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
In The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord it has been shown,
that God is one in person and essence in whom there is a trinity, and that
that God is the Lord; also, that the trinity in Him is called Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit; and that the Divine from which, (Creative Divine) is
called the Father; the Human Divine, the Son; and the proceeding Divine,
the Holy Spirit. This is called the "proceeding Divine," but no one knows
why it is called proceeding. This is not known, because until now it has
been unknown that the Lord appears before the angels as a sun, from which
sun proceeds heat which in its essence is Divine Love, and also light
which in its essence is Divine Wisdom. So long as these things were
unknown, it could not be known that the proceeding Divine is not a Divine
by itself; consequently the Athanasian doctrine of the trinity declares
that there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another
of the Holy Spirit. Now, however, when it is known that the Lord appears
as a sun, a correct idea may be had of the proceeding Divine, which is
called the Holy Spirit, that it is one with the Lord, but proceeds from
Him, as heat and light from a sun. For the same reason angels are in
Divine heat and Divine light just so far as they are in love and wisdom.
Without knowing that the Lord appears as a sun in the spiritual world,
and that His Divine thus proceeds, it can in no way be known what is meant
by "proceeding," whether it means simply communicating those things which
are the Father's and the Son's, or simply enlightening and teaching. But
inasmuch as it has been known that God is one, and that He is omnipresent,
it is not in accord with enlightened reason to recognize the proceeding
Divine as a Divine per se, and to call it God, and thus divide God.
147. It has been shown above that God is not in space, and that He is
thereby omnipresent; also that the Divine is the same everywhere, but
that there is an apparent variety of it in angels and men from variety
of reception. Now since the proceeding Divine from the Lord as a sun is
in light and heat, and light and heat flow first into universal recipients,
which in the world are called atmospheres, and these are the recipients
of clouds, it can be seen that according as the interiors pertaining to
the understanding of man or angel are veiled by such clouds, is he a
receptacle of the proceeding Divine. By clouds are meant spiritual clouds,
which are thoughts. These, if from truths, are in accordance, but if from
falsities, are at variance with Divine Wisdom; consequently, in the
spiritual world thoughts from truths, when presented to the sight, appear
as shining white clouds, but thoughts from falsities as black clouds. From
all this it can be seen that the proceeding Divine is indeed in every man,
but is variously veiled by each.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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