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
241. It is said above, that the three degrees of height are like end,
cause, and effect, and that love, wisdom, and use follow in succession
according to these degrees; therefore a few things shall be said here
about love as being end, wisdom as being cause, and use as being effect.
Whoever consults his reason, if it is enlightened, can see that the end
of all things of man is his love; for what he loves that he thinks,
decides upon, and does, consequently that he has for his end. Man can
also see from his reason that wisdom is cause; since he, that is, his
love, which is his end, searches in his understanding for its means
through which to attain its end, thus consulting its wisdom, and these
means constitute the instrumental cause. That use is effect is evident
without explanation. But one man's love is not the same as another's,
neither is one man's wisdom the same as another's; so it is with use.
And since these three are homogeneous (as was shown above, n. 189-194),
it follows that such as is the love in man, such is the wisdom and such
is the use. Wisdom is here spoken of, but by it what pertains to man's
understanding is meant.
242. SPIRITUAL LIGHT FLOWS IN WITH MAN THROUGH DEGREES, BUT NOT SPIRITUAL
HEAT, EXCEPT SO FAR AS MAN FLEES FROM EVILS AS SINS AND LOOKS TO THE LORD.
It is evident from what has been shown above that from the sun of heaven,
which is the first proceeding of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom (treated
of in Part Second), light and heat proceed - light from its wisdom, and
heat from its love; also that light is the receptacle of wisdom, and heat
of love; also that so far as man comes into wisdom he comes into that
Divine light, and so far as he comes into love he comes into that Divine
heat. From what has been shown above it is also evident that there are
three degrees of light and three degrees of heat, that is, three degrees
of wisdom and three degrees of love, and that these degrees have been
formed in man in order that he may be a receptacle of the Divine Love
and the Divine Wisdom, thus of the Lord. It is now to be shown that
spiritual light flows in through these three degrees in man, but not
spiritual heat, except so far as man shuns evils as sins and looks to
the Lord - or, what is the same, that man is able to receive wisdom even
to the third degree, but not love, unless he flees from evils as sins
and looks to the Lord; or what is still the same, that man's understanding
can be raised into wisdom, but not his will, except so far as he flees
from evils as sins.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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