Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:23 — 5.4MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
Arcana Coelestia
1238… every Church in general is such, that it includes a true internal, a corrupted internal, a true external, and a corrupted external
1023. And I, behold, I establish My covenant. That this signifies the presence of the Lord in charity, is evident from the signification of “covenant” as shown above n. 666), where it was shown that a “covenant” signifies regeneration, and indeed the conjunction of the Lord with the regenerate man by love; and that the heavenly marriage is that veriest covenant itself, and consequently so is the heavenly marriage with every regenerate man. This marriage or covenant has been treated of before. With the man of the Most Ancient Church the heavenly marriage was in the Own of his will part, but with the man of the Ancient Church the heavenly marriage was effected in the Own of his intellectual part. For when man’s will part had become wholly corrupt, the Lord miraculously separated the Own of his intellectual part from that corrupt Own of his will part, and in the Own of his intellectual part He formed a new will, which is conscience, and into the conscience insinuated charity, and into the charity innocence, and thus conjoined Himself with man, or what is the same, made a covenant with him. So far as the Own of man’s will part can be separated from this Own of the intellectual part, the Lord can be present with him, or conjoin Himself, or enter into a covenant with him. Temptations and the like means of regeneration cause the Own of man’s will part to be quiescent, to become as nothing, and as it were to die. So far as this is done the Lord through conscience implanted in the Own of man’s intellectual part can work in charity. And this is what is here called a “covenant.”
10122… [2] It is said the removal of evils and “the derivative falsities,” because all falsities are from evil, and therefore insofar as evil is removed, so far falsities are removed. The case herein is this. All things in heaven bear relation to good and the derivative truth, whereas all things in hell bear relation to evil and the derivative falsity; hence likewise in man, all things with him which are from heaven bear relation to good and truth, but all things with him which are from hell bear relation to evil and falsity. Or, what is the same, all things with man which are from the Lord bear relation to good and truth, but all things which are from man himself bear relation to evil and falsity. Now as these are the things to which all things in the universe bear relation, and man is a receptacle of them, therefore there are two things with man which receive them, one called the will, and the other the understanding. The will is the receptacle of good or of evil, and the understanding is the receptacle of truth or of falsity. The will which is from the Lord, which is also called the new will, is the receptacle of good; whereas the understanding which is from the Lord, which is also called the new understanding, is the receptacle of truth. But the will which is from man’s own, and is also called the old will, is the receptacle of evil, and the understanding which is from man’s own, and is also called the old understanding, is the receptacle of falsity. Into this understanding and into this will, man is born from his parents; but into the former understanding and into the former will, man is born from the Lord, which is done when he is being regenerated. For when a man is being regenerated, he is conceived and born anew.
[3] Man has been so created that the will and the understanding make a one, so that these two together constitute one man; for the understanding has been given to man that he may understand truth, but to the end that it may be implanted in the will and become good; and insofar as it becomes of the will, so far it is in the man, because the will is the inmost of man, and is the being of his life; but the understanding is exterior and comes forth from the will; for that which a man wills, he loves, and that which he loves, he feels delightful, and therefore calls good; while the understanding favors it and confirms it by reasons, and these he calls truths. Hence the will and the understanding really make a one; but it appears otherwise, as is the case when a man understands what is true, and yet wills what is evil. Nevertheless, when he is left to himself, and is thinking from himself, he understands just as he wills, that is, as he loves.
[4] That a man who wills what is evil can nevertheless speak what is true, and also do what is good, is from hypocrisy, to which truth and good serve as means. If these means are taken away from him, and he is left in freedom, such a man rushes into evils according to the pleasure of the will, and he defends them by his intellectual faculty. This is especially manifest from such persons in the other life, where everyone comes into a state similar to that of his will; and then those who have not a new will from the Lord rush into evils of every kind, and think such things as favor evils, however much in the world they had spoken and acted quite differently. For it is a law of Divine order that the will and the understanding should make one mind, thus one man; consequently that the whole man should be either in heaven or in hell, and should not hang between the two; that is, with the eye look to the things that belong to heaven, and with the heart to those which belong to hell. By the heart is meant the will, and by the eye the understanding.
6296…[2] That good from truth, or the spiritual man, receives more increase than the good from which is truth, or the celestial man, is because the will of man has continually been depraved, and at last so that evil has taken entire possession of it, insomuch that nothing sound (integer) has remained there. Therefore lest man should perish, the Lord provided that he might be regenerated as to the intellectual part, and thus be saved. Hence then it is that there are few with whom there is anything sound left in the will part, thus few who can become celestial men, but many who can become spiritual men; thus that the latter receive more increase than the former. This is what is signified by his “younger brother becoming greater than he.”
Good from such truth is accepted by the Lord, provided it that in this charity, there is innocence.
6289… That the spiritual are in obscurity, is very evident from the fact that before they have been regenerated they are altogether in thick darkness with respect to truth and good, and that while they are being regenerated, it is such truth as is in the doctrine of their church that they acknowledge, and in which truth they have faith, whether it is true or not. Nevertheless it is this truth that becomes good with them when it becomes of the will and thence of the life, and then it is that good which is called the good of truth, and also the good of faith, and likewise spiritual good, or the good of the spiritual church. The quality of the good that is from such an origin may be known to everyone who considers the matter. Nevertheless the good from such truth, even with the Gentiles, is accepted by the Lord, provided it has for a principle or starting point charity toward the neighbor, and that in this charity there is innocence.
Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments offered in the online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to keep the focus on understanding the Text in terms of its application to the inner life along with reinforcing any key LP principles that have been highlighted in the exchanges.
