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
Angels have understanding and will, and they have a face and body. They
have also the interior things of the understanding and will, and of the
face and body. The interiors of the understanding and will are such as
pertain to their interior affection and thought; the interiors of the
face are the brains; and the interiors of the body are the viscera, chief
among which are the heart and lungs. In a word, angels have each and all
things that men on earth have; it is from these things that angels are
men. External form, apart from these internal things, does not make them
men, but external form together with, yea, from, internals - for otherwise
they would be only images of man, in which there would be no life, because
inwardly there would be no form of life.
136. It is well known that the will and understanding rule the body at
pleasure, for what the understanding thinks, the mouth speaks, and what
the will wills, the body does. From this it is plain that the body is a
form corresponding to the understanding and will. And because form also
is predicated of understanding and will, it is plain that the form of
the body corresponds to the form of the understanding and will. But this
is not the place to describe the nature of these respective forms. In
each form there are things innumerable; and these, in each of them, act
as one, because they mutually correspond. It is from this that the mind
(that is, the will and understanding) rules the body at its pleasure,
thus as entirely as it rules its own self. From all this it follows that
the interiors of the mind act as a one with the interiors of the body,
and the exteriors of the mind with the exteriors of the body. The
interiors of the mind, likewise the interiors of the body, will be
considered further on, when degrees of life have been treated of.
137. Since the interiors of the mind make one with the interiors of the
body, it follows that when the interiors of the mind turn themselves to
the Lord as a sun, those of the body turn themselves in like manner; and
because the exteriors of both, of mind as well as body, depend upon their
interiors, they also do the same. For what the external does, it does
from internals, the general deriving all it has from the particulars from
which it is. From this it is evident that as an angel turns his face and
body to the Lord as a sun, all the interiors of his mind and body are
turned in the same direction. It is the same with man, if he has the Lord
constantly before his eyes, which is the case if he is in love and wisdom.
He then looks to the Lord not only with eyes and face, but also with all
the mind and all the heart, that is, with all things of the will and
understanding, together with all things of the body.
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