Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom — John Shaqi
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
for the sake of conjunction with the Lord, - the angel has the ability
to reciprocate, but that this ability, in itself considered, is not his
but the Lord's. From this it is, that if he abuses his ability to
reciprocate, by which he perceives and feels as his what is the Lord's,
which is done by appropriating it to himself he falls from the angelic
state. That conjunction is reciprocal, the Lord Himself teaches
(John 14:20-24; 154-6); also that the conjunction of the Lord with man
and of man with the Lord, is in those things of the Lord that are called
His words (John 15:7).
117. Some are of the opinion that Adam was in such liberty or freedom of
choice as to be able to love God and be wise from himself, and that this
freedom of choice was lost in his posterity. But this is an error; for
man is not life, but is a recipient of life (see above, n. 4-6, 54-60);
and he who is a recipient of life cannot love and be wise from anything
of his own; consequently, when Adam willed to be wise and to love from
what was his own he fell from wisdom and love, and was cast out of Paradise.
118. What has just been said of an angel is likewise true of heaven, which
consists of angels, since the Divine in greatest and least things is the
same (as was shown above n. 77-82). What is said of an angel and of heaven
is likewise true of man and the church, for the angel of heaven and the
man of the church act as one through conjunction; in fact, a man of the
church is an angel, in respect to the interiors which are of his mind. By
a man of the church is meant a man in whom the church is.
119. IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD THE EAST IS WHERE THE LORD APPEARS AS A SUN,
AND FROM THAT THE OTHER QUARTERS ARE DETERMINED.
The sun of the spiritual world and its essence, also its heat and light,
and the presence of the Lord thereby, have been treated of; a description
is now to be given of the quarters in the spiritual world. That sun and
that world are treated of, because God and love and wisdom are treated of;
and to treat of those subjects except from their very origin would be to
proceed from effects, not from causes. Yet from effects nothing but
effects can be learned; when effects alone are considered no cause is
brought to light; but causes reveal effects. To know effects from causes
is to be wise; but to search for causes from effects is not to be wise,
because fallacies then present themselves, which the investigator calls
causes, and this is to turn wisdom into foolishness. Causes are things
prior, and effects are things posterior; and things prior cannot be seen
from things posterior, but things posterior can be seen from things prior.
This is order. For this reason the spiritual world is here first treated
of, for all causes are there; and afterwards the natural world, where all
things that appear are effects.
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