Logopraxis

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485. THE DELIGHTS OF EVERY ONE'S LIFE ARE CHANGED AFTER DEATH INTO THINGS THAT CORRESPOND.

It has been shown in the preceding chapter that the ruling affection or dominant love in everyone continues to eternity. It shall now be explained how the delights of that affection or love are changed into things that correspond. Being changed into corresponding things means into things spiritual that correspond to the natural. That they are changed into things spiritual can be seen from this, that so long as man is in his earthly body he is in the natural world, but when he leaves that body he enters the spiritual world and is clothed with a spiritual body. It has already been shown that angels, and men after death, are in a complete human form, and that the bodies with which they are clothed are spiritual bodies (numbers 73-77 and 453-460); also what the correspondence is of spiritual things with natural (numbers 87-115).

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486. All the delights that a man has are the delights of his ruling love, for he feels nothing to be delightful except what he loves, thus especially that which he loves above all things. It means the same whether you say the ruling love or that which is loved above all things. These delights are various. In general, there are as many as there are ruling loves; consequently as many as there are men, spirits, and angels; for no one's ruling love is in every respect like that of another. For this reason no one has a face exactly like that of any other; for each one's face is an image of his mind; and in the spiritual world it is an image of his ruling love. In particular, everyone's delights are of infinite variety. It is impossible for any one delight to be exactly like another, or the same as another, either those that follow one after another or those that exist together at the same time, no one ever being the same as another. Nevertheless, the particular delights in everyone have reference to his one love, which is his ruling love, for they compose it and thus make one with it. Likewise all delights in general have reference to one universally ruling love, which in heaven is love to the Lord, and in hell is the love of self.

487. Only from a knowledge of correspondences can it be known what spiritual delights everyone's natural delights are changed into after death, and what kind of delights they are. In general, this knowledge teaches that nothing natural can exist without something spiritual corresponding to it. In particular it teaches what it is that corresponds, and what kind of a thing it is. Therefore, any one that has this knowledge can ascertain and know what his own state after death will be, if he only knows what his love is, and what its relation is to the universally ruling loves spoken of above, to which all loves have relation. But it is impossible for those who are in the love of self to know what their ruling love is, because they love what is their own, and call their evils goods; and the falsities that they incline to and by which they confirm their evils they call truths. And yet if they were willing they might know it from others who are wise, and who see what they themselves do not see. This however, is impossible with those who are so enticed by the love of self that they spurn all teaching of the wise. [2] On the other hand, those who are in heavenly love accept instruction, and as soon as they are brought into the evils into which they were born, they see them from truths, for truths make evils manifest. From truth which is from good any one can see evil and its falsity; but from evil none can see what is good and true; and for the reason that falsities of evil are darkness and correspond to darkness; consequently those that are in falsities from evil are like the blind, not seeing the things that are in light, but shunning them instead like birds of night.[1] But as truths from good are light, and correspond to light (see above, n. 126-134), so those that are in truths from good have sight and open eyes, and discern the things that pertain to light and shade. [3] This, too, has been proved to me by experience. The angels in heaven both see and perceive the evils and falsities that sometimes arise in themselves, also the evils and falsities in spirits in the world of spirits that are connected with the hells, although the spirits themselves are unable to see their own evils and falsities. Such spirits have no comprehension of the good of heavenly love, of conscience, of honesty and justice, except such as is done for the sake of self; neither what it is to be led by the Lord. They say that such things do not exist, and thus are of no account. All this has been said to the intent that man may examine himself and may recognize his love by his delights; and thus so far as he can make it out from a knowledge of correspondences may know the state of his life alter death.

[1] From correspondence darkness in the Word signifies falsities, and thick darkness the falsities of evil (see numbers 1839, 1860, 7688, 7711).

To the evil the light of heaven is thick darkness (see numbers 1861, 6832, 8197).

Those that are in the hells are said to be in darkness because they are in falsities of evil; of such (see numbers 3340, 4418, 4531).

In the Word the blind signify those that are in falsities and are not willing to be taught (see numbers 2383, 6990).

488. How the delights of everyone's life are changed after death into things that correspond can be known from a knowledge of correspondences; but as that knowledge is not as yet generally known I will try to throw some light on the subject by certain examples from experience. All who are in evil and who have established themselves in falsities in opposition to the truths of the church, especially those that have rejected the Word, flee from the light of heaven and take refuge in caves that appear at their openings to be densely dark, also in clefts of rocks, and there they hide themselves; and this because they have loved falsities and hated truths; for such caves and clefts of rocks,[1] well as darkness, correspond to falsities, as light corresponds to truths. It is their delight to dwell in such places, and undelightful to dwell in the open country. [2] Those that have taken delight in insidious and secret plots and in treacherous machinations do the same thing. They are also in such caves; and they frequent rooms so dark that they are even unable to see one another; and they whisper together in the ears in corners. Into this is the delight of their love changed. Those that have devoted themselves to the sciences with no other end than to acquire a reputation for learning, and have not cultivated their rational faculty by their learning, but have taken delight in the things of memory from a pride in such things, love sandy places, which they choose in preference to fields and gardens, because sandy places correspond to such studies. [3] Those that are skilled in the doctrines of their own and other churches, but have not applied their knowledge to life, choose for themselves rocky places, and dwell among heaps of stones, shunning cultivated places because they dislike them. Those that have ascribed all things to nature, as well as those that have ascribed all things to their own prudence, and by various arts have raised themselves to honors and have acquired wealth, in the other life devote themselves to the study of magic arts, which are abuses of Divine order, and find in these the chief delight of life. [4] Those that have adapted Divine truths to their own loves, and thereby have falsified them, love urinous things because these correspond to the delights of such loves.[2] Those that have been sordidly avaricious dwell in cells, and love swinish filth and such stenches as are exhaled from undigested food in the stomach. [5] Those that have spent their life in mere pleasures and have lived delicately and indulged their palate and stomach, loving such things as the highest good that life affords, love in the other life excrementitious things and privies, in which they find their delight, for the reason that such pleasures are spiritual filth. Places that are clean and free from filth they shun, finding them undelightful. [6] Those that have taken delight in adulteries pass their time in brothels, where all things are vile and filthy; these they love, and chaste homes they shun, falling into a swoon as soon as they enter them. Nothing is more delightful to them than to break up marriages. Those that have cherished a spirit of revenge, and have thereby contracted a savage and cruel nature, love cadaverous substances, and are in hells of that nature; and so on.

[1] In the word a hole or the cleft of a rock signifies obscurity and falsity of faith (see number 10582).

Because a rock signifies faith from the Lord (see numbers 8581, 10580); and a stone the truth of faith (see numbers 114, 643, 1298, 3720, 6426, 8609, 10376).

[2] The defilements of truth correspond to urine (see number 5390).

489. But the delights of life of those that have lived in the world in heavenly love are changed into such corresponding things as exist in the heavens, which spring from the sun of heaven and its light, that light presenting to view such things as have what is Divine inwardly concealed in them. The things that appear in that light affect the interiors of the minds of the angels, and at the same time the exteriors pertaining to their bodies; and as the Divine light, which is Divine truth going forth from the Lord, flows into their minds opened by heavenly love, it presents outwardly such things as correspond to the delights of their love. It has already been shown, in the chapter on representatives and appearances in heaven (numbers 170-176), and in the chapter on the wisdom of the angels (numbers 265-275), that the things that appear to the sight in the heavens correspond to

Marriage is between Levels

Arcana Coelestia 3952. 'And he lay with her that night' means the actual joining together. This too becomes clear without explanation. The reason why the explanation of the expressions immediately preceding this has for the most part been limited to giving simply the meanings which they have in the internal sense is that they are the kind of things which cannot be understood unless they are presented separately one after another. For the subject is the joining of truth to good and of good to truth, and this joining together of them is the conjugial relationship meant in the spiritual sense; that is, when with man or in the Church the two are so joined together the heavenly marriage is effected. The arcana of this heavenly marriage have been described in the verses above, where they are shown to be the following: As has been stated, the heavenly marriage is a marriage of good to truth and of truth to good. It is not however a marriage between good and truth which both belong to one and the same degree, but between good and truth which belong one to a lower degree, the other to a higher. That is, it is not a marriage between the good of the external man and the truth of the same, but between the good of the external man and the truth of the internal man; or what amounts to the same, it is not a marriage between the good of the natural man and the truth of the same, but between the good of the natural man and the truth of the spiritual man. It is when good and truth of different degrees are joined together that the marriage comes into effect.

[2] The same applies in the internal or spiritual man. The heavenly marriage is not a marriage between the good and the truth present there but between the good of the spiritual man and the truth of the celestial man, for compared with the spiritual man the celestial man belongs to a higher degree. Nor again is the heavenly marriage between the good and the truth present there, but between the good of the celestial man and the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord. From this it is in addition evident that the Divine marriage itself within the Lord is not a marriage between the Divine good and the Divine truth present in His Divine Human but between the Good of the Divine Human and the Divine itself, that is, between the Son and the Father, for the Good of the Lord's Divine Human is that which in the Word is called 'the Son of God' and the Divine itself that which is called 'the Father'.

[3] These are the arcana contained in the internal sense present within the things said about the dudaim. Anyone may see that there is some arcanum hidden within them. For the following details - those about Reuben's finding dudaim in the field and Rachel's desiring them, and, so that she might acquire them, about her agreeing to their husband's lying with Leah, and about Leah's going out to meet Jacob when he came from the field in the evening and her saying that she had hired him for the dudaim - would not have been important enough for them to be mentioned in any historical description in the Word unless something Divine had lain hidden within them. Exactly what that something Divine is nobody can know unless he knows what is meant by the sons of Jacob and by the tribes named after them, and also unless he knows the flow of ideas belonging to the subject dealt with in the internal sense, and on top of this unless he knows what the heavenly marriage is. For that marriage is the subject; that is to say, the joining of the good of the external man to the affection for the truth of the internal man is the subject. But to enable this arcanum to be seen more clearly, let a further illustration be given.

[4] The truths of the external man are the facts and the matters of doctrine which he acquires first through parents and also teachers, after that through books, and at length by his own endeavours. The good of the external man is the pleasure and delight which he finds in those facts and matters of doctrine. Facts which are essentially truths, and delights which are essentially good, are joined together, but these do not constitute the heavenly marriage with him, for even with people who are governed by self-love and love of the world and who are consequently under the influence of evil and falsity, facts, and indeed matters of doctrine, are joined to delights; but they are the delights that go with self-love and love of the world, to which truths are able to be joined. All the same, such people are outside the heavenly marriage. But the heavenly marriage exists in a person when pleasure or delight, which essentially is the good of the external or natural man, stems from spiritual love. That is, the heavenly marriage exists with him when that good stems from love towards the neighbour, towards his country or the general public, towards the Church, towards the Lord's kingdom; and it exists even more fully when it stems from celestial love, which is love to the Lord. For when that spiritual or celestial love passes from the internal or spiritual man into the delight of the external or natural man and fashions that delight, it is then joined to the facts and the matters of doctrine of the external or natural. But such a marriage cannot exist with the evil, only with the good, that is to say, with those who have those things as the end in view. But see what has been said already in 3286, 3288, 3314, 3321, about the influx of the internal or spiritual man into the external or natural man.

[5] Once acquainted with these arcana one may now come to see the overall meaning of the individual expressions, the explanations of which in preceding paragraphs was limited simply to giving their individual meanings in the internal sense, those expressions and their meanings being these: 'Reuben', who means the truth of faith, which is the first stage of regeneration, 'found dudaim'; 'he brought them to Leah his mother' who means the affection for external truth; 'Rachel' who means the affection for interior truth 'desired them', and they were also 'given to her'; Leah therefore 'lay with Jacob her husband' who means the good of truth within the natural man. Likewise the expressions in what comes after this: Sons were born to Jacob by Leah, 'Issachar and Zebulun', by whom things to do with conjugial love and so with the heavenly marriage are meant and represented; and after this, 'Joseph' was born, by whom the Lord's spiritual kingdom - the marriage itself, which is the subject here - is meant and represented.

 

Man is not born in the human form

Conjugual Love 152b. On hearing this all who were sitting at the tables said: 'What times they live in on earth now! What sad changes has wisdom undergone! It seems to have been turned into foolish cleverness. The sun has set and is beneath the earth, diametrically opposite its noon position. How can anyone fail to know from the evidence of the people abandoned in the forests, that this is what man is like if he receives no instruction? Surely he is what he is taught to be. By birth he is more ignorant than animals. He must then learn to walk and to talk. If he did not learn to walk, would he stand upright on his feet? And if he did not learn to talk, would he be able to utter any of his thoughts? Surely everyone is what he is taught to be, crazy if taught falsities, wise if taught truths? And if he is crazy from being taught falsities, does he not imagine himself to be wiser than the man who is wise from being taught truths? Are there not foolish and deranged people who are no more human beings than those who were found in the forests? Are not those who have lost their memory like them?

[2] 'From both these sets of facts we draw the conclusion that a man is not a man without instruction, and is not an animal either, but he is a form capable of receiving in himself what makes a man human, so that he is not born a man, but becomes one. Man has by birth a form such that he can be an instrument for the reception of life from God, with a view to being a subject into which God can put all good, and by union with Himself make blessed for ever. We perceive from what you say that wisdom at the present time is so far extinct or turned to foolishness, that there is total ignorance about the terms upon which human being live as compared with those on which animals live. As a result, they do not know either anything about how a person lives after death. But those who are able, but unwilling, to know about this, and so deny its reality, as many of you Christians do, can be likened to the people found in the forests. It is not that they have become so stupid through being deprived of instruction, but they have made themselves stupid by relying on the fallacies of the senses, which are the darkness that conceals truths.'

230. XXI. THAT ACCORDING TO THE DEFECT AND LOSS OF CONJUGIAL LOVE, MAN APPROACHES TO THE NATURE OF A BEAST. The reason is, because so far as he is in conjugial love he is spiritual, and so far as he is spiritual he is a man. Man is born for life after death, and he attains that life because within him is a spiritual soul, and to this he can be elevated through the faculty of his understanding. If then, from the faculty which is given to it, his will also is elevated at the same time, then after death he lives the life of heaven. The contrary is the case if he is in a love opposed to conjugial love; for so far as he is in this, he is a natural man, and as to lusts, appetites, and their delights, the merely natural man is like a beast, with the sole difference that he has the faculty of elevating his understanding into the light of wisdom, and also the faculty of elevating his will into the heat of heavenly love. These faculties are never taken away from any man; and therefore, a merely natural man, although like a beast as to concupiscences, appetites and their delights,...

A short guided meditation to support the work of conscious practice.

Psalm 8: O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouth of babes and infants. You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honour. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen, Even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Listen and Read HERE for further exploration on Psalm 8 – Strength From Out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings (Scripture Expounded as Process)

Genesis 49: 14-18

Issachar is a bony ass, lying down between the burdens. And he shall see rest that it is good, and the land that it is pleasant; and he shall bow his shoulder to bear, and shall be a servant to tribute.

Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent upon the way, an arrow-snake upon the path, biting the horse’s heels, and his rider shall fall backward. I wait for Thy salvation, O Jehovah.

 

On Issachar and Dan

Arcana Coelestia 6388 ...  That “Issachar” here signifies reward from works, and previously mutual love, is because by “Issachar” are here meant those who are in a certain kind and appearance of mutual love, that is, of charity toward the neighbor, and who desire to be rewarded for the goods which they do. Thus they not only defile, but also pervert genuine mutual love, or charity; for they who are in genuine mutual love are in their delight and bliss when they are benefiting the neighbor, for they desire nothing more.

6396. That Dan signifies those who are in truth and not as yet in good, is evident from the representation of Dan, as being the good of life (see n. 3921, 3923); but here those who are in some good of life from truth, but not as yet from good. ...the good with them as yet lies deeply hidden in truth, and gives them the affection of truth, and impels them to live according to truth. They who are such are in the Lord’s kingdom; but as they do not do good from good, but from truth, that is, not from a new will, but from the intellectual, and thus not from love, but from obedience because it is so commanded, they are therefore among those in the Lord’s kingdom who are in the first or ultimate heaven.

 

Serpent reasoning

6398. Dan shall be a serpent upon the way. That this signifies their reasoning about truth because good does not as yet lead, is evident from the representation of Dan, as being those who are in truth and not yet in good (see n. 6396); from the signification of a “serpent,” as being reasoning from what is sensuous (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “way,” as being truth (n. 627, 2333). Thus by “Dan being a serpent upon the way” is signified their reasoning about truth, because good does not yet lead. The quality of this reasoning and of the consequent truth, will be told in what follows.

[2] That a “serpent” denotes reasoning from what is sensuous, is because the interiors of man are represented in heaven by animals of various kinds, and hence in the Word the like are signified by the same animals. The sensuous things of man were represented by serpents because sensuous things are the lowest things in man, and are relatively earthly, and as it were creeping; as may also be seen from the forms through which sensuous things flow, concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere. Hence these sensuous things were represented by serpents, and even the Lord’s Divine sensuous was represented by the brazen serpent in the wilderness (n. 4211); and prudence and circumspection, in externals, is signified by “serpents” in Matthew:

Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16).

But when a man is in what is sensuous, remote from what is internal, as are those who are in truth and not yet in good and speaks from what is sensuous, then by the “serpent” is signified reasoning; here therefore, where Dan is treated of, is signified reasoning about truth, because good does not yet lead. In other cases malice, cunning, and deceit, are signified by “serpents,” but by poisonous serpents, as by “vipers” and the like, the reasoning of which is poison. (That the “serpent” denotes reasoning from what is sensuous may be seen above, n. 195-197; also that the “serpent” denotes all evil in general; and that evils are distinguished by different kinds of serpents n. 251, 254, 257)

 

The process

6396 ... For with the man who is being regenerated by the Lord the case is this. He is first in truth and not in any good of life from truth; next he is in the good of life from truth, but not yet from good; afterward, when he has been regenerated, he is in the good of life from good, and he then perceives truth from good, and multiplies it in himself; these are the degrees of regeneration.

 

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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.

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6439. Verse 27. Benjamin is a wolf; he shall seize in the morning, he shall devour the spoil, and at even he shall divide the prey. Benjamin, signifies the truth of the good of the spiritual church, which is Joseph; is a wolf, signifies the avidity of rescuing and delivering the good; he shall seize in the morning, he shall devour the spoil, signifies that when the Lord is present it shall be done; and at even he shall divide the prey, signifies their possession in the Lord's kingdom, when as yet they are in obscurity.

6440. Benjamin. That he signifies the truth of the good of the spiritual church, which is Joseph, is evident from the representation of Benjamin, as being the spiritual of the celestial (see n. 4592). The spiritual of the celestial is the truth of good, here the truth of that good which is of the spiritual church, which is represented by Joseph in this prophetic utterance of Israel; for as by Joseph is represented the spiritual church (n. 6417), by him is also represented the good of that church, because the church is the church from good; the truth of this good is Benjamin.

6441. Is a wolf. That this signifies the avidity of rescuing and delivering the good, is evident from the signification of a wolf, as being one who seizes and scatters; and as in the Word beasts signify cupidities, a wolf signifies the avidity of seizing, as is also evident from the passages in the Word where a wolf is mentioned; as in Matthew:

Beware ye of false prophets, who come unto you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves (Matt. 7:15).

And in John:

He that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf seizeth them, and scattereth the sheep (John 10:12).

Likewise in other places (as Luke 10:3; Jer. 5:6; Ezek. 22:27; Zeph. 3:3). Hence it is plain that by a wolf are signified those who seize, but here one who rescues from hell those who have been seized. The signification of a wolf is in a similar category to that of a lion, also a rapacious animal, concerning which also it is said that it seizeth the rapine, gathereth spoil, and preyeth upon prey, as is here said of a wolf; and yet in a good sense a lion signifies truth in power from good (n. 6367). It is similar with other rapacious beasts, as leopards, eagles, etc.

6442. He shall seize in the morning, he shall devour the spoil. That this signifies that when the Lord is present it shall be done, is evident from the signification of morning, as being in the supreme sense the Lord (see n. 2405, 2780), hence that he shall seize in the morning denotes that when the Lord is present, then shall be rescuing and deliverance of the good; and from the signification of devouring the spoil, as being to appropriate to Himself those whom He has rescued and delivered. (That devouring denotes to appropriate and conjoin with oneself, see n. 3168, 3513, 3596, 5643; that the spoil denotes those who have been rescued and delivered, is manifest.) That seizing, rapine, spoil, and prey are also spoken of the Lord in the Word because of His rescuing and delivering the good, is evident from what was said above (verse 9) about Judah: Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up, by which is signified that from the Lord through what is celestial is deliverance from hell (n. 6368). Also from other passages in the Word, as in Isaiah:

The roaring of Jehovah is like that of a lion, He roareth like young lions, and growleth, and layeth hold of the prey, so that there is none rescuing (Isa. 5:29).

Again:

As a lion roareth, and the young lion over his rapine, so shall Jehovah come down to fight upon the mountain of Zion (Isa. 31:4).

In Jeremiah:

I will rescue thee in that day, rescuing I will rescue thee; but thy soul is to thee for a spoil, because thou hast trusted in Me (Jer. 39:17, 18).

In Zephaniah:

Wait ye for Me, saith Jehovah, even unto the day that I rise up unto the prey (Zeph. 3:8).

And in Isaiah:

I will divide to Him among many, that He may divide the spoil with the strong ones (Isa. 53:12);

where the Lord is spoken of in the whole chapter.

[2] That to devour the rapine or spoil is to appropriate goods which have been seized by evils, is evident from the prophetic utterance of Balaam, in Moses:

Behold, the people shall rise up as an old lion, and as a young lion shall he lift himself up; he shall not rest until he eat of the spoil (Num. 23:24).

From all this it is evident that rapine, spoil, and prey, denote the rescuing and deliverance of the good by the Lord. This is predicated of the truth represented by Benjamin, because to truth is attributed power (n. 3091, 4931), but that which it has from good (n. 6344, 6423).

6443. And at even he shall divide the prey. That this signifies their possession in the Lord's kingdom when as yet they are in obscurity, is evident from the signification of evening, as being what is obscure (see n. 3056, 3833); and from the signification of dividing the prey, as being to give a possession in the heavenly kingdom; for by prey are signified those who have been rescued and delivered by the Lord; hence by dividing the prey is signified distribution, namely, among those who are in heaven, which is the same as their having a possession in the Lord's kingdom. This is said to be done in the evening, because they who are being elevated into heaven are at first in obscurity; for they cannot come to clearness until they have been in heaven, and have been instructed with respect to truths by the Lord through the angels, into whose society they are sent; for there is need of time in order that the obscurity induced by falsities may be dissipated.

6444. These are the things signified by Benjamin; but without the internal sense, who can say what the things which are said of him involve, as that he is a wolf, that he shall seize in the morning, that he shall devour the spoil, and at evening shall divide the prey? These things would be altogether hidden unless revealed by the internal sense. Of this kind are very many things in the prophets, of which if viewed from the letter few are understood; but if viewed from the internal sense all are understood. From all this it may now be seen that by the sons of Jacob, and by the tribes named from them, are signified such things as are of the Lord's church and kingdom.

6445. Verse 28. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel; and this is what their father spake to them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, signifies all truths and goods in the complex; and this is what their father spake to them, signifies communication through influx from spiritual good; and blessed them, every one according to his blessing he blessed them, signifies predictions as to the spiritual life, of what would happen to each one in such a state.

6446. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. That this signifies all truths and goods in the complex, is evident from the signification of the twelve tribes of Israel, as being all truths and goods in the complex (see n. 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060, 6335, 6397). That these are signified by the tribes, is plain not only from what has been said about the tribes in the places cited, but also from what has been said about them in this chapter.

6447. And this is what their father spake to them. That this signifies communication through influx from spiritual good, is evident from the signification of speaking, as being to inflow (see n. 2951, 5481, 5743, 5797), here communication through influx; and from the representation of Israel, who is here their father, as being spiritual good (n. 4598, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833).

6448. And blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. That this signifies predictions as to the spiritual life, of what would happen to each one in such a state, is evident from the signification of blessing, as being prediction (see n. 6230, 6254); and from the signification of every one according to his blessing he blessed them, as being what would happen to each one. That it is as to the spiritual life of each one in such a state, is plain from all that has been said in this chapter of the sons of Israel or the tribes named from them; for by them are described all states of the church as to goods and truths, thus as to the spiritual life of everyone within the church.

6449. Verses 29-33. And he commanded them, and said unto them, I am being gathered unto my people; bury me unto my fathers unto the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite; in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is upon the faces of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a sepulcher. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah: the purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein, was from the sons of Heth. And Jacob finished commanding his sons, and he gathered up his feet unto the bed, and expired, and was gathered unto his peoples. And he commanded them, and said unto them, signifies insinuation; I am being gathered unto my people, signifies that he would be in the goods and truths of the natural which are from him; bury me unto my fathers, signifies that therein also are interior things and what is inmost; unto the cave, signifies where is obscurity; that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, signifies which nevertheless can become clear; in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, signifies in this obscurity; which is upon the faces of Mamre, signifies the quantity and quality thereof; in the land of Canaan,...

Arcana Coelestia 981.. that celestial men do not speak of grace, but of mercy, while spiritual men do not speak of mercy, but of grace. This mode of speaking is grounded in the circumstance that those who are celestial acknowledge the human race to be nothing but filthiness, and as being in itself excrementitious and infernal; wherefore they implore the mercy of the Lord, for mercy is predicated of such a condition. Those, however, who are spiritual, although they know the human race to be of such a nature, yet they do not acknowledge it, because they remain in their Own, which they love, and therefore they speak with difficulty of mercy, but easily of grace. This difference in language results from the difference in the humiliation. In proportion as anyone loves himself, and thinks that he can do good of himself, and thus merit salvation, the less capable is he of imploring the Lord’s mercy. The reason why some can implore grace is that it has become a customary form of speaking, in which there is but little of the Lord and much of self, as anyone may discover in himself while he names the grace of the Lord.

2715. There are two arcana here, one, that the good of the spiritual man is comparatively obscure; and the other, that this obscurity is illuminated by the Lord’s Divine Human. As regards the first, that good with the spiritual man is comparatively obscure, this is evident from what was said above concerning the state of the spiritual man in comparison with the state of the celestial man (n. 2708); for by comparing these states the fact becomes manifest. With the celestial, good itself is implanted in their will part, and light comes therefrom into their intellectual part; but with the spiritual all the will part has been destroyed, so that they have nothing of good from it; and therefore good is implanted by the Lord in their intellectual part (see n. 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2124, 2256). The will part is what chiefly lives in man, while the intellectual lives from it. As therefore the will part has been so destroyed with the spiritual man as to be nothing but evil, and yet evil flows in from it perpetually and continually into his intellectual part, that is, into his thought, it is evident that the good there is comparatively obscured.

[2] Hence it is that the spiritual have not love to the Lord, as have the celestial, and consequently they have not the humiliation which is essential in all worship, and by means of which good can flow in from the Lord; for an elated heart does not receive at all, but a humble heart. Neither have the spiritual love toward the neighbor, as the celestial have for the love of self and the world continually flows in from their will part, and obscures the good of that love; as must also be evident to everyone if he reflects, by considering that when he does good to anyone it is for the sake of an end in the world; and that therefore, although he is not doing so consciously, still he is thinking of a recompense, either from those to whom he does good, or from the Lord in the other life; thus that his good is defiled by the idea of merit, as also by considering that when he has done any good, if he can make it known and thus set himself above others, he is in the delight of his life. But the celestial love the neighbor more than themselves; nor do they think at all of recompense, nor in any manner set themselves up above others.

[3] Moreover, the good that is with the spiritual has been obscured by persuasions from various principles arising also from the love of self and of the world. The quality of their persuasion even of faith may be seen above (n. 2682, 2689 the end); this likewise is from the influx of evil from their will part.

[4] Moreover that the good with the spiritual man is obscure in comparison, is evident from the fact that he does not know what is true from any perception, as the celestial do, but from instruction from parents and masters, and also from the doctrine into which he was born; and when he superadds anything from himself and from his thought, then for the most part the sensuous and its fallacies, and the rational and its appearances, prevail, and cause him to be scarcely able to acknowledge any pure truth, such as the celestial acknowledge. Nevertheless in those seeming truths the Lord implants good, even if the truths are fallacious, or appearances of truth; but the good becomes obscure from them, being qualified by the truths with which it is conjoined. The case with this is as with the light of the sun flowing into objects. The quality of the objects which receive it causes the light to appear there under the aspect of color, beautiful if the quality of the form and of the reception is becoming and correspondent, but unbeautiful if the quality of the form and of the reception is not becoming, and thus not correspondent. In this manner the good itself is qualified according to the truth.

[5] The same is also manifest from the fact that the spiritual man does not know what evil is. He scarcely believes any other things to be evil than those which are contrary to the precepts of the Decalogue, and is not aware of the evils of affection and thought, which are innumerable; nor does he reflect upon them, nor call them evils. All delights whatever of cupidities and pleasures he regards no otherwise than as good; and the very delights of the love of self he both seeks after, and approves, and excuses, being ignorant that such things affect his spirit, and that he becomes altogether such in the other life.

[6] From this it is in like manner evident that though scarcely anything else is treated of in the whole Word than the good of love to the Lord and of love toward the neighbor, still the spiritual man does not know that good is the essential of faith, nor even what love and charity are in their essence; and that as to what he has learned of faith, which he makes essential, he nevertheless discusses whether it be so, unless he has been confirmed by much experience of life. This the celestial never do, for they know and perceive that it is so. Hence it is said by the Lord in Matthew:

Let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay; what is more than these is of evil (Matthew 5:37).

For the celestial are in the truth itself respecting which the spiritual dispute whether it be so; hence, as the celestial are in the truth itself, they can see from it endless things which belong to that truth, and thus from light see as it were the whole heaven. But as the spiritual dispute whether it be so, they cannot, so long as they do this, come to the first boundary of the light of the celestial, still less look at anything from their light.

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.

A short guided meditation to support the work of conscious practice.

Psalm 1:  Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree, Planted by the rivers of water,  That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Listen HERE for further exploration on Psalm 1 - Keys To Finding Happiness (Scripture Expounded as Process)

Arcana Coelestia 6359. And their wrath for it was hard. That this signifies a turning away from the derivative truth, that it was confirmed, is evident from the signification of “wrath,” as being a turning away from truth (that “wrath” is predicated of truth, and “anger” of good, may be seen above, n. 3614); and from the signification of “hard,” as being what is confirmed, for the falsity which has been confirmed even to persuasion, is hard. That it is hard has been given to know from experience, for among spirits and among the angels truth from good appears and is presented to view as soft, but falsity from evil as hard, and this in proportion as the falsity from evil is more confirmed. When persuasion has been brought about by means of confirmation from many things, this hardness appears there like the hardness of bone. Such hardness is also like the hardness in this world, in that it reflects the rays of light. Thus when the light of heaven from the Lord falls upon the hardness produced by falsity from evil, it is reflected; but on the other hand, when the light of heaven from the Lord falls upon the softness produced by truth from good, it is received.

 

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.

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470. MAN AFTER DEATH IS SUCH AS HIS LIFE HAD BEEN IN THE WORLD.

Every Christian knows from the Word that one's own life awaits him after death; for it is there said in many passages that man will be judged and rewarded according to his deeds and works; and no one who thinks from good and from real truth can help seeing that he who lives well goes to heaven and that he who lives wickedly goes to hell. But the evil man is unwilling to believe that his state after death is according to his life in the world; he thinks, especially when he is sick, that heaven is granted to everyone out of pure mercy, whatever his life may have been, and that this is done in accordance with his faith, which he separates from life.

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471. That man will be judged and rewarded according to his deeds and works is declared in many passages in the Word, some of which I will here quote:

The Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels and then He will render unto everyone according to his works (Matthew 16 verse 27).

Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow them (Revelation 14 verse 13).

I will give to everyone according to his works (Revelation  2 verse 23).

I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God; and the books were opened and the dead were judged out of the things that were written in the books according to their works. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up those that were in them, and they were judged everyone according to their works (Revelation  20 verses 12, 13).

Behold I come, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his works (Revelation  22 verse 12).

Everyone that heareth My words and doeth them I will liken to a prudent man; but everyone that heareth My words and doeth them not is likened to a foolish man (Matthew 7 verses 24, 26).

Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens; but he that doeth the will of My Father who is in the heavens. Many will say unto Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and through Thy name cast out demons, and in Thy name done many mighty works? But then will I confess to them, I know you not: depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity (Matthew 7 verses 21 to 23).

Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk before Thee; Thou hast taught in our streets. But He will say, I tell you I know you not, ye workers of iniquity (Luke 13 verses 25 to 27).

I will recompense them according to their work and according to the doing of their hands (Jeremiah 25 verse 14).

Jehovah, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of men, to give to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his works (Jeremiah 32 verse 19).

I will visit upon his ways and recompense to him his works (Hosea 4 verse 9).

Jehovah doeth with us according to our ways and according to our works (Zechariah 1 verse 6).

In foretelling the last judgment the Lord recounts nothing but works, teaching that those that have done good works will enter into eternal life, and those that have done evil works will enter into damnation, as in Matthew (25 verses 32 to 46), and in many other passages that treat of the salvation and condemnation of man. It is clear that works and deeds constitute the outward life of man, and that the quality of his inward life is made evident in them.

472. But by deeds and works, what they are inwardly is here meant, and not the way they outwardly appear; for everyone knows that every deed and work goes forth from the man's will and thought; otherwise it would be nothing but a movement like that of an automaton or image. Consequently, a deed or work viewed in itself is merely an effect that derives its soul and life from will and thought, even to the extent that it is nothing but will and thought in effect, and thus is will and thought in outward form. From this it follows that a deed or work is in quality such as are the will and thought that produce it. If the thought and will are good the deeds and works are good; but if the thought and will are evil the deeds and works are evil, although in outward form they appear alike. A thousand men may act alike, that is, may do like deeds, so alike in outward form as to be almost undistinguishable, and yet each one regarded in itself be different, because from an unlike will. [2] For example, when one acts honestly and justly with a companion, one person may do it for the purpose of appearing to be honest and just out of regard to himself and his own honor; another out of regard to the world and gain; a third out of regard to reward and merit; a fourth out of regard to friendship; a fifth from fear of the law and the loss of reputation or employment; a sixth that he may draw some one to his own side, even when he is in the wrong; a seventh that he may deceive; and others from other motives. In all these instances although the deeds are good in appearance, since it is a good thing to act honestly and justly with a companion, they are nevertheless evil, because they are done, not out of regard to honesty and justice and for the love of these, but out of regard to love of self and the world which are loved; and honesty and justice are made to serve that love as servants serve a lord, whom the lord despises and dismisses when they fail to serve him. [3] In outward form those act in a like way who act honestly and justly with a companion because they love what is honest and just. Some of these act from the truth of faith or from obedience, because the Word so commands; some from the good of faith or from conscience, because from a religious motive; some from good of charity towards the neighbor because his good should be regarded; some from the good of love to the Lord because good should be done for the sake of good, as also what is honest and just should be done for the sake of honesty and justice; and this they love because it is from the Lord, and because the Divine that goes forth from the Lord is in it, and consequently regarded in its very essence it is Divine. The deeds or works of such are inwardly good, and therefore are outwardly good also; for, as has been said above, deeds or works are precisely such in quality as the thought and will from which they proceed, and apart from thought and will they are not deeds and works, but only inanimate movements. All this explains what is meant in the Word by works and deeds.

473. As deeds and works are from the will and thought, so are they from the love and faith, consequently they are such as the love and faith are; for it is the same thing whether you say one's love or his will, and it is the same thing whether you say one's faith or his established thought; for that which a man loves he wills, and that which a man believes he thinks; and when a man loves what he believes he also wills it and as far as possible does it. Everyone may know that love and faith are within man's will and thought, and not outside of them, for love is what kindles the will, and the thought is what it enlightens in matters of faith; therefore only those that are able to think wisely are enlightened, and in the measure of their enlightenment they think what is true and will it, or what is the same, they believe what is true and love it.[1]

[1] As all things that exist according to order in the universe have relation to good and truth, so in man all things have relation to will and understanding (see numbers 803, 10122).

For the reason that the will is a recipient of good and the understanding a recipient of truth (see numbers 3332, 3623, 5232, 6065, 6125, 7503, 9300, 9995).

It amounts to the same whether you say truth or faith, for faith belongs to truth and truth belongs to faith; and it amounts to the same whether you say good or love for love belongs to good and good belongs to love (see numbers 4353, 4997, 7179, 10122, 10367).

From this it follows that the understanding is a recipient of faith, and the will a recipient of love (see numbers 7179, 10122, 10367).

And since the understanding of man is capable of receiving faith in God and the will is capable of receiving love to God, man is capable of being conjoined with God in faith and love, and he that is capable of being conjoined with God in love and faith can never die (see numbers 4525, 6323, 9231).

474. But it must be understood that it is the will that makes the man, while thought makes the man only so far as it goes forth from the will; and deeds and works go forth from both; or what is the same, it is love that makes the man, and faith only so far as it goes forth from love; and deeds or works go forth from both. Consequently, the will or love is the man himself, for whatever goes forth belongs to that from which it goes forth. To go forth is to be brought forth and presented in suitable form for being perceived and seen.[1] All this makes clear what faith is when separated from love, namely, that it is no faith, but mere knowledge, which has no spiritual life in it; likewise what a deed or work is apart from love, namely, that it is not a deed or work of life, but a deed or work of death, which possesses an appearance of life from an evil love and a belief in what is false. This appearance of life is what is called spiritual death.

[1] The will of man is the very being [esse] of his life, because it is the receptacle of love or good, and the understanding is the outgo [existere] of life therefrom, because it is the receptacle of faith or truth (see numbers 3619, 5002, 9282).

Thus the life of the will is the chief life of man, and the life of the understanding proceeds therefrom (see numbers 585, 590, 3619, 7342, 8885, 9282, 10076, 10109, 10110).

In the same way as light proceeds from fire or flame (see numbers 6032, 6314).

...

The pain and anxiety comes from spirits

Arcana Coelestia 6368... man of himself is in hell, for his will and thought from his own is nothing but evil and its falsity, by which he has been so bound to hell that he cannot be torn away without violence. This tearing away and deliverance is what is called the “prey;” and because this is done from the Lord’s Divine good, it is said that from the Lord through what is celestial is the deliverance of many from hell.

4496... when a man is being purified from these loves, as is the case when he is being regenerated, he is in pain and anxiety, and it is the cupidities then being removed which are in pain and anguish.

AC4249... when good is taking the prior place and is subordinating truths to itself, which takes place when the man is undergoing spiritual temptations, the good that then flows in from within is attended with very many truths which have been stored up in his interior man. These cannot come to his mental view and apprehension until good acts the first part, for then the natural begins to be enlightened by good, whence it becomes apparent what things in it are in accord, and what are discordant, from which come the fear and distress that precede spiritual temptation. For spiritual temptation acts upon the conscience, which is of the interior man; and therefore when he enters into this temptation the man does not know whence come such fear and distress, although the angels with him know this well; for the temptation comes from the angels holding the man in goods and truths while evil spirits are holding him in evils and falsities.

[2] For the things that come forth with the spirits and angels who are with a man are perceived by the man exactly as if they were in him; for while a man is living in the body, and does not believe that all things flow in, he supposes that the things which come forth interiorly are not produced by causes outside of him, but that all the causes are within him, and are his very own; yet such is not the case. For whatever a man thinks and whatever he wills (that is, his every thought and his every affection) are either from hell or from heaven. When he thinks and wills evils, and is delighted with the consequent falsities, he may know that his thoughts and affections are from hell; and while he is thinking and willing goods, and is delighted with the derivative truths, he may know that they are from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord. But the thoughts and affections that appertain to a man appear for the most part under another aspect; as for example, the combat of evil spirits with angels that arises from the things which appertain to a man who is to be regenerated, appears under the aspect of fear and distress, and of temptation.

[3] These statements cannot but appear to man as paradoxes, because almost every man of the church at this day believes that all the truth which he thinks, and the good which he wills and does, are from himself, although he says otherwise when he speaks from the doctrine of faith. Nay, of such a nature is man that if anyone should say to him that there are evil spirits from hell who are flowing into his thought and will when he thinks and wills evils, and angels from heaven when he thinks and wills goods, he would stand amazed that anyone should maintain such a thing; for he would say that he feels life in himself, and thinks from himself and wills from himself. From this feeling in himself he forms his belief, and not from his doctrine; when yet the doctrine is true, but the feeling fallacious. It has been given me to know this from an almost continual experience of many years, and so to know it that no doubt whatever remains.

HH99. I have also been permitted to learn the source of human anxiety, grief of mind, and interior sadness, which is called melancholy. There are spirits not as yet in conjunction with hell, because they are in their first state; these will be described hereafter when treating of the world of spirits. Such spirits love things undigested and pernicious, such as pertain to food becoming foul in the stomach; consequently they are present with man in such things because they find delight in them; and they talk there with one another from their own evil affection. The affection that is in their speech flows in from this source into man; and when this affection is the opposite of man's affection there arises in him sadness and melancholy anxiety; but when it agrees with it it becomes in him gladness and cheerfulness. These spirits appear near to the stomach, some to the left and some to the right of it, and some beneath and some above, also nearer and more remote, thus variously in accordance with their affections. That this is the source of anxiety of mind has been shown and proved to me by much experience. I have seen these spirits, I have heard them, I have felt the anxieties arising from them, and I have talked with them; when they have been driven away the anxiety ceased; when they returned the anxiety returned; and I have noted the increase and decrease of it according to their approach and removal. From this it has been made clear to me why some who do not know what conscience is, because they have no conscience, ascribe its pangs to the stomach.

 

The equilibrium between heaven and hell

Heaven and Hell 592. Unless the Lord ruled both the heavens and the hells there would be no equilibrium; and if there were no equilibrium there would be no heaven or hell; for all things and each thing in the universe, that is, both in the natural world and in the spiritual world, endure by means of equilibrium. Every rational man can see that this is true. If there were a preponderance on one part and no resistance on the other would not both perish? So would it be in the spiritual world if good did not react against evil and continually restrain its uprising; and unless this were done by the Divine Itself both heaven and hell would perish, and with them the whole human race. It is said unless the Divine Itself did this, because the self of everyone, whether angel, spirit, or man, is nothing but evil (see above, 591); consequently neither angels nor spirits are able in the least to resist the evils continually exhaling from the hells, since from self they all tend towards hell. It is evident, then, that unless the Lord alone ruled both the heavens and the hells no one could ever be saved. Moreover, all the hells act as one; for evils in the hells are connected as goods are in the heavens; and the Divine alone, which goes forth solely from the Lord, is able to resist all the hells, which are innumerable, and which act together against heaven and against all who are in heaven.

593. The equilibrium between the heavens and the hells is diminished or increased in accordance with the number of those who enter heaven and who enter hell; and this amounts to several thousands daily. The Lord alone, and no angel, can know and perceive this, and regulate and equalize it with precision; for the Divine that goes forth from the Lord is omnipresent, and sees everywhere whether there is any wavering, while an angel sees only what is near himself, and has no perception in himself of what is taking place even in his own society.

594.How all things are so arranged in the heavens and in the hells that each and all of those who are there may be in their equilibrium, can be in some measure confirmed from the things said and shown above respecting the heavens and the hells, namely, that all the societies of heaven are most distinctly arranged in accordance with goods and their kinds and varieties, and all the societies of hell in accordance with evils, and their kinds and varieties; and that beneath each society of heaven there is a society of hell corresponding to it from opposition, and from this opposing correspondence equilibrium results; and in consequence of this the Lord unceasingly provides that no infernal society beneath a heavenly society shall gain any preponderance, and as soon as it begins to do so it is restrained by various means, and is reduced to an exact measure of equilibrium. These means are many, only a few of which are to be noted. Some of these means have reference to the stronger presence of the Lord; some to the closer communication and conjunction of one or more societies with others; some to the casting out of superabundant infernal spirits into deserts; some to the transference of certain spirits from one hell to another; some to the reducing of those in the hells to order, and this also is effected in various ways; some to the screening of certain hells under denser and thicker coverings, also letting them down to greater depths; besides other means; and still others that are employed in the heavens above the hells. These things have been said that it may in some measure be perceived that the Lord alone provides that there is an equilibrium everywhere between good and evil, thus between heaven and hell; for on such equilibrium the safety of all in the heavens and of all in the earths rests.

 

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.