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The Second Kind of Profanation

July 23, 2007 Posted by

There is another kind of profanation of holy things that those come into
who have supremacy as their end, and regard the holy things of the Word,
of the church, and of worship, as means.  The Divine order is that
heaven and the church, and consequently the holy things of these, be the
end, and supremacy the means for promoting that end.  For when holy
things are the end and supremacy the means, the Lord is worshipped and
adored; but when supremacy is the end and holy things the means, man
instead of the Lord is worshipped and adored.  For the means look to the
end as servants look to their master, and the end looks to the means as
a master looks to his servants; consequently as a master esteems and
loves his servants according to the compliance they render to his will,
so a man who has supremacy as his end esteems and loves the holy things
of the Word, of the church, and of worship, according to the compliance
they render to his end, which is supremacy.  And on the other hand, as a
lord despises and dismisses servants and takes others in their place
when they are not subservient to his will, so a man who has supremacy as
his end despises and rejects the holy things of the church, and takes
other things in their place when they are not subservient to his end,
which is supremacy.

From this it is clear that in those who have supremacy as their end,
holy things are of no account except so far as they are subservient to
the end, and also that they are not holy, but are profane when they are
subservient to this end; and for the reason that the end, when it is
supremacy, is the man himself, and as this end is love of self it is the
man’s own (proprium); and man’s own when viewed in itself is nothing but
evil, and indeed is profane, and the end joins to itself the means that
they may be as one.  In this kind of profanation are all those who are
in sacred ministries, and who are seeking by means of the holy things of
the church to gain honor and glory, and these and not use, which is the
salvation of souls, are what give them joy of heart. (A.E., n. 1053.)

Those who are in this kind of profanation cannot do otherwise than
adulterate the goods of the Word and falsify its truths, and thus
pervert the holy things of the church; for these are not in accord with
the end, which is the supremacy of man over them, for they are Divine
things that cannot be mere servants; therefore from necessity, that the
means may be in accord with the end, goods are turned into evils, truths
into falsities, and thus holy things into things profane, and this in an
increasing degree as the supremacy, which is the end, is increased.

That this is so can be clearly seen from the Babylon of the present day,
to which the holy things of the Word, of the church and of worship, are
means, and supremacy is the end.  So far as they have magnified
supremacy they have minimized the holiness of the Word, and have
actually exalted above it the holiness of the Pope’s decrees; they have
claimed to themselves power over heaven, and even over the Lord Himself,
and they have instituted the idolatrous worship of men, both living and
dead, and this until there is nothing left of Divine good and Divine
truth.

That the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, have
been so changed is of the Lord’s Divine providence; not of His
providence that this should be done, but of His providence that when men
wish to rule and do rule by means of the holy Divine things, they should
choose falsity in place of truth and evil in place of good, for
otherwise they would defile holy things, and render them abominable
before angels; but when holy things no longer exist this cannot be done.
Take as an example what has been done with the Holy Supper instituted by
the Lord: they have separated the bread and the wine, giving the bread
to the people and drinking the wine themselves.  For “bread” signifies
good of love to the Lord, and “wine” the truth of faith in Him; and good
separated from truth is not good, nor is truth separated from good
truth, for truth is truth from good, and good is good in truth.  And so
in other things. (A.E., n. 1054.)

Those who are in the love of self, and from that in the love of ruling,
and who covet, acquire, and afterward exercise supremacy by means of the
holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, are those who
profane.  For the delight of the love of ruling for self’s sake, that
is, for the sake of eminence, and consequent homage and a kind of
worship of self, is an infernal delight.  Moreover, this prevails in
hell, for in hell everyone wills to be the greatest, while in heaven
everyone wills to be the least; and to rule over holy things from an
infernal delight is to profane them.

But this second kind of profanation of the holy things of the church is
not like the former kind of the profanation of them.  Those fall into
the former kind in whom a communication with heaven has been effected by
the opening of their spiritual mind; while this second kind of
profanation those fall into in whom the spiritual mind has not been
opened, or communication with heaven effected through it.  For so long
as the delight of the love of ruling resides in man, that mind cannot be
opened, and communication with heaven is not possible to him.

Moreover, the lot of these profaners after death differs from the lot of
the former.  The former, as has been said, are in an unceasing delirium
of fantasy; but these hate the Lord, hate heaven, hate the Word, hate
the church, and hate all its holy things; and they come into such hatred
because their dominion is taken away from them, and thus their state is
changed into its opposite.  They appear like something fiery, and their
hell appears like a conflagration; for infernal fire is nothing else
than a lust for ruling from love of self.  These are among the worst,
and are called devils, while the others are called satans. (A.E., n.
1055.)

The love of ruling by the holy things of the church as means wholly
shuts up the interiors of the human mind from the inmosts toward the
outmosts, according to the kind and strength of that love.  But to make
clear that they are shut up, something shall first be said about the
interiors belonging to the human mind.  Man has a spiritual mind, a
rational mind, a natural mind, and a sensual mind.  By means of the
spiritual mind man is in heaven and is a heaven in its least form.  By
means of the natural mind he is in the world and is a world in its least
form.  Heaven in man communicates with the world in him by means of the
rational mind, and with the body by means of the sensual mind.  The
sensual mind is the first to be opened in man after his birth; after
that the natural mind, and as he seeks to become intelligent the
rational mind, and as he seeks to become wise the spiritual mind.  And
at length, as man becomes wise the spiritual mind becomes to him as the
head, and the natural mind as the body, and the rational mind serves as
a neck to join this to the head, and then the sensual mind becomes like
the sole of the foot.

In little children the Lord so arranges all these minds by means of the
inflow of innocence from heaven that they can be opened.  But with those
who begin from childhood to be inflamed with the lust of ruling through
the holy things of the church as means, the spiritual mind is wholly
shut; so, too, is the rational mind, and finally the natural mind, even
to the sensual mind, or as it is said in heaven, even to the nose.  And
thus men become merely sensual, and are the most stupid of all in things
spiritual and thus in things rational, and the most crafty of all in
worldly and thus in civil matters.  That they are so stupid in spiritual
things they do not themselves know, because in heart they do not believe
these things, and because they believe craft to be prudence and cunning
to be wisdom.  And yet all of this kind differ according to the kind and
strength of their lust for ruling and for exercising rule, also
according to the kind and strength of the persuasion that they are holy,
and according to the kind of good and truth from the Word that they
profane.  (A.E., n. 1056.)

Profaners of this kind are stupid and foolish in spiritual things, but
are crafty and keen in worldly things, because they make one with the
devils in hell, and because, as has been said above, they are merely
sensual, and are therefore in what is their own (proprium), which draws
its delight of life from the unclean effluvia that exhale from waste
matters in the body, and that are emitted from dunghills; and these
cause a swelling of their breasts when their pride is active and the
titillation of these cause delight.  That such is the source of their
delight is made evident by their delights after death when they are
living as spirits; for then more than the sweetest odors do they love
the rank stenches arising from the gases of the belly and from
outhouses, which to their smell are more fragrant than thyme.  The
approach and touch of these close up the interiors of their mind, and
open the exteriors pertaining to the body, from which come their
quickness in worldly things and their dullness in spiritual things.

In a word, the love of ruling by means of the holy things of the church
corresponds to filth, and its delight to a stench indescribable by
words, and at which angels shudder. Such is the exhalation from their
hells when they are opened; but they are kept closed because of the
oppression and occasional swooning which they produce. (A.E., n. 1057.)

The First Kind of Profanation

July 22, 2007 Posted by

Profanations are of many kinds.  The most grievous kind is when one
acknowledges and lives according to the truths and goods of the Word, of
the church, and of worship, and afterward denies them and lives contrary
to them, or even lives contrary to them and does not deny them.  Such
profanation effects a conjunction and coherence of good with falsity,
and of truth with evil, and from this it comes to pass that man is at
the same time in heaven and in hell; consequently, when heaven wills to
have its own, and hell wills to have its own, and yet they cohere, they
are both swept away, and thus the proper human life perishes, and the
man becomes like a brute animal, continually delirious, and carried
hither and thither by fantasy like a dragon in the air, and in his
fantasy shreds and specks appear like giants and crowds, and a little
platter like the universe; and so on.

As such have no longer any human life they are not called spirits, but
something profane, nor are they called he or she, but it; and when they
are seen in the light of heaven they appear like dried skeletons.  But
this kind of profanation is rare, since the Lord provides against a
man’s entering into a belief in truth and a life of good unless he can
be kept in them continually even to the end of his life. (A.E., n.
1047.)

It has been said that the most grievous kind of profanation is when the
truths of the Word are acknowledged in faith and confirmed in the life,
and man afterward recedes from faith and lives wickedly, or if he does
not recede from faith he nevertheless lives wickedly.  But one who is in
faith and in a life according to it from childhood to youth, and
afterward in adult age recedes from faith and from a life of faith, does
not profane, for the reason that the faith of childhood is a faith of
the memory, and is the master’s faith in the child; while the faith of
adult age is a faith of the understanding, and thus a man’s own faith.
This faith a man can profane if he recedes from it and lives contrary to
it, but not the former.  For nothing enters the life of a man and
affects it except what comes into the understanding and from that into
the will; and a man does not think from his own understanding and act
from his own will until he arrives at adult age.  Before that he has
thought merely from knowledge and acted merely from obedience; and this
does not make a part of his life, and therefore cannot be profaned.

In a word, whatever a man thinks, speaks, and does, from the
understanding with the will favoring it, this belongs to his life or
comes to be of his life; and if this is holy it is profaned by his
receding.  But the profanations of this kind are more or less grievous
according to the quality of the truth and the consequent faith, and
according to the quality of the good and the consequent life, and
according to the quality of the withdrawal from these; and therefore
there are many specific differences in this profanation. (A.E., n.
1049.)

Why the state of profaners after death is so horrible shall be
disclosed.  Man has two minds, a natural and a spiritual.  The natural
mind is opened to him by knowledges (scientiae et cognitiones) of truth
and good, and the spiritual mind is opened by a life according to these;
and this is effected in those who know, acknowledge, and believe the
truths of the Word and live according to them.  In others that mind is
not opened.  When the spiritual mind has been opened, the light of
heaven, which is Divine truth, flows through it into the natural mind,
and there arranges truths in a corresponding order.  Therefore when a
man passes over into a contrary state, and either in faith or life
denies the truths of the Word that he has previously acknowledged, the
things that are in the natural mind no longer correspond with those that
are in the spiritual mind; consequently heaven with its light flows in
through the spiritual mind into non-corresponding things, or into things
opposite to those that correspond in the natural man; and from this a
fantasy arises that is so direful that they seem to themselves to fly in
the air like dragons, while shreds and specks appear to them like giants
and crowds, and a little ball like the whole globe, and other like
things. The reason of this is that they have heaven in the spiritual
mind and hell in the natural mind, and when heaven, which is in the
spiritual mind, acts into hell, which is in the natural mind, such
things appear.  And as this destroys all things pertaining to the
understanding, and the will with the understanding, the man comes to be
no longer a man.  And this is why a profaner is no longer called a man,
nor he or she, but it, for he is a brute. (A.E., n. 1050.)

This kind of profanation exists especially in those who acknowledge the
Lord and His Divine, and the Word and its holiness; and for the reason
that the Lord alone by means of truths from the Word opens heaven to the
man who lives according to those truths; and unless heaven is opened
such profanation is not possible.  And this shows why the Gentiles, who
are ignorant of the Lord and know nothing about the Word, cannot bring
upon themselves such profanation; neither can the Jews, for they deny
the Lord from their infancy, and heaven is not opened to them by means
of the Word; neither can the impious who have been such from childhood;
for, as has been said, those only profane who believe rightly and live
rightly, and afterward believe wrongly and live wrongly.  Besides this
kind of profanation there are other kinds that shall be treated of.
(A.E., n. 1051.)

Goods and Truths and Their Opposites

July 21, 2007 Posted by

The Divine good that goes forth from the Lord is united with His Divine
truth, as heat from the sun is with light in the time of spring.  But
angels, who are recipients of the Divine good and Divine truth going
forth from the Lord, are distinguished as celestial and spiritual.
Those who receive more of the Lord’s Divine good than of His Divine
truth are called celestial angels; because these constitute the kingdom
of the Lord that is called the celestial kingdom. But the angels who
receive more of the Lord’s Divine truth than of his Divine good are
called spiritual angels, because of these the Lord’s spiritual kingdom
consists.  This makes clear that goods and truths have a twofold origin,
namely, a celestial origin and a spiritual origin.  Those goods and
truths that are from a celestial origin are the goods and truths of love
to the Lord; while those goods and truths that are from a spiritual
origin are the goods and truths of love toward the neighbor.  The
difference is like that between higher and lower, or between inner and
outer; thus like that between things that are in a higher or inner
degree, and those that are in a lower or outer degree; and what this
difference is can be seen from what has been said in the work on Heaven
and Hell about the three degrees of the heavens, and thus of the angels
and their intelligence and wisdom (H.H., n. 33, 34, 38, 39, 208, 209,
211, 435). (A.E., n. 1042.)

As the heavens are divided into two kingdoms, namely, into a celestial
kingdom and a spiritual kingdom, so are the hells divided into two
domains opposite to those kingdoms. The domain opposite to the celestial
kingdom is called devilish, and the domain opposite to the spiritual
kingdom is called infernal.  These domains are distinguished in the Word
by the names Devil and Satan.  There are two domains in the hells,
because the heavens and the hells are opposite to each other; and
opposite must fully correspond to opposite that there may be
equilibrium.  For the springing forth and permanence of all things, both
in the natural world and in the spiritual world, depend upon an exact
equilibrium between two activities that are opposite; and when these act
against each other manifestly, they act by forces, but when not
manifestly they act by endeavors (canatus).  By means of equilibriums
all things in both worlds are preserved; without this all things would
perish.  In the spiritual world the equilibrium is between good from
heaven and evil from hell; and thus between truth from heaven and
falsity from hell.  For the Lord arranges unceasingly that all kinds and
species of good and truth in the heavens shall have opposite to them in
the hells evils and falsities of kinds that correspond by opposition;
thus goods and truths from a celestial origin have for their opposites
evils and falsities that are called devilish; and in like manner goods
and truths from a spiritual origin have for their opposites evils and
falsities that are called infernal.  The cause of these equilibriums is
to be found in the fact that the same Divine goods and Divine truths
that the angels in the heavens receive from the Lord, the spirits in the
hells turn into evils and falsities.  All angels, spirits, and men are
kept by the Lord in equilibrium between good and evil, and thus between
truth and falsity, in order that they may be in freedom; and thus may be
led from evil to good and from falsity to truth easily and as if by
themselves, although in fact they are led by the Lord.  For the same
reason they are led in freedom from good to evil, and from truth to
falsity, and this, too, as if by themselves, although the leading is
from hell.  (A.E., n. 1043.)

What Religion Consists In

July 20, 2007 Posted by

Religion with man consists in a life according to the Divine
commandments, which are contained in a summary in the Decalogue.  He
that does not live according to these can have no religion, since he
does not fear God, still less does he love God; nor does he fear man,
still less does he love him.  Can one who steals, commits adultery,
kills, bears false witness fear God or man?  Nevertheless everyone is
able to live according to these commandments; and he who is wise does so
live as a civil man, as a moral man, and as a natural man.  And yet he
who does not live according to them as a spiritual man cannot be saved;
since to live according to them as a spiritual man means to live so for
the sake of the Divine that is in them, while to live according to them
as a civil man means for the sake of justice and to escape punishments
in the world; and to live according to them as a moral man means for the
sake of honesty, and to escape the loss of reputation and honor; while
to live according to them as a natural man means for the sake of what is
human, and to escape the repute of having an unsound mind.

All laws, civil, moral, and natural, prescribe that one must not steal,
must not commit adultery, must not kill, must not bear false witness;
and yet a man is saved not by shunning these evils from these laws
alone, but by shunning them also from spiritual law, thus shunning them
as sins. For with such a man there is religion, and a belief that there
is a God, a heaven and a hell, and a life after death; with such a man
there is a civil life, a moral life, and a natural life; a civil life
because there is justice, a moral life because there is honesty, and a
natural life because there is manhood.

But he who does not live according to these commandments as a spiritual
man is neither a civil man, nor a moral man, nor a natural man; for he
is destitute of justice, of honesty, and even of manhood, since the
Divine is not in these.  For there can be nothing good in and from
itself, but only from God; so there can be nothing just, nothing truly
honest or truly human in itself and from itself, but only from God, and
only when the Divine is in it.  Consider whether anyone who has hell in
him, or who is a devil, can do what is just from justice or for the sake
of justice; in like manner what is honest, or what is truly human.  The
truly human is what is from order and according to order, and what is
from sound reason; and God is order, and sound reason is from God.  In a
word, he who does not shun evils as sins is not a man.  Everyone who
makes these commandments to belong to his religion becomes a citizen and
an inhabitant of heaven; but he who does not make them to belong to his
religion, although in externals he may live according to them from
natural, moral, and civil law, becomes a citizen and an inhabitant of
the world, but not of heaven.

Most nations possess a knowledge of these commandments, and make them
the commandments of their religion, and live according to them because
God so wills and has commanded; and through this they have communication
with heaven and conjunction with God, consequently they are saved.  But
most in the Christian world at this day do not make them the
commandments of their religion, but only of their civil and moral life;
and they do this that they may not appear in external form to act
fraudulently and make unlawful gains, commit adulteries, manifestly
pursue others from deadly hatred and revenge, and bear false witness,
and do not refrain from these things because they are sins and against
God, but because they have fears for their life, their reputation, their
office, their business, their possessions, their honor and gain, and
their pleasure; consequently if they were not restrained by these bonds
they would do these things.  Because, therefore, such form for
themselves no communication with heaven or conjunction with the Lord,
but only with the world and with self, they cannot be saved.

Consider is respect to yourself, when these external bonds have been
taken away, as is done with every man after death, if there are no
internal bonds, which are from fear and love of God, thus from religion,
to restrain and hold you back, whether you would not rush like a devil
into thefts, adulteries, murders, false witnesses, and lusts of every
kind, from a love of these and a delight in them.  That this is the case
I have both seen and heard.  (A.E., n. 948.)

So far as evils are set aside as sins so far goods flow in, and so far
does man afterward do goods, not from self, but from the Lord.

As, first, so far as one does not worship other gods, and thus does not
love self and the world above all things, so far acknowledgment of God
flows in from the Lord, and then he worships God, not from self but from
the Lord.

Secondly, so far as one does not profane the name of God, that is, so
far as he shuns the lusts arising from the loves of self and of the
world, so far he loves the holy things of the Word and of the church;
for these are the name of God, and are profaned by the lusts arising
from the loves of self and of the world.

Thirdly, so far as one shuns thefts, and thus shuns frauds and unlawful
gains, so far sincerity and justice enter, and he loves what is sincere
and just from sincerity and justice, and thus does what is sincere and
just not from self but from the Lord.

Fourthly, so far as one shuns adulteries and thus shuns unchaste and
filthy thoughts, so far marriage love enters, which is the inmost love
of heaven, and in which chastity itself has its seat.

Fifthly, so far as one shuns murders, and thus shuns deadly hatreds and
revenges that breathe murder, so far the Lord enters with mercy and
love.

Sixthly, so far as one shuns false testimonies, and thus shuns lies and
blasphemies, so far truth from the Lord enters.

Seventhly, so far as one shuns a covetousness for the house of others,
and thus shuns the love and consequent lusts for possessing the goods of
others, so far charity toward the neighbor enters from the Lord.

Eighthly, so far as one shuns a covetousness for the wives of others,
their servants, etc., and thus shuns the love and consequent lusts of
ruling over others (for the things enumerated in this commandment are
what belong to man), so far love to the Lord enters.

These eight commandments include the evils that must be shunned, but the
two others, namely, the third and fourth, include certain things that
must be done, namely, that the Sabbath must be kept holy, and that
parents must be honored. But how these two commandments should be
understood, not by men of the Jewish church but by men of the Christian
church, will be told elsewhere.  (A.E., n. 949).

Cleansing the Inside

July 19, 2007 Posted by

It is acknowledged that man’s interior must be purified before the good
that he does is good; for the Lord says,

“Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the
platter, that the outside may be clean also” (Matt. xxiii. 26).

Man’s interior is purified only as he refrains from evils, in accordance
with the commandments of the Decalogue.  So long as man does not refrain
from these evils and does not shun and turn away from them as sins, they
constitute his interior, and are like an interposed veil or covering,
and in heaven this appears like an eclipse by which the sun is obscured
and light is intercepted; also like a fountain of pitch or of black
water, from which nothing emanates but what is impure.  That which
emanates therefrom and that appears before the world as good is not
good, because it is defiled by evils from within, for it is Pharisaic
and hypocritical good.  This good is good from man and is meritorious
good.  It is otherwise when evils have been removed by a life according
to the commandments of the Decalogue.

Now since evils must be removed before goods can become good the Ten
Commandments were the first of the Word, being promulgated from Mount
Sinai before the Word was written by Moses and the prophets.  And these
do not set forth goods that must be done, but evils that must be
shunned.  For the same reason these commandments are the first things to
be taught in the churches; for they are taught to boys and girls in
order that man may begin his Christian life with them, and by no means
forget them as he grows up; although he does so.  The same is meant by
these words in Isaiah:

“What is the multitude of sacrifices” to Me?  Your meat offering, your
incense, “your new moons, and your appointed feasts, My soul hateth. . .
And when you multiply prayer I will not hear. . . Wash you, make you
clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to
do evil . . . . Then though your sins were as scarlet they shall be
white as snow; though they were red as purple they shall be as wool”
(i. 11-19).

“Sacrifices,” “meat offerings,” “incense,” “new moons,” and “feasts,”
also “prayer,” mean all things of worship.  That these are wholly evil
and even abominable unless the interior is purified from evils is meant
by “Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings, and
cease to do evil.”  That afterward they are all goods is meant by words
that follow.  (A.E., n. 939.)

When man’s interior is purified from evils by his refraining from them
and shunning them because they are sins, the internal which is above it,
and which is called the spiritual internal, is opened.  This
communicates with heaven; consequently man is then admitted into heaven
and is conjoined to the Lord.

There are two internals in man, one beneath and the other above.  While
man lives in the world he is in the internal which is beneath and from
which he thinks, for it is natural.  This may be called for the sake of
distinction the interior.  But the internal that is above is that into
which man comes after death when he enters heaven.  All angels of heaven
are in this internal, for it is spiritual.  This internal is opened to
the man who shuns evils as sins; but it is kept closed to the man who
does not shun evils as sins.

This internal is kept closed to the man who does not shun evils as sins,
because the interior, that is, the natural internal, until man has been
purified from sins, is hell; and so long as there is hell there heaven
cannot be opened; but as soon as hell has been set aside it is opened.
But let it be noted that in the measure in which the spiritual internal
and heaven are opened to man, the natural internal is purified from the
hell that is there.  This is not done at once, but successively by
degrees.  All this makes clear that man from himself is hell, and that
man is made a heaven by the Lord, consequently that he is snatched out
of hell by the Lord, and raised up into heaven to the Lord, not without
means but through means; and these means are the commandments just
mentioned, by which the Lord leads him who wishes to be led.  (A.E., n.
940.)

When the spiritual internal is opened, and through it communication with
heaven and conjunction with the Lord are granted, enlightenment takes
place with man.  He is enlightened especially when he reads the Word,
because the Lord is in the Word, and the Word is Divine truth, and
Divine truth is light to angels.  Man is enlightened in the rational,
for this directly underlies the spiritual internal, and receives light
from heaven and transfers it into the natural when it is purified from
evils, filling it with the knowledges of truth and good, and adapting to
them the knowledges (scientiae) that are from world, for the sake of
proof and agreement.  Thus man has a rational, and thus he has an
understanding.  He who believes that man has a rational and an
understanding before his natural has been purified from evils is
deceived, for the understanding is seeing truths of the church from the
light of heaven; and the light of heaven does not flow into those not
purified. And as the understanding is perfected, the falsities of
religion and of ignorance and all fallacies are dispersed. (A.E., n.
941.)

When a man has been admitted by the opening of his internal into heaven,
and receives light therefrom, the same affections that angels of heaven
have, with their pleasures and delights, are communicated to him.  The
first affection then granted is an affection for truth; the second is an
affection for good; and the third is an affection for bringing forth
fruits.  For when a man has been admitted into heaven and into its light
and heat he is like a tree growing from its seed.  His first budding
forth is from enlightenment; his blossoming before the fruit is from an
affection for truth; the putting forth of fruit that follows is from an
affection for good; the multiplication of itself again into trees is
from an affection for producing fruit. The heat of heaven, which is
love, and the light of heaven, which is the understanding of truth from
that love, bring forth in subjects of life things like those that the
heat of the world and its light bring forth in subjects not of life.
That like things are brought forth is from correspondence. But in both
cases the production is effected in springtime; and springtime in man is
when he enters heaven, which is effected when his spiritual internal is
opened; before that it is the time of winter to him.  (A.E., n. 942.)

Man has affection for truth when he loves truth and turns away from
falsity.  He has an affection for good when he loves good uses and turns
away from evil uses.  He has an affection for bringing forth fruit when
he loves to do goods and to be serviceable.  All heavenly joy is in
these affections and from them, and this joy cannot be described by
comparisons, for it is supereminent and eternal. (A.E., n. 943.)

Into this state the man comes who shuns evils because they are sins, and
looks to the Lord; and so far as he comes into this state he turns away
from and hates evils as sins, and acknowledges in heart and worships the
Lord only, and His Divine in the Human.  This is a summary.  (A.E., n.
944.)

When a man is in that state he is raised up from what is his own
(proprium); for a man is in what is his own (proprium) when he is only
in the natural external, but he is raised up from what is his own
(proprium) when he is in the spiritual internal.  This raising up from
what is his own man perceives only by this, that he does not think
evils, and that he turns away from thinking them, and takes delight in
truths and in good uses.  And yet if such a man advances further into
that state he perceives influx by a kind of thought; but he is not
withheld from thinking and willing as if from himself, for this the Lord
wills for the sake of reformation.  Nevertheless, man should acknowledge
that nothing of good or of truth therefrom is from himself, but all is
from the Lord.  (A.E., n. 945.)

It follows from this that when man shuns and turns away from evils as
sins and is raised up into heaven by the Lord, he is not longer in what
is his own (proprium), but in the Lord, and thus he thinks and wills
goods.  Again, since man acts as he thinks and wills, for every act of
man goes forth from the thought of his will, it follows that when he
shuns and turns away from evils he does goods from the Lord and not from
self; and this is why shunning evils is doing goods.  The goods that a
man does in this way are what are meant by good works; and good works in
their whole complex are what are meant by charity.  Man cannot be
reformed unless he thinks, wills, and does as if from himself, since
that which is done as if by the man himself is conjoined to him and
remains with him, while that which is not done as if by the man himself,
not being received in any life of sense, flows through like ether; and
this is why the Lord wills that man should not only shun and turn away
from evils as if of himself, but should also think, will, and do as if
of himself, and yet acknowledge in heart that all these things are from
the Lord.  This he must acknowledge because it is the truth.  (A.E., n.
946.)