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The Doctrine of Reflection
Spiritual Experiences 733-741
733. About reflection. I was just conversing with spirits and angels about reflection, to which I do not know whether people have given enough attention; and it was said that if they give it some thought, they will discover more secrets in the doctrine of reflection than in any other. What reflection achieves can be quite clear to everyone from the fact that we perceive no sensation of the body or its parts, and are unaware of having a sensation, unless we reflect upon that part of our body. Then we perceive heat, cold, pressure – we even feel what that part is suffering. If we reflect on our breathing, then we feel and know that we are breathing, and in this way a voluntary factor joins in; besides innumerable other instances.
734. Likewise, when we do not reflect on the things in our own mind, or our motivation – how we are thinking, what we are thinking, what we are doing, what is motivating our actions – without reflection we know nothing, except that we are, and nothing else, not what we are. On the other hand, if we reflect upon ourself from [the viewpoint of] others, or allow others to reflect upon us, and to say what we are like, then for the first time we are able to know ourself. Otherwise we can never learn, but remain in our own illusions, and from them, reflect upon others. So one thinks truths are falsities, because one is judging from one’s illusions. For such as the starting-point is, such also is everything that follows.
735. Spirits especially, stay after death in a state devoid of reflection. This is also the reason that they cannot tell but that they are earthly people, living in the world as before. So they remain in their illusions and live on as the character they had been at death. But as soon as the power of reflection is given them by the Lord, they know that they are in the other life – a belief to which they can hardly be brought until they are given something, or rather many things, to reflect on. But illusions rooted into their character still remain.
736. Consequently, spirits cannot at all help thinking that they are better than the rest, especially those who had been arrogant in life, who also dislike being reflected upon. However, when they are brought into a state of reflection, they are brought into a state of better life, for then for the first time they are able to know themselves, and know more truly what they are.
737. Moreover, even the doctrine of faith accomplishes nothing at all with people, unless the Lord enables them to reflect. That is the very reason why people learn what is true and good from the Word of the Lord, namely, so that from what they learn, they may reflect upon themselves, as to whether they are as they ought to be. This reflection is given them at certain times, especially times of distress. It is of the utmost importance, therefore, to learn truths. Without spiritual knowledge, there can be no reflection, thus no reformation.
738. However, they who fall into passions and illusions, are unable to reflect from a viewpoint of truths, until those chills and those shadows have been dispelled. 1748, 11 February.
739. About reflection. The doctrine of reflection is an entire doctrine, and without it no one is able to know what inward life is, not even what the life of the body is. In fact, without reflection from a knowledge of truths, no one is reformed. For this reason, the Lord is delivering to the people on this earth, because they are living in a corrupt state, written down truths. From these, as from a wellspring, they may draw a knowledge of truth that will enable them to reflect on themselves – or more truly, from which higher knowledge, inscribed upon the memory, the Lord may cause people to reflect upon their falsities, and the like. Therefore, without spiritual knowledge, reformation is not possible.
740. It is different on the earth Jupiter, where spirits warn them, and raise up and display before them whatever they had wrongly thought and done. So reflection there takes place through revelations, as mentioned before [523, 539-545]. Revelations cannot take place on this earth, because the door toward heaven has been closed, and people’s thoughts are only drawn up to heaven by the Lord at certain times. The rest of the time, they are concerned with nothing else but bodily, worldly and earthly matters, and upon these they reflect. If in these circumstances the door toward heaven were opened to them, as it was to Cain, with whom spirits could even speak, then falsities would so mix themselves together with truths that they could never be separated. Thus they would be damned to eternity. This is therefore guarded against. 1748, 11 February.
741. About spirits’ appetite for learning. In place of the appetite people in bodily life have for eating and drinking to nourish the body, spirits have an appetite for, or enjoyment of learning. The angelic appetite is for learning only what is true and good, but that of spirits is for anything whatever that is new. This desire is almost constant, taking the place of the appetite for nourishing the body with earthly food. So in every heaven, there is a most intense feeling for understanding truth and goodness, or matters of belief. This brings on reflections, by means of which they are perfected more and more. 1748, 11 February. Every word of this was written in the presence of many spirits and angels who were reflecting on what had been written, and affirming it.
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.
