Chapter 23

423. That love purified by the wisdom in the understanding becomes spiritual and celestial cannot be seen so clearly by their correspondence with the heart and lungs, because no one can see the quality of the blood by which the lungs are kept in their state of respiration. The blood may abound in impurities, and yet not be distinguishable from pure blood. Moreover, the respiration of a merely natural man appears the same as the respiration of a spiritual man. But the difference is clearly discerned in heaven, for there every one respires according to the marriage of love and wisdom; therefore as angels are recognized according to that marriage, so are they recognized according to their respiration. For this reason it is that when one who is not in that marriage enters heaven, he is seized with anguish in the breast, and struggles for breath like a man in the agonies of death; such persons, therefore throw themselves headlong from the place, nor do they find rest until they are among those who are in a respiration similar to their own; for then by correspondence they are in similar affection, and therefore in similar thought. From all this it can be seen that with the spiritual man it is the purer blood, called by some the animal spirit, which is purified; and that it is purified so far as the man is in the marriage of love and wisdom. It is this purer blood which corresponds most nearly to that marriage; and because this blood inflows into the blood of the body, it follows that the latter blood is also purified by means of it. The reverse is true of those in whom love is defiled in the understanding. But, as was said, no one can test this by any experiment on the blood; but he can by observing the affections of love, since these correspond to the blood.

424. (19) Love, when defiled in the understanding and by it, becomes natural, sensual, and corporeal. Natural love separated from spiritual love is the opposite of spiritual love; because natural love is love of self and of the world, and spiritual love is love to the Lord and love to the neighbor; and love of self and the world looks downward and outward, and love to the Lord looks upward and inward. Consequently when natural love is separated from spiritual love it cannot be elevated above what is man's own, but remains immersed in it, and so far as it loves it, is glued to it. Then if the understanding ascends, and sees by the light of heaven such things as are of wisdom, this natural love draws down such wisdom, and joins her to itself in what is its own; and there either rejects the things of wisdom or falsifies them or encircles itself with them, that it may talk about them for reputation's sake. As natural love can ascend by degrees and become spiritual and celestial, in the same way it can descend by degrees and become sensual and corporeal, and it does descend so far as it loves dominion from no love of use, but solely from love of self. It is this love which is called the devil. Those who are in this love are able to speak and act in the same manner as those who are in spiritual love; but they do this either from memory or from the understanding elevated by itself into the light of heaven. Nevertheless, what they say and do is comparatively like fruit that appears beautiful on the surface but is wholly rotten within; or like almonds which from the shell appear sound but are wholly worm-eaten within. These things in the spiritual world are called fantasies, and by means of them harlots, there called sirens, make themselves appear handsome, and adorn themselves with beautiful garments; but when the fantasy is dissipated the sirens appear like ghosts, and are like devils who make themselves angels of light. For when that corporeal love draws its understanding down from its elevation, as it does when man is alone and thinks from his own love, then he thinks against God in favor of nature, against heaven in favor of the world, and against the truths and goods of the church in favor of the falsities and evils of hell; thus against wisdom. From this the character of those who are called corporeal men can be seen: for they are not corporeal in understanding, but corporeal in love; that is, they are not corporeal in understanding when they converse in company, but are so when they hold converse with themselves in spirit; and being such in spirit, therefore after death they become, both in love and in understanding, spirits that are called corporeal. Those who in the world had been in a supreme love of ruling from the love of self, and had also surpassed others in elevation of understanding, then appear in body like Egyptian mummies, and in mind gross and silly. Who in the world at the present day is aware that this love in itself is of such a nature? Yet a love of ruling from love of use is possible, but only from love of use for the sake of the common good, not for the sake of self. It is difficult, however, for man to distinguish the one love from the other, although the difference between them is like that between heaven and hell. The differences between these two loves of ruling may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 551-565).

425. (20) The capacity to understand called rationality and the capacity to act called freedom, still remain. These two capacities belonging to man have been treated of above (n. 264-267). Man has these two capacities that he may from being natural become spiritual, that is, may be regenerated. For, as was said above, it is man's love that becomes spiritual, and is regenerated; and it cannot become spiritual or be regenerated unless it knows, by means of its understanding, what evil is and what good is, and therefore what truth is and what falsity is. When it knows this it can choose either one or the other; and if it chooses good it can, by means of its understanding, be instructed about the means by which to attain to good. All the means by which man is enabled to attain good are provided. It is by rationality that man is able to know and understand these means, and by freedom that he is able to will and to do them. There is also a freedom to will to know, to understand, and to think these means. Those who hold from church doctrine that things spiritual or theological transcend the understanding, and are therefore to be believed apart from the understanding know nothing of these capacities called rationality and freedom. These cannot do otherwise than deny that there is a capacity called rationality. Those, too, who hold from church doctrine that no one is able to do good from himself, and consequently that good is not to be done from any will to be saved, cannot do otherwise than deny, from a principle of religion, the existence of both these capacities which belong to man. Therefore, those who have confirmed themselves in these things, after death, in agreement with their faith, are deprived of both these capacities; and in place of heavenly freedom, in which they might have been, are in infernal freedom, and in place of angelic wisdom from rationality, in which they might have been, are in infernal insanity; and what is wonderful, they claim that both these capacities have place in doing what is evil and thinking what is false, not knowing that the exercise of freedom in doing what is evil is slavery, and that the exercise of the reason to think what is false is irrational. But it is to be carefully noted that these capacities, freedom and rationality, are neither of them man's, but are of the Lord in man, and that they cannot be appropriated to man as his; nor indeed, can they be given to man as his, but are continually of the Lord in man, and yet are never taken away from man; and this because without them man cannot be saved, for without them he cannot be regenerated (as has been said above). For this reason man is instructed by the church that from himself he can neither think what is true nor do what is good. But inasmuch as man perceives no otherwise than that he thinks from himself what is true and does from himself what is good, it is very evident that he ought to believe that he thinks as if from himself what is true, and does as if from himself what is good. For if he does not believe this, either he does not think what is true nor do what is good, and therefore has no religion, or he thinks what is true and does what is good from himself, and thus ascribes to himself that which is Divine. That man ought to think what is true and do good as if from himself, may be seen in the Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, from beginning to end.

426. (21) Spiritual and celestial love is love toward the neighbor and love to the Lord; and natural and sensual love is love of the world and love of self. By love toward the neighbor is meant the love of uses, and by love to the Lord is meant the love of doing uses (as has been shown before). These loves are spiritual and celestial, because loving uses and doing them from a love of them, is distinct from the love of what is man's own; for whoever loves uses spiritually looks not to self, but to others outside of self for whose good he is moved. Opposed to these loves are the loves of self and of the world, for these look to uses not for the sake of others but for the sake of self; and those who do this invert Divine order, and put self in the Lord's place, and the world in the place of heaven; as a consequence they look backward, away from the Lord and away from heaven, and looking backward away from these is looking to hell. (More about these loves may be seen above, n. 424.) Yet man does not feel and perceive the love of performing uses for the sake of uses as he feels and perceives the love of performing uses for the sake of self; consequently when he is performing uses he does not know whether he is doing them for the sake of uses or for the sake of self. But let him know that he is performing uses for the sake of uses in the measure in which he flees from evils; for so far as he flees from evils, he performs uses not for himself, but from the Lord. For evil and good are opposites; so far as one is not in evil he is in good. No one can be in evil and in good at the same time, because no one can serve two masters at the same time. All this has been said to show that although man does not sensibly perceive whether the uses which he performs are for the sake of use or for the sake of self, that is, whether the uses are spiritual or merely natural, still he can know it by this, whether or not he considers evils to be sins. If he regards them as sins, and for that reason abstains from doing them, the uses which he does are spiritual. And when one who does this flees from sins from a feeling of aversion, he then begins to have a sensible perception of the love of uses for the sake of uses, and this from spiritual enjoyment in them.

427. (22) It is the same with charity and faith and their conjunction as with the will and understanding and their conjunction. There are two loves, according to which the heavens are distinct, celestial love and spiritual love. Celestial love is love to the Lord, and spiritual love is love towards the neighbor. These loves are distinguished by this, that celestial love is the love of good, and spiritual love the love of truth; for those who are in celestial love perform uses from love of good, and those in spiritual love from love of truth. The marriage of celestial love is with wisdom, and the marriage of spiritual love with intelligence; for it is of wisdom to do good from good, and it is of intelligence to do good from truth, consequently celestial love does what is good, and spiritual love does what is true. The difference between these two loves can be defined only in this way, that those who are in celestial love have wisdom inscribed on their life, and not on the memory, for which reason they do not talk about Divine truths, but do them; while those who are in spiritual love have wisdom inscribed on their memory, therefore they talk about Divine truths, and do them from principles in the memory. Because those who are in celestial love have wisdom inscribed on their life, they perceive instantly whether whatever they hear is true or not; and when asked whether it is true, they answer only, It is, or It is not. These are they who are meant by the words of the Lord:

Let your speech be Yea, yea, Nay, nay (Matt. 5:37).

And because they are such, they are unwilling to hear anything about faith, saying, What is faith? is it not wisdom? and what is charity? is it not doing ? And when told that faith is believing what is not understood, they turn away, saying, The man is crazy. These are they who are in the third heaven, and who are the wisest of all. Such have they become who in the world have applied the Divine truths which they have heard immediately to the life by turning away from evils as infernal, and worshiping the Lord alone. These, since they are in innocence, appear to others as infants; and since they never talk about the truths of wisdom and there is nothing of pride in their discourse, they also appear simple. Nevertheless, when they hear any one speaking, they perceive from the tone all things of his love, and from the speech all things of his intelligence. These are they who are in the marriage of love and wisdom from the Lord; and who represent the heart region of heaven, mentioned above.

428. Those, however, who are in spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbor, do not have wisdom inscribed on their life, but intelligence; for it is of wisdom to do good from affection for good, while it is of intelligence to do good from affection for truth (as has been said above). Neither do these know what faith is. When faith is mentioned they understand truth, and when charity is mentioned they understand doing the truth; and when told that they must believe, they call it empty talk, and ask, Who does not believe what is true? This they say because they see truth in the light of their own heaven; therefore, to believe what they do not see they call either simplicity or foolishness. These are they who constitute the lung region of heaven, also mentioned above.

429. But those who are in spiritual-natural love have neither wisdom nor intelligence inscribed on their life, but only something of faith out of the Word, so far as this has been conjoined with charity. Inasmuch as these do not know what charity is, or whether faith be truth, they cannot be among those in the heavens who are in wisdom and intelligence, but among those who are in knowledge only. Yet such of them as have fled from evil as sins are in the outmost heaven, and are in a light there like the light of the moon by night; while those who have not confirmed themselves in a faith in what is unknown, but have cherished a kind of affection for truth are instructed by angels, and according to their reception of truths and a life in agreement therewith, are raised into the societies of those who are in spiritual love and therefore in intelligence. Those become spiritual, the rest becoming spiritual-natural. But those who have lived in faith separate from charity are removed, and sent away into deserts, because they are not in any good, thus not in any marriage of good and truth, in which all are who are in the heavens.

430. All that has been said of love and wisdom in this Part may be said of charity and faith, if by charity spiritual love is understood, and by faith the truth whereby there is intelligence. It is the same whether the terms will and understanding, or love and intelligence be used, since the will is the receptacle of love, and the understanding of intelligence.

431. To this I will add the following notable experience:-In heaven all who perform uses from affection for use, because of the communion in which they live are wiser and happier than others; and with them performing uses is acting sincerely, uprightly, justly, and faithfully in the work proper to the calling of each. This they call charity; and observances pertaining to worship they call signs of charity, and other things they call obligations and favors; saying that when one performs the duties of his calling sincerely, uprightly, justly, and faithfully, the good of the community is maintained and perpetuated, and that this is to "be in the Lord," because all that flows in from the Lord is use, and it flows in from the parts into the community, and flows out from the community to the parts. The parts there are angels, and the community is a society of them.

432. WHAT MAN'S BEGINNING IS FROM CONCEPTION.

What man's beginning or primitive form is in the womb after conception no one can know, because it cannot be seen; moreover, it is made up of spiritual substance, which is not visible by natural light. Now because there are some in the world who are eager to investigate even the primitive form of man, which is seed from the father, from which conception is effected, and because many of these have fallen into the error of thinking that man is in his fullness from his first, which is the rudiment, and is afterwards perfected by growth, it has been disclosed to me what that rudiment or first is in its form. It has been disclosed to me by angels, to whom it was revealed by the Lord; and because they had made it a part of their wisdom, and it is the joy of their wisdom to communicate to others what they know, permission having been granted, they presented before my eyes in the light of heaven a type of man's initial form, which was as follows: There appeared as it were a tiny image of a brain with a delicate delineation of something like a face in front, with no appendage. This primitive form in the upper convex part was a structure of contiguous globules or spherules, and each spherule was a joining together of those more minute, and each of these in like manner of those most minute. It was thus of three degrees. In front, in the flat part, a kind of delineation appeared for a face. The convex part was covered round about with a very delicate skin or membrane which was transparent. The convex part, which was a type of the brain in least forms, was also divided into two beds, as it were, just as the brain in its larger form is divided into hemispheres. It was told me that the right bed was the receptacle of love, and the left the receptacle of wisdom; and that by wonderful interweavings these were like consorts and partners. It was further shown in the light of heaven, which fell brightly on it, that the structure of this little brain within, as to position and movement, was in the order and form of heaven, and that its outer structure was in direct opposition to that order and form. After these things were seen and pointed out, the angels said that the two interior degrees, which were in the order and form of heaven, were the receptacles of love and wisdom from the Lord; and that the exterior degree, which was in direct opposition to the order and form of heaven, was the receptacle of hellish love and insanity; for the reason that man, by hereditary corruption, is born into evils of every kind, and these evils reside there in the outermosts; and that this corruption is not removed unless the higher degrees are opened, which, as was said, are the receptacles of love and wisdom from the Lord. And as love and wisdom are very man, for love and wisdom in their essence are the Lord, and this primitive form of man is a receptacle, it follows that in that primitive form there is a continual effort towards the human form, which also it gradually assumes.