortal. It is a mental organ constructed out of the spiritual substances proceeding from the Spiritual Sun. The soul functions as a receptor or filter. It is capable of receiving or capturing the Divine Speech. Although the Divine Speech as received by the soul is no longer infinite, it is still Divine. In other words, the Divine can limit itself and “dwell” within the boundaries of finite things created for the reception of the infinite. This self-delimited Divine is called the Divine Proceeding or "Holy Spirit." It is what forms, initiates, activates, and operates our consciousness – its rational syntax and the human affections within it. The human begins in the inmost of the rational, in the words of the Writings. The Divine Proceeding which is in our soul does not become amalgamated or one with the soul because the infinite cannot become one with the finite. There is no “oneness” with God. There is an absolute duality between God and human beings, or between that which is uncreate (like love, life, truth, intelligence, light, heat, endeavor, propensity) on the one hand, and on the other, that which is created (like galaxies, atoms, plants, human minds, heaven, and hell). There is no possible overlap between the uncreate and the created. But the created has the property of being able to contain the uncreate. For instance, plant cells are capable of receiving life, light, heat, and propensity, while rock molecules can only receive heat and motion. The form, structure, and substance of each created object determines what uncreate substances it is capable of receiving from the Divine Proceeding. The human mind is created and is born into the spiritual world and overlaps with it. All human minds therefore overlap with each other, creating the objective spiritual world (see Section xx). When we are born, our physical body is temporarily alive on earth while our mental body ("spirit" or "mind") is permanently alive in the spiritual world. The shape of the human mind is the shape of the mental body, and this is the shape of the physical body. Therefore the spiritual world must be in the shape of the human body and the human mind. Swedenborg was able to confirm this by direct observation. He was given a "bird's eye" view of the spiritual world, as if he were taken out of it to look at it. He saw that it had a shape, and this was the form of the human body. Nothing was missing. In fact, as he was traveling through the spiritual world Swedenborg described his location with reference to the human body. He would say that he was "in the province of the eye" or the heart, or "in the region beneath the buttocks" (where some of the worst hells are located). Quoting: AC 818 There is a dreadful hell beneath the buttocks, where they seem to stab one another with knives, aiming the knives at one another's breasts like furies, but in the act of striking the knife is continually taken away from them. They are those who have held others in such hatred that they burned to kill them cruelly; and from this they had derived a nature so direful. This hell was opened to me (but only a little on account of their direful cruelties), so that I might see the nature of deadly hatred. (AC 818) Swedenborg called this shape of humanity in eternity as "the Grand Man," which is also translated as "the Grand Human." It has both male and female organs. Swedenborg says that the Divine Human continuously wills to unify the entire created immortal human race. This unification is reflected by the visual appearance of the Grand Human. But this Grand Human contains only the portions of human minds called heaven, which is why the Grand Human has a perfect human anatomical shape. But the hells of the human mind are separated out and formed into another unity which Swedenborg called a malformed or disfigured individual. (D.Love 6). The 6 levels of the chart above show the parallel forms of the spiritual world and the mental world, in the columns marked "spiritual geography" and "mental anatomy." The spiritual world is a vertically organized operational sphere for supporting the activity of thoughts and feelings of the human race. All our thoughts and feelings are operations in the anatomical organs of the mind. Swedenborg was able to visit three layers of heaven and three equivalent layers of hell. There is such a structural balance between the heavens and the hells because hells are created by the corrupted reception of spiritual heat (love) in the affective organ (“the will”), and spiritual light (truth) in the cognitive organ (“the understanding.” Everyone receives the same Divine Proceeding into their unique soul. From there, the Divine Proceeding descends by levels into the discrete layers of the human mind, thus, of the spiritual world. When Divine Speech descends through the soul into our third heaven, it is first received into the highest portion of the affective organ called celestial, which constitutes the third heaven of every individual. This mental activation or operation of the affective organ (or “will”) has a rational content which becomes conscious to us when we have elevated our consciousness into the third heaven. In that mental state, we are called "celestial angels." Swedenborg often talked to people who already live in the eternity of their heavens. Celestial angels think and feel by means of celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Speech (level 2 in the chart above). The topics they think and talk about includes all the things that have to do with love, affection, charity, willing, intending, and regenerating. Swedenborg saw their Sacred Scripture, which he described as having similar shaped letters to the Hebrew print of the Old Testament that he was familiar with on earth. That Sacred Scripture is located in the mind of every human being, in its uppermost layer of operation. If we are willing to elevate our consciousness and mentality to that level, we can become conscious of that celestial-rational Sacred Scripture. Those who elevate their conscious awareness to the second heaven (level 3) (also called “angelic spirits”), think and feel from spiritual-rational correspondences of Divine Speech in which their copy of Sacred Scripture is written. This level of comprehending Divine Speech involves thinking about truth, faith, science, knowledge, understanding. It is a cognitive world, while the third heaven is an affective world. The cognitive mind is a receptor organ of spiritual light from the Spiritual Sun descending through the soul and through the third heaven. Swedenborg compared the thinking level of celestial-rational correspondences (third heaven) with the thinking level of spiritual-rational correspondences (second heaven). There was such a discrete difference that there was absolutely no overlap in level of conscious meaning between the Sacred Scripture in these two discrete locations in our mind. The lowest form of thinking in the third heaven was absolutely beyond the thinking and comprehension of the highest thinking in the second heaven. But there was a relation of correspondence between them. When a celestial angel (third heaven) was allowed to communicate with a spiritual angel (second heaven) they did so through correspondences. Every celestial-rational idea or operation has a corresponding spiritual-rational idea or operation. Thus, while celestial angels are able to perceive directly any truth they are interested in – thus being near-omniscient, spiritual angels have to reason, reflect, debate, and be instructed about it before gaining understanding and enlightenment. There is a similar discrete separation between the spiritual angels (second heaven) and the "natural angels" of the first heaven, also called “good spirits.” When spiritual angels think in spiritual-rational correspondences from their Sacred Scripture (level 3), "angelic spirits" of the first heaven think in corresponding ideas from their Sacred Scripture called spiritual-natural correspondences (level 4). These interior-natural ideas involve things about the external behavior rather than internal thoughts (second heaven) and feelings (third heaven). They are involved in thinking about uses, functions, architecture, competition, justice, and so on. Swedenborg describes the apparent lifestyle of those who are in the three heavens of their eternal life, and it is fascinating to see the differences, all of which relate to the level of correspondences in which they understand their Sacred Scripture. The chart above shows that below the first heaven is located the "world of spirits" (level 5). This is the mental "space" that separates our heaven and our hell. This is the "great interspace" into which our mind is born at our birth, and it is the mental space into which we are resuscitated at the death of the physical body (see Section xx). The world of spirits is therefore the same level as our normal conscious daily natural mind. This level of thinking (level 5) is based on the level of natural correspondences in Sacred Scripture as expressed, written down, and published in a natural language on earth. Swedenborg observed that when people are resuscitated they awaken into the same level of mentality and thinking that they had in their last period on earth. For example, those who had materialistic beliefs and assumptions, would not at first acknowledge that they were now spirits in the spiritual world of the afterlife. They had to learn from new experience that their materialistic beliefs were false. Those who were religious minded, upon awakening from resuscitation, talk about heaven and angels. Swedenborg calls this level of thinking a natural level based on our "external memory" (level 5). In other words, our sensorimotor experiences occasioned by contact with the physical environment are permanently recorded in our memory. The organ of the memory has an external natural portion and an interior spiritual portion. It is our external memories from earth that form the style of life we have in the spiritual world. Those who share compatible or similar memories can be together as a community in heaven or hell since their intentionality will be projecting a similar city or residence, a similar daily round of activities, a similar civic and legal management system. Swedenborg reports that people even name their cities in the world of spirits by similar names as they had on earth -- London, Paris, Stockholm, Jerusalem. The content of the external memory organ forms a plane for instantiating the appearances of the lifestyle environment. The type of mentality operative at this level is fixed by natural correspondences in the natural mind. The external natural mind is our daily familiar conscious mind. It is formed entirely by sensory input from the physical body and its abstraction into taxonomic explanatory systems. It is revealed in the Writings that the natural mind has three sub-levels of discrete operations in its outward external portion, and three levels of discrete operations in its inward interior portion (see Section xx). In other words, the natural mind is a microcosm of the entire spiritual world. The three vertical layers of the external natural mind are called corporeal (level 5a), sensuous (level 5b), and rational (level 5c). The natural-corporeal mind (level 5a) is closely bound to the order and limits of the physical world as we know it directly from our physical organs. For example, our corporeal mind (level 5a) can notice that the sun rises in the east every morning and sets in the west. From this observation we may conclude that the earth is flat, unmoving, while the sun is round and moving. The natural-sensuous mind (level 5b) is less closely bound to the physical appearances and is able to construct mental abstractions of them in which it can comprehend new higher relations. The sensuous mind can figure out that the earth must also be round and that the appearance of flatness is only present for the immediate visual view around us. The natural-sensuous mind (level 5b) forms abstractions by abandoning the assumptions of natural-corporeal correspondences (level 5a) and thinking in terms of natural-sensuous correspondences (level 5b). Materialistic science and secularized democratic societies are two great achievements of the natural-sensuous mind. The level of civilized society has been progressively moving to a more rational and spiritual mentality, as we can see when we compare the literal sentences of the Old and New Testaments. The mentality of the Old Testament peoples was such as we detect from the natural-corporeal correspondences in its literal sentences. They thought of God as a stern omnipotent ruler who was partial to certain people and seemed not to care about others, even to the point of commanding cruel acts against them, including slavery and genocide. This mentality went on for centuries, created and embedded in the natural-corporeal correspondences of the Old Testament. Remember that Divine Speech descends from the highest portion of the human mind (level 2, third heaven) to the lowest (level 5, world of spirits and earth). It is the same Divine Speech throughout, but its appearance in correspondences becomes progressively less celestial, less spiritual, less rational, less natural, until it ends up at the lowest level of correspondences built for the human mind -- natural-corporeal correspondences (level 5a or layer 9). The mental span from level 2 (celestial-rational correspondences) to level 5a (layer 9, natural corporeal correspondences) is so enormous that it goes from a heavenly society of rational peaceful people to a barbaric society of semi-rational and cruel people. The span of correspondences that shape human consciousness and behavior is built in given that spiritual geography = mental anatomy. Every individual must go through the developmental steps indicated by the elevation from level 5a (natural-corporeal) to level 2 (celestial-rational). We start our mental life with natural-corporeal correspondences (layer 9), move on through experience and instruction to natural-sensuous correspondences (layer 8), then to natural-rational correspondences (layer 7). The chart above shows that the Writings are written in natural-rational correspondences (layer 7), the New Testament is written in natural-sensuous correspondences (layer 8), and the Old Testament is written in natural-corporeal correspondences (layer 9). For instance, the same Ten Commandments are presented in all three collections of Sacred Scripture. One of the commandments is Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery (see Section xx). In the natural-corporeal meaning of the Old Testament it is clear that this refers to an overt act of infidelity in marriage. The same commandment is expressed in the mentality of natural-sensuous correspondences in the New Testament. Now it is made clear to the comprehension that there is physical adultery and mental adultery. Both are forbidden, so that if we now fantasize infidelity, and do not disapprove of it in our fantasy, then we are breaking the commandment against adultery. Further, in the Writings when this commandment is presented in the language of natural-rational correspondences, we can comprehend that there are three kinds of adultery: physical, mental, and spiritual. Spiritual adultery is a natural-rational concept that does not appear at the two discrete lower levels of correspondences in Sacred Scripture. As mentioned above, spiritual adultery refers to "adulterating the Word," which means to falsify Sacred Scripture for personal reasons such as gaining influence over others or using Sacred Scripture to justify continuing to practice one's wickedness. The adulteration of Sacred Scripture by falsifying its correspondences produces hell in our mind (level 6), as is discussed below. It is important to understand the connection between the natural mind and regeneration. No issue is more central to theistic psychology than this connection. The natural mind of the human race has undergone a major evolutionary transformation when the Incarnation Event occurred two thousand years ago (see Section xx). The purpose of this event was to create new mental pathways for the human race on earth which has descended to the level of sensuous consciousness of God (see Section xx). Swedenborg observed what happens to the masses of people that enter the world of spirits every day. Those who arrive with a sensuous consciousness of God reject the spiritual instructions they receive regarding the Divine Human, heaven, the doctrine of good and truth, charity and faith, love and wisdom. They reject them because these spiritual ideas require a rational understanding of them. Sensuous consciousness (5b) is the reliance on external appearances and their symbolic abstractions, while rational consciousness (5c) is reliance on interior framework and their correspondences. Sensuous consciousness (level 5b) sees absolutely nothing above itself, which is why it interprets all higher-order correspondences at the level of natural-sensuous correspondences. This type of mentality is known as "materialism." Swedenborg observed that hose who arrive in the world of spirits with a materialistic world view are unwilling to accept the reality of God and heaven unless it be proven to them by visual experience that God or heaven actually exist. In other words, materialism demands a sensuous consciousness of the Divine before it will acknowledge it. Since sensuous consciousness of the Divine is not given, materialism fabricates novel interpretations of natural-rational and spiritual-rational correspondences. Swedenborg reports that people with a materialistic outlook, when they realize that they are in the spiritual world, demand to be brought into heaven and into the presence of God. Angels then show up who are able to keep these people's spiritual mind closed while they are raised into their heaven with their externals or natural mind. This is necessary for it is impossible for their corrupted spiritual to be raised to their heaven. When they reach the mental state of their heaven, they face a surrounding environment that is devoid of all things -- no light, no sound, no people, no movement, nothing happening. They are shocked when they are told this is heaven and that it is filled with all sorts of beautiful gardens, palaces, and people. But they see nothing, hear nothing, smell nothing. Soon they begin to experience the emotion of panic and the sensation of suffocation. They quickly throw themselves out of their state of heaven back down into their natural-sensuous ideas and emotions. Their inability to have any experience in heaven is because heaven is a rational consciousness of God. It was crucial therefore for God to continue the creation of the human race by providing new mental pathways, new organic structures in the human mind by which materialism could be defeated. This was accomplished by the Incarnation Event (see Section xx). Since then every individual is born with these new mental pathways and organic structures. The individuals who were already in their afterlife phase were transformed physiologically and anatomically so that they can continue their immortality in the "new heavens" of the human mind that the Divine Human created through spiritual-rational and celestial-rational correspondences (levels 3 and 2). It is still possible for people to ignore the new mental structures and arrive into the world of spirits with a materialistic worldview. However, many people do not think deeply about their materialism so that they go through life ignoring their materialism and practicing decency and integrity for the sake of their idealism for good and truth. When they arrive into the afterlife and are instructed in rational loves and truths, they eagerly receive them, and love them. They ascend to their heaven and live in eternal conjugial bliss. When people's religious ideas are based on sensuous consciousness of God they avoid the use of Sacred Scripture for extracting higher-order meanings of God and heaven. They dislike giving up their sensuous cravings for the sake of rational understanding, which appears to them as "intellectualizing" God rather than "experiencing" God or "being one with Him." Sensuous consciousness of God turns into mysticism and opposes rational consciousness of Divine Speech (see Section xx). The Incarnation Event was necessary for creating the new mental organ for regeneration. The natural mind was reformed or transformed by that event so that it received a new interior form it did not have before. This new portion is called the "interior-natural mind" (see Section xx). The interior-natural organ was created into a discrete degree higher than the natural-rational organ (level 5c). If you look at the chart again you will see that immediately above level 5c is located level 4, the first heaven, and above that, the second heaven (level 3), and above that, the third heaven (level 2). These three heavens are progressively higher by virtue of their correspondences from Sacred Scripture. In other words, the newly created interior-natural organ was capable of conscious operations that represented the discrete levels of the three heavens. This new ability marks the highest and final phase of the creation of the human race. Now people are able to read the natural-rational correspondences of the Writings and extract higher-order correspondences that are spiritual-rational (level 3) and celestial-rational (level 2). This is what makes theistic psychology possible. With this new ability in our interior-natural mind we are able to understand Divine Speech in its highest rationality and meaning (levels 3 and 2). We have new powerful mental tools available for our regeneration efforts. The higher the correspondences we can think with, the more effectively we can overcome our inherited materialism. Individuals who have access to the concepts of theistic psychology can understand the process of character reformation within themselves. They can tap into a spiritual source of determination by which they can face their inherited hellish inclinations, attachments, and involvements and reject them for the sake of their heavenly opposites (see Section xx). When people are unwilling to acknowledge and to study the concepts of theistic psychology they are rejecting rationality as revealed by our Creator. They are then drawn deeper into the web of materialism and unreality. They retain their natural abilities to think logically by segments, but they are unable to put the segments together into a rational understanding of the whole. They have rejected the only source of rationality and sanity -- the spiritual correspondences of Sacred Scripture. They still receive the same influx as others but they systematically turn the ideas into their opposites. They use their limited logic in local segments to transform every statement of Divine Speech into its very opposite. The chart shows this as thinking level 6. (See Note 8) For additional descriptions of the three levels of rational mentality in spiritual development see my book titled Moses, Paul, and Swedenborg: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/moses.html For additional considerations of why Sacred Scripture must be our exclusive source of ideas about regeneration, see my book A Man of the Field: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/nonduality.html For additional discussion on extracting the scientific meaning from the Writings see Volume 2 of my book A Man of the Field: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/nonduality.html
How Divine Speech Unifies the Human Race
Swedenborg was also able to observe the Sacred Scripture which was read by the spiritual angels, which is the name given to those who dwell permanently in the Second Heaven of the human race. He confirmed the fact that the celestial Sacred Scripture (Third Heaven) corresponds perfectly to the spiritual Sacred Scripture (Second Heaven). The celestial angels saw the meaning of the sentences as discussing love and the hierarchy of human affections. The spiritual angels saw the meaning of the sentences as discussing truth and the varieties of human understanding. Clearly then, Divine Speech descends and exteriorizes by discrete degrees that do not overlap in meaning, but they do correspond to each other. This conclusion was additionally confirmed when Swedenborg viewed the Sacred Scripture read by the angelic spirits, which is the name given to those who dwell permanently in the First Heaven of the human race. At each level, divine speech communicates itself in the form of Sacred Scripture written down in some language -- celestial-rational language, spiritual-rational language, or spiritual-natural language, for the three heavens respectively. These three types of human languages correspond to each other by discrete degrees (see Section xx). A fourth type of human language is called natural language, and it is what we speak and know here on earth. Sacred Scripture on earth is written and translated in many natural languages. It is always written in natural correspondences, which are a degree below the first three. By the time Divine Speech has descended and exteriorized to this ultimate level of human consciousness, the topic of Sacred Scripture appears to be historical, cultural, and religious. But using the method of correspondences revealed in the Writings, one can mentally or spiritually "climb back up" through the discrete degrees. At each higher level, the topic of Divine speech will change. Note that the diagram shows earth and the world of spirits together. It is a level in the human mind located in the spiritual interspace that is created between the heavens and the hells, making it impossible for people's consciousness to go from one to the other, unless it is on earth, that is, still tied to a physical body. Earth and the world of spirits are together structurally or biologically since when we are born, our spiritual body or mind, is born into the world of spirits and remains there until we are resuscitated at the death of the physical body (see Section xx). Therefore, while we are tied to a physical body on earth, our mind is in the world of spirits. All the sensations and thoughts we have in the natural mind through the brain and sensory organs, are not in the brain, nor on earth, or anywhere else in the physical world. They are always from the beginning in the world of spirits where is our spiritual body which houses the mental organs or mind. The diagram shows that below the world of spirits are the hells. There are three discrete hells, each formed by the inversion of correspondences in Sacred Scripture. Those who invert celestial-rational correspondences in their mind keep themselves in the worst hells (discrete level -3). Those who invert spiritual-rational correspondences in their mind keep themselves in the middle hells (discrete level -2). Those who invert spiritual-natural correspondences in their mind keep themselves in the least evil hells (discrete level -1). Note the spiritual dynamics depicted in the above diagram with the two arrows. The descending arrow is the process that was just described, namely, the reception of Divine Speech at its various discrete levels of descent. The ascending arrow is the result of the reception and is called elevation of consciousness. In other words, the consciousness of the celestial angels (3) is elevated to ever higher levels within the celestial degree, the more they appropriate the ideas in their Sacred Scripture. Similarly with the spiritual angels (2) and the angelic spirits (1). Note however, that the no matter how elevated the consciousness grows for any particular individual, it remains at that same discrete degree. The downward exteriorization of Divine Speech is the final and ultimate goal of creation. All else is derivative of this great use. Therefore, progressive excellence and perfection of this use is our highest and most human achievement. Our most human task here on earth is the elevation of our consciousness to the Divine Human. This elevation is achieved by the reception of the ideas in Sacred Scripture. We can achieve elevation or enlightenment while we are in the natural mind attached to the physical body on earth. This amazing spiritual event is possible because the Divine Incarnation Event has created new mental pathways for this elevation (see Section xx). Specifically, the natural mind has three portions -- corporeal, sensuous, and rational. The new biological organism making elevation possible is the creation of a virtual heaven within our natural-rational mind (the highest portion of the natural mind). This new mental organ does not receive input from the physical world, as does the natural-rational mind. It receives input only from the spiritual and celestial mind, which are unconscious (see Section xx). In other words, the new spiritual-natural organ can be activated by reacting to the correspondences in the three heavens. Through this built in feature, we are able to be aware and process higher order correspondences in a virtual form. This processing is what elevates our consciousness all the way to the Third Heaven of our mind, where we can understand what Divine Speech is saying about love and the hierarchy of human affections. Knowing this allows us to be angels on earth, that is, live a life of preparation for angelic life in the afterlife. This is also called becoming regenerated (see Section xx). Regeneration is also called salvation because only by character reformation can be prepare our mind for heavenly life. The mind that is unregenerate when awakening in the world of spirits, is unwilling to be elevated into the life of heaven. Swedenborg observed this phenomenon on many occasions. Try memorizing the diagram given in this section. You can then use it in your mind to understand theistic psychology at a deeper and even more useful level. Also, try to relate it to the two charts in Section 3.7.2.1 and 3.7.2.2. The diagram and the two charts should be memorized together, enough so you are able to reproduce them from memory. This will add powerfully to your ability to understand theistic psychology at a deeper and more useful level.
Extracting the Scientific Meaning in Sacred Scripture
Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture is expressed literally in the lowest common denominator of historical and cultural meaning. On earth it is expressed in natural correspondences in a natural language, and it can be translated in all languages without losing their capacity to include the hidden higher correspondences that are spiritual and celestial in meaning and rationality. It is necessary that Sacred Scripture be written at this lowest level of representation because in that way Divine Speech can be understood rationally and accepted voluntarily by the receiving people. But in the Writings of Swedenborg, where Divine Speech is expressed with natural-rational correspondences, it is revealed that all Sacred Scripture is written in correspondences of Divine Speech. Also, a method is given specifying how we can systematically extract the higher correspondences or meanings that lay hidden within the literal sentences. Swedenborg was able to understand and write this method down so that everyone could have access to it. That's what theistic psychology is. It gives everyone access to the universal scientific meaning of Divine Speech. Swedenborg compared the sentences of the Old and New Testaments which he found in the spiritual world, with those in his Bible on earth. He then wrote 12 volumes of a collection of books in Latin called Arcana Coelestia ("Heavenly Secrets"), in which he compares word by word, and phrase by phrase, major portions of the Old and New Testaments in the spiritual world with the natural version in the natural world. He did this systematically for the first two books of the Old Testament called Genesis and Exodus. Later he also did similar comparisons for the entire Book of Revelation in the New Testament, and many portions of other segments throughout the Old and New Testaments. It turns out that while the Bible version on earth is about natural and historical events that took place on earth in relation to God, the version in the spiritual world is about theistic psychology -- the anatomy and growth of the human mind. This scientific knowledge about the human mind is given to us by the Divine Human because such knowledge is of critical practical value to every human being regarding their regeneration, which is the lifelong process of character reformation (see Section xx). Every individual who will enter heaven in eternity must undergo character reformation on earth. Those who are unwilling to change their inherited hellish traits for new heavenly traits, are absolutely unwilling to do so after they arrive in the world of spirits. As a result, they are spontaneously drawn into the hells of their mind from which state they are unwilling to come out. Swedenborg has seen some who had been there for eons of ages, and still are unwilling to ascend to their higher rational consciousness where their heaven is. Hence it is that the topics of Divine Speech all have to do with the knowledge we need to regenerate, for there is no subject more vital about which God can talk to us at the conscious level of understanding and communication. Swedenborg was the only person in history who was given this opportunity of objectively making a word by word comparison of the natural meaning of the Bible and its spiritual meaning. The people in the spiritual world who were reading Sacred Scripture could only understand the verses in their inner spiritual meaning. But when these people were still on earth, they could understand the verses only naturally. Swedenborg was the first person still on earth who could perceive both the natural meaning and at the same time the spiritual meaning of Sacred Scripture. And since he was a scientist he had to find the rational mechanisms and laws by which this amazing correspondence was taking place. He saw this spiritual-natural correspondence of Sacred Scripture as the key to understanding rationally how God manages the universe and how the human race evolves from lower to ever higher levels of rational and spiritual life. For the past two hundred years the Writings of Swedenborg (published on earth between 1745-1771) have been read in the spiritual world as Sacred Scripture. Today, with the parallel development of theistic psychology on earth, people can begin to raise their consciousness and the level of their life, by studying and understanding the natural-rational correspondences of Divine Speech which are found only in the Writings of Swedenborg. This collection of works constitutes the third and final portion of the Judaeo-Christian tradition of Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). The Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings of Swedenborg are therefore known as the "Threefold Word" (see Section xx). Swedenborg has demonstrated that once the scientific meaning of the Threefold Word is extracted, nothing is left of the historical and natural references in their literal sentences. This is what makes theistic psychology a universal science for all times for the human race, both in this world and in our immortality. Swedenborg has discussed this with the people who are in their highest heavens in eternity. They are called "spiritual and celestial angels" and they told Swedenborg that all their knowledge and intelligence comes from the spiritual-rational and celestial-rational correspondences in which their Sacred Scripture is written. Thus, while the literal meaning of the Judean-Christian tradition of Sacred Scripture is sectarian and cultural, its inner meaning is completely devoid of this content. Divine Speech must necessarily be given through a natural language, culture, and race, which is why the literal meaning sets races and nations apart and often against each other. As well, the literal meaning can be used as a powerful weapon of enslavement by which a a few professionals of religion dictate to many a religious or sectarian lifestyle that is their own invention since that is never what Divine Speech is talking about in its true correspondential sense. Our spiritual development and eternal future does not depend on these invented religious lifestyles, prohibitions, and belief systems. Instead, our life in immortality is determined by what kind of character we bring with us from this earth. To achieve their character reformation successfully people need to be told what Divine Speech says about it, and this cannot be obtained from the literal sentences of Sacred Scripture. Hence all religious schools and all public educational systems on the planet should teach the content of Divine Speech as it is extracted from Sacred Scripture. For the past 200 years, theistic psychologists have been extracting higher order correspondences from the literal sentences of Sacred Scripture and contributing to the growing field (see Readings). They did not call their work "theistic psychology" but from our perspective today, that's what it was. They have been engaged in the systematic effort of building a body of knowledge that is based exclusively on the Writings of Swedenborg. All work in theistic psychology requires the application of correspondences to the literal sentences. Swedenborg created a kind of translation dictionary of correspondences so that you can look up a word, name, or number from the Old Testament and New Testament version on earth, and find out what it meant in the spiritual version. Since the spiritual version is a body of scientific knowledge called theistic psychology, you can see how crucial it was for Swedenborg to describe very precisely and exactly how we must use this method of extraction. This is why Swedenborg, a well known and qualified scientist, was given the unique and special ability of being conscious in the spiritual world while still alive on earth. What is remarkable is that he was able to prove beyond any doubt that the Old and New Testaments were written in the same language of correspondences since they are both Divine Speech expressed as Sacred Scripture. It's extremely important to understand that the correspondences of Sacred Scripture described in the Writings are not a symbolic code that Swedenborg invented. Without his ability to observe both the natural and spiritual versions of Sacred Scripture, he would not have been able to describe the laws of correspondences that govern the functional interaction of the two worlds. This is not a symbolism for Sacred Scripture. Correspondences are the universal laws that govern the functional interaction of the levels of existence and creation. God governs all details of the universe through correspondences. It makes sense therefore that Sacred Scripture is written in these same laws since the natural language sentences of Sacred Scripture must be produced by a prior spiritual phenomenon. Also, the same Sacred Scripture appears at all the discrete levels of humanity, but at each level it has a different content. The differences of content across the discrete levels are specified exactly and precisely by correspondences (see Section xx). Every correspondence in the language of Sacred Scripture has a positive and a negative meaning, so that in some passages it refers to the positive meaning and in others to the negative meaning. In the illustrations below, only one meaning is presented. Beasts or Animals signify the things in our will or our loves, e.g., "bears" signifies the state of mind when the Word is read and not understood (Gen. 1:24); "dogs" signifies those of small value who are outsiders (e.g., Ex.. 11:7) "foxes" signifies those who rely on their own prudence (Ps. 63:10); "lamb" signifies the holiness of innocence (Gen. 21:28, Rev. 5:6); Carriages signify goods from a rational origin (e.g., Rev. 18:13, Jdg. 18:21) Husband signifies the rational mind (e.g., Gen. 3:16) Egypt signifies the natural mind separated from the spiritual which is the pride of self-intelligence (Isa. 19:1) Esau signifies natural good which was to be made Divine in the Incarnation Event (Gen. 25:25) Hand signifies ability and power (Gen. 8:9) Jacob signifies the lowest things of reason which are external knowledges (Gen. 25:26) Jews signifies those who are in love to the Divine-Human, and in the truths of doctrine from Him (Zech. 8:23) Mary, the Virgin signifies the universal church at that time, throughout the world (e.g., Mat. 1:16) Numerals signify specific things; e.g., "1" signifies what is perfect (Gen. 11:6); "2" signifies conjunction of pairs which complete each other (Gen. 7:9); "7" signifies the celestial mind, fully regenerated (Gen. 2:2); "19" signifies the state of idolatrous worship (Gen. 11:25); "40" signifies the state of temptation (Gen. 7:4, Mt. 4:1); "99" signifies the state before the union of the Divine-Human's Human Essence with His Divine (Gen. 17:24); "250" signifies as much as is sufficient for use (Ex. 30:23); "144,000" signifies all who acknowledge the Divine-Human to be the God of heaven and earth (Rev. 7:4). Rich signifies the spiritual goods from truth with which the Divine-Human was enriched at this stage of His inner life on earth (Gen. 13:2; Ex. 30:15) Spider's web signifies deceitful falsities (Isa. 59:5) Transgressions or Trespasses signify such evils as are done against the commandments (Num. 14:41) Uncircumcised signifies one who is in self-love (Gen. 17:14) Wife signifies selfhood in the external mind (Gen.2:24) And so on. When these and other correspondences are applied to the text of Sacred Scripture, there emerges a new content which is the scientific description of human development and character reformation. In other words, the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture is given for the use of religion, while the derived correspondential meaning is given as scientific revelations about the human mind, life after death, the process of regeneration or character reformation, and so on. Here are some examples of how Swedenborg derives the scientific meaning of the Old Testament by applying the laws of correspondences. You should remember as you read this that "church" in its scientific sense signifies the regenerating mind, and "religion" or "religious belief" signifies our knowledge of the literal sentences of Sacred Scripture. In other words this passage in its scientific sense discusses how Sacred Scripture is related to regeneration. Quoting from Arcana Coelestia: From the mere letter of the Word of the Old Testament no one would ever discern the fact that this part of the Word contains deep secrets of heaven, and that everything within it both in general and in particular bears reference to the Divine-Human, to His heaven, to the church, to religious belief, and to all things connected therewith; for from the letter or sense of the letter all that anyone can see is that-to speak generally-everything therein has reference merely to the external rites and ordinances of the Jewish Church. Yet the truth is that everywhere in that Word there are internal things which never appear at all in the external things except a very few which the Divine-Human revealed and explained to the Apostles; such as that the sacrifices signify the Divine-Human; that the land of Canaan and Jerusalem signify heaven-on which account they are called the Heavenly Canaan and Jerusalem-and that Paradise has a similar signification. (AC 1)
The above passage says that no one has known before this that the Old Testament words and phrases actually refer to scientific concepts relating to the human mind and its regeneration for heavenly life. In the literal sense of the Old Testament "everything therein has reference merely to the external rites and ordinances of the Jewish Church." These topics do not seem universal or scientific, and they are not. But when you translate the words and phrases into their spiritual correspondences, the details about the rites and rituals of the Jewish Church vanish. What is left is a scientific concept or idea. These scientific concepts are arranged in a rational series or pattern, so that together they make up an exact map of the genes of human consciousness. This map describes the evolution of consciousness of the human race and how every individual must recapitulate in development all the steps or phases that the race went through. The map also indicates the final disposition of the human race in eternity and of every individual in immortality. The passage above also says that the New Testament reveals a few selected instances of correspondences in the Old Testament. For instances New Testament scholars have known for centuries that the animal sacrifices God commanded in the Old Testament days were done in order to represent symbolically or ceremoniously the sacrifice of the Incarnated Son of God, or "Messiah" which was to take place hundreds of years later. The Old Testament people were not allowed to know of this explicitly because their mentality would have rejected this idea of the future. It is better for the people involved to keep spiritual ideas away from them if they are going to reject them. Hundreds of years later, the New Testament people were told that animal sacrifices in the Old Testament are not to be restarted, but recognized as having represented the future sacrifice of the Son of God, which was necessary to redeem the human race from the grips of hellish influences into which it has fallen by rejecting the guidance of God and conscience. It wasn't until the 18th century that the human race was ready to receive and accept the revelations of the Writings of Swedenborg, in which all the correspondences are explicitly explained. Now it will take many more centuries and millennia for people to extract significant portions of theistic psychology from the Writings themselves. Swedenborg did not comment explicitly regarding the correspondences that are hidden in the Writings. For this reason, some scholars of the Writings do not accept the idea that they are also written in hidden correspondences, though they acknowledge them as Sacred Scripture. This does not seem justified since the Writings state that all Sacred Scripture on earth is written in natural correspondences of Divine Speech. Therefore if one acknowledges the Writings as Sacred Scripture one should also acknowledge that they too are written in correspondences. Theistic psychology is nothing but the spiritual-rational correspondences that we extract from the natural-rational correspondences in which the Writings are written (see Section xx). Continuing with the next passage which discusses the scientific content of Genesis: While the mind cleaves to the literal sense alone, no one can possibly see that such things are contained within it. Thus in these first chapters of Genesis, nothing is discoverable from the sense of the letter other than that the creation of the world is treated of, and the garden of Eden which is called Paradise, and Adam as the first created man. Who supposes anything else? But it will be sufficiently established in the following pages that these matters contain arcana which have never yet been revealed; and in fact that the first chapter of Genesis in the internal sense treats in general of the new creation of man, or of his regeneration, and specifically of the Most Ancient Church; and this in such a manner that there is not the least expression which does not represent, signify, and enfold within it these things. (AC 4)
The above passage reminds us that the Genesis creation story "treats of the new creation of man, or of his regeneration, and specifically of the Most Ancient Church." Remember that church signifies the regenerating mind. The "Most Ancient Church" signifies the first phase of the regenerating process. Historically, in its literal sense, the Writings discuss the Most Ancient Church as the celestial race on this earth prior to the Fall. The proof that such a race existed on this earth was given to Swedenborg when he was allowed to visit them in the heavens where they have been dwelling for thousands of years, since passing from life on earth to life in immortality (see Section xx). But in the scientific sense all reference to history on this earth vanishes, and instead what is signified is the regenerating mind. "Most Ancient" therefore signifies the initial or first phase of our regeneration. This beginning phase is also called "the new creation of man." That this is really the case no one can possibly know except from the Divine-Human. It may therefore be stated in advance that of the Divine-Human's Divine mercy it has been granted me now for some years to be constantly and uninterruptedly in company with spirits and angels, hearing them speak and in turn speaking with them. In this way it has been given me to hear and see wonderful things in the other life which have never before come to the knowledge of any man, nor into his idea. I have been instructed in regard to the different kinds of spirits; the state of souls after death; hell, or the lamentable state of the unfaithful; heaven, or the blessed state of the faithful; and especially in regard to the doctrine of faith which is acknowledged in the universal heaven; on which subjects, of the Divine-Human's Divine mercy, more will be said in the following pages. (AC 5) In the above passage Swedenborg once again refers to his dual citizenship as a Divine act of mercy or love for the human race. Through his special status he was able to observe both worlds simultaneously, a power or ability not granted to anyone before in human history. But now the time had come for God to advance the human race to its final and highest phase of consciousness. The human mind had been prepared by centuries of scientific developments. In the 18th century the modern human mind was fully matured and ready to hear the ultimate and final revelations about itself and its eternal future. These final revelations had to be cast in a modern rational scientific language and Swedenborg had been prepared for scientific eminence prior to his new dual abilities that began at age 57. His mission, no longer impossible, was to give a rational scientific description and explanation of God, God's management techniques, the process of dying and the afterlife, heaven and hell, conjugial love in marriage, spiritual development, the geography of the spiritual world, the anatomy of the mind, the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture, Divine Speech, spiritual language, earths in the universe and their inhabitants, evil spirits, influx, discrete degrees, and many more such facts and principles undiscoverable by any other means but revelation. The following passage discusses the scientific sense of verse 2 in Genesis: Verse 2. "And the earth was a void and emptiness, and darkness was upon the faces of the deep; and the Spirit of God was brooding upon the faces of the waters." Before his regeneration, man is called the "earth void and empty" and also the "ground" wherein nothing of good and truth has been sown; "void" denotes where there is nothing of good, and "empty" where there is nothing of truth. Hence comes "thick darkness" that is, stupidity, and an ignorance of all things belonging to faith in the Divine-Human, and consequently of all things belonging to spiritual and heavenly life. Such a man is thus described by the Divine-Human through Jeremiah: My people is stupid, they have not known Me; they are foolish sons, and are not intelligent; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. I beheld the earth, and lo a void and emptiness, and the heavens, and they had no light (Jer. 4:22-23). (AC 17)
In the above passage a contrast is made between "church," which signifies the regenerating mind, as discussed above, and the "earth that is void and empty," which signifies the unregenerate mind, or the mind before it has begun its regeneration. We begin our regeneration when we are willing to undergo "reformation" of our ideas and beliefs. Until that time, our ideas and beliefs are not patterned according to the ideas of Sacred Scripture. We grow up thinking and assuming that we are alone in our mental world. The mental effort we put up when we learn something feels like our own effort, and so we take credit for it. But when we are willing to undergo reformation of ideas, we focus on Sacred Scripture as the source of facts about ourselves. And Sacred Scripture says that God is omnipotent, which means we have no power of our own. Therefore the mental effort we put up while learning something is God's power operating in us, not our own power. We now begin a new way of thinking. We think of God's conscious cooperation and co-presence in our thinking process. Prior to this our mind was "void and empty" of spiritual truths," whence comes "darkness" and "stupidity" in spiritual matters and "of all things belonging to spiritual and heavenly life." In the passage from Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet, Divine Speech is being quoted in which God calls us "stupid," "foolish," and "not intelligent" when we are in the prior phase of "void and emptiness" regarding knowledge of God and spiritual truths. Materialism is an an instance of such a phase. non-theistic science and psychology today has completely denied God's existence and presence in all details of human behavior. It is therefore full of "darkness" and "foolishness." But theistic psychology enters a new phase of mental evolution. "Earth" in Sacred Scripture signifies the natural mind. Jeremiah quotes God saying that God "beheld the earth and lo a void and emptiness." In other words, the natural mind which is immersed in non-theistic materialism and the negative bias, "has not known Me," that is, has denied the existence of God. When this is done, the mind is plunged into irreality, delusion, and "spiritual insanity." The consequences of spiritual insanity are the plagues of civilization -- crime, poverty, war, prejudice, divorce, abuse of children and women, terrorism, and the rest of the ills of humankind with which we are all very familiar. These evil consequences are the result of spiritual insanity. Reversing this process is possible through regeneration and character reformation. Another typical passage discusses verses 14-17 in the first chapter of Genesis in the Old Testament. The first eleven chapters of Genesis are a discussion of "those who are being created anew," which is a reference to our mental phase when we begin our regeneration. To be "created anew" means to be reformed in the old character we have prior to regeneration. The old character believes in self, while the new character believes in God. AC 30. Verses 14-17. "And God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to distinguish between the day and the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years; and let them be for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made two great luminaries, the greater luminary to rule by day, and the lesser luminary to rule by night; and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth." What is meant by "great luminaries" cannot be clearly understood unless it is first known what is the essence of faith, and also what is its progress with those who are being created anew. The very essence and life of faith is the Divine-Human alone, for he who does not believe in the Divine-Human cannot have life, as He himself has declared in John: He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God shall abide upon him (John 3:36). "The Son" refers to the Divine Human. To "believe on the Son" means to acknowledge the existence of the Divine Human as the Divine Psychologist who leads our thoughts and feelings towards regeneration and heaven. If we fail to acknowledge the Divine Human's co-presence in our mental operations we "shall not see life," that is, eternal life in the heavens of or mind. Instead, "the wrath of God shall abide upon him," which means that we shall be living in the hells of our mind instead the heavens. In Sacred Scripture "life" always refers to heavenly life in eternity, while "death" refers to life in hell to eternity. Those who are unwilling to acknowledge the Divine Human when they awaken in the world of spirits (see Section xx), are going down to their existence of "death" in hell. Those who are in the hells of their mind seem to feel that the "wrath of God abides with them." But in reality, God cannot feel or show wrath. And in fact, God supports the life of hell for those who insist on being there, making their condition less intolerable than they themselves would make it, if left to their own insanity. [2] The progression of faith with those who are being created anew is as follows. At first they have no life, for it is only in the good and the true that there is life, and none in the evil and the false; afterwards they receive life from the Divine-Human by faith, first by faith of the memory, which is a faith of mere knowledge; next by faith in the understanding, which is an intellectual faith; lastly by faith in the heart, which is the faith of love, or saving faith. The first two kinds of faith are represented from verse 3 to verse 13 [in Genesis 1], by things inanimate, but faith vivified by love is represented from verse 20 to verse 25, by animate things. For this reason love, and faith thence derived, are now here first treated of, and are called "luminaries;" love being "the greater luminary which rules by day;" faith derived from love "the lesser luminary which rules by night;" and as these two luminaries ought to make a one, it is said of them, in the singular number, "Let there be luminaries," and not in the plural.
The above passage gives details about the "progression of faith" which in the scientific sense refers to the developmental steps of regeneration, as follows: (I) The state prior to beginning our regeneration is a state of "no life" because our materialistic ideas and negative bias make no room for mental operations that lead to heaven, called "life." These mental operations involve "good and truth" which is called life itself. Only that mind which receives good and truth seems alive. The mind that turns the good and true into falsity and evil is not alive or heavenly since mental operations of falsity and evil are called dead or hellish. Only what is from heaven -- good and truth, is called "alive" in Sacred Scripture. (II) When reformation starts we "receive life from the Divine Human." At first this new life is called a "faith of the memory, which is a faith of mere knowledge." We have acknowledged the existence of the Divine Human in our mental operations, but we have not yet applied this knowledge to our daily life. We are still operating largely as we did before, materialistically in all our motives, although we formally declare our knowledge of God and participate in religious worship. or, alternately, engage in the study of theistic psychology. (III) Intellectual faith is the next stage, in which we not only know about God but try to justify God in our belief system. We now begin to think about the repercussions of accepting God as a philosophy or belief system. We find that we have to modify many aspects of our belief system to accommodate God's presence in them -- abortion, politics, science, history, business, education, marriage, parenting, entertainment. (IV) Next is "faith of the heart," which refers to the mental state of loyalty to God's commandments of living. Now we feel that we must practice what we preach. This is the true beginning of regeneration. Until now we were busy with our intellectual "reformation," but now we are ready for our character "regeneration." Reformation is about our cognitive operations in the organ of the understanding, while regeneration is about our affective operations in the organ of the will.
Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: [3] Love and faith in the internal man are like heat and light in the external corporeal man, for which reason the former are represented by the latter. It is on this account that luminaries are said to be "set in the expanse of heaven" or in the internal man; a great luminary in its will, and a lesser one in its understanding; but they appear in the will and the understanding only as does the light of the sun in its recipient objects. It is the Divine-Human's mercy alone that affects the will with love, and the understanding with truth or faith. (AC 30) And Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. That this signifies those who are in the good of charity, but in external worship, who here are "Lot," and who are among the evil, but separate from them-which is to "sit in the gate of Sodom"-can be seen from the representation of "Lot," and from the signification of "gate," and also from that of "Sodom." From the representation of "Lot:" Lot when with Abraham represented the Divine-Human's sensuous part, thus His external man (as shown in Volume 1, n. 1428, 1434, 1547). But here, when separated from Abraham, Lot no longer retains the representation of the Divine-Human, but the representation of those who are with the Divine-Human, namely, the external man of the church, that is, those who are in the good of charity, but in external worship. [2] No, in this chapter Lot not only represents the external man of the church, or what is the same, the external church such as it is in the beginning, but also such as it is in its progress, and also in its end. It is the end of that church which is signified by "Moab" and the "son of Ammon," as of the Divine-Human's Divine mercy will appear from the series of the things that follow. It is a common thing in the Word for one person to represent a number of states that succeed each other, and which are described by the successive acts of his life. [3] From the signification of a "gate:" a gate is that through which one enters into a city, and through which he goes out of the city; consequently, to "sit in the gate" does indeed here signify to be with the evil, but still to be separate from them; as is wont to be the case with the men of the church who are in the good of charity; these, although they are among the wicked, are still separate from them; not as to civic society, but as to spiritual life. (That "Sodom" signifies evil in general, or what is the same, the evil, especially within the church, was said above, n. 2322.) (AC 2324) That a "horse" signifies the faculty of understanding is from no other source than the representatives in the other life. Often there, in the world of spirits, horses are seen, and this with great variety, and those also that sit on them; and whenever they are seen they signify the faculty of understanding. There are such representatives continually with spirits. It is from the representation of the horse, as being the understanding, that when horses are mentioned in the Word, the spirits and angels with man at once know that the understanding is what is treated of. It is also from this that when spirits from a certain distant world on being imbued with intelligence and wisdom are taken up from the world of spirits into heaven, there appear to them horses shining as with fire; which also I have seen when they were taken up. [2] From this I could see what is signified by the chariot of fire and horses of fire seen by Elisha when Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven; as also what is signified by the exclamation of Elisha then: "My Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof" (2 Kings 2:11, 12); and by Joash king of Israel saying the same to Elisha when he was dying: "My Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof" (2 Kings 13:14). That by Elijah and Elisha was represented the Divine-Human as to the Word, will of the Divine-Human's Divine mercy be told elsewhere; the doctrine of love and charity from the Word being meant by the "chariot of fire," and the doctrine of faith therefrom by the "horses of fire." The doctrine of faith is the same as the understanding of the Word as to its interiors, or as to its internal sense. [3] That chariots and horses are seen in the heavens with spirits and angels, is evident from the fact of their being seen by the prophets, as by Zechariah (chapter 1:8-10; 6:3-7), and by others, and also by Elisha's servant, as thus described in the book of Kings: Jehovah opened the eyes of Elisha's boy, and he saw; and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha (2 Kings 6:17). Moreover, where the abode of the intelligent and wise is, in the world of spirits, chariots and horses appear continually; for the reason as said that by chariots and horses are represented the things of wisdom and of intelligence. Resuscitated persons after death, who are entering into the other life, see represented to them a young man sitting upon a horse, and then alighting from the horse; and by this is signified that they are to be instructed in the knowledge of good and truth before they can come into heaven (see volume 1, n. 187-188). [4] That chariots and horses signified these things, was well known in the Ancient Church, as also is evident from the book of Job, which is a book of that Church, where are these words: God hath made her to forget wisdom, and hath not imparted to her intelligence; what time she lifteth up herself on high she cometh the horse and his rider (Job 39:17-19). From the Ancient Church the signification of the horse, as being the faculty of understanding, was extended to the wise round about, even into Greece. From this it came to pass that when they described the sun (by which was signified love, n. 2441, 2495), they placed in it the god of their wisdom and intelligence, and gave him a chariot and four horses of fire; and that when they described the god of the sea, because by the sea were signified knowledges in general (n. 28, 2120), they gave horses also to him; and that when they described the rise of knowledges from the understanding, they represented a flying horse which with his hoof broke open a fountain, where dwelt the virgins that were the sciences; and by the Trojan horse nothing else was signified than a contrivance of their understanding for destroying city walls. Even at this day the intellect is often described, according to the custom received from those ancient people, under the figure of a flying horse, or Pegasus; and learning is described as a fountain; but scarcely anyone knows that a horse, in the mystic sense, signifies the understanding, and a fountain truth; still less that these significatives were handed down to the Gentiles from the Ancient Church. (AC 2762) From all this it is now manifest whence come the representatives and significatives in the Word, namely, from the representatives that exist in the other life. From this source they came to the men of the Most Ancient Church, who were celestial, and were in company with spirits and angels while living on earth. From them the representatives passed to their posterity, and at length to those who merely knew that they had such a signification; but because the representatives came from the most ancient times, and were in their Divine worship, they were venerated and held sacred. [2] Besides representatives, there are also correspondences which suggest and also signify something altogether different in the spiritual world from what they do in the natural world; as the heart, the affection of good; the eyes, the understanding; the ears, obedience; the hands, power; besides innumerable other correspondences. These are not represented in this way in the world of spirits; but they correspond, as what is natural to what is spiritual. Hence it is that every word, even to the smallest iota of all, in the Word, involves spiritual and heavenly things; and that the Word is in this manner inspired, so that when it is read by man, spirits and angels immediately perceive it spiritually according to the representations and correspondences. But this knowledge, which was so much cultivated and esteemed by the ancients after the flood, and by means of which they were able to think with spirits and angels, is at this day altogether obliterated, so much so that scarcely anyone is willing to believe that it exists; and they who believe in it merely call it a kind of mystical thing, of no use; and this for the reason that man has become altogether worldly and corporeal; to such a degree that when what is spiritual and heavenly is mentioned, he feels a repugnance, and sometimes a loathing, or even nausea. What then will he do in the other life, which lasts forever, and where there is nothing worldly and corporeal, but only what is spiritual and heavenly, which makes the life in heaven? (AC 2763) Only a few passages are reproduced here to show the systematic and consistent quality of Swedenborg's application of correspondences to verses of Sacred Scripture and the resulting scientific information about human minds and the world. It is easy to see the objectivity and accuracy with which the Writings demonstrate that the literal meaning of the Old and New Testament verses is historical and deals with natural things in this world, while unbeknownst to the reader, there is a hidden underlying scientific sense that describes the anatomy and function of the mind and its relation to eternal life in heaven or hell. Again it's worth noting methodologically that Swedenborg demonstrates that this underlying scientific information runs across all the books of the Old and New Testaments, and they are strung out in a rational series that can be uncovered by research similar to what Swedenborg demonstrates in relation to the Old and New Testaments. The same method of correspondences will be applied in future research to the Writings themselves since they constitute the third and final portion of "the Word of God" or Sacred Scripture. While this Sacred Scripture was given to the Western peoples of the Middle East, Europe, and America, this is only so in their literal meaning. When you extract their correspondential meaning it becomes obvious that this Sacred Scripture was given to the entire humanity, both in this world and in heaven. For an initial attempt in exploring the correspondential meaning of the Writings, see my book A Man of the Field, Volume Two, available on the Web at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/volume2-nonduality.html Consider how amazing this discovery is. The books of the Old and New Testaments were written independently by dozens of prophets across two thousand years or more. Most of these prophets did not possess copies of most of the books, and yet unbeknownst to them, they wrote verses that were hiding an internal correspondential meaning consisting of an integrated series of scientific revelations about the anatomy and function of the mind, about human nature and character reformation, about how God manages the universe, and about how the entire race is in unconscious communication with each other in both this world and the spiritual world. None of the authors through whom these Sacred Scriptures were delivered could have even understood this inner scientific series of rational concepts belonging to theistic psychology. Even if it had been revealed to them, it would have meant nothing because only the modern scientific mind today is prepared enough in rational structure to understand theistic psychology. This hidden integrated series is like the DNA code we have in every cell. Now imagine if the elements that make up the sequence of the DNA code were separated from each other and scattered in the ocean. How can we get the sequence back? Imagine 100 submarines marked 1 to 100 went out to all the oceans and brought back a sample of the water. Would the 100 samples allow you to reconstruct the DNA code? The chances of that happening is a far bigger number than the suspected age of the universe in nanoseconds! Therefore it cannot happen. And yet, suppose it did? The 100 samples brought back by the 100 submarines did fit perfectly in the right sequence when you placed them in the order of the number on each submarine. Suppose this did happen. How would you explain it? In the negative bias mode, one can only say again and again, "But that's impossible," as materialistic thinking hits itself upon anti-gravity that threatens to destroy its world. In the positive bias mode, a rational explanation is given by Divine revelation, namely, that God has arranged that the scattered pieces of the DNA code be gathered together in precisely the100 samples picked up by the submarines. In the same way, as explained in the Divine revelations of the Writings, God managed that only those historical details are recorded in Sacred Scripture which arrange themselves in a perfect rational series in their inner correspondential meaning. You can see that this would have been impossible for the authors themselves to do this who were unknown to each other and did not know anything about correspondences. Furthermore, the names given to people and places had to be managed by God centuries in advance of the events, so that the historical events in those places could represent in correspondences the scientific meaning to be delivered to humanity at a later time--through the Writings in the 18th century and beyond. In addition, the visions of the prophets were also such as to represent the hidden correspondential meaning, and the visions of all the prophets over some centuries fit together in one uninterrupted rational series of theistic psychology, from the Genesis to Revelation, thus the Old and New Testaments. God arranged all this so that the human race would come into the possession of "heavenly secrets," understand them rationally as theistic psychology, and make use of the knowledge to help people regenerate their character for a heavenly life. Untold benefits to humankind are still to be extracted from this infinite scientific series that is enclosed in the finite verses of Sacred Scripture. It is a source of scientific knowledge that can never be exhausted from now to eternity. This is because Divine Speech contains infinite things within itself. Divine Speech is the same as Divine Truth and this is infinite in God. There is no limit to how many different truths and concepts one can extract from Sacred Scripture. This is also why there is not going to be any new revelations after the Writings of Swedenborg. There is no need for new revelations when what has already been given is an infinite source for all the future to come. This also simplifies things so that if anyone should claim that they have new revelations from God, we can know in advance that this is impossible. This is why some theistic psychologists call the Writings "the Last Testament" and "the Final Testament." The Writings present the rationale as to why there cannot be a new revelation from God. Hence God has revealed that there are not going to be new Divine revelations after this. This may sound ridiculous to the negative bias perspective, but it makes rational sense in the positive bias.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch3.htm#Levels of Descent of Divine Speech +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Analyzing Divine Speech: The Scientific Sense of Genesis 22The existence of "Divine Speech" and its character are discussed in this passage of the Arcana Coelestia (AC 6996): Send I pray by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send. That this signifies that the Divine truth proceeding from the Divine-Human will be mediately uttered, is evident from the representation of Moses, who says this, as being the Lord as to the Word, that is, as to Divine truth (see n. 6752); from the signification of "sending," when said of the Lord, as being to proceed (n. 2397, 4710); and from the signification of "sending by the hand," as being by another to whom power will be given, namely, the power of uttering the Divine truth proceeding from the Divine-Human of the Lord; and as it denotes by another to whom power is given, it denotes mediately. It was shown above (n. 6982, 6985), that the Divine truth proceeding immediately from the Lord's Divine-Human cannot be heard and perceived by any man, nor even by an angel. Therefore in order that it may be heard and perceived, there must be mediation, which mediation is effected through heaven, and afterward through the angels and spirits with the man. [2] This can be plainly known from the fact that man cannot even hear the spirits who are with him speaking with one another; and if he heard he could not perceive, because the speech of spirits is without human words, and is the universal speech of all languages. Moreover spirits cannot hear angels; and if they heard they could not perceive, because the angelic speech is still more universal. Nay, the angels of the inmost heaven can be still less heard and perceived, because their speech is not a speech of ideas, but of affections which are of celestial love. Seeing that since these kinds of speech are so far away from man, that they cannot possibly be heard and perceived by him, what then, so to speak, must be the Divine speech, which is infinitely above all the kinds of speech in the heavens! It is said "the Divine speech," but the Divine truth proceeding from the Divine-Human of the Lord is meant. This being so, it can be seen that the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, in order to be heard and perceived, must pass to man through mediations. The last mediation is through the spirit who is with the man, who inflows either into his thought, or by means of a living voice. [3] That the Divine truth proceeding immediately from the Lord cannot be heard or perceived, is also evident from the correspondences and derivative representatives; namely, that the things a man speaks are presented quite differently with spirits; and the things spirits speak, quite differently with the angels. This can be seen from the correspondential sense of the Word and its literal sense, in that the literal sense, which is adapted to man, is significative and representative of the things which are in the correspondential sense; while this latter sense is not perceptible to man except insofar as it can be presented and expressed by such things as are of the world and of nature; and still less the angelic sense. What then must be the case with the Divine truth proceeding immediately from the Divine of the Lord, which is infinitely above the angelic understanding, and which is not perceptible in heaven except insofar as it passes through heaven, and so puts on a form adapted and suited to the perception of those who are there, which is effected by means of a wonderful influx, not at all comprehensible to anyone! These things have been said in order that it may be known that the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord cannot be heard or perceived by anyone, except through mediations. (AC 6996).
In other words, "Divine Speech" refers to Divine Truth issuing from the Divine-Human in the Spiritual Sun. The spiritual light proceeding from the Spiritual Sun is Divine Truth and Divine Speech. It is Divine Truth adapted to the human mind since in itself Divine Truth is infinite and this cannot enter into human understanding. Spiritual light issuing from the Spiritual Sun permeates the spiritual world with the expanse of rational ether. It is in this substantive ether constructed from truth that the human mind is born and develops to eternity. The spiritual light enters into the human mind located in the world of spirits, where it is born, and is encased in a spiritual or mental body also made of the substance of truth conjoined with the substance of love. Love or spiritual heat, and truth, or spiritual light, are thus the construction substances out of which all things that exist have been created. Love and truth are the inmost framework of every created object, whether the mind or a rock on earth. Love and truth from the Spiritual Sun are combined more and more as they descend into the two worlds. At its purest and simplest, love and truth are infinite substances, but as they begin to be combined more and more, the substance becomes less pure and less and less similar to the original Divine state of purity and infinity. The descent of Divine Truth or Divine Speech into the human mind takes places by stages or degrees that do not overlap with each other. The first entry of Divine Speech into human consciousness is at the uppermost region of the mind called "heaven." People who are willing to be elevated by God all the way to the top of their conscious mind are in heaven and are able to perceive Divine Speech at the level of celestial meaning ("Third Haven"). Next the Divine Meaning descends by correspondence into its next degree in the mind called the "spiritual mind" or "Second Heaven." At this level of rational consciousness we are able to understand spiritual correspondences of Divine Speech. The rational understanding we have at the spiritual level is far below that we have at the celestial level. The spiritual mind cannot comprehend the celestial mind so far apart they are. Below this is the "natural heaven" or "First Heaven" which is within the natural mind after it has been regenerated. At last, in its final degree of descent, Divine Speech appears in natural correspondences in which Sacred Scripture is written. The Writings of Swedenborg have revealed the laws of correspondences which govern the relationship between celestial correspondences, spiritual correspondences, and natural correspondences. Without knowing these laws no one is capable of reconstructing Divine Speech up the ladder of correspondences. But now anyone can who is willing to follow the steps indicated in the Writings regarding how to reconstruct Divine Speech or the Word in its various "inner senses" or meanings. At the level of natural correspondences there are two platforms of understanding or rationality by which we can comprehend them. They are called the natural-rational mind and the spiritual-natural mind. One is within the other in terms of an interior degree. The spiritual-natural organ of the mind is created or implanted by God in the interior degree within the natural-rational mind. The natural-rational mind grows and develops through the rational content of natural order as we detect it through our physical senses. To begin with this natural-rational level of thinking is non-theistic and materialistic. non-theistic science as we know it today is at the level of the natural-rational thinking. At this level we are unable to comprehend rationally anything that is not an abstraction based on the physical universe. We can be religious, but this is called "faith" and this is ordinarily viewed as more mystical than rational. But as we begin our reformation and regeneration in adult life (see Section xx), God activates this dormant spiritual organ of consciousness within our conscious natural mind. The organ grows and develops to the extent of our cooperation with God in our regeneration through temptations (see Section xx). As the spiritual-natural organ develops it gives us conscious awareness of meaning that are conveyed in spiritual- correspondences and celestial-correspondences. The Writings call this growth process as the "elevation of the mind into heaven." It is also called spiritual "enlightenment." Thus, as we progress in our regeneration or character rebuilding, we are able to comprehend higher level rational correspondences or meaning of Divine Speech. At first we are only able to comprehend the interior meaning of natural correspondences. This is called the interior-natural consciousness or "First Heaven." When we can become conscious of the interior meaning natural correspondences our consciousness is in effect in the First Heaven with all those who are also there forming a universal community. This can be illustrated by considering the meaning of Divine Speech when Sacred Scripture gives us the Commandments (see Section xx). Let us consider the Third Commandment. Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy; for six days you are to labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath for Jehovah your God. (Exod. 20:8-10; Deut. 5:12, 13 in the Old Testament of the Bible). This is an example of Divine Speech as Sacred Scripture in a natural language. It is written in historical and natural style called "natural correspondences" to Divine Speech. At this level of literal thinking God is telling us to reserve the seventh day of the week as a religious holiday. IN other words, we are to shift focus from our week day work and activities to special "holy" day of rest from work and dedicated to God. At this level of rational thinking there appears nothing else in Divine Speech but instructions on the external conduct of our life. But when we apply the verse of Sacred Scripture to our life because it is from God, we are given a deeper rational understanding of what is in the verse. Our rational consciousness is elevated to our First Heaven and in that mental state we are able to comprehend the interior meaning of the verse. Instead of the external natural-rational understanding of the verse, we now are able to see a spiritual-natural meaning within it. The comprehension of the interior-natural correspondences of the verse gives an entirely new and higher rationality for understanding the verse of Sacred Scripture. Here, the spiritual-natural meaning of "Sabbath" is "instruction in holy things about God and heaven." The Hebrew word "Sabbath" literally means "rest from work." So in the literal natural sense the verse commands us to take a day of rest, but in the spiritual-natural meaning the verse commands us to instruct ourselves in spiritual truths about God and heaven. These two meanings are far apart and one cannot be deduced from the other. People can obey the commandment at the literal level of resting from work, and yet not obey the commandment of instructing themselves in the holy things of God. Fundamentalist practices tend to focus almost exclusively on the literal natural meaning of Sacred Scripture. However, when we reflect upon our religion rationally we can compare one verse with others and thereby construct new understandings that can coalesce into a cognitive system or philosophy of God called "doctrine." Doctrine is a rational and coherent expression of our understanding of Sacred Scripture. As we form doctrine in our mind we begin to understand verses of Sacred Scripture in a more interior or correspondential sense. In this case, as we practice the literal rest period commanded, we are also motivated to be instructed further in God and heaven, and especially, in realizing all that God commands us to do. Once we understand the spiritual-rational correspondence of "Sabbath" as instruction in religion, we can go even deeper to reconstruct the spiritual-rational correspondences in the verse. When this is understood our rational mind is elevated to the Second Heaven. Regarding the Sabbath commandment, we now can see what the Writings are discussing about this verse: Sabbath in the language of the original means rest. Among the Children of Israel the Sabbath was the holiest of observances, because it represented the Lord. The six days represented the Lord's toils and battles against the hells, the seventh His victory over them, and so rest. Since that day represented the completion of the Lord's whole act of redemption, it was for that reason the height of holiness. When, however, the Lord came into the world, so that representations of Him ceased, that day became a day for instruction in Divine matters, and also a day of rest from work, for meditation about matters conducive to salvation and everlasting life, and a day for love towards the neighbor. (...) (TCR 301) Note that we are told something new here that is information from the spiritual world and not from the natural world. There is nothing in the commandment to keep the day of rest about spiritual temptations, and yet the expression "rest from labor" in the correspondential sense means the period of peace following the labor of temptation. When this verse is reconstructed at the level of spiritual-rational correspondences (Second Heaven consciousness), we can see that Divine Speech is discussing here the state of mind in regeneration when we undergo temptations, resist them by means of Divine truths, and win freedom from the evil spirits to which we were previously tied (see Section xx). After a victory in temptation we feel the close presence of God, and we bask in a mental state of freedom from slavishness to our emotions and obsessions. This is the spiritual Sabbath. The Commandment to keep the Sabbath refers therefore to the absolute requirement that we acknowledge God's operational presence in our thoughts and feelings as we struggle to obey God's Commandments in our efforts at character reformation or regeneration. To disobey this Commandment is to reject the idea in our mind that God is operating our mental activity, and to adopt instead the point of view that we alone are operating our mental activity. This rejection is death or eternal hell because the denial of God in our mental operations neutralizes God's efforts to save us. It is like driving a car without wearing seat belts. We thereby neutralize the safety feature that will save us from injury and death in case of a collision. When we are in the state of mind called the Sabbath rest, we are in heavenly peace on earth, that is, we are experiencing a correspondence of our true heaven. In this mental state, there is rational consciousness of the spiritual kind, and this is called eternity. There is also a deeper peace at the level of our Third Heaven when we advance in our regeneration enough so that we can face celestial temptations. We can then understand the verse in its celestial-rational correspondence. This level of meaning of Sacred Scripture always discusses details about how God creates new and higher mental states for humankind (see Section xx). An analysis of the higher meanings of the Ten Commandments will be found in Chapter xx. The next Section examines the character of Divine Speech by analyzing the text of a chapter in Genesis in the Old Testament that contains the Abraham story of the binding of his son Isaac. I will make a running commentary as we go through each selected passage. The Binding of Isaac on the AltarGenesis Chapter 22, Verses 1 to 19: 1. And it came to pass after these words, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he said, Here am I. 2. And He said, Take I pray thy son, thine only one, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee to the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3. And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his boys with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God told him. 4. On the third day, and Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5. And Abraham said unto his boys, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the boy will go yonder, and we will bow ourselves down, and will come again to you. 6. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together. 7. And Isaac said unto Abraham his father; and he said, My father; and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood; and where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? 8. And Abraham said, God will see for Himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son: and they went both of them together. 9. And they came to the place which God told him of; and Abraham built there the altar, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10. And Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11. And the angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham; and he said, Here am I. 12. And He said, Put not forth thine hand upon the boy, and do not anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, and thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only one, from Me. 13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw, and behold a ram behind, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went, and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. 14. And Abraham called the name of that place, Jehovah-will-see, as it is said to this day, In the mountain Jehovah will see. 15. And the angel of Jehovah called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven. 16. And said, By Myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only one, 17. That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed, as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall inherit the gate of thine enemies. 18. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast harkened to My voice. 19. And Abraham returned unto his boys; and they rose up, and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt in Beersheba. (…) (AC 2763)
In this chapter in the internal sense the Divine-Human's most grievous and inmost temptations are treated of, by which He united His Human Essence to His Divine Essence; and also the salvation by this union of those who constitute the Divine-Human's spiritual church. (AC 2764)
The Divine-Human's most grievous and inmost temptations are treated of (verses 1, 3-6, 9-11). Concerning the unition of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence, or His glorification, by means of them (verses 2, 11, 12, 16). Concerning the salvation by the Divine-Human's Divine-Human of the spiritual, of those who are in charity and faith, within the church (verses 2, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19). And concerning the salvation of those who are in good, outside the church (verses 20, 21, 22, 23, 24).(AC 2765) (..) My commentary: Note the overall summary of the Chapter given here, namely, that Genesis 22 deals with the “most grievous” temptations Jesus had to undergo. Other chapters deal with other temptations. Keep in mind that the purpose of God’s Incarnation was to produce a situation in which the ordinary human mind of Jesus, His natural mind, was to face the false ideas of the hells by which they were keeping the people on earth from developing their heavenly character. Meanwhile, the natural mind of Jesus would be fed information about spiritual truths from His Divine Spiritual Mind, and with these new spiritual truths, Jesus could defeat the arguments and persuasions of the people in hell. The God-Man on earth had to face the same hells we face, the same false belief systems that justified holding on to hellish traits. No human being was able to come up with these new truths that were needed to defeat the arguments, persuasions, and influence of the hells upon the Fallen inherited natural mind. Jesus allowed His inherited human natural mind to be exposed gradually to the falsities and persuasions of the hells, defeating them one by one by means of the new spiritual truths. In this way, He made steady progress towards His final goal, which was to completely neutralize the hells and contain them within their habitations in the “lower earths” of the spiritual world. Jesus had to enlighten and regenerate His inherited natural mind. This could be accomplished only by means of temptations. Why? Because this natural mind He inherited could not be compelled from above, without being destroyed. Jesus could have compelled His natural mind to obey, but this would only have driven its attachment to the hells even more, making it impossible for this natural mind to be regenerated and glorified or made one with the Divine, just as our natural mind makes a one with our spiritual mind and celestial mind. Since the natural mind could not be compelled from above, there was only rational or scientific method Jesus could use to remove all the evil attachments that was in this rational mind from heredity through Mary. This method was the same that we must use to regenerate our natural mind, namely, undergoing a series of temptations. What happens when our natural mind faces temptation? For instance, for years we may have gotten used to driving aggressively. Almost everybody does it at some times. It’s part of our culture. You see your parents doing it, characters on TV, in video games, all your friends. And so you continue to accept your behavior. This acceptance is a tie to certain hells that you’ve inherited and reinforced in yourself by maintaining it as a habit. Say you realize one blessed day that aggressive driving is a hellish trait. You suddenly realize in horror that you’ve been breaking Divine Commandments since aggressive driving puts others in danger and upsets them, adding to their stress. Clearly a habit that results in endangering and upsetting others cannot be a heavenly trait. You try to tell yourself to stop being aggressive behind the wheel, yet your corporeal and sensuous mind are doing the driving and reacting, not your enlightened natural-rational mind. Yet the natural-rational mind cannot compel the lower natural mind to obey. The lower natural mind is out of your control because some hell society is in control, by an inherited built in connection. The only way you can free yourself is by enlightening the lower rational mind so that it voluntarily from its own self, breaks the connection by rejecting it as something you reject because it is from hell. This takes re-training or self-modification efforts which consist of self-witnessing your feelings, thoughts, and actions, keeping track of them, evaluating them, then rejecting them and acquiring new habits that are opposite, until one gradually ceases to be an aggressive and impatient driver and starts to be a supportive and peaceful driver. What allows your lower natural to reject the hellish trait it has gotten used to and finds satisfying? Only the process of temptation. For instance, you may hurt someone badly one day as a result of the way you drove. Suddenly you are face to face with your own evil. If you then take it to heart you will feel shocked that you are this way, that you engage in this evil. If you don’t try to explain your evil away, and if you believe in God and heaven, then you will feel like rejecting your long term habit and its satisfaction. The temptation is the desire and enjoyment of doing something that you know now is opposed to your beliefs. You injured someone due to your impatience and you now can either justify it and be damned, or recoil from it and be saved. Every temptation provides a fine line balancing point between choosing evil or good. This apparent equality is carefully maintained by God for every individual for it is the only method of salvation available to the human race. No temptation is permitted by our Divine Psychologist to face us unless He can provide this fine line balance for us. A temptation that is overwhelming, preventing free choice, is never permitted, as has been revealed in the Writings. And so the only way the inherited human natural mind of Jesus could be regenerated and made Divine is by subjugating it with temptations during which He had the choice of accepting or rejecting His old belief system. The Writings reveal that Jesus went through all the temptations human beings go through so that He could conquer all the hells, not just some of them. Each hell had a particular persuasive hold on the unregenerate inherited natural mind of everyone on earth. Jesus had to face them each in turn and conquer them by fabricating new truths they could not oppose. These new truths came down into His natural conscious mind from His unconscious Divine Mind, until at last all the hells were conquered with all the new truths that were needed. Only the Divine Mind could defeat all the hells in their enormous entirety and cleverness. This is the same Divine Mind that maintains the faculty of fabricating persuasive falsities about God, which people in their hells have cumulatively fabricated over the generations. There is here a most astonishing image that is worthwhile holding up for reflection. God was doing two things simultaneously. One was to maintain the hells in the ability of fabricating falsities about Him. The other was to give Jesus new truths by which the hell falsities about Him could be defeated in the natural human mind. The result was the salvation of the human mind throughout its levels of operation -- hell, earth or world of spirits, and heaven. All three portions had to be saved if the human mind was to survive. The hells were saved from destruction by having them subdued by the natural portion of the human mind in Jesus. Had Jesus used His Spiritual Divine Mind, the hellish level of the human mind would be destroyed. If any portion of the human mind is destroyed, all of it perishes. So the human mind was saved by saving the hells from destruction. The heavenly portion of the human mind was saved by transforming the old sensuous celestial region of the human mind into the new rational consciousness of the Divine Human called "the Holy Spirit." This new rational heaven in every human mind is opened to any individual who is willing to undergo spiritual temptations and to fight them with the new spiritual truths of theistic psychology. The new heavenly level of the human mind was created by the Incarnation event and the temptations in the natural mind of Jesus. Hence the Incarnation was the most significant step in the evolution of human consciousness since the Fall of the race (see Section xx). When the work of temptations of Jesus was accomplished, His ordinary natural mind died in the crucifixion (the last of the temptations), and He then resurrected with a Divine Natural Mind and Divine Natural Body. I present these details here as a context for understanding the passage about the Binding of Isaac that we are analyzing. These details are given in other passages not presented here, but see the many references to other Numbered Paragraphs within the passages below. The Divine Natural Mind and Body is called the Glorified Human. In the passage above (AC 2765) it is said that “He united His Human Essence to His Divine Essence.” This means that He Glorified His Human. From now on God was to be called the Divine-Human, and anyone on earth or in the spiritual world, can be aware of Him, communicate with Him, be led by Him, and thus be saved for eternal life in heaven. In the passages below we shall see more details about these struggles and how they took place. The reason we must acknowledge and communicate with the Divine-Human is that this is the only way we have access to the new truths He created while on earth. Our heavenly life is inside these truths. Unless we appropriate these new truths as our own by understanding and love, we have no heaven to go to or to dwell in. Our heaven exists inside these new truths. Heaven is a property of rational consciousness. Our only entry point to our heaven is through the development of our rational consciousness. This must be accomplished through gradual regeneration by temptation. Those who have no access to these new truths while on earth are exposed to them immediately after resuscitation (see Section xx). Access to these truths on earth comes from Sacred Scripture and theistic psychology. After resuscitation in the world of spirits access to these truths is through instruction of the novitiate spirits by those who are in their heavens and love to share these truths. Swedenborg has seen vast libraries in the world of spirits where one can examine any book published on earth. I imagine that for our generation these libraries would include electronic databases, such as this one you are reading.
The Mental Struggles of the Divine-Human on EarthContinuing with the presentation: Verse 2. “And He said, Take I pray thy son, thine only one, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee to the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” "He said, Take I pray thy son," signifies the Divine rational begotten by Him; "thine only one, whom thou lovest," signifies the sole one in the universe by which He was to save the human race; "even Isaac," signifies its quality; "and get thee to the land of Moriah," signifies a place and state of temptation; "and offer him there for a burnt- offering," signifies that He should sanctify Himself to the Divine; "upon one of the mountains," signifies the Divine Love; "which I will tell thee of," signifies as He should perceive. (AC 2771). My Commentary: The paragraph above is awesome to contemplate. Isaac was a real person and Moriah was a real mountain in the Holy Land. And Jehovah did indeed talk to Abraham telling him the things listed above. These events occurred a thousand years before Jesus struggled to form new mental pathways for human beings. These struggles are described in detail in the Abraham biography written a thousand years earlier. This is awesome! Imagine that you find a book one day in some bookstore for old used books, and as you browse through it, it is the story of your life. Feverishly you turn the pages and you see all the details are true, even what you thought and how you felt when you were 6 or 12. You turn to the date when the book was published and you see 1899—decades before you were born. What would you think? Let’s look at how the passage extracts the details of Jesus’ mental struggles and development, by applying the code of correspondences. Recall that Divine Speech is written in this code because the code is determined by the laws of correspondences that scientifically define the interconnectivity between the natural and spiritual worlds. God creates through scientific laws because all things are created by means of spiritual light and heat from the Spiritual Sun, and spiritual light is the same as truth. Hence truth is a substance by which God creates all things. Things cannot be created out of nothing, as some erroneously believe. Things must be created out of something, namely, the spiritual substance of truth. Rationality is the application and derivation of truth in the mind. This is why heaven is constructed out of our rational consciousness. Continuing with the passage: He said, Take I pray thy son. That this signifies the Divine rational begotten by Him, is evident from the signification of a "son," as being the rational (see n. 2623); here the Divine rational, because by the son is meant Isaac; and that he represents the Divine-Human's Divine rational has been shown above (n. 1893, 2066, 2083, 2630). And as the Divine-Human made His rational Divine by His own power, as has been often said, by "thy son" is also signified that it was begotten by Him (see n. 1893, 2093, 2625). (AC 2772) (…) My Commentary: Note the many references to other Numbered Paragraphs in the same Work called Arcana Coelestia (=Heavenly Secrets in Latin), which runs for 12 volumes in English translation. Swedenborg painstakingly proves every little detail of every assertion he makes about correspondences in the Old and New Testaments. The paragraph above is from Number (AC 2772). You can see from the progression of the Numbers in the references (numbers in parentheses) that he keeps track of all the single proofs he gives earlier, to make sure the reader can retrace the development of any one sub-topic and proof. You will also note in the subsequent passages below, that the Writings are rooted in the verses of the Old and New Testaments, and also, that the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings make up one unit called the Threefold Word. The paragraph above reviews these prior proofs of correspondence in Sacred Scripture: (a) whenever “son” is mentioned, the scientific reference is to our rational mind (not the sensuous mind, not the spiritual mind). (b) whenever “Isaac” is mentioned, the scientific reference is to the Rational Mind of the Divine-Human. (c) whenever “thy son” is mentioned, the scientific reference is to the origin or formative state of the rational mind. At one level of meaning, the scientific reference in “thy son” is to the Divine-Human’s Rational Mind. At another level of meaning, the reference is to our regenerated mind or heavenly traits. “Thy son” is a natural correspondence for what mentally we think of as the “originating idea.” The originating idea of a plan or formula is also referred to as the “father” clause. We also use the term “fathering” a concept or trend in fashions, etc. These connections exist because our language contains built in correspondences between physical events or qualities and mental or spiritual qualities and references. As pointed out elsewhere, the ancient civilizations had a knowledge of correspondences, which had been passed down the generations from the most ancient celestial race (see Section xx). In modern times the knowledge was forgotten or turned into myths and fables. To some extent the science of aesthetics is aware of correspondences. Emerson took the idea of correspondences from the Writings and turned it into something different, namely, poetic and artistic vision or feeling. Note: For a deeper analysis of how the Incarnate God glorified His Human and made it Divine, explained with lucid diagrams, see the excellent study by N. C. Burnham at: www.theisticscience.org/books/burnham/index.htm The Meaning of Sacrifices in WorshipContinuing with the Chapter being analyzed: “And offer him there for a burnt-offering.” That this signifies that He should sanctify Himself to the Divine, is evident from the representation of a burnt-offering among the Hebrew nation and in the Jewish church, as being the most holy thing of their worship. There were burnt-offerings and there were sacrifices, and what these represented may be seen above (n. 922, 923, 1823, 2180). Their sanctifications were made by means of them, and hence it is that by "offering up for a burnt-offering" is here signified to be sanctified to the Divine, for the Divine-Human Himself sanctified Himself to the Divine, that is, united His Human to His Divine by the combats and victories of temptations (see n. 1663, 1690, 1691 at the end, 1692, 1737, 1787, 1812, 1813, 1820). [2] It is a common belief at this day that the burnt-offerings and sacrifices signified the Divine-Human's passion, and that by this the Divine-Human made expiation for the iniquities of all; indeed, that He took them upon Himself, and thus bore them; and that those who believe are in this manner justified and saved, provided they think, even though it were in the last hour before death, that the Divine-Human suffered for them, no matter how they may have lived during the whole course of their life. But the case is not really so: the passion of the cross was the extremity of the Divine-Human's temptation, by which He fully united His Human to His Divine and His Divine to His Human, and thus glorified Himself. This very union is the means by which those who have the faith in Him which is the faith of charity, can be saved. For the supreme Divine Itself could no longer reach to the human race, which had removed itself so far from the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith, that men no longer even acknowledged them, and still less perceived them. In order therefore that the supreme Divine might be able to come down to man in such a state, the Divine-Human came into the world and united His Human to the Divine in Himself; which union could not be effected otherwise than by the most grievous combats of temptations and by victories, and at length by the last, which was that of the cross. (AC 2776) The above passage discusses the meaning of “sacrifices” in the Old and New Testaments. References are given to earlier Numbered Paragraphs where the details are first proven, one by one. Here, in summary form, it is recalled to the reader that sacrifices in the Old Testament were commanded because they represented, or symbolically stood for, the Incarnation event. Recall that the Incarnation event was the greatest evolutionary step in the creation of the human race. It began a new age for humankind, an elevation of the human consciousness to God. The Incarnation event created a visible Divine-Human in the external world. This became necessary when the human race on earth had falsified and distorted Sacred Scripture available to them. This distancing from Divine Speech destroyed their spiritual rationality. They were unable to love God except externally, for personal benefit, reward, or power. People born on earth were at the edge of doom, invaded and controlled by evil spirits from hell, who held on to them by these falsities and their evil loves. A God visible on earth was not yet a possibility, not yet part of the evolution of the race’s consciousness of the Divine and of their future in eternity. God had foreseen this from creation, and when the time was ripe, God Incarnated as a Divine Child born of a virgin in the Holy Land where He had been worshipped in Name as Jehovah. Jehovah, the infinite Human Divine God, came out into the external world to create a visible God out of Himself. For reasons already discussed above, this task of “glorifying His Human begotten in the world” had to involve treacherous and disturbing temptations He had to suffer Himself to undergo with that portion of Himself that was not yet regenerated. Once the task was accomplished, the Glorified Divine-Human was visible in our rational consciousness. Every person since then has been given the capacity to picture the visible Divine-Human, to read the Divine Speech of the Divine-Human in Sacred Scripture, and to love the Divine-Human with such intensity that we can strive to arrange every detail of our daily life for His sake, for the sake of our love for Him. By acting, thinking, and feeling for His sake in accordance with His Word, we are able to elevate our consciousness to heaven and to abide in heavenly life to eternity. God’s commandment that we love Him more than anything, is for this reason only, that if we follow that commandment, He is then able to give us what He longs to give us—life in eternity in heaven in the maximum conjugial bliss and happiness possible, endlessly increasing. This is what He commands us to love Him more than anything. The Divine Commandment a scientific built in process for mental development, not something that God desires for being worshipped or glorified by humans. In the passage below, more details are given on how this scientific mechanism works. Continuing with the analysis of the Chapter: [3] Hence it is that the Divine-Human can from His Divine-Human illumine minds, even those far removed from the celestial things of love, provided they are in the faith of charity. For the Divine-Human in the other life appears to the celestial angels as a Sun, and to the spiritual as a Moon (n. 1053, 1521, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495), whence comes all the light of heaven. This light of heaven is of such a nature that when it illumines the sight of spirits and angels, it also illumines their understanding at the same time. This is inherent in that light, so that in heaven so much as anyone has of external light, so much has he of internal light, that is, so much of understanding; which shows wherein the light of heaven differs from the light of the world. It is the Divine-Human's Divine-Human which illuminates both the sight and the understanding of the spiritual; which would not take place if the Divine-Human had not united His Human Essence to His Divine Essence; and if He had not united them, man in the world would no longer have had any capacity of understanding and perceiving what is good and true, nor indeed would a spiritual angel in heaven have had any; so that they would have had nothing of blessedness and happiness, consequently nothing of salvation. From this we can see that the human race could not have been saved unless the Divine-Human had assumed the Human and glorified it. .) (AC 2776) My Commentary: Here again in this passage it is repeated that the Divine Light or Truth, and the Divine Heat or Love, were inverted into their opposites by the time it reached our conscious level in the natural mind here on earth. There was an inability of the human race on earth to be moved by this process of filtering down, which had worked before, but no longer. Therefore it was necessary for the Visible Divine-Human to be created in the consciousness of the race. The above passage gives us this amazing scientific revelation: that spiritual light from the Spiritual Sun is actually an event of enlightenment of our consciousness by means of the clear vision of full understanding. Spiritual light is received differently by people in accordance with their ability or willingness to understand scientific truths about God and human development. The highest angels are the top consciousness people in the universe, being closest in apparent location to the Spiritual Sun. Those of us who get there, or reach that inner state of consciousness, are called “celestial angels” and we live in the Third Heaven to eternity. We are the first human contingent to receive the Divine Light and Heat, that is the Divine Wisdom and the Divine Love from the Spiritual Sun. From the minds of the celestial angels, it filters down to the minds of the angelic spirits in the Second Heaven, and finally to the angelic spirits of the First Heaven. From them the Divine Light and Heat are transmitted to the internal-natural of those who are undergoing regeneration on earth. This means that they are enlightened in their natural mind and conscious awareness. They are able to receive interior confirmation of truth when they read it. It is not possible to misguide them with a wrong scientific theory or belief system. They are able to see through falsities and to recognize what is from heaven and what from hell, that is, what is good and what is not good, what is true and what is not true. They are liberated from the daily emotional spin cycle (see Section xx). The live in conjugial love and feel blessed in what they possess from the Divine-Human, whom they keep before their focus of attention every day and every hour of the day. They look forward to their conjugial life in heaven. They progress in wisdom and love throughout the days of their life on earth, and thereafter, in heaven to eternity. The rational mind is regenerated from top down. First, the natural-rational mind, through one’s knowledge and love for Sacred Scripture. Second, the sensuous mind, through self-witnessing one’s threefold self (see Section xx). Finally, the corporeal mind, through physical disciplines performed for the sake of regeneration or character reformation (see Volume 3 of A Man of the Field: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/volume3-nonduality.html When the natural mind is being regenerated at these three levels, there is a new physiological formation within the natural mind that becomes operational. This new portion is more interior than the natural-rational operations of the mind, which means that it is capable of higher consciousness available to our awareness. This superior interior portion of the natural mind is called the “spiritual-natural” and also the “interior-natural.” These refer to the level of our consciousness or ability to understand and see scientific facts about God and human development. This superior understanding requires an enlightened state, which is a mental state resulting from our reception of spiritual light in the interior-natural organ of the natural mind. IN this state of enlightenment we become capable of communicating with the angelic spirits of the First Heaven. We have spiritual perception while still on earth. With this new organ developing in the interior of our natural mind, we become capable of perceiving ever more interior degrees of meaning within Divine Speech. The deeper we can understand Sacred Scripture the higher our perception of scientific truths about our mental development or regeneration. The higher our conscious awareness of these interior truths, the more we can be regenerated, and the higher the state of life that we enter and develop further in eternity. There is an orderly and lawful process by which this new spiritual organ develops within our natural mind and conscious awareness. First, we acquire understanding and perception similar to the level of thinking and feeling of the angelic spirits in the First Heaven. Their consciousness is within the spiritual-natural degree of operation, and this is the level we can first become conscious of. As we progress in regeneration or character reformation, the interior-natural organ develops a more interior level of operation equivalent to the angelic spirits of the Second Heaven. This level of our understanding is far above that of our first phase of enlightenment, called the First Heaven. Now we use in our thinking spiritual-rational correspondences, not merely natural-rational as before. Finally, we progress to the third degree of spiritual consciousness, equivalent to that of the Third Heaven. The interior-natural organ is now fully developed and we are able to perceive and understand celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Speech. We have the wisdom and power of perception of angels on earth. It is this kind of developmental facts that this passage refer to, along with their earlier references, the content of which I am filling with my commentaries.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch5.htm#genesis22 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
First, we need to see the rational contradictions in the sacrifice version. It is a contradiction to think of God as angry and demanding a sacrifice to appease His anger. This doesn't sound like the omnipotent God of pure love and wisdom. It sounds more like a human king or petty tyrant whose anger is appeased by the punishments and sacrifices of his people. The Writings reveal that God agreed to a worship of sacrifices during the Moses religion because the people insisted on it. Had God denied them a worship of Him through animal sacrifices, they would have abandoned God altogether and pursue idol worship and human sacrifices, as was the practice of the nations around them. But later, God reveals in the Old Testament that He does not want sacrifices. Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg: That sacrifices were by no means acceptable to Jehovah, thus were merely permitted and tolerated for the reason just stated, is very evident in the Prophets, as we read in Jeremiah: Thus saith Jehovah Zebaoth the God of Israel, Add your burnt-offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh. I spoke not unto your fathers, and I commanded them not in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offering and sacrifice; but this word I commanded them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God (Jer. 7:21-23). In David: O Jehovah, sacrifice and offering Thou hast not willed, burnt-offering and sin-offering Thou hast not required. I have desired to do Thy will, O my God (Ps. 40:6, 8). In the same: Thou delightest not in sacrifice, that I should give it; burnt-offering Thou dost not accept. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit (Ps. 51:16-17). (...) In the midst of the week shall He cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease (Dan. 9:27), where the Divine-Human's advent is treated of.(...) (AC 2180)
How can God be angry or hate something, and then how can God be "propitiated" or calmed down by an animal sacrifice? The Writings reveal that Divine Speech appears in this mode when filtered into the natural mind where a natural psychology governs our perceptions. In other words, the Divine appears to us in a natural form according to our natural ideas of an earthly king or despot. God keeps this appearance going in our minds when in that lower state of worship. God keeps this appearance to keep open the possibility of our progression to a more interior form of worship, which consists of more rational concepts of God and of His management principles and style. From a rational consciousness of God we can know that anger is from hell and therefore cannot be with God. We must know therefore that when Sacred Scripture say something that is not rationally acceptable about God, we are to look for the underlying spiritual message. In the case of anger, it is this: That God appears angry to us when we are evil. Swedenborg saw evil spirits scamper to hide under rocks and in caverns when a ray of light from heaven entered their domain. This ray of light corresponds to Divine Truth, and so when evil spirits are faced with Divine Truth they experience such terror that they think they are being punished by a vengeful God. Remember that anger and hate are affective operations in the natural minds of people. Negative emotions originate from the people in the hells of their mind. These emotions are hellish and are produced by the inversion of heavenly affections flowing in from God through the heavens. It is rationally impossible for anger and hate to travel upward from the natural mind into the spiritual mind, and then into the celestial mind and then into the Spiritual Sun and into God's Mind. This upward progression of hellish affections is impossible by the structure of the universe as created. Instead, all affections and truths flow down from God through the layers, and they are inverted in the hells of people's minds. This explains rationally why Sacred Scripture describes God as angry and hating sin. It is how God appears to us when we are lodged in the hells of our mind. Sacred Scripture was given to people everywhere, the majority of whom are born in the hells of their mind and must be willing to climb higher by means of revealed truths from God. As revealed in the Writings, the Incarnate God used His mere human inherited from Mary to face the hells with new truths He fashioned in His mind as an infirm human. Within this infirm human was His Human Divine, for He was "the Divine-Human from Eternity" come down from heaven. For that purpose God entered the natural world in time and history. Prior to that moment God was omnipresent apart from space and time. God was not present in space and time (see Section xx). When God Incarnated as a mere human He for the very first time became present both apart from time and space and in time and space. It is obvious that it was God who empowered people to have the idea, the desire, and the act of crucifying His mere human body. He only appeared helpless to those who carried it out and witnessed it. He is the one who gave them the power to do it to Him. He permitted this in His Divine Providence because this is what He had planned all along since creation. God's love burns with the ceaseless desire to bring every human being to the heavens in their minds. God is with every individual in the midst of sin. What is sin? It is to think, feel, and act from the hell in us. Who maintains this hell in every mind? There is no other power in existence than God's power. Hence we must understand rationally how God actually manages the universe and people. These laws of Divine management or Providence have been revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg. All good events and qualities are provided by God, while all evil events and qualities are allowed by God. He has the power to stop any of it and all of it, but He will not use this power to stop the evil because it would destroy the as-of self independence and freedom of the individual to choose. Without this free choice, we cannot be elevated to heaven. Hence God will not stop people from turning good into evil, but He will moderated people's evils constantly so that more evil than is necessary shall not come into existence. The suffering of the Divine-Human on the cross was the last temptation or passion He made Himself endure. By this act He was able to face the worst of all the hells in the human race, and defeat them by means of the thought processes and feelings He created for that occasion. Since then every human being can similarly face their own hells by means of the mental operations the Divine-Human created in overcoming every temptation. Everyone can now be regenerated by character reformation through temptations that the Divine-Human arranges at the right time and in the right proportion of intensity and quality--just what is needed for each unique person to gain victory and self-change. Continuing with the Chapter analysis: “And went unto the place of which God told him.” That this signifies His state at that time according to perception, is evident from the signification of "place," as being state (see n. 1273-1277, 1376-1381, 2625); and from the signification of "God saying," as being to perceive from the Divine (n. 2769, 2778). As regards the state itself, it is described in this verse, that is, the state which the Divine-Human assumed when He underwent temptations, and here that which He assumed when He underwent the most grievous and inmost temptations. His first preparation for that state was that He entered into a state of peace and innocence, and that He prepared the natural man in Himself, as also the rational, so that they should serve the Divine rational, and that He adjoined the merit of righteousness, and in this manner elevated Himself. These things cannot be explained at all to the comprehension, or be presented to the idea, of anyone who does not know that many states exist together, and these distinct from one another; and who does not also know what a state of peace and innocence is, what the natural man is, what the rational man, and also what the merit of righteousness is; for he must first have a distinct idea of all these, and must also know that the Divine-Human from His Divine could induce upon Himself whatever states He pleased, and that He prepared Himself for temptations by inducing many states. Although these things are in obscurity as of night with men, they are nevertheless in clearness as of day with the angels, who being in the light of heaven from the Divine-Human, see in these and similar things innumerable things distinctly, and from the affection flowing in at the time perceive ineffable joy. Hence it is evident how far human understanding and perception fall short of angelic understanding and perception. (AC 2786). My Commentary: Note the scientific meaning of “place” in Divine Speech, namely mental state. Sacred Scripture frequently mentions a place in the historical narrative and in poetic visions. This shows that God is frequently discussing the topic of mental states, and this is because the purpose of Sacred Scripture is to elevate our understanding from the natural to the spiritual, so that from the spiritual we could reorder the natural mind from its inherited state of disorder to a new arrangement of order as defined for us by our Creator for the sake of our salvation. Salvation refers to the acquisition of a heavenly character that God can keep in maximum happiness to eternity. The passage above says that “He prepared the natural man in Himself, as also the rational, so that they should serve the Divine rational.” In other words, God Himself was in charge of the mental development of the Divine Child, God’s own Incarnation or appearance in the physical world. God is present everywhere, as is well known, but it is not widely known yet that God is present everywhere in space but apart from space. The infinite God cannot be limited to physical space, which is His creation. Neither can the infinite be divided but is always the same as one. The only rational scientific answer is that God is present equally in all space but apart from space. God is one, and there is no pluralism about His Presence and Identity as the Divine Supreme Person. God does not appear in multiple places to many people, for this would be a division of Himself into many parts, and that is not rationally possible for the infinite Being. Instead, God is present equally with every created object or mind, not in the created structure itself, but apart from it, or underlying its inmost framework. This underlying inmost framework is not in space because it is spiritual, and the spiritual is not in space. Nor is the mental in space since the mental and the spiritual form a one. For the same reason God cannot in the minds or souls of people in the sense that this is accepted in some Eastern philosophies and belief systems. We cannot rightly say, “the God in me greets the God in you,” since God is not in me and not in you. No part of me is part of God. Instead God is said to “dwell” in me, or to dwell in the soul of every human being. This means that God dwells in me but apart from me. In other words, God and I can be co-present. Or, God and I can be adjoined to each other, but never “conjoined,” meaning an overlap or sharing of parts. In the entire explication of Genesis Chapter 22 it is being shown how God-Man as a Child on this earth, made Himself go through developmental mental states as He transformed his inherited and evil natural mind by struggling with the falsities of the hells that kept people captive to them. Having created these new mental pathways or truths, the Incarnate God-Man brought salvation to the human race, meaning, that any individuals who wanted to could now transform their inherited evil natural mind into a heavenly mind that can live there to eternity. In this passage we are told that it is God who prepares us for the temptations we must undergo in order to become aware of our falsities and evils, so that seeing them in us, we may reject them as no longer of us. We need the right kind of thoughts and feelings to accomplish this. God supplies the right kind of temptation at the right time when we are in a state of mind in which we can accept His fighting for us against the hells. We cannot fight on our own for we cannot resist the hells. We must therefore acknowledge that the Divine-Human fights for us just as He fought for Himself when He subdued the hells by the new mental truths He revealed to Himself from His Divine. Every human being anywhere can now obtain salvation for heaven by mentally stepping through the pathways established by the Incarnate God during His life on this earth. These pathways have been revealed in scientific terms through the revelations in the Writings of Swedenborg. We are analyzing here portions a few Numbers in Arcana Coelestia, one of the works of the Writings, a portion that extracts the scientific sense of Chapter 22 of Genesis in the Old Testament. The passage above that “many states exist together, and these distinct from one another” and that we need to know “what a state of peace and innocence is, what the natural man is, what the rational man, and also … that the Divine-Human from His Divine could induce upon Himself whatever states He pleased, and that He prepared Himself for temptations by inducing many states.” Continuing with the analysis: “On the third day.” That this signifies completeness, and the beginning of sanctification, is evident from the signification of the "third day." "Day" in the Word signifies state (n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893); as also does "year," and in general all periods of time; as an "hour," a "day," a "week," a "month," a "year," an "age;" as also "morning," "noon," "evening," and "night;" and "spring," "summer," "autumn," and "winter;" and when "third" is added to these, they signify the end of that state, and at the same time the beginning of the following state. As the Divine-Human's sanctification is here treated of, which was effected by temptations, the "third day" signifies completeness, and at the same time the beginning of sanctification, as also follows from what has been already said. The reason of this signification is that when the Divine-Human had fulfilled all things He would rise again on the third day; for the things that were done, or that would be done by the Divine-Human when He lived in the world, were in the representatives of the church as if already done (as also they were in the internal sense of the Word); for in God to be and to become are the same; indeed all eternity is present to Him. (AC 2788) My Commentary: Here we find out that when considering their scientific meaning, words in Sacred Scripture relating to time and period, like day, year, age, winter, morning, night, etc., refer to the variety of specific mental states we undergo in regeneration or spiritual development. “On the third day” refers to a mental state that completes a particular phase of development, given that the number 3 in the Word always refers to that which is complete or completed. The passage reveals that when God-Man suffered Himself to be crucified, He did this on account of its spiritual correspondence, in accord with what was written about Him in various Old Testament passages. And also, because everything God does is for the entire human race for all times. His Speech is therefore by correspondences, as explained above, and also His specific actions, like arranging for His Own Crucifixion and suffering Himself to carry it through. It was after all He Himself who gave the idea and the power to those men to do this to Him. Hence the act of Resurrection on the third day after His burial. The Glorified Physical Body that He made to arise from the tomb was completely pure and untainted by the former inherited deficiencies and tendencies to evil. IN fact, we are told that the risen Natural Body was made one with the Divine so that it could now be called the Divine Natural Body of the Divine-Human. This Divine Natural Body can be seen in the Spiritual Sun, which is a hot aura of Love and Wisdom around this Body and emanating from it in infinite quantity. Continuing with the Chapter, here, regarding the scientific meaning of the number 3 throughout samples of Holy Scripture: [2] Hence the number "three" was representative, not only in the Ancient Church and in the Jewish, but also among various nations. (See what is said concerning this number above, n. 720, 901, 1825.) That this was the origin of the signification of "three," is evident in Hosea: Let us return unto Jehovah, for He hath wounded, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up; after two days He will revive us, on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live before Him (Hos. 6:1-2); (…) Jesus said to the Jews, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. He spake of the temple of His body (John 2:19-21; Matt. 26:61; Mark 14:58; 15:29). (…) [6] When they came into the land of Canaan the fruit was to be uncircumcised three years, and was not to be eaten (Lev. 19:23). At the end of three years they were to bring all the tithes of their increase in that year and lay it up in their gates, that the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow might eat (Deut. 14:28-29; 24:12). (…) David was to choose one of three things: seven years of famine in the land; or that he should flee before his enemies three months; or a pestilence in the land three days (2 Sam. 24:12-13). (…) So in the following passages: Peter denied Jesus thrice (Matt. 26:34, 69 and following verses). The Divine-Human said to Peter three times, "Lovest thou Me?" (John 21:17). Also in the parable, the man who planted the vineyard sent servants three times, and at length his son (Luke 20:12; Mark 12:2, 4-6). They who labored in the vineyard were hired at the third hour, the sixth hour, the ninth hour, and the eleventh hour (Matt. 20:1-17). Because the fig tree did not bear fruit for three years, it was to be cut down (Luke 13:6, 7). (…) (AC 2788) I’m only presenting a small sample here to indicate that Swedenborg was painstakingly careful in proving the scientific sense of some word by showing how it had the same sense in all other passages in Sacred Scripture, even though they were written by different people at vastly different epochs.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch5.htm#passion ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Evolutionary Footsteps for the Human Race
Continuing with the Chapter analysis, we are given a lot more details about the progressive development of His mental states, the same mental states we must go through, by “following Him” or stepping through the footsteps and pathways He created. Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scriptures: AC 2795 “And will come again to you.” That this signifies conjunction afterwards, is also evident without explication. As the Divine-Human's most grievous and inmost temptations are treated of in this chapter, all the states that He assumed when He underwent these temptations are described. The first state is described in the third verse, the second state in this verse, the third state in the verse next following, and the rest afterwards. But these states cannot be expounded to the common apprehension unless many things are first known, not only respecting the Divine-Human's Divine, as here represented by Abraham, but also respecting His Divine-Human as represented by Isaac, and respecting the state of this rational when He engaged in and underwent the combats of temptation (this being the "boy"); and also what and of what quality the former rational was, and also the natural which it had; and likewise what the state was when the one was adjoined to the other, and what the state was when they were more or less separated. Moreover many things concerning temptations must be known, as what exterior and interior temptations are, and hence what were the inmost and most grievous temptations the Divine-Human had, and which are treated of in this chapter. So long as these things are unknown, the things contained in this verse cannot possibly be described to the comprehension; and if they should be described, even most clearly, they would still appear obscure. To the angels, who are in the light of heaven from the Divine-Human, all these things are manifest and clear, indeed blessed, because they are most heavenly. [2] Here we will merely say that the Divine-Human could not be tempted at all when He was in the Divine Itself, for the Divine is infinitely above all temptation; but He could be tempted as to His human. This is the reason why when He was to undergo the most grievous and inmost temptations, He adjoined to Himself the prior human, that is, the rational and the natural of it, as described in verse 3; and why He afterwards separated Himself from these, as is said in this verse; but nevertheless retaining something by means of which He could be tempted; which is the reason why it is not here said, "Isaac my son," but "the boy," by whom is meant the Divine rational in such a state, namely, in a state of truth, prepared for the most grievous and inmost combats of temptations (see n. 2793). That neither the Divine Itself nor the Divine-Human could be tempted, must be evident to everyone simply from the fact that not even the angels can approach the Divine, much less the spirits who induce temptations, and still less the hells. Hence it is manifest why the Divine-Human came into the world, and put on the human state itself with its infirmity; for thus He could be tempted as to the human, and by means of the temptations subjugate the hells, and reduce each and all things to obedience and into order, and save the human race which had removed itself so far away from the supreme Divine. (AC 2795) My Commentary: The passage above explains further what I have already discussed in my commentaries above. Continuing with the next selection (remember that I’m skipping and sampling): AC 2796 As regards the putting on of the various states by the Divine-Human which is here treated of, they cannot but be unknown to man, because he never reflects on his changes of state; which are nevertheless going on continually, both as to what is of the understanding or the thoughts, and as to what is of the will or the affections. The reason of his not reflecting upon them is that he believes that all things in him follow in natural order, and that there is nothing higher which directs; whereas the case is that all things are disposed by means of the spirits and angels with him; and all his states and changes of states are therefrom, and are thus to eternity directed by the Divine-Human to ends which the Divine-Human alone foresees. That the reality is so, has become most fully known to me now by the experience of many years. It has also been given to know and observe what spirits and angels were with me, and what states they induced; and this I can solemnly assert-that all states, even to the least particulars, come from this source and are thereby directed by the Divine-Human. It has also been given to know and observe that in every state there are a great many others, which do not appear, and which together appear as one general state; and that these states are disposed in relation to the states which follow in order in their series. With a man these things are done by the Divine-Human; but with the Divine-Human Himself, when He lived in the world, they were done by Himself; because He was Divine, and the very being of His life was Jehovah. (AC 2796) My Commentary: In the above passage are stated in summary form many amazing scientific revelations about the operation and development of the human mind. You can see in this passage several key principles in theistic psychology discussed frequently in this book. Let’s list them in the order they appear in the passage above: 1. As individuals grow their mind goes through a series of phases, just as the physical body goes through visible maturation steps. Each phase consists of a series of developmental mental states and there is never a time when this flow of states ceases. 2. God is in charge of the operation of this series with every individual from the moment of birth to eternity. The series could not proceed without God’s immediate involvement, moderating one step and preparing the next step in advance by adjusting the current step, and so on. 3. The series of developmental steps brought on by God moment by moment can be monitored by the individual through “reflection” or spiritual self-witnessing (see Section xx). People don’t do this ordinarily because they are in the negative bias mode of living their daily lives, even if they have an active religious life in the community. Spiritual self-witnessing is to monitor and evaluate the sequence of mental states in any specific situation or task activity. It is thus a spiritual discipline in the service of our regeneration efforts (see Volume 3 of A Man of the Field www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/volume3-nonduality.html 4. The negative bias mode of living is to operate on the assumption that “there is nothing higher which directs.” Theistic psychology is based on the positive bias assumption, which is that “all things are disposed by means of the spirits and angels with him; and all his states and changes of states are therefrom.” This is discussed in theistic psychology under the topic of the “vertical community” (see Section xx). 5. The vertical community refers to the fact that, as stated in points 3 and 4, every developmental step in our mental operations is managed closely by God, not immediately, but immediately, “by means of the spirits and angels with him.” This is the vertical community to which every human mind on earth is connected and without which we would have absolutely no mental activity. God always follows this principle of mediate action, which is His method for maintaining the total networking of the human race, so that whatever happens to one individual anywhere affects in some way every other individual anywhere. What a stupendous concept! And how grand! It has been revealed that to God the entire human race appears as one (see Section xx). 6. But the operation of the vertical community is more specific than this universal networking effect. God connects us and reconnects us, moment by moment, to different “spirits and angels” that make up our vertical community at any one moment. God uses these more direct and specific influences as a Divine Psychologist who lovingly and wisely manages our regeneration needs—what things we need to become aware of when, or, what kind of experience we need to be prepared for the next phase. 7. Swedenborg confirms these revelations about the vertical community by careful scientific observations extended over a period of several years on a daily basis. Through his unique dual consciousness, he was able to see the spirits and angels in his own vertical community, who they were, what their character was, and how often they were exchanged for different spirits and angels. “Spirits” is the name used for people who pass into the afterlife and are resuscitated a few hours later in the world of spirits. “Angels” is the name used for people who enter the afterlife, and shortly thereafter, are elevated to their heavens. 8. The character of the spirits and angels in our vertical community determines our mental state. Our mental states are “induced” by our vertical community. For instance, suppose you are standing in your bathroom flossing your teeth. God has to bring certain spirits and angels into your vertical community to allow you to perform the flossing activity. Our freedom of choice is maintained in every detail by balancing the vertical community to include good spirits and evil spirits. For instance, when I floss, I experience many kinds of celestial temptations that challenge my love for doing a good job at flossing. I have to overcome the impulse to hurry and skip parts. Many issues like this arise during the daily routine that takes about three minutes. How to hold the floss for most effectiveness. How to curl it and uncurl it so the circulation in the finger isn’t cut off. How to be efficient and not use up more floss than is necessary. And other temptations and resolutions (see Section xx). God manages every little detail of my mental states during flossing. And the management method involves the vertical community. 9. The organization of mental states is hierarchical (“in order in their series”), like the top down syntactic construction of a sentence when we talk. During self-witnessing we can confirm this organization or “series.” At first many mental operations appear as one undifferentiated whole, as when we try to describe flossing prior to self-witnessing. We can hardly mention a few things about it. But after some self-witnessing effort we can mention hundreds of things about it. The passage tells us that “in every state there are a great many others, which do not appear, and which together appear as one general state.” Continuing with the next paragraph of the passage: AC 2796 [2] The changes of state with man as to what is of the understanding and as to what is of the will, and the order in which they follow on, as also the series through which they pass, and thus how they are bent by the Divine-Human as far as possible to good, it belongs to the angels to know. The wisdom of the angels is such that they perceive all these things most minutely. Hence it is that these things which are revealed in the internal sense concerning the changes of state with the Divine-Human, are clearly and distinctly perceivable by the angels, because they are in the light of heaven from the Divine-Human; and they are also in some degree intelligible to a man who lives in simple good; but they are merely obscure and as nothing to those who are in evil, and also to those who are in the deliriums of wisdom; for these have obscured and extinguished their natural and rational light by many things which have induced darkness, however much they may believe that they are preeminently in light. (AC 2796) The above passage reveals an important and special feature of theistic psychology. It is stated that when our consciousness and character is raised to the celestial level of our mind (“the wisdom of angels”), we gain the capacity to observe our mental operations in great detail. It is like the people who train themselves in linguistic analysis and are able to recognize in their mind the syntactic hierarchy that generates the sentence they are hearing. Or it is like expert chess players who are able to look at a position on the board and recognize in it a pattern of relations with which they are very familiar and can instantly reproduce from memory. In our angelic mind we can recognize the details of where we are in a series of our mental operations. Even more startling is the revelation here that the clarity with which we can be aware of our mental operations depends on the progress we’ve made in our regeneration. While we are undergoing mental states that are evil in thoughts and feelings, we are unable to accurately observe ourselves. As we move on to heavenly or good traits, we become progressively more conscious of the details of our thoughts and feelings. This serves our spiritual development, since regeneration involves becoming more and more aware of the details of our thoughts and feelings, so that we may modify them appropriately.
The Scientific Meaning of Sin and Sacrifices
Continuing with the next selection: “To slay his son.” That this signifies until whatever was from the merely human was dead, is evident from the internal sense of these words; for they signify the Divine-Human's most grievous and inmost temptations, the last of which was that of the cross, in which it is evident that what was merely human also died. This could not be represented by Abraham's son or Isaac, because to sacrifice sons was an abomination; but it was represented so far as it could be, namely, even to the attempt, but not to the act. Hence it is evident that by these words, "Abraham took the knife to slay his son," is signified until all that was merely human was dead. ). (AC 2819) My Commentary: Note the assertion that human sacrifice is an abomination, and yet Abraham was planning to sacrifice his son because it seemed to him that God was commanding him to do so. The fact is that God abhors all sacrifices, as indicated in several places in the Old Testament as for instance: Thou delightest not in sacrifice, that I should give it; burnt-offering Thou dost not accept. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit (Ps. 51:16-17).(see AC 2180) The Writings reveal that sacrifices were not commanded but permitted by God because the people of the Old Testament insisted on a worship based in animal sacrifices, and had God not permitted this, they would not have accepted the religion from Moses. In consequence, God gave them strict rules on the procedures and rituals for carrying out sacrifices, as we can read in the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament. The dimensions and construction materials of the Temple in Jerusalem where the sacrifices were going to take place were specified in strict detail. Highly specific details and exact measurements for the Temple construction were given, and numerous details were specified regarding animal sacrifices--what species for what sin, and how to dispose of the blood and the carcasses. Every single detail of size, material, color, or ritual act, was commanded because they were all natural correspondences to spiritual meanings or realities. The inhabitants of the heavens were closely involved with these details since Sacred Scripture or Divine Speech originates from God and then filters down through the three heavens to the natural mind and hence to a written record in a natural language. All sacrifices were natural events or rituals that represented by correspondence some detail about the Divine-Man’s life and work on earth. These representations were endowed with Divine power. The Divine power within the representative acts and meanings caused a “conjunction” to occur between “heaven and earth.” In other words, the minds of the people who worshiped with these representatives were affected, and so were the physical events around them, like the weather, the crops, the fertility, the national unity, the international peace. Had these representative worship rituals not been permitted to them the connection between heaven and earth would have been disturbed and rendered less effective and beneficial. The worship rituals had to be spiritually representative otherwise they would not have involved the people in the spiritual world and thus the contact between heaven and earth would be broken. In the scientific sense “to slay his son” (in the passage above) refers to the slaying of the Lamb of God or Jesus on the Cross. By this Divine act—dying on the cross—“what was merely human also died.” To the disciples and angels who did not want Jesus to die, Jesus said that He must die. Why must He? Is He not the omnipotent God? The answer is that He is the omnipotent and He could have not done this to Himself, but He chose to do it because this is what was foretold in Divine Speech for many centuries. Jesus said that He came to fulfill the Word of the Old Testament, referring thereby to the fact, not known to anyone on earth, that every detail of the sacrifices represented something about the Work He came to earth to accomplish, and this Work was to struggle with the hells and subdue them by means of the new truths His natural mind fashioned, as discussed several times above. “Hence it is evident that by these words, ‘Abraham took the knife to slay his son,’ is signified until all that was merely human was dead.” ). (AC 2819)
Continuing with the next passage: [2] That it was known from the most ancient time that the Divine-Human was to come into the world, and was to suffer death, is evident from the fact that the custom prevailed among the Gentiles of sacrificing their sons, believing that they were thus purified, and propitiated to God; in which abominable custom they could not have placed their most important religious observance, unless they had learned from the ancients that the Son of God was to come, who would, as they believed, be made a sacrifice. To this abomination even the sons of Israel were inclined, and Abraham also; for no one is tempted except by that to which he is inclined. That the sons of Jacob were so inclined is evident in the Prophets; but lest they should rush into that abomination, it was permitted to institute burnt-offerings and sacrifices (see n. 922, 1128, 1241, 1343, 2180). (AC 2818) My Commentary: Once again it is stated in the passage above that sacrifices were not God’s choice but the people’s choice to which God agreed under strict conditions. The idea that we are saved by the sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross is an idea that has remained intense and rooted in for many centuries in the Catholic and Protestant religions. It is not surprising therefore that this topic is treated of so often and in such detail in the Writings, which are the revelations of the Second Coming, and thus revealing all the hidden secrets about the representative nature of the Jewish sacrifices. As pointed above, the current intense reaction to the movie The Passion (of Christ) demonstrates that this idea is still operational in the psyche of Christians as a whole. If you listen to Sunday sermons in Church or on TV from any Christian denomination you will note once again that the death of Jesus on the cross is made the centerpiece of the religion and worship. Hence it is extremely important for people to discover what the Writings reveal regarding sacrifices and salvation. Continuing with the next sample, which lists references to prior Numbers where these points were demonstrated in detail: That the evils and falsities in a man who is being regenerated are subdued by temptations, not abolished (n. 868): That truth has the first place in combat (n. 1685): That man combats from the goods and truths which he has acquired by knowledges, though they be not in themselves goods and truths (n. 1661): That evil spirits and genii excite the falsities and evils in a man, and hence come temptations (n. 741, 751, 761). That in temptations man thinks that the Divine-Human is absent, whereas He is then more present (n. 840): That man can by no means sustain the combats of temptations of himself, because they are against all the hells (n. 1692 at the end): That the Divine-Human alone combats in man (n. 1661, 1692): That by means of temptations evil genii and spirits are deprived of the power of doing evil and inspiring falsity in man (n. 1695, 1717): That temptations come with those who have conscience, and more acute ones with those who have perception (n. 1668): That temptations rarely exist at this day, but in their place anxieties, which are of another character and from another source (n. 762): (AC 2819) My Commentary: Sacrifices represent atonement of sins, meaning that God forgives us, that we are therefore purified of the sins, and now continue life in peace and safety. When God-Man incarnated, He taught the people that sacrifices represent Him, and that now that He has incarnated, no more sacrifices are to be performed. Instead, a new method for the forgiveness of sins has been initiated for the human race. This new method is internal, not external. In other words, it is mental or spiritual, not natural and physical. The human race now is able to be liberated from the grip of the hells that make us sin. This new method consists in character reformation, which to be successful, requires that we step through the mental paths created by Jesus when alive on earth. This means thinking the new truths and feeling the new feelings that the God-Man created for the human race. You can see rationally that the new method is the only method, and that the prior method of sacrificing did not work except for the earthly benefits. The people arriving into the afterlife were not able to enter heaven no matter how much they sacrificed and were benefited by it on earth. This is because they merely expected their hellish traits to be forgiven, not to be taken away. People kept sinning after the sacrifices, necessitating the continue practice of sacrifices all one’s life on earth. But thereafter, the sacrificing was of no use because in the afterlife the inner character takes over by necessity of spiritual law. They were then instructed about what they really need to do, but to no avail. They were unwilling, for the most part, to undergo character reformation in the spiritual world. Hence they sunk down into the hells of their minds, regardless of the sacrifices they performed. In the passage above we are informed once more that the only way one can be saved is by character change, and the only way we can reject our hellish traits is by temptations. As indicated in earlier discussion, temptations are brought on by specific experiences arranged and timed for every person by God. God fights for the person and overcomes, not the person through one’s own power. We cannot glory in the victory of overcoming temptations because it is accomplished By the Divine-Human, not by us. Yet we must agree and cooperate. Temptations are not brought to anyone who will not agree and cooperate with God, which we do either through our knowledge of Sacred Scripture, or through our conscience, or both. Temptations are mental struggles or “combats from the goods and truths which one has acquired by knowledges.” We cannot undergo temptations until we either know some Divine truth from revelation, or we have a direct intuitive perception from our inborn conscience that something is evil or good. The knowledge or perception of what is good or evil must precede the temptation. For instance, in natural temptations, we must have knowledge of the physical dangers we run if we do not overcome and do the right thing, like flossing regularly or staying honest on the job. In spiritual temptations, we must have knowledge of heaven and hell, of God’s Commandments, and the danger we run if we do not overcome and cling to the truths of our faith or theistic science. In celestial temptations, we must have knowledge of our loves, of how they affect others as well as ourselves, and the dangers we run if we do not overcome and cling to the love of God and the love others.
Continuing with the next passage, which lists more references where temptations were discussed in earlier Numbers: That men spiritually dead cannot sustain the combats of temptations (n. 270): That all temptations are attended with despair respecting the end (n. 1787, 1820): That after temptations there is fluctuation (n. 848, 857): That the good learn by temptations that they are nothing but evil, and that all things are of mercy (n. 2334): That by temptations goods are conjoined more closely with truths (n. 2272): That men are not saved by temptations if they yield in them, nor if they think that they have merited by them (n. 2273): That in every temptation there is freedom, and stronger than out of temptations (n. 1937). (AC 2819) My Commentary: Note that undergoing temptations is an orderly and scientific process that goes through specific steps to which we must adapt appropriately or else the temptation is rendered ineffective for spiritual development or character reformation. One of the consequences of temptations is to discover that we “are nothing but evil.” In other words, by inheritance we acquire such a vast number of evil traits and tendencies, that we are filled with evil impulses all the time, even when on the surface we appear to be good and decent. But this is only a surface put on as the temptation demonstrates to us. The above passage explains that “by temptations goods are conjoined more closely with truths.” This is why temptations require that we already have some knowledge about physical dangers of risk, spiritual dangers of truth, and celestial dangers of love. We have spiritual truths, but instead of spiritual goods we have spiritual evils. The temptation process contains and restricts the evil and replaces it with good, which is conjoined to the truth we already have. Regeneration is therefore the process by which God attaches goods to the truths we have acquired from moral teachings and Sacred Scripture. Now we can act from love by means of truth, which is what constitutes heaven.
Continuing with the next sample: “Behind, caught in a thicket.” That this signifies entangled in natural knowledge, is evident from the signification of being "caught," as here being entangled; and from the signification of a "thicket" or "tangle" as being memory-knowledge-explained in what follows. That the spiritual are held entangled in natural knowledge in regard to the truths of faith, is as follows. The spiritual have not perception of good and truth, as the celestial have, but instead of it conscience formed from the goods and truths of faith which they have imbibed from infancy from their parents and masters, and afterwards from the doctrine of faith into which they were born. They who have no perception of good and truth have to be confirmed by knowledges. Everyone forms for himself some idea respecting the things he has learned, and also respecting the goods and truths of faith; for without an idea, nothing remains in the memory otherwise than as an empty thing. Confirmatory things are added thereto, and fill up the idea of the thing, from other knowledges, even from memory-knowledges. The confirmation of the idea itself by many things causes not only that it sticks in the memory, so that it can be called forth into the thought, but also that faith can be insinuated into it. (AC 2831) My Commentary: This passage gives us the scientific meaning of “tangled” and “thicket” which refer to plants, bushes, and vines. Throughout the text of Sacred Scripture references to vegetation signify things about the cognitive organ of the mind, while animals signify things about the affective organ of the mind. The thickets, and tangles of vines and branches are natural correspondences to conceptual hierarchies and taxonomies. For example, if you’re familiar with the logical classification system known as Roget’s Thesaurus you will recognize how the meaning relations reach across semantic categories, like intertwining branches. The reason branches and vines grow in this fashion is because they correspond to mental properties, in this case cognitive structures that overlap in meaning. Few people knew of this connection between plants and the cognitive mind until it was revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg. Different types of branches or vines correspond to different features of the cognitive networks we all have in the mind and memory structures. “Thicket” represents “memory-knowledge” which designates whatever we have acquired externally by experience and are stored representatively in the cognitive organ. The reason this is being discussed here is that our Fallen race is materialistic and monist in terms of memory-knowledges we acquire in our daily life on earth. All our memories come from what we experience through the senses in the external physical world. It is stated in the above passage that “the spiritual have not perception of good and truth, as the celestial have, but instead of it conscience formed from the goods and truths of faith which they have imbibed from infancy from their parents and masters.” We are being referred to as “the spiritual” in contrast to the “celestial” race that existed prior to the Fall. The split-brain race that came into existence after that original race, did not have dual consciousness. The only source for their knowledge of good and evil came from a “conscience” formed by “the goods and truths of faith” we acquire through our socialization process. As a result, we are “held entangled in natural knowledge in regard to the truths of faith.” In other words, our semantic categories about the world and reality, and specifically our ideas about God and the afterlife (“truths of faith”), are “entangled” in natural categories that ignore the spiritual categories from which they originate and to which they are connected by the laws correspondence. We need to know and recognize this prior to opting for the positive bias perspective on science and reality.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch5.htm#footsteps ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5.0.9 Three Types of Spiritual Perception Continuing with the passage, which will give us further details about the anatomy of our mind and how it functions, specifically regarding the three types of perception through which we raise our consciousness and develop spiritually: [2] As regards perception in general, since few know what perception is, this must be declared. There is perception of what is good and true in celestial and spiritual things; there is perception of what is just and equitable in civil life; and there is perception of what is honorable in moral life. As regards the perception of what is good and true in celestial and spiritual things, the interior angels have this perception from the Divine-Human, the men of the Most Ancient Church had it, and the celestial, who are in love to the Divine-Human, have it. These know at once, from a kind of internal observation, whether a thing is good and whether it is true; for this is insinuated by the Divine-Human, because they are conjoined with Him by love. Spiritual men, however, have no such perception of good and truth in celestial and spiritual things, but instead of it have conscience which dictates; but as before said, this conscience is formed from the knowledges of good and truth which they have imbibed from their parents and masters, and afterwards from their own study in doctrine and in the Word; and in these, even though not entirely good and true, they put their faith. Hence it is that men can have conscience from any doctrine whatever; even the Gentiles have something not unlike conscience from their religion. My Commentary: According to this passage, the three types of perceptual operations are as follows: (a) perception of what is good and true spiritually (b) perception of what is just and equitable in public behavior (c) perception of what is honorable and moral in personal behavior The perception what is good and true spiritually is a capacity of our celestial mind. The most earliest generations on this earth had that kind of perception since they were conscious in both worlds, as Swedenborg was. When we enter our heaven following the second death, we are in our celestial mind, either the highest portion of it called the “Third Heaven” or the lowest called the “First Heaven.” However, note carefully that it says that those of us “who are in love to the Divine-Human, have it.” This is very encouraging indeed. It means that there is a special organ within the natural mind that can give us this celestial perception. As explained above in one of my comments, the natural mind has the capacity of containing a spiritual organ that can replicate in a representative way the higher order mental operations taking place in the unconscious spiritual and celestial mind. This spiritual-natural organ gives us full conscious awareness of spiritual truths and goods by means of higher order correspondences (see Volume 2 of A Man of the Field: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/volume2-nonduality.html The development and operationalization of the spiritual-natural organ is dependent on our regeneration or character reformation efforts. These efforts must be motivated by love for the Divine-Human and the knowledge that our heaven is within the Divine-Human’s Rational Mind. To the extent that we can align our rational mind to the Divine Rational Mind, to that extent we gain perception of spiritual truths and celestial goods, right here on earth, in full consciousness and awareness. We are then in a state of spiritual enlightenment. The passage above also informs us that conscience gives us intuitive perception of what is good and true spiritually, though this is imperfect in comparison to the rational perception of spiritual truths in our new spiritual-rational organ, just discussed. The imperfect nature of conscience comes from the fact that its content is mixed through socialization practices and religious belief systems, many of which are not spiritually true but can lead one to spiritual truths. These are called “mediate truths and goods.” For example, the worship by sacrifice which was discussed above, was not in itself true and good, not something that actually prepared their character for life in heaven. But when the sacrificial worship, even if pagan, was taken sincerely, it contained the fear and worship of God. This was sufficient to establish for them a life of conscience. When they arrived in the afterlife, this life of conscience now formed the basis for their instruction in actual truths and goods, which they were then willing to accept. Thus they entered their heavens. Here is what we are further told about conscience and the importance of spiritual self-witnessing: [3] That the spiritual have no perception of the good and truth of faith, but say and believe that to be true which they have learned and apprehended, is sufficiently evident from the fact that everyone says that his own dogma is true, heretics more than others; and that they are not able to see the truth itself, still less to acknowledge it, although thousands of things should declare it. Let everyone explore himself and see if he is able to perceive from any other source whether a thing is true; and if when a thing most true is made manifest to him he still does not fail to acknowledge it. As for example, one who makes faith the essential of salvation, and not love: even if all should be read before him which the Divine-Human spoke concerning love and charity (see n. 2373), and if he should know from the Word that all the Law and the Prophets hang upon love to the Divine-Human and charity toward the neighbor, he will nevertheless remain in the idea of faith, and will say that this alone saves. It is otherwise with those who are in celestial and spiritual perception. (AC 2831) Evidence is mentioned here showing that our spiritual race living by conscience evolves all sorts of belief systems (“faith”) that are contradictory to each other and fall into “dogma,” which refers to unscientific conclusions based on no evidence yet enforced on others. These contradictory and dogmatic variations of human conscience shows that conscience is not pure, like spiritual perception, but mixed up with socialized and ethnic belief systems. At this level of mental operations “they are not able to see the truth itself, still less to acknowledge it, although thousands of things should declare it.” An example given elsewhere in the Writings is the dogma of “faith alone saves,” which is erroneously based on some things Paul says in the Epistles and which Luther elaborated on when establishing the intellectual basis of Protestantism. This dogma declares that since no one is capable of fulfilling “the Law” in Sacred Scripture, we cannot be saved by our actions, but must rely on blind faith in the saving power of the Blood of Christ who died for us. As a result, preachers and teachers tell the people that they are saved by this blind faith, even if they do not reform their character. This is because God no longer looks upon their sin, now that they are saved by the sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross. The Writings show the many places in both the Old and New Testaments where it is declared, even by Paul, that we are not saved by a faith of rituals and declarations, but only by ceasing to sin and living a charitable life according the commandments, both in their letter and in their spirit. Hence it is said above that “they are not able to see the truth itself, still less to acknowledge it, although thousands of things should declare it.” The thousands of things that declare the truth are the many references in Sacred Scripture that warn us that only when we stop our evil thoughts and feelings can we enter heaven. The passage above refers to those who “who make faith the essential of salvation, and not love,” which is another dogma frequently rejected in Sacred Scripture, including Paul in his Epistles. Even though the relevant passages in Holy Scripture are shown to them, they “nevertheless remain in the idea of faith, and will say that this alone saves,” and that “when a thing most true is made manifest to him they still do not fail to acknowledge it.” Such are the disadvantages of a conscience based on blind faith that ignores the sayings of Sacred Scripture in one place, and pick only those places that support the dogmatic beliefs. Continuing with the passage, we receive more explanations on the nature of perception and its evolutionary origin: [4] As regards the perception of what is just and equitable in civil life, however, those in the world who are rational have this, and also the perception of what is honorable in moral life. These two perceptions distinguish one man from another, but by no means do such men for this reason have the perception of the good and truth of faith, because this perception is higher or more internal, and flows in from the Divine-Human through the inmost of the rational. [5] The reason also why the spiritual have no perception of the good and truth of faith, is that good and truth are not implanted in their will part, as with celestial men, but in their intellectual part (see n. 863, 875, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256). Hence it is that the spiritual cannot arrive at the first degree of the light in which the celestial are (n. 2718), but have what is obscure in comparison (n. 1043, 2708 at the beginning, 2715). That the spiritual are entangled in natural memory-knowledge in respect to the truths of faith, follows from this. (AC 2831) My Commentary: The perception of what is good and true in public and personal life comes from the development of the natural-rational mind. One does not have to belong to a religion in order to be a useful law abiding citizen and a moral neighbor. We learn to act rationally on the natural plane of life and society by suppressing our irrational and evil impulses. This suppression is not possible to maintain once the person is regenerating because these evils are brought out by the experiences of temptations. But those who do not suffer themselves to undergo regeneration arrive in the afterlife, as Swedenborg talked to some of them, and demand that be admitted to heaven since they had lived a useful and moral life. But when they are taken to their second death, which means that they are immersed in all their internal loves, the evil that was suppressed now feels liberated like a genie in a bottle, and they trot off to their hells. This must be taken very seriously if you care about your eternal future. The Writings explain that we are able to be aware of our suppressed evils except by temptations, and these are brought to us only if we are prepared to fight and overcome, that is, are prepared to undergo a series of temptations for the sake of character reformation. As further explained in the following passage: [10] The reason why in the Word memory-knowledges are called "thickets," is that they are comparatively of such a character, especially when the cupidities of the love of self and of the world, and the principles of falsity, seek for them. Celestial and spiritual love is that which disposes into order the knowledges which are of the exterior memory; and the love of self and of the world is that which perverts the order, and disturbs all things in it. These things the man does not take notice of, because he places order in perverted order, good in evil, and truth in falsity. On this account these things are in entanglement; and also on this, that the things of the exterior memory, where these knowledges are, compared with those in the interior memory, where rational things are, are as in a thicket, or as in a dark forest. How shady, opaque, and dark it is there in comparison, a man cannot know so long as he is living in the body; for he then supposes that all wisdom and intelligence are from this source; but he will know in the other life, when he comes into the things of his interior memory. That in the exterior memory, which is proper to man while he is living in the world, nothing is less to be found than the light of intelligence and wisdom; but that all is relatively dark, disorderly, and entangled there, may be seen above (n. 2469-2494). (AC 2831) My Commentary: A “thicket” represents the way our thinking gets entangled when we rely on our own self-made ideas about God and regeneration. We start with a love for evil and a resistance to character reformation that forces us to give up our evil delights and pet ideas. This is called the “cupidities of the love of self and of the world, and the principles of falsity” that support these evil loves. When we are in such a lost state, whatever we experience as delightful is called good and true. We completely lose the ability to distinguish between actual good and truth and actual evil and falsity that masquerades in our own eyes as good and truth. The only way out of this terrible and dangerous life dilemma is to compel ourselves to learn spiritual truths from revelation and to order our natural mind so that it agrees with the revealed spiritual order. As soon as we are committed to doing this, God brings new knowledge by which we can fight our temptations and progress steadily in this regeneration path. The more we acquire rational consciousness from scientific revelations, the more we can disentangle the spider webs of false beliefs that keep our evils in place. Continuing with the next passage, which gives us more detail about how we get entangled in the exclusively natural perspective, ignoring spiritual revelations: “By his horns.” That this signifies with all power in regard to the truths of faith, is evident from the signification of "horns." "Horns" are mentioned in many places in the Word; and there signify the power of truth from good; and in the opposite sense the power of falsity from evil; here the meaning is that the spiritual who are signified by the "ram" are entangled in natural memory-knowledge with all their might in regard to truth, and hence that they are deprived of the power of perceiving truths. For the more anyone consults natural memory-knowledges, and sticks fast in them in his animus and mind in regard to the things which are truths of faith, the more does he lose the light of truth, and with the light, the life of truth. Everyone may know this from experience, if he attends and reflects, from those who say that they can believe nothing unless they comprehend that it is so by means of the things of sense, or of memory-knowledge. If you explore their quality, you will find that they believe nothing; and moreover that nothing seems to them more wise than to ascribe everything to nature. There are many also who say that they believe although they do not comprehend; when nevertheless, in secret with themselves, they reason equally as others do from the things of sense and memory-knowledge concerning the truths of faith, as to whether a thing is so. These either have a kind of persuasion breathed in from the love of self and the world, or they do not believe at all. Their quality is manifest from their life. Both classes are indeed in the Divine-Human's spiritual church, but they are not of the church. They who are of the church are in a life of good, and have faith in truths; but the spiritual have faith in other truths besides those which have been impressed on them from infancy, and which they have afterwards confirmed to themselves from doctrine or from some other source. Such is the state of the spiritual, which state is here described by the "ram caught in the thicket by his horns" (see just above, n. 2831). (AC 2832) My Commentary: In the passage above we find out that the scientific sense of “horns” refers to “the power of truth that is in faith.” In the Writings “faith” is used in two ways—blind faith and rational faith. Blind faith characterizes religion while rational faith characterizes theistic psychology. Both truths and falsified truths are referred to in Sacred Scripture by the horns of animals because horns represent the animals power to fight and defeat its enemies. Truths have power to defeat evils but falsities also have power to defeat goods. It all depends on how the person uses the truths or the falsities. A ram’s horns represent the power of false beliefs to entangle us in the thicket of a natural life devoid of spiritual development. As it is said above, “The more anyone consults natural memory-knowledges, and sticks fast in them in his animus and mind in regard to the things which are truths of faith, the more does he lose the light of truth, and with the light, the life of truth.” Here, blind faith is being referred to, not rational faith which is based on an enlightened understanding from Divine scientific revelations. The negative bias perspective is referred to in the above passage as “those who say that they can believe nothing unless they comprehend that it is so by means of the things of sense.” Materialism denies the spiritual because the spiritual is not perceivable by the physical senses. About those who think this way it is said that “nothing seems to them more wise than to ascribe everything to nature.” Thinking this way keeps them in irreality. But it is not only the materialist who falls into this mental trap. Those who have a religion of blind faith do not examine the logic of their belief system. They say they believe because it is faith and they do not have to understand its mysteries. They may belong to a religion but “they are not of the Church. Their quality is manifest from their life.” For spiritual development we must go beyond the religious truths “which have been impressed on us from infancy.” We must examine the teachings of our religion and belief systems in the light of rationality and science, not non-theistic science which denies Sacred Scripture, but theistic science which examines and scrutinizes Sacred Scripture for its scientific revelations. Continuing with the next selection that discusses the role of faith and charity in our spiritual development, that is, the role of truth and love: “In the mountain Jehovah will see.” That this signifies charity, by means of which it is provided by the Divine-Human that they should be saved, namely, the spiritual, is evident from the signification of a "mountain," as being love and charity (see n. 795, 796, 1430). That "Jehovah will see" denotes the Divine-Human's providence, or what is provided by the Divine-Human, was said just above (n. 2837). Here charity is spoken of, and not love, on account of the difference between charity and love (see n. 2023). That the spiritual are saved by charity, and not by faith separate from charity, is evident from many passages in the Word. With charity and with faith the case is this: charity without faith is not genuine charity, and faith without charity is not faith. That there may be charity, there must be faith; and that there may be faith, there must be charity; but the essential itself is charity; for in no other ground can the seed which is faith be implanted. From the conjunction of the two mutually and reciprocally is the heavenly marriage, that is, the Divine-Human's kingdom. Unless faith is implanted in charity it is mere memory-knowledge; for it goes no further than the memory; there is no affection of the heart which receives it; but when it is implanted in charity, that is, in the life, it becomes intelligence and wisdom. Charity without faith, such as is with children and with upright Gentiles, is only ground in which faith is implanted-if not in the life of the body, still in the other life (see n. 1802, 2280, 2290-2309, 2419, 2589-2604). (AC 2839). My Commentary: In the above passage it is stated that we (‘the spiritual”) are regenerated for heaven “by charity, and not by faith separate from charity.” This is known to everyone who is familiar with the teachings of the Old and New Testaments, namely that “charity without faith is not genuine charity, and faith without charity is not faith.” I hear this issue debated frequently on Christian radio broadcasts. People would call in the talk show presentation and ask about how do they know they are saved since they still feel like living in their old habits, and do. So they want to know if they are saved or not? The standard answer given is that they are saved as long as they were sincere in confessing their faith in Jesus, that He died to save them form their sins. Then they are told that there is a process called “sanctification” by which the Holy Spirit leads them to show their faith in their life. Then they are told that that to live a life of faith means to go to Church, to seek fellowship with other Christians, and to confess their faith in Christ publicly to anyone who will listen. But is this really true? The Writings show that it is not true. The life of true faith is not fellowship, Church attendance, and confession of religion, but charity, which is defined as changing how we think and act so that we do things for the sake of others, not just for the sake of self. As long as we are mean to people, or care more about our own comfort zone, we do not live a life of charity. For instance, in our work, we need to be honest and sincere, considering the uses we serve and for which we are paid. Doing a good job and being useful to neighbors, family, and society for the sake of God and heaven—this is the life of charity that leads to salvation. Faith without this charity is useless for salvation, as witnessed by Swedenborg when he monitored what happens to people who arrive in the afterlife with a strong faith not based on a life of use and caring for others. They have no faith they can hold on to in the afterlife because it is not based on altruism. They sink down into their hells where many profess faith but don’t mean it. They continue to love themselves more than others, and often, they love themselves alone, and others they love only for the sake of self. It is not possible for the "blood of Christ" or the "Merit of Christ" to turn a person who is a wolf into a sheep. Only a life of character reformation for the sake of God and heaven, can do this. The New Testament frequently warns us that faith can only be “implanted” in charity since “in no other ground can the seed which is faith be implanted.” Salvation consists of the “heavenly marriage” which refers to the conjunction between our faith and our charity, that is, our understanding of the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture, and then the doing of it in daily life. In the Writings the word "faith" refers to rational faith or theistic psychology. "Faith implanted in charity" means that we are motivated to live the truth we know from Sacred Scripture, and when we proceed in this way, our faith “becomes intelligence and wisdom.” To "live the truth" means to apply doctrine from Sacred Scripture to our willing and thinking in daily activities. Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: NJHD 140. Concerning Perception. Perception consists in seeing by influx from the Lord what is true and good, nos. 202, 895, 7680, 9128 [all Numbers here refer to AC]. Perception exists only with those who are in the good of love from the Lord to the Lord, nos. 202, 371, 1442, 5228. Perception exists in heaven with those, by whom, while they lived as men in the world, the doctrinals of the Church which are from the Word, were applied immediately to the life, and were not first committed to the memory; the interiors of their minds were thus formed for the reception of the influx of the Divine; and for this reason their understandings are in a continual state of enlightenment in heaven, nos. 104, 495, 503, 521, 536, 1616, 1791, 5145. They know innumerable things, and their wisdom is unbounded, nos. 2718, 9543. Those who are in perception, do not reason concerning the truths of faith, and should they reason their perception would perish, nos. 586, 1398, 5897. Those who believe that they know and are wise from themselves, cannot have any perception, no. 1386. The learned are unable to comprehend what this perception is; from experience, no. 1387. Those who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom, have perception; but those who are in the spiritual kingdom, have no perception, but conscience instead, nos. 805, 2144, 2145, 8081. Those who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom do not think from faith, like those who are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom, because those who are in the celestial kingdom are in the perception from the Lord of all things of faith, nos. 202, 597, 607, 784, 1121, 1387, 1398, 1442, 1919, 7680, 7877, 8780. Wherefore the celestial angels say concerning the truths of faith, only Yea, yea, or Nay, nay, because they perceive and see them; but the spiritual angels reason concerning the truths of faith, whether they are so, or not, nos. 2715, 3246, 4448, 9166, 10786; where the words of the Lord are explained (Matt. v. 37), "Let your communication be Yea, yea, Nay, nay: what is more than these, cometh from evil." Because the celestial angels know the truths of faith from perception, they are not even willing to mention faith, nos. 202, 337. The distinction between the celestial and the spiritual angels, nos. 2088, 2669, 2708, 2715, 3235, 3240, 4788, 7068, 8521, 9277, 10295. Concerning the perception of those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church, which was a celestial Church, nos. 125, 597, 607, 784, 895, 1121, 5121. There is interior and
exterior perception, nos. 2145, 2171, 2831, 5920. In the world there is a
perception of what is just and fair, but rarely a perception of spiritual truth
and good, nos. 2831, 5937, 7977. The light of perception is altogether
different from the light of confirmation; and is not like it, although to some
it may appear as if it were, nos. 8521, 8780.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch5.htm#perception-types ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5.0.10 The Elevation of Consciousness Continuing with the next selected portion (skipping in between Numbers): “As the stars of the heavens.” That this signifies the multitude of the knowledges of good and truth, is evident from the signification of the "stars," as being the knowledges of good and truth (see n. 1808, 2495). The spiritual are they who in the Word are in various places compared to the stars, and this owing to the knowledges of good and truth which they have; but the celestial are not so compared, because they have not knowledges but perceptions; moreover the stars illumine the night, and the spiritual have a light of night (as from the moon and stars) in comparison with the light of day in which the celestial are. (That the spiritual have comparative obscurity may be seen above, 1043, 2708 at the beginning, 2715.) (AC 2849) My Commentary: When Sacred Scripture or Divine Speech filters down to the word “stars” in a natural language, earlier scientific meanings can be derived from this word if we know what it is a correspondence to in the spiritual world. In the passage above it is revealed that the spiritual or mental correspondence to stars are the knowledges of good and truth. God refers to the mentality of the split-brain race on earth as stars that are both countless and providing light at night. Our mentality is spiritual, that is, intermediate between natural and celestial. Our celestial mind is as far above our spiritual mind as the light of the noon sun is far more brilliant than the light of the moon and stars at night. God-Man on earth has prepared the mental pathway we can take to reach our celestial mind. The pathway that leads from the spiritual to the celestial is called love. When we love to do something we notice that we have an insight into it that others do not. We comprehend more at a glance that they can and we can fix it and improve it. This is the case with some physical activity like a hobby or specialty. It is even more true in the spiritual world where love is far more powerful than the entire nature with its cataclysmic energies. If, when we arrive in the afterlife, we are willing to love the Divine-Human, this love instantly illuminates our surround and fills it with heavenly sights, sounds, and odors. Such is the creative power of love in the spiritual world. If we are willing to love the Divine-Human, our consciousness is immediately elevated to its highest potential in whichever developmental phase we are going through. When we are reading Sacred Scripture with the same love, acknowledging the Sacred Scripture as the Speech of the Divine-Human, we are enlightened to our highest potential of understanding within the phase of regeneration that we are in. We perceive ever more detailed scientific meanings within the Divine Speech, meanings which are infinite in number and fitting together in endless series and spirals expressing ineffable heavenly forms that cannot be expressed in a natural language. The more we continue progressing in our heavenly character development the more we penetrate into the endless semantic space of God’s Rational Mind. The more we are willing to receive Divine love from the Divine-Human, the more we can love the Divine-Human, and the more we love the Divine-Human, the deeper and deeper we are capable of penetrating into the Divine Rational Mind, along with its celestial delights and blessedness. It is not necessary to postpone this mental state until “we get there.” The celestial state is available to us now through the spiritual-natural organ within the natural mind, discussed above. We need to understand the what is at stake here and its mechanism. Does it make a difference to you if you end up in the First Heaven rather the Second, or the Third? It is stated in the Writings that once you undergo your second death and enter heaven, your position of entrance remains fixed to eternity. In other words, your basic foundational mental state does not change to eternity. Within this basic mental identity state, you can experience an endless series of progressions of new states to eternity. But you cannot ascend to a higher foundational state or identity. So the people who enter the First Heaven stay there forever, and the same with the Spiritual and Celestial Heavens. In the mental states of our First Heaven our consciousness is called interior-natural or spiritual-natural. In other words it is similar to the consciousness we have here on earth after we have been regenerating progressively. I say similar because in actual comparison the inhabitants of the First Heaven are more purely enlightened than what our enlightenment is in the spiritual-natural organ discussed above. Our enlightenment is representative but not actual, as long as we are in this world tied to a physical body. Because of this representativeness of higher states within our interior-natural organ, if operational, we are able to know and understand the difference between the mental states of the three heavens. You will spend your day very differently if you dwell in the First Heaven of your mind vs. the Second or Third. Swedenborg describes the occupations and cities of all three heavens. People in the First Heaven have thoughts and feelings that project a daily life that is similar to what it was like for them on earth, but cleaned up of any evil or degradation and disorder. Swedenborg saw shops, shoppers, carpenters, civil officials, games and sports, Churches, beautiful houses and palaces. These outward appearances, like a beautiful dream, were instantaneous creations of their loves and wisdom, endlessly varied and involving their creativity, so that the people felt fully blessed. Life in the Second Heaven involved the people there less in sensorimotor activities and more in verbal and intellectual exchanges and studies. They loved to debate and hold conferences on various issues of interest, which varied endlessly to their great delight. Their habitations, clothes, and art were distinctly superior to what Swedenborg was able to see in the First Heaven. Their thoughts and understandings filtered down to the First Heaven where they were transformed in the minds of people there, to the subjects and knowledges they were interested in, all having to do with the trades, commerce, sports, and government. Life in the Third Heaven is so superior to that in the Second Heaven that the subjects forming the thoughts and perceptions of the people there are incomprehensible to the people of the Second Heaven. When people in the Third Heaven speak to one another or reflect to themselves, the celestial meanings filter through to the minds of the people in the Second Heaven. They then experience an internal enlightenment and excitement at the new thoughts and insights they are able to have. These thoughts and insights are the spiritual correspondences of the celestial subjects that filtered down. In summary, the differences between the three heavens in our mind are vast. The thoughts, insights, and feelings we have at these three levels are vastly different in excellence and power. When we love sensorimotor activities and involvements the most, we are in our First Heaven. When we love cognitive activities and involvements the most, we are in our Second Heaven. When we love affective activities and involvements the most, we are in our Third Heaven. Continuing with the next sample: “And as the sand which is upon the sea shore.” That this signifies the multitude of corresponding memory-knowledges, is evident from the signification of the "sea," as being memory-knowledges in general, or a gathering of them (see n. 28, 2120); and from the signification of "sand," as being memory- knowledges specifically or in particular. Memory-knowledges are compared to "sand," because the little stones of which sand is made, in the internal sense signify memory-knowledges (n. 643, 1298). It is here said that they shall be multiplied "as the stars of the heavens," and also "as the sand of the sea shore," because the stars or knowledges have relation to the rational, but the sand of the sea shore or memory-knowledges to the natural. When the things of the rational man, namely, the goods and truths of knowledges, agree with those of the natural man, namely, with memory-knowledges, so that they make a one, or mutually confirm each other, they then correspond. To this correspondence the Divine-Human reduces the rational and natural things of man when he regenerates him, or makes him spiritual. From this cause it is that both the stars of the heavens and the sand of the sea shore are here mentioned; otherwise one would have been sufficient. (AC 2850) My Commentary: The passage above discusses the all important topic of the difference between our natural-sensuous mind and our natural-rational mind. The natural-sensuous mind is called “sand” and “ocean or sea,” while the natural-rational mind is called “stars.” Rational mental operations are called stars while observational data from sensory input is called “sand.” Our thinking and reasoning process when sticking to the input data is lower in insight or understanding to that of more abstract and rational thinking about the data. We call this higher operation an explanation or a theory of the data. As stars are far above the sand, so are rational explanations far above mere sensory observation of phenomena. The passage above says that “When the things of the rational man, namely, the goods and truths of knowledges, agree with those of the natural man, namely, with memory-knowledges, so that they make a one, or mutually confirm each other, they then correspond.” This is something God accomplishes in our mind as we are being regenerated by Him, to the extent of our willingness to cooperate. Our natural-rational mind or understanding is reformed first by means of Sacred Scripture, if we study it with love. Then our natural-sensuous and natural-corporeal are brought into agreement with the rational so that we become an enlightened heavenly person here on earth.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch5.htm#elevation ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5.0.11 Thy Seed Shall Inherit the Gate of Thine Enemies Continuing with the next Number: “And thy seed shall inherit the gate of thine enemies.” That this signifies that charity and faith shall succeed in the place where evil and falsity were before, is evident from the signification of "inheriting," as being to receive the Divine-Human's life (see n. 2658); here, to succeed in the place, because when charity and faith are in the place where evil and falsity were before, then the Divine-Human's life succeeds there; from the signification of "seed," as being charity and faith (see n. 1025, 1447, 1610, 1941); from the signification of a "gate" (explained in what follows); and from the signification of "enemies," as being evils and falsities, or what is the same, those who are in evil and falsity: in the internal sense of the Word these are signified by "enemies" and "foes." (AC 2851) My Commentary: The historical event in the Bible of God blessing a person’s descendants used to intrigue me prior to starting to read the Writings. Similarly, when a patriarch or prophet blessed somebody it was often in the form of blessing their offspring, that they should be numerous as the stars or the sand. I tried, but failed, to be impressed by such an event. To me it was not such a big deal whether my descendants were very numerous, or even frankly, extinct. I did not have the same feeling for a continuation of my line. Why did some others care so much, I wondered. I came up with the idea of “blood lust,” which later I found discussed in the Writings. It turns out that blood lines do not count in the afterlife. When we ascend to the heavens of our mind we find there others in their heaven. It seems that we are sharing the same heaven in the spiritual world. Swedenborg observed that when people first get there, they are welcomed by others. When the newcomers see the people there they have the amazing strong feeling that they are coming back after a long absence. Everyone is so inexplicably familiar and everyone looks like they belong to one family. This external appearance is instantiated by correspondence to their ruling love. At their second death, people seem to themselves to arrive in a city that feels familiar, where others who feel like old friends, welcome them as neighbors. Everyone ends up in the city or society where others already dwell who share the same category of ruling love. There is an endless variety of ruling loves, and an endless variety of the affections controlled by a ruling love. As a result, there are endless cities and societies that make up the overall Heaven called the Grand Human (see Section xx). When we dwell in the consciousness of our heaven in the company of “affectional similitudes” of one another, we do not recognize or know the natural origin of any of the people there. Remember that the process of the second death quiets the natural mind so that in our heaven we have no memories of earth, therefore no memories of children and parents on earth. Swedenborg observed the plight of parents who never fully gave up the blood lust attachments. They had been parents who accepted their children’s faults because nothing their children did could be wrong in the parents’ eyes. As a result, when they passed on and entered heaven, they were fine, but when their children passed on, they had the strong desire to descend to their natural mind so that they could meet the children in the world of spirits. All desires in heaven are automatically instantiated, so that they were suddenly out of their heaven and back into the world of spirits where they greeted the children, now grown up, with great affection and joy. The children, now adults, progressed toward their second death by displaying the hellish traits they brought with them. The parents were horrified but they could not break the contact of affection they felt for them. They were forced to witness all the horrendous evil of their children coming out in far greater intensity and proportion than what they knew them as on earth where they merely looked upon these as cute quirks or forgivable weaknesses of character. They suffered much and for many sequences of negative mental states, until at last they were so devastated that they were able to desire to be cut off from their children. The instant they felt this desire, it automatically brought them back to their ranking love, and hence, back to their familiar and beloved heaven and friends there. We find the same warning in the Writings about forming an inner friendship with a friend who is of an opposite genius. Inner friendships are permanent, crossing over into the afterlife, and are difficult to break there, involving much suffering. External friendships with anyone cannot hurt us because nothing that is external remains operational at the second death. The passage above is about the scientific sense of “And thy seed shall inherit the gate of thine enemies.” Why does God care about such things? Or why does God go along with Abraham’s blood lust? There are two parts to the answer. First, God does not care about such things but God permits them for the sake of the salvation of the people who insist on it from their free choice. God’s mechanism for giving His Divine Speech to humankind was to filter it through all the layers of the human mind, starting with the highest heaven there. By the time it reaches the lowest portion of the mind, known as the natural mind, the words of Divine Speech seem natural, referring to trees, animals, peoples, events in cities and countries that still exist today. But God’s Speech did not start that way! Instead God said something about how we can cooperate with Him in our regeneration for heaven. But these words automatically get transformed by the universal laws of correspondence as they descend from high consciousness to low consciousness in the human mind. Now, through the Writings of Swedenborg, the code of correspondences has been once again revealed to the people on earth. Swedenborg shows us how to apply this code to get back what was there originally before it filtered down into the natural mind. This Section is an example of how this is done for Genesis Chapter 22. When we apply the code of correspondences to Sacred Scripture we derive immensely more from it than the prophets who received it in his natural mind as it descended from heaven, and then wrote it down. Often the Old Testament verse begins with God instructing the prophet to write something down, as in this passage: Jehovah said, Son of man, take a stick and write on it, For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions. And take another stick and write on it, For Joseph - the stick of Ephraim and of the whole house of Israel, his companions and join them together, one to the other into one stick for you, that both may be one in your hand. Thus said the Divine-Human Jehovih, I, behold, I am taking the stick of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and of the tribes of Israel his companions, and I will add them to the stick of Judah, and make them into one stick, and they will be one in My hand. And I will make them into one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king to them all, and they will no longer be two nations, nor will they ever be divided into two nations again. Ezek. 37:16, 17, 19, 22. (AC 3969) This passage would be quite puzzling about God’s seemingly odd ways. But now we know that the natural meanings can be decoded by spiritual-natural correspondences to obtain the scientific sense contained in Divine Speech when it is in our celestial and spiritual minds. The Numbered Paragraph section in the Writings where this passage from Ezekiel is discussed (AC 3969) is in connection with explaining the meaning of Judah and why he was called by that name. Judah, in its scientific sense, refers to our celestial mind wherever this name is mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. But as yet scarcely anyone knows that these things are meant in the Word when the name Judah is mentioned, the reason being that the historical descriptions of the Word are thought to be simply historical descriptions, and the prophetical utterances to belong among such things as have fallen into oblivion, except for some of them from which doctrinal inferences may be drawn out. No belief exists that those descriptions and utterances have a correspondential sense within them, because at the present day no knowledge exists of what the correspondential sense is, or indeed of what the spiritual is. And the chief reason for this is that the life which people lead is the natural life. This is such that when they have that life as their end in view or it is the only life they desire, it blots out both spiritual knowledge and faith - so much so that when spiritual life and a correspondential sense are spoken of, these are like something that does not really exist or else are something unpleasant and depressing which, because it does not accord with natural life, they find distasteful. Such being the condition of the human race at the present day it neither understands nor wishes to understand by the names mentioned in the Word anything else than the nations, peoples, individual persons, regions, cities, mountains, or rivers, which those names denote. Yet in the correspondential sense names mean real things. [2] That 'Judah' in the internal sense means the Divine-Human's celestial Church, in the universal sense His celestial kingdom, and in the highest sense the Divine-Human Himself may be seen from many places in the Old Testament where Judah is mentioned, for example, from the following: In Moses…(AC 3969) There then follows different passages from various parts of the Old Testament and in each case the scientific sense of Judah is the celestial portion of the human mind where heaven is. This is truly amazing and cannot be explained except as Divine Speech. Recall that these Old Testament books were written independently by dozens of prophets over many centuries. How could it be that what they wrote down in visions and voices and historical events contain the same scientific sense hidden within it and transformed into historical events and their details. How could this be? The only rational explanation is that it is Divine Speech which has this characteristic of always containing the same scientific sense hidden, or filtered down and transformed, in the words of historical narratives and poetic expressions. Continuing with the next selection: [2] As regards the signification of a "gate," there are in general two gates with every man; the one opens toward hell, and is opened to the evils and falsities therefrom; in this gate are infernal genii and spirits; the other gate opens toward heaven, and is opened to good and the truths therefrom; in this gate are angels. There is thus a gate which leads to hell, and a gate which leads to heaven. The gate of hell is opened to those who are in evil and falsity, and only through chinks round about above does anything of the light from heaven enter, by means of which they are able to think and reason; but the gate of heaven is opened to those who are in good and the truth therefrom. [3] For there are two ways which lead into man's rational mind-a higher or internal one, through which good and truth from the Divine-Human enter, and a lower or external one, through which evil and falsity come up from hell. The rational mind itself is in the middle, and to it these ways tend. That mind, from the goods and truths which are in it, is compared in the Word to a city, and is called a "city." And because it is compared to a city, and is called a "city," gates are attributed to it, and it is often described as being besieged and stormed by enemies, that is, by evil genii and spirits; and as being defended by angels from the Divine-Human, that is by the Divine-Human. (AC 2851) My Commentary: This passage is packed with anatomical facts about the human mind, facts which are used in theistic psychology to build our rational understanding and spiritual consciousness and to apply it to the daily needs of people in society. The scientific sense of “gate” and related concepts like “city” ,“street”, “pavement” and so on, refer to the structural parts of the rational mind, at all three levels (see Section xx). Here we are given anatomical facts about how information enters our cognitive operations. There are two paths of information sources to our conscious mind here on earth, one from above, namely the spiritual world, called the “gate of heaven,” and one from below the natural mind, called the “gate of hell.” Our hellish habits develop and mature by using the information from the hells in our mind, coming up from below into our corporeal and sensuous mind (see Section xx). The rational mind is in between. The lower or external portion of the rational mind is called natural-rational. The upper or inner portion of the rational mind is called spiritual-rational and celestial-rational. The rational function of our mind therefore is the key to our salvation or life in heaven to eternity. Our lower natural knows evil from hell. Our higher natural knows good from heaven. As long as we are still on earth, God keeps a perfect balance between these two rational operations in every individual. In this way, we are always free to choose which we reject. Only such free choices, rejecting the evil information and delight, can permanently separate us from them, leaving behind only the good delights and truths, which are from heaven. 5.0.12 Invasion of the Hells Continuing with the text we are analyzing: The infernal genii and spirits, with their evils and falsities, cannot come further than to the lower or outer gate, and in no case into the city. If they could get into the city, or into the rational mind, all would be over with the man. But when they come so far as to seem to themselves to have taken that city by storm, it is then closed, so that good and truth no longer flow into it from heaven except as was said some little through chinks round about. From this it is that such persons no longer have anything of charity or anything of faith, but make good consist in evil, and truth in falsity. From this also it is that they are no longer truly rational, although they seem to themselves to be so (n. 1914, 1944). And it is from this that they are called dead men, although they believe that they are more alive than others (n. 81, 290 at the end). These things are so because the gate of heaven is closed to them. That it is closed to them manifestly appears and is perceived in the other life; as also on the other hand that the gate of heaven is open to those who are in good and truth. (AC 2851) My Commentary: Note the scary part: “If they could get into the city, or into the rational mind, all would be over with the man.” By “all would be over with the man” means you and me. We are the split-brain spiritual race. Our immortality depends on our rationality. The “infernal genii and spirits” come to the entrance “gate” of our rational mind when they enter the corporeal, climb to the sensuous, and are seeking to have the rational justify their presence. They are then seeking to take the “city” by storm, the scientific sense of which is that that our “doctrine” of life, our principles of living, our morality and rationality, are in danger of concocting and fabricating a justification for what is happening in our sensuous and corporeal minds. Our natural conscience and moral principles are at stake, and if we have religion, our spiritual conscience and salvation are at stake. This is mental process that people need to self-witness in themselves so that they may be prepared to undergo temptations whereby God delivers them by removing these particular hells at our gates, containing them forever from coming to these particular gates again. There are numerous particular hells at our gates every day and they must be removed one by one through spiritual self-witnessing and temptations. In this way we may go on with our spiritual development and not be stuck before a seemingly insurmountable barrier. What happens to us when we fail this test and go ahead and develop rationalized justifications for actual evils in our corporeal and sensuous minds? In other words, what are the consequences in our mental operations when we justify a hellish habit we witness in ourselves? The passage above gives the answer in these terms: “But when they come so far as to seem to themselves to have taken that city by storm, it is then closed, so that good and truth no longer flow into it from heaven except as was said some little through chinks round about. From this it is that such persons no longer have anything of charity or anything of faith, but make good consist in evil, and truth in falsity.” How devastating to discover this! The consequence of justifying our hellish habits in thoughts and in feelings is to stop the flow of good and truth into our celestial mind! This is devastating to the individual. I say that it is scary because if there is no good and truth flowing into our mind, there is nothing to stop the hellish habits to multiply in my personality. I have no protection from this or that desire, this or that fanciful attraction, this or that pleasure I can experience. Without protection, I give in to them, all of them, and my fate is sealed. I now am a devil in company of devils. The instant I pass on and become a spirit, I precipitate myself into the hell of my mind and there I find all my friends, all the genii and infernal spirits I had been with in my pleasures and cupidities on earth. We embrace each other like long lost friends. We recognize each other’s faces and emotions. But after the delirious welcoming exchanges, conditions change. They are much further into the insanity than I am, perhaps than I will ever be. But now I have to live with them. So I become their victim and I suffer endlessly to eternity, except when it’s my turn, and my desperation is so great that I become the torturer and my they become my victims. O what pleasure and infernal glory I then feel, -- for a little while, because soon they take over again, which never fails. So this is the life that awaits me if I let them storm my city, meaning, if I justify my corporeality and sensuality regardless of their being hellish rather than heavenly. The picture I draw above is not a fantasy created by fear. It is the very thing Swedenborg had observed many times. It is also the very same process of events he observed in heaven, when we are willing to undergo character reformation by means of spiritual self-witnessing and temptations in which we call upon the Divine-Human to fight the hells on our behalf. Note that when we justify a hellish enjoyment or habit we “make good consist in evil, and truth in falsity.” This is a process of thinking that requires rational operations, though applied to an irrational goal. Some of the sub-elements of the mental reasoning sequence are rational in themselves, but when they are placed together with irrational sub-components, the end-goal of the sequence will be irrational. But to us in that mental state, we ‘”make good consist in evil, and truth in falsity.” This is Divine scientific revelation. It becomes a key principle in theistic psychology. Using our rational syntax to justify evil is equivalent to introducing a virus into your mental components. It is an actual damaging physiological operation in the spiritual neuronal fibers of the natural mind. Popular wisdom says, Misuse it and you lose it. You can see this spiritual principle operating in the destruction of our rational mind through its misuse. What happens if you use a sharp knife to cut a brass handle? The knife utility is reduced, perhaps destroyed so you need to sharpen it again. Our rational syntax misoperates when used to justify a hellish idea because our heaven is in our rational, the upper portion of the rational called the spiritual-rational mind and the celestial-rational mind. These upper portions of our mind cannot remain operational unless the natural-rational retains its integrity of operation, without a virus. It is like gangrene or cancer that spreads to all portions of the physical body unless surgically or chemically removed before it starts spreading from the point where it entered the body. In fact, the aggressive and invasive injurious operation of gangrene and cancer possesses this property from the invasive and injurious operations of the hells in our mind. The enter through our lowest and weakest point—our corporeal and sensuous mind. These are the weakest or most susceptible to the hells because the inherited traits and tendencies are very strong in the lower portion of the natural mind. As the passage above says, when we begin to justify evil interests and goals we “are no longer truly rational, although we seem to ourselves to be so.” We become inured, uninfluenciable by reason and rational discourse. We have become a god to ourselves, recognizing ourselves as the highest executive officer of our choices. “And it is from this that they are called dead men, although they believe that they are more alive than others.” This is the built-in self-destructiveness of using our intelligence to defend the hells in us. We believe we are alive, better off, free, at the very moment that we are chained to awful things to come. “These things are so because the gate of heaven is closed to them.” This means that the source of our rational syntax, which must remain online to operate, is cut off. We pull out the plug on ourselves when we rationalize one of our evil habits or enjoyments. It is not the evil enjoyment that destroys us, as sometimes believed from a religious perspective. More scientifically, we can see that it is the justification of evil enjoyment that destroys our rational syntax, which eliminates the heaven in our mind. Yet it is this rational heaven, or “rational faith,” that we must have to live in eternity in conjugial bliss. Continuing with the following portion of the selection: [4] As regards the "gate of enemies" in particular, which is treated of in this verse, it is with man in his natural mind. When man is wholly natural, or not regenerate, evils and falsities occupy the gate; or what is the same, evil genii and spirits flow into it with cupidities of evil and persuasions of falsity (see n. 687, 697, 1692); but when man becomes spiritual, or is being regenerated, then the evils and falsities, or what is the same, the evil genii and spirits, are driven away from the gate, or from the mind; then goods and truths, or charity and faith, take their place; which things are signified by its being said, "thy seed shall inherit the gate of thine enemies." This takes place in particular with every man when he is being regenerated; and in like manner in the other life with those who come into the Divine-Human's kingdom; and it also takes place in the general body, or in the church, which is composed of many. (AC 2851) My Commentary: You may notice that when we are trying to give an example of evil and hell we think of Hitler, serial killers, and terrorists. Sometimes I think that this serves to hide from ourselves how close and ordinary hell and evil are. For instance, when we think of evil and hell we do not think of our playing the music too loud or tailgating somebody while driving home. We do not think of the “f” word that constantly drips from our lips, nor of leaving our dirty dishes in a sink used by others. Yet these are evil and hellish traits that will provide an entrance for the entire hells. If we justify these ‘little’ hellish things because we don’t do the big ones, we are introducing a virus into our natural-rational operations. As sure as hell, the virus will spread and infect the entire rational mind until we are a dead man. These operations are scientifically described in theistic psychology. The passage above says that “When man is wholly natural, or not regenerate, evils and falsities occupy the gate; or what is the same, evil genii and spirits flow into it with cupidities of evil and persuasions of falsity.” This is discussing the vertical community (see Section xx). Prior to character reformation, or regeneration, our rational is wholly natural, which is why it is called the natural-rational mind. We receive no input from above, that is from the spiritual mind, because it is not yet operational in our consciousness. We do not as yet have a spiritual organ built up within the natural mind. Character reformation is a built in skill that every individual can perform by means of rational principles, either from moral teachings or directly from Sacred Scripture. When we begin this intentional and conscious process, it becomes our goal. We are motivated to proceed with it. As a result neuronal fibers and networks are being built up in the spiritual organ within the natural mind. This has been discussed above. The more this spiritual organ grows within the natural mind, the more rational we become spiritually. Our consciousness or ability to understand spiritual-rational ideas, is elevated and enlightened by spiritual light from the Spiritual Sun that is within Sacred Scripture or Divine Speech. When reading Sacred Scripture we are then given perception of its scientific sense by applying the knowledge of correspondences and discourse analysis (see Section xx). This scientific sense is the rational thinking we need to elevate our consciousness into reality and truth. This is what our heaven is made of, and hence, our salvation and eternal life in conjugial bliss. The passage above indicates what the scientific sense is of the verse of Sacred Scripture we’ve already referred to above, "thy seed shall inherit the gate of thine enemies." The scientific sense applies to every human being. “To inherit” refers to regeneration for heavenly life, not only while we are still on earth, but also in the afterlife, and not just for individuals but for society and civilization. Continuing with the next selection: [5] This was represented by the sons of Israel expelling the nations from the land of Canaan. The latter is meant in the literal sense where it is said, "thy seed shall inherit the gate of thine enemies;" but in the internal sense are signified the things which have been told. Hence in ancient times it became customary to speak thus when blessing those who were entering into marriage; as is also manifest from the benediction of Laban to his sister Rebekah, when she was going away betrothed to Isaac: Our sister, be thou thousands of ten thousands, and let thy seed inherit the gate of those that hate thee (Gen. 24:60). [6] That such things are signified in the Word by the "gate of enemies" or of "those that hate," may be seen from the following passages. In Isaiah: I will kill thy root with famine, and I will slay them that remain of thee. Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou art melted away, O Philistia, all of thee, for there cometh a smoke out of the north (Isa. 14:30-31); to "kill the root with famine, and to slay them that remain," denotes to take away the goods and truths which had been stored up interiorly by the Divine-Human. (…) [12] In David: They that dwell in the gate plot against me, they that drink strong drink sing songs (Ps. 69:12); "they that dwell in the gate" denotes evils and falsities, and also the infernals. (…) [14] It may be seen from these passages what is signified by the "gate of enemies," namely, that it is hell, or infernal spirits, who are continually attacking goods and truths. Their seat with man as before said is in his natural mind. But when a man is of such a character as to admit goods and truths, and thus angels, the infernal spirits are then driven away by the Divine-Human from that seat; and on their being driven away, the gate of heaven or heaven itself is opened. This gate is also mentioned in the Word in various places; as in Isaiah: A song in the land of Judah. We have a strong city, salvation will He appoint for walls and bulwarks; open ye the gates, and the righteous nation that keepeth fidelities shall enter in (Isa. 26:1-2). (…) [15] From these passages it is manifest that the "gate of heaven" is where angels are with man, that is, where there is an influx of good and truth from the Divine-Human; and thus that as before said there are two gates. Concerning these two gates the Divine-Human speaks thus in Matthew: Enter ye in by the strait gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat; because strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it (Matt. 7:12-14; Luke 13:23-24). Moreover the gates to the New Jerusalem and the gates to the new temple are much treated of in Ezekiel, and also by John in Revelation, by which nothing else is meant than the entrances to heaven (see Ezek. 40:6-49; 43:1-2, 4; 44:1-3; 46:1-9, 12; 48:31-34; Rev. 21:12-13, 21, 25; 22:14; Isa. 54:11-12). Hence Jerusalem is called the "gate of the people" (Micah 1:9; Obad. verse 13). (AC 2851) My Commentary: I presented these detailed selections to demonstrate that the vastly spread out books of the Old and New Testament all share this thing in common, namely, that they are written in a natural language that follows the code of correspondences, even though the prophets who wrote them had absolutely no idea of this property of the Divine Speech they were writing down. The Divinity of the Bible is asserted and firmly believed among most Christians today, as indicated by polls and popular commentators. This is a religious blind faith based on sincerity and tradition. They feel this way even though they cannot prove that the Old and New Testaments are Divine Books, and even though they have doubts here and there about some parts that appear bizarre and incomprehensible. But now we have entered the Age of the Second Coming initiated as a spiritual-rational revolution through the Writings of Swedenborg. The laws of correspondences that govern the interconnectivity between the natural and spiritual worlds have been revealed to the human race at a period or age when science and rationality have entered public schools and all institutions of society. Now we can extract the scientific sense of Divine Speech given to humanity. There is no more need to turn away from bizarre text in the Holy Book. Knowledge of correspondences allows us to reconstruct the spiritual-rational message in Divine Speech. This is the level of meaning and consciousness that we need to develop spiritually as an individual and as a generation. This is the level of meaning we need to be willing to suffer ourselves to undergo character reformation.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch5.htm#seed ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5.0.13 Universal Salvation of Everyone Continuing with the next selection: “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” That this signifies the salvation of all who are in good, is evident from the signification of "being blessed," as being to be enriched with celestial and spiritual good (see n. 981, 1096, 1420, 1422); here, to be saved, because spoken of those who are saved (that "to be blessed" has a comprehensive meaning is well known); from the signification of "seed," as being the faith of charity (see n. 1025, 1447, 1610); and from the signification of the "nations of the earth," as being those who are in good (see n. 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849). [2] Moreover in these words there is contained the following arcanum: that through the church (which is here the "earth," n. 662, 1066, 1067, 1262) those are saved who are out of the church; for as just stated, "thy seed" denotes the faith of charity; and no others are in the faith of charity than those within the church, for the faith of charity is truth of doctrine adjoined to good of life. The case is this: The Divine-Human's kingdom on earth consists of all those who are in good, who though scattered over the whole earth, are still one, and as members constitute one body. Such is the Divine-Human's kingdom in the heavens, where the whole heaven represents one man, which is therefore also called the Grand Man (n. 684, 1276); and what is wonderful and hitherto unknown, all parts of the human body correspond to societies in heaven. And therefore it is sometimes said that some societies belong to the province of the head, some to the province of the eye, others to that of the chest, and so on, which correspondence will of the Divine-Human's Divine mercy be spoken of by itself. (AC 2853) My Commentary: The passage above answers the troublesome issue of whether or not only those are saved who are “in the Church.” It is traditional for religions to believe this, which shows that religions are cultural rather than universal and cross-cultural. I saw an exchange on TV the other day that illustrates this ingrained belief and how it creates conflict in society which is always more diverse than one religion. Two people were being interviewed on a news show. The topic was the current smash hit movie The Passion (of Christ). One interviewee was a Jewish rabbi whom I have seen on several other shows over the past couple of years. He displays an aggressive style and frequently interrupts others while they are talking, not letting them go on, talking over them, raising his voice. I found him annoying every time I’ve seen him. The other interviewee was a woman Christian activist who had started a Web site promoting the idea that Christians should go see the movie because it strengthens their faith. The rabbi was arguing that the movie was anti-Semitic because it presents Jews in a negative light and because it inflames bigots to hate the Jews. The woman was arguing that it is an accurate portrayal of the New Testament’s descriptions of the Crucifixion. The rabbi was incensed that society is forced to be exposed to the New Testament which is prejudicial to him and to Jews and other religions. The woman said she cannot back off the Gospels which declare that Jesus is the way, the truth and eternal life for all humanity. The rabbi screamed that she is forcing her heaven on him and taking away his heaven. He confronted her: Yes or No, are you saying I cannot have my heaven without Jesus? She repeated that she cannot back away from what the Gospels declare. The host then put an end to the debate. The revelation of the scientific sense within the Old and New Testaments puts an end to this kind of religious warfare. From the perspective of religion, the rabbi can keep his ideas from the Old Testament and the Christian woman can keep her ideas from the New Testament. But both can now investigate and learn that the Old and New Testaments contain the same scientific meaning, which is for both of them, and for all religions. In the passage above, and many others in the Writings, it is revealed that “through the church those are saved who are out of the church.” The scientific sense of the word “church” in Sacred Scripture is the rational mind that is to be regenerated from being merely natural to being spiritual-natural. Hence the church is the method of character reformation in all religions through the commandments that the members are to follow in daily life. “Those within the church” refers to the state of mind we are in when undergoing character reformation through Sacred Scripture or morality based on it. This is referred to as those who “are in faith and charity” which means when we are rejecting some evil habit for the sake of our spiritual development or the heaven of our eternity. Those who are outside the church refers to our state of rebellion when we are justifying our evil traits so that we can continue to practice them. The passage asserts that our rebellious mental states during regeneration (“out of the church’) are overcome by our states of obedience (“within the church”). But in addition, the passage applies to the meaning of Church as an institution of religion. When read from a religious perspective, those who are “within the Church” designate practicing Christians while those “out of the Church” designates non-Christians. That everyone is saved means that we can give up religious conflict. The Christian woman on the news show discussed above could free herself from social conflict if she could have answered the rabbi that he too is saved by Jesus, even if he doesn’t wish to acknowledge the New Testament as Divine. Of course he has to be a man of sincerity and conscience because even Christians are not saved if they are not sincere and do not live like their religion dictates. But anyone anywhere is saved if they arrive into the afterlife and are willing to receive instruction about the scientific sense of the Sacred Scripture they had been worshipping. If they were sincere in their religion and conscience, they gladly receive the new scientific truths that are universal and apply to all. If they are not willing to let go of their sectarian views, and if they reject the scientific sense which they are taught, they remain in the state of mind they came with and cannot become rational, cannot enter the rational heavens of eternity. These universal laws apply equally to Christians and all others. No one enters heaven by declarations of faith of any kind. Swedenborg witnessed numerous heavens, each adjusted to the peculiar genius of the inhabitants there. Once in heaven there are no Christians vs. non-Christians and there are no religions in the natural sense they exist on earth. Everyone in all the heavens know and study the scientific sense the Sacred Scripture of their recognition. Divine revelations have been given various times to various peoples in the history of earth, a history that is traced and explained in the Writings. 5.0.13.1 Extracting Theistic Psychology From Sacred Scripture -- an Illustration In the following passage the literal sense discusses a historical event, a conversational exchange that took place at a well in Palestine between one of the patriarchs called Jacob and a few "droves" who were about to water their sheep. The snippet under analysis is recorded in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture: "And he said unto them, Know ye Laban, the son of Nahor? [Gen. 29:5] We will do a twofold analysis and examine the layers of hidden content of Divine Speech as it enters our conscious natural mind through the external senses when we read the written sentences of Sacred Scripture. The most external or bottom layer of Divine Speech as laid down in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, in this instance, consists of a question a man addresses to other men waiting at a well in a desert of Palestine where the sheep are watered: And he said unto them, Know ye Laban, the son of Nahor? Jacob is asking about his father's cousin and uncle who are from that area, and possibly known by the men at the well. All these details are historical facts and there appears to be nothing holy or Divine in them, in and of themselves. But this is only a surface appearance, not the objective reality of what is actually there, hidden in this snippet of Divine Speech laid down in the literal sentences of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. Why do we call this snippet "Divine Speech"? First, because of the principle that every word, sentence, and feature of Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech laid down in a natural language, and is describing or explaining something for the natural mind in which we are aware and think. God wants us to know some principles that will assist us in character reformation. Everything God says to the human race has to do with that general subject, namely, the principles of character reformation. Why? Because that's what we are here for on earth tied by correspondence to a physical body. We cannot change our character after we are resuscitated and begin our life in eternity (see Section xx). So you can see why it is so desperately important that God get through to us with Divine Speech so that we may know how to succeed in our character reformation. It is therefore a deep puzzle to all of us, why God is talking about ordinary historical events and conversations that happened thousands of years ago. Why is God not talking to us about theistic psychology -- the mind's anatomy and how it develops, and how it works, and what we can do to influence and manage our mental operations every day throughout our childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Why is God not talking to us like a Divine Psychologist, which He is (see Section xx). The answer is that He is talking to us about theistic psychology subjects! In order to see this, we need to analyze the sentences of Sacred Scripture and access the various layers of meaning that are hidden within it. These inner layers are clearly discussing theistic psychology and reveal the facts and principles people need to know in order to effect a successful program of character reformation. This will then allow them to abandon the character they inherited and practiced in culture and society, and to start living, feeling, willing, thinking, reasoning, and behaving from a new character, an reformed character, a new self. Whereas the old self is hellish, the new self is heavenly (see Section xx). When we are resuscitated and begin our life of immortality, we choose for our consciousness to dwell in the upper parts of our mind called the heavens, or the lower parts called the hells of our mind. This free choice is dictated by our ruling love or highest ranked affections and delights (see Section xx). To obtain this vital information from Divine Speech we must enter into the spiritual layers of the literal sentences in Sacred Scripture. The Writings Sacred Scripture reveal and demonstrate the method of analysis that must be used in order for it to yield genuine information as opposed to bogus information. The Writings Sacred Scripture state that this method must be used exactly as prescribed in the Writings Sacred Scripture, or else the results cannot be genuine. This method will now be illustrated in two steps. First, we look at the literal explanations given by the Writings Sacred Scripture of this passage in the Old Testament (about Jacob's question), which will illustrate how the Writings follow the method when analyzing Old Testament sentences. Second, we will apply this same method of analysis ourselves to the sentences of the Writings. This is why it's called a double unfolding of Divine speech laid down in Sacred Scripture. The first unfolding is to see what lies underneath the sentence in the Old Testament ("And he said unto them, Know ye Laban, the son of Nahor?"), and the second unfolding is to see what lies underneath the explication sentences in the Writings (see Section xx). Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: AC 3778. And he said unto them, Know ye Laban, the son of Nahor? [Gen. 29:5] That this signifies, Have they the good of this stock? is evident from the representation of Laban, as being the collateral good of a common stock (see n. 3612, 3665); and from the representation of Nahor, as being that common stock from which is the good represented by Laban; that "to know," in the internal sense signifies to be therefrom, is manifest from the series. How the case is with the representation of collateral good by Nahor, Bethuel, and Laban, shall be briefly stated. Terah, who was the father of three sons-Abram, Nahor, and Haran (Gen. 11:27), represents the common stock from which come churches. Terah himself was indeed an idolater, but representatives do not regard the person but the thing (n. 1361). And because the representative Jewish Church commenced in Abraham, and was renewed among his descendants from Jacob, therefore Terah and his three sons put on the representation of churches-Abram the representation of a genuine church, such as exists with those who have the Word; but Nahor his brother the representation of a church such as exists among the Gentiles who have not the Word. That the Lord's church is scattered throughout the
universal earth, and that it exists among those Gentiles also who live in
charity, is manifest from what has been shown here and there concerning the
Gentiles. [2] This therefore is the reason why by Nahor, his son Bethuel, and Bethuel's son Laban, there is represented the collateral good of a common stock, that is, the good in which they are who are of the Lord's church among the Gentiles. This good differs from the good of a common stock in the direct line of descent, in this respect-that the truths which are conjoined with their good are not genuine, but most of them are external appearances which are called fallacies of the senses; for these Gentiles have not the Word whereby they can be enlightened. In its essence indeed good is only one, but it receives its quality from the truths implanted in it, and thereby becomes various. The truths that to the Gentiles appear as truths are in general that they should worship some God from whom they seek their good and to whom they attribute it, and so long as they live in the world they do not know that this God is the Lord; also that they should adore their God under images, which they account holy; besides many other things. Nevertheless these things are no hindrance to their being saved equally with Christians, provided they live in love to their God and in love toward the neighbor; for thus in the other life they have a capacity to receive interior truths (see n. 932, 1032, 1059, 2049, 2051, 2284, 2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 3263). This shows what is here meant by the collateral good of a common stock. That by Nahor are represented those out of the church who are in brotherhood by virtue of good, may be seen above (n. 2863, 2866, 2868); that by Bethuel is represented the good of the Gentiles of the first class (n. 2865, 3665); and by Laban the affection of external or corporeal good, and properly the collateral good of a common stock (n. 3612, 3665). [3] With this good the case is that first of all it serves man as a means of procuring for himself spiritual good, for it is external corporeal, and is grounded in external appearances which in themselves are fallacies of the senses. In childhood man acknowledges nothing else as truth and good, and although he is taught what internal good and truth are, still he has no other idea concerning them than a corporeal one; and because such is the first idea, therefore such good and truth are the first means by which interior truths and goods are introduced. This is the arcanum which is here represented by Jacob and Laban. (AC 3778) I will now analyze the elements of the passage (underlined above): (1) there is a common stock from which come churches signifies there is a shared universal character ("common stock") to every human mind that acknowledges the existence of God ("churches") (2) belief in God can be based in either of two sources: (I) a genuine church, such as exists with those who have the Word signifies belief in God ("church") that operates with the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture ("genuine church") (II) a church such as exists among the Gentiles who have not the Word signifies belief in God ("church") that operates from self-intelligence without the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture ("church of the Gentiles") (3) the Lord's church is scattered throughout the universal earth, and exists among those Gentiles also who live in charity signifies that the acknowledgement that God exists ("the Lord's church") is implanted in every human being ("is scattered throughout the universal earth"), by which every individual has the motivation to refrain from hurting others and to do them good ("Gentiles who live in charity") (4) people whose mind operates from self-intelligence ("Gentiles") continue to hurt others whenever they are able to justify it to themselves ("the truths which are conjoined with their good are not genuine") due to false principles of morality and culture ("external appearances which are called fallacies of the senses") which do not come from the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture ("these Gentiles have not the Word whereby they can be enlightened "). (5) The belief in God produced by self-intelligence ("truths that to the Gentiles appear as truths ") motivates people to practice a cultural religion ("should worship some God from whom they seek their good and to whom they attribute it") in which they do not realize that God is the Divine Human within their mind ("they do not know that this God is the Lord") but believe God to be outside of them ("adore their God under images"). (6) When people are resuscitated upon death they are given the opportunity to enter their eternal heavens regardless of their religious background ("no hindrance to their being saved equally with Christians") as long as they refrained from hurting others on account of their beliefs ("provided they live in love to their God and in love toward the neighbor"), since then they are able to receive the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture ("in the other life they have a capacity to receive interior truths"). (7) What gives people the capacity to acquire a heavenly character even without knowledge of Sacred Scripture ("those out of the church")? It is the motivation not to harm others because it is against God to do so ("who are in brotherhood by virtue of good"). (8) Where do we obtain this motivation? ("it serves man as a means of procuring for himself spiritual good") From our own self-intelligence and character ("external corporeal, grounded in external appearances, which are fallacies of the senses"). We can acknowledge God without knowing Sacred Scripture ("In childhood man acknowledges nothing else as truth and good"), but our level of understanding of God is then only natural and sensuous or materialistic, not rational ("no other idea concerning them than a corporeal one'), even if we are taught the rational and spiritual ideas of theistic psychology ("although he is taught what internal good and truth are"). (9) Although this motivation for character reformation is not yet genuine, rational, and spiritual, it is given by God as a temporary means by which the person can begin to make progress in character reformation ("such good and truth are the first means by which interior truths and goods are introduced"). The nine elements of the passage we analyzed above can now be placed together to show the difference in meaning between the literal, and the unfolded layers of meaning in Divine Speech. First unfolding of the Old Testament Scripture: And he said unto them, Know ye Laban, the son of Nahor? [Gen. 29:5], as taken from the Writings Sacred Scripture's explication of that verse: There is a common stock from which come churches. A genuine church, such as exists with those who have the Word, and a church such as exists among the Gentiles who have not the Word. The Lord's church is scattered throughout the universal earth, and exists among those Gentiles also who live in charity. The truths which are conjoined with their good are not genuine, but external appearances which are called fallacies of the senses. For these Gentiles have not the Word whereby they can be enlightened, but only truths that appear to them as truths. They do not know that God is the Lord, and adore their God under images. These things are no hindrance to their being saved equally with Christians, provided they live in love to their God and in love toward the neighbor, and in the other life they have a capacity to receive interior truths. Those out of the church are in brotherhood by virtue of good. This [intermediate state] serves man as a means of procuring for himself spiritual good. [These intermediate states] are external corporeal, grounded in external appearances, which are fallacies of the senses. In childhood, although he is taught what internal good and truth are, man acknowledges nothing else as truth and good, [having] no other idea concerning them than a corporeal one. Such good and truth are the first means by which interior truths and goods are introduced. (From AC 3778) Second unfolding constructed by analyzing the above paragraph, as explained in the analysis: There is a shared universal character to every human mind that acknowledges the existence of God. Belief in God can be based in either of two sources: Belief in God that operates with the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture, and belief in God that operates from self-intelligence without the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture. The acknowledgement that God exists is implanted in every human being, by which every individual has the motivation to refrain from hurting others and to do them good. People whose mind operates from self-intelligence, continue to hurt others whenever they are able to justify it to themselves due to false principles of morality and culture which do not come from the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture. The belief in God produced by self-intelligence motivates people to practice a cultural religion in which they do not realize that God is the Divine Psychologist within their mind, but believe God to be outside of them. When people are resuscitated upon death they are given the opportunity to enter their eternal heavens regardless of their religious background, as long as they refrained from hurting others on account of their beliefs, since then they are able to receive the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture. What gives people the capacity to acquire a heavenly character even without knowledge of Sacred Scripture? It is the motivation not to harm others because it is against God to do so. Where do we obtain this motivation? From our own self-intelligence and character. We can acknowledge God without knowing Sacred Scripture, but our level of understanding of God is then only natural and sensuous or materialistic, not rational, even if we are taught the rational and spiritual ideas of theistic psychology. Although this motivation for character reformation is not yet genuine, rational, and spiritual, it is given by God as a temporary means by which the person can begin to make progress in character reformation. From this parallel layout of the double unfolding it is easy to see how the content of Divine Speech changes as we extract the inner layers of the sentences of Sacred Scripture. You can see that as the unfolding proceeds, the explication gets longer. The Old Testament verse contains 12 words, while the explication of it in the Writings takes 228 words, and its explication in theistic psychology takes 324 words. You can also see that the content of Divine Speech as we move closer to it towards God, is strictly about how our mind works and how we should apply this knowledge to our character reformation, by which we prepare our mind for heavenly life in eternity.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch5.htm#universal ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5.5.2 The Alignment of Trines From Sacred Scripture
Table of Trines in Relation to the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture
For the sake of memorizing this chart, here it is again without the explanations:
Some charts list trines in the literal sense while others, like the chart above, lists concepts derived from the literal sense. Here is a chart that lists trines based on the literal sense as they occur in the Writings Sacred Scripture (see Section 9.0.1.2 Trigrammatic Gene Structures):
(Note that slight differences in adjacency order need to be addressed. for these charts) Note: For further explanations and tables on trines: (1) See SCA/ACS Diagram and explanations in the Genes of Consciousness article here: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/harmonizing4.htm#diagram4 (2) See also relevant Glossary Entries
here: (3) See also my book Moses, Paul, and Swedenborg: Three Steps in Rational Spirituality here: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/moses.html
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch5.htm#trines ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5.7 The Scientific Meaning of the Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments are significant in human history because they were communicated to the human race by God Himself rather than through the intermediary of a prophet. Swedenborg points out that most of the Commandments were known to various nations in Asia and the Middle East and often formed part of their legal code. Swedenborg points out that no society or kingdom could have survived for any length of time had there not been legal prohibitions against murder, theft, adultery, and false witness. The fact that these prohibitions are mentioned later as part of the Divinely Spoken Ten Commandments indicates to the world that these are not merely human laws but Divine as well. In other words, when you break these prohibitions you're not only accountable to secular government but to God and the afterlife. It is part of the religious belief system that if you break God's Commandments you are sinning and sin always leads to spiritual death or eternal hell. This sounds like a very harsh Divine retribution that needs to be interpreted rationally in order to keep it harmonious with the idea of God as Divine Love for whom it is impossible to feel angry or the desire to punish. Even mere human justice recognizes that stealing is not like murder, and adultery does not deserve life in prison, and even less, eternity in hell. The way to create this rational harmony is by investigating the scientific sense of the Ten Commandments. When this is done it becomes very clear that God does not do any punishing but that the punishment is an automatic consequence of the behavior of breaking the prohibitions in the Commandments. We need to understand the exact mechanism of this automatic built-in negative consequence system of Divine management. We will examine the scientific sense of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament. Since these verse are Divine Speech we already know that it will have several layers of meaning as the Divine Speech filters down from the highest heaven in our mind to the natural mind which is the locus of our conscious awareness while we are tied to the physical body on earth. When we read the literal text of the Ten Commandments we are focusing on the natural and historical meaning, which is similar to the laws of all civilized societies. In this sense there is no Divinity in the Ten Commandments and the Old Testament version and the legal statutes of countries appear similar. In order therefore to see where the Divinity lies in the Ten Commandments, we need to acknowledge it, first, as Sacred Scripture and Divine Speech, which is adopting the positive bias. Second, we then need to apply what has been revealed in the Wirings of Swedenborg about the code of correspondences in which all Sacred Scripture is written. By doing this we are slowly and gradually climbing up the influx ladder and reconstructing the scientific meaning of each Commandment. As a result we discover what God says about the scientific mechanism He uses to oversee and manage our spiritual development in preparation for heavenly life. The scientific sense of each Commandment will tell us how the mind is influenced by obeying or disobeying it. These consequences determine the physiology of our mind and therefore the conditions of life our mind can support in the afterlife. Such as our mind is, such is our destiny in eternity, whether in heaven or in hell. Hell is not a punishment for sin but a way of life determined by people's loves, or lusts and cupidities. These affective operations make the mind such as it is. Quoting the Writings: The reason why the Ten Commandments in their spiritual and celestial senses contain in universal form all the commandments relating to doctrine and life, and so the whole of faith and charity, is that the literal sense of the Word in every single detail, both generally and in every part, conceals two inner senses, one called spiritual, the other celestial. And these senses contain Divine truth with its own light and Divine goodness with its own heat. Now since the Word is like this both generally and in every part, each of the Ten Commandments must be explained in those three senses, the natural, the spiritual and the celestial. The nature of the Word has already been shown to be like this by the demonstrations given in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture or the Word (193-208 above). (TCR 289) In other words, the Ten Commandments, being Divine Speech as Sacred Scripture, contain layers of meaning, or "inner senses," that can be reconstructed. In the Writings the layers of meaning of Sacred Scripture are categorized into three distinct degrees called natural, spiritual, and celestial. These three degrees correspond to three levels of thinking about spirituality (see the explanations in my Moses book). These three degrees of meaning correspond to the three heavens in every person's mind, each heaven containing its own meaning. Divine Speech filters down through these three heavens, and those who are in each heaven understand only that meaning which corresponds to that level of mentality. We can gain some understanding of each of these levels of meaning because our natural mind is capable of interior perception through higher correspondences (see xx). Quoting the next Number in the Writings: No one who is ignorant of the nature of the Word can have the slightest idea that infinity is contained in its details, that is to say, that its contents are countless, so that not even the angels can exhaust them. Anything found there can be compared to a seed, which planted in the ground can grow into a great tree, and produce an abundance of seeds; these again produce similar trees to form a garden, and their seeds in turn form other gardens, and so on to infinity. The Word of the Divine-Human is like this in its details, and such above all are the Ten Commandments. For since they teach love to the Divine-Human and love towards the neighbor, they are a short summary of the whole Word. The Divine-Human also shows that the Word is like this by a comparison: The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his land. This seed is smaller than all other seeds; but when it has grown up, it is larger than any plant, and it becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches. Matt. 13:31, 32; Mark 4:31, 32; Luke 13:18, 19; cf. also Ezek. 17:2-8. The fact that such an infinity of spiritual seeds or truths lies in the Word, can be established from the wisdom of the angels, the whole of which is derived from the Word, In their case wisdom goes on growing for ever. The wiser they become, the more clearly do they see that wisdom has no end; and they perceive that they are merely at its entrance, and they cannot reach even the minutest part of the Divine-Human's Divine wisdom. They call this bottomless. Now since this is the source of the Word, coming as it does from the Divine-Human, it is plain that all its details contain a sort of infinity. (TCR 290) We are given some fascinating details here about the construction of the human mind. "Angels" refers to the level of our feeling and thinking in the celestial portion of our mind. It is said above that the source of our rationality and intelligence at this highest level of human potential, is "the Word" or Divine Speech in the form of written Sacred Scripture. Divine Speech is the source of all truths which form our rationality and intelligence. Our ability to think rationally and with wisdom comes from appropriating for ourselves truths or meanings we pick up from reading Sacred Scripture. But since there are three distinct degrees of meaning in Sacred Scripture, the level of rationality we form through it depends on which layer of meaning we focus on and understand. Each word of each Commandment contains infinite truths for building our intelligence and rationality endlessly to eternity. 5.7.1 First Commandment: God is the Source of Everything Continuing with the next Number from the Writings: THE FIRST COMMANDMENT "There is not to be any other God before my face'" These are the words of the first commandment (Exod. 20:3; Deut. 5:7). Their ordinary meaning in the natural or literal sense is that idols are not to be worshipped (...) (TCR 291) This commandment 'There is not to be any other God before my face' also means in the natural sense that no human being, alive or dead, is to be worshipped as a god, another practice found in Asia and various surrounding countries. (...) (TCR 292) In the natural or literal sense this commandment also means that no one is to be loved above all except God, nor anything except what comes from God. This too agrees with the Divine-Human's words (Matt. 22:37-39; Luke 10:25-28). Anyone or anything which is loved above all is, to the lover, God and divine. For instance, if anyone loves himself or the world above all else, then he or the world is his own god. This is why such people do not in their hearts acknowledge any God. They are therefore linked with like minds in hell, where all are gathered who have loved themselves or the world above all. (TCR 293) The literal sense of the First Commandment tells us that we are not love things of this world above the things of the spiritual world. When we think of the scientific sense as to why we should feel this way it becomes clear that loving natural things above spiritual things involves tying ourselves down to lower forms of mental states. For instance, when our love for eating is greater than our love for staying healthy, we are in trouble. I heard on the news the other day that there are 40 million overweight people in the U.S. and there is a rising incidence of killer diseases associated with being overweight--high cholesterol, heart attacks, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, as well as lowered functioning and productivity. Another example is the rising incidence of the spread of sexually transmitted diseases when people's promiscuous or addictive love for sex is greater than their love for prudence or their love for one of the sex (monogamy--see Section xx). It's not that promiscuous and unsafe sex is a sin that God punishes, as some religious people believe, but that having unsafe sex as part of a promiscuous sub-culture is elevating the love of sex above the love of prudence and monogamy (love of one of the sex). When we place the love of God to the highest rank in our motivational system, we still love and enjoy food and sex, possibly more than others, but we moderate the love of sex and food by means of the love of God. To love God means to obey God's Commandments. By doing this we are rearranging our motivational hierarchy to agree with the highest intelligence and truth that our mind is capable of. When we subordinate all our loves to the love of God, we exercise prudence, wisdom, rationality, and compassion in all our behaviors every day--food behavior, sexual behavior, business, relationships, entertainment. From a scientific perspective we can see that God doesn't desire that we love Him out of Divine pride or glory. Commandments are for our sake, not His. God is not only our Creator but also our Manager, Therapist, and Co-participant in our thinking, feeling, and acting, arranging all things in the environment for the benefit of our regeneration or spiritual development. God's purpose is to elevate our mind into our heaven where we can live in happiness and protection forever. What happens when we disregard professional rules and follow our own ideas when mixing hazardous chemicals or explosives? Boom! We know this, so we follow correct procedures and live. It is the same with the Commandments. Quoting the next Number from the Writings Sacred Scripture: [explications are not in original] The spiritual sense of this commandment is that no other God is to be worshipped except the Divine-Human Jesus Christ [historical name in the New Testament Sacred Scripture for the Incarnation], because He is Jehovah [historical name of God in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture], who came into the world and carried out the redemption [reference to the Incarnation Event], without which no man, nor any angel, could have been saved [regenerated or prepared for heavenly life]. The following passages in the Word [Old Testament Sacred Scripture] show that there is no other God beside Him. On that day it will be said, Behold, He is our God, whom we have awaited to free us. He is Jehovah, whom we have awaited; let us exult and rejoice in His salvation. Isa. 25:9. (...) Am I not Jehovah, and there is no other God beside me? There is no righteous God and Savior beside me. Isa. 45:21, 22. I am Jehovah, and there is no Savior beside me. Isa. 43:11; Hosea 13:4. (...) A child is born for us, a son is given to us, whose name is Wonderful, Counselor, God, Hero, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. Isa. 9:6. (...) We are in truth, in Jesus Christ. He is the true God and everlasting life. My sons, beware of idols. 1 John 5:20, 21. These passages plainly show that the Divine-Human our Savior is Jehovah Himself [the Incarnated God, who is at once the Creator, the Redeemer and the Regenerator. This is the spiritual sense of this commandment. (TCR 294) This passage identifies the "spiritual sense" (or correspondential sense) of the First Commandment in terms of the literal historical meaning of the Old and New Testaments. The historical and literal meaning of Sacred Scripture serves for religion (see Section xx). This is a necessary consequence of the filtering of Divine Speech down to the natural mind dealing with the conditions and events of this world in terms of times, culture, and history. It is called here the "spiritual sense" of the First Commandment because it depends on putting together various passages in the Old and New Testaments where the historical identity of the Incarnate God is specified. God's Incarnation is His entering the natural world in time and culture (see Section xx). This necessitates His appearance in a particular religion and nation. But we can reconstruct the higher scientific sense by reconstructing the rational meaning of God as the Divine-Human. If you think of references to "Jehovah" and "Jesus Christ" as the universal God in the Form of the Divine-Human, all religion, history, and culture disappear from focus, and there emerges the scientific message. In the next Number it is called the "celestial sense": The celestial sense of this commandment is that the Divine-Human Jehovah is infinite, measureless and eternal; He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, who was and who is and who shall be. He is love itself and wisdom itself, or good itself and truth itself, and consequently life itself, Thus He is the sole source of everything. (TCR 295) Note the assertion that God is "the sole source of everything." To love God more than anything means to recognize God as the source of everything--our thoughts, our feelings, our sensations, our actions, our environment and its events. I call this the scientific sense of the First Commandment because it is a scientific statement to identify the source of everything. For instance, if we want to identify the source of mercury in our drinking water, we need to follow scientific procedures such as testing samples of the water at various times and in various places. We would then discover where is the highest concentration of mercury and we can investigate what entry mechanisms are in place for getting the mercury into the water system, such as leaks from hazardous wastes or illegal dumping of chemicals from a factory. Similarly, to inquire what is the source of everything is a scientific investigation. The scientific meaning of the First Commandment is that God is the source of everything. This in itself is not sufficient as a scientific inquiry, but it is the beginning, and further inquiry into God's Speech will give us more details. 5.7.2 Second Commandment: Do Not Take the Name of God in Vain Continuing with the next Number: THE SECOND COMMANDMENT "You are not to take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold anyone guiltless, who takes His name in vain." Taking the name of Jehovah God in vain means in the natural or literal sense the misuse of the name itself in all sorts of conversation, especially false statements or lies, and in swearing without good cause, or in order to avoid being blamed, in evil intentions, which are curses, and in witchcraft and spells. On the other hand, swearing by God and His holiness, the Word and the Gospel, at coronations, ordination into the priesthood, or inauguration into offices of trust, is not taking the name of God in vain, unless the one who takes the oath subsequently rejects his promises as worthless. The name of God, being holiness itself, is to be constantly employed in the sacred business of the church, as in prayers, hymns and all forms of worship, as well as in sermons and writings on religious subjects. This is because God is present in everything to do with religion, and when He is duly invoked, His presence is summoned by His name, and He listens. In these ways the name of God is hallowed. (TCR 297) The literal sense of the Second Commandment refers, as in the other cases, to religious behavior--worship, sacraments, priesthood, and Church. God's Name represents God and therefore speaking against God or saying things that are irreverent or disrespectful of God, is to violate the prohibition of taking God's Name "in vain." The scientific sense of "holiness" and the "sacred," refers to our attitude of respect for God as the Supreme Being. "Jehovah God" is the religious name of God as known to Jews and Christians. The scientific sense of "Jehovah God" is the Divine-Human, which is the Name of God as it is known to the entire human race in the spiritual world. When we swear, curse, or engage in jokes or levity regarding the religious things of God, we are downgrading the quality of the source of our mental input in thinking and feeling. All thinking and feeling originates and is managed by God on our behalf. If we deny God or disdain His religious Name, we are cutting off the source of our intelligence and rationality, inverting what we receive from God into its opposite. Thus we become irrational and insane in spiritual things, not knowing what is good or evil, true or false. God forbids us to disrespect Him because such an attitude is extremely harmful to us and prevents our spiritual development. When this is halted, we cannot prepare our mind for eternal life in heaven. In order to understand this process rationally it is necessary to know the anatomy of the mind and how "influx" takes place through the various layers of the mind's organic structure (see Section xx). Acknowledgement of God and respectful worship of God is physiological process that begins in the upper portions of the organic mind called celestial, then filters down through the spiritual by correspondence, and at last comes into our consciousness in the natural mind. In this conscious form or content, worship and respect of God appear as religious behavior. But be aware that this external behavior and thinking is the bottom of the process, and that it results from inward influx through the layers of the unconscious mind. Denying God or ridiculing religion is the process of inversion during the descent of influx into our mind. God maintains our reasoning capacity in operating order moment by moment. It is therefore from God's management of our mind that we are able either to worship God or to ridicule. In both instances it is God's management operation, not our own, for we have no power to operate any part of our mind on our own. This is a rational consequence of the definition of God as omnipotent. If we were able to operate any part of our mind or body by ourselves, from ourselves, then God would not be omnipotent. This is a logical conclusion. Having realized this, we must immediately answer the pressing problem that presents itself to the rational mind: Then we are robots and have no responsibility. And therefore putting people into hell is a cruel joke. Obviously, if we're going to argue rationally, hell could not be a cruel joke if God is omnipotent and good with nothing bad in Him. Hell is therefore not a joke and not cruel. It is a mental operation that God manages, just as He manages heaven. to understand this rationally we need to know more about the mechanisms God uses to manage everything in our mind and body, and especially we must understand the concept of as-of self (see Section xx). We are not conscious that it is God who is managing our mental operations. God prevents us from perceiving His operational Presence because if He didn't, and we would be able to perceive His operation, we would lose all desire or motive to do anything. We would lose the ability to plan things and to intend things that are either heavenly or hellish. Since we would do nothing, we would not do evil since God would not. We would therefore be in heaven being human robots, but not human beings. We would have no motive to choose this or that, we would have no feeling of trying and winning, no feeling of loving and enjoying, no reason to think, no reason to talk. You can see that it is not possible for God to turn us into such angelic robots because it is contrary to God's rationality and Love. God's Love desires only to make us supremely happy to eternity. To accomplish this He has to manage to raise every individual's mind into heaven. Heaven is a rational consciousness of God's truth, by which we can receive God's love. Being filled with God's truth and love, we live happily as human beings to eternity. We have an identity and a uniqueness. We can form relationships with other unique human beings. We can form a conjugial couple and a heavenly society. All this that God desires would be lost and impossible were He to (a) let us perceive His operation in our conscious mind, or (b) stop managing the entire process from beginning to end and from first to last. God created a wonderful solution: the as-of self. First He hides His operational Presence. Second, He creates in us the feeling of freedom of choice from self. This is what's called the "as-of self" in the Writings. Note that it contrasts with the idea of "the self" that we are familiar with. Until the Writings revealed it was not known by anyone that we have an as-of self. Some people said that we have a self, others that we don't really have a self, but no one said that we have an as-of self. And if someone had said it, it would have been seen as equivalent to the self. But the concept of "self" is natural and does not take into account how we can have a self if God is omnipotent. Some people thought that God just removed Himself from nature and mind, so that we did have a self. But this is obviously illogical since God is omnipresent and cannot remove Himself from anywhere. The as-of self concept solves the logical conundrum. We have an as-of self not from any power of our own but from God's power. An analogy from the Writings is to think of two teams of strong men in a contest pulling a rope on either side of a dividing line. Suppose they are perfectly matched in strength. No team can win. Then a little child comes along and pulls the rope in one direction and the strong men are pulled over and fall. It's as-if the little child is very strong, stronger than ten muscle men. But this is an appearance and in reality the child is much weaker than one man. This analogy reflects the model God is using to create the as-of self feeling. We have much less power to operate the mind than the child has to pull the men over. God manages the mental operations on either side of any choice we are making. God balances perfectly the power to go one way or the other. We don't need any power to make the choice but only the indication of which way we want to go. The moment we choose, it is done for us by God. The situation (which God also manages) then determines what are the consequences of the choice. Sometimes nothing happens, nothing moves. Sometimes what we expected happens. Sometimes the opposite or something unexpected. Whatever God manages to occur, that we attribute to our choice. this works only so long as we cannot perceive God's actual operations in us. Hence it is that we feel that we are our own agent of action and choice. Whatever choices we make cumulate to create our environment and personality. God is in charge at all times and with every detail. The process is infinitely complex when you consider the endless choices we make from birth to eternity, and how they must fit together with the endless choices of endless numbers of humanity. Only God who is infinite can take care of any part of it and of all of it. The choice to deny God and ridicule religion takes us down a mental path filled with wrong choices and produce awful experiences that God continues to manage and operate, but not to control or reverse. Our as-of self would be instantly shattered and destroyed if God prevented us from sliding into cumulative hell. God does prevent many things that we are unconscious of. This He can do and does endless times as He operates to influence our choices up to the line of compulsion or coercion, but never crossing that line. Therefore God gives us the power to defeat God's desire for us for heaven, and allows us to live in hell. Even then, the Writings reveal that God moderates every evil and only allows the evil that He cannot prevent, given the necessity to maintain the as-of self. For instance God manages our memory process so that what we remember or forget is used to manage what happens without arousing our perception of His operations. God prevent some bad choices by blocking our memory, keeping us ignorant of something, or keeping occasions and opportunities form presenting themselves. Yet all this management activity still cannot prevent people from making bad choices without visible interference. Swedenborg reports that no one in hell is allowed to do more than the evil that keeps them living. Also, that events on earth are controlled so that worse things don't happen in many situations. "Taking the Name of God in vain" is therefore an expression that refers to the evil consequences God cannot prevent and allows to happen to people who are asserting their as-of self in a direction of irrationality or disorder, thus opposite to God's rational order that leads to heavenly states of mind. The people in hell still maintain their as-of self for this the basis of their living. If God were to override the as-of self so that the people hell could feel themselves being taken to heaven, they would perceive God's operational presence, which would destroy their as-of self. Now they might in heaven, but they lack an as-of self. They are worse off than in hell because they have no as-of self, hence no motive, identity, or happiness. Continuing with the next Number: In the correspondential sense the name of God means the whole of the church's teaching taken from the Word, and through which the Divine-Human is invoked and worshipped. All of this is summed up in the name of God. Therefore taking the name of God in vain means using anything from this source in idle talk, false statements, lies, curses, witchcraft and spells; for this too is slandering and blaspheming God, and so His name. The following passages will show that the Word and all the church takes from it, and so all worship, is the name of God. From the rising of the sun men shall call upon my name. Isa. 41:25. From the rising of the sun to its setting, great is my name among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name. (...) Mal. 1:11-13. All peoples walk in the name of their God, and we shall walk in the name of Jehovah our God. Micah 4:5. (...) Jesus said, Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst. Matt. 18:20. (...) Those who believe will have life in His name. John 20:31. The Divine-Human said, You have a few names in Sardis. Rev. 3:4. There are many other passages in which, as in these, the name of God means the Divine which goes forth from God, and through which He is worshipped. The name of Jesus Christ, however, means the whole of redemption, and the whole of His teaching, and so the whole of salvation. Jesus means the whole of salvation by means of redemption; Christ the whole of salvation by means of His teaching. (TCR 298) The names of God in Sacred Scripture are associated with religious, historical, and cultural events. But when we focus on the scientific meaning of each of God's names, the historical-religious reference vanishes and what's left behind is a specific scientific concept about human development, the anatomy of the mind, and the operational laws by which God manages the details of our thinking and feeling. In this passage it is revealed that the name "Jesus Christ" refers in its scientific sense to "redemption." This refers to character reformation or regeneration. In other words the sentence quoted above "Jesus said, Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst. Matt. 18:20" means that redemption ("Jesus," "my name," "there am I") or character reformation becomes effective when we acknowledge ("gather together") that it is God or the Divine-Human who puts up the power we need to reject inherited traits that bind us to hell. "Redemption" is like "deliverance" since to redeem means to buy back from bondage. It is the bondage of sin that are freed from when we acknowledge the Divine-Human and act from this rational faith. "Jesus Christ" refers to the universal Divine-Human who is worshipped in every religion as God. In cultural context, only Christians acknowledge this name as Divine, while other religions acknowledge the Divine-Human under another name, each according to their own ethnic history. Nevertheless, it is clear that they all worship the same Divine-Human since there is only one infinite God, by definition and by rational necessity. The name of God refers not only to the Person of the Divine-Human but to "the whole of His teaching." Thus, Divine Speech or Sacred Scripture is part of the Name of God. Therefore to ridicule Sacred Scripture or to deny that it is Divine in every part, constitutes taking the Name of God in vain. The expression "Divine-Human" is used in the New Testament only once (I believe) (Rev. 3:4) but it is used thousands of times in the Writings of Swedenborg. I think this means that the Divine-Human was not universally revealed in the New Testament, which has remained associated exclusively with the Christian religion. But the new age of the Second Coming ushered through the Writings of Swedenborg (1688-1772), God's name as the Divine-Human is being introduced for science and thus universally and not solely associated with Christianity. Quoting from Swedenborg: The names used in the spiritual world make it plain that someone's name does not mean just his name, but his whole character. In that world no one keeps the name he received at baptism and from his father or family in the world, but everyone there is named to suit his character, and angels have names to suit their moral and spiritual lives. (...) Even in the natural world a name does not mean just the name, but at the same time a person's whole character, since this is inseparable from the name. In ordinary speech we say, 'He is doing this for the sake of his name', or 'for the sake of the reputation of his name'; or 'this man has a famous name.' We mean by this that he is famous for qualities he possesses, such as ingenuity, learning, achievements, and so on. Everyone knows that if anyone insults and slanders someone by name, he is also insulting and slandering the way he lives. The ideas are linked, so that the reputation of his name is destroyed. In much the same way, if anyone utters the name of a king, duke or high dignitary in an insulting fashion, he heaps abuse also on their majesty and dignity. Equally, if anyone pronounces a person's name in a contemptuous tone, he at the same time shows his contempt for the way he lives. It is the same with every person; the laws of all kingdoms forbid a person's name to be slandered or insulted, because the name is equivalent to his character and reputation. (TCR 300) In the United States libel laws prohibit people from slandering the name or reputation of someone else or some business or institution. Heavy fines and prison terms are assigned to people convicted of this crime. There also laws against expressing threats against the President. We sometimes read in the news about people arrested and put in jail for expressing threats against government officials. It is clear that laws against slander and libel are necessary in society and without them society would fall into chaos and self-destruct. The same holds true for the Ten Commandments, and without them, people would remain ignorant of their hellish behaviors, and the human race would perish thereby, everyone ending up in their eternal hells. The primary purpose of the Ten Commandments is thus to make us aware of our hellish traits, and thus choose to remain in them, or to reject them. Note the explicit acknowledgement in the Old Testament regarding God being worshiped under many Names: "From the rising of the sun men shall call upon my name." (Isa. 41:25) "From the rising of the sun to its setting, great is my name among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name." (Mal. 1:11). "All peoples walk in the name of their God, and we shall walk in the name of Jehovah our God." (Micah 4:5.). Both the Old and New Testaments acknowledge that God is worshiped by all nations. In the fundamentalist idea of some Jews and Christians, they are the only ones who worship the one true God. But this dogma is contradicted by Sacred Scripture in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings of Swedenborg. In general, fundamentalist beliefs in other religions like Islam and Hinduism, also hold the dogma that they are the only ones who worship the one true God. However this does not represent the majority perspective in all the major religions. Note in the passage above (TCR 298) the list of eight behaviors that constitute taking the name of God in vain: idle talk, false statements, lies, curses, witchcraft, spells, slandering, and blaspheming God. When we do one of these behaviors we usually do most of them or are prone to doing all of them. When we guard ourselves from doing one of them we also tend not to do any of them. What happens when we do one or more of these behaviors? Why are they prohibited by God? Because acknowledgement of God reflects the rational reality of the world while rejection of God reflects the irrational delusions of insanity. Denial of God leads to forms of thinking that are irrational and hurtful while acknowledgment of God leads to forms of thinking that are rational and beneficial. If God exists and operates our mind and the environment (the positive bias in science), then to think the opposite is clearly contrary to our reality, and leads us into irrational and hurtful behaviors and choices. Each one of the Ten Commandments is designed by God to assist us in keeping our thinking in the rational mode. The Ten Commandments in their whole, both literal and scientific meaning, constitute a complete system of effective control over inherited and acquired hellish traits. When we try to obey each of the Commandments, our natural mind reacts in opposition. We feel a strong resistance, a deep annoyance and reluctance. We don't want to give up what is delightful and seemingly harmless. Most people can give up murder, many can give up stealing, few can give up lying and adultery, and almost no one is willing to give up slander, innuendo, character assassination, cursing, gossip, exaggeration, idle talk, or obscene jokes. By holding on firmly to the Ten Commandments in their whole, keeping them in constant focus all day long, we are able to self-witness our resistances and reluctances and rebellions. Observing these inner reactions when facing a Commandment gives us a free choice as to whether we obey it and reject our hellish behavior, or whether we reject the Commandment and continue in our hellish behavior. Having the freedom of this choice is what is called "redemption" and "salvation" of the human race. Each of us can still choose the hells and reject the heavens in our mind. Those who make this choice are not redeemed and are not saved from their hellish traits. Those who make the choice of rejecting the hellish trait and adopting the heavenly, are redeemed and saved for life in their heavens. This free choice of redemption and salvation was not available to the human race prior to the Incarnation Event when the Divine-Human entered the natural world in history and culture. Until then people on this earth knew of the Ten Commandments and of Sacred Scripture but were incapable of free choice. The inherited tendencies of the hellish traits held a lock on rational thinking and people's minds were filled with false idols, distorted dogmas, and intellectual rationalizations that allowed them to neutralize the clear and simple teachings of Sacred Scripture. God's Incarnation as the Divine-Human person was a mechanism for defeating the stronghold of false beliefs on the human race. It restored free choice between obeying and disobeying the Ten Commandments in their complex. How this was done is discussed elsewhere (see Section xx). 5.7.3 Third Commandment: Keep the Sabbath Day Holy Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg: THE THIRD COMMANDMENT For this third commandment, see Exod. 20:8-10; Deut. 5:12, 13. In the natural or literal sense this means that six days are for man and his work, and the seventh is for the Lord, and for Him to give man rest. Sabbath in the language of the original means rest. Among the Children of Israel the Sabbath was the holiest of observances, because it represented the Lord. The six days represented the Lord's toils and battles against the hells, the seventh His victory over them, and so rest. Since that day represented the completion of the Lord's whole act of redemption, it was for that reason the height of holiness. When, however, the Lord came into the world, so that representations of Him ceased, that day became a day for instruction in Divine matters, and also a day of rest from work, for meditation about matters conducive to salvation and everlasting life, and a day for love towards the neighbor. (...) (TCR 301) In the historical-religious sense, to keep the Sabbath appears like an ethnic-cultural ritual that is not universally applicable to other religions. But in in its universal scientific meaning "Sabbath" refers to the mental state following temptation or our struggle against a hellish trait in ourselves that comes to our attention. God uses the mechanism of temptation to give us the awareness of a particular hellish trait or habit we have. Once we become aware of it in the face of a Commandment, we are set up for the free choice to remain in it or to reject it. When we reject it, God weakens the habit or tendency, and if we reject it consistently, God removes the habit. In this way all our hellish traits can be removed. The process of temptation is painful and disturbing, sometimes in the extreme. It is always unpleasant. To some it feels like punishment form God, but in reality, God doesn't punish but works to bring us to victory in temptations. This experience of victory over temptations feels as-if our own victory, though we must acknowledge rationally that it is God's victory over the hells to which we are chained by birth. The state following victory over a temptation is called "Sabbath," a Hebrew word meaning "rest from struggles." This state of Sabbath in our mind is sweet and peaceful. After a victory in temptation we feel the close presence of God, and we bask in a mental state of freedom from slavishness to our emotions and obsessions. The Commandment to keep the Sabbath refers therefore to the absolute requirement that we acknowledge God's operational presence in our thoughts and feelings as we struggle to obey God's Commandments in our efforts at character reformation or regeneration. To disobey this Commandment is to reject the idea in our mind that God is operating our mental activity, and to adopt instead the point of view that we alone are operating our mental activity. This rejection is death or eternal hell because the denial of God in our mental operations neutralizes God's efforts to save us. It is like driving a car without wearing seat belts. We thereby neutralize the safety feature that will save us from injury and death in case of a collision. Quoting from the Next Number (TCR 302): In the correspondential sense this commandment means man's reformation and regeneration by the Lord. 'Six days of work' means the fight against the flesh and its lusts, and at the same time against the evils and falsities which are implanted in one by hell. The seventh day means his being linked with the Lord, and his consequent regeneration. It will be shown later on, in the chapter on reformation and regeneration, that, so long as that fight continues, a person is engaged in spiritual labor; but when he is regenerated, he has rest. The important points made there are these: (i) Regeneration is an exact replica of a person's conception, gestation in the womb, birth and training. (ii) The first act of a new birth is called the reformation of the understanding, its second act is the regeneration of the will and hence of the understanding. (iii) The internal man must first be reformed, and the external man by means of the internal. (iv) At that time a struggle takes place between the internal and external man; the one who wins becomes master over the other. (v) A person's regeneration is having a new will and a new understanding, etc. The reason why this commandment in the correspondential sense means a person's reformation and regeneration is that it parallels the Lord's toils and battles with the hells, and His victory over them, followed by rest. For the way in which the Lord glorified His Human and made it Divine is the same as the way in which He reforms man and regenerates him, making him spiritual. This is what is meant by 'following Him'. It is plain from Isaiah chapters 53 and 63 that the Lord engaged in battles and these are called toils; and similar events with men are called toils (Isa. 65:23; Rev. 2:2, 3). (TCR 302) The above passage specifies several key details about the use of the Ten Commandments for character reformation. Regeneration is the process of applying the Ten Commandments to one's daily activities--affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor--what our motives are, what our thinking is, and what are overt actions are. Regeneration is an organic process of the physiology of the mind. It is revealed here that regeneration of the mind has three phases, like the generation of a birth--conception, gestation, birth, and socialization ("training"). The phase of conception in spiritual rebirth is cognitive reformation ("understanding"), which refers to rearranging the meanings and content of our thinking to agree with the Ten Commandments in their complex whole. For instance, moving from the materialistic negative bias to the dualism of positive bias, constitutes conception in the regeneration process. The second phase of gestation in regeneration consists of affective modification attempts ("regeneration of the will"). It is not enough of course to be reformed by filling our intellect with the scientific revelations in the Ten Commandments. To stop at reformation would be like a miscarriage in gestation--no baby will be formed and born. Reformation of the intellect through the positive bias and through knowledge of the Ten Commandments in their complex, is the beginning that needs to be followed up by applying the reformation of the intellect to the choices and action of the will. It is the will, or the affective organ, that determines whether we shall obey the Commandments we know, or whether we shall disobey them. Once this mental gestation process is matured, a new understanding develops from the new will. This new consciousness of truth is higher than before because it is now actual, whereas before it was theoretical. When we obey a Commandment God gives us a new insight into its meaning so that we are prepared to continue obeying that Commandment at a deeper level. This permits us to be regenerated in our deeper loves or hidden character traits. Note the statement that the "internal man must first be reformed, and the external man by means of the internal." This is referring to the sensuous portion of the natural mind vs. the rational portion of the natural mind. The sensuous portion is called the "external man" because it is formed by the experiences we have in the world through our physical senses. The sensuous mind contains the sensations and delights of our physical life, and the concepts that are based on them. These are time-bound and space-bound concepts like the concepts of materialistic science in the negative bias mode. But the "internal man" refers to our rational reasoning process and our rational emotions based on them. We are able to operate mentally above the sensuous mind by abstracting the sensuous data as they come in and re-ordering them into a rational system of understanding. Science is the organized and cumulative activity of creating these abstracted theories or doctrines. These scientific theories need a context of the positive bias so that we may be informed from Divine scientific revelations. This is the "internal man" -- scientific revelations in the positive bias. We are told here that in regeneration there is a struggle going on between the "external man" and the "internal man." In other words, the sensuous-rational operation in the natural mind are opposed to the spiritual-rational operation in the highest portions of our natural mind. Unless the higher rational wins over the lower rational, our consciousness will remain lodged in the natural concepts of the sensuous mind. The higher rational refers to our scientific understanding of the Ten Commandments, while the lower rational refers to our religious understanding. These two forms of understanding oppose each other because the religious understanding is mystical and cultural, while the scientific understanding is universal and eternal. The cultural and earthly is distorted while the spiritual and heavenly is rational and true. The internal man must first be reformed because the external man is compelled to reform by the internal man. In other words, our lower rational thinking cannot reform from itself but only from something higher than itself. This is the general law in mental operations, that the higher controls the lower and never the reverse. The Sabbath rest is relief we feel when we have struggled and won between our lower and higher nature. God gives us this rest by inducing upon our mind quietude, contentment, security, and peace. These heavenly states of mind become possible when we choose a heavenly love to become the ruling love. Quoting from Swedenborg: Heavenly peace, which prevents evils and falsities rising up from the hells and assaulting us, can be compared with natural peace in many respects. For instance, the peace which follows wars, when everyone lives protected from enemies, safe in his town and in his house, his estates and gardens; as the prophet said speaking in natural fashion about heavenly peace: They will sit each man under his vine and under his fig-tree, unafraid. Micah 4:4; Isa. 65:21-23. It can also be compared with mental relaxation and rest after hard work; or with the solace mothers experience after childbirth, when their maternal love affords its delights. Another comparison might be with fine weather after storms, black clouds and thunder; and with spring at the end of a severe winter, and the flourishing of new crops in the fields, and the gardens, meadows and woods bursting into flower. It can equally be compared with the state of mind of those who after storms and dangers on the sea reach harbor, and set foot on the land they hoped for. (TCR 304) Reading the above in its scientific meaning we can see some of the details of this mental state called the Sabbath rest. "The end of a severe winter" refers to our negative mental states during the struggles of temptation, when we have won victory by choosing to obey the Commandments. "Black clouds and thunder" refers to the pain and suffering, the anxiety and agony when we are on the edge of free choice between what we desire and enjoy sensuously, and what we desire and enjoy rationally or spiritually. This is a thunderous stormy battle in our experience, agonizingly unpleasant. "Childbirth" refers to rebirth or spiritual development, as discussed just above (conception, gestation, birth, socialization). The "fine weather" and "spring" refer to the mental states of the Sabbath rest. "Flourishing of new crops in the fields" refers to the semantic enrichment of our understanding which is afforded us through the activation of higher mental processes--a new state called enlightenment. Victory over temptations brings both peace and enlightenment. "Gardens, meadows and woods bursting into flower" refers to the informational enrichment of our intellect. We have a deeper understanding after victory than before. We see with a clearer vision, higher consciousness, deeper insight into truth, reality, eternity. We read Sacred Scripture and we realize it is Divine Speech. Our rational understanding expands to new content and meaning, more universal and integrative, but also more particular and singular to one's unique situation and position. It is said above that "Heavenly peace prevents evils and falsities rising up from the hells and assaulting us." When we are in the state of mind called the Sabbath rest, we are in heavenly peace on earth, that is, we are experiencing a correspondence of our true heaven. In this mental state, there is rational consciousness of the celestial kind, and this is called eternity. When we are in this mental state we are segregated and protected from being "assaulted by evils and falsities rising up from the hells." The hells in our mind rise by means of false concepts and beliefs. When we allow them in by acquiescing uncritically, the hellish traits receive a boost and enter into higher rational processes such as our moral reasoning. Suddenly we begin to be confused about what's right or wrong in a situation. The Ten Commandments no longer seem so clear about it. This is the action of the false beliefs upon the reasoning process. They make it easier for evil motives to be justified and pursued. But in our heavenly operations we are completely isolated from any falsity and any evil. The Divine-Human struggling for us in our temptation will not permit the hellish influences to spread into our moral and rational mind--as long as we choose the Commandments over self-intelligence or the intelligence of a friend, book, or philosophy.
5.7.4 Fourth Commandment: Honor Your Father and Mother Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg: THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT This commandment is found in Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16. Honoring your father and mother means in the natural or literal sense honoring one's parents, obeying them, being attached to them, and showing gratitude for the kindnesses they do. These include feeding and clothing their children, and bringing them into the world, so that there they may live civilized and respectable lives; also bringing them into heaven by teaching them the rules of religion. In this way they provide for their temporal prosperity as well as their eternal happiness. They do all this because of the love they have from the Lord, in whose place they act. It also means, in appropriate cases, the honoring of guardians by their wards, if the parents are dead. In a wider sense this commandment means that one should honor one's king and magistrates, since these provide all with the necessities of life in general, just as parents do in particular cases. In the widest sense the commandment means that one should love one's country, since it feeds and protects one; hence it is called one's fatherland. Honor should be shown by parents to both one's country and its rulers, and they should implant this idea in their children. (TCR 305) It's obvious that this Commandment is universal since no society can exist or survive unless people obey the government and family norms. "To honor father and mother" refers to all relationship of dependency that a human being must have to survive on earth and in eternity. It includes teachers, baby sitters, neighbors, police officers, judges, civil servants, the military, legislators, insurance agents, sanitary engineers, cleaning ladies, and truck drivers. No service profession can be excluded. God is commanding us that we honor all of them. Why? Because without honoring them we cannot enter our heaven. This is exactly the same answer for every Commandment. Heaven in eternity is inside you rational consciousness which is built up from Sacred Scripture. Rational consciousness is the key to eternal life in happiness. False beliefs corrupt and sicken our rational consciousness like a virus from an email attachment corrupts and spreads throughout your computer, and the computer of others who open the email attachment you inadvertently forwarded. False beliefs are mental operations with defective rationality. If you love these false beliefs they are able through your love, to invade like a virus, higher mental operations until your rational and moral judgment is defective. You are then at the mercy of your illusions and insanities. You cannot free yourself from your hells. Hence to obey this Commandment protects your mental operations from losing rationality. If you honor your doctor, you comply with the medication regimen. If you forget, you don't honor your medical professional because you don't obey the professional advice (see Section xx on Health Behaviors). If you honor your government, you respect the laws enacted by the elected legislators. You don't try to cheat or get around. If you get a traffic ticket and lie to the judge to get off, you are not honoring the judge or the country's court system and constitution. If you cheat on your tax forms, you are not honoring the government, its laws, and the whole of society. This Commandment really protects us from the endless temptations we experience in daily life, at work, shopping, driving, or paying your bills and voting. Even if you don't cheat at your taxes but feel resentful for having to pay, you are not honoring the system, the country, the professionals, the legislators. Paying taxes is a rational necessity for any society or community. Honoring the system is part of the attitude of people who have integrity. Honesty, sincerity, integrity, fair-mindedness, caring are all heavenly traits that we can perform when we elevate this Commandment to our immediate focus in daily life. Paying taxes cheerfully and with gratitude is an expression of obedience of this Commandment, especially if this Commandment is your motivation for paying your taxes cheerfully. We can think of the use our money will be put. We can think of taxes as sharing money with others who are needy since the government distributes the income to pay for public roads and law and order. Whatever we do when we are motivated by obedience to the Ten Commandments, we are regenerating and being born with a new character that can live in heaven to eternity. People who are not explicitly aware of the Ten Commandments as Sacred Scripture nevertheless are aware of similar injunctions of life from parents and school. Everyone has an inborn conscience that informs us of the Commandments in some form. If we behave with the explicit motive to obey conscience, we are regenerating and developing spiritually a character that can live in heaven to eternity. Cynicism and pessimism are obviously not from our heavenly inventory. When we are immersed in false belief systems that oppose this Commandment, our mental operations take a lower level of consciousness, where cynicism and pessimism appear logical and justifiable positions or perspectives. In this state of mind we have rejected the Commandment of honoring God and society. Cynicism is a type of reasoning that is blind to some evidence as it strives to distort the evidence for positivity and innocence. When we are in a cynical state we fall into negative conclusions about government leaders, making it impossible for us to see their innocence or sincerity. When we are in a pessimistic state we reject the truth that God is in charge. Cynicism and pessimism are subjective states; they are different from prudence and objective assessment. Quoting from the next Number: In the correspondential sense honoring one's father and mother means reverencing and loving God and the church. In this sense father means God, who is the Father of all, and mother means the church. Children and angels in the heavens know of no other father or mother, since the Lord causes them to be born anew there by means of the church. This is why the Lord says: Do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in the heavens. Matt. 23:9. This is said for the benefit of children and angels in heaven, not for children and people on earth. The Lord teaches the same lesson in the prayer shared by all Christian churches: 'Our Father in the heavens, may your name be hallowed.' The reason why mother in the correspondential sense means the church, is that just as a mother on earth feeds her children with natural food, so the church does with spiritual food. This too is why in the Word the church is frequently called mother. For instance, in Hosea: Strive with your mother; she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Hosea 2:2, 5. (...) And in the Gospels: Jesus, stretching out his hand to the disciples, said, My mother and my brothers are those who hear the Word of God, and do it. Matt. 12:49, 50; Mark 3:33-35; Luke 8:21; John 19: 25-27. (TCR 306) In the passage above, when focusing on the scientific meaning, "the church" refers to the integrated action of the affective and cognitive operations in the mind. The cognitive is called "the faith in the church," while the affective is called "the charity in the church." "Father" refers to God and "mother" refers to the church. In other words, the operation of the affective and cognitive mind is called "the church," while God who is managing the operation is called "Father." Hence to "honor father and mother" refers to honoring religion and the work of religion, which is regeneration and spiritual development. Honoring the church in its literal sense means to be respectful of all religion, our own and that of others who worship God. Quoting from the next Number: It must be grasped that there proceeds constantly from the Lord a Divine sphere of heavenly love towards all who embrace the teaching of His church, and who, just as children in the world obey their father and mother, obey Him, are attached to Him, and seek food, that is, instruction from Him. This heavenly sphere is the origin of the natural sphere of love towards infants and children. This is extremely universal, affecting not only human beings but also birds and beasts, even down to snakes; and not only animate creatures, but even inanimate objects. But the Lord, in order to work on these as He does on spiritual things, created the sun to be a sort of father in the natural world, and the earth to be a sort of mother. For the sun is so to speak the common father, and the earth the common mother, from whose marriage spring all the products of germination which adorn the earth's surface. The action of that heavenly sphere on the natural world produces those wonderful developments of plants from seed to fruit and to new seeds. That too is why there are many kinds of plants which by day turn their faces, so to speak, towards the sun, and turn them away when the sun sets. That too is why there are flowers which open as the sun rises and close as it sets. That too is why song birds sing sweetly in the early morning, and likewise when they have been fed by mother earth. So it is that all these things honor their father and their mother. All of these occurrences are evidence that the Lord, by means of the sun and the earth in the natural world, provides all necessities for living creatures and for inanimate matter. That is why we read in the Psalms of David: Praise Jehovah from the heavens. Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him from the earth, whales and deeps. Praise Him, fruit tree and all cedars; wild beast and every animal, reptile and birds with wings; the kings of the earth and all peoples, young men and maidens. Ps. 148:1-12. (TCR 308) As we are penetrating the meaning of this Commandment in its scientific sense we can see that it has universal application. Even animals and plants represent this Commandment because they are activated by the sun as a kind of father, and the earth as a kind of mother, to produce the offspring of this marriage in the form of flowers and fruits. The heavenly sphere of honoring God and His Commandments, spreads to society and nature. If human beings would stop honoring God altogether, no animal or plant could survive since their operations are correspondential expressions produced from the Divine Commandments in our mind being honored and obeyed. God has created the natural world to be nothing but a reflection of the mental world. The mental world is the initiating cause of all natural events. Hence if human beings stop honoring the Commandments, the mechanism for the operation of animal and plant life ceases. As well for the geological order of things on earth--their physical operations are also dependent on the appropriate mental activity of human beings. 5.7.5 Fifth Commandment: Do not murder Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg: THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT This commandment, 'You are not to commit murder', means in the natural sense that it is forbidden to kill a human being or inflict upon him any wound that might prove fatal; also to mutilate his body. It also means not doing any drastic injury to his name or reputation, since to many people their reputation is as precious as their life. In a wider natural sense murder includes feelings of enmity, hatred and revenge which are murderous in intent. For these have the idea of murder lurking in them, like fire in wood beneath ashes; and the fire of hell is precisely this. This is why we talk of burning with hatred and being hot for vengeance. These are murders in intention, but not in deed. If fear of the law, of retaliation and being punished in the same way were removed, such people would break out into actions, especially if the intention contains an element of deceit or savagery. These words of the Lord prove that hatred is a kind of murder: You have heard that it was said by the men of old, You are not to commit murder, and anyone who kills will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother unjustifiably will be subject to the hell of fire. Matt. 5:21, 22. The reason is that everything intentional is an act of the will, and thus is essentially a deed. (TCR 309) The New Testament two thousand years ago introduced the idea that mentally breaking the Ten Commandments is as hurtful to the individual as physically breaking them. To intend harm to others is a hellish trait and if we make it allowable in our mind, we cannot get rid of it in the afterlife. Hence Sacred Scripture warns us not to break the Commandments either overtly or mentally. This New Testament concept ushered in a new evolutionary step for the human race everywhere. A related idea is contained in the contrast between obeying the letter of the law but not obeying its spirit. To disobey the law in spirit refers to thinking and feeling in a way contrary to the Commandments, and allowing it. If we are regenerating we cannot allow it. If we are mentally unchaste in marriage, or if we allow ourselves to fantasize or seek out pornographic entertainment, we are breaking the Commandment against adultery. If we are resentful and fantasize revenge, we are breaking the Commandment against murder. If we are envious and desire to take away the possessions of others, we are violating the Commandment against stealing. And so on. I call this a new evolutionary step for humanity because it elevates us to higher states of rational consciousness. It makes good sense. The internal and the external man, as discussed above, battle each other until the rational mind subdues the sensuous mind. The passage above tells us that when we allow a crime or sin in our mind without disapproving of it, we are only held back from committing it by external sanction and fear of getting caught. In the world of spirits we have no such external fears any more. So whatever is in our desire and thinking cannot be kept inside, and is expressed. In the spiritual world our state depends on the character we bring with us from our life on earth. Our character is what we love, desire, and choose when we are completely free. We need therefore to train our mind not to break the Commandments in thinking, desiring, and expecting. We do this by disapproving and rejecting the thoughts and feelings we are aware of that are contrary to the Commandments that we know of, or to the dictates of conscience that we feel. Continuing with the next Number: The nature of the human internal, if not reformed by the Lord, has been made plain to me by seeing the devils and satans in hell. For these are constantly minded to kill the Lord, and because they cannot do this, they keep trying to kill those who are devoted to the Lord. Because they cannot do this, as they can kill people in the world, they make every effort to attack them in order to destroy their souls, that is, to destroy the faith and charity they possess. Thoughts of hatred and revenge actually appear in their vicinity like fires, either smoky or white-hot ones; hatred looks like a smoky fire, revenge like a white-hot one. But they are not real fires, only appearances. Sometimes the savage thoughts in their hearts are made visible in the air above them as battles with angels, in which the angels are killed and slaughtered; it is their anger and hatred for heaven, which causes such horrible scenes to be staged. Moreover the same spirits look from a distance like wild animals of every kind, such as tigers, leopards, wolves, foxes, dogs, crocodiles and snakes of all kinds. When they see peaceful animals, which are representative forms, they imagine they are attacking them and trying to butcher them. They came into my view looking like dragons, standing next to women who had babies, which they were trying to swallow, exactly like what is described in Revelation, chapter 12. These visions are simply representations of their hatred for the Lord and His new church. It is not apparent to their companions that the people in the world who want to destroy the Lord's church are like this. The reason is that their bodies allow them to behave properly, thus absorbing and hiding these appearances. But in the sight of the angels, who do not look at their bodies but their spirits, they appear in similar shapes to the devils described above. How could anyone know such facts, if the Lord had not opened his sight and given him the ability to gaze into the spiritual world? But for this these facts, along with many others equally memorable, would have remained hidden from human beings for ever. (TCR 312) Swedenborg reminds us in the last paragraph that had he not been given by God the opportunity to observe and report on the spiritual world, humanity would not have known what conditions of life we are to expect in hell if we do not regenerate. Those who enter the afterlife with hatred and murder in their motivational system, are unwilling to stop their constant desire and passion to kill God, to kill people in heaven, to kill anyone who supports religion, God, and obedience to Commandments. Their hatred of the good makes them appear like wild animals. Their murderous and violent passions create "smoky" and "white-hot" fires around them. Their violent and vile emotions are projected outward into visionary scenes around them that depict the evils they are imagining and enjoying. While we are attached to the physical body on earth, these hellish mental events are hidden from others, absorbed by the physical body so nothing shows on the outside. But once they arrive into the afterlife, everything comes out and everything is visible to others. Hence they are segregated in their hells so that they cannot harm others, but only each other, taking turns at torturer and victim. 5.7.6 Sixth Commandment: Do not Commit Adultery Quoting from the Writings: THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT In the natural sense, this commandment forbids not only committing adultery, but also having obscene desires and realizing them, and so indulging in lascivious thoughts and talk. It is clear from these words of the Lord that even lusting is committing adultery: You have heard that it was said by the men of old, You are not to commit adultery. But I say to you, that if anyone looks at another man's wife so as to lust after her, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matt. 5:27, 28. The reason is that when lust is in the will, it becomes like a deed; for the enticement only enters the understanding, but the intention enters the will, and a lustful intention is a deed. More on this subject can be found in my book CONJUGIAL LOVE AND SCORTATORY LOVE, published at Amsterdam in 1768. This contains sections on he opposition of [scortatory and] conjugial love (423-443); fornication (444a-460); types and degrees of adultery (478-499); the lust for deflowering (501-505); the lust for variety (506-510); the lust for rape (5-11, 512); the lust for seducing the innocent (513, 514); the imputation of either love, both scortatory and conjugial (523-531). All these ideas are meant by this commandment in the natural sense. (TCR 313) Once again it is being emphasized that the mental act is as serious as the physical when it comes to breaking a Commandment. In the section on Sexuality (see Section xx) it is indicated that love of sex is indiscriminate and non-exclusive while love of one of the sex is chaste and monogamous. Adultery refers to love of sex in its many forms, though some forms are more weighty or serious than other forms because of the motive that we have and the justification that we fabricate for making the behavior allowable in our mind. Sex therapy in the medical and psychological professions often recommend fantasizing different partners or perusing pornographic movies to "spice up" the marital sex and reintroduce some of the passion that is lost after the initial years together. But we see from this Commandment that such mental adultery is harmful to the conjugial love in the marriage. Continuing with the next Number: In the correspondential sense committing adultery means adulterating the various kinds of good in the Word and falsifying its truths. These meanings of committing adultery have until now been unknown, because the correspondential sense of the Word has until now been hidden. It is perfectly plain from the following passages that this and nothing else is meant in the Word by 'committing fornication, committing adultery, and whoring.' Run up and down the streets of Jerusalem, and seek to find a man who acts righteously and seeks the truth; when I gave them plenty, they went after whores. Jer. 5:1, 7. (...) They acted foolishly in Israel, they went after whores, and spoke my Word untruthfully. Jer. 29:23. They went after whores, because they have abandoned Jehovah. Hosea 4:10. (...) Babylon has given all nations to drink from the wine of anger of her whoring. Rev. 14:8. (...) (TCR 314). The word "adultery" in Sacred Scripture has two references, one relating to sexual behavior, the other to religious behavior. "Whoring" is often a reference to "adulterating the Word," which means falsifying the truths in Sacred Scripture, for the purpose of justifying a lifestyle that is contrary to the Commandments. Sometimes this is called "profaning the Word," "falsifying the truth," and "adulterating the good." Continuing with the next Number: There are a number of reasons why a person may appear chaste, not only to others, but even to himself, when in fact he is utterly unchaste. For he is unaware that when lust is present in the will it constitutes a deed, and this lust can only be removed by the Lord after the person has repented. It is not abstaining from the act which makes a person chaste, but abstaining from willing it, when the opportunity is there, because it is a sin. Suppose for example someone abstains from adultery and fornication simply out of fear of the civil law and its penalties; from fear of losing his reputation and respectability; from fear of catching diseases by this means; from fear of quarrelling with his wife at home and thus upsetting his life; from fear of a husband or relatives taking revenge, and of being beaten by their servants; or from greed; or from weakness due to disease, abuse or age, or impotence for any other reason; even if he abstains from these actions as the result of any natural or moral law, and not at the same time as the result of spiritual law, yet that person is inwardly an adulterer and fornicator. For in spite of this he believes these actions not to be sins, and so in his spirit does not treat them as unlawful in the sight of God. Consequently he commits them in spirit, even if he does not do so bodily in the sight of the world. After death therefore, when he becomes a spirit, he openly speaks in favor of them. Moreover, adulterers can be compared with the forsworn, who break their promises, or with the satyrs and priapi of the ancients, who roamed the woods shouting, 'Where are the girls, the brides and wives for us to have fun with?' Adulterers actually look like satyrs and priapi in the spiritual world. They can also be likened to stinking he-goats; or to dogs which run about the streets, looking around to sniff out bitches with whom to wanton, and so forth. Their virility, when they become husbands, can be likened to the flowering of tulips in spring-time, which within a month wither and droop. (TCR 316) This remarkable passage puts illicit sex in a spiritual context. Many people today would see nothing but dogmatic preaching in this Number of Sacred Scripture. It doesn't fit the modern mentality and sexual morality of our generation in the Western world. But in fact the details being revealed above are not Swedenborg's dogma but scientific observations similar to a medical researcher who traces heart failure to cholesterol clogged arteries. In the world of spirits he was able to observe the behavior and character of those who had developed a taste for illicit sex and exploitative sex while in the life of the physical body on earth. When he says that "Adulterers actually look like satyrs and priapi in the spiritual world" he is not discussing his religious sexual attitudes but reporting a fact visible and verifiable to anyone in the world of spirits, including each of us, when we enter into that state of rational immortality, just a few earth hours after the physical body is detached from our mind. Swedenborg's observations are easily verifiable by anyone who is conscious in the spiritual world. This Number makes it clear that abstinence from illicit sexual behavior is not in itself an indication that the individual abstains mentally. From the socio-legal perspective in our society it makes a world of difference whether someone fantasizes a rape or committing one. There are no laws in the United States that address what one does mentally in one's own private mind. Society leaves the individual in total internal freedom. Only physical actions are addressed by laws. No one can go to jail in the U.S. for thinking something or enjoying something in fantasy no matter what it is. This is true of our horizontal community--it is external only. But our vertical community is internal (see Section xx). We are in mental communication with the entire human race, and we are not conscious of the various levels of connectivity we actually have with the inhabitants of the spiritual world, both in heaven and in hell. No mental operation can take place in one mind without the influx or co-participation of many other minds, some of whom are semantically close, others more distant in terms of influencing agents. Swedenborg was able to observe this Grant Integration of all human minds in various ways (see Section xx). When we are fantasizing illicit sex or enjoying pornographic entertainment in the privacy of our mind, we are not alone. Many individuals in their hells are closely connected to us in that moment. In a real sense, we descend to their hells where we experience the enjoyments and delights they feel as a result of our fantasy. The amazing thing is that we feel their enjoyment as our own! They are not aware of us just as we are not aware of them, and yet we are connected in this way: their enjoyment enters our fantasy and we then experience their enjoyment as our own. We attribute our enjoyment to the fantasy of which we are of course aware. I don't think they are conscious of the content of our fantasy, but they supply their own fantasy, of which we are not conscious. So only the enjoyment or delight is held in common, though neither is aware of this. Now the consequences to us. We become attached by love to those delights that are theirs but feel like ours. In other words, we become spiritually attached to one another since love is a bonding agent that never gives up once sealed. The enjoyment of mentally engaging in illicit sex does not in itself create the unbreakable bond with those hells. All we need to do is to reject those enjoyments as not our own but from hell. This is a free choice from rational doctrine based on Sacred Scripture or on conscience. When we take this position of choice, God can immediately remove the connection we have with those hells. Now when they return to us through new fantasies of a similar kind, we can disapprove of them and refuse to go on with them. This becomes easier with repetition since God removes the masses of disorderly people that are connected to us through our various fantasies, daydreams, desires, or longings. Now you can see why adultery and all illicit sex and pornography is solemnly forbidden by Divine Commandment. It's not just a religious "thing." It's a scientific fact that evil spirits from hell bond with us when we engage in these behaviors, physical or mental. These bonds are incalculably dangerous to us, for if they remain permanent, we will be unwilling to remove ourselves from these fantasies and longings, no matter how dreadful our lives become in eternal hell. The enjoyment of illicit sex destroys the enjoyment of married sex. Those who are in the hell of their mind are not willing to rise up from that mental state. Swedenborg has proven this over and over again with various groups of people and individuals who were raised to the heaven of their mind by rendering their hell temporarily unavailable to their consciousness. As soon as they were in the heaven of their mind they were in company with others in their heavenly states. They could not stand it for very long. There was nothing in their heaven they could enjoy. They felt lifeless and dying, so that they had to be removed and allowed back into their hells, where Swedenborg saw them revive into the insanity of their life. This is then the danger of breaking the Commandment against physical and mental illicit sex. Again, it is not the occurrence of these thoughts that constitute the danger, nor the enjoyment of them when they occur. For this merely represents the inherited bonds we have with those hells. These bonds become permanent only of we confirm them by love. If we go along with our enjoyment of illicit fantasies and thoughts, we love them, and we accept the love even though we know it is against conscience, against Divine Commandment, and against our rational understanding. By going along we are making the choice of acceptance, love, and permanent bonding. By refusing to go along we are weakening the inherited bond. To refuse to go along is to stop the fantasy or thought or image because it is against the Commandment, or because it is against our future in eternity. If this is the motive, God then weakens the inherited connection until it has been completely neutralized. At some point we will no longer feel the delight as our own. Instead we will feel disgust at the idea that we could enjoy such hurtful activities. The more we weaken our connection to illicit sex the more we are able to strengthen our connection to married sex and conjugial love. When Swedenborg talked to those in the heavens of their mind he was told that their sexual passion and enjoyment in the context of conjugial love is immeasurably greater than what they knew in their life in the physical body. Illicit sex, adultery, or pornography are expressions of the love of sex which is inherited, and is especially strong for men. It is a natural love that we share with birds and bees, elephants and porcupines. Sex becomes human when it descends from the rational mind into the sensuous mind and into the corporeal mind. When sex descends in this orderly fashion it springs from conjugial love which is celestial from the Spiritual Sun. Then the sex in the body is merely an expression of the love in the heart, and this love is celestial and spiritual, not natural. When the celestial and spiritual are within the natural, then sex is orderly, and according to creation, far more satisfying and pleasurable than the sex in the body that is disorderly and from another source.
5.7.7 Seventh Commandment: Do Not Steal Quoting from the Writings THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT In the natural sense this commandment means literally not stealing, engaging in brigandage or piracy in peacetime; and in general not depriving anyone of his goods secretly or on any pretext. It also extends to all imposture and unlawful gain, usury and extortion, as well as fraud in payment of dues and taxes and in repaying debts. Workers who do not work in good faith and without deceit offend against this commandment; so do merchants who cheat over their wares, weights, measures and calculations; so do officers who withhold their troops' pay; and judges who are influenced in their judgments by friendship, bribery, nepotism or other reasons, so perverting laws or legal processes, and depriving others of the lawful possession of their goods. (TCR 317) Fraud through deceit obviously violates this Commandment. But so does cheating the government or loafing on the job. Using your influence to obtain a favor for someone may be sometimes be legitimate, but often it is not, if it means that someone else unfairly loses something thereby. If you find something on the street knowing who it belongs to, not returning it, breaks this Commandment. You may get away with charging too much for a service, but your spiritual future may be placed in jeopardy. A Divine Commandment is not something to be ignored since it is given to us by God as a protection from ending up in hell. Continuing with the next Number: In the correspondential sense stealing means depriving others of the truths they get from their faith; this is the effect of falsities and heretical beliefs. Priests, whose ministry is conducted solely for the sake of profit or to seek honors, and who teach the sort of things which they see, or could see, from the Word not to be true, are spiritual thieves, since they take away from the people their means of salvation, the truths of faith. Such people are called thieves in the following passages of the Word: He who does not enter into the sheepfold through the gate, but climbs in somewhere else, is a thief and a robber. A thief does not come except to steal, to slaughter and destroy. John 10:1, 10. Lay up your treasures not upon earth, but in heaven, where thieves do not come and steal. Matt. 6:19, 20. (...) They will run about the city, they will run on the wall, they will climb into houses, they will enter through windows like a thief. Joel 2:9. (TCR 318) Stealing someone's chances of being successful or a good person hurts you because it ties you to those who enjoy this evil activity. Corrupt clergy who sexually abuse children in their congregation hurt themselves more than their depravity brings them pleasure. As well, clergy who use their position for power or gain, hurt themselves by bonding with those in their hells who delight in this kind of exploitation and deceit. Ministers and teachers who make up false doctrine and dogma to control the believers, hurt themselves by becoming associated with those in their hells who obsess with such things. In the celestial sense thieves mean those who strip the Lord of His Divine power, and those who claim for themselves His merit and righteousness. Although these people worship God, yet it is not in Him they trust, but in themselves; and they do not either believe in God, but in themselves. (TCR 319) This deeper meaning of stealing is perhaps the most hurtful and dangerous in terms of the eternal consequences. It has to do with a falsification in one's mind of revelations about God in Sacred Scripture. One form of this evil is to separate God's Divine from God's Human. Another form is to attribute to oneself the "merit of righteousness" which refers to the fantasy that we are good because of our own effort and power. For instance, we attribute success to our talent and intelligence rather than to God's operation of our mental and physical activity, along with managing the events of our success or skill. This is stealing because it takes away the role of God which is primary while our role is as nothing in comparison. 5.7.8 Eighth Commandment: Do Not Lie Quoting from the Writings: THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT Appearing as a false witness against one's neighbor or giving false evidence means in the strictest natural sense not being a false witness before a judge, or before other people out of court, against someone who is wrongly accused of some crime, and asserting this in God's name, or swearing by anything else holy, or by oneself, or by such things as affect the reputation of one's name. In a wider natural sense this commandment forbids all kinds of lying and hypocrisy in public life with evil intent; also, criticizing and slandering one's neighbor so as to undermine his honor, name and reputation, on which the whole of a person's character depends. In the widest natural sense it includes using trickery, guile and deliberate wrong-dealing against someone for various causes, such as enmity, hatred, revenge, envy, rivalry, etc. These evil actions contain bearing false witness hidden within them. (TCR 321) What is more common than deception in our generation? We begin to lie as children and we continue lying as adults. The paragraph above sets out three levels of deception that we perform in terms of how direct or wily we are in our lying. The first level covers overt behaviors of lying and deception. These are the first we must stop and give up if we are to undergo spiritual development and preparation for life in heaven in eternity. This level may be called the overt socio-legal level of lying or swearing. This covers both oral and written forms of deception, as for instance lying to an investigator for the purpose of hurting someone else. It's important to attach the purpose of why we do something to the assessment of some deceptive behavior. For instance, if you are a detective or spy in the lawful protection of your country, your purpose is a legitimate one, not a selfish one to benefit yourself in some scheme you're involved in. The purpose of the deception makes it a hellish or a heavenly behavior. This principle applies to all the Commandments. For instance, the prohibition against killing is addressed to killing for a hellish purpose, not killing for a heavenly purpose such as the defense of your country by an attacker or self-defense when attacked by a stranger. The second level of deception and lying involves slandering or gossiping about someone with the purpose of hurting their reputation or business. Spreading a false rumor would also fall in this category of deception, as also hypocrisy and pretending to agree while planning to disagree in some business deal--all this for personal gain and for gaining an unfair advantage. The third level of deception and lying involves trickery, guile, treachery, and conspiracy done for the purpose of injuring someone out of a desire for revenge or hatred. Continuing with the next Number: In the correspondential sense, "bearing false witness" means to persuade that falsity of belief is true belief and evil of life is good of life, and the reverse, doing this from purpose, not from ignorance; that is, doing this after one has learned what is true and good, not before; for the Lord says: If ye were blind, ye would have no sin; but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth (John 9:41). In the Word this kind of falsehood is called a "lie" and the intent is called "deceit," as in the following passages: (...) This is a rebellious people, lying sons, they will not hear
the law of Jehovah (Isa. 30:9). (...) Because a "lie" means what is false, the Lord says: (,,,) That when the devil speaketh a lie, he speaketh from his own (John 8:44). (TCR 322) The external levels of deception are natural behaviors that are motivated by more inward spiritual loves that are from hell. These evil loves connect us to those who are in their hells and ties us to them so that we give up the freedom of our own choices. Deception at the inner level involves posing as a teacher or friend in order to entrap the other person into situations when they can be abused and hurt. The entrapment procedure involves clever ways of persuading the other person that you have their interest at heart. For example, a teacher, priest, or older friend who seduces and entraps children into satisfying their sexual depravity. Also, an author or movie director who distorts a story in order to mislead people about something for some selfish purpose or gain. This type of deception includes a pop singer "idol" whose message and performance exploits and hurts some one or some group for the sake of making more money. A boy seducing a girl by pretending he loves her, also falls into this category of inner deception. A famous person who endorses a product knowing it's harmful to users, is doing this kind of deception. Continuing: In the celestial sense, bearing false witness means blaspheming the Lord and the Word, thus banishing truth itself from the church; for the Lord is the Truth itself, as likewise the Word. On the other hand, to bear witness in this sense, means to speak the truth, and testimony means the truth itself. For this reason the Decalogue is called the "testimony" (Exod. 25:16, 21, 22; 31:7, 18; 32:15, 16; 40:20; Lev. 16:13; Num. 17:4, 7, 10).(...) (TCR 323) Every religion forbids blasphemy of God or of the religion, including its Sacred Scripture and the holy things of their worship rituals. The desire to attack God and worship of Him involves the deepest level of deception and lying. This is because all truth issues from God and to attack God is the same as to attack all truths, not just some of them. Sometimes people who attack God or religion may not have this motive of attacking all truth. They may do it by learned habit or imitation of style without having reflected on its meaning or significance. In that case the behavior would be violation of the Commandment not the take the Name of God in vain (see Second Commandment above). 5.7.9 Ninth and Tenth Commandments: Do not Covet Continuing with the Next Number: THE NINTH AND TENTH COMMANDMENTS. These two commandments have relation to all the preceding ones, and teach and enjoin not only that evils must not be done, but also that they must not be lusted after, consequently that evils pertain not solely to the external man, but also to the internal; since he who refrains from doing evils and yet lusts to do them, still does them. For the Lord says: If anyone lusts after another's wife, he has committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matt. 5:27, 28); and the external man becomes internal, or acts as one with the internal, only when lusts have been removed. This also the Lord teaches, saying: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees; for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and platter, that the outside may be clean also (Matt. 23:25, 26). And the same is taught throughout that chapter. The internals which are Pharisaical, are lusts after the things that are forbidden to be done in the first, second, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth commandments. It is known that when the Lord was in the world, He taught the internal things of the church, and these internal things are not to lust after evils; and He so taught in order that the internal and external man may make one. This is the being born anew, of which the Lord spoke to Nicodemus in the third chapter of John; and no man can be born anew or be regenerated, and consequently become internal, except from the Lord. That these two commandments may have relation to all the preceding ones, inasmuch as the things forbidden therein are not to be lusted after, the house is first mentioned, after the wife, then the manservant, maidservant, ox, and ass, and lastly, everything that is the neighbor's. (...) (TCR 326) In the passage above a crucial distinction is made between external physical behavior and internal mental behavior. In the mentality of the human mind represented by the Old Testament, the Commandments and Statues govern one's external physical behavior. The next evolutionary phase of the human mind is represented by the New Testament mentality, which is that the Commandments apply especially to mental behavior. There is a natural tendency to assess ourselves by listing our outward accomplishments and conduct. For example, I used to believe that I am a good person because I don't murder, steal, or swear falsely. A few things I used to do that I knew were wrong but was able to justify them as not really that bad or evil, like lying to protect myself, making false declarations about my income, gossiping about others, and cheating sexually. My ability to justify these evil behaviors is referred to in the passage above as "internals that are Pharisaical." A "blind Pharisee" is an expression of Sacred Scripture referring to these mental justification procedures in which we end up accepting our evil enjoyments and intentions. But it is revealed in the Writings that we are required to compel ourselves to stop mental acts of evil that justify outward behaviors. This is called "the internal things of the church," where "church" refers to our mental justification procedures by which we accept or reject our loves or lusts. It is revealed above that "the external man becomes internal, or acts as one with the internal, only when lusts have been removed." This refers to our outward behaviors ("external man") in relation to our mental justifications of them ('internal man"). In order to live in heaven in eternity we must undergo character reformation since we are born with inherited tendencies to evil enjoyments ("lusts"). We enjoy breaking the Commandments; we enjoy ego trips; we enjoy hurting others when we feel like it; we enjoy getting away with not being fully sincere, fully honest, fully fair. These inherited enjoyments of evil loves stand in opposition to our commitment to rebuild our character from hellish to heavenly. God is giving us the rational understanding of His revelations so that we may see that we cannot enter heavenly life in our immortality unless we bring our external behavior in conformity with our interior morality from Sacred Scripture. This is called "being reborn" ("Nicodemus") or regenerated by God. Only God has the power to force alignment between our external and our internal self. The internal moral and rational self must compel the external irrational self to obey the letter and the spirit of the Commandments. "The letter" of the Commandments refers to our external physical behaviors, while "the spirit" refers to our internal mental behaviors (reasoning, justifying, thinking, enjoying, intending, desiring). How can we compel ourselves not to enjoy something? I love chocolate and I long to eat as much of it as I desire. I can stop putting it in my mouth, but how can I stop enjoying it? I can stop myself from looking at pornography, but how can I stop enjoying it? God has revealed that if I don't stop enjoying what is bad for me, I can never get rid of it. I can never live in my heavenly mind when I get into the afterlife because I am then unwilling to give up the enjoyments that are bad for me and my future. Swedenborg has observed this effect with many people after their resuscitation in the world of spirits (see Section xx). What God warns against, Swedenborg was able to confirm directly by observation. Between our first death and resuscitation, and our second death a short time after, we undergo special experiences brought to us by God, in which we are faced with all the inner loves we brought with us in our mind. This is the process by which we are compelled to give up the evil loves, so that we remain with only good loves, or give up our good loves, remaining with only evil loves. No one can keep both kinds of loves as we had been able to on earth. If I keep my desire for eating something that is not good for me, I cannot keep my good desires such as staying healthy and taking responsibility for it. If I keep my enjoyment of pornography, I cannot keep my enjoyment for married love, which is the only sexuality possible in heaven. This is why it's so critical that I stop myself from enjoying overeating and pornography, among many other things like that. This is the burden of character rebuilding. And indeed, we cannot stop enjoying what we are enjoying from inherited tendencies. But God can put an end to it--if we consent to it. God cannot put an end to it if we do not consent (see Section xx). The act of consenting to it is called our "cooperation in regeneration." We cooperate with our Divine Psychologist by "washing our feet ourselves," which is a way Sacred Scripture refers to the as-of self effort required to inhibit and suppress external acts that we know are contrary to the Commandments. If we do this consistently, then we give consent to God to remove the enjoyment of evil acts and their justifications. God brings me face to face with temptations about chocolate, pornography, and many other things in the course of a day. My job is to make sure I don't do them in my outward behavior--my hand, my mouth, my eyes. In my self-witnessing (see Section xx) I have observed many times that the longer I abstain from evil acts the less I am tormented by missing out on their enjoyments. God has revealed that eventually, my enjoyment of them will completely die, and will be replaced by an aversion for them, and a horror at the idea of doing them or enjoying them. All I need to do is to persevere and be steadfast in my commitment to cooperate with God in my regeneration or spiritual development. Continuing with the passage: In the correspondential sense, these two commandments forbid all lusts that are contrary to the spirit, thus all that are contrary to the spiritual things of the church, which relate chiefly to faith and charity; for unless lusts are subdued, the flesh let loose would rush into every wickedness. For it is known from Paul, That the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh (Gal. 5:17); and from James: Each man is tempted by his own lust when he is enticed; then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin; and sin, when it is completed, bringeth forth death (James 1:14, 15); again from Peter, That the Lord reserves the unrighteous unto the day of judgment, to be punished; but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in lust (2 Peter 2:9, 10). In short, these two commandments understood in the spirit sense relate to all things that have before been presented in the correspondential sense, that they must not be lusted after; so likewise, to all that has been before presented in the celestial sense; but to repeat all these things is unnecessary. (TCR 327) In the literal language of Sacred Scripture there is talk about "sin" and punishment of it by "death." These two things refer to our mental states when we fail to cooperate with the Divine Psychologist in regenerating us through daily temptations. These mental states form a one with the mental states of those who are in the hells of their mind. These evil states become our permanent consciousness in the afterlife from which we are unwilling to exit once we are permanently in them. Hence they are called "death" because life in hell is devoid of all that is truly life--happiness, rationality, conjugial love, beauty, pleasantness, peace, understanding, inventiveness, cooperation, community, altruism, truly human. In the hells of our mind we have none of these, and one is then called "dead"--unhappy, irrational, sexually impotent, deformed, suffering, dull, egotistical, beastly, not human: The lusts of the flesh, the eye, and the other senses, separated from the lusts, that is, from the affections, the desires, and the delights of the spirit, are wholly like the lusts of beasts, and consequently are in themselves beastlike. But the affections of the spirit are such as angels have, and therefore are to be called truly human. For this reason, so far as anyone indulges the lusts of the flesh, he is a beast and a wild beast; but so far as one satisfies the desires of the spirit, he is a man and an angel. The lusts of the flesh may be compared to shriveled and dried up grapes and to wild grapes; but the affections of the spirit to juicy and delicious grapes, and also to the taste of the wine that is pressed from them. The lusts of the flesh may be compared to stables where there are asses, goats, and swine; but the affections of the spirit to stables where there are noble horses, and sheep and lambs; and they differ as an ass and a horse, a goat and a sheep, a lamb and a pig; in general, as dross and gold, as limestone and silver, as coral and rubies, and so on. Lust and the deed are connected like blood and flesh, or like flame and oil; for lust is within the deed, as air from the lungs is in breathing or in speaking, or as wind in the sail when the vessel is in motion, or as water on the wheel that gives motion and action to machinery. (TCR 328) The "lusts of the flesh" refers to enjoyments we derive from hurtful behaviors, while the "desires of the spirit" refers to our rational loves for obedience, peacefulness, and respect for God and people. One takes us to the hells of our mind, while the other to the heavens of our mind. This is how God has created human beings. This is the true reality that no one can escape. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF THE DECALOGUE CONTAIN ALL THINGS
THAT BELONG TO LOVE TO GOD, AND ALL THINGS THAT BELONG TO LOVE TOWARD THE
NEIGHBOR. The reason why such things as relate directly to love and charity are not commanded, but only such things as are opposed to them are forbidden, is that so far as man shuns evils as sins, so far does he will the goods that pertain to love and charity. That the prime thing of love to God and the neighbor is not to do evil, and the second to do good, will be seen in the chapter on Charity. (TCR 329) There is an interesting psychology revealed here, namely, that in order for people to be good, they must first stop being bad. We often hear people justify themselves by saying that they are not as bad as some others, and that their bad traits are balanced out by a lot of good traits they also have, so all in all, they figure, they're good. Sometimes people try to make up for the bad they do by giving away money to the needy, or by serving in soup kitchens for the poor on certain days. This is certainly very useful to the people who are being helped. But one should understand that the good we do cannot make up for the bad we do. We must still face the bad we do on its own. The passage above reveals that we must stop doing evils before we can start doing good, or else the good we do is not actually good. So the Ten Commandments of God tell us what we must not do in a complex. Only if we stop doing these things that are forbidden, can we then do the things that are required--to love God and neighbor more than we love ourselves. To love the neighbor means to refrain from doing evil to any person. Doing evil means to hurt others by injuring them or by feeling hateful towards them or indifferent to their need and suffering. There are two opposite loves, the love of desiring and doing good, and the love of desiring and doing evil; this latter is infernal and the other is heavenly; for all hell is in the love of doing evil, and all heaven in the love of doing good. Since then, man is born into all kinds of evil, and therefore from birth inclines to what pertains to hell, and since he cannot enter heaven unless he is born again or regenerated, it is necessary that evils, which belong to hell, should be removed before he can desire goods, which are heavenly. For no one can be adopted by the Lord until he is separated from the devil. But how evils are removed and man is brought to do good, will be shown in the two chapters, on Repentance, and on Reformation and Regeneration. That evils must be put away, before the good that a man does becomes good in the sight of God, the Lord teaches in Isaiah: Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; [cease to do evil], learn to do well, then though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah. 1:16-18). (...) (TCR 329) Good and evil cannot exist together, and so far as evil is put away good is regarded and felt as good, for the reason that there exhales from everyone in the spiritual world a sphere of his love which spreads itself round about and affects, and causes sympathies and antipathies. By these spheres the good are separated from the evil. That evil must be put away before good can be recognized, perceived, and loved, may be compared to many things in the natural world; for example: one cannot visit another who keeps a leopard and a panther shut up in his chamber (himself living safely with them because he feeds them), until those wild beasts have been removed. (...) Man himself ought to purify himself from evils, and not wait
for the Lord to do this without his cooperation. Otherwise he would be like a
servant going to his master, with his face and clothes befouled with soot and
dung, and saying, "Master, wash me." Would not his master say to him,
"You foolish servant, what are you saying? See, there are water, soap, and
a towel; have you not hands of your own and the power to use them? Wash
yourself." So will the Lord God say, "These means of purification are
from Me, and your ability to will and do are also from Me; therefore use these
My gifts end endowments as your own, and you will be purified;" and so on.
That the external man is to be cleansed, but by means of the internal the Lord
teaches in the twenty-third chapter of Matthew from beginning to end. (TCR 331) 5.7.10 Summary Table For the Scientific Meaning of the Ten Commandments
You can use this Table for assessing yourself in relation to the Ten Commandments--see an example in Section 6.0.5.2..
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5.7.11 Rise Above It--The Ten Commandments in All Religions The subtitle of the book Rise Above It is "Spiritual Development Through the Ten Commandments" (Touchstone Seminars, Philadelphia 2001. See also the Web site at: newearth.org/~touchstone/main.php?content=book In this unique book Ray and Star Silverman use the Ten Commandments in group seminars designed to help people grow spiritually. What's unusual is that the group members are from different religions and the seminar has been used for this purpose in several countries besides the United States. The book demonstrates that the Ten Commandments are pan-religious and pan-cultural. For each Commandment, the authors present the equivalent in five religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and the New Church ( which is based on the Writings of Swedenborg). Quoting from the Introduction: In this book we will try to show how the Sacred Scriptures of the various religions, when understood more deeply, are really one religion. This is because they all teach the same fundamental message: There is One God, infinitely loving and wise, Who is leading each of us , at every moment, into all the love and wisdom we are willing to receive. As the Dalai Lama has said, "Every major religion of the world has similar ideals of love, the same goal benefiting humanity through spiritual practice, and the same effect of making their followers into better human beings." In brief, every major religion seeks to aid its adherents in finding their way to the Kingdom of God. (Ray and Star Silverman, Rise Above It, p. 2), The authors state their belief that "the Ten Commandments...are a Divinely given framework that contains the totality of spiritual growth. ... We regard them as a heavenly curriculum...intended for the spiritual development of humanity.... From the first word to the last--the Ten Commandments are a continuous stream of Divine Truths.... It is a curriculum prepared by the "Master Teacher--the One True God of heaven and earth." (p.5) The authors present the book not merely as pan-religious theology but as a "book of life." "Rising above" refers to "rising above merely natural existence and entering higher states of consciousness--states that are closer to God--so that we may see clearly the circumstances and situations in which we find ourselves. We get a new view from a higher vantage point." (p. 8-9). The authors recommend that seminar participants "keep journals in which they record their experiences of examining themselves in the light of a particular commandment that is being studied." (p. 9). This is followed by the attempt to put the commandment into practice. Participants share this experience with the rest of the group. They consider it important for people to get together in groups to share their experiences of trying to live each commandment in their daily lives. Besides mutual support and encouragement, participants can also provide each other with incentives to keep working at it despite conflict and difficulties. The First Commandment provides the occasion for identifying one's "false gods" in life--fascinations, compulsive interests, addictions, TV, as well as self-centered traits and character weaknesses like perfectionism, being overcritical of others and uncritical of self, excessive conformism to friends or trends, self-centered bragging, hopelessness, pessimism, etc. A false god is anything that hurts your spiritual development because you are overly attached to it or because it keeps you down (see Section xx). Each Commandment is quoted in five religions. For instance the Second Commandment about the Name of God, is rendered as follows: · You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain (Old Testament-Jewish) · Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (New Testament--Christian) · He is Allah and there is no other God, the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One, the source of peace, the guardian of faith, the preserver of safety, the exalted in might, the irresistible, the supreme...Qur'an--Islam) · They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, and Agni...To what is one the sages give many names. (Rig Veda, Hinduism) · The name of anyone means not only his name but his whole characteristic quality (New Church--Swedenborg) The authors point out that taking the name of God in vain does not only refer to swearing and cussing but also to insincerity in one's worship and religion. If we fail to practice what we profess about God, we are taking His name in vain. Forgetting to pray or to give thanks to God for what we are able to enjoy and do, is also a form of taking the name of God in vain. The book advises people to pray for qualities in themselves that they are lacking rather than ask for worldly things they desire or covet. Some of the qualities of the One True God are listed as love, compassion, humor, patience, order, optimism, forgiveness, charity, gratitude, playfulness, peace, innocence, trust, understanding. These are the qualities we ourselves must strive to acquire within ourselves if we are sincere about honoring God's name (see Section xx). Another Commandment is worded as follows: · You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Old Testament) · For this cause I was born, and for this cause have I come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. (New Testament) · Those who fear Allah, when a thought of evil from Satan assaults them, bring Allah to remembrance, and lo! they see aright! (Qu'ran) · To tell the truth is consistent with righteousness. There is nothing higher than the truth. (Santiparva) · When a person abstains from false testimonies and turns away from them as sins, the love of truth and the love of justice flow in from the Lord through heaven... As a consequence his utterances become utterances of truth, and his works become works of justice. (The Writings of Swedenborg) Lying and deceit destroy meaningful connections in relationships. Muhammad is quoted as saying: "The signs of a hypocrite are three: when he talks, he lies; when he makes a promise he breaks it; and when he is trusted, he is disloyal." (p.173). "Truth-telling" is the key to keeping human relationships healthy. But telling the truth is also something we need to do with ourselves about ourselves. "Being true to oneself" means that we don't justify ourselves when we are wrong, that we don't try to protect what is not noble in us by using rationalizations for our faults and, denials for our weaknesses. Examining our thought patterns is essential to assess our truth-telling or our lying (see Section xx). Do we twist the truth to our advantage? Do we exaggerate details to gain an advantage in an argument? Do we omit parts of a story to make ourselves look good when we're not? Discouragement is often based on lying to oneself. Hopelessness is based on lying to ourselves about God like "God is powerless" or "God is absent" or "God doesn't think I deserve it." One of the daily exercises the book recommends to tell the truth: "be true to yourself and to others; live in integrity and keep your word. Harness the power of truth to refute the false witnesses that enter your mind and occupy your thoughts. The truth is that God is all powerful, and that with God all things are possible." (p.187) What are the false witnesses in our mind? They are the falsities we believe to be true and the truths we believe to be falsities. This mental trap is unavoidable when we freely choose to turn away from the Commandments as the guides for how we should think and why. Once we are in this mental trap there is only one method for getting out--Sacred Scripture. This contains the meaning we need to contradict the false witnesses in our mind. And especially, it contains the power from God by which we can freely choose to obey the Commandments because they are God's Divine Truth. The most universal use of the Ten commandments as a group is that it gives every human being anywhere anytime the freedom to choose the reality based on God vs. the reality based on self and others. One reality leads to a life of eternal conjugial happiness in heaven, while the other leads to a life of infernal misery forever. A lot more is at stake here than comfort or self-pride! The book Rise Above It presents the Ten Commandments at the religious level of thinking. It is based on the idea from the Writings that we live in inner bondage to our false beliefs and their negative emotions about ourselves, others, and society. We free ourselves from this inner slavishness to negativity and pessimism by applying the Ten Commandments to our daily thoughts and feelings. Swedenborg says that the only freedom humans have is to follow God's laws from conscience and rational choices. It is a useful book for religious behaviorism (see Section xx). In theistic psychology we have an interest in pan-religious ideas because they identify the universal concepts about God that we need to explain scientifically. Some of these concepts were presented in the prior section above titled The Scientific Meaning of the Ten Commandments (Section 5.7).
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6.0.2 Woman Built From the Man's Rib Continuing to quote from the Writings where we find the analysis by correspondences of the Genesis story: Verse 21 "And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he fell asleep; and He took one of his ribs, and He closed up the flesh in its place." 'A rib', which is a breast bone, is used to mean man's proprium when it contains very little life, a proprium indeed that he cherishes. 'The flesh in place of the rib Is used to mean the proprium when it does contain some life. 'A deep sleep' is used to mean that state into which he was brought so that he might seem to himself to have a proprium. This state resembles sleep because a person in that state is conscious only of living, thinking, speaking, and acting from himself. But when he starts to realize that this is false, he is aroused from sleep so to speak and wakes up. (AC 147) What a remarkable revelation to discover that we are asleep in our conscious awareness when being immersed in our inherited proprium or self. Our inherited proprium is represented by a bony lifeless rib and we are described as being in a "deep sleep" when in that proprium. Our consciousness is asleep to true reality. We live a delusion thinking that we have a self separate from God's management of it. We consciously live this delusion by being convinced that we are acting from ourselves. We are thus persuaded of a delusion by rejecting the revelation that we only have an as-of self in a universe where God is the only power. When we undergo character reformation we no longer refuse to accept God's revelations. We are then said to be "aroused from sleep" or delusion, and we awaken to reality. Continuing with the quotations: The state of a person when caught up in the proprium, that is, when he imagines that he lives from himself, is compared to a deep sleep. Indeed the ancients actually called it 'a deep sleep' while the Word speaks of people having 'the spirit of deep sleep poured out on them [Isaiah 29:10], and of their sleeping a perpetual sleep [Jeremiah 51:57]. The fact that man's proprium is in itself dead, that is, that nobody possesses any life from himself, has been demonstrated in the world of spirits so completely that evil spirits who love nothing except the proprium, and insist stubbornly that they do live from themselves, have been convinced by means of living experience, and have admitted that they do not live from themselves. With regard to the human proprium I have for several years now been given a unique opportunity to know about it - in particular that not a trace of my thinking began in myself. I have also been allowed to perceive clearly that every idea constituting my thought flowed in [from somewhere], and sometimes how it flowed in, and where from. Consequently anyone who imagines that he lives from himself is in error. And in believing that he does live from himself he takes to himself everything evil and false, which he would never do if what he believed and what is actually the case were in agreement. (AC 150) Note that Swedenborg's description of the human unregenerate proprium is not a theory he is proposing but demonstrated fact. As usual he presents two kinds of proof--one from objective observation of others, and one from self-witnessing observations on himself. In his unique dual consciousness, Swedenborg was able to perceive directly the incoming source of his thoughts and feelings. The delusion of the unregenerate inherited proprium is that our thoughts and feelings originate in our self and are our own. This is certainly the conscious experience we have here on earth. But in the afterlife, having been disconnected from the physical world and body, we have the ability to perceive our interactions with the vertical community (see Section xx). Continuing: Verse 22 And Jehovah God built the rib which He took from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. 'Building means reconstructing that which has fallen down, 'rib' the proprium that has not been given life, 'woman the proprium that has been given life by the Lord, 'bringing her to the man' that a proprium was granted to him. Since the descendants of this Church, unlike their ancestors, did not wish to be the celestial man, but to be their own guides and so set their heart on the proprium, they were allowed to have one. It was however a proprium given life by the Lord, which is why it is called 'a woman', and after that 'a wife'. (AC 151) Anyone paying the matter only scant attention may see that woman was not formed out of the rib of a man, and that the arcana embodied here are deeper than anybody has ever been aware of up to now. And that the proprium is meant by 'the woman may be seen from the consideration that the woman was the one who was deceived, for nothing but the proprium - or what amounts to the same, self-love and love of the world - ever deceives a person. (AC 152) The scientific meaning of Divine Speech is about the theistic psychology we need to awaken from the delusion of sleep in which we consciously believe that we are alone in our mind and we think and feel from ourselves. We are to awaken to this spiritual reality prior to entering the spiritual world. We cannot awaken afterwards if we do not awaken here. Swedenborg confirms by many interviews in the world of spirits that those arrived with a denial of God's omnipotence in all details, are unwilling no matter what, to change their mind. They continue in their delusions, which take them to hell and keep them there forever, being still unwilling no matter what. The well known Genesis story in the Old Testament of Eve being built out of Adam's rib refers in its scientific sense to the proprium, specifically, that the proprium which is a dead delusion in itself, was enlivened by God. "Woman" and "wife" refer to the enlivened proprium in all human beings. Continuing: Nothing evil or false can possibly exist that is not the proprium or derived from the proprium. For man's proprium is evil itself, which means that man is nothing but evil and falsity. This has become clear to me from the fact that when the contents of the proprium are presented to view in the world of spirits they look so ugly that nobody can paint any uglier picture. (Those contents vary however according to the nature of the proprium.) As a result when anyone is offered a glimpse of the contents of his proprium he is horrified at himself and wishes to run as though from the devil. On the other hand contents of the proprium which have been given life by the Lord look beautiful and attractive, varying according to the life to which a celestial quality that is the Lord's can be added. Indeed people who have received charity, that is, been made alive by it, look like boys and girls with very attractive faces. And people who have received innocence look like naked small children adorned in different ways with garlands of flowers twined around their breasts, and precious stones in their hair, living and playing in brightest light, with a sense of happiness stemming from the depths of their being. (AC 154) Swedenborg reports what he saw when he looked at the unregenerate proprium of people in the world of spirits. In that state of mind everyone can see the proprium of others. And in Swedenborg's estimation the contents of the unregenerate proprium "look so ugly that nobody can paint any uglier picture." In other passages he describes it as bony and black like a burned skull upon which no flesh is left. When someone is allowed to see their own proprium "he is horrified at himself and wishes to run as though from the devil." On the other hand the regenerate proprium that has been made alive by God, called the heavenly proprium, contains thoughts and feelings that "look beautiful and attractive." When we are in our heavenly mental state our proprium from a distance to others looks like attractive boys and girls adorned in flowers and precious stones with a happy expression reflecting their inner innocence. Innocence is the willingness to be guided by God rather than self. 6.0.3 The Rebirth of the Fallen Proprium or Self Continuing: Verse 23 And the man said, By this change, it is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh; for this she will be called Wife, because she was taken out of man (vir). 'Bone from bones and flesh from flesh' means the proprium belonging to the external man, 'bone' the proprium that has been given not much life, 'flesh' the proprium that has been given life. 'The man' (vir) however means the internal man. And because, as is said in the next verse, the internal man was so coupled to the external man, this proprium previously called 'woman' is now called 'Wife'. 'By this change' means that it happened now, because there had been a change of state. (AC 156) The man (Adam) called the woman his wife (Eve). The woman was made out of his rib. This is the style of writing of the ancients when discussing theistic psychology. In this case they were writing about the birth and development of the human proprium or self conscious awareness. This style of writing made sense to them because they were celestial minds before the Fall. In other words, people in those days still had direct perception into the spiritual world where all things of the mind are represented outwardly in these imageries called correspondences. The external self, or "the proprium belonging to the external man," was referred to as "'Bone from bones and flesh from flesh." They were thinking of the natural mind whose content and organization is from the physical world, rather than the "internal man" or internal self, which has undergone regeneration and is called "wise" or spiritually developed. A distinction is introduced here between two portions of the external self--one dead ("bone"), the other vivified ("flesh"). Continuing: It is not easy to perceive however how these matters can be so unless the nature of the state of the celestial man is known. The state of the celestial man is such that the internal man is quite distinct from the external, so distinct in fact that he perceives what belongs to the internal man and what to the external man, and how the external man is governed by the Lord through the internal. But because his descendants desired the proprium, which belongs to the external man, their state became so altered that they no longer perceived any distinction between the internal man and the external. Instead they perceived the internal man as being one with the external, for this is what perception comes to be once man desires the proprium. (AC 159) Here, the phrase "the state of the celestial man" refers to the portion of the human mind that is called heaven (see Section xx). The earliest generations on this planet were celestial people because their celestial mind was fully conscious on earth. They were therefore able to perceive the heavens in which their parents and family were after departing this world. The wrote in a style of correspondences since they were able to see directly, or visualize directly, the mental references in natural vocabulary. But in a later stage of evolution called the Fall, this dual consciousness was lost to protect the human race from being taken over by the Fallen proprium, which was evil. In other words, the thoughts and feelings that make up the external self, were evil--injurious, selfish, irrational, cruel, destructive, etc. Just as now, our motives are selfish and our thinking is less than rational most of the time. This mentality creates a hell on earth in which we are unsafe and experience suffering despite an omnipotent God who only wants our conjugial happiness in an eternal heaven. God cannot change what our proprium has become without destroying us, which God cannot do as it would be against His Love. By "destroying us" I mean have every human being live in hell from now to eternity. God made a rational and loving choice: Instead of changing our Fallen proprium He can give us a new one that can live in heaven. In other words, we are born with the inherited Fallen "proprial" tendencies towards evil and denial of God. This is the Fallen proprium, ugly, bony, dead. Now God has created a mechanism by which we can start living a new life with a new proprium that has been "vivified" or made receptive of God and heavenly life. This is called "rebirth" and the process goes on a lifetime and is called "regeneration." This is an active process of character building that is very challenging and filled with suffering. This is caused by our having to Inhibit, suppress, and loathe all the loves and enjoyments of the Fallen proprium to which we are attached by egotistical loves. We don't want to give them up voluntarily, one by one. It seems to us that we are being deprived of all our enjoyments and interests. What good is heaven to us if we cannot have our enjoyments? A neighbor to whom I was talking about Swedenborg asked me to describe life in heaven and in hell. At the end he said he is going to hell. Shocked, I asked why. He explained that all his friends would be there, and all his enjoyments. While in heaven, well, he didn't see himself living there. Later I thought about it and I realized that people don't believe in hell when they say they rather go there. It's just a kind of bravado talk. There must be few people who can read and accept Swedenborg's descriptions of hell, and still say they want to go there. So most people who don't seem to be afraid of hell don't actually believe that there is one. The rebirth of the human proprium is called "salvation" of the human race. Through the process of temptations we can anesthetize forever our hellish proprium. Each temptation is timed by our Divine Psychologist to allow us to voluntarily lay aside one proprial love. We cannot do this on our own, for our motivation is to give in. But we can overcome this deadly built in motivation by acknowledging God's presence and involvement in the temptation. God then anesthetizes the proprial love, and starts the operation of a new heavenly love in its place. Gradually, through many temptations daily over a lifetime, the "reborn" proprium becomes our conscious awareness. Our thoughts and motives are altruistic and loving to be obedient to God's will or the Proprium of the Divine-Human (see next sub-section). Continuing: Verse 24 Therefore a man (vir) will leave his father and his mother and will cling to his wife, and they will be one flesh. 'Leaving father and mother' is leaving the internal man, for the internal is that which conceives and gives birth to the external. 'Clinging to his wife' is in order that the internal man may be within the external. 'Being one flesh' means that they are there together. Previously the internal man, and the external man deriving from the internal, were spirit, but now they have become flesh. In this way celestial and spiritual life was joined on to the proprium in order that they might seemingly be one. (AC 160) In the style of writing with correspondences "the man clinging to his wife" refers to the heavenly self becoming active within the external self. The thoughts and motives of the external self are transformed from hellish to heavenly when the new reborn proprium becomes active. The lower external self cannot do this on its own, but it can be vivified or operationalized by the higher self acting within the lower self. The higher self which is heavenly cannot be seen in the lower self since the lower self is natural and the natural mind cannot see the celestial mind. The celestial mind active and influencing the natural mind is referred to as "'Leaving father and mother." These relationships may not be fully clear because only a sample of the overall argument is presented. Please consult the Writings for the detailed study. But enough is given here to demonstrate to you that Sacred Scripture in its extracted scientific meaning is about theistic psychology, or the science of immortality. God uses this form of communicating with the human race because it serves primarily to elevate our rational consciousness of God and the methods by which God manages our immortal mind and the universe. 6.0.4 Innocence and the Choice of Salvation Continuing: As has been stated, man's proprium is nothing but evil, and when presented to view is terribly ugly; but when charity and innocence are instilled into the proprium by the Lord it looks fine and attractive, as stated in 154. The charity and innocence not only excuse the proprium, that is, a person's evil and falsity, but also virtually do away with it, as anyone may see in the case of young children. When they love one another and their parents, and at the same time a childlike innocence is evident, evil and false traits at such times not only go unnoticed but are even pleasing. From this it can be seen that nobody is allowed into heaven unless he has some measure of innocence in him, as the Lord said, Let the young children come to Me and do not hinder them; of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, Whoever has not received the kingdom of God like a young child will not enter into it. Taking them up therefore into His arms, He laid His hands upon them, and blessed them. Mark 10:14-16. (AC 164) A popular saying is that "the child is father to the man." Every child inherits an evil proprium connected to hell. But a child also inherits heavenly traits called "remains." The chief of the remains is called "innocence" which is the tendency to willingly obey parents and authority figures. Without this inborn innocence, or willingness to learn, no child could acquire a civilized personality. AS parents and teachers know well, children oscillate between showing their heavenly traits and their hellish traits. They are thus held in balance by God to give them the opportunity to resist evil traits when conscience forbids them. The trait of innocence is necessary for the new reborn proprium since we cannot live in heaven without loving to conform all our thoughts and motives to God's order. Innocence, or the willingness and love to obey God, is the ruling love of all who abide in the highest portion of their mind called heaven. Eternal happiness in conjugial love is heaven, and its living context is innocence. It is in the willingness to obey God in which heaven is located. This is because we elevate our consciousness to the heavenly state of mind by willing to be led by God rather than by self. We lay down every desire and interest we have from ourselves, and we put on only that which belongs to the Divine-Human. In effect, we superimpose the Proprium of the Divine-Human upon the former place where we acted on behalf of our self. The agent that carried out our feelings, motives, and values has been fired or anesthetized and neutralized, put into a coma and rendered non-operational. If we still want x which is from self, we deny ourselves. If we still think Y which is from self, we reject it. Instead, we think thoughts that are from Sacred Scripture which is the Speech of the Divine-Human communicating with our rational consciousness. In this way we cooperate with the Divine-Human working on us as a Divine Loving and All-Knowing Therapist, daily, hourly, and second by second. When we have a conflict between self and God through conscience or doctrine of life, we immediately know that the Divine Psychologist is bringing us to face something deep within ourselves that is still lurking, hiding, poisoning the atmosphere around itself, injuring our innocence, or willingness to obey God rule and order. We experience the temptation as a deep conflict, an agony of choice. We want X badly, but we hear God's voice, Don't do it, Don't have it. Turn away from it. Break the cycle. I'm here to give you the power. Just make the choice now. Wonderful Divine words coming into our mind from within where God's influx enters through the Spiritual Sun--through its spiritual heat and spiritual light flowing into the receptors of the mind. The spiritual light entering the top of the mind now descends through the levels of the mind--celestial, spiritual, natural-rational. At each descent, lower correspondences are created at that level of mental operation. When the wave of correspondences arrives into the natural-rational mind it has been transformed by correspondences into a natural language in which we think and through which we are conscious and rational, able to reason and make choices on the basis of our understanding of Sacred Scripture. Slowly, progressively, after many daily temptation-situations we have experienced for years, we at last come into the "Peace of Sabbath" which is a reference to the Genesis Creation story where God rested after His six days of labor. The Third Commandment orders us to keep the Sabbath day holy (see Chapter 5 Section 5.7). The scientific meaning of the "Sabbath rest" refers to the mental state we reach after every spiritual temptation. The Divine Psychologist brings to us only those temptations at the right time, and in the right form, that we can resist. By knowing all of the future, and by holding our mental operations in perfect control, God is able to keep from us any temptation that we cannot resist. After the deeply disturbing conflict of the spiritual temptation, which is called a "battle" against devils, God defeats the devils and puts them back into hell, no longer capable of infesting this individual. God could not have done this earlier, prior to the temptation and the voluntary and rational choice of rejecting the cherished enticement. The purpose of the temptation is precisely to give us the moment of choice, by which God can then remove the evil connection. This choice of salvation must be repeated over and over again daily for years--because we have a multitude of evil connections, both those that we have inherited and those we have acquired ourselves by practicing and loving them. The critical feature of the choice of salvation is innocence or the willingness to say No to self and Yes to the Divine-Human. There is no in between. Every thought or motive is either from heaven or from hell, either from the Divine-Human's Proprium or our own. The Divine-Human's Proprium is innocence itself and is the source of all innocence. We would never be willing to deny ourselves totally by following self, and since the self always leads to hell because it is from hell, and is hell, therefore we are lost in advance unless we are willing to put on innocence, that is, the Lord's Proprium. This means wanting only what the Lord wants, loving only what the Lord loves, thinking only what the Lord thinks, intending only what the Lord intends, doing only what the Lord does. When we are in this state of innocence we are in our heaven and we are called angels. Swedenborg interviewed many angels for 27 years. The described their happiness to him as being this innocence. They said that the instant they hesitate going with the flow of the Divine-Human, they fall out of their heaven, tumbling down into the lower levels of their mind where they start experiencing conflicts and temptations. So the essence of eternal happiness in conjugial love is the complete and total suppression of anything belonging to our own proprium or self. This total reliance on the Divine-Human is a permanent Sabbath rest from all labors of temptations. No feeling or thought from the hells can reach into that place. Nothing stops our unbounded blessedness, our unbounded love and wisdom. We are capable of truly amazing and wonderful powers, forming an environment within us and around us that surpasses all imagination and desire. Theistic psychology is the knowledge brought to us by Divine Speech about how we can suppress ourselves totally and become "children of God," that is, living God's Proprium as-if our own, thereby having immortality and endless mental expansion. The Writings reveal that Proprium in the good sense exists only in the Divine-Human. This is because all good is the spiritual heat streaming forth from the Spiritual Sun which is the hot sphere of passion surrounding the Divine-Human in the highest region of the created human mind. The Spiritual Sun is the source of all good streaming into the created universe from its inmost parts. Think about any object or all objects that exist. Each object has an external part that struts out into the physical plane or degree. This physical external has to have a mental or spiritual internal framework that holds the object into existence. This internal spiritual framework is made of the spiritual heat and light form the Spiritual Sun. It is in this sense that we can say that the spiritual world is "within" the natural world, or that every natural event is an effect of a prior spiritual cause. What happens when you remove the internal framework of the object by shutting down the influx or inflow of spiritual heat and light from the Spiritual Sun? The object is removed from existence. Or, the operation ceases, whatever it is. We are familiar with what happens when we unplug the electric stove, or if the electric company has a power failure. Every electric appliance goes dead. In a similar way, if you remove the spiritual heat and light from within an object, the object ceases to be online in existence, it goes dead, disintegrates, and disappears. The human mind is an organ of reception of spiritual heat and light. We receive spiritual heat in the affective organ and spiritual light in the cognitive organ (see Section xx). God gives us the ability or power to make a free choice regarding the incoming spiritual light or truth, and the incoming spiritual heat or love. We can love them or reject them. If we reject them, they are turned into their opposites or inversion: incoming good becomes evil in our will (affective organ), and incoming truth becomes falsified truth in our understanding (cognitive organ). In one case our consciousness and character is from heaven, and in the other case, it is from hell. There is no in between. Our own self or proprium is therefore an inversion or opposition of God's Proprium. Our own self takes us to eternal hell while adopting as-if our own the Proprium of the Divine-Human takes us to eternal heaven. It's our choice. We need therefore to inquire into how our inverted proprium develops and how we can arrest its development and put it to sleep forever. Our own proprium or self is actually dead, not alive, because it consists of the denial of life through the denial of what is good and true--the only life there is. Swedenborg went through many hells and sure enough, the people there appeared alive and doing all sorts of atrocious and horrible things to each other. But from the perspective of true life, of heavenly life, the life in hell is indeed dead because it is devoid of all good and truth. Those who maintain themselves in the hells of their mind are unwilling to rise above it, They receive life moment by moment, and they invert it into something dead as soon as it enters their conscious mind. They are said to be dead because they live in a false appearance rather than in reality. They cannot die because all humans are born immortal, but they can remove themselves from life by living in horrible delusions and fantasies, shared mutually with others. They reject all rational things and they hate God and innocence with the utmost rage. When we put on God's Proprium and obey in innocence without self-interference, we enter true reality and heavenly life, or everything that is good and true. Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: DP 224. Who cannot see that the external
derives its existence from the internal and consequently has its essence from
the internal? And everyone knows from experience that the external can appear
otherwise than in accordance with the essence it has from the internal. For
there is manifestly such an appearance with hypocrites, flatterers and
dissemblers; and that a man can outwardly personate characters not his own is
manifest from actors and mimics; for they know how to represent kings, emperors
and even angels, in tone of voice, speech, face and gesture, as though they
were really such, when yet they are but players. Moreover, this has been stated
because man can in similar manner act the deceiver both in civil and moral
affairs and in spiritual matters; and it is well known that many do so.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch6.htm#rib +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
9.1.1.1 The Literal Meaning and the Extracted Meaning This is a crucial difference in use. The literal of the Writings Sacred Scripture is serviceable for the New Church, a new Christian religion based on the Writings (see Section xx). The literal of theistic psychology is serviceable for science and public education in all countries regardless of culture and religion. It is important to realize and acknowledge that there is a prescribed methodology for the extraction process that creates the third column of theistic psychology out of the middle column of the Writings Sacred Scripture. This methodology is called the method of correspondences with enlightenment (see Section xx). Anyone with some intellectual effort can create a third column fictitiously, using their self-intelligence and knowledge of literary traditions in theology and psychology. But this type of interpretation is not part of theistic psychology. Only that is part of theistic psychology which is knowledge obtained through the extraction process that is prescribed in the Writings for application to all Sacred Scripture, including itself. This method is Divine and Divinely prescribed in the literal text of the Writings Sacred Scripture where the correspondences of Divine Speech are revealed. The steps of our character reformation set the pace for our ability of being enlightened by the Divine Psychologist, who is co-present with every individual (see Section xx). You will also notice another crucial difference between the Writings and theistic psychology in their literal sentences. Theistic psychology is a science and involves explanations at the mechanistic level because everything is categorized within heuristically defined levels, directions, and actions. The Writings often use the expression of "opening" the mind to describe God's active role in regeneration and enlightenment. This level of description ("opening the mind") is sufficient for religious thinking even at the level of "rational faith," which is what the New Church is called in the Writings. But it is not sufficient at the level of explanation required in a science. To achieve this level of meaning we need to acquire new thinking that matches the level of the first heaven in the human mind. Only then do we begin to go "within" the natural, and into the spiritual (see Section xx). When we extract the spiritual-natural meaning (of theistic psychology) from the external natural-rational meaning (of the Writings Sacred Scripture), the religious and historical references "vanish" and what is left behind is the meaning of Divine Speech that the people in their interior-natural heaven are conscious of (first heaven). But with further progress in our regeneration or character reformation, we acquire additional abilities to understand spiritual-rational correspondences (second heaven) and celestial-rational-correspondences (third heaven). This is achieved by the Divine Psychologist managing our mind, who creates an interior-natural organ within the external natural organ, creating a virtual heaven by which we can consciously understand the higher-order correspondences of Divine Speech that exist in the three heavens in our mind (see Section xx). Theistic psychology is the knowledge accumulated through this new spiritual understanding of spiritual topics. It is new to our natural mind here on earth, but is not new to the three heavens. Those who already populate the heavens of their mind in their immortality, are to be considered distinguished theistic psychologists. The knowledge of theistic psychology is universal and endless. The Topical Index of All Sections (Volume 18) only presents theistic psychology as I view it, but it will expand endlessly in the coming centuries and millennia. The bottom part of the chart above gives the spiritual signification of numbers used in Sacred Scripture. Enough information is given in the Writings Sacred Scripture about correspondences of numbers to create a new science around the subject of spiritual psycholinguistics (see Section xx). I have selected just a few numbers in the chart above to illustrate specifically the research I present in this Volume on the genes of consciousness. This work is based on the spiritual significance of the numbers 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24. I discovered these patterns several years before I began reading the Writings, and thus in a natural way (see Section xx). I therefore call it predictive research rather than extractive research (see Section xx). In the past 23 years since I have been studying the Writings, I have discovered that these patterns are embedded in Divine Speech and that they are mechanisms used by the God to manage the universe and the human mind (see Section xx). Hence I coined the expression the genes of consciousness to refer to the conceptual structures that carry meaning and conform to the series of correspondences. Knowledge of these gene structures of our understanding is useful for everyone's regeneration task, for instruction in schools and at home, and most specifically, for science. Below is a passage from the Writings Sacred Scripture that shows the level of explanatory concepts it typically uses for explaining the spiritual significance of numbers. The passage makes reference to the existing numerical syntax, or arithmetic, that can be used to extract their significance. We are never given a full chapter or lesson on how this syntax works in detail, but a few things are mentioned here and there. More predictive research is called for to establish the knowledge of spiritual arithmetic. For instance, the number 9 signifies "conjunction," while the number 10 signifies "remains of good and truth," that is, thinking patterns that we acquire that are compatible with a heavenly character. Now what does the number 90 mean? It contains 10 times 9, which translated, means "conjunction through remains." In other words, when you look at the third column of the chart above for the number 9, it gives this explanation of theistic psychology -- "dynamic mental states mapped on the ennead chart showing the steps of acquiring a heavenly character, as explained in this Volume (see Section xx)" As frequently discussed and illustrated, the ennead chart is a matrix of nine cells created by juxtaposing two factors having three sub-levels each (9 = 3x3).This chart is used to map the mental states we go through during spiritual development (see Section xx). Now when you compare the expression from the Writings -- "conjunction through remains" -- and its translation into theistic psychology, you can see that the explanations in theistic psychology do not remove, minimize, or contradict in any way the Divine truths that are presented through its literal meaning. We can say rationally that one way we achieve "conjunction" with God is through the "remains of good and truth" that He unconsciously "implants" in our character whenever we are doing something that is compatible with "good" and heaven. This level of thinking is called "rational faith" and allows for the construction of doctrine for a religious life in preparation for heavenly life (see Section xx). There is also an additional use and benefit that Divine Speech is giving the human race by specifying for us a methodology we can use to extract still more specific details about the mechanisms God uses in regenerating the human mind. This is the knowledge of theistic psychology. Those who already have "rational faith" and a religion based on the Writings of Swedenborg, will also benefit further by studying theistic psychology as a way of extending the uses and benefits of the Writings, which they love and worship as "the Word of the Divine Human in His Second Coming" (see section xx). AC 2075. [2] Now that the number "nine" signifies conjunction, and still more the number "ninety," which is the product of the multiplication of nine into ten (for "ten" signifies the remains by which conjunction is effected, as is evident from what was said above, n. 1988, at the end), may also be seen from the representatives and significatives which now follow. It was commanded that on the tenth day of the seventh month there should be a day of expiations, and that this should be a Sabbath of a Sabbath; and on the ninth day of the seventh month at evening, from evening even to evening, they should celebrate a Sabbath (Lev. 23:27, 32). [3] In the internal sense these things signify conjunction by means of remains-"nine" signifying conjunction, and "ten" signifying remains. That a Divine arcanum lies hidden in these numbers, is clearly evident from the months and the days of the year that were to be held holy; as that every seventh day there was a Sabbath; and that every seventh month, as just stated, there should be a Sabbath of a Sabbath; in like manner the seventh year; and also that on the seven times seventh year the jubilee should commence. The case is the same with all other numbers in the Word; as with "three," the signification of which is nearly the same as that of "seven;" and with "twelve," which signifies all things of faith; and with "ten," which signifies the same as "tenths," that is, remains (see n. 576); and so on. Thus in the passage here quoted from Leviticus, unless the number "ten" and the number "nine" involved arcana, it would by no means have been commanded that this Sabbath of a Sabbath should be on the tenth day of the seventh month, and that on the ninth of the month they should celebrate it. Such is the Word of the Lord in the internal sense, although in the historical sense nothing of the kind appears. In other words, there are "heavenly secrets" hidden in Sacred Scripture. These higher meanings are called "the internal sense" and in this meaning, "nothing appears" to view in the literal sense that is on the surface. Hence it is that theistic psychology, which is extracted from the literal sense of the Writings, is suitable as a universal science and as public education in all countries regardless of religion and culture. In theistic psychology, "nothing appears" of the historical and religious meaning of the literal sentences of the Writings Sacred Scripture. Consider these descriptions of the "style" in which Divine Speech is rendered as Sacred Scripture, which is called "the Word" in this next passage, though the expression "Sacred Scripture" also appears thousands of times in the Writings. Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: AC 1. From the mere letter of the Word of the Old Testament no one would ever discern the fact that this part of the Word contains deep secrets of heaven, and that everything within it both in general and in particular bears reference to the Lord, to His heaven, to the church, to religious belief, and to all things connected therewith; for from the letter or sense of the letter all that anyone can see is that-to speak generally-everything therein has reference merely to the external rites and ordinances of the Jewish Church. Yet the truth is that everywhere in that Word there are internal things which never appear at all in the external things except a very few which the Lord revealed and explained to the Apostles; such as that the sacrifices signify the Lord; that the land of Canaan and Jerusalem signify heaven-on which account they are called the Heavenly Canaan and Jerusalem-and that Paradise has a similar signification. This passage in the literal sense uses the expression "the Word" to refer to the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, which in its literal meaning, concerns itself with the history of the "Jewish Church." What do the people of the first heaven see when they read this paragraph of the Writings Sacred Scripture? Instead of "the Word of the Old Testament" they see "the initial mental states of each cycle of regeneration." And instead of the "Jewish Church" they see "the mental states prior to beginning reformation." People in the third heaven have an even loftier view of the meaning of this passage because they are looking at the celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Speech (see Section xx). The extraction of correspondences in Divine Speech is the method by which God creates the gradual evolutionary elevation of human consciousness. Divine Speech permeates and immerses the human mind like sunlight penetrates a room through its windows and doors. All layers of the human mind are filled simultaneously with it. No human mind can escape it or live without it. Divine Speech is what makes human beings to have consciousness, from which they are immortal. Regeneration is the organic mechanism which has been created in the human mind by the Incarnation Event (see Section xx) in order to allow for the elevation of human consciousness to its immortal and quasi-omniscient level of operation called the celestial mind (see Section xx). Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: SE 1625. CONCERNING THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANGELS. In regard to the knowledge of the angels of the interior heaven, a single example may suffice, taken from their knowledge of the structures and forms of the [human] body; for while any one, no matter what, of the viscera of the body is under consideration, they are enabled to know not only its whole structure and operation, but also all the experience which anatomy is able to detect in the smallest particulars, as whether it be true or genuine. Not only so, but they know in an instant whether what is stated respecting each of the viscera be correct, besides many interior things which no one of the human race can know, as I have sometimes found by experience. They are acquainted, too, with the correspondence which these things bear to things spiritual. Indeed, their knowledge is such that if men were aware of it they would be astounded, although matters of this kind had never been their study in the life of the body. It flows, as it were, spontaneously from the fact that by reason of an intelligence bestowed by the Lord, they know how everything is with the Grand Man in general and in particular, and the knowledge seems to be innate in them. But such knowledge they could never possess were it not that the whole heaven represents the whole man, with all his several parts, and unless the Lord were the life of that man, and thus life itself and unless also the universal heaven were organic. - 1748, March 22. They are thus in first principles, and from first principles, or things interior, and more interior, could comprehend the things which are without or below. (SE 1625) Theistic psychology is the organized science of enlightenment, therefore of immortality, since it is our by our consciousness that we live forever (see Section xx). When theistic psychology is genuine, it is a Divine science because nothing from self-intelligence is allowed in its topics and explanations, but only that which is extracted from the literal sentences of the Writings Sacred Scripture. The extraction process must follow the prescribed method of correspondences with enlightenment (see Section xx). Anything extracted with enlightenment -- genuine enlightenment not imagined enlightenment -- remains Divine since the Divine cannot be divided (see Section xx). Theistic psychology, when genuine, is the Divine Doctrine in our mind, which is the same as the Divine Truth "with us." The level at which we reconstruct Divine Speech or Divine Truth in our mind, varies with the enlightenment level at which we are progressing in our character reformation (see Section xx). There is no possibility of understanding anything spiritually when our natural mind has not undergone reformation first (see Section xx). Once we begin reformation we continue with our regeneration, and that's when we are on a course of endless spiritual growth. This spiritual growth is an organic process
and it depends on the mind-flexing we do with the rational concepts and ideas
from the Writings Sacred Scripture. In any phase of our life, we need to bend
the conscious mind into a direction appropriate to the doctrine of truth that we
understand. In other words, we need to inhibit willing and thinking from
nonduality and self-intelligence, and do a new willing and thinking that is in
conformity with the doctrine of truth. We extract this doctrine of truth from
the Writings and we establish it in our mind. Now we let that doctrine rule our
willing and thinking in daily life (For more details on this process, see
Volume 1 of my online book A Man of the Field available at The doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture applied to living, is theistic psychology. To the extent that we apply the explanations of theistic psychology to our daily willing and thinking, to that extent we are enlightened by the Divine Psychologist who is working with us to bring about the steps of our individual progression and growth. To the extent that we are enlightened, to that extent we are able to understand and write about higher order correspondences in the Writings Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). Continuing with another passage from the Writings Sacred Scripture regarding the "heavenly secrets" or ("arcana coelestia") that are extractable from Sacred Scripture from its hidden "internal or correspondential sense," when the literal meaning is made to "vanish." The expression "the Word" refers to all Sacred Scripture viewed as Divine Speech and written in correspondences. The expression "the church" refers to the mental states of regeneration that every individual must experience for spiritual growth. WH 11 In the internal or correspondential sense of the Word there are innumerable arcana. The Word in the internal sense contains innumerable things which exceed human comprehension (n. 3085, 3086). It also contains things ineffable and inexplicable (n. 1965). Which are manifest only to angels, and are understood by them (n. 167). The internal sense of the Word contains arcana of heaven, which relate to the Lord and His kingdom in the heavens and on earth (n. 1-4, 937). Those arcana do not appear in the sense of the letter (n. 937, 1502, 2161). (...) The internal sense is itself the genuine doctrine of the church (n. 9025, 9430, 10401.) They who understand the Word according to the internal sense, know the true doctrine itself of the church, because the internal sense contains it (n. 9025, 9430, 10401). The internal of the Word is also the internal of the church, as it is likewise the internal of worship (n. 10460). The Word is the doctrine of love to the Lord, and of charity towards the neighbor (n. 3419, 3420). There is no end to the human enterprise of theistic psychology because the number of spiritual correspondences that can be extracted from the Writings Sacred Scripture is "innumerable." There is no end to theistic psychology, which makes it suitable for a language of thinking in our immortality, which likewise has no end. Our inmost happiness in heaven depends on seeing ourselves acquire new knowledges from Divine Speech, and this every day to eternity. The infinity of truths extractable from the Writings Sacred Scripture is a necessary consequence of the fact that it is Divine Truth in the mind of humanity. Divine Truth is nothing else than the spiritual light that streams out of the Spiritual Sun and into the mind of humanity (see Section xx). It is this spiritual substance that interacts with our organic elements in the mind, making itself part of our very being. But our consciousness cannot be fed and grown by it unless we make the Divine truth conscious in our awareness, and acknowledge it as the Divine Truth in our rational understanding, and not our own truth. This rational understanding gives us our heavenly immortality when we are willing to marry (conjoin) that truth with good, that is, when we are willing to integrate what we think is true with what we do and choose. We accomplish this integration of our mind ("marriage"), by striving to cooperate with the Divine Psychologist in our regeneration. This cooperation consists of applying the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture to our daily willing and thinking (see Section xx). The heavenly secrets in theistic psychology "do not appear in the sense of the letter" of the Writings Sacred Scripture. We need to extract its hidden scientific meaning because this "is itself the genuine doctrine of the church." This phrase in the Writings signifies the knowledge of theistic psychology when it is genuine, meaning, when the prescribed extraction method was used, as frequently mentioned (see Section xx). Theistic psychology is "the internal sense" of the Writings Sacred Scripture, as indicated by this sentence: "They who understand the Word according to the internal sense, know the true doctrine itself of the church, because the internal sense contains it ." In other words, theistic psychology is the genuine doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture. Every regenerating person uses theistic psychology by learning how to cooperate in their regeneration steps with the Divine Psychologist. It is said in the passage above that "the internal of the Word is also the internal of the church, as it is likewise the internal of worship." The expression "the internal of the Word" refers to genuine theistic psychology extracted from the Writings Sacred Scripture. Hence theistic psychology is "the internal of the church," a phrase signifying the organic virtual heaven created within our interior-natural mind when we begin regeneration (see Section xx). This new spiritual organic portion of the natural mind, can resonate in correspondence with the the higher-order correspondences in our unconscious three heavens. Hence it is that we are enlightened, which refers to the new ability of being able to comprehend rationally spiritual correspondences within Divine Speech. The expression "internal of worship" refers to our attitude of cooperation with the Divine Psychologist who is effecting our regeneration and looking to each of us to do our part. This involves our willingness to face down the temptations He brings to us (see Section xx). Our ability to face down the habits and enjoyments of the old character depends on the quality of the doctrine of truth we extract from Sacred Scripture. The Divine Psychologist brings to each person a particular series of temptations in the right sequence and timing, giving the individual the opportunity to face down this or that hellish character trait (see Section xx). Spiritual and celestial temptations are not brought to us when we are unwilling to face them down and oppose them (see Section xx). It is also said in the passage above that "the Word is the doctrine of love to the Lord, and of charity towards the neighbor." This means that genuine theistic psychology exists in the mind only when our purpose for gaining that knowledge is to become a heavenly person. This is the ultimate purpose of the Divine Psychologist with every individual, to raise their consciousness to the level of their heaven, where their merely human proprium or self is no longer desired. Instead, there is the desire for the Divine Proprium of the Divine Human (see Section xx). Swedenborg reports that those who already dwell in their heaven as angels and angelic spirits, are horrified by the idea of returning to their own willing and thinking, such as they had below their heavenly consciousness. What keeps them in heavenly joy and power, is their love for the Divine Proprium. They each become a unique version of the Divine Proprium by allowing the Divine Psychologist to animate their willing and thinking. The sense of as-of self freedom is then maximum -- as empirically reported by the people in that mental state to whom Swedenborg spoke to. To be animated by God instead of self may sound unattractive when considered from the perspective of the external natural mind, which cannot let go of itself without feeling a loss. So the idea of willing and thinking, not from self, but from the Divine Proprium, sounds unattractive and aversive to the unenlightened natural mind. But we have the evidence of Swedenborg and of Sacred Scripture that this is a false or invalid way of thinking about the Divine Propirum. Instead of a loss of a sense of freedom, feeling the Divine Proprium activate our willing and thinking, without our resistance, is the ultimate rational and heavenly life of a human being, leading to ultimate joys and endlessly new powers or potentials. 9.1.2 The Scientific Meaning of Heaven Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: AC 13. Those who are being regenerated do not all arrive at this state. The greatest part, at this day, attain only the first state; some only the second; others the third, fourth, or fifth; few the sixth; and scarcely anyone the seventh. AC 67. CHAPTER 2 As of the Lord's Divine mercy it has been given me to know the internal meaning of the Word, in which are contained deepest arcana that have not before come to anyone's knowledge, nor can come unless the nature of the other life is known (for very many things of the Word's internal sense have regard to, describe, and involve those of that life), I am permitted to disclose what I have heard and seen during some years in which it has been granted me to be in the company of spirits and angels. AC 68. I am well aware that many will say that no one can possibly speak with spirits and angels so long as he lives in the body; and many will say that it is all fancy, others that I relate such things in order to gain credence, and others will make other objections. But by all this I am not deterred, for I have seen, I have heard, I have felt. AC 69. Man was so created by the Lord as to be able while living in the body to speak with spirits and angels, as in fact was done in the most ancient times; for, being a spirit clothed with a body, he is one with them. But because in process of time men so immersed themselves in corporeal and worldly things as to care almost nothing for ought besides, the way was closed. Yet as soon as the corporeal things recede in which man is immersed, the way is again opened, and he is among spirits, and in a common life with them. AC 70. As it is permitted me to disclose what for several years I have heard and seen, it shall here be told, first, how the case is with man when he is being resuscitated; or how he enters from the life of the body into the life of eternity. In order that I might know that men live after death, it has been given me to speak and be in company with many who were known to me during their life in the body; and this not merely for a day or a week, but for months, and almost a year, speaking and associating with them just as in this world. They wondered exceedingly that while they lived in the body they were, and that very many others are, in such incredulity as to believe that they will not live after death; when in fact scarcely a day intervenes after the death of the body before they are in the other life; for death is a continuation of life. As I started reading the Writings I came across some consistent themes, each one a remarkable and wonderful scientific revelation. Once such idea is substantive dualism (see Section xx). This is the point of view presented in the Writings, that the structure of the universe is dual: there is a "spiritual world" and it is located "within" the physical world--but not within its spatial properties. Rather, the two worlds are in "discrete degrees" (see Section xx) and functionally linked by correspondence relations that are built into every object from creation (see Section xx). This means that when operations or events take place in the spiritual world they function as "causes" of corresponding events in the physical world ("effects"). The spiritual world has only one sun called the Spiritual Sun, which is a bright aura that surrounds the Divine Human who can be seen in the midst of it by all those who dwell in the heavens of their mind. The spiritual world of eternity is within the mind. This heavenly secret was revealed in the New Testament Sacred Scripture more than two millennia ago. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there! For behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:20-21) upon which the Writings Sacred Scripture comment as follows: AC 4279 From this one may see the nature of the Word and what happens to it when a person reads it with a holy mind, that is, one in whom good and truth are present. For when he reads it, it is seen by him as something existing in this world or as a historical document, but which nevertheless is inwardly holy. But in the first heaven it is seen as something celestial-natural and spiritual-natural, which however is inwardly Divine In the second heaven it is spiritual, and in the third celestial; and in the Lord it is Divine. The sense in the Word varies according to whatever heaven it may be. The highest sense of the Word, whose subject is the Lord, exists for the inmost or third heaven; the internal sense, whose subject is the Lord's kingdom, exists for the middle or second heaven; the lower sense, in which the internal sense is narrowed down to the nation referred to there, exists for the lower or first heaven. But the lowest or literal sense exists for man while he is still living in the world. Yet man's nature is such that the more interior sense, and also the internal and highest sense, can be communicated to him. For man has communication with the three heavens; indeed he is created on the pattern of the three heavens, so much so that when love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour constitute his life he is heaven in miniature. Consequently such a person has the Lord's kingdom within him, as the Lord Himself teaches in Luke, Behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:21. In the passage above, "the Word" refers to Sacred Scripture. "To read it with a holy mind" refers to the positive bias in theistic psychology (see Section xx). In that state of mind, "good and truth are present," which means that our willing and thinking in daily life strives to conform to the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture (see Section x). The positive bias is to read Sacred Scripture as "something existing in this world or as a historical document, but which nevertheless is inwardly holy." The expression "inwardly holy" refers to the Divine character of theistic psychology when it is genuine, that is, extracted from the Writings Sacred Scripture in accordance with the method of correspondences with enlightenment (see Section xx). Genuine theistic psychology is said to be Divine because it proceeds from Divine Speech, and what proceeds from the Divine remains Divine, when it is operative in our mind without "adulteration" or distortion by self-intelligence (see Section xx). Sacred Scripture in the three heavens are encoded in correspondences appropriate to each consciousness level -- From Divine in the Divine Human, it becomes Divine-celestial in the third heaven of our mind, then Divine-spiritual in the second heaven of our mind, then Divine-natural in the first heaven of our mind. The topic of Sacred Scripture in our third heaven is the Divine Human Love in our affective organ. The topic of Sacred Scripture in our second heaven is the "the Lord's kingdom" which is "heaven," that is, the Divine Human Truth in our cognitive organ.. The topic of Sacred Scripture in our first heaven is "narrowed down to the nation referred to there." This is an expression that signifies the Divine Human Uses in our sensorimotor organ (see Section xx). This is an "internal sense" that is above the external historical level of Sacred Scripture, which gives the "literal sense for man while he is still living in the world." The literal meaning of Sacred Scripture as most people know it, hides within itself three discrete layers of spiritual meaning that is unrelated to the literal meaning. These three inner meanings are called spiritual-natural, spiritual-rational, and celestial-rational (see Section xx). These inner meanings actually create the genes of consciousness at each discrete level of our mind (see Section xx). The expression "man has communication with the three heavens" refers to the three discrete layers of functioning in our mind -- celestial, spiritual, natural, and how they interact with each other through correspondences, and what operational consequences they produce in our conscious natural mind. Note this crucial sentence for theistic psychology: "man's nature is such that the more interior sense, and also the internal and highest sense, can be communicated to him." In other words, while we are here on earth conscious in our natural mind ("man's nature"), the higher-order rational correspondences operating in our unconscious spiritual mind ("three heavens"), "can be communicated to him," meaning that these unconscious spiritual correspondences can be made conscious to our natural mind. This is a most welcome piece of news! Theistic psychology is in fact the knowledge of these spiritual correspondences being "communicated" to us, that is, made conscious in our natural mind. As mentioned frequently elsewhere (see Section xx), this spiritual ability is the basis of our rational consciousness of God, and has been made possible in us by the work of the Divine Child during the Incarnation Event (see Section xx). This new spiritual organ within the natural mind is a discrete degree within the natural level of thinking and willing. Hence it is called the "interior-natural" level, and this is the same as the spiritual-natural correspondences in our first heaven (see Section xx). Hence it is that we call this new organ a virtual heaven since it gives the new ability to be conscious of spiritual correspondences of Divine Speech -- not merely spiritual-natural, but also spiritual-rational (second heaven) and celestial-rational (third heaven). Hence it is that theistic psychology, when it is genuine in our understanding, is heaven within us. Or, to say it another way, theistic psychology creates heaven within us. More specifically, since heaven is in us from creation, the study of theistic psychology activates or operationalizes the heavenly potential in us. This spiritual idea that "heaven is within us," is an instance of a "naked truth" that is written out in the literal meaning of the natural language in the New Testament Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). Despite this heavenly secret being around for many centuries in the Western mind and literature, it has not led to enlightenment regarding what it means or how one is to understand it. It is common to relate its meaning to the natural idea that we need to repent from our sins and have good will towards others, if we expect to enter heaven, at "the end of times" when our bodies are resurrected to eternal life "on a new earth." But things have changed completely since the18th century, when the Writings Sacred Scripture were delivered to humanity through Swedenborg (see Section xx). Today it is known in theistic psychology that the Divine Human has created in Himself during the Incarnation Event, this new interior-natural organ that allowed Him to become conscious of the Divine correspondences that He had within His (then) unconscious spiritual mind. The lowered consciousness of the Divine Child is referred to in the Writings as "exinanition." As the Divinee Child was creating this new higher biological organ in Himself, He was also creating this new organ in the human mind through His Divine power from within Himself. When the process was completed in Himself -- called "glorification" -- it was also completed in every human mind. From that moment on, every human being anywhere in both worlds, possessed that new capacity within themselves. The human race took its final step of evolution by being given the new ability of becoming conscious of the three heavens that are created within us. In theistic psychology this new higher spiritual consciousness is called rational consciousness of God (see Section xx), and in the literal of the Writings, it is called "rational faith" which is what the New Church is based on (see Section xx). Another passage from the Writings Sacred Scripture identifies "heaven within us" as the mental states of regeneration. AC 8036 This then is charity, and this is faith. They who are in these have within them the kingdom of the Lord and heaven, and within them is the church; and these are they who have been regenerated by the Lord, and from Him have received a new will and a new understanding. The expression "the church" in the Writings Sacred Scripture signifies the mental states of the regenerating person during character reformation. The expression "a new will and a new understanding" refers to the higher-order virtual heaven, or interior-natural organ, discussed just above. This new organ contains a new affective organ ("the will") and a new cognitive organ ("the understanding"). these interior-natural organs operate with spiritual correspondences that virtually match those in our three heavens -- the spiritual-natural correspondences, the spiritual-rational correspondences, and the celestial-rational correspondences (see Section xx). When the Divine Child as an Adult said to His followers, "the Kingdom of heaven is within you," He was talking about this new interior-natural organ that He was at that very time creating in Himself, and in His followers, and in the rest of the human race. Though they are within every person by that act of creation, the three heavens nevertheless remain dormant or unconscious to us, until we begin our reformation and regeneration ("rebirth"). This is a process of perfection of character that goes on all our life, in this world and in immortality. But it goes on differently once we pass into our heavenly consciousness, where temptations are never present, as they are here during our regeneration (see Section xx). Quoting further on this topic from the Writings Sacred Scripture: AC 1733 That which is interior in man is called 'heaven', and that which is exterior 'earth'. The reason heaven means that which is interior in man is that man as regards interior things is an image of heaven, and so a miniature heaven. The Lord's Interior Man primarily is heaven, for the Lord is the All in all of heaven, and thus heaven itself. The exterior man's being called 'the earth' follows as a consequence of this. Here also is the reason why 'the new heaven and the new earth' described in the Prophets and in the Book of Revelation is used to mean nothing other than the Lord's kingdom and every person who is the Lord's kingdom, that is, who has the Lord's kingdom within him. As regards heaven and earth having these meanings, see 82, 911, for heaven, and 82, 620, 636, 913, for earth. In other words, our natural mind is relatively "exterior" in relation to the Spiritual Sun, and is called "earth," while our spiritual mind is "interior" and is called "heaven." Our unconscious interior spiritual mind is built up solely by sensory input and information from the spiritual world. Our conscious exterior natural mind is built up solely by sensory input and information from the natural world. We thus have both "heaven and earth" within our mind, which is called a heaven "in miniature" and a "little earth." The end of the world and the destruction of the earth referred to in the New Testament Sacred Scripture, are therefore references to the regeneration of the natural mind and the animation of the spiritual mind through the "new will" or interior-natural organ (see above). The details about this regeneration process are given in the scientific sense of the Book of Revelations in the New Testament. This hidden meaning remained unknown to the world, though it gave rise to many speculations and fantasies. But now, the Writings of Swedenborg revealed the method of correspondences with enlightenment, by which the hidden meaning is made conscious to a person. It took Swedenborg eight volumes (AE and AR) to explain the inner correspondential sense of every word, phrase, and verse in the Book of Revelations of the New Texstament. Anyone can read these volumes and make the translation process understandable to themselves -- but only in a natural way of thinking about these spiritual topics. In order to gain a spiritual understanding of these spiritual topics, we must be enlightened, which happens to anyone who is undergoing character reformation by means of the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). The Writings Sacred Scripture do not constitute science, but they contain scientific revelations that can be systematically extracted, as illustrated in theistic psychology. This extracted knowledge is the form of meaning we need in order to be able to regenerate our character by means of the genuine doctrine of truth (see Section xx). The literal meaning of the Writings Sacred Scripture can only give us natural-rational correspondences of Divine Speech. At this level of thinking, we can know what we must do to regenerate, but we don't have the steady motivation to accomplish it. Nor do we have a comprehension of spiritual correspondences, until we are willing to consciously and explicitly look for them within the literal meaning, using the proper method, as discussed frequently. The mental state of consciously comprehending spiritual correspondences is called "enlightenment" (see Section xx). The literal meaning of the Writings Sacred Scripture cannot give us this state of enlightenment, hence cannot serve for our regeneration (see Section xx). Only if we apply the literal meaning to our own willing an thinking can this knowledge serve for our regeneration. Theistic psychology teaches systematic methods for the extraction process, along with a rational register or syntax for generating new doctrine that is genuine, and can serve for motivating our regeneration.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch9.htm#literal-extracted ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Here from the pages of De Hemelsche Leer is a fascinating explanation of the internal sense of a well known Memorable Relation in Swedenborg's work called Conjugial Love: From De Hemelsche Leer Fascicle IV Pp.33-35 by H. D. G. Groeneweld "That the conjunction of the Church with the Lord takes place when it prepares itself as a bride and that »it then represents wisdom, appears from the work on Conjugial Love, where in n. 21 the signification of a wedding in Heaven is described. We read there as follows: "And one out of the men of the wedding, a wise one, said: Do you understand what the things which you have seen signify? They said it was little; and then they asked him why the bridegroom, now a husband, was in such a dress? He answered that the bridegroom, now a husband, represented the Lord, and the bride, now a wife, represented the Church, because a wedding in Heaven represents the marriage of the Lord with the Church. Hence it is that on his head there was a miter and that he was dressed in a cloak, a tunic, and an ephod, like Aaron; and that on the head of the bride, now a wife, there was a crown, and that she was dressed with a robe like a queen; but to-morrow they will be clothed differently, because this representation lasts only to-day. They asked again: Since he represented the Lord, and she the Church, why did she sit at his right hand? The wise one replied: Because there are two things which make the marriage of the Lord and the Church, love and wisdom; the Lord is love and the Church is wisdom; and wisdom is at the right hand of love. For the man of the Church is wise as from himself, and in proportion as he is wise he takes up love from the Lord. The right hand also signifies power; and love has power through wisdom. But as has been said, after the wedding the representation is changed; for then the husband represents wisdom, and -the wife the love of his wisdom. This love, however, is not the prior love, but it is a secondary love, which the wife has from the Lord through the wisdom of the husband. The love of the Lord, which is the prior love, is the love of being wise with the husband; wherefore after the wedding, both together, the husband and his wife, represent the Church". The Church therefore is in the state of the bride when it takes up wisdom from the Lord. It is the state in -which the essence of the Doctrine of the Church as the spiritual out of celestial origin, is revealed to it. After the fullness of the state in which this spiritual out of celestial origin is given to it, the Church is no longer the bride or the wisdom of the Lord. Husband and wife, or wisdom and love, or understanding and will, together form the Church, and the conjunction of the Church with the Lord is now dependent on the marriage of those two. It is the husband or the love for the truth of the wisdom of the Third Testament, given to the Church, which is now the prior love and the wife or the love for the spiritual truth the secondary love. It is the state in which the wisdom given to the Church must be brought into the will. The Lord operates from firsts through lasts. The conjunction with the Lord thus is only possible and therefore is entirely determined by the application of the new truths of the Third Testament in the outermost of our natural life or in our sensual life. All our thoughts and all our acts must have the new things of the Church as their essence. All lusts of the proprium. in which we live must be put aside and the things in the natural world by themselves, and the desires for them, must come to be regarded as not of essential use. All things in the outermost of our natural life from love to the Lord should be put into order by our will, in order that thus we form a foundation on which with the new truths the life in the Lord can be built up. It is in the affection for bringing the spiritual things into our will in the outermost of our natural life that the conjugial sphere flows in from the Lord. It is in this life alone that conjugial love is present and only there lie the peace, the blessedness, and the delight of a life in the things of the Lord. Ever greater will these gifts of the Lord become, the more, and the more internalizingly the spiritual things are present in the outermost of our natural life. Conjugial love is the love for one of the sex. It is the love for that spiritual truth only which alone fits our will as our own property, by which wisdom and love or understanding and will become one man and thus one flesh. Love for the sex, that is love for the truths in the natural, is a natural love. This love should not enter into the will or the body but only into the understanding. It is meant to be followed by conjugial love which is a spiritual love and which is the desire for conjunction into one in the will. The bringing of the truths in the natural into the will, together with a delight in those truths, results not only in a strengthening of the proprium. but also in a falsification of truth and a violation of good. The taking up of these truths without a desire for conjugial love, thus without a desire for that spiritual truth that fits our will, makes us see in fullness the evils and the falsities of the proprium. in which we live. As strength is lacking, a combat against these evils and falsities appears to us as not possible, wherefore redemption is expected from the taking up of more truths in the natural. The germ of faith alone would then receive its existence. The chaste love of the sex is only there where conjugial love is; for the spiritual love of truth loves the truths in the natural for the sake of the spiritual. Conjugial love is in the fullness of the true love of the sex when the spiritual truth in the will is conjoined into one as into one man or into one flesh. All our love for the truths of the wisdom of the Third Testament, given to the Church, must therefore contain in it the desire for conjugial love, in order that the man of the Church may become a husband and the woman of the Church may become a wife. For Heaven is one marriage and life there is only possible in conjugial love. Now it is given to those who are in the New Church to possess the true conjugial love, as appears from the work on CONJUGIAL LOVE, where in n. 43 the following is written: " After these things an Angel appeared to me out of that [the third] Heaven, holding in his hand a parchment, which he unrolled, saying: I saw that you were meditating about conjugial love. In this parchment there are arcana of wisdom concerning that love, which have never yet been uncovered in the world. They must now be uncovered, because it is of importance. Those arcana in our Heaven are more than in the rest, because we are in the marriage of love and wisdom; but I foretell that no others will appropriate that love to themselves but those who are received by the Lord into the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem" Another demonstration: From De Hemelsche Leer Fascicle III Pp.106-7 by Ernest Pfeiffer: By the Second Coming of the Lord in the Third Testament therefore the conjunction of the Lord with the human race has become immediate and independent of the Heavens also with regard to truth. On this rests the imperishableness of the New Church; for every conjunction which is dependent on the Heavens is also dependent on the human race, out of which the Heavens are made; and every conjunction which is dependent on the human race is exposed to the danger of destruction. Here it now clearly appears in a rational way that the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the Truth of the Divine Human and therefore the proper Word of God itself. The proper proof is given by the application of the words: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word, to the Coming and to the Second Coming of the Lord. Before the Coming of the Lord the conjunction of the Lord with the human race with regard to good was mediate through the Heavens; the Word thus was with God. By the Incarnation the Lord became that Word itself; thus God was the Word. Before the Second Coming of the Lord the conjunction with regard to truth was mediate through the Heavens; the Word thus was with God. By the Second Coming the Lord in the Third Testament became that Word itself; thus God was the Word." Our ability to perceive the Divine truths contained within the letter of the Three Testaments is proportional to the level of consciousness at the time we read or study Sacred Scripture. As we progress from sensual to rational consciousness we make the largest single step in our growth process as human beings in a physical body. Now our sensual consciousness suddenly is much much brighter because it is illumined from within by the new rational consciousness. This rational consciousness (see matrix 3 above), is itself developing in its levels or degrees. Our sensual consciousness of the Divine truths in Sacred Scripture thus becomes brighter and brighter. Now we have the actual perception of how the literal of Sacred Scripture embodies the spiritual truths and how the literal has no relation to these spiritual truths except by extraction through knowledge of correspondences and reception of illustration (enlightenment). A particular internalizing truth cannot be perceived until its referent is something about ourselves, our own lives and experiences. Until then we can recognize that there is a truth there, we can lecture and write about it, but we cannot understand it. A particular internalizing truth becomes visible, lights up, the moment we are experiencing or reliving the correspondential things the truth is about. Every internalizing truth refers to something particular in us. As our consciousness level develops we can perceive ever more internalizing truths in Sacred Scripture. This is not because we are accumulating knowledge and sagacity in doctrines and Sacred Scripture. During all this accumulation process, the truth itself remains outside our self, outside our consciousness until each particular truth is applied and focused on our self--our struggle in the regeneration process, our resistances, our temptations, fears, victories, and happinesses. These are the actual referents--or topics, of Sacred Scripture. When a particular truth coincides or corresponds to some such referent in our life, then we can see and perceive that truth--but not before that, and sometimes not after that because our focus changes and things earlier may no longer be accessible. Nevertheless Divine Providence that supervises and manages these coincidences or correspondences, insures that the process of truth acquisition is recursive within levels over and over again. We have many opportunities indeed. Much progress in consciousness growth can take place during temptations which is why the Divine Therapist is so intimately involved in these struggles. In temptations our prejudices, fears, and lusts are active in our sensual consciousness. We see them. The Divine makes an exhibit for us to witness about ourselves. At the same time we are given the perception that these injurious forms within our self are contrary and dead set against the earlier truths we already confirmed to ourselves as Divine truths. Now is our big choice, our moment of destiny. If we choose life and heaven we grow into that; if we choose against the truths we already know, we choose death and hell, growing into that. Sacred Scripture refers to the hells in our mind as "death" and when our consciousness is lowered into that state and immersed in it, we are called "dead." This is because we are not human in that state. Our human is dead in that state. Our human begins much higher in our consciousness, namely the internalizing rational (Zones 14 through 18), as already discussed above. Temptations have this regenerative power because they allow the coincidence or correspondence between experience and truth. Since all particular truths point to a referent in our experiencing or behaving, we can perceive more internalizing truths when there is an alignment between truth and experiencing. The experiencing in temptations is carefully monitored and guided by God, our Divine Therapist. As we recognize our ongoing falsity, fear, or lust, God can raise our consciousness to a more internalizing level that matches the temptation. In this way there is a recursive spiraling upward--the Ascending Pathway --toward internalizing celestial consciousness. Temptations can be natural, spiritual, or celestial--see this article: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/moses.html#The%20Role%20of%20Temptations
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch9.htm#heresies +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
9.1.15 Spiritual Styles of Writing Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: SE 1989 THAT externalizing SENSES DISAPPEAR IN THE HEAVENS. It was represented by a spiritual idea that externalizing senses perish in order [or one after the other] as they penetrate internalizings, or, which is the same, as they ascend towards superiors, insomuch that if a style is filled with mere poetical names, as Parnassus, its fountain, Pegasus, and the like, those who employ those terms in writing know that they signify things pertaining to scientifics, which sense when it passes away, then comes the sense of the letter, which sense also perishes, and is succeeded by a higher, and when this disappears then comes one still more internalizing, and so on. Such is the penetration and ascension of senses while they penetrate or ascend towards internalizings, until at length nothing remains but the pure, true, and good in the inmost heaven, originating from the Lord, who is the essence of all things.--1748, May 18. Properties of the spiritual writing style are described in the work titled Sacred Scripture and many other parts of the Writings of Swedenborg. The writers who by Divine process are in the role of prophet or revelator, are only aware of the meaning of the literal of their sentences while the internal meanings that are hidden are not known to them except in some small measure that is dependent on the degree of consciousness opened in their mind. The prophets of the Old Testament could not be aware of the inner sense of what they wrote because the rational degree of consciousness was not opened in humankind until after the Inversion (see discussion below). Swedenborg's mind was opened all the way to the internalizing celestial degree so that he could communicate with the inhabitants of the highest heaven, but he and the angels are human finite minds and no one can become aware of the infinite meanings contained in the Divine writing style even though they cumulate their knowledge and understanding to eternity. Swedenborg reports that the inhabitants of all the heavens--Natural, Spiritual, and Celestial, use their version of Sacred Scripture for knowledge extraction and communion and communication with the Divine. This is the method by which their regeneration continues to eternity. Part 1 of this article described the developmental steps in human consciousness viewed historically as the evolution of the race and ontologically as the growth of the human mind. Six discrete degrees were identified in an embedded recursive dynamic so that each degree undergoes all six steps in recapitulation of the entire series. At the end of the sixth step within each degree there is a state of consummation at which point one either transfers to the next highest degree, or else there is a decline or devolution with no further progress possible, putting an end to regeneration. Not until the consummation of the internalizing spiritual (or externalizingizing rational) do we enter the last and fully human state called the internalizing rational or celestial (old age). During each degree of development we are associated with the angels of the three heavens, natural, spiritual, and celestial. The next chart (matrix 7) portrays these steps again but in addition you can see the various styles of spiritual writing in which Sacred Scripture and its Doctrine were written in the historical evolution of the Churches. These steps are collated with the development of our consciousness in our own growth by identifying the representative sensory modality that corresponds to each developmental phase. Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: CL 210. (1) The special sense of conjugial love is the sense of touch. Every love has its own special sense. The love of seeing, arising from a love of understanding, has the sense of sight; and the things that give it pleasure are symmetries and qualities of beauty. The love of hearing, arising from a love of listening and complying, has the sense of hearing; and the things that give it pleasure are harmonies. The love of identifying odors floating about in the air, arising from a love of perceiving, has the sense of smell; and the things that give it pleasure are fragrances. The love of nourishing oneself, arising from a love of filling oneself with good qualities and truths, has the sense of taste; and the things that give it pleasure are fine foods. The love of identifying objects, arising from a love of looking out and protecting oneself, has the sense of touch; and the things that give it pleasure are sensations that tickle and tingle. The love of joining oneself with one's partner, arising from a love of uniting goodness and truth, also has the sense of touch, and that is because this sense is the common one of all the senses and so draws contributions from the rest. People know that this love brings all the aforementioned senses into confederation with it and appropriates their pleasures to itself. The fact that the sense of touch is dedicated to conjugial love and is special to it is apparent from its every sport, and from the exaltation of its subtle sensations to the most highly exquisite. But to extend this discussion further is left to lovers.
The race's infancy is described in the Writings of Swedenborg as an externalizing celestial state that starts the Descending Pathway. Swedenborg was able to visit with people in the heavens who were from this period of history on this earth. The consciousness that formed the basis of their thinking was a psychic sensual awareness or perception of the spiritual things within the natural world around them. They had direct communication with their ancestors who passed on and were in the heavens. This formed the basis of their socialization and knowledge. The sensory modality of touch represents the celestial angels because they are in conjugial love. When this consciousness phase of humanity was consummated, it was replaced with the next descending degree or the Noachic Church (see matrix 2 in Part 1). Their consciousness was spiritual sensual and well adapted for the Science of Correspondences. Their Word called the Ancient Word was written in pure correspondences; there were no actual historicals involved and they sound to us like some of the visionary language in the Old Testament. Swedenborg tells us that Moses and other Old Testament Sacred Scripture writers had a knowledge of this Word and small parts from it are quoted in various places. Here is a relevant Number from the Writings Sacred Scripture: TCR 265. That there was a Word among the ancient people, is evident from Moses, who mentions it and took certain things from it (Num. 21:14, 15, 27-30); its historical parts were called "the Wars of Jehovah," and its prophetical parts "Enunciations." From the historical parts of that Word the following is quoted by Moses: Wherefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah, Vaheb in Suphah and in the streams of Arnon, and the valley of water-courses that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and leaneth upon the border of Moab (Num. 21:14, 15). By the wars of Jehovah in that Word, as in ours, the conflicts of the Lord with the hells, and His victories over them when He was about to come into the world are meant and described. The same conflicts are meant and described in many places in the historical portions of our Word, as in what is said of the wars of Joshua with the nations of the land of Canaan, and the wars of the judges and the kings of Israel. [2] From the prophetical portions of that Word the following passages were taken: Wherefore the Enunciators say, Come ye to Heshbon; let the city of Sihon be built and established; for a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it hath devoured Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab thou hast perished, O people of Chemosh; he hath given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites. We have destroyed them with weapons; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba (Num. 21:27-30). Translators render this "composers of proverbs" [or "they that speak in proverbs"]; but the rendering ought to be "Enunciators," or "Prophetic Enunciations," as can be seen from the signification of the word Meschalim in the Hebrew tongue, which means both proverbs and prophetic enunciations (as in Num. 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15), where it is said that Balaam "uttered his enunciation," which was a prophecy that also referred to the Lord. This enunciation is called Maschal in the singular. Moreover, what Moses quotes therefrom is not a proverb but a prophecy. [3] That this Word was in like manner Divinely inspired is evident from Jeremiah, where almost the same things are said: A fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and hath devoured the comer of Moab, and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Woe be unto thee, Moab: the people of Chemosh have perished; for thy sons are taken away captive, and thy daughters into captivity (Jer. 48:45, 46). In addition to all this a prophetic book of the ancient Word, called the Book of Jasher or the book of the Upright, is mentioned by David and Joshua; by David as follows: David lamented over Saul and over Jonathan; and he wrote, To teach the sons of Judah the bow. Behold, it is written in the Book of Jasher (2 Sam. 1:17, 18). And by Joshua: Joshua said Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon. Is not this written in the Book of Jasher? (Josh. 10:12, 13). When this consciousness phase was consummated, the Ancient Word was lost to history and the laws of correspondences survived only in a few instances like the Egyptian hieroglyphics and fables passed on to each generation. We read in the Writings Sacred Scripture: DE VERBO 7. VII. THE correspondential sense OF THE WORD. CORRESPONDENCES. Each and all things which are in nature, correspond to spiritual things; similarly each and all things which are in the human body, as may be seen in two articles in the work on Heaven and Hell. But it is not known at this day what correspondence is, but in the most ancient times the science of correspondences was the science of sciences, thus the universal science, so that the most ancient people wrote all their manuscripts and books by correspondences. The fables of the most ancient times and the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians are nothing else: the book of Job, which is a book of the Ancient Church, is full of correspondences. [2] All the ancient churches were churches representative of heavenly things; all their rites and also their statutes, according to which their worship was instituted, consisted of nothing but correspondences. Similarly the church with the sons of Jacob; the burnt offerings and sacrifices with all their particulars, were correspondences; likewise the tabernacle with the single things therein, as also their feasts, such as the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of tabernacles, and the feast of first fruits, and also all their statutes and judgments; and because correspondences are such things as exist in the ultimates of nature, and because all things of nature correspond, and the things which correspond also signify, therefore the sense of the letter of the Word consists of nothing but correspondences. The Lord also, because He spoke from His Divine, and spoke the Word, spoke therefore also by correspondences. What is from the Divine, and in itself is Divine, in the ultimate falls into such things as correspond to Divine, celestial and spiritual things, thus such as in their bosom conceal and signify celestial and spiritual things. What, further, correspondences are, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia, in which the correspondences which are in Genesis and in Exodus are explained. And again a collection of citations from that work concerning correspondences, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem and in the treatise on Heaven and Hell. The spiritual or internal sense of the Word is nothing else than the sense of the letter unfolded according to correspondences; for it teaches the spiritual which is perceived by angels in the heavens, while man in the world is thinking in a natural way of that which he reads in the Word. [3] I have heard and perceived from heaven that the men of the Most Ancient Church, who are those meant in the correspondential sense of the first chapters of Genesis by Adam and Eve, were so consociated with the angels of heaven, that they could speak with them by correspondences, and hence the state of their wisdom was such that whatever they saw on earth, they perceived at the same time spiritually, thus conjointly with the angels. It was told me that Enoch, of whom mention is made in Genesis (Chap. 5:21-24), with his associates, collected correspondences from the mouth of those people, and transmitted the knowledge of them to posterity. From this it came to pass, that the science of correspondences not only was known, but was also cultivated, in many kingdoms of Asia, and especially in Egypt, Assyria and Babylon, Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, and also in Canaan. From thence it was carried over to Greece, but was there turned into fables, as may be sufficiently evident from what is told of Olympus, Helicon and Pindus near Athens, and also of the winged horse called Pegasus, as, that with the hoof he broke open a fountain, by which the nine virgins [the Muses], established their seats. For a mountain, and thus Helicon, from correspondence signifies the higher heaven; the hill under the mountain, which was Pindus, signifies the heaven below it; the winged horse, or Pegasus, signifies the understanding enlightened by the spiritual; the fountain signifies intelligence and learning, and the nine virgins signify the knowledges of truth and the sciences. Similar were the rest of the things which are called fabulous, which were written by the most ancient writers in Greece, and which were collected together and described by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. [4] But when the representatives of the church in the course of time were turned into idolatries, then by the Divine Providence of the Lord that science was successively obliterated, and with the Israelitish and Jewish nation it was altogether destroyed and extinguished. The worship of that nation was indeed altogether representative, but still they did not know what any representative thing signified. For they were altogether natural men, and hence they were neither able nor willing to know anything about the spiritual man and about his faith and love, consequently nothing about correspondences. The new Word that was given to the Israelitish Church through Moses and the Jewish prophets was mostly written in historical narrative but visionary passages are common to many of the prophets. These passages are called "figurative speech" by Bible scholars but it was entirely unknown that this was not figurative or poetic speech but sentences written in pure correspondences, until the Writings made that revelation. It is still unknown to Bible scholars today since they do not make use of the Writings of Swedenborg. During the Lord's Presence on earth as a historical individual, and before His Ascension, the consciousness of the human race was undergoing a momentous change noted in all the matrices as the Inversion (see matrix 7 above). It appears to me that the Gospel of Matthew is written in an externalizing natural style as a transition vehicle across the Inversion. I therefore place that Gospel in the adolescence phase along with the Old Testament historical narratives and laws, thus still dependent on the sensual phase (externalizing natural presence of the angels of the first heaven, making possible the miracles of that period). But after the Ascension, the Inversion was completed and humankind entered the new rational consciousness in the internalizing natural presence with the angels of the natural heaven. It is in this state of mind that the other Gospels were written--Mark, Luke, and John, each representing a more internalizing phase of the internalizing natural (or natural rational). I place the Epistles of Paul and the other Apostles in this phase of consciousness (natural rational). It appears to me that the The Book of Revelations written by John later than the Gospels, was intended for the development of the next highest degree, the internalizing spiritual (or externalizing rational)--consult matrix 7 above. John's visions in that Book are similar to the Old Testament visionary and prophetical passages, including the first 11 chapters of Genesis, that Swedenborg shows are also written by correspondences. This phase of consciousness--the spiritual rational (which is still an externalizing rational), was quickly consummated lasting only two or three centuries until the Council of Nice in 325 AD, according to Swedenborg. That Council introduced the heresy of "three Divine Persons in the Trinity" leading to the devolution of the Christian religion, according to Swedenborg's careful analysis. That phase went on for a long time, until 1771 when the Second Coming was completed in the Writings of Swedenborg. A new Word was thus given for the highest degree of human consciousness, ending the recursive cycle. In this full blown human phase our consciousness is established in all the degrees in an orderly series. The new degree of the celestial rational is the true internalizing rational consciousness and is never consummated. It develops continuously in an ever more internalizing rational and this to eternity. This is why the New Church, called the Church of the New Jerusalem, is referred to in the Third Testament as the Crown of Churches. As you can see in matrix 7 above I have collated the "six senses" that appear to me to be representative of the six evolutionary phases of consciousness and forms their basis of thinking. The Most Ancient Word is written in a sensual celestial style that is based on the psychic ability to receive conscious influx from angels. This is a "sixth sense" that Swedenborg had as an infant and we can conclude that each of us has this sense during some parts of our infancy as we are then in the company of celestial angels. This state of consciousness is represented by the sense of touch. As we enter childhood our vertical community switches to the spiritual angels and we receive a sensual spiritual influx from them. This corresponds to the sense of taste. The next sense is smell which corresponds to the adolescence phase which is externalizing natural (or natural sensual). As we move across the Inversion the sensory mechanisms become "distal" in comparison to the three prior senses that are "proximal." Distal vs. proximal sensory functions is a distinction known to psychologists. The distal senses are hearing, sight, and rational illustration, since they allow us to collect information from parts of the environment that are not in direct contact with our body. Hearing corresponds to the basis of thinking in young adulthood, which is internalizing natural (or natural rational). Sight is more distal than hearing and corresponds to the spiritual rational (or externalizing rational). Rational illustration of truths when reading or hearing Sacred Scripture is the most distal and corresponds to old age consciousness, which is internalizing rational (or celestial rational). Our sensual consciousness (infancy to adolescence) is based on proximal contact; our rational consciousness, on distal contact. The two together, that is, the rational consciousness within the sensual consciousness, make up the full human functioning. Temptations involve thoughts and feelings we are aware of. When spiritual and celestial, temptations give us a sensual basis for our consciousness of the Divine presence within us. The rational consciousness must rest on the sensual consciousness and must be developed according to the order of growth provided. Quoting From the Writings Sacred Scripture: AC 1766. There are in the Word, in general, four different styles. The first is that of the Most Ancient Church. Their mode of expression was such that when they mentioned terrestrial and worldly things they thought of the spiritual and celestial things which these represented. They therefore not only expressed themselves by representatives, but also formed these into a kind of historical series, in order to give them more life; and this was to them delightful in the very highest degree. This is the style of which Hannah prophesied, saying: Speak what is high! high! Let what is ancient come out of your mouth (1 Sam. 2:3). Such representatives are called in David, "Dark sayings of old" (Ps. 78:2-4). These particulars concerning the creation, the garden of Eden, etc., down to the time of Abram, Moses had from the descendants of the Most Ancient Church. [2] The second style is historical, which is found in the books of Moses from the time of Abram onward, and in those of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and the Kings. In these books the historical facts are just as they appear in the sense of the letter; and yet they all contain, in both general and particular, quite other things in the internal sense, of which, by the Lord's Divine mercy, in their order in the following pages. The third style is the prophetical one, which was born of that which was so highly venerated in the Most Ancient Church. This style however is not in connected and historical form like the most ancient style, but is broken, and is scarcely ever intelligible except in the internal sense, wherein are deepest arcana, which follow in beautiful connected order, and relate to the externalizing and the internal man; to the many states of the church; to heaven itself; and in the inmost sense to the Lord. The fourth style is that of the Psalms of David, which is intermediate between the prophetical style and that of common speech. The Lord is there treated of in the internal sense, under the person of David as a king. (...) All these matters presented above are those which in general are embodied in the internal sense of this chapter; but the whole train of thought, and its beauty, cannot be seen when every single thing is explained according to the meaning of the words, as they would be if they were comprehended in a single idea. When all are comprehended in a single idea those things which hitherto have lain scattered now appear beautifully joined and linked together. The situation is as with someone who listens to another speaking but pays attention solely to the words he uses. In this case he does not grasp the speaker's idea nearly so well as he would if he paid no attention to the words and their particular shades of meaning; for the internal sense of the Word in relation to the externalizing or literal sense is very similar to speech in relation to the actual words used when these are scarcely listened to, still less paid attention to, as when the mind is intent on the sense alone of the things meant by the words used by the speaker. [2] The most ancient manner of writing represented real things by the use of persons and of expressions which they employed to mean things entirely different from those persons or expressions. Secular authors of those times compiled their historical narratives in this way, including those things which had to do with public life and private life. Indeed they compiled them in such a way that nothing at all was to be taken literally as written, but something other was to be understood beneath the literal narrative. They even went so far as to present affections of every kind as gods and goddesses, to whom the heathen subsequently offered up divine worship, as every well-educated person may know, for ancient books of that kind are still extant. This manner of writing they derived from the most ancient people who lived before the Flood, who used to represent heavenly and Divine things to themselves by means of visible objects on earth and in the world, and in so doing filled their minds and souls with joys and delights when they beheld the objects in the universe, especially those that were beautiful on account of their form and order. This is why all the books of the Church in those times were written in the same style. Job is one such book; and Solomon's Song of Songs is an imitation of them too. Both the books mentioned by Moses in Num. 21:14, 27, were of this nature, in addition to many that have perished. [3] Because it had come down from antiquity this style was later venerated both among the gentiles and among the descendants of Jacob, so much so that whatever was not written in this style was not venerated as Divine. This is why when they were moved by the prophetic spirit- as were Jacob, Gen. 49:3-27; Moses, Exod. 15:1-21; Deut. 33:2-end; Balaam, who was one of the sons of the east in Syria, where the Ancient Church continued to exist, Num. 23:7-10, 19 24; 24:5-9, 17-24; Deborah and Barak, Judg. 5:2-end; Hannah, 1 Sam. 2:2-10; and many others - they spoke in that same manner, and for many hidden reasons. And although, with very few exceptions, they neither understood nor knew that their utterances meant the heavenly things of the Lord's kingdom and Church, they were nevertheless struck and filled with awe and wonder, and sensed that those utterances carried what was Divine and Holy within them. [4] But that the historical narratives of the Word are of a similar nature, that is to say, that the particular names and particular expressions used represent and mean the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom, the learned world has not yet come to know, except that the Word is inspired right down to the tiniest jot, and that every single detail has heavenly arcana within it.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch9.htm#styles ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
10.10 The Spiritual Content of Yoga (See also Section 15.0.4.4 about Hindu Scriptures on Dualism.) When I first started studying Hindi religious literature I saw only the literal sense of it. From that representation Hindi spirituality appears to be a nonduality between God and human beings. This literal meaning is in sharp contrast with Western religious literature that includes Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In this literature God and human beings are in an absolute duality with each other. According to this view no human being can appropriate anything Divine since the Creator must be separate and different from the created. Hence the Hindi religion and associated practice of Yoga are still today considered contradictory to each other, and should they be brought together, they would annihilate each other. However this separatist perspective completely changes when we consider the correspondential sense of Sacred literature in Hindi and in Western religions. The correspondences are the same in all Sacred literature since what is involved belongs to the spiritual mind, and this is above and separate from the natural mind (see Section xx). The literal meaning of Sacred Scripture belongs to culture, religion, and belief systems in the natural mind, while the correspondential meaning of Sacred Scripture belongs to the universal human race, thus the mental world of every individual regardless of religion, culture, era, or planet. Swedenborg has confirmed by observation that those who are resuscitated are from diverse cultures and planets, and yet when they awaken in the spiritual mind after dying in the natural mind, they speak the same human language of eternity and acknowledge only one universal God (see Section xx). By studying the correspondential sense of Hindi Sacred literature we can demonstrate that it is the same Divine Speech that issues from the one God who is surrounded by the Spiritual Sun, from which inflows the mental world of humanity with spiritual heat and light. This is a process of Divine good (spiritual heat) and Divine truth (spiritual light) inflowing into the spiritual mind of every human being. Then by correspondence, the natural mind reacts with representative content from the physical world and body. This is the chain of correspondences from God to human beings. God rules the human mind through this chain of correspondences. What these correspondences has not been known to humanity for the past thousands of years, but has been revealed once more in the Writings of Swedenborg (see Section xx). The practice of yoga has been adopted by millions of Americans in recent times. A search for yoga in Google gives more than 84 million sites that use this word. According to the definition provided with these results, yoga is
[Hindi, from Sanskrit yogaḥ, union, joining.] Clearly this definition relates yoga practice to a spiritual discipline. The physical effort we put up when doing yoga poses and breathing is for the purpose of becoming more aware of our spiritual mind. "Spiritual insight" refers to the rational understanding of the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture, that is, of theistic psychology. "Spiritual tranquility" refers to the heavenly feeling of peace that we experience when there is absence of temptations and conflicts. This is also called the Rest of Sabbath, meaning the absence of emotional conflict, anxiety, fear, anger, egotism, fantasy, envy, cruelty, restlessness, and all other negative emotions and intentions. When all this negative activity ceases in our mental states, we experience the "peace that passes all understanding," which comes from total reliance and confidence in the omnipotence and benevolence of God operating in our mind and lives. Fear is caused by insufficient love of the Divine Psychologist in our mind. This insufficient love comes from our inherited tendency to enjoy relying on our own self-intelligence rather than on our understanding of Sacred Scripture. The more we communicate with the Divine Psychologist in our mind, the more we have to rely on our knowledge from the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture, also called, our doctrine of truth (see Section xx). But we resist this reliance on the truths of Sacred Scripture. Why? Because these truths inform us that when we reach adulthood, we must stop enjoying the evil traits we have from both inheritance and acquisition. Evil traits are those we rely on and enjoy all day long, and yet they are bad for us, and hurt others and society. Examples you can recognize in yourself are:
Which ones of those listed do you yourself do or not do? Probably you do all of them, some of us more than others. You can see why we all need spiritual discipline, that is, the daily practice of exercises designed to bring these evil habits to our conscious awareness. We must have a spiritual motivation for this practice in order to become conscious of our evil habits of thinking and willing all day long every day. If this motivation is not spiritual, there can be no spiritual change or benefit in our character. There are two types of spiritual discipline we can practice: continuous and occasional. Yoga as it is practiced by most Americans is occasional since it is performed as a physical periodic session that may last a few minutes or an hour and a half. There is the tradition of carrying the yoga "breath" and "tranquility" to the rest of the day, but this is not usually part of the yoga practiced by most Westerners (although specific data on this is lacking). The practice of continuous spiritual discipline in the Western cultural context takes the form of rational spirituality (see Section xx). For instance, people may read Sacred Scripture and study it by trying to extract its spiritual message. Few people today know correspondences from the Writings of Swedenborg or from the study of theistic psychology. Hence most people attempt to comprehend the spiritual message of Sacred Scripture by natural methods of understanding, rather than spiritual. What exactly is the difference? Every method of interpreting Sacred Scripture that has been proposed and practiced is natural -- except the method of correspondences revealed by God in the Writings of Swedenborg (see Section xx). This is not an issue of authority, intellectual approach, religion, or preference. This is a scientific approach. Swedenborg is the only known scientist in history who has had the ability of being conscious in the spiritual mind, which is the mind of every human being in the afterlife of eternity (see Section xx). Regardless of how intelligent, sincere, and authoritative are the interpreters of Sacred Scripture they carry no scientific weight because they are not based on empirical observations. This is required by science. The Swedenborg Reports are the only empirical observations we have of a scientist who was conscious for 27 years in the spiritual mind as well as in the natural mind. Through this unique ability granted him by God he was able to fulfill his Divine mission, namely, to publish his empirical observations of the spiritual correspondences in Sacred Scripture. The experimental method he used for this project was to read a verse of Sacred Scripture in the original natural language or its translation (Swedish, Hebrew, Greek, Latin), through his natural mind and physical eyes, on the one hand, and on the other, to read the corresponding verse in a copy of Sacred Scripture in the spiritual world of the afterlife. Every human being when resuscitated in the spiritual mind no longer uses the natural language of their culture or community, but instead, a universal spiritual language that Swedenborg describes as very much like the thought-language we think in. If you want to know what that universal and eternal spiritual language is you need to focus in on your thinking all day long. This is a spiritual discipline called self-witnessing (see Section xx). It is spiritual because the purpose of this mental self-monitoring is to discover the content of our thoughts and feelings that forms our life all day, and then to amend them in accordance with the doctrine of truth we extract from Sacred Scripture. This is the purpose that makes continuous daily mental self-witnessing a spiritual practice or discipline. As you get more skilled at mental self-monitoring you begin to discover on an empirical basis what is the relationship in your mind between the natural and spiritual layers. This relationship is called correspondences. By this exact method of comparison, Swedenborg was able to make lists of correspondences with each entry of a word or phrase in the natural language, and its spiritual signification or equivalent. For instance, in the most general terms only and without further details, we can write dictionaries of correspondences like this:
Everyone can understand correspondences because they are the basis of how we think in daily life, and how we describe our mental states through physical objects and events (e.g.,
In each case we describe a mental state in terms of physical objects. We do this naturally, spontaneously, as part of our linguistic and semantic abilities. Hence it is we can understand each other's figurative speech that are correspondences. Note that these are natural-spiritual correspondences since physical objects are natural and mental states are spiritual (see Section xx). The natural and spiritual mind are each a mental organ (see Section xx). The layers of our mental organs from low and simple capacity to high and complex capacity, are tied to each other through the laws of correspondences that were established by God as part of creation (See Section xx). What Swedenborg observed makes sense therefore, namely that the thousands of people he observed awakening in the spiritual mind, at resuscitation and immediately after dying, were able without exception and regardless of culture, to speak the one universal and eternal language, the language of thinking in the spiritual mind. This is because all along, since our birth, we had been thinking in this spiritual language as the backdrop of the natural language we were using and thinking in consciously. So our natural language expressions are correspondences of our spiritual language expressions, which is inborn and does not have to be learned. More on correspondences in Section 1.1.4.3.2 and Section 1.8.8.1. We now want to understand yoga practice in its true spiritual tradition of gaining understanding and control of the natural-spiritual correspondences between our body and our mind, that is, our physical organs and quality, on the one hand, and on the other, our mental organs and their quality. Every physical body organ has a corresponding counterpart to our mental body organ. We are born with both bodies, the physical body in the physical world, connected by the laws of correspondences, to the mental body in the spiritual world of eternity. All our sensations, thoughts, and feelings are operations of the mental organs in eternity, and not at all of the brain or physical organs. Most of us take it for granted that our thoughts and feelings are in our physical body and the brain. But this is clearly impossible in scientific dualism where correspondences connect objects from different layers of existence, one physical in time, the other mental in eternity. Literally and actually we are not on earth since we are our thoughts and feelings, and they are not on earth, but in eternity. We can't have sensations, thoughts, and feelings without a mental body that contains mental organs. The operations of these mental organs are our thoughts and feelings. These mental operations are not on earth or in time. They have no mass and no energy. As your thoughts and feelings cumulate, your brain does not weigh more since these mental substances do not have weight. Yoga practice is the conscious connection between physical body parts and poses on the one hand, and on the other, the mental body parts and states. Yoga is therefore contributes to our study of correspondences in Sacred Scripture. Consider the following
description of Yoga in a medical encyclopedia at: The term yoga comes from a Sanskrit word which means yoke or union. Traditionally, yoga is a method joining the individual self with the Divine, Universal Spirit, or Cosmic Consciousness. Physical and mental exercises are designed to help achieve this goal, also called self-transcendence or enlightenment. On the physical level, yoga postures, called asanas, are designed to tone, strengthen, and align the body. These postures are performed to make the spine supple and healthy and to promote blood flow to all the organs, glands, and tissues, keeping all the bodily systems healthy. On the mental level, yoga uses breathing techniques (pranayama) and meditation (dyana) to quiet, clarify, and discipline the mind. However, experts are quick to point out that yoga is not a religion, but a way of living with health and peace of mind as its aims. (...) Modern psychological studies have shown that even slight facial expressions can cause changes in the involuntary nervous system; yoga utilizes the mind/body connection. That is, yoga practice contains the central ideas that physical posture and alignment can influence a person's mood and self-esteem, and also that the mind can be used to shape and heal the body. Yoga practitioners claim that the strengthening of mind/body awareness can bring eventual improvements in all facets of a person's life. (...) Today (2007), yoga is thriving, and it has become easy to
find teachers and practitioners throughout America. A recent Roper poll,
commissioned by Yoga Journal, found that 11 million Americans do yoga at
least occasionally and 6 million perform it regularly. Yoga stretches are used
by physical therapists and professional sports teams, and the benefits of yoga
are being touted by movie stars and Fortune 500 executives. Many prestigious
schools of medicine have studied and introduced yoga techniques as proven
therapies for illness and stress. Some medical schools, like UCLA, even offer
yoga classes as part of their physician training program. Classical yoga is separated into eight limbs, each a part of
the complete system for mental, physical and spiritual well-being. Four of the
limbs deal with mental and physical exercises designed to bring the mind in
tune with the body. The other four deal with different stages of meditation.
There are six major types of yoga, all with the same goals of health and
harmony but with varying techniques: hatha, raja, karma, bhakti, jnana, and tantra yoga. Hatha yoga is the most commonly practiced
branch of yoga in America, and it is a highly developed system of nearly 200
physical postures, movements and breathing techniques designed to tune the body
to its optimal health. The yoga philosophy believes the breath to be the most
important facet of
health, as the breath is the largest source of prana, or life force, and
hatha yoga
utilizes pranayama, which literally means the science or control of
breathing. Hatha yoga was originally developed as a system to make the body
strong and healthy enough to enable mental awareness and spiritual
enlightenment. (...) The other types of yoga show some of the remaining ideas which permeate yoga. Raja yoga strives to bring about mental clarity and discipline through meditation, simplicity, and non-attachment to worldly things and desires. Karma yoga emphasizes charity, service to others, non-aggression and non-harming as means to awareness and peace. Bhakti yoga is the path of devotion and love of God, or Universal Spirit. Jnana yoga is the practice and development of knowledge and wisdom. Finally, tantra yoga is the path of self-awareness through religious rituals, including awareness of sexuality as sacred and vital. There seems to be a conflict here between the medical and the spiritual perspective on yoga. Most Americans who practice yoga are Christians and there is a strong tendency to separate or divorce the physical and the spiritual aspects of yoga practice. Christians feel uncomfortable with the traditional yoga practice of ending practice sessions by folding the hands in prayer posture in front of the chest (heart) and reciting: The God in me greets the God in you and sometimes: The light in me greets the light in you. In theistic psychology we are able to look for the spiritual correspondences in yoga expressions and affirmations about spiritual life. For instance, "the God in me" corresponds to the Divine Psychologist (see Section xx). The Divine Psychologist is just another name for God's activity in our mind. The term "Holy Spirit" in the New Testament Sacred Scripture has the same meaning in its correspondential sense. "To greet" corresponds to communication, friendship, and conjunction. Yoga as a Hindi word means unity or conjunction. "In you" and "in me" correspond to mind, thoughts, and feelings. So the expression: "The God in me greets the God in you" signifies that both of us are united to the Divine Psychologist in our mind. Or: that the same God operates my mind and your mind, and thus we are conjoined. The phrase: "the light in me greets the light in you" signifies that you and me receive our intelligence from spiritual light, which is from the Spiritual Sun, which is from the Divine Human or the universal God. Another phrase that gives Western Christians a conflict or doubt about practicing yoga is cited above in the definition: "Traditionally, yoga is a method joining the individual self with the Divine, Universal Spirit, or Cosmic Consciousness." The conjunction of the individual with the Divine can be interpreted in terms of nonduality and duality (see Section xx). Nonduality says that when we are united to the Divine, we are Divine. This of course is not acceptable to Western religions like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, which hold that God and human beings of two separate and distinct natures forever and one cannot be transmuted into the other. But there is a Christian tradition from the New Testament Sacred Scripture that affirms that God is in us and we are in God. This must be interpreted within dualism, namely that "being in God" and "God being in us" does not mean that we are Divine, but only that the Divine is active in our mind. Hence it is possible to reinterpret the spiritual traditions attached to yoga by means of spiritual correspondences so that they become congruent with Western traditions of Sacred Scripture. Quotes about yoga listed at The Quote Garden: http://www.quotegarden.com/yoga.html Yoga, an ancient but perfect science, deals with the
evolution of humanity. This evolution includes all aspects of one's being, from
bodily health to self-realization. Yoga means union - the union of body with
consciousness and consciousness with the soul. Yoga cultivates the ways of
maintaining a balanced attitude in day-to-day life and endows skill in the
performance of one's actions. Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind. Yoga is invigoration in relaxation. Freedom in routine. Confidence
through self control. Energy within and energy without. Corpse pose restores life. Dead parts of your being fall away, the ghosts
are released. When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale,
it represents the service you are giving to the world. Inhale, and God approaches you. Hold the inhalation, and God remains with
you. Exhale, and you approach God. Hold the exhalation, and surrender to God. Balance of mind is called Yoga
10.10.1 The Wisdom of Yoga Sayings Yoga sayings is the traditional method of expressing many relevant natural-spiritual correspondences. Here are samples of "Namaste" yoga that I collected from yoga practice lessons and commercially sold DVD. 1. To take on one challenge today, one small challenge. What would that be? 2. As if to say, I’m ready now, and it’s the readiness that matters. 3. Gathering the heart and the mind to feel the depth of our lives. 4. To meet yourself face to face without expectations. Such freedom does exist. 5. Feeling yourself balancing the energies of giving and receiving equally, with no fear. 6. To learn to be more gentle, more open, more honest. 7. To trust in ourselves, to know that we can change for the better. 8. As if to give up competing with yourself and simply see the honesty in your effort. 9. Remember: every obstacle you meet in life can be seen as a block, or as an opportunity. 10. As if to vow to ourselves to become ourselves, again and again. 11. Feel your ground, feel your heart. Feel your body. Breathe your body. Let all the weight of the body fall down into the ground, leaving your body light. 12. Give up competing with yourself and simply see the honesty of your effort. 13. To trust in ourselves to know that we can change for the better. 14. Freedom is moving, thinking, and speaking from a place of no ego. 15. Let us meet in a place with no fences, endless sky, boundless potential, opening from the heart. 16. To be annoyed by our restrictions is natural. To be free of them, is Yoga. 17. Practice with effort, then letting go of the results of that effort. 18. To be kind to others and to ourselves is as natural as a flower opening in the sun. 19. To forgive weakness in others is to recognize and forgive weakness in ourselves. 20. Bowing to the teaching that lies inside the heart, and the teaching is forgiveness, and forgiveness starts with oneself. Is there anything in the above yoga affirmations that is spiritually contrary to Sacred Scripture as it is known in Western cultures -- the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Koran, and the Writings of Swedenborg? To determine this we need to translate the literal meaning of each yoga saying into its correspondences. Remember that correspondences are revealed in Sacred Scripture and all Sacred Scripture is written in correspondences of Divine Speech (see Section xx). Hence if Yoga sayings contain a spiritual meaning through correspondences, it is objective evidence that Yoga Wisdom is a genuine spiritual doctrine derived from Hindi Sacred Scriptures such as the Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (see next Section).
You can see for yourself from the above analysis that Yoga Wisdom, viewed in the correspondences of Sacred Scripture, is similar to theistic psychology, which is extracted by correspondences from Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). The Correspondential Meaning of Asanas (Postures)Let us examine the spiritual meaning of some Yoga asanas or body postures that are familiar to all who practice Yoga as a form of exercise. From Wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asana In the Yoga sutras, Patanjali describes asana as the third of the 8 limbs of classical yoga (raja yoga). These eight limbs are the yamas (restrictions), niyamas (observances), asanas (postures), pranayama (breath work), pratyahara (sense withdrawal or non-attachment), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (realization of the true self and/or unity with god).[6] Asanas are the physical movements in a yoga practice. In combination with pranayama or breathing techniques, it constitutes hatha yoga.[7] In the Yoga sutras, Patanjali describes "asana" simply as sitting meditation, suggesting meditation to be the path of samadhi, or self-realization. (...) Main article: list of hatha yoga postures
From the above analysis it is clear that people from all religions are able to affirm and confirm the spiritual truths that are symbolized in the performance of yoga postures and movements (asanas). Most Americans who practice yoga postures as a beneficial physical exercise become familiar with a a few yoga words or expressions that are used by teachers and books. Let us analyze the correspondential sense of some of these to see how their spiritual meaning is congruent with the Sacred Scripture that is familiar to Americans, namely, the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Writings of Swedenborg, and the Koran (or Qu'ran). When these yoga expressions are viewed in the literal sense, then their meaning and message is associated with the religions and cultures of India and the related spiritual philosophy called Buddhism. Similarly, when the New Testament is viewed in its literal sense by Christians, that spiritual message is rejected by Jews who rely only on the literal sense of the Old Testament, and also rejected by Islam, which relies on the literal sense of the Koran. Again, when one reads the Writings of Swedenborg in their literal sense, as do the members of the New Church (see Section xx), then the Christians, the Jews, and the Muslims reject it altogether as opposed to their religion. So it is clear that the literal meanings of Sacred Scriptures, from all the major religions or cultures on this earth, appear to be opposed to each other, or in some way contradictory to each other, and hence unacceptable to each other. Swedenborg tells us that the ancient peoples on this earth, at the beginning of recorded history, also had different versions of Sacred Scriptures, and yet they never fought over religion or doctrine. Why not? What made them so peaceful to each other despite the differences in their cultural and religious beliefs about God? The reason is that the ancient nations at one point, mostly focused on the correspondential sense of their Sacred Scripture. They could plainly see that the correspondential sense was the same regardless of the literal version in each culture and religion. This is because the literal version was originally written by prophets or ancestors who studied and understood what they called the "science of correspondences" (see Section xx). Swedenborg tells us that at the historical beginning of written languages, writers always wrote in correspondences. Much later, after the science of correspondences was forgotten and lost, writers began writing in natural meanings, thus producing books, textbooks, manuals, and stage plays or fiction. By the time the Sacred Scriptures were written in Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and New Church, all of it was written in a natural language describing visions and historical events. Since the science of correspondences was lost and forgotten, no one suspected that their own Sacred Scripture was written in the language of correspondences. The effect of this lack of knowledge of correspondences over the past millennia has been that all religions and doctrines about God and eternity, are based strictly on the literal sense of Sacred Scripture. This necessarily creates religions that are ethnic or cultural, and hence opposed to one another. But by the 18th century God had gradually shaped the human mind on this earth that the era of modern science began and continued to develop. Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-172) was the first scientist prepared by God since his childhood, to develop the first modern scientific mind who could comprehend correspondences, integrate it into modern science, and explain it scientifically and rationally to others. This he accomplished in the collection of his 30 volumes, which in theistic psychology are called the Writings of Swedenborg Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). Today theistic psychology has become possible because modern science is being taught in all public schools and universities across the globe. We can now translate all of the literal meanings of Sacred Scriptures in all religions, proving that they are compatible with each other since every Sacred Scripture in correspondences is Divine Speech, the Speech of the one God of creation and eternity (see Section xx).
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch10.htm#yoga +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Correspondential Meaning of Mudras
The Abhaya "No-fear" Mudrā represents protection, peace, benevolence, and dispelling of fear. In the Theravāda it is usually made with the right hand raised to the shoulder's height, the arm bent and the palm facing outward with the fingers upright and joined and the left hand hanging down on the right side of the while standing. The Bhūmisparśa "Earth-touching" Mudrā literally represents the Buddha as taking the earth as witness. The right hand touches the ground with the fingertips near the right knee extended or with only the index pointing down touching the ground with the left hand commonly resting on the lap with the palm facing up. It can also represent the subjugation of the demon horde of Māra. The Dharmachakra Mudrā represents a central moment in the life of Buddha when he preached his first sermon after his Enlightenment, in Deer Park in Sarnath. Gautama Buddha is generally only shown making this Mudrā, save Maitreya as the dispenser of the Law. This Mudrā position represents the turning of the wheel of the Dharma. Dharmacakra Mudrā is formed when two hands close together in front of the chest in Vitarka having the right palm forward and the left palm upward, sometimes facing the chest. The Dhyāna Mudrā is the gesture of meditation, of the concentration of the Good Law and the Sangha. The two hands are placed on the lap, right hand on left with fingers fully stretched and the palms facing upwards, forming a triangle, symbolic of the spiritual fire or the Triratna, the three jewels. This Mudrā is used in representations of the Buddha Śākyamuni and the Buddha Amitābha. The Varada Mudrā signifies offering, welcome, charity, giving, compassion and sincerity. It is nearly always used with the left hand for those whom devote oneself to human salvation. It can be made with the arm crooked the palm offered slightly turned up or in the case of the arm facing down the palm presented with the fingers upright or slightly bent. The Varada Mudrā is rarely seen without using another mudra used by the right hand, typically with the Abhaya Mudrā. The Vajra Mudrā is the gesture of knowledge. It is made making a fist with the right hand, index extending upward, and the left hand also making a fist and enclosing the index. A good example of the application of the Vajra Mudrā is the seventh technique (out of nine) of the Nine Hand Seals, using the mudra with mantras in a ritual application. The Vitarka Mudrā is the gesture of discussion and transmission of Buddhist teaching. It is done by joining the tips of the thumb and the index together, and keeping the other fingers straight very much like Abhaya and Varada Mudrās but with the thumbs touching the index fingers. The Jnana mudra (Sanskrit: jñanamudrā), or "gesture of knowledge" is done by touching the tips of the thumb and the index together, forming a circle, and the hand is held with the palm inward toward the heart.[1] The Karana mudra is the mudra which expels demons and removes obstacles such as sickness or negative thoughts. It is made by raising the index and the little finger, and folding the other fingers. It is rather similar to the gesture known as corna in the West.
From: MUDRAS IN BUDDHISM http://urbandharma.org/udharma7/mudras.html Mudras are one of six principle iconographic themes in Buddhism, particularly in esoteric Buddhism. Briefly noted, these other principle thematic elements are mandalas, asanas, thrones, aureoles, and implements and accessories of the deities. A mandala, of course, is a specifically detailed diagram representing a deity and his forces, or groups of divinities, depicting the invisible universe of the forces that govern the cosmos. The postures that a Buddhist deity assumes in a sculpture or painting are known as asanas. They can be widely varied and divide in to two main groupings: static postures and dynamic postures. Thrones and pedestals on which the deities are placed often condition the asana assumed by them. These regularly include lotus thrones, stands or chairs, demons and lower deities, and support animals, such as lions, elephants, peacocks, etc. Aureoles are the haloes or auras that indicate the divinity or saintliness of a personage and are placed behind the statue or image. There are numerous variations and elaborations among them. Finally, implements and accessories of the deities accompany many mudra, symbolizing material and spiritual virtues and powers of the deity represented. Chief among these are lotuses of various colors, thunderbolt scepters or vajras, of differing numbers of points, bells, wheels, weapons, pots, and maces. Also by - Rev. Lynn
"Jnana" Sipe
The Correspondential Meaning of Breath and BreathingThe idea of breathing appears very prominent in the oldest sacred writings in the Hindu tradition. The spiritual significance of Yoga breathing can be scientifically understood and explained in theistic psychology. The correspondences of breathing can be illustrated through various concepts in theistic psychology.
Explanations for breathing: inhaling and exhaling 1. descending line vs. ascending line 2. receiving vs. giving 3. satisficing vs. optimizing 4. opening up, relaxing vs. closing in, compacting 5. feeling integrated, harmonious vs. feeling fractioned, ambivalent 6. feeling empowered, focused vs. feeling weakened, scattered 7. feeling peace, clear vs. feeling struggle, foggy 1. Inhaling corresponds to our higher self descending from our spiritual mind to our natural mind, while exhaling corresponds to our lower self ascending from the natural mind to the spiritual mind. 2. Inhaling corresponds to the higher self ("angels") descending from our unconscious spiritual mind into our conscious natural mind. When this occurs, we experience elevation of the lower self in the natural mind. Our conscious self feels mentally elevated. We are receiving spiritual influx of good and truth through the laws of correspondence. The thoughts we are conscious of are rational and consistent, and the feelings we are conscious of are positive and hopeful. Exhaling corresponds to the lower self ascending from our conscious natural mind into our spiritual mind, so that our will is moved and motivated by higher spiritual truths in our spiritual mind. This ascending is achieved through giving, that is, mentally giving to others what one has received in the descending operation. Giving to others is performed by doing tasks that are useful. 3. Inhaling corresponds to satisficing or adapting to the descending operation. We are changed by inhaling or descending operations, as we become more spiritual by receiving spiritual truths into our conscious thinking. The reception process is called satisficing because we must digest and incorporate the spiritual truths we receive from above. Satisficing means to attach a value to what we receive, making it valuable to us. Exhaling corresponds to optimizing or making use of the ascending operation to motivate the will to act. Behavioral intentions are exhaling operations that involve interacting with the environment, struggling to achieve the intended goal. The ascending operation of exhaling creates our morality as individuals, as we strive continuously every day to be useful to others, or to prepare ourselves in learning and discipline, that we may become useful to others. 4. Inhaling corresponds to descending, receiving, satisficing, and mentally opening up or relaxing. Our mind is open to the descending influx of good and truth from the spiritual mind into our natural mind. Our conscious thinking and reasoning is modified. We begin to think in agreement with correspondences. Our reasoning becomes rational and scientific in accord with the spiritual truths of Sacred Scripture that are in our spiritual mind. The content of our spiritual mind is the influx of spiritual truths from the Spiritual Sun, that is, from God. Exhaling corresponds to ascending, giving, optimizing, closing in, compacting. We change the world or the environment through the exhaling ascending operations, as we become more heavenly in character. This is done by resisting temptations in our lower self, struggling to oppose our animal nature, compelling our lower self to purify itself from hellish enjoyments that hurt others physically, and self spiritually. Our reasoning is now in the service of our good will and good intentions. We perform acts of charity, that is, preventing ourselves from hurting others, first, and then second, striving to benefit others with useful intentions. 5. Inhaling corresponds to descending, receiving, satisficing, mentally opening up, relaxing, and feeling integrated and harmonious. We begin to feel that we are spiritual and that we belong to heaven in eternity and to God. We feel integrated with the order of the universe and reality. We can see how our life on earth is nothing but a sequence of correspondences in the natural mind and physical body, creating our lower self. We can see that we have a spiritual mind and we feel in harmony or congruence with it. Our natural mind is integrated with our spiritual mind. Exhaling corresponds to ascending, giving, optimizing, closing in, compacting, and feeling fractioned, ambivalent. We are keenly experiencing our struggle, our ambivalence, and our incompleteness. We strive to apply the spiritual truths that we received in the inhaling descending operation. We struggle to bring heaven down to earth, to purify earth so that it corresponds to heaven. We feel fractioned, ambivalent, hesitant sometimes, over reactive at other times. We experience the mental state of temptation and suffering, before we are rescued and receive victory through the inhaling descending line. 6. Inhaling corresponds to descending, receiving, satisficing, mentally opening up, relaxing, feeling integrated, harmonious, empowered, and focused. Exhaling corresponds to ascending, giving, optimizing, closing in, compacting, and feeling fractioned, ambivalent, weakened, scattered. As we struggle all day long to optimize the spiritual truths in actual behavioral intentions, we feel weakened by our lower self, by our attachment to hell and infernal affections. Our attention is scattered, we are filled with uncertainty and doubt, as we become aware of our shortcomings. Our reasoning becomes faulty and biased as we plan and execute our good intentions. 7. Inhaling corresponds to descending, receiving, satisficing, mentally opening up, relaxing, feeling integrated, harmonious, empowered, focused, feeling peace, clear. Exhaling corresponds to ascending, giving, optimizing, closing in, compacting, and feeling fractioned, ambivalent, weakened, scattered, feeling struggle, foggy. From: The Science of Kundalini Yoga Compiled by Datta Singh Pranayama The yogic science of breath is called Pranayama. Pranayama is the control (yama) of the life energy (prana) through breathing exercises. Kundalini Yoga employs a wide range of breathing techniques. The breath, its rhythm, and its depth relate to different states of health, consciousness, and emotion. Kundalini Yoga uses the breath scientifically to change energy states. There are a few basic breaths that should be mastered in order to freely practice the kriyas. Long Deep Breathing The simplest of all yogic breaths is long deep breathing. It is a habit that we in our western culture have lost. Our normal tendency is to breathe shallow and irregularly. This leads to an emotional approach to life, chronic tension, and weak nerves. The lungs are one of the largest organs of the human body. Average lungs can enlarge to a volume of almost 6,000 cubic centimeters. Normally we use only 600 – 700 cubic centimeters of that capacity. If you do not expand the lungs to their full capacity, the small air sacks in the lungs, called alveoli, cannot clean their mucous lining properly. Therefore you do not get enough oxygen so toxic irritants that lead to infections and disease build up. By taking a deep breath you can expand the lungs by about eight times. If you establish a habit of breathing long, deep and slowly, you will build your endurance and patience. A long deep breath can bring you back to your center, even in chaotic circumstances.
The aboe is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch10.htm#mudras +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Quotes from the Bhagavad Gita and Their Correspondential MeaningThinking about sense-objects Will attach you to sense-objects - Grow attached, and you become addicted - Thwart your addiction, it turns to anger - Be angry, and you confuse your mind - Confuse your mind, you forget the lesson of experience - Forget experience, you lose discrimination - Lose discrimination, and you miss life's only purpose - (Miss life's only purpose, and you think about sense-objects.) Correspondential Analysis: "Thinking about sense-objects" "Being attached to sense-objects" "Become addicted" "Thwart your addiction, it turns to anger" "Confusing the mind, forgetting the lesson of
experience, losing discrimination, missing life's only purpose" "Life's only purpose" +++ When a man dwells on the objects of sense, he creates an attraction for them; attraction develops into desire, and desire breeds anger. Correspondential Analysis: "Man" "Dwelling on the objects of sense, creating an
attraction for them" "Attraction develops into desire" "Desire breeds anger" +++ Governing sense, mind and intellect, intent on liberation, free from desire, fear and anger, the sage is forever free.
Correspondential Analysis: "Governing sense, mind and intellect"
"Intent on liberation" "Free from desire, fear anger" "The sage is forever free" +++ God is seated in the hearts of all.
Correspondential Analysis: "Seated in the hearts of all" +++ It is true that the mind is restless and difficult to control. But it can be conquered, Arjuna, through regular practice and detachment. Those who lack self-control will find it difficult to progress in meditation; but those who are self-controlled, striving earnestly through the right means, will attain the goal.
Correspondential Analysis: "the mind is restless and difficult to control"
"conquered through regular practice and
detachment" "Arjuna" "Those who lack self-control will find it
difficult to progress in meditation" "self-controlled, striving earnestly through the
right means" "attain the goal" +++ The self-controlled soul, who moves amongst sense objects, free from either attachment or repulsion, he wins eternal Peace.
Correspondential Analysis: "The self-controlled soul" "who moves amongst sense objects" "free from either attachment or repulsion"
"wins eternal Peace" +++ Death is as sure for that which is born, as birth is for that which is dead. Therefore grieve not for what is inevitable.
Correspondential Analysis: "Death is as sure for that which is born"
"as birth is for that which is dead"
"grieve not for what is inevitable" +++ Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is. Correspondential Analysis: "Man" "made by his belief" "as he believes, so he is" +++ One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among men. A man can drink water from any side of a full tank, so the skilled theologian can wrest from any scripture that which will serve his purpose. There are two ways of passing from this world - one in light and one in darkness. When one passes in light, he does not come back; but when one passes in darkness, he returns. Knowledge, the object of knowledge and the knower are the three factors which motivate action; the senses, the work and the doer comprise the threefold basis of action. On action alone be thy interest... Never on its fruits... Let not the fruits of action be thy motive, Nor be thy attachment to inaction... All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim state, and unmanifest again when they are annihilated. So what need is there for lamentation? Which is as poison in the beginning, but is like nectar in the end; that is declared to be "good" pleasure, born from the serenity of one's own mind. That which is like nectar in the beginning from the connection of the sense-object with the senses, but is as poison in the end, is held to be of "passion". (18:37-38) Perseverance in (seeking to gain) the knowledge of the Supreme Spirit, and perception of the gain that comes from knowledge of the truth: This is called knowledge : all that is contrary to this is ignorance. (13:11) He that does everything for Me, whose supreme object I am, who worships Me, being free from attachment and without hatred to any creature, this man, Arjuna!, comes to Me. (11:55) Whenever the wavering and unsteadfast heart wanders away, then so often let him subdue it and bring it back to the control of the soul; For supreme happiness comes to the Yogin whose heart is at rest, in whom passion is tranquilised, who is one with Brahma, and free from sin. The Yogin thus uniting his soul (to Brahma), who has ceased from sin, enjoys easily the boundless happiness of union (lit. contact) with Brahma. (6:26-29) He who hates no single being, is friendly and compassionate, free from self-regard and vanity, the same in good and evil, patient; Contented, ever devout, subdued in soul, firm in purpose, fixed on Me in heart and mind, and who worships Me, is dear to Me. (12:13-14)
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch10.htm#bhagavad +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Correspondential Meaning of the UpanishadsDownload PDF document of
the Upanishads:
About the Upanishads: From: http://sanatan.intnet.mu/ Source: Yogi Ramsuratkumar Bhavan The word "Upanishad" consists of three words—"Upa" means "near", "ni" means "down" and "shad" means "be seated". So, "Upanishad" means, "be seated at the feet of the Guru to receive the teaching." The Upanishads constitute what we call the Vedanta (Veda-anta), the end of the Vedas, not merely because they constitute the last part of them, but above all because they are their ultimate teachings, reaching to the highest metaphysical state, beyond which is the realm of Silence. The
most ancient Upanishads are, in fact, part of the Vedas, and are therefore a
part of the Shruti. So they constitute the fundamentals, the essence of the
Hindu philosophy. They are connected to the whole of Knowledge and contain
within them the exposition of the origin of the Universe, the nature of Brahman
and the jivatman, the relation between the mind and matter, etc… therefore, the
main topic of the Upanishads is the ultimate Knowledge: the identity of the Brahman
and the jivatman—"Tat tvam asi"—You are That (Chandgogya Upanishad),
the quest for unity in diversity «That by which the whole Universe is known»
(Mundaka Upanishad). The Upanishads are the first scriptures where the law of
Karma first appeared as taught by Yajnavalkya (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad). Quotes: Beyond the senses are the objects; beyond the objects is the mind; beyond the mind, the intellect; beyond the intellect, the Great Atman; beyond the Great Atman, the Unmanifest; beyond the Unmanifest, the Purusha. Beyond the Purusha there is nothing: this is the end, the Supreme Goal. That Self hidden in all beings does not shine forth; but It is seen by subtle seers through their one—pointed and subtle intellects. The wise man should merge his speech in his mind and his mind in his intellect. He should merge his intellect in the Cosmic Mind and the Cosmic Mind in the Tranquil Self. Arise! Awake! Approach the great and learn. Like the sharp edge of a razor is that path, so the wise say—hard to tread and difficult to cross. Having realised Atman, which is soundless, intangible, formless, undecaying and likewise tasteless, eternal and odourless; having realised That which is without beginning and end, beyond the Great and unchanging—one is freed from the jaws of death. Children pursue outer pleasures and fall into the net of widespread death; but calm souls, having known what is unshakable Immortality, do not covet any uncertain thing in this world. It is through Atman that one knows form, taste, smell, sounds, touches and carnal pleasures. Is there anything that remains unknown to Atman? This, verily, is That. It is through Atman that one perceives all objects in sleep or in the waking state. Having realised the vast, all—pervading Atman, the calm soul does not grieve. "He who inhabits water, yet is within water, whom water does not know, whose body water is and who controls water from within—He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. "He who inhabits fire, yet is within fire, whom fire does not know, whose body fire is and who controls fire from within —He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. "He who inhabits the sky, yet is within the sky, whom the sky does not know, whose body the sky is and who controls the sky from within. —He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. "He who inhabits the air, yet is within the air, whom the air does not know, whose body the air is and who controls the air from within. —He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. "He who inhabits heaven, yet is within heaven, whom heaven does not know, whose body heaven is and who controls heaven from within. —He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. "He who inhabits the sun, yet is within the sun, whom the sun does not know, whose body the sun is and who controls the sun from within. —He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. "He who inhabits the quarters of space, yet is within them, whom the quarters do not know, whose body the quarters are and who controls the quarters from within. —He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. "He who inhabits the moon and stars, yet is within the moon and stars, whom the moon and stars do not know, whose body the moon and stars are and who controls the moon and stars from within. —He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. "He who inhabits the akasa, yet is within the akasa, whom the akasa does not know, whose body the akasa is and who controls the akasa from within. —He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. "He who inhabits darkness, yet is within darkness, whom darkness does not know, whose body darkness is and who controls darkness from within. —He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. "He who inhabits light, yet is within light, whom light does not know, whose body light is and who controls light from within. —He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal." This much with reference to the gods (adhidaivatam). Now with reference to beings (adhibhutam). The essence of all these beings is the earth; the essence of the earth is water; the essence of water is plants; the essence of plants is a person; essence of a person is speech; the essence of speech is the Rig—Veda; essence of the Rig—Veda is the Sama—Veda; the essence of the Sama—Veda is the Udgitha which is Om. Now is described the meditation on the Udgitha with reference to the gods: One should meditate on the Udgitha as the sun who gives warmth. When he (the sun) rises he sings the Udgitha for the benefit of all creatures. When he rises he destroys darkness and fear. He who knows this becomes the destroyer of darkness and fear. This prana and that sun are the same. This is warm and that is warm. This they call svara (what goes out) and that, pratyasvara (what returns). Therefore one should meditate on the Udgitha as this and that. One should meditate on the Udgitha as the vyana. That which one breathes out is the prana and that which one breathes in is the apana. That which is the junction of the prana and the apana is the Vyana. This vyana is speech. Therefore when one utters speech one stops the prana and the apana. Then
Silaka the son of Salavat said to Chaikitayana of the line Dalbhya: "Well,
may I question you?" "Do ask," he said.
"The wise who knows the Self as bodiless within the bodies, as unchanging among changing things, as great and omnipresent, does never grieve". "That self cannot be gained by the Veda, nor by understanding, nor by much learning. He whom the Self chooses, by him the Self can be gained. The Self chooses him (his body) as his own". But he who has not first turned away from his wickedness, who is not tranquil, and subdued, or whose mind is not at rest, he can never obtain the Self (even) by knowledge. (Katha Upanishad 1.2.22-24)
"The soul is the consciousness of life. It is the light of the heart. Forever remaining the same, the Spirit of man wanders in the world of waking and also in the world of dreams. But in the rest of deep sleep he goes beyond this world and its fleeting forms" "Oh life-giving sun, offspring of the Lord of Creation, solitary Seer of heaven, spread thy light and withdraw thy blinding splendor that I might behold thy radiant form: That Spirit far away within thee is my inmost Spirit" "When the soul is in silent quietness it arises and leaves the body, and reaching the Supreme Spirit finds there its body of light. It is the land of infinite liberty where, beyond its mortal body, the Spirit of man is free." "The wise who knows the Self as bodiless within the bodies, as unchanging among changing things, as great and omnipresent, does never grieve. That self cannot be gained by the Veda, nor by understanding, nor by much learning." "It is true that the body is mortal, that it is under the power of death, but it is also the dwelling place of Atman, the Spirit of immortal life. ... when a man is in the joy of the spirit, he is free from all bondage, the bondage of pleasure and pain." "From joy all beings have come, by joy they all live, and unto joy they all return." "Where there is joy, there is creation. Where there is no joy, there is no creation. Know the nature of joy." "Know the self to be sitting in the chariot, the body to be the chariot, the intellect the charioteer, and the mind the reins." "It is not the language but the speaker that we want to understand." There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in your heart (Chandogya Upanishad) When a man dies, what does not leave him? The voice of a dead man goes into fire, his breath into wind, his eyes into the sun, his mind into the moon, his hearing into the quarters of heaven, his body into the land cheerfully. earth, his spirit into space. Where there is joy there is creation. Where there is no joy there is no creation: know the nature of joy. It is not the language but the speaker that we want to understand. "He who knows self as the enjoyer of the honey from the flowers of the senses, ever present within, ruler of time, goes beyond fear. For this self is supreme!"
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch10.htm#upanishads ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Source of Conjugial Love With Husbands: The Correspondential Sense of CL 88Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: CL 88. (iii) There is the truth of good, and from this the good of truth, that is to say, truth coming from good and good from that truth; both of them have a tendency implanted from creation to join themselves into one. Some idea of the distinction between these two must be gained, because knowledge of the essential source of conjugial love depends upon it. For the truth of good, that is, truth from good, is, as will be shown in what follows [90, 91], male; and the good of truth, that is the good from that truth, is female. But the distinction can be better grasped, if love is substituted for good and wisdom for truth. These are one and the same (see 84 above). The only way wisdom can come into existence for a person is by means of the love of being wise. If this love is taken away, there is no way the person can be wise. It is wisdom arising from this love which is meant by the truth of good, or truth coming from good. But when a person has as a result of that love acquired wisdom, and loves wisdom in himself, that is, loves himself for his wisdom, then he forms a love, which is the love of wisdom and is meant by the good of truth, or good coming from that truth. [2] A man therefore possesses two loves. One, which comes first, is the love of being wise, and the other, which comes later, is the love of wisdom. But if this second love remains with a man, it is a wicked love, called pride in or love of one's own intelligence. It will be proved in the following pages that it has been provided from creation that, to prevent this love being his ruin, it was taken from the man and copied into the woman, so becoming conjugial love which makes him whole again. (CL 88) Let us now analyze this Number to see what correspondential sense we can draw from it. Later we need to confirm by other Numbers whatever principles or doctrines we extract from this Number. CL 88. (iii) There is the truth of good, and from this the good of truth, that is to say, truth coming from good and good from that truth; both of them have a tendency implanted from creation to join themselves into one. Some idea of the distinction between these two must be gained, because knowledge of the essential source of conjugial love depends upon it. (CL 88) This is clearly one of the most important ideas a husband can have because it is said that "knowledge of the essential source of conjugial love depends upon it." And in many places it is taught that conjugial love is the highest of all loves, for which the universe was created as the end. All other loves originate and depend on this one ruling heavenly love, thus Divine Love with the human race. So to say that CL depends on understanding this spiritual secret is indeed most weighty. What is this heavenly secret? It is this: That the very basis and source of life and all love is a psychobiological spiritual attraction or affinity that God built into all things created. The two portions of every thing that is created is called male and female. This is well known from many historical, cultural, and philosophical traditions. What is not know is whence comes male and whence comes female. Biologically we may ask what constitutes female and what male. The human race is promulgated by the union between a man and a woman. A man and a woman experience a strong attraction to each other. Where does this attraction come from? How does God produce this attraction in men and women for each other? this attraction is the basis of survival of the race in the physical world, and it is the basis of eternal marriages or conjunctions in eternity. The heavenly secret of which we must form a notion or rational understanding, in order to have conjugial love, is next told: CL 88. For the truth of good, that is, truth from good, is, as will be shown in what follows [90, 91], male; and the good of truth, that is the good from that truth, is female. But the distinction can be better grasped, if love is substituted for good and wisdom for truth. These are one and the same (see 84 above). The only way wisdom can come into existence for a person is by means of the love of being wise. If this love is taken away, there is no way the person can be wise. It is wisdom arising from this love which is meant by the truth of good, or truth coming from good. But when a person has as a result of that love acquired wisdom, and loves wisdom in himself, that is, loves himself for his wisdom, then he forms a love, which is the love of wisdom and is meant by the good of truth, or good coming from that truth. (CL 88) This is then the secret we husbands must understand in order to be able to receive conjugial love from the wife, and thereby be conjoined to her in eternity. It is that a man's mind or, being "male," is "truth from good," that is, "the truth of good." Conversely, a woman's mind or, being "female," is "the good from that truth," that is, "the good of truth."
Before we can assimilate this semantic puzzle we must make it rationally clear to our comprehension. This can better be done with a visual diagram which we can memorize, so that when we read the expressions we can translate it into the diagram. This will make the meaning of the assertion crystal clear to the rational mind. So here is a diagram you need to process by figuring out its details:
Note the four numbered arrows. Arrow 1 marks the process of the husband acquiring doctrinal wisdom of life from the correspondential sense of the Writings Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). This is called the "ascending line" in the "circle of life" (see Section xx). The love of being wise is the man's higher good or inmost love which he receives from the Divine Human into his affective organ, or the will. This inner good in the affective organ is received by the husband's cognitive organ into an externalized form that is compatible with the inner good. This is what the man does on his own, apart from his wife. The truth that is born in this manner is called a lower truth or an external wisdom. It is the man's self-intelligence which cause his delight in wisdom. If left to himself, the man would then love his own intelligence which he mistakes as wisdom. this renders him stupid and brutish, unsuitable for conjugial love in eternity. Consequently, the wife must come to the rescue to save him. Arrow 2 marks the process of the husband's outer truth of doctrinal wisdom being implanted in the wife's cognitive organ or understanding. This transfer of wisdom from the husband into the wife elevates the wisdom to a higher level. This elevation of the husband's wisdom and appropriation of it by the wife as her own wisdom, is accomplished by the conjugial love that she receives from the Divine Human. The wife's wisdom is called higher truth because of this elevation. Arrow 3 marks the process of the wife's expression of moral wisdom of life, She does this from her higher rational understanding which is externalized as moral wisdom of life. This is called lower good because what is external is lower than what is internal. This process of expressing higher truth as moral wisdom of life, or as lower good in her will, is something the wife does on her own apart from the husband. Arrow 4 marks the process of the husband's love of his wife's moral wisdom. Her lower good in the external will is implanted in the husband's internal will, where it is called higher good or love. The husband expresses this higher love for his wife's moral wisdom by never disagreeing with her, never putting his intelligence and understanding above hers. And in this way the circle of life in marriage completes a cycle of conjunction. Now the process continues and repeats itself at a higher relative level or state. Now the husband's wisdom or lower truth (arrow 1) is higher up than before, which allows the wife to acquire a higher wisdom of life (arrows 2 and 3), which brings the husband to still higher and more interior good, if only he honors and loves his wife's wisdom above his own. For the husband to honor his wife's wisdom above is his own means never to disagree with her. Quoting the rest of the Number: CL 88. [2] A man therefore possesses two loves. One, which comes first, is the love of being wise, and the other, which comes later, is the love of wisdom. But if this second love remains with a man, it is a wicked love, called pride in or love of one's own intelligence. It will be proved in the following pages that it has been provided from creation that, to prevent this love being his ruin, it was taken from the man and copied into the woman, so becoming conjugial love which makes him whole again. (CL 88) It is explained here that the man is saved by the transplanting of his love of his doctrinal wisdom into the wife's inmost rationality and understanding (arrow 2). Now she is the love of his doctrinal wisdom, which is called the lower truth of the husband. This process saves him from retaining the love of his own wisdom (called "wicked love"), which is his own self-intelligence, and is the cause of "his ruin.". If he does not love his wife's elevated wisdom more than his own lower wisdom (arrow 4), he cannot be saved. The wife's rationality of doctrine called moral wisdom (arrow 3) is higher than the husband's rationality called doctrinal wisdom (arrow 1). This process of loving his wife's wisdom more than his own (arrow 4) "makes him whole again."
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch11.htm#inner-sense-CL88 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Definition of God in the Quran and Related Sacred BooksFrom: Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia: Entry on Tawhid In a hadith, Abu Huraira reports: The people said to the Messenger of God (may peace be upon him): Messenger of God, shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection? The Messenger of God (may peace be upon him) said: Do you feel any trouble in seeing the moon on the night when it is full? They said: Messenger of God, no. He (the Messenger) further said: Do you feel any trouble in seeing the sun, when there is no cloud over it? They said: Messenger of God. no. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Verily you would see Him like this (as you see the sun and the moon).Sahih Muslim 001.0349 (...) "Not only were the words and sounds of the Quran eternal, so that even its recital was uncreated, but its parchment and binding shared the same qualities''[citation needed]. Abu Hanifa expressed: We confess that the Quran is the speech of God, uncreated, His inspiration, and revelation, not He, yet not other than He, but His real quality, written in the copies, recited by the tongues. The ink, the paper, the writing are created, for they are the work of man" Revelation and Reason in Islam by A.J. Arberry, pp 26-27. (...) Tawhid (Islamic Monotheism) has three aspects: Oneness of the Lordship of God: (Tawheed-ar-Ruboobeeyah) To believe that there is only one Lord for all the universe, Who is its Creator, Organizer, Planner, Sustainer, and Giver of security. "God is the Creator of everything. He is the guardian over everything. Unto Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth." (Qur'an, 39:62-63). "No creature is there crawling on the earth, but its provision rests on God. He knows its lodging place and it repository." (Qur'an 11:6). "He is God; there is no god but He, He is the Knower of the unseen and the visible; He is the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate. He is God, there is no god but He. He is the King, the All-Holy, the All-Peace, the Guardian of Faith, the All-Preserver, the All-Mighty, the All-Compeller, the All-Sublime. Glory be to God, above that which they associate! He is God the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper. To Him belong the Names Most Beautiful. All that is in the heavens and the earth magnifies Him; He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise." (The Holy Qur'an, 59:22-24) (...) Tawhīd is among the five Shia Roots of Religion. According to Ali, the first Shi'a Imam: The foremost in religion is the acknowledgement of Him, the perfection of acknowledging Him is to testify Him, the perfection of testifying Him is to believe in His Oneness, the perfection of believing in His Oneness is to regard Him Pure, and the perfection of His purity is to deny Him attributes, because every attribute is a proof that it is different from that to which it is attributed and everything to which something is attributed is different from the attribute. Thus whoever attaches attributes to Allah recognises His like, and who recognises His like regards Him two; and who regards Him two recognises parts for Him; and who recognises parts for Him mistook Him; and who mistook Him pointed at Him; and who pointed at Him admitted limitations for Him; and who admitted limitations for Him numbered Him. Whoever said in what is He, held that He is contained; and whoever said on what is He held He is not on something else. He is a Being but not through phenomenon of coming into being. He exists but not from non-existence. He is with everything but not in physical nearness. He is different from everything but not in physical separation. He acts but without connotation of movements and instruments. He sees even when there is none to be looked at from among His creation. He is only One, such that there is none with whom He may keep company or whom He may miss in his absence [1]. (...) Some verses of the Qur'an that seem to ascribe God body parts, for example verse (28:88) of which says: "Every thing is mortal except His face", Shi'a interpret as meaning "except His person". Shi'a argue that the verse is not to be taken literally, arguing that it can't be said that only the face of God will remain, while His other so-called limbs (either physical or not) will die. Similarly, Shi'a argue that God has used the word "Hand" (Arabic: Yad) in several places in the Qur'an, where it means His power and His Mercy, as in the verse (5:64): "But His hands are outspread". Shi'a quote in support of the verses being allegorical: The Qur'an, chapter 3 (Aale Imran), verse 7: “ He it is Who has revealed the Book to you; some of its verses are decisive, they are the basis of the Book, and others are allegorical; then as for those in whose hearts there is perversity they follow the part of it which is allegorical, seeking to mislead and seeking to give it (their own) interpretation. but none knows its interpretation except God, and those who are firmly rooted in knowledge say: We believe in it, it is all from our Lord; and none do mind except those having understanding.— translated by M. H. Shakir Shaykh Saduq, one of the most distinguished of Shi'a scholars expresed [4]: Verily, God is One, Unique, nothing is like Him, He is Eternal; Hearing, Seeing, Omniscient, Living, Omnipotent, above every need. He cannot be described in terms of substance, nor body, nor form, nor accident, nor line, nor surface, nor heaviness, nor lightness, nor color, nor movement, nor rest, nor time, nor space. He is above all the descriptions which can be applied to His creatures. He is away from both extremes: Neither He is just a non-entity (as atheists and in a lesser degree Mutazilites implied), nor He is just like other things. He is Existent, not like other existing things. List of attributesShi'a list some positive attributes to God [5]: 1. Qadím: God is eternal. He has neither a beginning nor an end. 2. Qadir: God is omnipotent. He has power over all things. 3. 'Alim: God is omniscient. He is all-knowing. 4. Hai: God is living. He is alive and will remain alive forever 5. Muríd: God has his own discretion in all affairs. He does not do anything out of compulsion. 6. Mudrik: God is all-perceiving. He is all-hearing, all-seeing, and is omnipresent. God sees and hears everything though He has neither eyes nor ears. 7. Mutakalim: God is the Lord of the Worlds. He can create speech in anything: the burning bush for Musa and the curtain of light for Muhammad. 8. Sadiq: God is truthful. His words and promises are true. And some negative attributes: 1. Sharík: God has no partners. 2. Murakab: God is neither made, nor composed, of any material. 3. Makán: God is not confined to any place and has no body. 4. Hulúl: God does not incarnate into anything or anybody. 5. Mahale hawadith: God is not subject to changes. God cannot change. 6. Marí: God is not visible. He has not been seen, is not seen, and will never be seen, because he has no form or body. 7. Ihtiyaj: God is not dependent. God is not deficient, so he does not have any needs. 8. Sifate zayed: God does not have added qualifications. The attributes of God are not separate from His being. Shaykh Saduq says [6]: For example, we say that God was from ever Hearing, Seeing, Omniscient, Wise, Omnipotent, Having power, Living, Self-existent, One and Eternal. And these are His personal attributes. and we do not say that He was from ever Creating, Doing, Intending, pleased, displeased, Giving sustenance, Speaking; because these virtues describe His actions; and they are not eternal; it is not allowed to say that God was doing all these actions from eternity. The reason for this distinction is obvious. Actions need an object. For example, if we say that God was giving sustenance from ever, then we will have to admit the existence of sustained thing from ever. In other words, we will have to admit that the world was from ever. but it is against our belief that nothing except God is Eternal." From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Trinity in Islam There are many verses in the Qur'an relating to the divinity of Jesus (See Isa not God), however the word "Trinity" only appears in the Qur'an in verses 4:171 and 5:73: O People of the Book, commit no excesses in your religion; nor say of God anything but the truth. The Messiah Jesus son of Mary was (no more than) a Messenger of God, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from Him; so believe in God and His Messengers. Say not "Trinity": desist! It will be better for you: for God is One: Glory be to Him! (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is God as a Disposer of affairs. (Qur'an 4:171) They do blaspheme who say: God is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them. (Qur'an 5:73) From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia: Islamic view of Jesus Islam holds Jesus (Arabic: عيسى `Īsā) to have been a messenger and a prophet of God and the Messiah (The concept of prophecy in Islam is broader than Judaism and Christianity since Muslims distinguish between "messengers" and "prophets". Unlike prophets, messengers are assured of success. All messengers are prophets but not vice versa) [1] According to the Qur'an, Jesus was one of God's (Arabic Allah) most beloved messengers, a precursor to Muhammad [2], and was sent to guide the Children of Israel. (...) The Various Names of Jesus in the Qur'an· Kalimatullaah meaning "God's Word", mentioned in the original text of 3:45 · ruhun minhu meaning a "a spirit from Him", mentioned in 4:171 · al-Masih meaning "The Messiah" mentioned eleven times. · Nabi meaning "prophet" mentioned in 29:30 · Rasul meaning "envoy, messenger, apostle [of God]" mentioned in the Qur'an 4:157, 5:75 · Ibn Maryam, Isa ibn Maryam meaning "son of Mary" or "Jesus son of Mary" mentioned thirty three times. This expression appears only once in Gospels. EI mentions a source [3] that considers the name came from the Church of Ethiopia after the return of the second group of emigrants. However, traditions report that the name was in use before that time as the emigrants had to recite Surah of Maryam (Q19) to confirm their belief in Jesus and avoid the charge brought against them by the Meccan envoys who wanted the emigrants to be refused asylum in Abyssinia. · Min al-muqarrabin meaning "among those who are close to God", later explained by the fact of his "ascension" mentioned in the Qur'an 3:45 · Wadjih, meaning "worthy of esteem in this world and the next". EI quotes al-Baydawi who explains that Jesus is on earth a prophet and in Heaven an intercessor; mentioned in the Qur'an 3:45. · Mubarak, meaning "blessed" explained by EI as "a source of benefit for others, probably a bringer of barakah."; mentioned in the Qur'an 19:31. · Qawl al-haqq, meaning "sure word". · Abd Allah, meaning "Servant of God". EI states that Abd literally means "slave", but in theological terms it means "the creature". Man is not only the "servant" of God but also his property. In the Qur'an, unlike the Bible, the angels are also called Abd and the basic meaning of adoration is found, with various nuances, in all derived meanings. It is also interesting to note that the Didache, one of the oldest writings of primite Christianity, styles Jesus as Servant of God about six times. EI, pointing out that Qur'an insists that the status of Jesus was no more than that of a created being, a mortal. EI doesn't agree with Ledit[4] who interprets the meaning of this term in the Judaeo-Christian sense and argues that "Everywhere in the Qur'an the word means a being created by God and subject to Him." (...) Muslims do not believe 'Isa (Jesus) is God (in Arabic: Allah), nor was he the "begotten" Son of God but rather only a man. This differs from most Christian denominations (Unitarians excluded) that believe Jesus to be the begotten Son of God and/or God. Muslims believe Jesus to be a righteous Prophet and indeed acknowledge that his relationship with God was special. The Qur'an only rejects the use of the word "begotten" when used to describe this special relationship Jesus had with God. "Begetting" is by definition is having an offspring with characteristics of the parent. Muslims view such an act as undignifying to the majesty of God and an act of polytheism. They also believe that God is the Judge, that He does not die, thus no son is needed to carry out his work as He will not grow old nor die.[5] And they say: Allah has taken to himself a son. Glory be to Him; rather, whatever is in the heavens and the earth is His; all are obedient to Him. „ —Qur'an, 2:116 “ Wonderful Originator of the heavens and the earth! How could He have a son when He has no consort, and He (Himself) created everything, and He is the Knower of all things. „ —Qur'an, 6:101 “ Certainly they disbelieve who say: Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary. Say: Who then could control anything as against Allah when He wished to destroy the Messiah son of Mary and his mother and all those on the earth? And Allah's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is between them; He creates what He pleases; and Allah has power over all things. „ —Qur'an, 5:17 (...) O followers of the Book! do not exceed the limits in your religion, and do not speak (lies) against Allah, but (speak) the truth; the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary is only a messenger of Allah and His Word which He communicated to Mary and a spirit from Him; believe therefore in Allah and His messengers, and say not, Three. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one Allah; far be It from His glory that He should have a son, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His, and Allah is sufficient for a Protector. „ —Qur'an, 4:171 (...) And when Allah said: O Jesus, I am going to terminate the period (or give you death or take you back) and cause you to ascend unto Me and purify you of those who disbelieve and make those who follow you above those who disbelieve to the day of resurrection; then to Me shall be your return, so l will decide between you concerning that in which you differed. „ —Qur'an, 3:55 (...) And when Allah will say: O Jesus son of Mary! did you say to men, Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah he will say: Glory be to Thee, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it; Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things. I did not say to them aught save what Thou didst enjoin me with: That serve Allah, my Lord and your Lord, and I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but when Thou didst cause me to die, Thou wert the watcher over them, and Thou art witness of all things. „ —Qur'an, 5:116-117 And peace on me (Jesus) on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life. —Qur'an, 19:33
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch11.htm#God +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Subject Matter of Sacred Scripture
This table summarizes certain features of what we may have perceived in Sacred Scripture thus far. Naturally there are going to be individual differences and peculiar obscurities to each one of us. Nevertheless a communal grasping of the doctrine is possible through our rational self. The chart may be read for greater comprehension from bottom up. The following discussion illustrates specifics which may be related to the chart in order to see the representatives of doctrine in our life. Upon reflection and instruction we become aware that the Three Testaments contain a progressively more ideal religious ethics that govern our daily transactions. The Old Testament's Ten Commandments are blunt and proscriptive: only a barbarous nation would allow its citizens to murder, rob, libel, and commit adultery. Only individuals in a grossly degenerate state would try to justify violations of the Ten Commandments as good and decent. The New Testament's Commandment is infinitely more sophisticated, civilized, subtle: only a few individuals have been able to adhere to it in a consistent way -- the angelic spirits among us, the saints and heroes, the genuine altruists. Even so, the Third Testament's Commandments appear infinitely more radical and subtle than the New Testament Commandment for few people can stand to even read them! The Commandments of Sacred Scripture are thus arranged in three successive degrees of apparent difficulty so that the Second appears infinitely more difficult to obey than the First, and the Third is infinitely more difficult to obey than the Second. This is an external appearance of Sacred Scripture and represents the impossibility of fulfilling the commandments of Sacred Scripture of our own efforts. A person who appears to be fulfilling the Commandments of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture is yet infinitely far from fulfilling the Commandment of the New Testament Sacred Scripture, which is that we have love and goodwill towards others. We all know the truth that our intentions and emotional reactions come and go within us at their pleasure: our understanding and reasoning has merely a veto power over them so that they do not break out in overt deeds. Yet the New Commandment asserts in its literal sense that we are evil and damnable because of these involuntary impulses within us. Our will is helpless to prevent evil thoughts and emotions and yet we are guilty for them. If our external rational be consulted here it would say that this is unfair; but the rational is not to be consulted. Rather we must wait patiently for illustration from the Lord. Then we can see that far from being unfair, it is Divine Love and Wisdom having us in sight and providence. You may like to read Rev. Ray Silverman's application of the Ten Commandments to one's daily interactions with others. Please click back to continue here. When we consider all Three Testaments together, in a series, so that after our journey from Old, to New, to Third, we now are given to journey back from Third, to New, to Old, we at last are given to fulfill the Commandments of Sacred Scripture to its fullest. In order to prepare ourselves for this holy journey, back to the East, as it were, it is necessary to study the sense of the letter of the Third Testament so as to draw out spiritual doctrines to guide us in our approval or disapproval of our daily transactions. Afterwards, we need to strive to understand the interior sense of these doctrines by confirming them in our religious self-inspection. Then at last we will have fulfilled the Commandments of Sacred Scripture. In this journey we reproduce, as in an image, the Lord's Own glorification. His Journey as the Word of God, and as the Word made flesh, and as the Word transfigured and uplifted, is the pattern we are given to follow in our own regeneration by the Lord. The arena for our journey of regeneration is our mind -- our changing thoughts, reasonings, reactions, emotions, strivings, affections, and perceptions, in short, our daily transactional exchanges with others. Religious ethics is a branch of theistic psychology that helps us become objective and practical about our inner life with the motive to judge our transactions. It requires the method of self-exploration and self-investigation. Forensic tools must be used to unmask our pretenses and catch our deceits. We are helped by the knowledge in faith that we are guilty in every case that comes up! Our task is to prove it, to confirm it as-if of our own free will. We may prepare for this task by studying the methodology of religious ethics given us in the sense of the letter of the Third Testament. We may illustrate this process by considering the manner in which the will and the understanding relate to each other. This topic is treated of everywhere in the Third Testament. For this example we may consider Numbers 478-500 in Conjugial Love where we are given a spiritual-psychological analysis of the kinds and degrees of adulteries we perform. As we study these numbers we are not only given a list of the adulteries but also a method of reasoning by which to identify them in us. It is required that we strive to understand this legalese language even so far as to be able to use it against ourselves so as to better convict. Under the impulse of this motivation we can learn to understand this language and experience the delights attendant to the acquisition of such mastery. To aid in this task we may use models and diagrams, lists, tables, and charts. By way of illustration we may take Number 490 which reveals some of the operations of the will and understanding in the domain of our adulteries. It is written: "Now, as the marriage of good and truth has been treated of in the First Part of this work, and as many things were there adduced respecting the will and the understanding, and respecting the various attributes and predicates of each, which as I think are perceived even by those who had not thought distinctly about the understanding and the will (for human reason is such that it understands truths from the light of them, even though it has not distinguished them before), therefore, in order that the distinctions of the understanding and of the will may be more clearly perceived I will here present some truths, to the end that it may be known of what quality adulteries of the reason or the understanding are, and after that of what quality adulteries of the will are. The following may serve for the cognizance of them." (Conjugial Love, 490) There follows a list of four things, but this Number is marked as the tenth in a series of eighteen things. We may first draw an outline of the eighteen propositions and sub-propositions, as is given in the Table of Contents to Conjugal Love drawn up by the translator or editor. A related activity for study is to extract propositions wherever they can be noticed and to transform them into a language of our own thinking and reasoning, so as to better to insure that we understand them with our own intelligence and are able to instruct others concerning them. As an illustration of this activity let us take up the four sub-propositions presented in Number 490 which regard the nature of the interaction between our will and our understanding. In this exercise it is helpful to remember that the will represents the affective domain: that is, the good of love and its attendant affections, strivings, and motives, while the understanding represents the cognitive domain: that is, the truth of faith and its attendant thoughts, reasonings, principles, and value ideals.
Seeing Through Sacred Scripture
The external, physical body of Sacred Scripture is finite and appears to us today in the form of ordinary printed books. As we read a chapter, verse, or phrase in the positive bias attitude, we are presented with a natural-historical content that we can picture with material ideas in our natural imagination or automatic self. For instance, a verse in the New Testament Sacred Scripture says that "He send the rain upon the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). From the physical content of this verse we can derive material ideas such as: that God is a He; that He is the Giver of rain; that there is rain; that we get rain because He sends it; that we all get rain from Him even when we are unjust in our dealings with others; that we can be either just or unjust. These are material ideas or implications drawn from the physical sense of the verse. Through the method of correspondence revealed and taught in the Third Testaments (that is, the Writings of Swedenborg) our rational is empowered to see through the external-natural sense of the verse, and into its spiritual interiors. This occurs when we are told what the spiritual meaning is of "rain," "God sending rain," and "the unjust and the just." When we read Sacred Scripture our natural, automatic self sees its historical, physical things; but our rational-spiritual self sees its spiritual things. Whenever water is mentioned in Sacred Scripture (and there are hundreds of passages) it is mentioned in some particular form: rain, river, ocean, ice, flood, spring rain, autumn rain, well, fountain, and so on, as well as specific activities in connection with water: drinking it, washing with it, not having enough of it, changing it into wine, gathering it into one place, and so on. In all these passages Sacred Scripture is actually discussing Divine Truth and the influx of Divine Truth into people where it shows as understanding, intelligence, thinking, reasoning, and all the other cognitive operations of our mind. Each specific reference to water in some form and associated with some specific activity, signifies some specific intellectual operation. By collecting all the passages of Sacred Scripture that discuss water, and interpreting them in accordance with revealed correspondences, we are gaining many details regarding the true but hidden operations of our intellectual apparatus. The verse we are considering thus means, spiritually, that God is the source of all truth in our understanding, in our ability to reason, and that all people receive this ability, both those who have religion and those who deny it. We shall quote from a number of passages illustrating this principle of analysis. The passages were culled from Potts' well known Concordance of the Writings of Swedenborg: (the numbers refer to the location of the paragraphs in the Arcana Coelestia, a 12 vol. work by Swedenborg) (24) "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it distinguish between the waters and the waters" (Genesis 1:6) ... The knowledges in the internal man are called 'the waters above the expanse'; and the scientifics of the external man, 'the waters under the expanse!" (27) "These knowledges (in the external memory) are 'the waters gathered together in one place,' and 'are called seas' (vers. 9,10). (28) 'Waters' in Sacred Scripture=Knowledges and scientifics. (57) 'The waters going out of the sanctuary' (Ezekiel 47:12) =the life and memory of the Lord. (=the truths which confer intelligence). (382) 'To wander to drink waters' (Amos 4:8) = to seek for what is true. (680) 'Water' (John 4) = the spiritual things of faith. (847) 'The waters had receded from upon the earth, in going and returning' (Genesis 8:3) = fluctuations between truth and falsity. (2240) 'They found no waters' (Jeremiah 14:3) = no knowledges of truth. (2702) 'The afflicted and the needy seek waters, and there are none' (Isaiah 41:17) = the desolation of truth (= those who long for the knowledges of good and truth. 10227). (4926) 'The waters of the lower fish-pool' (Isaiah 22:9) = the traditions by means of which they have made breaches in the truths of Sacred Scripture. (7322) 'Stretch thy hand over the waters of Egypt' (Exodus 7:19) = the exercise of spiritual power over the falsities which are infesting. (8368) 'There were twelve springs of water' (Exodus 15:27) = truths in all abundance. (9468) 'The waters of separation and expiation' (Numbers 19:6) = purification and withdrawal from evils and falsities by means of truths and goods from Sacred Scripture. (10242) 'When entering the Tent... they shall wash with waters' (Exodus 30:20) = (when in) worship (there must be) purification by means of the truths of faith.
These passages are only a few of the many listed and it is not possible to fully understand them without reading the explanations that go with them; nevertheless, the reader may have an idea from these as to the amazing details that the method of correspondences allows us to extract from Sacred Scripture on any one subject. It is evident to anyone who studies the Writings of Swedenborg that in Sacred Scripture there is to be found an unlimited source of information concerning the self in our dual citizenship, that is, our external-natural self and our internal-spiritual self-. It is also evident that these correspondences are not arbitrary but derive from the organic connection between the two worlds of our citizenship. The Writings of Swedenborg teach a method of rational picturing so that phrases and words of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scripture Sacred Scripture can be seen in their interiors. Through this method the phrases and words of Sacred Scripture become windows and doors into the other world we also live in. The interiors we see in all Sacred Scripture are also the interiors of ourselves. The details we see there constitute the science and knowledge of ourselves and our life situation. Theistic psychology is the psychology in the positive bias which the Writings of Swedenborg unfold for our rational understanding. The religious psychologist acknowledges that though we must be empiricists, yet we cannot discover the spiritual facts about ourselves by ourselves using only physical methods of measurement. Instead, we must receive them through revelation in Sacred Scripture. Swedenborg reports that through his spiritual communications he was able to discover that the most ancient cultures on this planet were in conscious communication with their departed ancestors who came to them as angels in their meditations and dreams. Their ancestors from the afterlife appeared to them in their spiritual bodies, which resembled their former physical bodies in outward appearance. In this way they were instructed by them regarding their ideas of nature, God, heaven, hell, and the inner life of memory, morality, and feeling. These ancient wise people were thus able to read in natural events their spiritual significance and origin. They did this through a perception of correspondences which came to them by intuition. They thus had the law inscribed in their hearts; that is, they did not have to accumulate knowledges by education and science. Instead, they knew by instinct anything they wanted to know. Subsequent cultures gradually lost this inner ability as people insisted more and more to know from the external senses alone. Eventually all direct, conscious connection with the other world was lost. As a result, a written Word had to be given to humankind and all knowledges had to be learned through education and the accumulation of scientific discoveries. Nevertheless, the science of correspondences was retained in shredded form in many subsequent religions, Sacred Scriptures, and mythologies. Today, some of this knowledge is still evident in poetic and metaphoric language. Theistic psychology offers the possibility of a partial return to that state in which we can once again understand the natural in terms of the spiritual. This return is now possible because the Writings of Swedenborg give us a complete rational system of correspondences of Sacred Scripture. The religious psychologist now has the new ability of investigating and researching the facts of our dual citizenship. Because we acknowledge that we cannot discover these facts by ourselves, we need to be given a method by which these facts can be discovered and applied to human welfare. Yet we must remain empiricists: we cannot merely accept the authority of a "seer" or "prophet." We need to confirm every fact through our own confirmations. This is Good News, indeed, for the scientist! See our work on Scientific Dualism.
The Secret Code of Correspondences in the Bible
Theistic psychology works through the methodology the positive bias. This approach was meticulously practiced by Emanuel Swedenborg in all his scientific, philosophic, theological, and personal literature. These are available in English translation of his many published and unpublished writings, including letters, drafts, and personal diaries not meant for publication by the author. We estimate from public libraries records in the United States that he must be among the top five all time writers in the history of the world with several hundred titles to his name. His books, though not in entirety, appear in the holdings of most public libraries in the English speaking world. These books for the most part have been published and sold or donated to the libraries by the Swedenborg Foundation of New York, established in 1850 by a few people who felt strongly that Swedenborg's books ought to be made available to anyone who was willing to accept them as serious scientific and theological writings by an enlightened man. The Foundation also produces multi-media works in films, television productions, art, and so on) which strive to bring to the public's attention that in Swedenborg's ideas the world may draw influences which are positive, creative, and altruistic. The Foundation has gathered historical documents and literature extracts from many famous literary and political figures who have declared to be greatly influenced by Swedenborg's writings. Selecting from that list, we may mention here the following: Honore de Balzac, Charles Baudelaire, Hector Berlioz, Hon. John Bigelow, William Blake, Robert Browning, Elisabeth Browning, Thomas Carlyle, Andrew Carnegie, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir. A. Conan Doyle, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Benjamin Franklin, Johann Goethe, Heinrich Heine, Elbert Hubbard, Victor Hugo, all three James's, Abraham Lincoln, J. Ramsay MacDonald, Maurice Maeterlinck, Horace Mann, Czeslaw Milosz, John Frederick Oberlin, Sir Isaac Pitman, Edgar Allen Poe, Ezra Pound, George Sand, Friedrich Schelling, George Bernard Shaw, Sundar Singh, August Sdrindberg, Daisetz Suzuki, Henry D. Thoreau, H.G. Wells, John Wesley, William Butler Yeats. This partial list is sufficient to show that the documentation of Swedenborgian biographers and scholars establish the fact that the positive bias in scientific and literary thinking has been steadily forming within the rational of the English speaking peoples since 1757, the year identified by Swedenborg as marking a new beginning for humankind. This was the year during which he was given by Divine intervention to be the wit ness from earth to this mind-shattering event. In that year took place the long awaited Christian hope of the Second Coming of Christ. Only, it was missed by everybody on this planet -except Baron Swedenborg, Swedish Nobleman and reputed European Scientist-Engineer. Swedenborg then took down on paper everything he witnessed. Being an impeccably honest and intellectually meticulous genius, Swedenborg produced several hundred titles, or about 50 volumes in modern English print, telling of what he saw and experienced during 27 years of conscious dual citizenship; that is, he was living simultaneously in both this world and the world of the afterlife. These volumes demonstrate to the rationally inquisitive person that the Second Coming of Christ was meant to be in the rational of each human being on earth. The Second Advent begins a new organic evolution in the consciousness of the human race. This new organic growth of the mind will undoubtedly be discovered by future researchers in neurosciences. A similar new beginning had occurred before in the history of civilization, when the separation of the organ of the will and the organ of the understanding took place: this spiritual event in the formation of the human mind was followed by the growth of a new brain called the cortex, which in humans, now outweighs the old brain called the cerebellum. The cortex is the new seat for human rationality and freedom. Since the Second Coming of Christ is a rational new organ of the mind, it is likely that the changes in the human brain will not be as gross as before, but will take biochemical and genetic forms that adequately represent the subtlety and mathematical complexity of this new spiritual organ in our mind. Whatever the case may be as to its physical symptoms, the psychological significance of this new era is immediately obvious and capable of being utilized for creative and altruistic purposes. Because our human destiny was carried out by this eminent ambassador, the writings of Swedenborg constitute a common property to all mankind. The historical and intellectual preparation has now been going on for more than two centuries. Many of our most influential thinkers have confessed being tremendously influenced by these writings and have used the ideas contained in them for personal understanding, creativity, and hope. Their ideas have filtered down and across the echelons of society. And so it is inevitable that ideas from the writings of this man are bringing about a complete and total revolution in all fields and departments of human endeavor. Theistic psychology is another instance of the effect of this new rational self which each of us is given by the infinite grace of God. Until this rational was granted, there was no possible way of forging a unity between science and religion in the modern world. This modern world was made possible through the First Coming of Christ which liberated humankind from spiritual infestations or disease. As history instructs, the nations of the world at the time of the Roman Empire were moral barbarians. Civilization was destroying itself through the capacity of men to make greater wars. This cruelty and materialistic outlook were the result of spiritual insanity caused by possessions and ii stations from the hells. The Bible is a record of such possessions, though this was not known except for a few openly mentioned cases in the New Testament Sacred Scripture. But in fact, once the secret code of "correspondences" is revealed in the new rational, it becomes apparent that the Bible for the most part was written in a double language: one for the natural intelligence, and another for the new rational. In other words, the historical events and sceneries depicted in the Bible were inspired and preserved by Divine intervention; this minute selection or Divine editing, was accomplished for the specific purpose of creating a written-historical record of spiritual events. This could not be believed logically if it had been an arbitrary code revealed to or by one person. Such personal revelations have been advanced by many people and will no doubt continue to be. These personal claims at revelation are believed only by those who are willing to be persuaded by something less than one's own authority Swedenborg explains that we cannot use anything that has not been personally acquired for oneself. The only ideas and ideals that we appropriate internally are those which serve our loves or affections. This means that whatever we experience as a result of external stimulus is not our own, does not penetrate, will be lost; external stimulus means that we do things out of gain, reputation, or fear; internal stimulus means that we do things out of desire, love, worship, adoration, affection, striving, and so on. The self-actualized people are those who live mostly from inner stimulus; hence they report that their lives are full, worth-while, happy, hopeful, and successful. By contrast, in their earlier stages of maturity they were anxious, worried, insecure, and conformist. Through normal mental growth, we act and experience more and more from inner impulse. What has been merely surface style and family habit now become personal expression. We come to discard many old beliefs, many old ways of doing things; but as well, we come to like more and more of the old things that we do retain. And so, these old things, which at first were external, now become inner impulse, inner habit, inner life. More and more of the unique genetic pattern of every individual comes outward and is expressed. Life in us bubbles with ever increasing force and wonderment. When we accept a revelation or life perspective out of another's authority we cannot really honor it. We are just false witnesses and eventually we will go whoring after someone else's authority and cult. But when we accept some new idea from our own authority we can confirm it over and over again: we can prove it, we can support it, we don't have hesitancies about it, we can teach it to others, we can discover new places it applies to, and so on. This in other words, is the approach of science, engineering, and arts and crafts. From apprentice we must evolve into master; we have our own authority to rely on on matters of decision. The Christian Church established by the First Coming of Christ nurtured a belief system that has been called "blind faith." But this blind faith has now been healed through the Second Coming of Christ in the rational, so that we may have a rational faith rather than merely a blind one. In the positive bias we admit that without this new rational we cannot break out from this world and must continue to be ignorant of our dual citizenship. However, with the positive bias freely adopted as a good method of procedure, we can experience and witness the birth and growth of rational faith, with its many benefits for individuals and communities. This rational faith is yet rational; that is, it proceeds like a scientist and scholar, on its own authority relying on logic, research, and evidence. From this cumulative perspective we easily discard false prophets and falsities that come to our attention. And so, this is the significance of the Writings of Swedenborg, that they teach a system of ideas that turns everyone into a scientist-scholar-engineer-practitioner. There is no cultism or blind faith permitted. Rational faith, as found in the Writings of Swedenborg, is therefore the unification of science, morality, and religion. It is thus a faith universal, for all humankind, such as there once existed on this planet, and still exists on other "earths in the universe." It is satisfying to those who are in rational faith that the Bible is the source of it, rather than some entirely new and alien system. Besides its harmony with our moral and aesthetic sensibilities and standards, the Bible is an old familiar object to many many generations. Its histories and allegories, its poems and aphorisms, its proverbs and drama, are all familiar to numerous people over thousands of years. And so we have evolved complex affections that tie us to the Bible, each of us in slightly different ways. So it is satisfying now to discover that these familiar people, places, and events are allegoric representatives of the great immensity of our own mind. We have a Land of Canaan in our mind. We have a river Jordan. We have deserts and cities in our mind. We are at one time Abraham, at one time Ishmael, at one time Joseph sold into slavery and at another time Joseph made king. We are also Nicodemus, and Thomas, and Peter, and Gabriel, and the Devil. We are all these things because these things are really about the spiritual world. The historical events that have been-recorded in the-Bible occurred and were historicalized so that they can serve as a source of authority for our new rational, a new organ foreseen by God Who prepared for its reception. One may wonder at such a grandiose drama: God preparing daily, historical events for many centuries in faraway lands so that prophets may be inspired to record them * so that blind faith can develop, so that later, rational faith could be built upon it by opening up the secret code in which it was written all along, unbeknownst to the prophets or the believers! Yes, one may wonder at the fantastic nature of this. Yet after we study the matter and develop our new rational a little bit, the matter no longer looks improbable or fantastic. Consider how improbable and fantastic moonwalks, television, and hot showers would be to ancient philosophers and scientists. We can see that these artifacts are not improbable and fantastic, suddenly come upon, like in a fairy story. We can see that our technical advances have been "advances" and we can confidently retrace the steps of our discoveries. There is no hocus pocus or denus ex machine: by the sweat of our brow did we arrive at them, communally. So we feel that we own our technologies: they were not given to us by revelators, magicians, and ells. This feeling of ownership is essential for our freedom and rationality, for our very humanness. And so this is precisely what God is again accomplishing in our new growth, our new powers: we need to feel that they are ours, that we developed them cumulatively and communally. It is not fantastic and improbable that the Bible be the foundation for the new rational intellect since the Bible is unique in that so many of us are tied to it through our inner affections, our standards for what is good and true and desirable. As well, we soon begin to realize that this secret code in which the Bible was written is not an arbitrary code God picked to give us as a strange new system of thought, feeling, and reasoning. Rather, this secret code is in actuality the origin and source of our long derived system of thinking throughout the nations on this planet. When this secret, universal code is not known the Bible cannot be acceptable to all peoples. Every people has its own culture and system of ideas and traditions. Those who have evolved from a cousin stock feel themselves independently secure; they don't wish to be told that God selected some other set of traditions and truths and their own is to be discarded, having been a fake all along. This is both unfair and irrational. And so, the Bible has not become universal, only international and cross-cultural. Those who hope from blind faith that the Bible be accepted by all, do so from ignorance of its secret code. Those who have studied this secret code through the Writings of Swedenborg can see clearly that the code it is written in is universal, not historical and national. The importance of the Bible is not that there was a people called Israel, that Abraham was its patriarch, that they had a land and kings, that they were dispersed among the nations, and so on. This is merely local history. But it becomes universal science when it is discovered that the "people of Israel" is a secret name for the "Church within us", that "Abraham" is a secret name for "our inner self", that "patriarch" is a secret name for "religion", that "land" is a secret name for "doctrines" or "teachings" or "knowledge", that "king" is a secret name for "truths", that "being dispersed among the nations" is a secret name for "having false religious beliefs", and so on. Viewed from this perspective the Bible is not at all sectarian, not even religious, if by that one means some denomination. Rather, the Bible is now a source of knowledge, a source of facts about the inner world of every human being, without ever an exception. All Sacred Scriptures constitute the source of knowledge for theistic psychology. It is not possible to discover a single fact about the inner world of the afterlife except from these sources. This is not a matter of authority. We are not elevating the authority of the Bible or of Swedenborg over some other person such as the prophets of Islam or the sages of Buddhism. It's just that no other books in the history of the world exist that were written in this secret code. This is a matter that can easily be proven once the code is known. This secret code is called "correspondences" because it is the code that the most ancient cultures on this planet were given when learning the ancient science of correspondences. This code and knowledge was subsequently forgotten or taken away by Divine intervention for reasons that can be made clear and are made clear in the Writings of Swedenborg. Through his specialty given travels in the afterlife, Swedenborg was able to converse with those in the afterlife. He discovered that all those in the afterlife are the people who depart from their physical bodies upon death`: end find themselves resuscitated a few hours later in the spirit world, possessing to their surprise, a spiritual body that appears externally to be very similar to the physical body. The resuscitated people then undergo various growth experiences which by the law and order of the spirit world takes them eventually to a final residence in a society of happiness called Heaven or a society of bestiality called hell. Those who end up in one of the many heavenly societies do so by discarding all things of falsity and evil; this discarding process is slow and painful and involves much personal struggle in the company of others. However, when the process is complete, there remains in the individual personality only those loves and pleasures that are permitted by law in the heavenly societies. Those who end up in the hellish societies do so by willingly and insistently discarding heavenly pleasures and powers, and willingly and insistently confirming as desirable only those pleasures and powers that are in accordance to the law of the hellish societies. These two loves and pleasures are antagonistic to each other, hence they are separated in our final development. God provides for the law and reality on both sides. These matters are clearly and precisely explained in all the Writings of Swedenborg. The most ancient peoples had a conscious relation to the heavenly inhabitants through their ancestors who appeared to them in their dreams, their meditations, and their observations of nature through the secret code of correspondences. This code allowed the ancients to observe a natural event in their environment and see the spiritual or real cause of it. If a bird suddenly appeared, they could tell from the flight and from the type of bird what was happening in the spiritual regions of their own minds. They thus saw a unity between the external world and their inner world of thoughts and feelings. They instantly knew what anything meant through this code. Swedenborg reports that this code is a practical reality for everyone in the afterlife. For instance, the inhabitants of heaven do not have to labor in the fields, grow food, build houses, invent transportation devices. These things are instantaneously there whenever they feel a need or desire for it. The inhabitants of hell cannot make or invent anything on their own: no matter how hard they labor on their own they cannot build a single house or make a wearable garment. This is not because they have no intelligence but because intelligence cannot be used materially in the afterlife. People in the hellish societies use their intelligence in spiritual or irrational ways. For instance, they may plot, they may harangue, they may travel, they may discuss, they may seduce, persuade, mentally torture, fantasize, and so and so on. These are their actual occupations and daily strivings and pleasures; the external world around them then grows automatically into the correspondences of whatever moral, psychological, spiritual acts they perform on the inside. If they stop to plot revenge in their mind against someone they hate, suddenly they find themselves in dark caves with others who have a similar desire; bats and snakes and disgusting crawling things appear and form the external world. If then they stop plotting and feel they want to raise an army, they find themselves in some vaguely familiar city, with some vaguely familiar people, or strangers, sitting in some dark, dirty room and engaging in disgusting activities. This is the science of correspondences in the afterlife: it is the creation of one's external world through the confirmed loves of our heart and imagination. Similarly, the inhabitants of heaven are surrounded by gorgeous natural correspondences to their pure moral altruistic loves for the whole human race. As they are engaged in pleasing one another, they find themselves in pleasant gardens, in fabulous jeweled cities, in horseless carriages that take them quickly to where they want to see others. When they study Sacred Scripture, which is the inner meaning of-the Bible (not the historical events), they experience great revelations, wonderful discoveries, new perspectives; these types of feelings instantly transform their external environment into lush gardens, sumptuously set tables with delicious foods harmonious performances of song and dance, new books and schools, non-competitive games and exhibits, new techniques and sciences, and many many more, to infinity. This is then the truly great significance of the fact that the Bible was written in the language of correspondences. This knowledge is now newly made available once again to-humankind on this earth. That is the birth of the new rational faith which is available to all humanity in and through the Writings Sacred Scripture. Now we may wonder, first, why did the human race lose the knowledge of correspondences, and second, what can we-do with it now. The answer as to why we lost correspondences is told through the code in the story of the Fall in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, through the story of the Flood, through the story of the dispersion of Israel, through the story of Daniel's visions and adventures, through the story of John's visions in the New Testament Sacred Scripture, and through many more events described in the Bible. The secret code taught in the Writings Sacred Scripture allows us to decode and interpret exactly what each element in the stories indicate about the evolution of our mind, that is, the state of our dual citizenship. The Fall, the Flood, the Dispersion, the destructions -- these are natural correspondences or resultants of inner spiritual events. The-natural events occurred by Divine law and order since they signified the spiritual reality; nothing ever happened except what represented and corresponded with the people's inner reality of thoughts and feelings. The Writings Sacred Scripture are thus not religious revelations alone, but rational-scientific disclosures as well. The new rational in the positive bias method may discover the real nature of the universe. God is not only the foundation of religion but a fact of reality, and hence a scientific fact. God's Will and Power is not a philosophy or belief, but the structure and framework of actuality in time and nature, and in human mind and eternity (see Section xx). How can we make use of this new knowledge? Theistic psychology is the study of how this new rational understanding and knowledge may be harnessed in accordance with God's law and order. Its promise is infinite.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch13.htm#subject-Sacred-Scripture ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Extracting the Inner Sense of Deuteronomy Chapter 1This Table is based on Payne (1881) available at: http://www.biblemeanings.info/Bible/Deuteronomy/ch1.htm DEUTERONOMY 1 Chapter 1 Verses 1-8.
A General Summary.
http://www.biblemeanings.info/Bible/Deuteronomy/ch1.htm 7.0.11 Moral Intelligence and Evolution The three levels of moral intelligence are indicated by the three stages of Divine revelation in Sacred Scripture. This is a principle that I refer to as "biography recapitulates history and evolution" (see Section xx). In other words individual mental growth follows the same pattern as the development of human civilizations in the course of history. There are three major evolutionary steps marked historically by the giving of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings of Swedenborg. These three collections of books form an unbroken series of scientific revelations that took thousands of years to deliver from God to the human mind. Each sub-unit of revelation marks the beginning of a new consciousness in humankind, and delivers the scientific information that fundamentally alters human understanding and perception, and through this, the rebuilding of a new human character that is celestial and immortal. The Old Testament level of moral intelligence is the rational perspective that individual human behavior has a universal significance in relation to God. This perspective ties the individual to God. It is the bottom line of spiritual life and growth. This is the idea that what I'm doing with my hands when I touch someone is of relevance to God. Or, the words that I'm saying out loud have a relationship to God. This knowledge makes me responsible to God and validates God's existence to me. Swedenborg points out that most of the Ten Commandments were already incorporated in the legal system of a number of nations prior to the event in on Sinai when God gave them to Moses, as recorded in the Old Testament. The Writings explain that the giving of the Ten Commandments by God Himself on Mount Sinai indicates a new consciousness about those laws, namely, that they are not merely secular laws of the land, but Divine Laws by Commandment (see Section 5.7). This is a totally new status for the prohibition against murder, theft, deception, or adultery. God is saying to humankind: These are Divine prohibitions and when one individual does these prohibited actions, it will be accounted as a spiritual sin with bad spiritual consequences in the afterlife. A new level of rational consciousness about God is introduced by the New Testament revelations. They raise the moral intelligence or consciousness of humankind by distinguishing between external behavior and mental behavior. The Old Testament stage of morality is reflected in our early years of development covering the first decade of life. Children are taught that God exists and that He knows and sees everything we do. God also punishes if we are bad and rewards if we are good. This is the bottom line of moral life and rational intelligence. Without this socialization process, the Writings say, humanity could not survive. It also instills a basic rational framework giving meaning to life and the world, linking the individual to God, the afterlife, and immortality. Refer to the following chart.
But when we enter our second decade of life, become teenagers and adolescents, we begin to examine the rational implications and assumptions of our beliefs about God. Now we can experience a radical shift of focus from external behavior to internal behavior. God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. This means that what I'm thinking and desiring and fantasizing and longing for are not private behaviors just in my mind. They are known to God, and therefore I'm a hypocrite if I behave publicly by obeying the commandments, but privately by disobeying them. A new height of moral reasoning is reached when I become rationally aware that my mental behavior is as crucial to God and to my immortality, as my overt behavior. Sometimes our reaction to this new realization is to reject God altogether because it's just too inconvenient to have this Super Being breathe down our necks all the time even when we are privately enjoying some fantasy or train of thought. What harm could there be in just thinking of an affair with that married woman, or just enjoying the fantasy that we steal the Crown Jewels or the Picasso worth 45 million dollars. Or what would be so wrong as to despise the street beggar whom we just tipped, or to earn our money illegally as long as we give a lot of it to charity. So we abandon God altogether and lapse into a moral level of zero. Why is that? The Writings demonstrate that secular moral philosophies that deny God do not establish a permanent moral character in immortality. non-theistic forms of morality remain in the outward portions of our character and do not survive the second death (see Section xx). When people are resuscitated a few hours after the death of the physical body, they begin a new life of immortality within the mental world (see Section xx). There are no external forms of authority and sanctions as in this world. The survival of society and the environment is no longer governed by the consequences of people's external behaviors in relation to each other and the environment. The old secular morality we had on this earth is of no use in the spiritual world. There is no conservation and sustained development of nature. There are no longer any evolutionary consequences to how society and individuals act toward one another. And so what is there to keep the individual from acting selfishly and unjustly? There are no rational reasons to do so in terms of the consequences. Therefore all secular morality drops away from the surface of one's character, and in its place, a new character emerges, the one that lay beneath the surface all along, but was not faced and dealt with consciously in the individual's life on earth. On the other hand, theistic morality enters the inward component of our character so that we can rely on it after the second death. The morality that is explicitly and consciously based on our relationship to God is permanent and enters our life of immortality. Hence, instead of giving up God altogether because it is too inconvenient to have Him snooping around in our mind, we can solidify our spiritual growth by adopting the New Testament level of thinking about God and mental behavior. This motivates us to put up effort in our character reformation (see Section xx). But we encounter much resistance. In the New Testament stage of our morality we can have an intention to reject our evil enjoyments and yet fail to do so over and over again. Clearly our desire to leave the bad behind is not deep enough so that other, more powerful desires, lead the way back to our evils and we seem never to be free of them. One reaction to this moral difficulty has been to develop legalistic justifications for the retention of evil enjoyments in our life. For instance, we might reassure ourselves that we are "saved" for heavenly life as long as our faith in God is pure and sincere. We tell ourselves that surely God will not throw us into hell just because we were human and weak and full of sin, as long as we show repentance after sinning, and as long as we keep love for God and neighbor in our hearts. But Swedenborg saw the consequences of such a justificatory faith. It doesn't sink deep enough into our character to survive the second death. The Writings reveal a new scientific morality that makes this understandable and takes us into the third and ultimate stage of spiritual development where we can see rationally why justificatory faith is powerless to defeat the deep corruption of our inward character, with which we are born by inheritance. In the Writings God has now revealed to humankind that moral reformation of the inherited character is only possible through a process of regeneration through temptations (see Section xx).What is it that enters the state of heaven or hell at our second death? It must be a pure character either way. No mixed character can survive either in heaven or in hell. Upon the first death, we awaken in the world of spirits where we undergo a series of significant experiences arranged for us by the Divine Psychologist (see Section xx). The purpose of the experiences is to have us discover who we really are on the inside and what our inmost loves are. These are the determining conditions for our life in immortality. Can we abandon every single evil enjoyment or hellish trait we still have after the first death? That's the question of importance. Some people can live by abandoning every heavenly trait. What's left is the unrelenting pursuit of their infernal loves, which are called cupidities and lusts. In these they now have their full life to eternity. Other people can live by abandoning every hellish trait. What's left is the unrelenting pursuit of heavenly loves, which are called rational loves because they are the result of a marriage in our mind between our rational thinking and altruistic motives. This way of thinking about our future in terms of what ruling loves we possess is now a new stage of moral thinking and reasoning. The morality at the level of the Writings (level 3) is a scientific understanding of how the mind works and what is its relation to heaven and hell. In this state of thinking and feeling we have come a long way from the two prior stages of morality. We are concerned about our overt behavior (as in level 1) as well as our mental behavior of intentions and enjoyments (level 2), but in addition, we can see that this is not a matter of our sin and its forgiveness by God through our faith and good intentions. We can see that God automatically forgives everything to everyone. Rather, it has to do with how willing we are to let God regenerate and reform our thoughts and feelings by giving us temptations (see Section xx). These refer to experiences God puts us through on a daily basis in which we are faced with a rational choice as to whether we are giving in to our evil enjoyment and motive, or whether we reject it because it is contrary to God and contrary to our future. When we enter this new stage of rational thinking we feel greatly empowered to resist our evil enjoyments. We realize that we have zero power to resist them from ourselves. We give this power to God and ask for it so that our effort to resist the temptation may be successful. Gradually, victory by victory, our character is basically changing. The old motives are blocked and rejected; the new motives are enhanced, implanted, and nourished by means of rational thinking and heavenly mental states God gives us as a foretaste of the real thing. The Writings tell us that salvation, or empowerment for heavenly life, consists of two steps to be made in this order:
This allows the process of regeneration to go on so that our character is rebuilt and will be ready for its second death. One cannot do good (step 2) without first shunning evils (step 1). People may think that the good they do can outweigh the bad they also do. But this way of thinking is a level 2 morality based on justification by faith by a Divine King who is pacified and forgives us. But this is not what sin is. God always already wants to forgive anyone anything. Why not? God is pure love and mercy and has no ill will or ill feelings towards His creation. He cannot be angered for He is perfect. He cannot forgive or not forgive, for He already has forgiven. The only reason God is not taking some people to heaven is because they refuse to go there. Heaven is in our mind where we can live in heavenly loves from God. It is open and free for anyone who wants to abide there. The great human tragedy is that there are so many of us who refuse, no matter what, to abandon their hellish loves and thoughts. Hence God is powerless to change their will without destroying them. Therefore God provides for their type of life in hell to eternity.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Repentance as the Gateway to the Interior Sense of Sacred Scripture
We have discussed the practice of a constantly vigilant and watchful religious self-inspection whose function it is to separate that which is our own worldly and earthly inclination, which is unclean, from that which is clean and holy and is with us from spirit and heaven. We are in the Ultimate Church within by virtue of our active repentance through which the regenerating person develops spiritually and advances deeper and deeper, or higher and higher, into the interior of Sacred Scripture, that is, the mind, which is the spirit. Let us recall that the Three Testaments of Sacred Scripture differ from each other in both the sense of the letter and in the interior senses according to the following Order: We should note here that we are not excluding any Sacred Scripture that was given as revelation to various nations and ethnic groups. Though all our examples and illustrations involve the Bible (Old and New Testament Sacred Scripture) and Swedenborg's Writings (Third Testament) this is because these are the revealed Scriptures we were born into and have formed our lives from birth onward.
The table above shows that our relationship to Sacred Scripture is various as to its different parts. In this section we are particularly concerned with our relationship to the interior senses of the Third Testament since the practice of religious self-inspection requires us to judge each mental process we observe in ourselves in relation to the visible Divine Human of the Lord, this being the interior sense of the Third Testament. We have already discussed the case with bird and hair with the following observations:
The question arises as to how we are to cooperate with the Lord in His work of regenerating us? We need to gain an understanding of the activity of repentance since it is the only method available to us for entering the life of the true Church. In this study and practice of religious self-inspection we gain knowledge of the content and dynamics of inner life, that is, we learn the psychology of the self. This message is given us in the Threefold Sacred Scripture as follows:
The question may now be considered as to how we are to cooperate with the Lord in His Work of regenerating us. We need to gain an understanding of the activity of repentance since it is the only method available to us for entering the life of the true Church. In this studying we need to practice religious self-inspection which is the same as getting to know the psychology of the self. To accomplish this we need to refrain from "consulting the rational," that is, the external rational built up through the physical senses, even as the Lord had to when He was a young Boy on earth (see Arcana Coelestia 2511). One error we can easily fall into is to assume that we already know what repentance is and that the problem is only to muster the self-discipline in order to accomplish the repentance. This error, if confirmed in practice, would "sew up the womb of Abimelech and all his household" in our inner life (Genesis 20:18). The result would be the impossibility of our entering heavenly life on earth and the consequent death of the Church within us. We can desist from this grave error when we reflect upon and confirm a distinction in degrees between the sense of the letter of the Third Testament, which is external rational, and the interior sense of the Third Testament, which is interior rational, which is spiritual and celestial. The external rational is not spiritual at all, but an abstracted natural, which is an intellectual process not yet free of the temporal and the local. This distinction can be understood only by reference to the distinction between our abstract knowledge of repentance and our observed activity of repentance. Only the constant practice of religious self-inspection in daily living can give us the information needed to undergo the activity of repentance, to empower it from mere abstract knowledge to confirmed, lived activity. And so as we study the Writings Sacred Scripture we need to draw out from its literal sense Doctrines of Faith that may be characterized as "spiritual-psychological" in content because these Doctrines deal with the self and the influences upon the self. These spiritual-psychological Doctrines of Faith, as applied to the actual self by each person, constitute the interior senses of the Third Testament. We should note here that we have greatly benefited from a publication called De Hemelsche Leer, written in the 1930s by a Dutch group of men through whose minds the Lord brought forth what we consider to be the Epistles for the New Church. Their central focus was to prove that the Work of the Writings called Doctrine Concerning the Sacred Scripture applies equally to the Writings Sacred Scripture themselves, and not just to the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. Without their insight and devotion, this essay and its content would still not exist on this earth. By way of illustration we may draw up lists of sub-activities within the general activity of repentance in daily living situations. To do this we need to follow general psychological principles, not the kind we make up from our external knowledge and rational understanding, but the kind that are patterned after the sense of the letter of the Third Testament. We may begin by considering where in our activity of repentance we are to locate the three degrees of Life as defined in Sacred Scripture. To guide us in our studying we shall refer to a type of diagram represented by three concentric circles, as follows: (For more on this type of diagram as a scientific methodology, you later can consult these two reports:
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch13.htm#repentance ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Threefold Order of the World and of Heaven
Sacred Scripture has
three senses, one within the other. The sense of the letter is compared
to a ruby or diamond; the correspondential sense within that is compared to
light that enlightens; and the inmost sense within that is compared to heat
that enkindles (see Doctrine Concerning the Sacred Scripture.,
42). This threefold relationship may be expressed in a diagram for
clearer comprehension, as follows:
The six steps joined by arrows indicate a cycle of study to be repeated endlessly in the life of men and women and angels. Step 1 constitutes the external study of Sacred Scripture such as becoming familiar with its historicals and scientifics. Step 2 constitutes the study of the first internal of Sacred Scripture such as the doctrinal drawn from the sense of the letter. Through this sense light is given by the Lord so that spiritual things regarding the goods and trues may be seen translucent and shining forth from the historicals, representatives, and scientifics in the literal sense of Sacred Scripture. Step 3 constitutes the study of the second internal of Sacred Scripture such as the recognition in oneself of the states of the Church or of the states of glorification the Lord underwent in all its series and order. These three steps are joined in the diagram by broken arrows to distinguish them from the last three steps. Steps 4, 5, and 6 are in the opposite direction from steps 1, 2, and 3. This relation is to indicate that the uses of Divine Truth by us is dependent upon adequate study and preparation in everyday living situations. As we regularly and continually practice religious self-inspection we are in fact performing steps 1,2, and 3 relative to Sacred Scripture. Only to the extent that is done, can we perform steps 4, 5, and 6 which constitute the genuine uses of Divine Truth. At
step 4 we are placed into the sphere of Heaven through angelic
affections. In this state of the Church in us we experience the
enkindling heat of love from the Lord into the Lord and toward the
neighbor. At step 3 we have gained an understanding of charity in life,
or the good of faith. From this practical understanding of Divine Truth
in our living situations we are enkindled with zeal to act from celestial
affections. Step 5 is thus the externalization of angelic affections; it
is the descent of the Heavenly Doctrine within us into our perceptions or
intuitions. Step 6 is the ultimate externalization (or descent) of Divine
Truth in our deeds and delights as heavenly uses on earth. Now
let us examine the way in which this 6-step process operates constantly as we
study the Threefold Testament of Sacred Scripture. We are not to think that
these steps are advanced by stages of life exclusively. Rather, all of us
as regenerating persons through the Lord's Second Advent, undergo the 6 steps
constantly in the various departments of our social, psychological, and
spiritual living. In this next table the Threefold Testament is drawn to correspond to the Threefold Heaven. As there are three senses to each of the three Testaments the diagram constitutes an "ennead matrix," which is to say, a "ninefold" relation. We thus have nine varieties of relationship to Sacred Scripture as there are nine types of degrees into which the societies of the Grand Human are organized.
There are 9 zones in this ennead matrix reflecting the three senses of the three Testaments. As well, each of the three Heavens has three regions: an outer region, an intermediate region, and an inmost region; these three regions correspond to the three Testaments. The 9 zones correspond to our states of relationship to Divine Truth in the activity of being regenerated by the Lord through His Second Advent. The first level (I) is represented by steps 1,2, and 3, which are the literal sense of the three Testaments. The second level (II) is represented by steps 4, 5, and 6, which are the correspondential sense of the three Testaments. The third level (III) is represented by the inmost or celestial sense of the three Testaments. The three levels (I, II, and III) correspond to ever more interior journeys into the three Heavens, or Sacred Scripture. The inmost relationship we can have with Divine Truth, or Sacred Scripture, is pictured in zone 9, a state in which we perceive the celestial sense of the Third Testament. This highest sense of Sacred Scripture deals with the arcana of the Lord in His visible Divine Human, the very source of all Divine Love, Wisdom, and Power in the universe and in the soul of the human race. Later, you may wish to study this notion of the ennead matrix and its applications in life: The Ennead Matrix of the Threefold Self: Affective, Cognitive, Sensorimotor.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch13.htm#order +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Ninefold Self and the Ninefold Sacred Scripture
We have
discussed the thesis that we have a ninefold or enneadic relationship to Sacred
Scripture, and that the regenerating person from the Lord undergoes these nine
varieties of spiritual states. The method through which we can cooperate, as-if
of ourselves, in this reformation of our character has been described as a
particular type of religious self-inspection whose purpose is to judge
ourselves in every single act, thought, or intention of our will and
understanding. We are continually to explore and examine our
thoughts, intentions, and reactions in order to observe and identify the many
varieties of our own proprial evils, and thereupon to cast out each one of them
by shunning further voluntary contact with them as sins against the Lord.
If this be done as a constant daily practice our movement through the 9 zones
becomes visible so that we may cooperate with the Lord freely, as-if of
ourselves. In order to obtain a still clearer comprehension of how we are to perform religious self-inspection, we may consider an ennead matrix: called the "ninefold self" which is patterned exactly upon the ninefold relationship we have to Sacred Scripture, as outlined before. This ninefold relationship stems from the order of degrees in which the Heavens are and which correspond exactly to the three senses of the three Testaments. It ought not to be thought that in these holy matters regarding our relationship to Divine Truth we are at liberty to invent or theorize whatever seems reasonable to us, as is the case in the various branches of science, philosophy, and theology. Instead we must always proceed from illustration given by the Lord when we study Sacred Scripture for the purpose of learning the scientifics of our own regeneration that we may better cooperate with the Lord as-if of ourselves. The ninefold self to be now presented originates from the pattern given to us by the organization of the three Testaments and their three senses as revealed in the Heavenly Doctrine. Since by Divine Order there are nine types of relationships we can have to Sacred Scripture, we are to think of the self as also being constructed of these nine types of organic structure. The following diagram helps us gain a clearer comprehension of the self's nine organic parts:
This table pictures a ninefold relation between the three parts of the self in successive degrees (horizontal dimension on the diagram) and in simultaneous degrees (vertical dimension) The three successive parts of the self correspond to the three successive states of the external church as portrayed in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, New Testament Sacred Scripture, and Third Testament, respectively. The Old Testament Sacred Scripture corresponds to our Natural Self. The New Testament Sacred Scripture corresponds to the Rational Self. The Third Testament corresponds to the Celestial Self. The simultaneous degrees are ordered from inmost (Affections) , through intermediates (Cognitions) to externals (Sensorimotor Delights & Products).
It should be
understood that the purpose of this and other diagrams is to help us make more
explicit and clearer the knowledge we acquire when we study Sacred Scripture
from a reverend sense of duty and love into the Lord. It would not be
possible to acquire an understanding of the holy things portrayed through these
diagrams solely by reading these explanations. Rather, an understanding
of the interior and real sense of these holy things can be gained only from a
direct study of Sacred Scripture while striving to enact them in our daily
decisions and choices and attitudes. As an adjunct to this study, the
reader may peruse these diagrams to summarize and perhaps confirm the holy
things from Sacred Scripture. Eventually every person may profit by
constructing their own diagrams. These are the memory-knowledges or
scientifics we receive from the Lord through Sacred Scripture. But the real and important use of the diagrams come when they are internalized as maps of one's own progression in the regenerating life. Then, as we study Sacred Scripture in the context of our daily living situations, maps or diagrams spontaneously form in our understanding making the truths received to appear in a clearer light. As we perform religious self-inspection, the internalized maps or system of degrees help us recognize the spiritual states behind our natural acts. This identification or localization contributes significantly to our efforts in shunning our evils as sins against the Lord. Only to the extent that this work of purification and reformation is grounded in active repentance of all our evils can we cooperate in our regeneration by the Lord, in freedom and as-if of ourself. Our state of external blessedness in conjunction with the Lord is attained in proportion to our success in this holy endeavor.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch13.htm#ennead ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Simple But Basic States of Our Religion in Childhood
Every human being is a child of God. Every religion that strengthens people's conscience for the good and the true reveres God and saves society from falling into bestiality and destruction. All religions are united in the ideal that there is no good and true apart from God. Every true religion teaches that God is One. All religious peoples of the world have Sacred Scriptures or Writings which are held to be Divinely inspired, hence Divine and Holy. In their essence all Sacred Scriptures reflect God because they are from God. These truths and realities need to be taught to every generation as rules of living. Religious feelings calm the mind and strengthen character. It is only politicking about religion that stirs disagreement, dispute, and prejudice. But when the desire is to find agreements about God, all religions have a wealth to offer. These are the varieties of good and truth, the beauty and glory of our common Divine Father. Number 5135:3,4 in the Arcana Coelestia summarizes a number of truths which all external religions share. We may reword them as a list: (1) There is a God Who is everywhere. (2) God is one Divine Being, as each human being is one individual. (3) God creates everything and controls whatever happens. (4) God rewards those who will well, think well, and act well. But those who will, think, or act badly lose everything that is good and true with them. (5) When we die we live in Heaven forever if we like to be good. But those who like to be bad live in Hell forever. (6) God wants us to pray to Him every day. We need to ask Him to please show us how to be good. (7) God wants us to study Sacred Scriptures because it is His Word and from that we can know what is good and true. (8) God wants us to keep a day of the week holy for worship. (9) God wants us to honor our parents, to respect the church of our religion, to love our country, and to do our duty at all times. (10) God wants us to stop lying, and stealing, and making fun of people. (11) God wants us to stop hurting people and He wants us to stop being unchaste. (12) The more you try to be good according to Sacred Scriptures the more you feel free, and hence, the more you are happy and satisfied. (13) When you try to be good you are loving the Lord God and He in turn is happy with you. But when you hurt someone and do not try to make up for it you are not loving the Lord and He is sad. The Lord keeps waiting for you to change your mind and be good again. (14) Those who try to be good are our friends, but those who insist on being bad no matter what, are not our friends. (15) To be good is to try to do what the Lord wants you to do. To be bad is to do what you want to do. (16) The Lord wants you to be like Him: obedient, honest, and religious. (17) To be religious means to watch out for God in every single act, thought, and desire. (18) There are two ways to watch out for God in everything: first, always to listen to our conscience; second, every day to study Sacred Scriptures or Sacred Scripture of God. (19) Good angels from Heaven lead us when we follow our conscience; bad spirits from Hell lead us when we disobey our conscience. (20) Our conscience tells us to share with our friends everything we like and enjoy. (21) There is a good and proper way to share and a bad and improper way. We know the difference when we follow the example of parents, elders, and officials. (22) The more you enjoy something the more you owe thanks to the Lord your God. But when you are sad or in suffering, the Lord weeps with you and looks to changing your state so that you can be happy again. (23) When you are afraid, sad, or unhappy, remind yourself that the Lord your God is in charge and your job is to trust Him at all times no matter what happens. Keep thinking about what Sacred Scriptures teach, which is that the Lord turns every event, no matter how bad, into something good. (24) When you feel antsy, agitated, bored, go get yourself something good to eat while you study your favorite parts of Sacred Scriptures until you are content again. (25) When you feel sad or depressed read passages of Sacred Scriptures which tell of the Lord's grief for the human race. Let yourself cry. Then the Lord will uplift your spirit and instead of sadness you'll feel joy.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch13.htm#childhood-religion +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Scientific Meaning of GenesisQuoting from the Writings Sacred Scriptures: AC 4585. And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath. That this signifies that now was the spiritual of the celestial, is evident from the signification of "journeying from Bethel" as being what is continuous of the advancement of the Divine from the Divine natural (that "journeying" denotes what is continuous may be seen above, n. 4554, here in the supreme sense what is continuous of the advancement of the Divine, and that "Bethel" is the Divine natural, n. 4559, 4560); from the signification of a "tract of land in coming," as being what is intermediate (of which in what follows); and from the signification of "Ephrath," as being the spiritual of the celestial in a former state (of which below where Bethlehem is treated of, which is the spiritual of the celestial in a new state), hence it is said, "Ephrath, this is Bethlehem" (verse 19). [2] In these verses the subject treated of is the advancement of the Lord's Divine toward interior things, for when the Lord made His Human Divine He advanced in a like order to that in which He makes man new by regeneration, namely, from what is external to interior things, thus from the truth which is in the ultimate of order to a good which is interior, and is called spiritual good, and from this to celestial good. But these things cannot fall into the understanding of anyone unless it is known what the external man and the internal man are, and that the former is distinct from the latter, although while man is living in the body they appear as one; also unless it is known that the natural constitutes the external man, and the rational the internal; and further, unless it is known what the spiritual is and what the celestial. [3] These things have indeed already been occasionally unfolded, nevertheless they who have previously had no idea about them in consequence of having no desire to know the things of eternal life, find it impossible to have any such idea. Such people say, "What is the internal man? Is it possible that it can be distinct from the external? What is the natural, and the rational? Are they not one? Moreover, What is the spiritual, and the celestial? Is not this a new distinction? We have heard of the spiritual, but that the celestial is something else we have not heard." The case however is thus: They who have not previously acquired any idea on these subjects, for the reason that the cares of the world and of the body have possession of all their thought and take away all desire of knowing anything else; or because they deem it sufficient to know their doctrinal tenets as they are commonly known, and that it is of no consequence to have any further thought about the matter, saying, "We see the world, but the other life we do not see, perhaps it exists and perhaps not"-much persons put away all these subjects, for even at the first look they at heart reject them. [4] Nevertheless as they are such things as are contained in the internal sense of the Word, and these cannot be explained without adequate terms, and we have no terms more adequate for expressing exterior things than the term natural, for interior things than the term rational, for those things which are of truth the term spiritual, and those which are of good the term celestial, it is absolutely necessary to make use of these terms, for without terms adapted to the subject nothing can be described. In order therefore that those who desire to know may receive some idea of what the spiritual of the celestial is which Benjamin represents and which "Bethlehem" signifies, I will briefly explain it. In the supreme sense the subject that has been treated of is the glorification of the Lord's natural, and in the relative sense the regeneration of man as to his natural. That Jacob represented the man of the church as to his external, and Israel as to his internal, thus Jacob as to his exterior natural, and Israel as to his interior natural, has been shown above (n. 4286); for the spiritual man is from the natural, and the celestial man is from the rational. It has also been shown that the Lord's glorification advanced from external things to more interior things, in like manner as the regeneration of man advances, and that for the sake of this representation Jacob was called "Israel." [5] But a further advance toward more interior things is now treated of, namely, toward the rational, for as just said, the rational constitutes the internal man. The intermediate between the internal of the natural and the external of the rational is what is meant by the spiritual of the celestial, which is signified by "Ephrath" and "Bethlehem," and is represented by Benjamin. This intermediate derives somewhat from the internal of the natural which is "Israel," and from the external of the rational which is "Joseph;" for that which is intermediate derives something from each extreme, otherwise it could not serve as an intermediate. In order that anyone from being spiritual may become celestial, he must needs advance through this intermediate, for to climb up to higher things without an intermediate is not possible. [6] And therefore the nature of the advance through this intermediate is here described by Jacob's coming to Ephrath, and by Rachel's bringing forth Benjamin there. Hence it is evident that by their journeying from Bethel, and by there being yet a tract of land to come to Ephrath, is signified what is continuous of the advancement of the Lord's Divine from the Divine natural to the spiritual of the celestial which is signified by "Ephrath" and "Bethlehem," and is represented by Benjamin. The spiritual of the celestial is the intermediate that is spoken of, being called "spiritual" from the spiritual man, which viewed in itself is the interior of the natural man, and "celestial" from the celestial man, which viewed in itself is the rational man. "Joseph" is the exterior rational man, and therefore the celestial of the spiritual from the rational is predicated of him. (AC 4585) AC 4586. And Rachel brought forth, and suffered hard things in her bringing forth. That this signifies the temptations of interior truth, is evident from the signification of "bringing forth," as being the coming forth of the spiritual things which are of truth and of the celestial things which are of good, for in the internal sense "to bring forth" denotes the things of the spiritual birth (see n. 1145, 1255, 2584, 3860, 3868, 3905, 3915, 3919, 4070); from the representation of Rachel, as being the affection of interior truth (see n. 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819); and from the signification of "suffering hard things," as being to undergo temptations, for when "to suffer hard things" is predicated of truths and goods, or of spiritual things and celestial things, it cannot mean anything else, because no one can attain to these except by means of temptations, for then interior goods and truths fight with the evils and falsities from what is hereditary and what is actual, the man being kept by the Lord from within in goods and truths, and being assaulted by the evils and falsities which burst forth from what is hereditary, and which are present from what is actual, that is, by the spirits and genii who are in these evils and falsities and are with the man. Hence come temptations, whereby not only are evils and falsities, when overcome, cast out and removed, but also goods and truths are confirmed. These are the things which are signified by Rachel's bringing forth, and by her suffering hard things in her bringing forth. (AC 4586)
See much more on the correspondential sense of all the books of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture at the Bible Meanings Info site: http://www.biblemeanings.info/Bible/genesis.html Note that what we call correspondential sense in theistic psychology, is called "spiritual sense" or "interior sense" in the Writings Sacred Scripture.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch15.htm#genesis +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Scientific Meaning of the Parables of Jesus
The New Testament Sacred Scripture validates the Old Testament Sacred Scripture by incorporating it into itself. The New Testament Sacred Scripture reveals that the Old Testament Sacred Scripture has a correspondential sense whose topic is the repeated announcement of the Divine incarnation of God as a human born on earth (see Section xx). For instances there are numerous Divine laws given in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture regarding animal sacrifices and how they were to be performed. The New Testament Sacred Scripture reveals that the purpose of these animal sacrifices was to serve as a symbolic representative in worship of the Divine Incarnation process. Centuries later, the Writings Sacred Scripture reveals that the entire Old Testament Sacred Scripture possess two levels of meaning, one visible, the other hidden. All Sacred Scripture contains these two senses because Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech expressed in natural correspondences. This visible, literal, historical sense of all Sacred Scripture serves the very basis and foundation for religion (see Section xx). The visible sense of all Sacred Scripture is necessarily immersed in a culture and time. It has an historical and ethnic social context and identifies God by a particular Name, as specified in the Sacred Scripture given through their prophet from God. This knowledge had been revealed to the earliest generations on this earth who possessed the Oral Sacred Scripture from direct perception through the spiritual mind which was then still conscious to the human race on earth (see Section xx). Subsequently this knowledge of correspondences in Sacred Scripture was lost. The Writings Sacred Scripture reveal that God kept the knowledge hidden until the 18th century when the modern mind evolved enough in scientific rationality to understand theistic psychology. The Writings Sacred Scripture were recognized by a few readers immediately upon Swedenborg's publication of the last volume of the Writings in 1771 (see Section xx). The first groups of Christians calling themselves as the New Church religion based on the Writings Sacred Scripture occurred in 1787 in England and the United States (see Section xx). When you examine the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, the New Testament Sacred Scripture, and the Writings Sacred Scripture it becomes fully evident that they are connected at both levels -- connected historically at the visible literal level of meaning, and connected universally by the hidden correspondential or scientific level of meaning. Since correspondences are now revealed in the Writings Sacred Scripture any one can demonstrate this scientific continuity between the these three collections of Sacred Scripture. They were given to different cultures and times separated by thousands of years. The dozens of authors involved in their writing were unrelated to each other and themselves had no idea at all that what they were writing down under Divine dictation contained a hidden correspondential meaning. Hence the rational and scientific continuity of the subject matter and topics in these collections of Sacred Scripture can only be considered of a Divine authorship, and not merely human. Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: SE 672. About the heavens I was told that before the coming of the Lord into the world, there had been no other heaven than the inward one.* For as yet no one on this earth could understand the very inward, much less the innermost matters; and because higher knowledge must precede, therefore no other heaven could come into being at that time. The inward heaven* is such that something earthly is joined to their spiritual part. Consequently, when angels formerly spoke with people on earth, and through the prophets, the Word had to come down directly into earthly forms. This resulted in the prophetical style that the Lord also chose to use in part. For otherwise they would not have been able to understand inward, much less very inward, spiritual matters. For this reason also the Lord spoke in parables. About this subject I spoke with those in heaven, who seemed to me to affirm them, that is, that there had been this kind of a heaven for the sake of the inhabitants of this earth, but that a very inward and innermost heaven had nevertheless existed from others in the universe. * See 262 and footnote 3. (SE 672)
The New Testament Sacred Scripture for the first time two thousand years ago, has revealed to humankind that God speaks in correspondences in Sacred Scripture. Further, it reveals numerous details about what these Divine correspondences are. The most direct instances are the many parables of Jesus that are given there and explained as to what their spiritual lesson is. The Writings Sacred Scripture go over these revelations in the New Testament Sacred Scripture and amplify upon them, demonstrating with multiple instances what the correspondences are in all of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. The following is a selection from The Parables of Jesus Christ Explained by The Rev. J. Clowes (1851) who was a New Church minister in England. From http://www.biblemeanings.info/Parables/Clowes/Parables_of_Jesus.htm
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. And he spate many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way-side, and the birds came and devoured them up: some fell upon, stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no depth of earth; and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and, because they had no root, they withered away: and some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up and choked them: but others fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold. Who has ears to hear, let him hear. The Sower is the Son of Man, or Jesus Christ, in His Divine Humanity. He is called the Sower, because the seed sown is the Eternal Truth, or the Word of God, and all Truth, properly so called, is from Jesus Christ, who on that account calls Himself the Truth. (Matt. 13:3-10) By sowing, when spoken of Jesus Christ, is to be understood the insemination and implantation of His Divine Truth, or Word, in the understandings and lives of men; this is effected by man's hearing, or reading, the Word of God, by his meditating on what he hears or reads, but, above all, by the application of what he hears, or reads, to the purpose of reforming his life, by separating from himself all evil ends and purposes, and by loving, thinking, and doing those good things which the Word of God teaches to be good. Mankind, then, differ in the way of receiving and admitting the Eternal Truth, and this difference is described in the parable to be four-fold, which four-fold reception is distinguished in the parable, first by some seed falling by the way-side; secondly, by some falling upon stony places, where they have not much earth; thirdly, by some falling among thorns; and, lastly, by some falling into good ground. The first distinction, described by some seed falling by the way-side, includes all those who receive the Word of God, or the Eternal Truth, without affection. Every one receives the Word of God without affection who hears it, and reads it, and yet is not interested in what he hears and reads, having his affections immersed merely in the things of time and of sense, without any elevation to the great things of Eternity. The second distinction, described by the seeds which fell upon stony places, where they have not much earth, includes all those who hear, or read, the Word of God, and imbibe its truth, yet not from a genuine affection for that truth, but from some external affection which regards only the gain and glory of this world: thus they love the truth, not for its own sake, but for the sake of their own temporal interests, which they think to advance and secure by means of the knowledge of truth. The third distinction, described by the seeds which fell among thorns, includes all those who hear, or read, the Word of God, without any desire to remove the cravings of evil, and who thus are desirous to become intelligent in heavenly knowledge, but not for the purpose of purifying and reforming their own hearts and lives in the sight of God. The last distinction, described by the seeds which fell into good ground, includes all those who receive the Word of God, and its Eternal Truths, with a genuine and devout affection, at the same time applying them to the purposes for which they are given, namely, the purification, reformation, and regeneration of their hearts and lives in the sight of God. Let us now consider the effects of these different receptions of the Word of God in the minds of men. The first effect is described in these words. The birds came and devoured them up. By the birds, in this passage, are to be understood all false persuasions of doctrine and of life, which always occupy the minds of those who are destitute of affection for the Eternal Truth; and by devouring up the seeds of truth is to be understood, that where the Word of God is received without affection it cannot produce its proper fruits, because it is liable to be perverted and destroyed by false persuasions, which occupy the natural mind of every man before he admits with affection the light of the Eternal Word. The next effect of a wrong reception of the Word of God, is described in these words, Forthwith they sprung up, because they had no depth of earth; and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. This is to denote, that where the Eternal Truth is received from an affection not genuine, that is to say, from an affection grounded in worldly gain or glory, in that mind an appearance is presented of the growth of truth, but then it is a growth in the memory and understanding only, and not in the will, or love; therefore, it is said, because they have no depth of earth, for the earth, in this case, relates to the will, or love, and its depth has relation to the inmost principle of each. The sun, as applied in the Holy Scriptures, is used both in a good and bad sense, according to the subject treated of; and in a good sense, it relates to the Lord Himself, and to the Divine Love and Wisdom which proceed from Him; but in a bad sense, it is applied to denote the destructive principle of self-love, when it is exalted in the human mind above the love of God and Heaven. By the seeds being scorched, then, is to be understood, that where the truth is not received with a genuine affection, or for its own sake, in that mind it is withered and destroyed by the influence of self-love, which will not allow it to take its proper root, and bear its proper fruits; therefore, it is added, because they had no root, they withered away, to teach the important lesson, that where self-love is predominant it is impossible that the Eternal Truth should gain a place in the natural mind of man, so as to produce all its blessed and saving effects. The third effect of a wrong reception of the Word of God, is described in these words. The thorns sprung up and choked them. By the thorns are to be understood the cravings of evil, which Jesus Christ, in his explanation of the parable, calls the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, by which are meant, all those anxieties, concerns, and affections of the merely external man, who prevail over the better desires of the internal man; and by choking the seed of truth, is to be understood, all that suffocation of the pure knowledge of God, and of His Holy Word, which must of necessity take place in that mind, where the appetites of the body, and the cravings of animal life, are suffered to exalt themselves above the higher interests to man's spiritual and eternal life; therefore it is added, by Jesus Christ, that such a mind becomes unfruitful, because the fruitfulness of heavenly truth can only be found in its effects upon the natural man, by purifying his ends of life, and forming him to every good thought, word, and work; in case, therefore, that the operation of heavenly truth is resisted by the natural mind, it is impossible there can be any fruitfulness of truth in the natural man. The fourth effect resulting from the reception of the Eternal Truth is described in these words, It brought forth fruit, some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold. By fruit is to be understood, all the good of love and charity, that is to say, of love towards God, and charity towards our neighbour; and by bringing forth this fruit is to be understood, that this good of love and charity manifests itself in the natural man in all good thoughts, words, and works, of a holy and useful life, agreeably to those words of Jesus Christ, where He says, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven: (Matt. 5:16). and in another place, If you know these things, happy are you if you do them (John 13:17). It is, therefore, said in the parable, that other seed fell into good ground, to denote that the reception of truth, in this case, was an interior reception, or, a reception in the inner man; that is to say, in the will, or love, as well as in the understanding and memory. Therefore, Jesus Christ, in explaining this reception of the Eternal Truth, says, He that receives seed into good ground is he that hears the Word and understands it, to instruct us, that a right and profitable reception of the Eternal Truth is a reception both in the will, signified by hearing, and in the intellect, signified by understanding; and to instruct us yet further, that all fruitfulness of the Holy Word is the result of this two-fold reception, or what may be properly called the heavenly marriage of good and truth, and not from the single reception of either of those principles separate from the other. The distinctions expressed in the parable by hundred-fold, sixty-fold, and thirty-fold, are intended to express the different degrees of fruitfulness of the Eternal Truth in human minds, which will ever depend upon the degree in which good and truth are united, or in which the will and understanding are conjointly affected. As, therefore, in some cases, this conjunction may be less perfect than in others, in like manner it is to be supposed, that the fruitfulness will vary, and this agreeably to the distinctions here mentioned of an hundred-fold, sixty-fold, and thirty-fold. Jesus Christ concludes this parable by saying, He that has ears to hear, let him hear; teaching us by these words, that He intended his instruction only for those who were in a disposition to receive it, and not for those who were in no disposition. For by those who have ears to hear He meant to describe all sincere and upright minds, which are desirous, both' to receive and profit by the lessons of the Eternal Wisdom, therefore He says of these, let them hear, in other words, let them understand and receive, because to them it is given, to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, inasmuch as they are in a right state of mind to profit, by those mysteries: whereas, to others it is not given, since others are not in a state to profit by them, and, therefore, if such mysteries were made known to them, they would but profane and defile them, and thus increase their condemnation, agreeably to those words of Jesus Christ, This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19). The general instruction then to be derived from this parable is, that men ought to be very careful in hearing, or reading, the Word of God, to note the affection from which they hear and read, and to see that this affection be pure and genuine, resulting from the love of truth, for its own sake, and not for any earthly ends of temporal gain and glory. We learn, yet further, from this parable, that the Eternal Truth can never produce its full fruitfulness in the mind and life of man until it operates conjointly on his will and understanding, that is to say, on his love and thought; but that when it is attended with this double operation, it forms in man the true heavenly marriage, by virtue whereof he has eternal conjunction with Jesus Christ and His kingdom, and through that conjunction is formed to every good thought, word, and work. From
http://www.biblemeanings.info/Parables/Clowes/Parables_of_Jesus.htm
Now we can look at some additional revelations that are useful for the study of theistic psychology because they show the empirical observations one can make about correspondences. Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: SE 4372. THAT THOUGHTS FALL INTO REPRESENTATIVES, LIKE THE PARABLES OF THE LORD. While collecting seeds, I perceived from angelic spirits that their thoughts were upon the last times when the good seed should be separated from the bad, and in like manner in other things; so that what the Lord spoke by parables are such things as good spirits represent to themselves, especially while the man who lives in charity thinks concerning any kind of seed, without reflection upon celestial things; and so in regard to everything else. - 1749, August 24. (SE 4372) SE 3356. THAT THE THOUGHTS AND SPEECH OP ANGELS, ALSO OF ANGELIC SPIRITS, FALL INTO PARABLES. When I wrote concerning those things which [are] in No. 1577, that the thoughts of angelic spirits and angels are like parables, certain spirits doubted, because the idea of a parable is not understood by them; wherefore, angels and angelic spirits tested the matter, whether their ideas fell into parables, and it was confirmed by them, that they do not fail other than into parables, for parables contain generals. - 1748, September 26. (SE 3356) Life 2. That works are what make a man of the church, and that he is saved according to them, is also taught by the Lord in the parables, many of which imply that those who do what is good are accepted, and that those who do what is evil are rejected. As in the parable Of
the husbandmen in the vineyard (Matt. 21:33-44); (Doctrine of Life 2) AE 193 [10] That the knowledges of truth and good from the Word will be taken away from those who have not acquired spiritual life for themselves, is also meant in the Lord's parables respecting the talents and pounds given to the servants that they might trade and make gain, and respecting the servant who traded not and gained nothing, of whom it is written in the parables: Unto him who hid his talent in the earth his lord said, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou oughtest to have put my silver to the bankers, in order that at my coming I might have received mine own with interest. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents. For unto everyone that hath shall be given, that he may have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into outer darkness (Matt. 25:14-30). And in another place: He came who had received the one pound, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I kept laid up in a napkin. The lord said, Wherefore gavest not thou my money into the bank, that coming I might have regained mine own with interest. And He said, Take from him the pound, and give to him that hath ten pounds. I say unto you, To everyone that hath shall be given; but from him that hath not, even than which he hath shall be taken away from him (Luke 19:13-26). Here "talents," "pounds," and "money," signify the knowledges of truth and good from the Word; "to trade," "to make gain," "to put it to the bankers," or "in the bank," signifies to acquire for oneself thereby spiritual life and intelligence; "hiding these in the earth" or "in a napkin" signifies in the memory of the natural man only; of such it is therefore said that from them should be taken away that which they have, according to what has been explained in the beginning of this article. [11] This takes place with all in the other life who have acquired for themselves knowledges from the Word, and have not committed them to the life, but only to the memory. He who has knowledges from the Word in the memory only, even if they were thousands, if he has not committed them to the life, remains natural as before. Committing knowledges from the Word to the life is thinking from them, when one, left to himself, thinks from his spirit, and also wing them and doing them; for this is loving truths because they are truths; and those who do this are those who become spiritual by means of knowledges from the Word. (AE 193) AC 9803. From this it is evident that to be intelligent and wise does not consist in understanding and being wise about many things of the world; but in understanding and willing the things of heaven. For there are those who understand and are wise about many things of the world, and yet do not believe or will the things of heaven; thus are insane. These are they of whom the Lord says: I
speak by parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not,
neither do they understand (Matt. 13:13). (AC 9803) AC 7984. [4] This state is what is meant by a "full state," and is signified by "thirty." It is described by the Lord in the parables of the talents in Matt. 25:14-30, and of the pounds in Luke 19:12-27, and finally in these words: To
everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance, but from him
that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him (Matt.
25:29). That everyone's measure is filled, the Lord also teaches in another place in Luke: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall they give into your bosom (Luke 6:38). From all this it is now evident what is meant by a full state. (AC 7984) AC 4637. It is quite clear that all the details, every single one, mentioned by the Lord in His parables are representative of and mean the spiritual and celestial attributes of His kingdom, and in the highest sense Divine attributes in Himself. Consequently anyone who does not know this cannot make anything else out of the Lord's parables than ordinary comparisons which hold nothing deeper within them, as with this particular parable concerning the ten virgins. He makes nothing more out of it if he does not know what 'virgins' means in the internal sense, and also what ten, five, lamps, vessels, oil, those who sell, a wedding feast, and every other detail mean. And the same is true with all other parables. As has been stated, the details mentioned by the Lord in them look, in the outward form they take, like ordinary comparisons, but in their internal form their nature is such that they fill the whole of heaven. This is because the internal sense is contained within every detail, and that sense is such that its spiritual and celestial content spreads like light and flame throughout the heavens in all directions. That sense is utterly superior to the sense of the letter, flowing from every phrase and every word, indeed from every tiny letter. But what is embodied in the internal sense of this particular parable may be seen from what follows below. (AC 4637) AC
3898. What these words embody no one can know except from the teaching of the
internal sense - such as the prediction that false Christs will arise who will
show great signs and wonders; the command that they should not go out if they
were told that Christ was in the wilderness, and that they should not believe
it if they were told that He was in the inner rooms; the declaration that the
coming of the Son of Man will be like lightning which comes from the east and
is seen as far as the west; and also the comment that where the carcass is,
there the eagles will be gathered together. These various statements - like
those that come before and those that follow them in this chapter - do not
seem, in the sense of the letter, to have any connection with one another. But
in the internal sense there is a most wonderful flow of ideas, and this starts
to be seen when one understands what is meant by 'false Christs', by 'greet
signs and wonders', by 'the wilderness' and 'the inner rooms', also by 'the
coming of the Son of Man', and lastly by 'the carcass' and 'the eagles'. AC 217. That the "vine" is used in the Word to signify spiritual good, and the "fig-tree" natural good, is at this day utterly unknown, because the internal sense of the Word has been lost; nevertheless, wherever these expressions occur, they signify or involve this meaning; as also in what the Lord spoke in parables concerning a "vineyard" and a "fig-tree;" as in Matthew: Jesus seeing a fig-tree in the way, came to it, but found nothing thereon save leaves only, and He said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever; and presently the fig-tree withered away (Matt. 21:19), by which is meant, that no good, not even natural good, was to be found upon the earth. Similar is the meaning of the "vine" and "fig-tree" in Jeremiah: Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, and they knew not how to blush; therefore I will surely gather them, saith Jehovah; there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig-tree, and the leaf hath fallen (Jer. 8:12-13), by which is signified that all good, both spiritual and natural, had perished, since they were so depraved as to have lost even the sense of shame, like those at the present day who are in evil, and who, so far from blushing for their wickedness, make it their boast. In Hosea: I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree in the beginning (Hos. 9:10) And in Joel: Be not afraid, ye beasts of My fields, for the tree shall bear its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine shall yield their strength (Joel 2:22). The "vine" here denotes spiritual good, and the "fig-tree" natural good. (AC 217)
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Correspondential Sense of Ancient Forms of Sacred Scripture and Their Derivatives
From: www.truthbook.com/worldreligioustexts.htm
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Hindu Sacred Scriptures on the Nature of God
(See also Section 10.10 on Yoga, Bhagavad Gita, and the Upanishads.) The Sacred Scriptures collected under the religion of Hinduism are fully theistic in the sense that this is defined in theistic psychology. It acknowledges the reality of monotheism, of God's omnipotence, of sin, regeneration, holy scripture, Divine inspiration, heaven, and hell. The correspondential sense of Hindu Sacred Scripture has not yet been examined in any detail. The following are selections from the literal sense of Hindu Sacred Scriptures and commentaries. From a Web site Essentials of the Upanishads: www.dvaita.org/shaastra/upanishad.html Central ThemeThis Upanishad which is in the form of a dialogue between Chaturmukha Brahma and Sadashiva, and brings out the sarva-prerakatva (controller of all others), sarvottamatva (superiority over all else) and sakalyena avedyatva (Unknowable in its entirety) of the Supreme Person. Who Directs Us? The Upanishad asks three questions at the outset: 1. Who directs the mind towards its good or bad objects? 2. Who directs Mukhya PraaNa to discharge his duties? 3. Who directs the senses -- eye, ear, etc., towards the respective objects? All these questions have but a single answer. He who gives the power of seeing to the eye, hearing to the ear, thinking to the mind and power to move to PraaNa directs their respective activities. He is evidently the Supreme God. Those who realise that He is the director of the mind, senses and even of Mukhya PraaNa, will attain liberation. This takes us to the question of the nature of God. The Supreme Is Infinite And Therefore Cannot Be Fully Comprehended God is beyond the reach of the senses, beyond words and even beyond the mind. Being Infinite, He cannot be brought within the compass of limited knowledge. One cannot know how He directs the senses, mind, etc. However, He does not remain altogether unknown, but is not completely known because of His infinite nature. He is unique, distinct from and Superior to all known things manifest or unmanifest. He cannot be known through speech, mind, eyes, etc., but knows all that is known through these and regulates them. He is immanent in all the jiiva-s and directs them, but He is not identical to them. Those who think that they know Him fully do not really know Him, as they have not comprehended His Infinite nature. On the other hand, those who think that they do not know Him fully, know Him, as they have realised His Infinite nature. The knowledge of God to the best of one's ability is adequate for one's salvation. The presence of God as the Inner resident and controller of all is brought out by an interesting story of ahaMkaarakhaNDana (humbling the pride) of Agni, Nasikya Vayu and Indra in this Upanishad. Tapas, Dama And Karma -- Means Of Spiritual Progress The Upanishad concludes its teaching by stating that tapas (penance), dama (subduing the senses) and karma (prescribed action) are the means to obtain spiritual knowledge. The Vedas, Vedangas and Mimamsa constitute the source Literature of philosophical inquiry. The exposition of the sarva-prerakatva and the sarvottamatva of the Supreme Lord is the key note of this Upanishad. (...) Delineation Of A Supreme Lord Is The Central Theme The central theme of Upanishads is Monotheism or the delineation of a Supreme Being as the cardinal principle of the universe. This is designated as Brahman, Atman, Akshara, Akaasha, PraaNa, etc. In the Upanishads, Akaasha and PraaNa can also mean the element Akaasha, the deity Vayu etc. The meaning applicable in a particular text has to be derived with the help of attributes mentioned therein. The Supreme Principle is described as the Creator, Sustainer, Regulator, Destroyer, Enlightener and Liberator of all. It is also the one and only Independent Principle upon which all other entities are dependent. It is Immanent and Transcendent. It admits of contradictory features of everyday experience being present in it simultaneously -- aNu (atomic) and mahat.h (infinite), etc. Being Infinite in all respects, it cannot be comprehended by anyone completely. It has no drawbacks or blemishes of any kind. It directs all and is not directed or constrained by anyone. It is absolutely independent in its very nature and essence, functions and comprehension and innate unlimited bliss, none of which need any element external to it for its completeness. All others derive their limited qualities and capacities from it. It is thus described as Sat, Chit and Ananda in its essential nature. The features of the Supreme Lord are described almost in all the Upanishads. PraaNa occupies an important place in the Upanishads next only to the Supreme being. The Chhaandogya and ShaTprashna Upanishads, in particular, bring out the role of PraaNa, who is His chief aide and is superior to all other deities. He is however eternally and completely subservient to Lord Vishnu, the Supreme being. Upanishads clearly distinguish between the Supreme Being and other souls. Their basic differences which are in their essential nature itself are contrasted in several texts. The metaphor of the two birds, one reaping the fruits of its past deeds and the other not doing so is found more than once. The Causus-belli of the Upanishads -- to enable the souls to attain liberation by the grace of God, would be totally incongruent and lost, if they have no locus standi in their essential nature as distinct fron the world and the Lord. Upanishads are also clear about the reality of the external world (other than the souls) and state it clearly more than once. prakrti or primordial Nature is the material cause of the world, while God is the efficient cause. The text eka vij~nAnena sarvavij~nAna does not support the Vivarta theory of Advaita, which reduces the external world to an unreal state in essence. A number of upaasana-s are described. The importance of shravana, manana etc. Is stressed. The need of vairaagya (detachment from material entities), bhakti (devotion towards the Lord), etc., for the aspirant in his efforts to achieve salvation is delineated. The doctrine of prasaada (God's grace) is mentioned more than once. Eschatology is described through texts explaining devaayaNa and pitraayaNa. Thus all that is necessary to pursue the spiritual path is covered in the Upanishads. With a view to give a more detailed picture of the contents of each of these Upanishads, a summary of the subjects dealt with along with essential points in each is now given under separate headings. From a Web site Essentials of the Upanishads: www.dvaita.org/shaastra/upanishad.html Quoting from The Rig-Veda - Book 1 HYMN XXV. Varuna.HYMN XXV. Varuna. I WHATEVER law of thine, O God, O Varuna, as we are men, Day after day we
violate. To thy fierce
anger when displeased. The charioteer his
tethered horse. As to their nests
the birds of air. Him, the
far-seeing Varuna? The ever-faithful
worshipper. He knows the ships
that are thereon. He knows the moon
of later birth. He knows the Gods
who dwell above. Most wise, sits
there to govern. all. And what hereafter
will be done. May lie prolong
our lives for us. His spies are
seated found about. Nor those whose
minds are bent on wrong. To our own bodies
giving it. As kine unto their
pastures move. Thou eatest what
is dear to thee. He hath accepted
these my songs. Longing for help I
cried to thee. Hear, as thou
goest on thy way. The bonds below, that I may live. From: ======================== From: Hinduwebsite.com by Jayaram V Hindu scriptures can be grouped into the following categories: The Shruti literature consisting of the Vedas The Smriti literature consisting of the Dharma shastras or the law books. The Itihasas comprising of the two epics The Puranas consisting of the ancient lore The Agamas dealing with the mechanics of ritual worship The Darsanas dealing with the various schools of philosophical thought. The popular literature rendered in the native languages. The Vedas: The Vedas are part of the Shruti literature. Shruti means that which is heard. The Vedas are considered to be divine in origin and not man made. No one truly knows how old they are. Some of the Rigvedic verses were perhaps composed in the early phases of human civilization. For centuries they were passed down from one generation to another through oral tradition. They were probably rendered into written form during the epic period, around 1500 BC. The Vedas are eternal (nitya) and out of this world (apauruseya). Hindus believe that God brings the Vedas into this world at the beginning of every cycle of creation for the welfare of the mankind and withdraws them again at the end of it. The Vedas are revealed to the mankind through rishis (rsi) or great seers. The rsis were considered to be the mind born children of Brahma, who were created solely for the purpose of introducing the Vedas to the mankind. The word rsi means he who had seen (drs) the Truth. The Mystery of the Vedas : The Vedas are considered to be very holy, Brahman Himself in the form of words and sounds. Beneath the layers of poetic imagery, colorful visions and seemingly superstitious ritual prayers practices, The Vedas said to contain profound secrets of the worlds, their origins and knowledge of the spiritual realms into which man can ascend by the exercise of his will and transformation of his consciousness. They speak not just of various gods and divine powers of the external world for the purpose of bringing down rains, drive away of the scourge or assuage our fear of storms and tempests, but of various divinities and spiritual entities that exist in our psychic awareness and arise and awake as we progress through various stages of spiritual advancement in our quest for Self Realization. Although on the surface, the Vedic hymns appear to be mere ritualistic invocations addressed to various gods and goddesses, in reality they are addressed to acknowledge the arrival or descent of specific forces or energies of the higher worlds into our individual consciousness or to invoke their presence. Unfortunately we are no more conversant with the hidden meaning, although we have some vague idea about it, because of the revelations of Sri Aurobindo, in his famous work, the Secret of the Vedas.( To know more about Sri Aurobindo please to the section on Masters). For centuries the Vedas were kept as a closely guarded secret by the Brahmin Caste and taught only to a select few. (Something like the Microsoft not wanting to share its programming secrets with others!). While this might have enabled the Vedas to survive the ravages of time in their most unadulterated form, and enabled the priestly order to maintain their sway, it also contributed to the decline of the Vedic religion and the conversion of many lower caste people into other religions and sectarian movements. It was after the arrival of the Europeans to the Indian subcontinent that an organized and sincere effort was made to introduce the Vedas to the academic circles of the West in the form of translations and commentaries. From:
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch15.htm#hindu +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Trinity of God: A Correspondential Analysis of Concepts from Hindu Sacred ScripturesI present a correspondential analysis of concepts from Hindu Sacred Scriptures. These particular quotes by an interpreter are not directly from Sacred Scriptures but they use concepts from the Hindu Sacred Scriptures. Hence these concepts have a correspondential sense that can be analyzed. From: The Trinity of Gods by Jayaram V In Hinduism we come across three principal gods called the Hindu trinity. They are Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Siva. Lord Brahma is the creator, Lord Vishnu the preserver and Lord Siva the destroyer. They represent many things at many levels.
Correspondential Analysis of Concepts: Lord Brahma is the
creator Lord Vishnu the
preserver Lord Siva the
destroyer +++ Goddess Saraswathi is the consort of Lord Brahma, Lakshmi and goddess earth of Lord Vishnu and Parvathi and Ganga of Lord Siva. Symbolically the three gods represent various things at various levels some of which are described below:
Correspondential Analysis of Concepts: Goddess Saraswathi
is the consort of Lord Brahma Lakshmi and goddess
earth of Lord Vishnu Parvathi and Ganga
of Lord Siva +++ 1. On the Physical plane, Brahma is the psychic element, Vishnu the mental element and Siva the physical element. 2. On the mental plane, Brahma is the intuitive and creative thought, Vishnu is buddhi or intelligence and Siva stands for emotions and feelings. 3. On the earthly plane, Brahma is the sky, Vishnu is the Sun and Siva is the moon.
Correspondential Analysis of Concepts: On the Physical
(Psychic) plane Brahma Vishnu Siva On the mental plane
Brahma Vishnu Siva On the earthly
plane Brahma Vishnu Siva +++ 4. In the life of an individual, they represent the three phases of life. Brahma represent the first phase, the phase of celibacy and studentship (brahmacharya) where knowledge or study is the main pursuit of the individual. Knowledge (goddess Saraswathi) is his constant companion during this phase.
Correspondential Analysis of Concepts: the three phases of
life Brahma represent
the first phase, the phase of celibacy and studentship (brahmacharya) where
knowledge or study is the main pursuit of the individual. Knowledge (goddess
Saraswathi) is his constant companion during this phase. +++ Lord Vishnu represents the second phase, that is the phase of the householder and adulthood during which the individual fulfills his religious and family obligations, helps the poor and the needy and works for the preservation of his family and community. During this phase wealth (goddess Lakshmi) is his constant companion without which he cannot perform his responsibilities well.
Correspondential Analysis of Concepts: Lord Vishnu
represents the second phase, that is the phase of the householder and adulthood
during which the individual fulfills his religious and family obligations,
helps the poor and the needy and works for the preservation of his family and
community.
During this phase
wealth (goddess Lakshmi) is his constant companion without which he cannot
perform his responsibilities well. +++ Lord Siva represents the old age, or the third phase called Vanaprasthashrama (life of renunciation) during which he renounces his worldly life, goes to a forest and spends his life there along with his wife. Like Lord Siva he leads a homeless life with meager belongings and without any attachment in pursuit of true knowledge.
Correspondential Analysis of Concepts: Lord Siva represents
the old age, or the third phase called Vanaprasthashrama (life of renunciation)
during which he
renounces his worldly life goes to a forest and
spends his life there along with his wife. Like Lord Siva he
leads a homeless life with meager belongings and without any attachment in pursuit of true
knowledge. +++ In the final phase called sanyasasrama dharma, he becomes Iswara himself ! During this phase he renounces life altogether and tries to attain liberation from this mortal world. He destroys all his previous attachments and desires and engages himself in deep meditation, leading the life of a true renunciate along with his wife who as his consort becomes the Universal Mother. Thus the three phases of life represented by the trinity ends in One representing the fact that they are one and the same Iswara.
Correspondential Analysis of Concepts: In the final phase
called sanyasasrama dharma, he becomes Iswara himself ! During this phase he
renounces life altogether and tries to attain liberation from this mortal
world. He destroys all his
previous attachments and desires and engages himself in deep meditation,
leading the life of a true renunciate along with his wife
who as his consort becomes the Universal Mother. Thus the three
phases of life represented by the trinity ends in One representing the fact
that they are one and the same Iswara. See also: By former theistic psychology student Ami Lyons -- his two articles here: Hinduism and Theistic
Psychology The Beginnings of
Correspondences
Buddhism as a Religion -- the Buddha and the Dharma
From: Buddhism As A Religion By
Ven Dr.K.Sri Dhammananda Maha Nayaka Thero (...) The Buddha's message as a religious way of life: "Keeping away from ail evil deeds, cultivation or life by doing good deeds and purification of mind from mental impurities." For our purposes, religion may be defined in a very broad sense as a body of moral and philosophical teachings and the acceptance with confidence of such teachings In this sense. Buddhism is a religion. (...) There was no reason at all for the Buddha to introduce another religion because at that time 2000 years ago there were already 62 religious cults in India alone Since the existing religions during his time could not provide the answers to his questions he decided not to use the ingredients or concepts of these religions, but to introduce what he himself had realized. What was the religious thinking in India at the time? 'God created everybody: god is responsible for everything; god will reward: god can forgive all our sins: and god is responsible for our lives after our death: god will send us to heaven or he will send us to hell' These are the basic ingredients of al religions even today. At the same time there were certain other religions also in India which taught that it was necessary for believers to torture their physical bodies, thinking that they could wash away ail their sins during their lifetimes so they could go to heaven after death. Another religious group encouraged religious rites and rituals and ceremonies and animal sacrifices to please their gods. This group believed that through these practices they could go to heaven. Some others again introduced prayer and worship and asked forgiveness for the sins committed. The Buddha did not recognize the efficacy of all these practices. (...) The world is indebted to the Buddha for the rise of rationalism as a protest against the superstitions of religion. It is he who emancipated man from the thralldom of the priests. It is he who first showed the way to free man from the coils of hypocrisy and religious dictatorship. During the Buddha's time no religious practice was considered higher than the rites rituals and sacrifice of living beings to the gods: but to the Buddha, no practice could be more humiliating or degrading to man. A sacrifice is nothing more than bribery: and salvation won by bribery and corruption is not a salvation which any self respecting man would care to get. (...) The Buddha used the word dharma to describe his entire teaching. Dharma means that which holds up, upholds, supports. The Buddha taught the dharma to help us escape the suffering caused by existence and to prevent us from degrading human dignity and descending into lower states such as hell, animal, the spirit or ghost or devil realms. The Dharma introduced by the Buddha holds and supports us and frees us from the misery of these realms. It also means that if we follow the methods he advocates we will never get into such unfortunate circumstances as being born blind, crippled, deaf, dumb or rrad. So in the Buddha's usage dharma is the advice given to support us in our struggle to be free from suffering and also to upgrade human values. Western philosophers describe Buddhism as a noble way of life or as a religion of freedom and reason' . The Dharma is not an extraordinary law created by or given by anyone Our body itself is Dharma. Our mind itself is Dharma; the whole universe is Dharma. By understanding the nature of the physical body and the nature of the mind and worldly conditions we realize the Dharma The Buddha taught us to understand the nature of our existence rationally in a realistic way. It concerns the life, here and now, of each sentient being and thus interrelatedly of all existence. Usually when people talk about religion they ask, "What Is your faith?" They use the word "faith." The Buddha was not interested in the development of "faith" in an absolute sense, although it can be useful in the preliminary stages of one's religious development. The danger of relying on faith alone without analytical knowledge is that it can make us into religious fanatics. Those who allow faith to crystallize in their minds cannot see other peoples' point of view because they have already established in their minds that what they believe is alone the truth. The Buddha insisted that one must not accept even his own Teachings on the basis of faith alone. One must gain knowledge and then develop understanding through study, discussion, meditation and finally contemplation. Knowledge is one thing, understanding a another. If there is understanding one can adjust one's life according to changing circumstances based on the knowledge one has. We may have met learned people who know many things but are not realistic because their egoism their selfishness, their anger, their hatred do not allow them to gain unbiased mental attitudes and peace of mind. When it is necessary to compromise we must know how to compromise. When it is necessary to tolerate, we must know how to tolerate. When it is necessary to stand firm we must stand firm, with dignity. (...) The word karma (or kamma) It simply means action. If a person commits a bad karma it will be impossible for that person to escape from its bad effect. Somehow or other he or she must face the consequences that will follow. According to ancient belief there is a god to operate the effect of this karma. God punishes according to one's bad karma. God rewards according to own good karma. The Buddha did not accept this belief. He said there is no being or force which handles the operation of the effects of karma. Karma itself will yield the result as a neutral operation of the law of cause and effect. He said we can avoid and, in some cases, even overcome the effect of karma if we act wisely. He said we must never surrender ourselves fantastically thinking that since we have done bad action there can be no more hope. Other religions teach that god can negate the effect of karma through forgiveness if the followers worship and pray and sacrifice. But the Buddha teaches that we have to effect our salvation by our own effort and mental purity. "The Buddha can tell you what to do but he can not do the work for you." You have to do the work of salvation yourself The Buddha has clearly stated that no one can do any thing for another for salvation except show the way. Therefore we must not depend on god and not even depend on the Buddha. We must know what are the qualifies, duties, and responsibilities of being a human being. He said that if we have committed certain bad karma, we should not waste precious energy by being frustrated or disappointed in our effort to put it right. The first thing to do is to firmly resolve to stop repeating such bad karma by realizing the harm it can do. The second thing is to cultivate more and more good karma. Thirdly we must fry to reduce evil thought, selfishness, hatred, anger, jealousy, grudges, and ill-will. In this way we can reduce the bad effect of the bad karma that we commit. This is the Buddha method for overcoming the bad effects. He did not say we must pray to and worship him and that he would forgive all our sins. Purify and impurity of our mind depend on ourselves. Neither god, Buddha, nor human being can pollute or purify one's mind, I cannot create impurity in your mind. I cannot purify your mind. But by taking my word or my action you create either purity or impurity within yourself. Outsiders cannot do anything for your mind if your mind is strong enough to resist it. That is why knowledge and understanding are important. The Buddha taught that what man needs for his happiness is not a religion or a mass of theories but an understanding of the cosmic nature of the universe and its complete operation according to the laws of cause and effect. Until this fact is fully understood, man's understanding of life and existence will remain imperfect and faulty. (...) The Buddha never claimed to have created the Dharma. What he discovered was the universal truth of the real nature or existence. In fact some religious terms were already well known in India at that time. But the Buddha's uniqueness is that he took existing concepts and gave them very refined meanings and much deeper significance. For example. before the Buddha's time. "Nirvana" (or Nibbana) simply meant peace or extinction. But he gave it entirely new dimensions of meaning NI means "no" and VANA means "craving": No more craving no more attachment and no more selfishness. We cannot experience Nirvana because we have craving, attachment and selfishness. When we get rid of these defilement we can experience Nirvanic bliss It is difficult to experience true bliss because we have emotions and we crave for sensual gratification. So long as we live this world of sensual pleasures we will never experience true happiness. Of course it is true that we experience some kind of happiness in life but it cannot be termed "happiness" in the absolute sense of the word because it is not permanent. We cannot gain bliss by harboring anger or hatred, selfishness or delusion. Occasionally, we do experience certain degrees of emotional satisfaction. But the nature of this happiness is lust like lightning, it is fleeting. It appears on a moment and disappears the next. True bliss is not like this. If there is true bliss we will experience a permanent sense of calmness, satisfaction and tranquility. So the real purpose of our lives should be to purify our clouded, deluded, misled minds and free ourselves from worries and disturbances. So long as we spend our time constantly solving problems, always looking over our shoulders, always wondering what to do next, we can never be at peace. Develop the Mind The Buddha's advice is that we should be free from these distractions if we want to experience bliss This release must however be obtained by our own effort and come from within ourselves. We cannot gain salvation from a god or the Buddha or from heaven. We cannot get ultimate freedom through external agents. Supernatural beings cannot help us to gain wisdom and final liberation no matter how much we worship them or praise them through penances, charms, mantras, incantations and invocations and animal sacrifices. 'We are the results of what we were and we will be the results of what we are." Actions condition our happiness or unhappiness and finally secure our salvation. Salvation or deliverance is an individual affair. Just as each human being has to eat drink and digest and sleep for himself. All karmic actions are maintained as part of our mental formations and remain there submerged. We remain oblivious of these past actions because the other mental activities cloud the mind which therefore cannot recall actions in the past. When we develop our minds through meditation we arrest the distractions provided by the five senses. When the mind is clear it reduces anxiety, craving, anger, jealousy and delusion. (...) The Buddha advised his followers to cultivate and develop the latent power within them and showed them how to make the best use of their willpower and intelligence without being slaves to an unknown being to find eternal happiness. Without blaming anybody else Buddhism also teaches that man is responsible for his own action. Man should face the facts of life, and shoulder the responsibilities of life by fulfilling his duties and obligations to himself as well as to others. His pain and pleasure are created by himself and he has the ability to get rid of his sufferings and maintain peace and happiness by understanding his weaknesses and using his own effort to overcome them. Man's untrained mind is responsible for all the troubles, calamities, disturbances, unfavorable circumstances and even the changes of elements and matter Conversely man's mind can change unfortunate situations in the world and also can make it a peaceful, prosperous and happy place for all to live. This can be done only through the purification of mental energy. (...) According to the Buddha a beautiful thought and word which is not followed by corresponding action is like a bright flower that has no scent and will bear no fruit. The eight fold path introduced by the Buddha is a planned course of inward culture and progress. By merely resorting to external worship, ceremonies and prayers, one can never make progress in righteousness and inner development. Mere prayer for salvation, the Buddha says, is like "asking the farther bank or a river to come over so that one may get to the other side without personal effort." Many religions claim that messages were revealed to mankind by a god. However some rationalists ask, if there is only one god, and he had given his message for the benefit of all mankind, why are there so many different beliefs in the world? If the message was meant for the whole of the human race what was the difficulty for god to announce his message publicly so that there would be no room for doubt or misinterpretation? Everybody would accept the message and there would be no religious friction and the whole world could just follow the one message of the god. (...) The Buddha on the other hand never claimed anything like receiving knowledge from outside sources. Throughout his ministry he always asserted that his listeners were free to question him and challenge his teachings so that they could personally hear the truth. He said. "Come and see" (Ehipassiku). He did not say "Come and believe." Whenever he spoke anything, it was because he had personally tested the validity of the saying for himself as an ordinary human being. He claimed no divinity. He understood everything because he knew how he had to suffer during so many previous births for all the bad deeds he had committed through ignorance. He had learned the hard way. He advised his followers through his own experience. He had done tremendous service to mankind by practicing and observing the great (perfection) PARAMIS over countless lifetimes and finally experienced the supreme bliss. We have to ask ourselves which is more reliable, the testimony of one who speaks from personal experience or that of one who claims to have heard it from someone else who is always invisible. (...) When we are young we must consider that although we are young, in time we will grow old. When we are healthy we must think that in time we can fall sick. Health is not permanent. When we prepare ourselves wisely for decay, ageing, sickness and finally death, it will not be nearly as difficult to bear. Understanding that these are worldly conditions which everyone has to face, we can bear any suffering with fortitude. This is the strength, the 'refuge' that the Buddha promises. There are those who grumble and cry when misfortune hits them. This is nothing but lack of understanding. Moaning about it will not make the suffering go away. To avoid the pain that misfortune can bring we must strengthen our minds through understanding. There is nothing or nobody who has come into existence who can escape the natural process of "coming to an end." There has to be an end. Otherwise things cannot exist. We need not be afraid of this perfectly natural phenomenon. We can all consider that even at death it is not the end of life but only the beginning of another. We know with the poet Wordsworth that. "The soul that rises with us, our life's star, has elsewhere had its setting, cometh from afar." When we disappear from this world physically, the life appears elsewhere -- so why worry? Aren't we simply getting a new passport in our journey through Samsara? (...) It is very unfortunate that in many existing religions the followers are not encouraged to respect the leaders of another religion. They are warned that if they do so they would be committing a sin and even worse, they would go to hell for it. The Buddha clearly tells us that we must respect those who are worthy of respect. Although we may not agree with certain religious points of view they hold, if they are sincere in their efforts to serve humanity and uplift it, we must respect them for it. There are noble people in every religion. The Buddha did not advise his disciples to go and convert people who would otherwise go to hell. Rather he advised them to show the world what is right and what is wrong and to be good and to do good, to encourage men to come and see for themselves the truth that he taught. He and his followers do not condemn the followers of other religionists as "sinners" who are doomed to spend an eternity in hell. According to Buddhists, even those who have no "religion" but who live in dignity, with compassion and goodwill can "go to heaven", that is, experience happiness. When we are happy and contented we are in "heaven." When we suffer physically or mentally we are in "hell." There is no need to wait to die to experience either of these states. Buddism is unique because we can talk about this "religion" even without any reference to heaven or hell. I am sure that others cannot talk about religion in this way. The Buddha's message of goodwill and understanding to all beings is a universal message. The world today needs this noble message more than ever before in the history of humankind. Buddhism as a religion is the unique exposition of the absolute truth which will show man how to live in peace and harmony with his fellow beings.
From: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080518/Plus/plus000016.html Face of compassion that inspires billions By Upali Salgado The central figure in the story of Buddhism is Sakyamuni Gotama Buddha (also known as Gauthama Buddha). Gotama Buddha was born 2,552 years ago at Lumbini, in Nepal. He belonged to the Sakya clan, and Gotama was the family name. He was a prince, having at birth 32 unusual signs on his body, which, according to the royal court seers, indicated he would be either a Chakravarthi (Universal Monarch) or a religious leader.
The Buddha’s noble philosophy, or dharma, is followed by more than three billion people across Asia. The Buddha was an extraordinary man, a “Maha Purisha”. As a human being, he had no connections with the creator God or any other supernatural being. An extraordinary man (“Accariya Manussa”), he was beyond the human state inwardly, though living an admirable life outwardly. What exactly those 32 principal marks represented remains uncertain, but scholars agree they are marks of royalty and great leadership, something the Buddha acquired from previous lives in samsara. Buddhists of the Mahayana school believe he was of divine character and was superhuman. The Maha Purisha concept originated with Vedantic thought in North India, and was later applied to heroes in Indian epics. Gotama Buddha said human suffering in its many forms could end without an external agency. He said that only through self-realisation and an awakening to truth can one achieve personal liberation. The ills of life that haunt man can be conquered by following the dharma. The path to achieving that goal is by understanding and accepting the Four Noble Truths (relating to suffering or dukkha) and the Noble Eightfold Path. The Buddha’s teachings are better appreciated when one understands the concept of dependent origination and the doctrines of kamma and rebirth. Annata (no-soul concept) and anicca (impermanence of life) are two other fundamental aspects of Buddha doctrine. These teachings are fundamentally different from those of theistic religions, which believe in a powerful creator or God who guides the destiny of man. The Buddha said: “One thing only do I teach, the
cause of suffering, the way to end suffering. Just as the sea water has one
taste, so is my teaching, which deals with suffering and its cessation.”
(Majjima Nikaya) “By oneself indeed is evil done, This question is often asked: What is the difference between a Buddha and an Arahant (one who is pure and free of passion and has shed the fetters of renewed existence). It is said that after the Buddha preached his first sermon, his ascetic friends Assaji, Kondanja, Baddiya, Vappa and Mahanama met the Buddha on a Poson Full Moon day at Saranath, and that all became Arahants, including the Buddha. The only difference was that the Buddha was the “Path Finder”, showing the Arahants the way. Consequently, the Buddha came to be variously described as The Enlightened One, The Perfect One, The Exalted One, Shanthi Raja, Bodhi Raja and Tatagata (he who has seen things as they are). The Mahayana scholars referred to him as The Caravan Leader. He is often referred to as The Great Master. See also: Suzuki, D. T. (1996). Swedenborg: Buddha of the North. West Chester: Swedenborg Foundation. See also: "Swedenborg: Buddha of the North By D. T. Suzuki" Reviewed by Barbara Darling-Smith. Philosophy East and West Vol. 49, No. 2 (April 1999) pp. 231-235. Online at: ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/ew94208.htm See also 7.0.5.1 The Law of Karma of Good and Evil as described in the Writings Sacred Scripture.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch15.htm#trinity +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Correspondences in Yoga
Quoting from a Web site www.hinduism.co.za/rajayoga.htm
Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture on the spiritual significance of breath and respiration, and on the difference between external and internal respiration: SE
3121. CONCERNING GENERAL RESPIRATION. SE 3464. I was afterwards remitted into the company of those of this character, from whence respiration flowed in, that I might know their quality; the respiration was then separated from the pectoral region, and removed to the abdominal about the naval, nor did it extend itself any further; and this signifies a life separated from good and truth. There were then shown to me certain species of respirations, concerning which much conversation also was had, as, for instance, that there is conjoined with the usual respirations an external one, which is common to the world of spirits; then an internal with an insensible external, which is sufficiently good; then an internal without an external, which is better; and finally an insensible one that was to me scarcely perceptible, which is angelic. But these in general; there are still other genera, and an indefinite number of species, pertaining to different regions of the body and the determinations thence, concerning which, by the favor of the Lord, I shall speak elsewhere. I was first accustomed thus to respire in my early childhood, when saying my morning and evening prayers, and occasionally afterwards, when exploring the harmonies of the lungs and heart, and especially when deeply engaged in writing the works that have been published. For a course of years I continually observed that there was a tacit respiration, scarcely perceptible, concerning which it was subsequently given me to reflect, and then to write. I was thus during many years, from the period of childhood, introduced into such respirations, especially by means of absorbing speculations, in which the breathing seems to become quiescent, as otherwise the intense study of truth is scarcely possible. Afterwards, when heaven was opened to me, and I was enabled to converse with spirits, I sometimes scarcely breathed by inspiration at all for the space of a short hour, and merely drew in enough of air to keep up the process of thinking. Thus I was introduced by the Lord into interior respirations. I have also again and again observed, that when I was passing into a state of sleep, my respiration was almost taken away, so that I would awake and catch my breath. When I observe nothing of the kind, I continue to write and think, and am not aware of my respiration being arrested, unless I reflect upon it. This I may say has happened in instances innumerable. Nor was I at such times able to observe the various changes, because I did not reflect upon them. The design of all this was, that every kind of state, every kind of sphere, and every kind of society, particularly the more interior, might find in my own a fit respiration, which should come into play without any reflection on my part, and that thus a medium of interaction might be afforded with spirits and angels. (SE 3164) HH 449. As to the senses of the body I was brought into a state of insensibility, thus nearly into the state of the dying, but with the interior life and thought remaining unimpaired, in order that I might perceive and retain in the memory the things that happened to me, and that happen to those who are resuscitated from the dead. I perceived that the respiration of the body was almost wholly taken away; but the interior respiration of the spirit went on in connection with a slight and tacit respiration of the body. Then at first a communication of the pulse of the heart with the celestial kingdom was established, because that kingdom corresponds to the heart in man.# Angels from that kingdom were seen, some at a distance, and two sitting near my head. Thus all my own affection was taken away although thought and perception continued. [2] I was in this state for some hours. Then the spirits who were around me withdrew, supposing that I was dead; and an aromatic odour like that of an embalmed body was perceived, for when the celestial angels are present everything pertaining to the corpse is perceived as aromatic, and when spirits perceive this they cannot approach; and in this way evil spirits are kept away from man's spirit when he is being introduced into eternal life. The angels seated at my head were silent, merely sharing their thoughts with mine; and when their thoughts are received, the angels know that the spirit of man is in a state in which it can be drawn forth from the body. This sharing of their thoughts was effected by looking into my face, for in this way in heaven thoughts are shared. [3] As thought and perception remained with me, that I might know and remember how resuscitation is effected, I perceived that the angels first tried to ascertain what my thought was, whether it was like the thought of those who are dying, which is usually about eternal life; also that they wished to keep my mind in that thought. Afterwards, I was told that the spirit of man is held in its last thought when the body expires, until it returns to the thoughts that are from its general or ruling affection in the world. Especially was I permitted to see and feel that there was a pulling and drawing forth, as it were, of the interiors of my mind, thus of my spirit, from the body; and I was told that this is from the Lord, and that the resurrection is thus effected. # The heart corresponds to the Lord's celestial kingdom, the lungs to His spiritual kingdom (n. 3635, 3886, 3887). (HH 449) SE
605. There is also a collective breathing, about which I was able to observe
the following, namely, that I was then somehow taking part in a collective
breathing that was easy and spontaneous; and indeed, that the collective
breathing of heaven related to my own breathing as three to one, as did my
heartbeat also. Nevertheless, because of the collective respiration, all can
breathe in accordance with this rule, that the contiguous collective breathing
turns into something continuous, so that from that continuum, all have their
own breathings, of every variety. SE 1614. Another common operation or action of theirs was into the respiration of the lungs, to the left, which was such that if described it could scarcely be perceived, for there was a gentle leading of my respiration from the interior, so that I had no need of anything like voluntary effort in inhaling or expelling my breath; this was governed by heaven from the interior, so that not so much the substances as the animations of the lungs, from which arises their motion, [were controlled by it.] Thus the influence was in the interior [pulmonary] fibers that are not visible to the eye, for the animation was perceived to be ruled by heaven, without voluntary action on my part, so that I had no need to draw my breath or spirit, but it was drawn by heaven. The forces employed in this animation, as evinced by the intervals [between the pulsations], were such as seemed habitual to me. (SE 1614) SE 1615. The third common action of heaven was in the systole and diastole of the heart, which was manifestly perceived, but was gentler or softer than at other times. Its pulsations were like the animations [of the lungs] in softness, and within them, but the times regular like those of the heart, being about one- third, yet such that they terminated in the pulmonic movements, and thus in a certain manner governed them. The times of the pulmonic respiration were common to them and to the heart, as composed of those of the heart; the terminations of the heart's times closed in the pulmonic beats, and were related to each other somewhat like the motions of the angelic gyres, concerning which elsewhere. But how it is precisely that the pulmonic motions commenced I could not perceive; but how [the influx] insinuated itself into the lungs at the end of every animation, I could in a measure observe. The heart, therefore, represents the celestial, the lungs the spiritual; the analogy lies in the manner in which the celestial inflows into the spiritual. The pulsations of the heart, which were soft and regular, were so observable that I could count them one by one. (SE 1615) AC 3884. As in the world it is quite unknown that there is a correspondence of heaven or the Grand Man with all things of man, and that man comes forth and subsists therefrom, so that what is said on the subject may seem paradoxical and incredible, I may here relate the things that experience has enabled me to know with certainty. Once, when the interior heaven was opened to me, and I was conversing with the angels there, I was permitted to observe the following phenomena. Be it known that although I was in heaven, I was nevertheless not out of myself, but in the body, for heaven is within man, wherever he may be, so that when it pleases the Lord, a man may be in heaven and yet not be withdrawn from the body. In this way it was given me to perceive the general workings of heaven as plainly as an object is perceived by any of the senses. Four workings or operations were then perceived by me. The first was into the brain at the left temple, and was a general operation as regards the organs of reason; for the left side of the brain corresponds to rational or intellectual things, but the right to the affections or things of the will. [2] The second general operation that I perceived was into the respiration of the lungs, and it led my respiration gently, but from within, so that I had no need to draw breath or respire by any exertion of my will. The very respiration of heaven was at the time plainly perceived by me. It is internal, and for this reason is imperceptible to man; but by a wonderful correspondence it inflows into man's respiration, which is external, or of the body; and if man were deprived of this influx, he would instantly fall down dead. [3]
The third operation that I perceived was into the systole and diastole of the
heart, which had then more of softness with me than I had ever experienced at
any other time. The intervals of the pulse were regular, being about three
within each period of respiration; yet such as to terminate in and thus direct
the things belonging to the lungs. How at the close of each respiration the
alternations of the heart insinuated themselves into those of the lungs, I was
in some measure enabled to observe. The alternations of the pulse were so
observable that I was able to count them; they were distinct and soft. [4] The fourth general operation was into the kidneys, which also it was given me to perceive, but obscurely. From these things it was made manifest that heaven or the Grand Man has cardiac pulses, and that it has respirations; and that the cardiac pulses of heaven or the Grand Man have a correspondence with the heart and with its systolic and diastolic motions; and that the respirations of heaven or the Grand Man have a correspondence with the lungs and their respirations; but that they are both unobservable to man, being imperceptible, because internal. (AC 3884) AC 1879. On one occasion while in bed I was told that evil spirits were conspiring against me with the intention of suffocating me, but as I was safe and felt secure under the Lord's keeping, I disregarded the threats and went to sleep. But awaking in the middle of the night, I felt that I was not breathing of myself, but from heaven, for there was nothing of my own respiration, as I plainly perceived. It was then said that the band of conspirators was present, and that it was composed of those who hold in hatred the interior things of the Word (that is, the very truths of faith, for these are the interiors of the Word), and who thus hate them because they are contrary to their fallacies, persuasions, and cupidities, which the sense of the letter might be brought to support. [2] After their attempt had failed, their leaders tried to enter into the viscera of my body, and to penetrate even to the heart, and to this also they were admitted. This was all the time perceived by manifest sensation, for one to whom the interiors of the spirit are opened, gets at the same time a sensible perception of such things. But I was then introduced into a kind of celestial state, which was that I made no effort to repel these visitors, still less to avenge the injury. They then said that there was peace; but soon they were as if deprived of rationality, breathing out vengeance, and striving to carry out their purpose, but in vain. They afterwards dispersed of themselves. (AC 1879) CL
171. (xiii) A wife is linked to her husband by the sphere of life which issues
from her love for him.
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch15.htm#yoga +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Zoroastrian Sacred Scripture
VISPERAD 3 - BEGINNING OF THE HAOMA OFFERING; ROLL-CALL OF THE PRIEST. 1. (The Zaotar speaks.) (I call for) the Havanan, and would have him here. (The Ratu answers.) I will come (and fulfill his duties). (The Zaotar speaks.) I would have the Atarevakhsha here. (The Ratu answers.) I will come (and fulfill the services which fall to his charge). (The Zaotar.) I would have the Frabaretar. (The Ratu.) I will come (and fulfill the services which fall to his charge). (The Zaotar.) I would have the Aberet present. (The Ratu.) I will come (for him). (The Zaotar.) I would have the Asnatar. (The Ratu.) I will come (and do the duties which he serves). (The Zaotar.) I would have the Raethwishkar to be here. (The Ratu.) I will come (for him). (The Zaotar.) I would have the Sraoshavareza present, the wisest one, the most correct and veracious in his speech (The Ratu.) I will come. 2. (The Zaotar.) I would have the Fire-priest to be here, and the warrior, and the thrifty tiller of the earth, and the house-lord, and the lords of the Vis and the Zantu. 3. And I summon the youth of holy thoughts, words and works, and of good conscience; (yea), the youth of good speech, given (in marriage) to his kin. And I summon the province-ranger, and the itinerant of many arts, and the house-mistress. 4. And I summon the woman advanced in her holy thoughts, and words, and deeds, and well subordinated, whose ruler is her lord, the holy one, who is (as) the bounteous Armaiti; (yea), I summon even Thy wives, O Ahura ! And I summon likewise the holy man advanced in his good thoughts, and words, and deeds, who is learned in pious lore, and innocent of the Kayadha, and by whose deeds the settlements are furthered in the righteous order. 5. Yea, we summon you, whoever you may be, if only chiefs of the Mazdayasnians; and we summon the Bounteous Immortals, and the pious Saoshyants (the prophets for our help), the most correct and truthful in their speech, the most zealous, the most glorious in their thoughts, the greatest ones, and the powerful; and we summon the Fire-priests, and the warriors, and the diligent husbandman of the Mazdayasnian faith. 6. (The Zaotar.) As an Ahu to be (revered and) chosen, the Atarevakhsha (announcing) speaks forth to me. (The Ratu [?].) So let the Ratu from his righteousness, holy and learned, speak forth. (The Ratu.) As an Ahu to be (revered and) chosen, the Zaotar (announcing) speaks forth to me. (The Zaotar.) So let the Ratu from (his) righteousness, holy and learned, speak forth. (The Ratu.) Thou art the announcer for us, O Fire-priest! [(Pazand.) It is the Zaotar (who is meant).] (The Zaotar.) I will come as this Zaotar, and recite the Staota Yesnya with memorized intoning, chanting, and praise. VISPERAD 4. 1. (Yea,) we sacrifice to the thoughts of the mind, and to the good wisdom, and to the good and blessed sanctity, and to the good religious knowledge, and to good health (of soul and body). [At their (several) seasons, and with the presence of seasonable circumstances, they are hymned.] 2. Confession is to be made for the Kine; we, Zarathushtrian Mazdayasnians, celebrate at the sacrificial time for the Myazda-offering, at the time for the Ratufriti, the prayer for blessings, for the sacrificial worship, homage, propitiation, and praise of the entire creation of the holy (and the clean). VISPERAD 5. 1. I come to You, O Ye Bountiful Immortals! as a praiser priest, and invoker, as a memoriser, reciting (Your ritual), and as a chanter for Your sacrifice and homage, Your propitiation, and Your praise; (yea, for Yours) the Bountiful Immortals, and for our preparation, (O ye holy Saoshyants!) and for your well-timed prayer for blessings, and your sanctification, and for our victorious smiting of our foes, beneficial (as it is) for our souls, for ours, the Saoshyants, (with you), and holy. 2. And I make my offering to You, O Ye Bountiful Immortals, who rule aright, and who dispose (of all) aright! (Yea), I offer You the flesh of my very body, and all the blessings of my life as well. 3. And I confess my belief in Thee, O Ahura Mazda! and as a Mazdayasnian of the order of Zarathushtra, and in accordance with this Faith. VISPERAD 6. 1. In accordance with the precept, with praise, and with the joyful reception of grace, with Zaothras intelligently offered, with sacrificial words correctly spoken, I call the good Amesha Spenta by their names of beauty; yea, I worship the Bountiful Immortals by their beautiful names, with the blessing of the ritual Order, with the longing blessing of Righteousness the good. VISPERAD 7. 1. We worship the (sacrificial) words correctly uttered, and Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, and the good Ashi, (the blest order of our rites), and Nairya-sangha. And we worship the victorious Peace as the unprostrated and unmoved. And we sacrifice to the Fravashis of the saints, and to the Chinwad Bridge, and to the Garo Nmana of Ahura, even Heaven, the best world of the saints, the shining and all glorious! 2. And we sacrifice to that better path that leads to that Best World (as well). And we worship Arshtat (Justice) the good, which helps the settlements to advance and flourish, benefiting them thereby, that Arshtat which is the Mazdayasnian Faith; and (with her) we worship Rashnu the most just, and Mithra of the wide pastures. And we worship Parendi the wealthy, wealthy with a wealth of thoughts, with a throng of words, and with a breadth of actions, [for she makes our persons agile (for good thoughts and words and actions)] 3. And we worship that virile defensive Heroism which possesses men who think beforehand, and heroic men, which is fleeter a than the fleet, stronger than the strong, which comes to him who is endowed by God, which, when especially made theirs by men, produces one who is a freer of the body. And we worship Sleep, the Mazda-made, the gladdener of the herd and men. 4. And we worship those things in the creation of the holy which are the ancient institutions, those formed before the sky, the water, the land, the plants, and the Kine of blessed gift. And we worship the sea Vouru-kasha, and the stormy wind which is made by Mazda, and the shining heaven, of old created, the first-made earthly object of (all) the earthly world. 5. And we worship thee, the Fire, O Ahura Mazda's son! the holy lord of the ritual order, and this Baresman, having the Zaothra with it, and the girdle with it, spread out with sanctity, the holy ritual chief, and we worship Apam-napat (the son of waters) VISPERAD 8. 1. With this word be Thou approached, with the proper word be Thou present here, Thou who art Ahura Mazda, the holy, together with the good Yazads who are the Bountiful Immortals, who rule aright, and dispose (of all) aright, together with fifty, and a hundred, and a thousand, and ten thousand, and millions, and yet more. 2. And to Him who rules the best let the Kingdom be! From: http://www.hinduwebsite.com/sacredscripts/zoroscripts/avesta_3_visperad.htm Sad DarTranslated by E. W. West, from Sacred Books of the East, volume 24, Clarendon Press, 1885. From: 1. In the name of Ohrmazd, the lord, the greatest and wise, the all-ruling, all knowing, and almighty. 2. This is a book (kitab), about the proper and improper, which is extracted from the good and pure religion of the Mazda-worshippers. 3. What is expedient (vajib) is this, for every one to know and keep this in practice. 4. And it is not desirable that he become independent (hali) of this for a single hour (sa'hat). 5. Because, when one becomes independent, the sin for each one may become abundant; and when it is brought into practice the reward becomes abundant. 6. On this occasion (vaqt) I, a servant of the religion -- like the mobed Eran-shah, son (bin) of Yazad-yar, son of Tishtar-yar, son of Adarbad, son of Mahraspand -- have sent a reward to their souls, unto every one who reads and is bound by duty. 7. Thus much (in qadar), which has come written, is a good work they know, whosoever are superior; but it is not possible for every one inferior to know of this. 8. If it were more (ziyadat) it is proper, but if (imma) less than this it is not proper to know; while, in gratitude for the benefits (shukr-i ni'hmat) of the sacred being, they become increasing in action, and the sacred being, the most high (ta'halai), makes benefits occur on the spot on that account. 9. And, secondly, the kindness (lutf) and generosity (karm) of the sacred being, the most high, are manifest from this, that he created us with each member (alat) complete (tamam), and did not keep anything from the maternal nature. 10. And whatever was necessary for use he gave us. 11. At the head, likewise, he appointed a master, which is the wisdom for the purpose that they may keep these members in action. 12. May the peace of the sacred being, the most high, be on the souls of those acquainted with the religion of the pure Zartosht, the Spitaman, and of those who are pure and virtuous. 13. For the souls of those persons it is desirable that every duty they perform they shall perform through the authority dasturi) of the wisdom of the high-priests. 1. The first subject is this, that it is necessary that they become steadfast in the religion, and do not introduce any hesitation (shakk) and doubt into the heart. 2. And that they make a statement ('haqiqat) with confidence (i'htiqad), that the good religion, the true and perfect, which the Lord sent into the world ('halq), is that which Zartosht has brought; which is this I hold. 3. Every time that mankind are like this, and do not introduce any hesitation and doubt into the heart, of every duty and good work that others have done, from the days of Zartosht until these days, and of whatever one does after this until the resurrection, there is a share for that person. 4. When the soul, on the fourth night, arrives at the head of the Chinwad bridge, the angel Mihr and the angel Rashn make up its account ('hisab) and reckoning. 5. And, if the good works it has done be deficient in quantity, of every duty and good work that those of the good religion have done in the earth of seven regions they appoint it a like portion (nazib), till the good works become more in weight; and the soul arrives righteous in the radiant locality of heaven. 6. For it is declared in revelation, that of the duty and good work which they perform in doubt -- that is (ya'hni), they entertain a suspicion like this, that 'I do not know that this faith, which I possess, is better in comparison with other faiths' -- no merit whatever comes to their souls. 7. Therefore, the first (avval) thing is to become steadfast in the religion; and this is the chief of all good works. 1. The second subject is this, that it is necessary to make an effort (gahd), so that they may not commit any sin. 2. If even a trifling sin occurs it is not desirable to assume that this small quantity does not possess harm hereafter. 3. For it is said in revelation, that if such be the quantity of sin that the sin is one filament of the hair of the eyelashes more in weight than the good works are, that person arrives in hell. 4. And if such a quantity of good works be in excess, he arrives righteous in the radiant locality of heaven. 5. Therefore, even if a sin be trifling it is not desirable to commit it; and it is requisite to refrain, so that they may not commit it, and may become without doubt as to the religion. 1. The third subject is this, that it is necessary for man that he be continuously employed (mashjhul) on his own work, and then the work becomes his own. 2. For it is declared in revelation, that every one who hereafter becomes employed on his own work, if in the midst of that work any trouble and discomfort happen to him, obtains in that other world twelve recompenses for every single instance. 3. If he becomes employed on iniquity (fasad), and in the midst of that work any trouble and harm happen to him, he so obtains in that other world only torment ('huqubat) and punishment. 4. Similarly (maTHalam), if any one be himself going, employed on his own work, and a robber falls upon him on the road, and carries off his property (qumash), or he be slain, they give him back in that other world four things for each one of whatever they have carried off. 5. If he be slain he becomes righteous, any sin that he has committed goes clean away from him, and they convey him to heaven. 6. But (amma) if he becomes faulty (batil) in any duty, and a robber falls upon him on the road, and carries off his wealth (mal), or he be slain, when he descends to that other world all the property that other carried off from him becomes just as though it were his who has carried it off from that person; and, besides, there occur, as a substitute ('hivaz) for that property, the punishment and torment they give him. 7. And if he be slain it is just as though he who has carried it off from that person were one who had innocently slain that person who arrives in hell as retribution (mukafat) for sin. 1. The fourth subject is this, that it is not desirable for any one that he should become hopeless of the pity (ra'hmat) and forgiveness of Ohrmazd, and fix his heart outwardly on this, that our sin is excessive and it is not possible to arrive in heaven. 2. Because it happens that a small quantity of duty and good work is performed, and it may be that for that quantity Ohrmazd, the good and propitious, may have pity on him and may make him arrive in heaven. 3. For it is declared in revelation, that one time when Zartosht was in conversation with the sacred being, the most high, he saw a man whose whole body was in hell, and one foot -- the right one -- was outside of hell. 4. Zartosht inquired of the sacred being, the most high, thus: 'What person has this man been?' 5. Ohrmazd, the good and propitious, gave a reply (javab) thus: 'He has been a king, and possessed the sovereignty of thirty-three towns, and was conducting that sovereignty many years. 6. And he never did any virtuous action, but was committing much oppression, lawlessness, and violence (thulm). 7. By chance (qazara) he was one day going on the chase, and arrived out at a place (mauza'h) and saw a goat that was tied. 8. A morsel of hay was placed very far off, and that goat was hungry. 9. Owing to this the goat was trying to eat the hay, but did not reach the hay. 10. This the king saw, and kicked his foot at that hay and cast it in front of the goat. 11. Now, in recompense for that, that one foot of his is outside of hell, and the remaining (baqi) limbs are in hell.' 12. Therefore, although a sin has happened to any one, it is not necessary for him to become hopeless. 13. And whoever has the power (taqat) is to endeavor to perform good works, so that there may be an atonement for the sin thereby; because the sacred being, the good and propitious, is kind to every one. 1. The fifth subject is this, that it is necessary for all those of the good religion that they make a thorough effort, so that they celebrate the ritual and become Navazud. 2. For in our religion there is no good work more ample than this. 3. And it is declared in revelation, that, although much duty and good work be performed, it is not possible to attain to the supreme heaven (garothman), except on that one occasion when the Navazud ceremony is performed, or they have celebrated a getig-kharid. 4. And on any occasion ('hal), if they are not able to perform it with their own hands, it is requisite to order it; and then it is inevitably necessary that the celebration of the Getig-kharid should be in the same manner as they would have performed it with their own hands. 5. Man and woman are both equal in this good work; therefore, it is not proper to neglect this duty, for it is the chief of all the good works of the religion. 6. Because it is declared in revelation, that on the day that they are performing the Navazud ceremony, or are celebrating a Getig-kharid on his account, three times the soul of that person arrives at heaven, and they show it a place therein, and offer it a profuse greeting (niTHar). 7. The explanation (tafsir) of the Gahs is this, that a Gah -- that is, that his own place -- becomes visible to him in heaven that day. 8. And if one does not perform a Navazud ceremony, or does not order the celebration of a Getig-kharid, it is the same as when a poor (gharib) man makes for a town, and does not obtain a spot where he may alight in that place. 9. Although it is his own town he is in this trouble. 10. Therefore, it is not possible to bring to hand a place in heaven through any good work, except by the performance of the Navazud ceremony, or by ordering the celebration of a Getig-kharid. 11. And a Getig-kharid is this, that heaven is purchased in the world, and one's own place brought to hand in heaven. 1. The sixth subject is this, that of the many good works there are those which, when they accomplish them, obtain great ('hathim) rewards; and if one does not perform them severe punishment seizes upon one at the head of the Chinwad bridge. 2. One is the celebration of the season festivals [Gahambars]; the second is keeping the days of the guardian spirits [fravashis]; the third is attending to the souls of fathers, mothers, and other relations; the fourth is reciting the Khwarshed Niyayesh [Sun Litany] three times every day; the fifth is reciting the Mah Niyayesh [Moon Litany] three times every month, once when it becomes new, once when it becomes full, and once when it becomes slender; and the sixth is celebrating the Rapithwin ceremony once every year. 3. If not able to celebrate them oneself, it is requisite to order them, so that they may celebrate them every single time. 4. These six good works are things indispensable unto every one. 5. When any one of them is not performed -- be it that which, if omitted at its own time, it is not possible to accomplish, or if it be. that one time one omits an occasion, and another time they accomplish twice as much -- one should consider that as an advantage, which occurs in retribution for it, or as atonement for the transgression. 6. Because they call the transgression of each of these six a bridge-sin; that is, every one through whom a transgression of these may have arisen they keep back, at the head of the Chinwad bridge, till punishment for it happens to him, and no good work is possible in this place, which is torment and punishment for him. 7. Therefore it is necessary to make an effort, that they may be performed each one at its own time, so hat they may obtain a recompense, and not a severe punishment. 1. The seventh subject is this, that, when a sneeze ('hatsat) comes forth from any one, it is requisite to recite one Yatha-ahu-vairyo and one Ashem-vohu. 2. Because there is a fiend in our bodies, and she is an adversary who is connected with mankind, and strives so that she may make misfortune ('hillat) and sickness predominant (mustauli) over mankind. 3. And in our bodies there is a fire which they call a disposition -- in Arabic they say tabi'hat -- and they call it the sneezing instinct (gharizi). 4. It is connected with that fiend, and they wage warfare, and it keeps her away from the body of man. 5. Then, as the fire becomes successful over that fiend, and puts her to flight (hazimat), a sneeze comes because that fiend comes out. 6. Afterwards, because it is necessary, they recite these inward prayers and perform the benediction (afrin) of the fire, so that it may remain for a long period while thou art keeping this fiend defeated. 7. When another person hears the sneeze, it is likewise requisite for him to utter; the said prayers, and to accomplish the benediction of that spirit. 1. The eighth subject is this, that it is necessary to maintain the religion by rule (dastur), and to practice obedience to the commands of the high-priests; and every duty that people perform they should perform by their authority. 2. For it is declared in the good religion, that, if they accomplish as many good works as the leaves of trees, or the sand-grains of the desert, or the drops (qatrah) of rain, which they do not perform by command of the high-priests, or to their satisfaction, no merit whatever attains to their souls, and for the good works they have done they obtain sin as a recompense. 3. While such a one is living it is not proper to call him righteous, and when he dies he does not attain to heaven, and not a single archangel comes near him. 4. He does not make his escape from the hands of the demons and Ahriman, and he does not obtain a release from hell. 5. Because duties and good works attain to the soul on those occasions when they perform them with the authority of the high-priests and those acquainted with the religion, and when they give them one-tenth of those good works. 1. The ninth subject is this, that it is necessary to practice abstinence from committing or permitting unnatural intercourse. 2. For this is the chief of all sins in the religion: there is no worse sin than this in the good religion, and it is proper to call those who commit it worthy of death in reality. 3. If any one comes forth to them, and shall see them in the act, and is working with an ax, it is requisite for him to cut off the heads or to rip up the bellies of both, and it is no sin for him. 4. But it is not proper to kill any person without the authority of high-priests and kings, except on account of committing or permitting unnatural intercourse. 5. For it says in revelation that unnatural intercourse is on a par with Ahriman, with Afrasiyab, with Dahak [Zohak], with Tur-i Bradrok-resh who slew Zartosht, with Malkos who will arise, with the serpent Srobovar which existed in the days of Sam Nariman, and as many sins as are theirs. 6. And Ahriman, the evil one, becomes more joyful, owing to this practice, than owing to the other sins which have made high-priests necessary; for the soul itself of that person becomes extinct. 7. And when they commit the sin with women, it is just the same as that with men. 1. The tenth subject is this, that it is incumbent on all those of the good religion, women and men, every one who attains to fifteen years, to wear the sacred thread-girdle [kusti]. 2. Because the sacred thread-girdle is to be a girding of the loins and to preserve obedience (ta'hat) to the Lord, may he be honored and glorified ('hazza va jalla)! 3. The first person who set the wearing of this sacred thread-girdle in view was Jamshed. 4. And it may be the whole (jumlah) of the demons and fiends who are made extinct by the glory of wearing the sacred thread-girdle. 5. Every one who has tied the sacred thread-girdle round the waist is out of the department of Ahriman, and is established in the department of Ohrmazd. 6. And also, while he keeps the sacred thread-girdle on the waist, there is a share for him of all those duties and good works which they perform in the earth of seven regions. 7. It is like that which occurs when they are performing hamazor and hama asho, and have put on this sacred thread-girdle [kusti] on that account, or when, similarly, some one in Cashmere, or Eranvej, or Kangdez, or the enclosure formed by Jam [Jamshed], performs a good work, and we are not able to perform it with hama zor, then they and we, who wear the sacred thread-girdle on the waist, are mutually connected and equally meritorious, one with the other. 8. As no good work attains to him who does not wear a sacred thread-girdle -- excepting that which he performs himself -- it is therefore necessary that any one of mankind should not put it away from the waist on any occasion, so that the associated good works of those of the good religion may attain to him. 9. And those four knots, with which they tie it on, are on this account, that it may give four attestations. 10. The first knot is that which preserves constancy (qarar), and gives attestation as to the existence, unity, purity, and matchlessness of the sacred being, the good and propitious. 11. The second knot is that which gives attestation that is the good religion of the Mazda-worshippers which is the word of the sacred being. 12. The third knot is that which gives attestation as to the apostleship and mission (rasuli) in the just ('haqq) Zartosht, the Spitaman. 13. The fourth knot is that which adduces more pleasantly, gives assurance (iqrar), and openly accepts that I should think of good, speak of good, and do good. 14. And from the whole I become established; and the pure, good religion is this, that I persist in those views. 15. And, again, when the archangels [Amahraspands] came meeting Zartosht they likewise wore the sacred thread-girdle on the waist; and the distinctive characteristic (farq) amid the laws of the sacred being is the wearing of the sacred thread-girdle. 16. It is incumbent both on woman and on man, and it is altogether (albattah) improper when they do not wear it. The
above is from:
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch15.htm#Zoroastrian ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Correspondential Sense in Bahai Sacred ScriptureTheistic psychology is the knowledge and science that is extracted from Sacred Scripture through the method of correspondences that is revealed and described exclusively in the Writings of Swedenborg (see Section xx). All religions are based on a particular cultural and historical version of Sacred Scripture. In its universal idea all Sacred Scripture given by God forms one rational and scientific series of ideas -- when viewed through the correspondential sense, and not at all when viewed through the literal sense. When we view this or that version of Sacred Scripture in its literal meaning, the versions do not agree with each other and even contradict each other to such an extent that people from different religions see each other in hostile terms. This conflict and division disappears completely when we translate each version of Sacred Scripture into its correspondential meaning. When this is done one discovers the rational and scientific unity of all Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech expressed in some natural language and in natural-historical ideas. When the universal Divine Speech to humanity descends to the physical world as a text written in a natural language, message is necessarily cast in natural ideas that ordinary people can understand and accept. If Sacred Scripture were written directly in terms of correspondential meanings it would no longer be Sacred Scripture but theistic psychology. And this is a science that depends on facts and research, thus not at all suitable for religion. People of any religion can study the correspondential sense of their Sacred Scripture, but this would not be a religious activity but a scientific project. And this scientific project must include research on the correspondential sense of other Sacred Scriptures that one's religion does not acknowledge. Hence it is that theistic psychology is a science, not a religion. Various cultural-historical versions of Sacred Scripture have been examined in theistic psychology and this research will continue and increase in the future as a critical component of theistic psychology. In this Section I am examining the correspondential sense of the Baha'i Sacred Scripture. Online copies of Baha'i Sacred Writings are presented at: http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/KI/ Baha'is believe: (From: http://www.bahai.us/bahai-beliefs ) · the purpose of life is to know and worship God, to acquire virtues, to promote the oneness of mankind and to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization · all humanity was created by one God and is part of one human race · work performed in the spirit of service is a form of worship · the soul, created at the moment of conception, is destined by God to reach the afterlife, where it will continue to progress until it attains the presence of God Baha'is practice: (From: http://www.bahai.us/bahai-beliefs ) · daily prayer and communion with God · high moral principles, including trustworthiness, chastity and honesty · independent investigation of truth · a life dedicated to the service of humanity · fellowship with the followers of all religions · avoidance of excessive materialism, partisan politics, backbiting, alcohol, drugs and gambling Social principles include: (From: http://www.bahai.us/bahai-beliefs ) · equality of women and men · the harmony of science and religion as two complementary systems of knowledge that must work together to advance the well being and progress of humanity · the elimination of prejudice · the establishment of a world commonwealth of nations · recognition of the common origin and fundamental unity of purpose of all religions · spiritual solutions to economic problems and the removal of economic barriers and restrictions · the abolition of extremes of poverty and wealth · the adoption of a world auxiliary language, a world script, and a uniform and universal system of currency and weights and measures God, His Manifestations And Man Selections
from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh The Bearers of the Trust of God are made manifest unto the peoples of the earth as the Exponents of a new Cause and the Revealers of a new Message. Inasmuch as these Birds of the celestial Throne are all sent down from the heaven of the Will of God, and as they all arise to proclaim His irresistible Faith, they, therefore, are regarded as one soul and the same person. For they all drink from the one Cup of the love of God, and all partake of the fruit of the same Tree of Oneness.
Correspondential
Analysis: +++ These Manifestations of God have each a twofold station. One is the station of pure abstraction and essential unity. In this respect, if thou callest them all by one name, and dost ascribe to them the same attributes, thou hast not erred from the truth. Even as He hath revealed: "No distinction do We make between any of His Messengers." For they, one and all, summon the people of the earth to acknowledge the unity of God, and herald unto them the Kawthar of an infinite grace and bounty. They are all invested with the robe of prophethood, and are honored with the mantle of glory.
Correspondential
Analysis: +++ Thus hath Muhammad, the Point of the Qur'an, revealed: "I am all the Prophets." Likewise, He saith: "I am the first Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus." Similar statements have been made by Imam 'Ali. Sayings such as these, which indicate the essential unity of those Exponents of Oneness, have also emanated from the Channels of God's immortal utterance, and the Treasuries of the gems of Divine knowledge, and have been recorded in the Scriptures.
Correspondential
Analysis: +++ These Countenances are the recipients of the Divine Command, and the Day Springs of His Revelation. This Revelation is exalted above the veils of plurality and the exigencies of number. Thus He saith: "Our Cause is but One." Inasmuch as the Cause is one and the same, the Exponents thereof also must needs be one and the same. Likewise, the Imams of the Muhammadan Faith, those lamps of certitude, have said: "Muhammad is our first, Muhammad is our last, Muhammad our all."
Correspondential
Analysis: "This
Revelation is exalted above the veils of plurality and the exigencies of
number." "Thus He
saith: "Our Cause is but One." Inasmuch as the Cause is one and the
same, the Exponents thereof also must needs be one and the same."
"Likewise, the
Imams of the Muhammadan Faith, those lamps of certitude, have said:
"Muhammad is our first, Muhammad is our last, Muhammad our all."
+++ It is clear and evident to thee that all the Prophets are the Temples of the Cause of God, Who have appeared clothed in divers attire. If thou wilt observe with discriminating eyes, thou wilt behold Them all abiding in the same tabernacle, soaring in the same heaven, seated upon the same throne, uttering the same speech, and proclaiming the same Faith. Such is the unity of those Essences of Being, those Luminaries of infinite and immeasurable splendor! Wherefore, should one of these Manifestations of Holiness proclaim saying: "I am the return of all the Prophets," He, verily, speaketh the truth. In like manner, in every subsequent Revelation, the return of the former Revelation is a fact, the truth of which is firmly established.... The other station is the station of distinction, and pertaineth to the world of creation, and to the limitations thereof. In this respect, each Manifestation of God hath a distinct individuality, a definitely prescribed mission, a predestined revelation, and specially designated limitations. Each one of them is known by a different name, is characterized by a special attribute, fulfils a definite mission, and is entrusted with a particular Revelation. Even as He saith: "Some of the Apostles We have caused to excel the others. To some God hath spoken, some He hath raised and exalted. And to Jesus, Son of Mary, We gave manifest signs, and We strengthened Him with the Holy Spirit." It is because of this difference in their station and mission that the words and utterances flowing from these Well Springs of Divine knowledge appear to diverge and differ. Otherwise, in the eyes of them that are initiated into the mysteries of Divine wisdom, all their utterances are, in reality, but the expressions of one Truth. As most of the people have failed to appreciate those stations to which We have referred, they, therefore, feel perplexed and dismayed at the varying utterances pronounced by Manifestations that are essentially one and the same. It hath ever been evident that all these divergencies of utterance are attributable to differences of station. Thus, viewed from the standpoint of their oneness and sublime detachment, the attributes of Godhead, Divinity, Supreme Singleness, and Inmost Essence, have been, and are applicable to those Essences of Being, inasmuch as they all abide on the throne of Divine Revelation, and are established upon the seat of Divine Concealment. Through their appearance the Revelation of God is made manifest, and by their countenance the Beauty of God is revealed. Thus it is that the accents of God Himself have been heard uttered by these Manifestations of the Divine Being. Viewed in the light of their second station -- the station of distinction, differentiation, temporal limitations, characteristics and standards -- they manifest absolute servitude, utter destitution, and complete self-effacement. Even as He saith: "I am the servant of God. I am but a man like you."... Were any of the all-embracing Manifestations of God to declare: "I am God," He, verily, speaketh the truth, and no doubt attacheth thereto. For it hath been repeatedly demonstrated that through their Revelation, their attributes and names, the Revelation of God, His names and His attributes, are made manifest in the world. Thus, He hath revealed: "Those shafts were God's, not Thine." And also He saith: "In truth, they who plighted fealty unto Thee, really plighted that fealty unto God." And were any of them to voice the utterance, "I am the Messenger of God," He, also, speaketh the truth, the indubitable truth. Even as He saith: "Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but He is the Messenger of God." Viewed in this light, they are all but Messengers of that ideal King, that unchangeable Essence. And were they all to proclaim, "I am the Seal of the Prophets," they, verily, utter but the truth, beyond the faintest shadow of doubt. For they are all but one person, one soul, one spirit, one being, one revelation. They are all the manifestation of the "Beginning" and the "End," the "First" and the "Last," the "Seen" and "Hidden" -- all of which pertain to Him Who is the Innermost Spirit of Spirits and Eternal Essence of Essences. And were they to say, "We are the Servants of God," this also is a manifest and indisputable fact. For they have been made manifest in the uttermost state of servitude, a servitude the like of which no man can possibly attain. Thus in moments in which these Essences of Being were deep immersed beneath the oceans of ancient and everlasting holiness, or when they soared to the loftiest summits of Divine mysteries, they claimed their utterances to be the Voice of Divinity, the Call of God Himself. Were the eye of discernment to be opened, it would recognize that in this very state, they have considered themselves utterly effaced and non-existent in the face of Him Who is the All-Pervading, the Incorruptible. Methinks, they have regarded themselves as utter nothingness, and deemed their mention in that Court an act of blasphemy. For the slightest whisperings of self within such a Court is an evidence of self-assertion and independent existence. In the eyes of them that have attained unto that Court, such a suggestion is itself a grievous transgression. How much more grievous would it be, were aught else to be mentioned in that Presence, were man's heart, his tongue, his mind, or his soul, to be busied with any one but the Well-Beloved, were his eyes to behold any countenance other than His beauty, were his ear to be inclined to any melody but His Voice, and were his feet to tread any way but His way.... By virtue of this station they have claimed for themselves the Voice of Divinity and the like, whilst by virtue of their station of Messengership, they have declared themselves the Messengers of God. In every instance they have voiced an utterance that would conform to the requirements of the occasion, and have ascribed all these declarations to Themselves, declarations ranging from the realm of Divine Revelation to the realm of creation, and from the domain of Divinity even unto the domain of earthly existence. Thus it is that whatsoever be their utterance, whether it pertain to the realm of Divinity, Lordship, Prophethood, Messengership, Guardianship, Apostleship, or Servitude, all is true, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Therefore these sayings which We have quoted in support of Our argument must be attentively considered, that the divergent utterances of the Manifestations of the Unseen and Day Springs of Holiness may cease to agitate the soul and perplex the mind.5 From:
The Book of the Covenant From: O ye that dwell on earth! The religion of God is for love and unity; make it not the cause of enmity or dissension. In the eyes of men of insight and the beholders of the Most Sublime Vision, whatsoever are the effective means for safeguarding and promoting the happiness and welfare of the children of men hath already been revealed by the Pen of Glory. But the foolish ones of the earth, being nurtured in evil passions and desires, have remained heedless of the consummate wisdom of Him Who is, in truth, the All-Wise, while their words and deeds are prompted by idle fancies and vain imaginings. O ye the loved ones and the trustees of God! Kings are the manifestations of the power, and the daysprings of the might and riches, of God. Pray ye on their behalf. He hath invested them with the rulership of the earth and hath singled out the hearts of men as His Own domain. Conflict and contention are categorically forbidden in His Book. This is a decree of God in this Most Great Revelation. It is divinely preserved from annulment and is invested by Him with the splendour of His confirmation. Verily He is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. It is incumbent upon everyone to aid those daysprings of authority and sources of command who are adorned with the ornament of equity and justice. Blessed are the rulers and the learned among the people of Baha. They are My trustees among My servants and the manifestations of My commandments amidst My people. Upon them rest My glory, My blessings and My grace which have pervaded the world of being. In this connection the utterances revealed in the Kitab-i-Aqdas are such that from the horizon of their words the light of divine grace shineth luminous and resplendent. O ye My Branches! A mighty force, a consummate power lieth concealed in the world of being. Fix your gaze upon it and upon its unifying influence, and not upon the differences which appear from it. From: Extracts from the Bahá'í Writings on Consultation From: Man must consult on all matters, whether major or minor, so that he may become cognizant of what is good. Consultation giveth him insight into things and enableth him to delve into questions which are unknown. The light of truth shineth from the faces of those who engage in consultation. Such consultation causeth the living waters to flow in the meadows of man's reality, the rays of ancient glory to shine upon him, and the tree of his being to be adorned with wondrous fruit. The members who are consulting, however, should behave in the utmost love, harmony and sincerity towards each other. The principle of consultation is one of the most fundamental elements of the divine edifice. Even in their ordinary affairs the individual members of society should consult. (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Every one of the friends should highly praise the other and each should regard himself as evanescent and as naught in the presence of others. All matters should be consulted upon in the meeting and whatever is the majority vote should be carried out. I swear by the one true God, it is better that all should agree on a wrong decision, than for one right vote to be singled out, inasmuch as single votes can be sources of dissension, which lead to ruin. Whereas, if in one case they take a wrong decision, in a hundred other cases they will adopt right decisions, and concord and unity are preserved. This will offset any deficiency, and will eventually lead to the righting of the wrong. (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The purpose of consultation is to show that the views of several individuals are assuredly preferable to one man, even as the power of a number of men is of course greater than the power of one man. Thus consultation is acceptable in the presence of the Almighty, and hath been enjoined upon the believers, so that they may confer upon ordinary and personal matters, as well as on affairs which are general in nature and universal. For instance, when a man hath a project to accomplish, should he consult with some of his brethren, that which is agreeable will of course be investigated and unveiled to his eyes, and the truth will be disclosed. Likewise on a higher level, should the people of a village consult one another about their affairs, the right solution will certainly be revealed. In like manner, the members of each profession, such as in industry, should consult, and those in commerce should similarly consult on business affairs. In short, consultation is desirable and acceptable in all things and on all issues. (Cited in a letter dated 15 February 1922 written by Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of Persia) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regarding thy question about consultation of a father with his son, or a son with his father, in matters of trade and commerce, consultation is one of the fundamental elements of the foundation of the Law of God. Such consultation is assuredly acceptable, whether between father and son, or with others. There is nothing better than this. Man must consult in all things for this will lead him to the depths of each problem and enable him to find the right solution. (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The honoured members of the Spiritual Assembly should exert their efforts so that no differences may occur, and if such differences do occur, they should not reach the point of causing conflict, hatred and antagonism, which lead to threats. When you notice that a stage has been reached when enmity and threats are about to occur, you should immediately postpone discussion of the subject, until wranglings, disputations, and loud talk vanish, and a propitious time is at hand. (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Settle all things, both great and small, by consultation. Without prior consultation, take no important step in your own personal affairs. Concern yourselves with one another. Help along one another's projects and plans. Grieve over one another. Let none in the whole country go in need. Befriend one another until ye become as a single body, one and all... (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian) From:
The above is from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161031210444/http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch15.htm#Bahai ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (end of this book) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Note from the accompanying diagram that Divine Speech proceeds from
the Divine Human's Rational Mind by means of the Spiritual Sun. This Proceeding
from the Spiritual Sun is uncreate and infinite, and as it proceeds downward
relative to the Spiritual Sun, or outward relative to the natural world. As the
Divine Proceeding or Speech exteriorizes and descends, it first reaches the
human race through the uppermost portion of the mind called "the Third
Heaven." Swedenborg received the opportunity to view the script in which
Sacred Scripture was written down in the Third Heaven of the human mind. People
whose consciousness are elevated to this level are called celestial angels
and live their immortality in conjugial bliss (see Section xx). 
The following essay should be read in
its entirety. I quote here only a few highlights which allow us to examine its
essential relationship to theistic psychology. Some overlapping concepts
include: 