Heaven and its Wonders and HellSwedenborg, Emanuel
Religion
Heaven and its Wonders and Hell
Swedenborg, Emanuel
Future life -- Christianity -- Early work to 1800; Heaven -- Christianity; Hell -- Christianity
The nature of angelic wisdom can scarcely be comprehended, because it
so greatly transcends human wisdom that the two cannot be compared;
and whatever is thus transcendent does not seem to be any thing.
Moreover, some truths that must enter into a description of it are as
yet unknown, and until these become known they exist in the mind as
shadows, and thus hide the thing as it is in itself. Nevertheless,
these truths can be known, and when known be comprehended, provided
the mind takes any interest in them; for interest carries light with
it because it is from love; and upon those who love the things
pertaining to Divine and heavenly wisdom light shines forth from
heaven and gives enlightenment.
266. What the wisdom of the angels is can be inferred from the fact
that they are in the light of heaven, and the light of heaven in its
essence is Divine truth or Divine wisdom; and this light enlightens
at the same time their inner sight, or sight of the mind, and their
outer sight, or sight of the eyes. (That the light of heaven is
Divine truth or Divine wisdom may be seen above, n. 126-133.) The
angels are also in heavenly heat, which in its essence is Divine good
or Divine love, and from that they have an affection and longing to
become wise. (That the heat of heaven is Divine good or Divine love
may be seen above, n. 133-140.) That the angels are in wisdom, even
to the extent that they may be called wisdoms, follows from the fact
that their thoughts and affections all flow in accordance with the
heavenly form, and this form is the form of Divine wisdom; also that
their interiors, which are recipients of wisdom, are arranged in that
form. (That the thoughts and affections of angels flow in accordance
with the form of heaven, and consequently their intelligence and
wisdom, may be seen above, n. 201-212.) [2] That the angels have
supereminent wisdom is shown also by the fact that their speech is
the speech of wisdom, for it flows directly and spontaneously from
thought, and their thought from their affection, thus their speech is
thought from affection in outward form; consequently there is nothing
to withdraw them from the Divine influx, and nothing from without
such as enters into the speech of man from other thoughts. (That the
speech of angels is the speech of their thought and affection may be
seen above, n. 234-235.) That the angels have such wisdom is in
accord with the fact that all things that they behold with their eyes
and perceive by their senses agree with their wisdom, since they are
correspondences of it, and thus the objects perceived are
representative forms of the things that constitute their wisdom.
(That all things seen in the heavens are correspondences with the
interiors of angels and representations of their wisdom may be seen
above, n. 170-182.) [3] Furthermore, the thoughts of angels are not
limited and contracted by ideas from space and time, as human
thoughts are, for spaces and times belong to nature, and the things
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