ACV9 6987 From all this it can be seen what active thought is, namely, that it is the speech of man’s spirit. 6988: Or who hath made him dumb. That this signifies no utterance, is evident from the significance of “dumb,” as being no utterance; for it is opposed to “mouth,” by which is signified utterance (of which just above, n. 6987). By “utterance” is not here meant that of the voice, or speech, for this utterance is natural; but by “utterance” is meant confession of the Lord, and the profession of faith in Him; for this utterance is spiritual.… Read more »
Gretchen & Harald Sandstrom
June 17, 2024 8:38 am
This is Harald and Gretchen Influx is according to reception. 6991:”The reason why the ill things arise from man is that the life, that is, goodness and truth, which flow in from the Lord is turned by man into evil and falsity, thus into the opposite of life, which is called spiritual death.” So, whenever we feel/act superior, even if it’s accurate(!), we shouldn’t entertain that feeling because the Lord gave us that ability, and by claiming it for ourselves we convert or pervert the influx from the Lord of goodness and truth into its opposite. Conversely,… Read more »
Denyse Daurat
June 14, 2024 1:45 am
6988 …..instead utterance is used to mean confession of the Lord and declaration of faith in Him, since this kind of utterance is spiritual.
Bring to mind and practice this spiritual utterance with joy!
6982 The truth which proceeds immediately from the Divine cannot be heard by anyone, not even by any angel; for in order to be heard the Divine must first become human; and it becomes human when it passes through the heavens; and when it has passed through the heavens it is presented in human form, and becomes speech, which speech is uttered by spirits, who when they are in this state, are called the “Holy Spirit,” and this is said to proceed from the Divine, because the holy of the spirit, or the holy truth which the spirit then speaks,… Read more »
I had great difficulty with this task. · I have been in a lot of pain and spent time trying to visualise the evil spirits clinging to my gut and praying for them to be gone. · The only way I seem to lift my thoughts is to keep blessing others as then I am not so wrapped up in my own thoughts. I felt that this gave me more of a feeling of universal speech especially when I concentrated on a continuous flow of people walking past me. Realising how the Lord loves each of us as though He only had… Read more »
I’ve also had a lot of physical pain over the past 5 months. At times it has felt like what bodily death might feel like as much of the rest of the body starts to shut down as a means of preserving its energy. What I found/find myself practicing in the moment was reminding myself that the sense of self that was experiencing pain was something that was arising out of a reception of influx and hence a result of a gathering of spiritual communities and associations. Whilst it didn’t remove the pain it did allow me psychological space to… Read more »
Thank you Sarah that is helpful. So sorry that you are going through it too.
The questions to ask are helpful to me as my mind does not always come up with helpful questions, or I forget to actually question.
Judy & Len Robinson
June 11, 2024 4:24 pm
ACV9 S15-Judy “#6991. Is it not I Jehovah? That this signifies that these things are from the influx of life from the Divine, is evident from the fact that such things as are signified by the “dumb,” by the “deaf,” and by the “blind,” as also by the “mouth” and by “seeing,” arise with man from the influx of life from Jehovah or the Lord. For thence arise both evils and goods with everyone; but evils from man, and goods from the Lord. That evils arise from man, is because the life which flows in from the Lord, that is,… Read more »
Janna King
June 11, 2024 12:07 am
6983. Even from yesterday, even from the day before yesterday. That this signifies not from eternity, namely, having speech, is evident from the signification of “yesterday and the day before yesterday,” as being from eternity. That “yesterday and the day before yesterday” denotes from eternity, is because it signifies time, and indeed time past; and when spoken of the Lord, or of the Divine, time does not signify time, but eternity. There are two things which are proper to nature, and which do not exist in heaven, still less in the Divine, namely space and time. That these are not… Read more »
Liz Coggins
June 10, 2024 11:09 am
6989: or deaf. “That this signifies no perception of truth, and consequently no obedience, is evident from the significance of the ‘deaf’ as being those who do not perceive what truth is, and consequently do not obey…..hearing corresponds to both perception and to obedience – to perception because what is heard is inwardly perceived, and to obedience because it is thence known what ought to be done.” Task: Read the Word each day, and select a truth to carry in mind, and affectionately reflect. Is there any perception…..or only thought? Be awake to how I can be obedient to it,… Read more »
Submission “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:4) This is the truth that was carried, and through efforts to ‘listen’, and open to affections arising from them there has been a sense of ‘hearing’ something given, or experiencing something entering in. So many ideas and richness contained in so few words! It’s not clear whether it’s from thought processes leading to insight from reflection, or a form of perception, but that doesn’t seem to matter. It was simply the power… Read more »
AC 6979 and 6991: “Is it not I, Jehovah?” This reading section called to mind Psalm 19 where Divine Speech is declaring the Divine Being coming forth as a bridegroom to run the race. It seems poetic, mythical at first, but then the verses suddenly present themselves in human form, clearly defining the power and outcome of the Word. It is as though the Divine Speech passed through the heavens, just as it says in AC 6982. The psalm ends with the desire for the words of the mouth and the meditation of the heart to be acceptable in the… Read more »
AC 6987: By the “mouth” of man is thus signified active or speaking thought, thus “utterance”., .. spirits can utter in a moment what a man can scarcely utter in half an hour, and even then, there are many things within the same idea which cannot possibly be expressed by bodily speech. [3] Yet the angels in heaven speak in a different way from spirits; for the angels who are in heaven have their speech from intellectual ideas, which by the philosophers are called immaterial ideas; whereas spirits have their speech from ideas of the imagination, which are called material ideas;… Read more »
So, what I was given to see over this session is that Uttering confession of the Lord, and faith in Him, along with hearing, obeying, seeing and being Open, are states of giving thanks back to the Lord. They are states of spiritual Action, and Practice. The visual image was one of climbing Jacob’s ladder up to the Lord and bringing something down into action on a lower plane. Words are just doorways to deeper experiences. Higher states are not something that “I” can create or bring on through the effort of my thought (1937[3]). Higher states present when the… Read more »
ACV9 6987 From all this it can be seen what active thought is, namely, that it is the speech of man’s spirit. 6988: Or who hath made him dumb. That this signifies no utterance, is evident from the significance of “dumb,” as being no utterance; for it is opposed to “mouth,” by which is signified utterance (of which just above, n. 6987). By “utterance” is not here meant that of the voice, or speech, for this utterance is natural; but by “utterance” is meant confession of the Lord, and the profession of faith in Him; for this utterance is spiritual.… Read more »
This is Harald and Gretchen Influx is according to reception. 6991:”The reason why the ill things arise from man is that the life, that is, goodness and truth, which flow in from the Lord is turned by man into evil and falsity, thus into the opposite of life, which is called spiritual death.” So, whenever we feel/act superior, even if it’s accurate(!), we shouldn’t entertain that feeling because the Lord gave us that ability, and by claiming it for ourselves we convert or pervert the influx from the Lord of goodness and truth into its opposite. Conversely,… Read more »
6988 …..instead utterance is used to mean confession of the Lord and declaration of faith in Him, since this kind of utterance is spiritual.
Bring to mind and practice this spiritual utterance with joy!
6982 The truth which proceeds immediately from the Divine cannot be heard by anyone, not even by any angel; for in order to be heard the Divine must first become human; and it becomes human when it passes through the heavens; and when it has passed through the heavens it is presented in human form, and becomes speech, which speech is uttered by spirits, who when they are in this state, are called the “Holy Spirit,” and this is said to proceed from the Divine, because the holy of the spirit, or the holy truth which the spirit then speaks,… Read more »
I had great difficulty with this task. · I have been in a lot of pain and spent time trying to visualise the evil spirits clinging to my gut and praying for them to be gone. · The only way I seem to lift my thoughts is to keep blessing others as then I am not so wrapped up in my own thoughts. I felt that this gave me more of a feeling of universal speech especially when I concentrated on a continuous flow of people walking past me. Realising how the Lord loves each of us as though He only had… Read more »
I’ve also had a lot of physical pain over the past 5 months. At times it has felt like what bodily death might feel like as much of the rest of the body starts to shut down as a means of preserving its energy. What I found/find myself practicing in the moment was reminding myself that the sense of self that was experiencing pain was something that was arising out of a reception of influx and hence a result of a gathering of spiritual communities and associations. Whilst it didn’t remove the pain it did allow me psychological space to… Read more »
Thank you Sarah that is helpful. So sorry that you are going through it too.
The questions to ask are helpful to me as my mind does not always come up with helpful questions, or I forget to actually question.
ACV9 S15-Judy “#6991. Is it not I Jehovah? That this signifies that these things are from the influx of life from the Divine, is evident from the fact that such things as are signified by the “dumb,” by the “deaf,” and by the “blind,” as also by the “mouth” and by “seeing,” arise with man from the influx of life from Jehovah or the Lord. For thence arise both evils and goods with everyone; but evils from man, and goods from the Lord. That evils arise from man, is because the life which flows in from the Lord, that is,… Read more »
6983. Even from yesterday, even from the day before yesterday. That this signifies not from eternity, namely, having speech, is evident from the signification of “yesterday and the day before yesterday,” as being from eternity. That “yesterday and the day before yesterday” denotes from eternity, is because it signifies time, and indeed time past; and when spoken of the Lord, or of the Divine, time does not signify time, but eternity. There are two things which are proper to nature, and which do not exist in heaven, still less in the Divine, namely space and time. That these are not… Read more »
6989: or deaf. “That this signifies no perception of truth, and consequently no obedience, is evident from the significance of the ‘deaf’ as being those who do not perceive what truth is, and consequently do not obey…..hearing corresponds to both perception and to obedience – to perception because what is heard is inwardly perceived, and to obedience because it is thence known what ought to be done.” Task: Read the Word each day, and select a truth to carry in mind, and affectionately reflect. Is there any perception…..or only thought? Be awake to how I can be obedient to it,… Read more »
Submission “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:4) This is the truth that was carried, and through efforts to ‘listen’, and open to affections arising from them there has been a sense of ‘hearing’ something given, or experiencing something entering in. So many ideas and richness contained in so few words! It’s not clear whether it’s from thought processes leading to insight from reflection, or a form of perception, but that doesn’t seem to matter. It was simply the power… Read more »
AC 6979 and 6991: “Is it not I, Jehovah?” This reading section called to mind Psalm 19 where Divine Speech is declaring the Divine Being coming forth as a bridegroom to run the race. It seems poetic, mythical at first, but then the verses suddenly present themselves in human form, clearly defining the power and outcome of the Word. It is as though the Divine Speech passed through the heavens, just as it says in AC 6982. The psalm ends with the desire for the words of the mouth and the meditation of the heart to be acceptable in the… Read more »
AC 6987: By the “mouth” of man is thus signified active or speaking thought, thus “utterance”., .. spirits can utter in a moment what a man can scarcely utter in half an hour, and even then, there are many things within the same idea which cannot possibly be expressed by bodily speech. [3] Yet the angels in heaven speak in a different way from spirits; for the angels who are in heaven have their speech from intellectual ideas, which by the philosophers are called immaterial ideas; whereas spirits have their speech from ideas of the imagination, which are called material ideas;… Read more »
So, what I was given to see over this session is that Uttering confession of the Lord, and faith in Him, along with hearing, obeying, seeing and being Open, are states of giving thanks back to the Lord. They are states of spiritual Action, and Practice. The visual image was one of climbing Jacob’s ladder up to the Lord and bringing something down into action on a lower plane. Words are just doorways to deeper experiences. Higher states are not something that “I” can create or bring on through the effort of my thought (1937[3]). Higher states present when the… Read more »