Spiritual Life and the Word of GodSwedenborg, Emanuel
Religion
Spiritual Life and the Word of God
Swedenborg, Emanuel
Spiritual life; Ten commandments; Word of God (Christian theology)
The spiritual by influx presents what is correspondent to itself in the
natural, in order that the end may become a cause, and the cause become
an effect, and thus the end through the cause may present itself in the
effect as visible and sensible. This trine, namely, end, cause, and
effect, exists from creation in every heaven. The end is good of love,
the cause is truth from that good, and the effect is use. The producing
force is love, and the product therefrom is of love from good by means
of truth. The final products, which are in our world, are various, as
numerous as the objects are in its three kingdoms of nature, animal,
vegetable, and mineral. All products are correspondences. As this
trine, namely, end, cause, and effect, exists in each heaven, there must
be in each heaven products that are correspondences, and that are like
in form and aspect the objects in the three kingdoms of our earth; from
which it is clear that each heaven is like our earth in outward
appearance, differing only in excellence and beauty according to
degrees. Now in order that the Word may be full, that is, may consist
of effects in which are a cause and an end, or may consist of uses in
which truth is the cause and good is the end and love is the producing
force, it must needs consist of correspondences; and from this it
follows that the Word in each heaven is like the Word in our world,
differing only in excellence and beauty according to degrees. What this
difference is shall be told elsewhere. (A.E., n. 1082.)
V. The Three Senses in the Word
As there is a trine, one within another, in every last particular of the
Word, and this trine is like that of effect, cause, and end, it follows
that there are three senses in the Word, one within another, namely, a
natural, a spiritual, and a celestial; a natural for the world, a
spiritual for the heavens of the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and a
celestial for the heavens of His celestial kingdom. (That the entire
heavens are divided into two kingdoms, the spiritual and the celestial,
may be seen in Heaven and Hell, n. 20-28.) Now as there is one sense
within another, a first which is the sense of the letter for the natural
world, a second which is the internal sense for the spiritual kingdom,
and a third which is the inmost for the celestial kingdom, it follows
that a natural man draws from it his sense, a spiritual angel his sense,
and a celestial angel his sense, thus everyone what is analogous to and
in agreement with his own essence and nature. This takes place whenever
a man who is led by the Lord is reading the Word.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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