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On the Merit-Guilt cycle
All life flows in
Arcana Coelestia 4151 …But that few, nay, very few, believe it to be so, may be seen from the fact that they suppose all life to be in themselves, and scarcely any think that life flows in. All man’s life consists in the faculty of being able to think and of being able to will; for if the faculty of thinking and willing is taken away, nothing of life remains. And the veriest life consists in thinking good and willing good, and also in thinking truth, and in willing that which we think to be true. As it is in accordance with the doctrinals of the church which are from the Word that these things are not of man, but of the Lord, and that they flow in from the Lord through heaven, those who possess any judgment and are able to reflect, might conclude therefrom that all life flows in.
[5] The same is the case with evil and falsity. According to the doctrinals from the Word, the devil is continually endeavoring to seduce man, and is continually inspiring evil; and therefore when anyone commits a great crime; it is said that he has suffered himself to be led astray by the devil. And this is the real fact, although few if any believe it; for as all good and truth are from the Lord, so all evil and falsity are from hell, that is, from the devil, for hell is the devil. From this we can also see that as all good and truth flow in, so also do all evil and falsity, and consequently also all the thinking and willing of evil. As these also flow in, all who have any judgment and are able to reflect, can infer that all life flows in, although it appears as if it were in man.
[6] That this is the case has frequently been shown to spirits who had come recently from the world into the other life. But some of them have said that if all evil and falsity also flow in, nothing of evil and falsity can be attributed to them, and they are not in fault, because these come from another source. But they received for answer that they had appropriated evil and falsity by believing that they think and will of themselves; whereas if they had believed as the case really is, they would not then have appropriated the evil and falsity, for they would have believed all good and truth to be from the Lord; and if they had believed this, they would have suffered themselves to be led by the Lord, and therefore would have been in a different state; and then the evil which entered into their thought and will would not have affected them, because not evil but good would have gone out of them; for it is not the things that enter in, but those which go out that affect us; according to the Lord’s words in Mark 7:15.
[7] Many can know this, but few believe it. Even those who are evil can know, but still not believe it, for they desire to be in what is their own, and they love this to such a degree that when they are shown that everything flows in, they come into anxiety and urgently entreat that they may be permitted to live in what is their own, insisting that if this should be taken away from them, they could live no longer. Such is the belief even of those who know. These things have been said in order that it may be known how the case is with societies of spirits which are in mediate good, when they are conjoined with others and when they are separated from them; namely, that when they are conjoined, they know no otherwise than that the goods and truths are their own, although they are not theirs.
Conjugial Love 315 … “Listen, I pray. Who does not believe the soul to be the inmost and subtlest essence of man! and what is an essence without a form but an imaginary entity? The soul, therefore, is a form. As to the nature of its form, this shall now be told. It is the form of all things pertaining to love, and of all things pertaining to wisdom. All things pertaining to love are called affections, and all pertaining to wisdom are called perceptions. The latter are from the former, and the two together thus make one form wherein innumerable things are in such order, series, and coherence, that they can be called a one. They can be called a one because, if that one is to remain what it is, nothing can be taken away from it, nor anything be added. What is the human soul but such a form? Are not all things pertaining to love, and all things pertaining to wisdom, the essentials of that form? And with man these are in his soul and, from his soul, in his head and body.
[11] You are called spirits and angels; and in the world you thought that spirits and angels and thus minds and animi are as winds or ethers. But now you see clearly that you are truly, really, and actually men–men who in the world had lived and thought in a material body. You knew that it is not the material body that lives and thinks but the spiritual substance in that body. You called this the soul, but did not know its form. Yet, you have now seen it and still see it. All here present are souls, about the immortality of which you have heard, thought, spoken, and written so much; and being forms of love and wisdom from God, you cannot die to all eternity. The soul then is a human form from which not the least thing can be taken away, and to which not the least can be added. It is also the inmost form of all the forms of the entire body. And since the forms which are outside it take their essence and form from this inmost form, therefore you, just as you appear to yourselves and to us, are souls. In a word, the soul, being the inmost man, is the man himself, and therefore its form is the human form in all fullness and perfection. Yet it is not life but the nearest receptacle of life from God, and thus the dwelling-place of God.”
Arcana Coelestia 6325. It is an eternal truth that the Lord rules heaven and earth, and also that no one besides the Lord lives of himself, consequently that everything of life flows in-the good of life from the Lord, and the evil of life from hell. This is the faith of the heavens. When a man is in this faith (and he can be in it when he is in good), then evil cannot be fastened and appropriated to him, because he knows that it is not from himself, but from hell. When a man is in this state, he can then be gifted with peace, for then he will trust solely in the Lord. Neither can peace be given to any others than those who are in this faith from charity; for others continually cast themselves into anxieties and cupidities, whence come disquietudes. Spirits who desire to direct themselves, suppose that this would be to lose their own will, thus their freedom, consequently all delight, thus all life and its sweetness. This they say and suppose, because they do not know how the case really is; for the man who is led by the Lord is in freedom itself, and thus in delight and bliss itself; goods and truths are appropriated to him; there is given him an affection and desire for doing what is good, and then nothing is more delightful to him than to perform uses. There is given him a perception of good, and also a sensation of it; and there is given him intelligence and wisdom; and all these as his own; for he is then a recipient of the Lord’s life. It is known in the learned world that the principal cause and the instrumental cause act together as a one: man, being a form recipient of the Lord’s life, is an instrumental cause, and the life from the Lord is the principal cause. This life is felt in the instrumental cause as of it, when yet it is not of 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.
I found this really helpful thanks. Lots of ideas stood out for me that I drew a box around, like “The soul is made up of affections and perceptions.”
There were also things that had a real metallic ring to them, like “not having a bar of it”
also being “stripped back and rebuilt.” In terms of the latter, which had a panel beating workshop feel to it, the name of a classic Kiwi film jumped to mind…’Smash Palace.’