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
115. But how the Lord is in an angel and an angel in the Lord cannot be
comprehended, unless the nature of their conjunction is known. Conjunction
is of the Lord with the angel and of the angel with the Lord; conjunction,
therefore, is reciprocal. On the part of the angel it is as follows. The
angel, in like manner as man, has no other perception than that he is in
love and wisdom from himself, consequently that love and wisdom are, as
it were, his or his own. Unless he so perceived there would be no
conjunction, thus the Lord would not be in him, nor he in the Lord. Nor
can it be possible for the Lord to be in any angel or man, unless the one
in whom the Lord is, with love and wisdom, has a perception and sense as
if they were his. By this means the Lord is not only received, but also,
when received, is retained, and likewise loved in return. And by this,
also, the angel is made wise and continues wise. Who can wish to love
the Lord and his neighbor, and who can wish to be wise, without a sense
and perception that what he loves, learns, and imbibes is, as it were,
his own? Who otherwise can retain it in himself? If this were not so, the
inflowing love and wisdom would have no abiding-place, for it would flow
through and not affect; thus an angel would not be an angel, nor would man
be a man; he would be merely like something inanimate. From all this it
can be seen that there must be an ability to reciprocate that there may
be conjunction.
116. It shall now be explained how it comes that an angel perceives and
feels as his, and thus receives and retains that which yet is not his;
for, as was said above, an angel is not an angel from what is his, but
from those things which he has from the Lord. The essence of the matter
is this:- Every angel has freedom and rationality; these two he has to
the end that he may be capable of receiving love and wisdom from the Lord.
Yet neither of these, freedom nor rationality, is his, they are the Lord's
in him. But since the two are intimately conjoined to his life, so
intimately that they may be said to be joined into it, they appear to
be his own. It is from them that he is able to think and will, and to
speak and act; and what he thinks, wills, speaks, and does from them,
appears as if it were from himself. This gives him the ability to
reciprocate, and by means of this conjunction is possible. Yet so far as
an angel believes that love and wisdom are really in him, and thus lays
claim to them for himself as if they were his, so far the angelic is not
in him, and therefore he has no conjunction with the Lord; for he is not
in truth, and as truth makes one with the light of heaven, so far he cannot
be in heaven; for he thereby denies that he lives from the Lord, and
believes that he lives from himself, and that he therefore possesses
Divine essence. In these two, freedom and rationality, the life which
is called angelic and human consists. From all this it can be seen that
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account