Spiritual background for EXODUS 10    previous  -  next  -  text  -  Exodus  -  BM Home  -  Full Page

THE DOCTRINE OF CHARITY

AC 7623. 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.

AC 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.

AC 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.

AC 7626. From all this an idea can also he 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.

AC 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.

CONTINUATION ABOUT THE INHABITANTS AND SPIRITS OF THE EARTH MARS

AC 7742. At the end of the preceding chapter an account was given of a beautiful bird, which was seen, and was at last turned into stone; and it was said that by that bird was represented the state of the inhabitants of Mars in respect to their celestial and spiritual love; in regard to which state and its change, it has been given to know what follows.

AC 7743. That the inhabitants of Mars are in celestial love, has been already told. They are represented by an appearance of flame, glittering beautifully with variegations of color, and also by a bird of similar coloring. That some at this day are beginning to withdraw from this celestial love, and solely to love knowledges, and to make celestial life consist in these alone, was represented by that bird changed into stone; for by a bird is signified spiritual life; and by its being turned into stone is signified the life of knowledges without love, which is no longer spiritual life, but a life cold as stone, into which nothing from heaven flows. And their still believing that they are in the Lord, like those who are in the life of celestial love there, was signified and shown by the spirit who rose up and wished to take away the bird.

AC 7743a. By the bird of stone were also represented inhabitants of that earth who change the life of their thoughts and affections by a strange method into almost no life; as to which I have seen and heard what now follows.

AC 7744. There was a certain one above my head, who spoke to me, and from the tone of his voice it was noticed that he was as in a state of sleep. Speaking in this state he asked several questions, and so discreetly, that he could not have asked them more discreetly if he had been awake. It was given to perceive that he was a subject through whom angels were speaking; and in that state he discerned what they spoke, and uttered it; for he spoke nothing but what was true. If anything flowed in from another source, he indeed admitted it, but did not utter it. I questioned him concerning his state. He said that this state was to him a peaceful one, and that it was free from all anxiety as to the future; and that at the same time he was performing uses, whereby he had communication with heaven. I was told that such in the Grand Man have relation to the longitudinal sinus, which lies in the cerebrum between its two hemispheres, and is there in a quiet state, however much the brain is disturbed on both sides.

AC 7745. During my conversation with this spirit, some spirits betook themselves toward the front part of the head, where he was, and pressed upon him; whereupon he retired to one side and gave them place. The stranger spirits talked among themselves, but neither the spirits about me, nor I, understood what they said. I was instructed by angels that they were spirits from the earth Mars, who know how to talk together in such a way that the spirits present would neither understand nor perceive what they said. I wondered that such speech is possible, seeing that all spirits have one speech; and all speech flows from thought, and this consists of ideas, which in the spiritual world are in the place of words: and the ideas which are words, together with the thought itself before it becomes speaking thought, are plainly perceived in the other life. I was told that by a certain method by means of the lips and the face these spirits form ideas not intelligible to others; and that at the moment when they are speaking with one another by this means, they artfully withdraw their thoughts from others; taking especial care that nothing of affection shall manifest itself; for if anything of affection is perceived, the thought would then be open, because the thought flows from the affection. I was further instructed that those inhabitants of the earth Mars who make celestial life to consist in knowledges alone, and not in the life of love, have contrived such speech; yet not all of them; and that when these become spirits they retain it. These are they who were especially signified by the bird of stone; for to form speech by modifications of the countenance and foldings of the lips together with a removal of the affections and a withdrawal of the thoughts from others, is to deprive speech of its soul, and to make it like an image, and gradually also to make themselves so.

AC 7746. But although they suppose that their speech is not understood by others, angelic spirits nevertheless perceive everything that they say; because no thought can be withheld from angelic spirits, as was also shown them by living experience. I was thinking of the fact that the spirits of our earth are not affected with shame when they infest others, and this thought flowed in with me from angelic spirits. The spirits of Mars then acknowledged that this was what they were talking about among themselves, and they were astonished. Many other things also which they both spoke and thought were disclosed by an angelic spirit, no matter how diligently they endeavored to withhold their thoughts from him.

AC 7747. Afterward the spirits of Mars inflowed from above into my face. The influx felt like a light rain falling in streaks, which was a sign that they were not in the affection of truth and good, for this is represented by what is streaked. They then spoke plainly with me, saying that the inhabitants of their earth so speak with one another. They were then told that this is evil, because in this way they obstruct internal things, and recede from them to external ones, which they also deprive of their life; and especially because it is not sincere to speak so, for they who are sincere do not wish to speak or even think anything which others may not know, yea, all others, and even the whole heaven; whereas they who are not willing that others should know what they speak, pass judgment on others, think ill of them and well of themselves, and at last contract such a habit that they think and speak ill even of the church, of heaven, nay, of the Lord Himself.

AC 7748. It was said that those who love knowledges alone, and not a life according to knowledges, relate to the interior membrane of the skull; but that those who accustom themselves to speak without affection, and to draw the thought to themselves, and to withdraw it from others, relate to the same membrane, but when it has become bony; because from having some spiritual life they come to have none.

AC 7749. Those who love knowledges alone, and not a life according to them, for the most part pride themselves on them, and seem to themselves to be wiser than others. Thus they love themselves and despise others, especially those who are in good, whom they regard as simple and unlearned. But the lot is inverted in the other life, where those who have seemed to themselves wise become foolish, and those who seemed simple are wise.

AC 7750. As by a bird of stone were represented those who are in knowledges alone, and not in a life of love, and who consequently have scarcely any spiritual life, therefore here, by way of appendix, I may show that those only have spiritual life who are in heavenly love, and from this in knowledges; and that every love contains within it all power to know what belongs to that love. Take for example the animals of the earth, and also the animals or birds of heaven. These have the knowledge of all things of their love. Their loves are to feed themselves, to dwell safely, to propagate offspring, to rear their young; and they have all the requisite knowledge for these purposes; for this is in these loves, and flows into these creatures as into its own receptacles. This knowledge is in some cases so extraordinary that man cannot but be amazed at it. It is said to be inborn, and is called instinct; but it is of the love in which they are.

[2] If man were in his own love, which is love to God and toward the neighbor, this being man’s proper love by which he is distinguished from the beasts, he would then be not only in all requisite knowledge, but also in all intelligence and wisdom; neither would he have occasion to learn them,--for they would flow in from heaven into these loves, that is, through heaven from the Divine. But as man is not in these, but in contrary loves, namely, in the love of self and the love of the world, therefore he must needs be born into all ignorance and lack of skill; yet by Divine means he is brought to something of intelligence and wisdom, but still not actually into anything unless he removes the loves of self and of the world, and thus opens the way for love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor.

[3] That love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor have within them all intelligence and wisdom, can be seen from those who in the world have been in these loves, for when in the other life they come into heaven, they there know and are wise in such things as before they had never known; nay, they think and speak there as do the rest of the angels such things as the ear has never heard, nor the mind known, which are unutterable. The reason is that these loves have in them the capacity to receive such things.

AC 7751. At the end of the following chapter some account shall be given of the spirits and inhabitants of the planet Jupiter.

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