Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine WisdomSwedenborg, Emanuel
Religion
Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom
Swedenborg, Emanuel
God (Christianity) -- Love; God (Christianity) -- Wisdom
By the knowledge of degrees, which is set forth in this Part, the
following arcanum is disclosed: all things of the mind, that is, of the
will and understanding of man, are in his acts or deeds, included
therein very much as things visible and invisible are in a seed or
fruit or egg. Acts or deeds by themselves appear outwardly as these do,
but in their internals there are things innumerable, such as the
concurring forces of the motor fibers of the whole body and all things
of the mind that excite and determine these forces, all of which, as
shown above, are of three degrees. And since all things of the mind are
in these, so also are things of the will, that is, all the affections
of man's love, which make the first degree; all things of the
understanding, that is, all thoughts from his perception, which makes
the second degree; and all things of the memory, that is, all ideas of
the thought nearest to speech, taken from the memory, which compose the
third degree. Out of these things determined into act, deeds come forth,
in which, seen in external form, prior things are not visible although
they are actually therein. That the outmost is the complex, containant,
and base of things prior may be seen above (n. 209-216); and that degrees
of height are in fullness in their outmost (n. 217-221).
278. The acts of the body when viewed by the eye, appear thus simple and
uniform, as seeds, fruits, and eggs do, in external form, or as nuts and
almonds in their shells, yet they contain in themselves all the prior
things from which they exist, because every outmost is sheathed about and
is thereby rendered distinct from things prior. So is each degree
enveloped by a covering, and thereby separated from other degrees;
consequently things of the first degree are not perceived by the second,
nor those of the second by the third. For example: The love of the will,
which is the first degree of the mind, is not perceived in the wisdom of
the understanding, which is the second degree of the mind, except by a
certain enjoyment in thinking of the matter. Again, the first degree,
which is, as just said, the love of the will, is not perceived in the
knowledge of the memory, which is the third degree, except by a certain
pleasure in knowing and speaking. From all this it follows that every
deed, or bodily act, includes all these things, although externally it
appears simple, and as if it were a single thing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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