Logopraxis

Logopraxis

By The Third RoundReligion & SpiritualityChristianity
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Logopraxis episodes

  • Session 35 Overview – What has to be laid low so that the things of the Word in my life are lifted up instead of being dragged down? (7 mins)
    And the flax and the barley were smitten; for the barley was a ripening ear, and the flax was a stalk. And the wheat and the spelt were not smitten, because they were hidden. And Moses went out of the city from before Pharaoh, and spread out his palms unto Jehovah; and the voices and hail ceased and the rain was not poured out upon the earth. And Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the voices had ceased, and he sinned yet more, and made heavy his heart, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was made firm, and he did not let the sons of Israel go; as Jehovah had spoken by the hand of Moses.
    Exodus 9: 31-35
    Arcana Coelestia 7601(2) The subject treated of in this and in the following verse is the truths and goods which were destroyed and vastated, and the goods and truths which were not destroyed and vastated; thus the truths and goods which were stored up and reserved for use, and those which were not stored up and reserved. For when the evil are being vastated, that is, when they are being separated from truths and goods, and are left to their own evils and falsities, they are then vastated in respect to those truths and goods which are in the exterior natural, and which are adjoined there to falsities and evils. That these truths and goods look downward, and therefore cannot be reserved, will be seen below (n. 7604, 7607); but the truths and goods of the interior natural are not vastated, but are brought further inward, and are there reserved for use; and then the communication between the interior natural and the exterior is so far closed that nothing of good and truth can inflow from the interior natural into the exterior natural, except only something general, to enable them to reason, and to string together arguments to confirm falsities and evils. Those goods and truths which are reserved, are signified in the Word by “remains”.
    Bird of paradise to stone idol
    AC 7622. When this had passed, the spirits who were about me who had gazed intently upon the bird and its successive changes, began to converse together about it, and this for a long time. They perceived that such a sight must signify something heavenly. They knew that a flame signifies celestial love and its affections; that a hand, to which the flame adhered, signifies life and its power; that changes of color signify varieties of life in respect to wisdom and intelligence; that a bird signifies the same, but with this difference, that a flame signifies celestial love and what is of this love, whereas a bird signifies spiritual love and what is of this love; celestial love is love to the Lord, and spiritual love is mutual love and charity toward the neighbor; and the changes of color and likewise of life in the bird until it became stone, signify successive varieties of spiritual life in respect to intelligence. They also knew that the spirits who ascend from beneath through the region of the loins to that of the breast, are in a strong persuasion that they are in the Lord, and thence believe that all that they do, even though evil and wicked, is done according to the Lord’s will. Nevertheless they could not from this know who were meant by this sight. At last they were instructed from heaven that the inhabitants of Mars were meant; that their celestial love, in which many of them still are, was signified by the flame which adhered to the hand; and their wisdom and intelligence by the successive variations of color; and that the bird in the beginning, when it was in the beauty of its colors and the vigor of its life, signified their spiritual love; but that the bird becoming as of stone and void of life, and then of a dark color, signified the inhabitants who had removed themselves from the good of love, and are in evil, and yet believe that they are in the Lord.
    Transcript
    So just coming to the reading, I try to find something just to summarise the whole thing. So the statement for this particular reading was a question really about What is removed and what is preserved?  And I think that feeds through in a lot of what people have shared. 
    The reading in general terms also points out that there are two levels to the natural: an interior and an exterior. The interior, from a process perspective, has to do with being able to think from the Word and operate out of the Word. And from the exterior, it's about the sensual. So it's those two things in tension and how what is serviceable to the spiritual life has to be taken in and protected, and it is released when it's needed. And there's a need to trust in the Lord in that. That things that are taken deep can appear to be inaccessible, but they are always working because those things that are taken in, what are term remains, are the Lord in us. So they are constantly at work in countering the proprial tendency to take hold of appearances and make them real - so spinning the lie. And the most pernicious belief that comes out of proprial life is the idea that I am God, that I can control things. All of those elements that are there, that I have life in myself, that everyone needs to bow down to me... the communication with that has to be broken. It drags everything down. Like when we're pulled into externals, we feel disconnected and separated. 
    And I think interior things teach how things really are as opposed to how things appear to be. This whole series of plagues is about weakening that tendency to believe the appearances to be real. And to ground us in the Word, that being, that the Lord alone is what is real. And we can really trust that. 
    I think that aspect is highlighted in the need for the flax and the barley to be laid low. And what that's talking about in terms of the external is what is of the Word that is being used by the propium to conceal its activities under a facade of external good or doing what's right or what's best. Whichever way the self is using the things of the Word… that has to be attended to. And that's what this particular reading is about. It's about laying that aspect of the external low, so that it can no longer drag down the things of the Lord for the use of propium or self. It's just being aware that the propium, which is our sense of self built out of the love of self and love of the world, has taken hold of the Word and gathered to itself what it can use in order to promote itself and make itself look better than obviously what it is, or make it look other than what it is. And this is a stage in the process where that can no longer stand. 
    And so it's not an ‘either or’ situation in the sense of it's not like, Oh, I shouldn't be this or I am this, this is just how it is and it needs processing. So in Arcana Coelestia 7601(2), just the sentence there…
    For when the evil are being vastated, that is, when they are being separated from truths and goods, and are left to their own evils and falsities, they are then vastated in respect to those truths and goods which are in the exterior natural, and which are adjoined there to falsities and evils.
    So we have this idea that those attachments have to be broken. But again, just wanting to reemphasize that the evil that are being vastated are those spirits that make up the sense of self that’s the infernal propium. Rather than thinking of people, think more in terms of our own inner process… that the evil are organized forms of evil and falsity that we've bought into so far as our sense of identity is concerned. This is what's being vastated and sloughed off or pushed to the exterior. 
    So the principles in terms of working with any material of the Word is to remember that everything represents psychospiritual structures and processes. So at least then that sort of breaks with the literalness of the Text. So the letter of the Word is the Lord's flesh and bones. It's how He's present with us and it's the infinite and eternal Word. But the sense of the letter is another thing. So you know, this is about levels and distinctions that have to be drawn. It's like, events in the world took place for the sake of the Word, but the Word is not the events in the world. The Word’s purpose is to look up or to have a point from which we can look up. But if we look to events in the world and make those the thing, the descriptions in the letter the thing, then we look down- we look out to the world. So we have that illustrated in this reading that we've been working with. So the letter of the Word is the vessel by which what is interior can be made manifest. And so it becomes translucent in that sense when we see what's shining forth through or it becomes the bird of paradise, you know, the colours and all of that. But as our attention is more drawn into what is of the world, like person, place space and time, then it becomes more ossified. And if we make that everything, then we have an idol, a stone idol essentially. 
    And so, you know, it's very interesting that a lot of what's being processed here is quite descriptive of the Heaven and Hell awakening series, of the state of external and the state of internal concerns in particular. This is that process in Heaven and Hell. It's just framed in a different way, and you’ll find that series in the passages of HH 491-520. There are sections in there that you'll see that the idea of vastation is really about bringing the externals into alignment with internals. That's what the process involves.
    Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments in the online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to maintain focus on understanding the Text’s application to the inner life while reinforcing key LP principles highlighted in the exchanges.
    8 min
  • There is no Heaven or Hell when …. (1 min)
    Arcana Coelestia 7490. It is also evident that insofar as a man is in the loves of self and of the world, so far he does not know what charity is, until at last he does not know that it exists; also that so far the man does not know what faith is, until at last he does not know that it is anything; and that so far the man does not know what conscience is, until at last he does not know that it exists; nay, that so far the man does not know what the spiritual is, nor what the life of heaven; and finally that he does not believe there is a heaven and a hell; consequently he does not believe that there is a life after death. These are the effects of the loves of self and of the world when they reign.
    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.
    2 min
  • The nature of the ‘Pharaoh’ within our mind is that it isnt capable of relenting, so the process described must and will come to pass for each of us (7mins)
    And Jehovah said unto Moses, Come unto Pharaoh, and speak unto him, Thus said Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, Let My people go that they may serve Me. For if thou refuse to let them go, and if thou still withhold them, behold, the hand of Jehovah shall be on thy cattle which is in the field, on the horses, on the asses, on the camels, on the herd, and on the flock; a very grievous pestilence. And Jehovah shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of the Egyptians, and there shall nothing die of all that belongeth to the sons of Israel. And Jehovah appointed a set time, saying, Tomorrow Jehovah shall do this word in the land. And Jehovah did this word on the morrow, and all the cattle of the Egyptians died; and of the cattle of the sons of Israel died not one. And Pharaoh sent, and behold there was not so much as one of the cattle of Israel dead; and Pharaoh’s heart was made heavy, and he did not let the people go.
    Exodus 9: 1-7
    Arcana Coelestia 7493. The loves of self and of the world with man begin to reign when he comes to years of discretion and self-government; for then the man begins to think from himself or from his own, and to appropriate these loves to himself, and this the more as he confirms himself in a life of evil. Insofar as a man appropriates evils to himself, so far the Lord separates the good of innocence and charity which the man has received in infancy and childhood and at times afterward, and stores them up in his interiors; for the good of innocence and the good of charity can in no wise abide with the evils of these loves; and the Lord is not willing that they should perish.
    AC 7494. They therefore who either pervert or extinguish or reject in themselves the good of love and the truth of faith, have no life in them; for the life which is from the Divine is to will good and believe truth. But they who do not will good but evil, nor believe truth but falsity, have what is contrary to life. This contrary to life is hell, and is called “death,” and they are called “dead.” That the life of love and faith is called “life,” also “eternal life,” and that they who have it in themselves are called “living men;” and that the contrary of life is called “death,” also “eternal death,” and such men “dead,” is evident from many passages in the Word (as in Matthew 4:16; 8:21-22; 18:8-9; 19:16-17, 29; John 3:15-16, 36; 5:24-25; 6:33, 35, 47-48, 50-51, 53, 57-58, 63; 8:21, 24, 51; 10:10; 11:25-26; 14:6, 19; 17:2-3; 20:31; and elsewhere).
    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.
    8 min
  • You knit me together in my mother’s womb (4 mins)
    For you created my inmost being;    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;    your works are wonderful,    I know that full well.My frame was not hidden from you    when I was made in the secret place,    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.Your eyes saw my unformed body;    all the days ordained for me were written in your book    before one of them came to be.How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!    How vast is the sum of them!Were I to count them,    they would outnumber the grains of sand—    when I awake, I am still with you.
    Psalm 139: 13-18
    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.
    5 min
  • What generates connection is when we focus on our own states that arise in the contact with others (5 mins)
    Transcript:
    There's the teaching that the Word is a covenant and the Word is conjunction itself. So one of the aspects of Logopraxis is that the connections that are made through the sharing of the Word is what makes the Lord visible in our midst. So it's really the Word alone that can bind together human beings in a way that is supportive of their spiritual growth and development. Otherwise it's just proprium to proprium. You can have the surface aspect of being nice and follow all the social conventions and all the things that lubricate external interactions if you like - but for a genuine connection, the Word is needed because it's the Word that connects what is of the Lord in everybody together. So it's the Lord that is community itself in that sense. He is conjunction itself.
    So I think one of the aspects of that is that as we engage with the Word and are willing to share our life from the Word then there can't but be a knitting together. So we talk about the fact that this group has never met before. Every time we meet the Lord is creating something anew and we have to remind ourselves of that and come to it fresh each time as if we haven't met before even if we've been going for years, because then the opportunity is there for something new to come forth that has a heavenly quality to it in terms of the connective aspect.
    So creation is constant coming into being. So the Lord is constantly creating us a new moment to moment and that goes for us as a collective entity internally as well because we're associated with the spirits that are attracted to this particular sphere that we are generating. And because things are coming into being moment to moment, it means change is possible. If that wasn't happening, nothing could change. But the fact that creation is a constant coming into being means that every moment is an opportunity for change and for something new.
    And so when we're operating in connection with others, the closer we can move to the Lord and become aware of what's operating so far as our own sphere is concerned, and consciously work at acknowledging the Lord and recognising what is opposed, that activity is what brings us closer to the neighbour in the other. Now, the neighbour in the other isn't the other person, the neighbour in the other is the Lord himself, so what is of the Lord and others, that's what brings connection. Anything else is proprium to proprium. But when we are conscious in the contact, then something can happen. And it's not about us presuming that we know who the other is or what they're having to deal with, we don't. But we know our own state; we are learning how to discern what's arising within. And as we attend to that, the miracle of connection happens.
    But it's all the Lord, it's got nothing to do with my ability or anyone else's ability to be more loving or kind in the contact. Because as soon as I try to be more loving, it's I that is trying to be more loving. And it's not going to be a connection of high value from a spiritual perspective. But if I recognise that it's my I that is seeking to be more loving and step back from that, then love is given the first place, not my idea of what love is - Love Itself. And that's what brings the connection.
    So it's just about being in the contact. And what does that mean? Well, it's about recognising the Lord, that we are on holy ground, we remove our shoes... all of these images are about stepping back from what I term as myself, so that the Lord can be present more fully, at least in a way that's of much higher quality - heaven can be present in the contact. And that's what we seek. And that's why we practice what we do when we listen to each other in group and try to cultivate these spiritual literacy skills. So that what is of the Lord reigns, even at this natural level of life.
    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.
    6 min
  • ACV9 S36 7623-7650
    CLICK TO PRINT READING
    CLICK TO GO TO COMMENTS
    7623 Exodus 10
    THE DOCTRINE OF CHARITY
    There are two things which proceed from the Lord and from this in their origin are Divine: the one is Good, and the other is Truth. These consequently are the two things which reign in heaven, nay, which make heaven. In the church these two things are called charity and faith.
    7624 When Good and Truth proceed from the Lord they are completely united, and so united as to be not two, but one. Consequently they are one in heaven; and because they are one in heaven, heaven is an image of the Lord. It would be the same with the church if charity and faith therein were a one.
    7625 An idea of the good which is of charity and of the truth which is of faith may be formed from the sun and its light; when the light which proceeds from the sun is conjoined with heat, as is the case in spring and summer, then all things of the earth sprout forth and live; but when there is no heat in the light, as in winter time, then all things of the earth become torpid and die. Moreover, in the Word the Lord is compared to the sun; and truth conjoined with good, which proceeds from Him, is compared to light; and also in the Word the truth of faith is called light, and the good of love is called fire. Moreover, love is the fire of life, and faith is the light of life.
    7626 From all this an idea can also be formed about the man of the church, as to what he is when with him faith is conjoined with charity, namely, that he is like a garden and a paradise; and what he is when with him faith is not conjoined with charity, namely, that he is like a desert and a land covered with snow.
    7627 From the mere light of his natural man everyone can see that Truth and Good are in agreement, and also that they can be conjoined together; and that truth and evil are in disagreement, and that they cannot be conjoined together; and in like manner faith and charity. Experience itself testifies the same; that he who is in evil as to life is either in falsity as to faith, or is in no faith, or is quite opposed to faith. And (what is a secret) he who is in evil as to life is in the falsity of his evil, although he believes that he is in truth. That he so believes is because he is in persuasive faith, of which in what follows.
    EXODUS 10
    1 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Come unto Pharaoh; because I have made heavy his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may put these My signs in the midst of him.
    2 And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and My signs which I have set in them, and that ye may know that I am Jehovah.
    3 And Moses and Aaron came unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, How long dost thou refuse to be humbled before Me? let My people go, that they may serve Me.
    4 For if thou refuse to let My people go, behold tomorrow I will bring the locust into thy border.
    5 And it shall cover the surface of the land, and one shall not be able to see the land; and it shall devour the residue of that which is escaped that is left to you from the hail; and it shall devour every tree that sprouteth forth to you out of the field.
    6 And thy houses shall be filled, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which thy fathers saw not, nor thy father's fathers, since the day that they were upon the ground even unto this day. And he looked back, and went out from before Pharaoh.
    7 And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this be a snare to us? Send the men away, and let them serve Jehovah their God; knowest thou not yet that Egypt is perishing?
    8 And Moses and Aaron were brought back unto Pharaoh; and he said unto them, Go ye, serve Jehovah your God; who and who are going?
    9 And Moses said, We will go with our boys, and with our old men; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flock and with our herd, will we go; because we have a feast of Jehovah.
    10 And he said unto them, So shall Jehovah be with you, when I let you go, and your babe; see ye that evil is before your faces.
    11 Not so; go I pray, ye that are young men, and serve Jehovah; because this ye seek. And he drove them out from the faces of Pharaoh.
    12 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch forth thy hand over the land of Egypt for the locust, and it shall come up upon the land of Egypt, and shall devour all the herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.
    13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and Jehovah brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locust.
    14 And the locust went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the border of Egypt, very grievous; before it there was no such locust as this, and after it there shall not be such.
    15 And it covered the surface of the whole land, and the land was darkened; and it devoured all the herb of the land, and all the fruit of the tree which the hail had left; and there was not left any green thing in the tree and in the herb of the field, in the whole land of Egypt.
    16 And Pharaoh hastened to call Moses and Aaron; and he said, I have sinned to Jehovah your God, and to you.
    17 And now forgive I pray my sin only this once, and supplicate ye to Jehovah your God that He remove from upon me this death only.
    18 And he went out from before Pharaoh, and supplicated unto Jehovah.
    19 And Jehovah turned an exceeding strong sea wind, and took up the locust, and cast it into the sea Suph; there was not left one locust in all the border of Egypt.
    20 And Jehovah made firm Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.
    21 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, and there shall be thick darkness upon the land of Egypt, and one shall grope in thick darkness.
    22 And Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven; and there was a most dense thick darkness in the whole land of Egypt three days.
    23 They saw not a man his brother, and there rose not up anyone from what was under him for three days; and all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings.
    24 And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve Jehovah; only your flock and your herd shall stay; your babe also shall go with you.
    25 And Moses said, Thou shalt also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may perform it unto Jehovah our God.
    26 And our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind; for thereof we must take to serve Jehovah our God; and we know not with what we must serve Jehovah until we come thither.
    27 And Jehovah made firm Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.
    28 And Pharaoh said to him, Go away from before me, take heed to thyself that thou see my faces no more; for in the day thou seest my faces thou shalt die.
    29 And Moses said, Thou hast rightly spoken; I will see thy faces again no more.
    7628 THE CONTENTS.In this chapter in the internal sense there is further continued the subject of the vastation of those who infest those who are of the spiritual church. The ninth and tenth states or degrees of vastation, which are described by the locust and by the thick darkness, whereby is signified falsity from evil devastating all things of the church with them, are now treated of.
    7629 THE INTERNAL SENSE.Verses 1-6. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Come unto Pharaoh, because I have made heavy his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may put these My signs in the midst of him; and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and My signs which I have set in them, and that ye may know that I am Jehovah. And Moses and Aaron came unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, How long dost thou refuse to be humbled before Me? let My people go, that they may serve Me. For if thou refuse to let My people go, behold tomorrow I bring the locust into thy border; and it shall cover the surface of the land, that one shall not be able to see the land; and it shall devour the residue of that which is escaped that is left to you from the hail; and it shall devour every tree that sprouteth forth to you out of the field; and thy houses shall be filled, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which thy fathers saw not, nor thy fathers' fathers, since the day that they were upon the ground even unto this day. And he looked back, and went out from before Pharaoh. And Jehovah said unto Moses signifies a command; Come unto Pharaoh signifies the presence of truth from the Divine with those who infest; because I have made heavy his heart, and the heart of his servants, signifies that they all in general were determined; that I may put these my signs in the midst of them, signifies that the evil may know that they are in evil, and that the good may be enlightened as to the state of those within the church who live evilly; and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, signifies that they who are in truth and good may know what befalls those who are of the church and infest the upright; and My signs which I have set in them, signifies that they may be enlightened with respect to the state of those who are of the church and live evilly; and that ye may know that I am Jehovah, signifies that thus it may be known to them that the Lord is the only God; and Moses and Aaron came unto Pharaoh, signifies the presence of truth Divine; and said unto him, signifies discernment; Thus saith Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, signifies a command from the Lord, who is the God of the church; How long dost thou refuse to be humbled before Me? signifies disobedience; let My people go,...
    39 min
  • Session 34 Overview – The Word of the Lord is devastating to the native proprium for the way that it has used truths, but gentle for what can serve His work (10 mins)
    And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch forth thy hand toward heaven, and there shall be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field in the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven; and Jehovah gave voices and hail, and the fire walked unto the land, and Jehovah made it rain hail upon the land of Egypt. And there was hail, and fire walking at the same time in the midst of the hail, very grievous, such as had not been like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote in all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, from man and even to beast, and the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, was there no hail. And Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time; Jehovah is just, and I and my people are wicked. Supplicate ye unto Jehovah, for there hath been enough of voices of God and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread out my palms unto Jehovah, and the voices shall cease, and there shall be no more hail; that thou mayest know that the earth is Jehovah’s. And as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the face of Jehovah God. 
    Exodus 9:22-30
    Arcana Coelestia 7573... As regards truth Divine in heaven and in hell, which truth is signified by the “voices,” the case is the same as it is with thunders on earth. On high mountains thunders are heard as a mild and gentle sound, whereas below on the earth they are heard as a terrific noise; and in the same way in heaven truth Divine is mild and gentle, but in hell is terrible.
    The Word constantly challenges our historical faith and thus constantly perfects
    AC 7577. And there was hail, and fire at the same time walking in the midst of the hail, very grievous. That this signifies the persuasions of falsity together with the cupidities of evil, is evident from the signification of “hail,” as being falsity from evil (of which above, n. 7574), here the persuasion of falsity, because it is said “hail very grievous;” from the signification of “fire,” as being the cupidity of evil (of which just above, n. 7575); from the signification of “walking in the midst,” as being to be together, and indeed the cupidity of evil inmostly, because this was the source of the falsity.
    [2] There is here described the state of those who are of the church and infest the upright in the other life when they have been vastated as to what is of the church, that is, as to the goods and truths which they professed; namely, that then persuasions of falsity together with cupidities of evil reign with them; for such is their interior state. The persuasions of falsity and the cupidities of evil are inseparable, for he who is in evil as to life, is in falsity as to doctrine. It may indeed seem otherwise to those who are in evil of life; for when with the mouth they profess truths from the Word, or from the doctrine of their church, they suppose that they are in the belief of these truths. It also appears to them as if they were; but still they are not if the life is evil; for they either profess with the mouth what disagrees with their thoughts, or they think that it is so from a persuasive faith, which is for the sake of gain or of honors; therefore when there is no further canvassing for honors, or chasing of gain, this faith falls to the ground, and then they readily learn falsities which agree with the evils of cupidities. These falsities exist inwardly with those who live evilly, no matter how much they believe that they do not exist.
    [3] That this is so, clearly shows itself in the other life, when the externals have there been taken away, and such persons have been left to their interiors. Then falsities burst forth, both those which they had thought in the world, and those which they had not openly thought; for they burst forth from the evils which had been of their life, because falsities are nothing else than evils reasoning and defending themselves. From all this it can be seen what is their state in the other life, namely that they have persuasions of falsity together with cupidities of evil.
    Transcript
    Through the shares, one word that stood out was the word attention. People mentioned that, I think just about everybody did in some form or another. And of course Moses being asked to stretch forth his hand toward heaven is about orientation and attention being given to what is higher. So just a few points about what's going on here so far as the inner process aspect is concerned. And I'll just go through a couple of verses here. So just using 7566 which is the opening of this reading.
    And Jehovah said to Moses, like so what's happened here is that there's a shift of state going on. So whenever Jehovah is speaking and saying something, what you have is the state being worked with is such that this can now be heard. Because what the Lord speaks is not spoken in a linear way, but it is received in a linear way. Because we are a finite being. So all that the Lord says is always said in all its fullness. From the Lord's perspective there's no measuring of what is said. What creates the experience of something being measured is the capacity to receive. So this is the idea that the Lord is fully present.
    So when the Lord speaks something that really refers to the influx of the Divine into the human mind. And it's received by what's termed Moses. And so what Moses is, is really the interior truths that can enact things and have what Jehovah speaks brought down onto a lower plane. Whatever the Lord speaks it's for one end and that is the salvation of the human race. That's all that Jehovah can speak. So one way of thinking about this is that if you transpose the word Jehovah with the word love, then it can open things up for you. So love finds its expression through truths and that's Jehovah and Moses. That's the relationship there.
    And the injunction is to stretch forth thy hand toward heaven. So what's happening is that there is influx from the Lord that is inspiring a looking to heaven. So what does that mean? So heaven as we know is not a place. There is statements that talk about heaven is the Word itself. So you can see then that what's being inspired, ‘in-breathed’ into our consciousness is a desire to look to the Word. So the state is allowing for this and what is it? Well here comes a further revealing of the nature of proprium in particular as it relates to Egypt and Egypt can be thought of as our historical faith. Egypt is all the truths and goods that have been gathered into the mind but haven't been put into practice. They've been learnt, rote. So Egypt is closely associated with what's termed scientifics or another translation memory knowledge. So it's just that flat level of material.
    And so what has to happen is that through our early development the sense of self or proprium is strong and its gathering of information from the Word is done in order to save itself. This is just how the process works. So a lot of goods and truths have been gathered in order to cover over evils and falsities and that has to be opened up. This correlates actually with the awakening series in Heaven and Hell where first of all as you awaken in the world of spirits you go through a state of external concerns which leads into a state of internal concerns, or external things are dealt with then internal things that sit below are dealt with after that.
    So what you have here is an opening up of externals to penetrate into what lies beneath. And because the proprium has gathered goods and truths from the Word it feels secure in its religiosity or historical faith but from a regeneration perspective that is a block and that's where this is reached now. And all of that which protects the idea of myself as an independent autonomous being who is religious and spiritual and all of that that has to be broken down because so long as it's proprium that is gathering those goods and truths they are turned into what is evil and false because they protect the very thing the Lord is seeking to deliver us from. And so what that is about of course is the breaking down of our reliance on a sense of self that's grounded in the loves of self and love of the world and that has to be uprooted and exposed so that the ruling loves become love to the Lord and love to the neighbor. Or another way of thinking about those phrases love to the Lord is loving what is good, love to the neighbor is loving what is true for their own sakes and the love of what is good and true from the Word for proprium is about protecting love of self and love of the world.
    So these things have to be exposed and turn around and this is what's described by when Jehovah gives voices and hail. So anything from the Lord that's looking to liberate us from proprium, from the proprium's point of view looks like something catastrophic and it is essentially. So truths from the Lord which are received in the heavens as something gentle and nurturing when it gets down to the level of proprial levels and states becomes confrontational and something to be resisted because self love is doing everything it can to avoid having to give up its power, and that's represented by Pharaoh.
    So what you see here is this playing out of the Word working within the human mind to bring about our liberation. And what does that mean?
    That means we give up any notion that we are an independent autonomous being or self, acknowledging that the Lord is the only self, and that all that exists so far as finite mind is concerned is an as if of self and as of self. We are receivers of life we do not have life in ourselves and that's what has to be turned around....
    11 min
  • Session 34 Overview – The Word of the Lord is devastating to the native proprium for the way that it has used truths, but gentle for what can serve His work (10 mins)

    And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch forth thy hand toward heaven, and there shall be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field in the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven; and Jehovah gave voices and hail, and the fire walked unto the land, and Jehovah made it rain hail upon the land of Egypt. And there was hail, and fire walking at the same time in the midst of the hail, very grievous, such as had not been like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote in all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, from man and even to beast, and the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, was there no hail. And Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time; Jehovah is just, and I and my people are wicked. Supplicate ye unto Jehovah, for there hath been enough of voices of God and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread out my palms unto Jehovah, and the voices shall cease, and there shall be no more hail; that thou mayest know that the earth is Jehovah’s. And as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the face of Jehovah God. 

    Exodus 9:22-30

    Arcana Coelestia 7573… As regards truth Divine in heaven and in hell, which truth is signified by the “voices,” the case is the same as it is with thunders on earth. On high mountains thunders are heard as a mild and gentle sound, whereas below on the earth they are heard as a terrific noise; and in the same way in heaven truth Divine is mild and gentle, but in hell is terrible.

    The Word constantly challenges our historical faith and thus constantly perfects

    AC 7577. And there was hail, and fire at the same time walking in the midst of the hail, very grievous. That this signifies the persuasions of falsity together with the cupidities of evil, is evident from the signification of “hail,” as being falsity from evil (of which above, n. 7574), here the persuasion of falsity, because it is said “hail very grievous;” from the signification of “fire,” as being the cupidity of evil (of which just above, n. 7575); from the signification of “walking in the midst,” as being to be together, and indeed the cupidity of evil inmostly, because this was the source of the falsity.

    [2] There is here described the state of those who are of the church and infest the upright in the other life when they have been vastated as to what is of the church, that is, as to the goods and truths which they professed; namely, that then persuasions of falsity together with cupidities of evil reign with them; for such is their interior state. The persuasions of falsity and the cupidities of evil are inseparable, for he who is in evil as to life, is in falsity as to doctrine. It may indeed seem otherwise to those who are in evil of life; for when with the mouth they profess truths from the Word, or from the doctrine of their church, they suppose that they are in the belief of these truths. It also appears to them as if they were; but still they are not if the life is evil; for they either profess with the mouth what disagrees with their thoughts, or they think that it is so from a persuasive faith, which is for the sake of gain or of honors; therefore when there is no further canvassing for honors, or chasing of gain, this faith falls to the ground, and then they readily learn falsities which agree with the evils of cupidities. These falsities exist inwardly with those who live evilly, no matter how much they believe that they do not exist.

    [3] That this is so, clearly shows itself in the other life, when the externals have there been taken away, and such persons have been left to their interiors. Then falsities burst forth, both those which they had thought in the world, and those which they had not openly thought; for they burst forth from the evils which had been of their life, because falsities are nothing else than evils reasoning and defending themselves. From all this it can be seen what is their state in the other life, namely that they have persuasions of falsity together with cupidities of evil.

    Transcript

    Through the shares, one word that stood out was the word attention. People mentioned that, I think just about everybody did in some form or another. And of course Moses being asked to stretch forth his hand toward heaven is about orientation and attention being given to what is higher. So just a few points about what’s going on here so far as the inner process aspect is concerned. And I’ll just go through a couple of verses here. So just using 7566 which is the opening of this reading.

    And Jehovah said to Moses, like so what’s happened here is that there’s a shift of state going on. So whenever Jehovah is speaking and saying something, what you have is the state being worked with is such that this can now be heard. Because what the Lord speaks is not spoken in a linear way, but it is received in a linear way. Because we are a finite being. So all that the Lord says is always said in all its fullness. From the Lord’s perspective there’s no measuring of what is said. What creates the experience of something being measured is the capacity to receive. So this is the idea that the Lord is fully present.

    So when the Lord speaks something that really refers to the influx of the Divine into the human mind. And it’s received by what’s termed Moses. And so what Moses is, is really the interior truths that can enact things and have what Jehovah speaks brought down onto a lower plane. Whatever the Lord speaks it’s for one end and that is the salvation of the human race. That’s all that Jehovah can speak. So one way of thinking about this is that if you transpose the word Jehovah with the word love, then it can open things up for you. So love finds its expression through truths and that’s Jehovah and Moses. That’s the relationship there.

    And the injunction is to stretch forth thy hand toward heaven. So what’s happening is that there is influx from the Lord that is inspiring a looking to heaven. So what does that mean? So heaven as we know is not a place. There is statements that talk about heaven is the Word itself. So you can see then that what’s being inspired and breathed into our consciousness is a desire to look to the Word. So the state is allowing for this and what is it? Well here comes a further revealing of the nature of proprium in particular as it relates to Egypt and Egypt can be thought of as our historical faith. Egypt is all the truths and goods that have been gathered into the mind but haven’t been put into practice. They’ve been learnt, wrote. So Egypt is closely associated with what’s termed scientifics or another translation memory knowledge. So it’s just that flat level of material.

    And so what has to happen is that through our early development the sense of self or proprium is strong and its gathering of information from the Word is done in order to save itself. This is just how the process works. So a lot of goods and truths have been gathered in order to cover over evils and falsities and that has to be opened up. This correlates actually with the awakening series in Heaven and Hell where first of all as you awaken in the world of spirits you go through a state of external concerns which leads into a state of internal concerns, or external things are dealt with then internal things that sit below are dealt with after that.

    So what you have here is an opening up of externals to penetrate into what lies beneath. And because the proprium has gathered goods and truths from the Word it feels secure in its religiosity or historical faith but from a regeneration perspective that is a block and that’s where this is reached now. And all of that which protects the idea of myself as an independent autonomous being who is religious and spiritual and all of that that has to be broken down because so long as it’s proprium that is gathering those goods and truths they are turned into what is evil and false because they protect the very thing the Lord is seeking to deliver us from. And so what that is about of course is the breaking down of our reliance on a sense of self that’s grounded in the loves of self and love of the world and that has to be uprooted and exposed so that the ruling loves become love to the Lord and love to the neighbor. Or another way of thinking about those phrases love to the Lord is loving what is good, love to the neighbor is loving what is true for their own sakes and the love of what is good and true from the Word for proprium is about protecting love of self and love of the world.

    So these things have to be exposed and turn around and this is what’s described by when Jehovah gives voices and hail. So anything from the Lord that’s looking to liberate us from proprium, from the proprium’s point of view looks like something catastrophic and it is essentially. So truths from the Lord which are received in the heavens as something gentle and nurturing when it gets down to the level of proprial levels and states becomes confrontational and something to be resisted because self love is doing everything it can to avoid having to give up its power, and that’s represented by Pharaoh.

    So what you see here is this playing out of the Word working within the human mind to bring about our liberation. And what does that mean?

    That means we give up any notion that we are an independent autonomous being or self, acknowledging that the Lord is the only self, and that all that exists so far as finite mind is concerned is an as if of self and as of self. We are receivers of life we do not have life in ourselves and that’s what has to be turned around. And that’s what is described by the opening up of these plagues. So the whole process is about bringing the natural into a form that is subjected to what is higher and so is able to receive the higher within the lower. The lower is in service of the higher prior to regeneration and also leading up to the state of being regenerate I guess. The natural rules over what is spiritual and that’s the issue.

    So if we think about the idea of love of the world and take it away from the world out there then love of the world is simply the acquisition of what is another’s and claiming it as my own. And when we are in a belief that we have life in ourselves or that we are a self independent from the Lord then we are claiming what is the Lord’s as our own because the Lord alone has life in Himself – that’s the definition of Divinity. The definition for a created form is that it is a receiver of life, it doesn’t have life in itself and this is the whole discussion or episode in the Garden of Eden with the serpent. And again this is daily not just something historical, this is a …

    Do I listen to what the senses say is true? Or do I believe what the Word says is true?

    Do I believe the serpent or do I believe the Lord?

    Every single decision point in our lives involves that at its core.

    Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments in the online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to maintain focus on understanding the Text’s application to the inner life while reinforcing key LP principles highlighted in the exchanges.

    11 min
  • The interchapter material offers the same principles as the chapter material – they are just different images (6 mins)
    Arcana Coelestia 7480. I have been instructed that the spirits of Mars have relation to something which is interior in man, and indeed intermediate between the intellectual part and the will part, thus to thought from affection; and they who are the best of them, to the affection of the thought. This is the reason why their face makes a one with their thought, and why they cannot dissemble before anyone (as was said of them above, see n. 7360, 7361).
    7479. I have spoken with some from that earth about the faith of those who dwell there. They said that they there believe that there is nothing in them but what is filthy and infernal, and that all good is of the Lord. They even said further that of themselves they are devils, and that the Lord draws them out and continually withholds them from hell. They wondered that so many evil spirits were about me, and also spoke to me; but it was given me to answer that this is permitted them for the purpose that I may thus know their quality, and why they are in hell, and that this is according to their life. It was also given me to say that there were some among them whom I had known when they lived in the world, and that they had then been in stations of great dignity, although nothing but the world was in their hearts; but that no evil spirit, even the most infernal, can do me any harm, because I am continually protected by the Lord.
    7478. Once when the Lord was mentioned I saw that those spirits adopted a humbled attitude, so deep and profound as to be indescribable. For in their humility their thought was that if left to themselves they were in hell, which being so they were totally unworthy of setting eyes on the Lord, who is Holiness itself. This thought arising from their belief affected them so profoundly that they were so to speak beside themselves, and it kept them on their knees until the Lord raised them up and so to speak pulled them out of hell. When they accordingly rise from that humbled condition those spirits are full of goodness and love, and consequently of heartfelt joy. But when they adopt that humbled attitude they do not, because they dare not, turn their faces to the Lord; instead they turn them away. Spirits who were around me said that they had never seen any humility like 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.
    7 min
  • Why the Lord asks us to give up and let go of our historical beliefs (8 mins)
    What is hidden will be revealed
    Arcana Coelestia 7454[2] How the case stands with this matter is very evident from things that show themselves clearly in the other life. Every spirit, and still more every society, is surrounded with a sphere of the faith and of the life of that spirit or society. This sphere is a spiritual sphere, and by it is known the quality of the spirit, and even better that of the society. For the sphere is perceived by those who have perception, sometimes at a considerable distance; and this although the spirit or the society is in hiding, and does not communicate by thought or by speech. This spiritual sphere may be compared to the material sphere which encompasses the body of a man in the world, which is a sphere of effluvia exuding from him, and is smelled by keen-scented beasts. (Of the spiritual sphere which encompasses spirits, see n. 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504, 1519, 2401, 2489, 4464, 5179, 6206)
    [3] From all this it can be seen that if infernal spirits were near where they are who are in Divine worship, they would infest them by their sphere, for in this way they who are in Divine worship would perceive what is shocking and abominable. All this shows how it is to be understood that infernal foulness and filthiness would flow in, if they were to worship God in that neighborhood. From what has been said about the spiritual sphere, or the sphere of faith and life, which exhales from every spirit, and still more from a society of spirits, it can also be seen that nothing whatever is hidden of that which a man in the world has thought, spoken, and done, but that it is in the open; for it is these things which make this sphere. Such a sphere also pours forth from the spirit of a man while he is in the body in the world; and from this his quality is also known. Therefore believe not that the things a man thinks in secret and that he does in secret, are hidden, for they are as clearly shown in heaven as are those which appear in the light of noon, according to the Lord’s words in Luke:
    There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; or hidden that shall not be known; therefore whatsoever ye have said in the darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in bed-chambers, shall be proclaimed upon the housetops (Luke 12:2-3).
    Cast into hell
    AC 7465.. Be it known that each miracle done in Egypt signifies a peculiar state into which those come who are in falsities and infest in the other life. There are ten states into which they successively come before they are entirely stripped of all truth, thus before they are cast into hell. For they who are in the knowledge of faith, but in evil of life, are not after death at once brought into hell, but successively. They are first convinced that they are in evil, and afterward the knowledge of faith is taken away from them, and at last they are left to the evil of their life. This is effected by means of many successive states, and these states are what are described by the miracles done in Egypt, consequently by the evils which befell the Egyptians before they were immersed in the sea Suph. These secrets cannot be known without revelation, but with the angels they are among things well known.
    Evils and falsities are rejections of what is good and true
    Divine Love and Wisdom 268. (iii) Confirmed evils and falsities with man are permanent, and come to be of his love, and consequently of his life. Confirmations of evil and falsity are nothing else than removals of good and truth, and if they increase, they are rejections, for evil removes and rejects good as falsity does truth. Hence indeed it is that confirmations of evil and falsity are closures of heaven, for every good and truth flows in from the Lord through heaven, and when heaven is closed, then man is in hell, and in a society there in which a like evil and falsity reigns, from which hell he cannot afterwards be released. 
    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.
    8 min

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Seeking to make the Lord God Jesus Christ visible in our midst... "Where two or three are gathered together in My name there am I in the midst of them." (Matt. 18:20)