Earths In Our Solar System Which Are Called Planets, and Earths In The Starry Heaven Their Inhabitants, And The Spirits And Angels ThereSwedenborg, Emanuel
Religion
Earths In Our Solar System Which Are Called Planets, and Earths In The Starry Heaven Their Inhabitants, And The Spirits And Angels There
Swedenborg, Emanuel
Cosmology -- Early works to 1800
54. It was also shown me how the thoughts are expressed by means of
the face. The affections which belong to the love are manifested by
means of the countenance and its changes, and the thoughts therein by
variations as to the forms of the interiors there: it is impossible to
describe them further. The inhabitants of the earth Jupiter have also
verbal speech, but not so loud as with us. The one speech aids the
other, and life is insinuated into the verbal speech by the speech
of the face. I have been informed by the angels that the very first
speech in every earth was speech by the face, and from two origins
there, the lips and the eyes. The reason this kind of speech was the
first is, that the face was formed to effigy forth whatever a man
thinks and wills; in consequence of which the face is also called the
effigy and index of the mind (_animus_). Another reason is, that in
the Most Ancient or primeval times sincerity prevailed, and no one
cherished or wanted to cherish a thought which he was not willing
should shine forth out of his face. In this way, also, the affections
of the mind (_animus_), and the thoughts from them, could be exhibited
to the life and in fulness; thus also they even appeared to the eye
as very many things together in a form. This speech was therefore as
superior to the speech of words as sight is to hearing, that is, as
the sight of a landscape surpasses hearing about it and forming an
idea of it from the verbal description. They added, that such speech
was in agreement with the speech of the angels, with whom men in those
times also had communication; also, that when the face speaks, that
is, the mind through the face, angelic speech is with the man in its
ultimate natural form, which is not the case when the mouth speaks by
words. Every one can also comprehend that verbal speech could not have
been used by the Most Ancient people, since the words of a language
are not imparted immediately, but have to be invented and applied to
objects; which it requires a course of time to effect[z]. So long as
sincerity and rectitude prevailed among men, such speech continued;
but as soon as the mind began to think one thing and speak another,
which was the case when man began to love himself and not the
neighbour, verbal speech began to increase, the face being either
silent or deceitful. Hence the internal form of the face was changed,
became contracted, and hardened, and began to become almost devoid
of life; while the external form, inflamed by the fire of the love of
self, appeared before the eyes of men as if alive; for this absence of
life, which is underneath, does not appear before the eyes of men,
but it appears before the eyes of the angels, since the angels see
interior things. Such are the faces of those who think one thing and
speak another; for simulation, hypocrisy, cunning, and deceit, which
constitute modern prudence, produce such effects. But the case is
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