Angelic Wisdom about Divine ProvidenceSwedenborg, Emanuel
Religion
Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence
Swedenborg, Emanuel
Providence and government of God -- Christianity
[2] When the internal in its essence is infernal, and the external in its
form appears to be spiritual and yet has its essence, as we said, from
the internal, the question arises where in the external that essence is
hidden. It does not show in gesture, voice, speech or face, yet is
interiorly hidden in all four. That it is, is plain from the same in the
spiritual world. For when man passes from the natural world to the
spiritual, as he does at death, he leaves his externals behind along with
his body and retains his internals, which he has stored up in his spirit.
If his internal was infernal, he then appears as a devil, such as he was
as to his spirit during life in the world. Who does not acknowledge that
everyone leaves external things behind with the body and enters into
internal things on becoming a spirit?
[3] To this I will add that in the spiritual world there is a
communication of affections and of thoughts from them, which results in
no one's being able to speak except as he thinks; likewise, everyone
changes facial expression and reflects his affection, and thus shows in
his face what he is. Hypocrites are allowed sometimes to speak otherwise
than they think, but the tone of the voice sounds utterly out of harmony
with their interior thoughts, and they are recognized by the discord. It
may be evident from this that the internal lies hidden in the tone of
voice, the speech, the face and gesture of the external, and that it is
not perceived by men in the world, but plainly by angels in the spiritual
world.
225. It is plain from this that while he lives in the natural world man
may be admitted into wisdom about spiritual things and into love of them
also, and that this happens or can happen with the merely natural as well
as with those who are spiritual, with this difference, however, that the
latter are reformed by these means and the former are not. It may seem,
also, that the former love wisdom, but they do so only as an adulterer
loves a noble woman, that is, as mistress, speaking caressingly to her
and giving her beautiful garments, but saying of her privately to
himself, "She is only a vile harlot whom I will make believe that I love
because she gratifies my lust; if she should not, I would cast her away."
The internal man of the unreformed lover of wisdom is this adulterer; his
external man is the woman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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