Spiritual Life and the Word of God Part 5

From what has been said above it can be seen that all who are in evils in respect to life, and in the falsities therefrom, are murderers; for they are enemies and haters of good and truth, since evil hates good and falsity hates truth. The evil man does not know he is in such hatred until he becomes a spirit; then hatred is the very delight of his life.

Consequently from h.e.l.l, where all the evil are, there constantly breathes forth a delight in doing evil from hatred; while from heaven, where all the good are, there constantly breathes forth a delight in doing good from love. Therefore two opposite spheres meet each other in the middle region between heaven and h.e.l.l, and engage in reciprocal combat. While man lives in the world he is in this middle region. If he is then in evil and in falsities therefrom he pa.s.ses over to the side of h.e.l.l, and thus comes into a delight in doing evil from hatred. But if he is in good and in truths therefrom, he pa.s.ses over to the side of heaven, and thus comes into a delight in doing good from love.

The delight in doing evil from hatred, which breathes forth from h.e.l.l, is a delight in killing. But as they cannot kill the body they wish to kill the spirit; and to kill the spirit is to take away spiritual life, which is the life of heaven. This makes clear that the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," involves also thou shalt not hate thy neighbor, also thou shalt not hate the good of the church and its truth; for if one hates good and truth he hates the neighbor; and to hate is to wish to kill. This is why the devil, by whom h.e.l.l in the whole complex is meant, is called by the Lord,

"A murderer from the beginning" (John viii, 44).

Since hatred, which is a desire to kill, is the opposite of love to the Lord and also of love toward the neighbor, and since these loves are what make heaven in man, it is evident that hatred, being thus opposite, is what makes h.e.l.l in him. Nor is infernal fire anything else than hatred; and in consequence the h.e.l.ls appear to be in a fire with a dusky glow according to the quality and quant.i.ty of the hatred, and in a fire with a dusky flame according to the quant.i.ty and quality of the revenge from hatred.

Since hatred and love are direct opposites, and since hatred in consequence const.i.tutes h.e.l.l in man, just as love const.i.tutes heaven in him, so the Lord teaches,

"If thou shalt offer thy gift upon the altar, and shalt there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go; first be reconciled to they brother, and then coming offer thy gift. Be well disposed toward thine adversary whiles thou art in the way with him; lest haply the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

Verily, I say unto thee, Thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing" (Matt. v. 23-26).

To be delivered to the judge, and by the judge to the officer, and by him to be cast into prison, depicts the state of the man who is in hatred after death from his having been in hatred against his brother in the world, "prison" meaning h.e.l.l, and "paying the uttermost farthing"

signifying the punishment that is called the fire everlasting. (A.E., n. 1015.)

Since hatred is infernal fire it is clear that it must be put away before love, which is heavenly fire, can flow in, and by light from itself give life to man; and this infernal fire can in no wise be put away unless man knows whence hatred is and what it is, and afterward turns away from it and shuns it. There is in every man by inheritance a hatred against the neighbor; for every man is born into a love of self and of the world, and in consequence conceives hatred, and from it is inflamed against all who do not make one with him and favor his love, especially against those who oppose his l.u.s.ts. For no one can love himself above all things and love the Lord at the same time; neither can anyone love the world above all things and love the neighbor at the same time; since no one can serve two masters at the same time without despising and hating the one while he honors and loves the other.

Hatred is especially in those who are in a love of ruling over all; with others it is unfriendliness.

It shall be told what hatred is. Hatred has in itself a fire which is an endeavor to kill man. That fire is manifested in anger. There is a seeming hatred and consequent anger in the good against evil; but this is not hatred, but an aversion to evil; neither is it anger, but a zeal for good in which heavenly fire inwardly lies concealed. For the good turn away from what is evil, and are seemingly angry at the neighbor, in order that they may remove the evil; and thus they have regard to the neighbor's good. (A.E., n. 1016.)

When a man abstains from hatred and turns away from it and shuns it as devilish, love, charity, mercy, clemency flow in through heaven from the Lord, and then for the first time the works that he does are works of love and charity; while the works he had done before, however good might be their appearance in the external form, were all works of love of self and of the world, in which hatred lurked whenever they were not rewarded. So long as hatred is not put away so long man is merely natural; and the merely natural man remains in all his inherited evil, nor can he become spiritual until hatred, with its root, which is love of ruling over all, is put away; for the fire of heaven, which is spiritual love, cannot flow in so long as the fire of h.e.l.l, which is hatred, stands in the way and shuts it out. (A.E., n. 1017.)

VIII. The Eighth Commandment

The eighth commandment of the Decalogue, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," shall now be explained. "To bear false witness" signifies in the sense nearest to the letter to lie about the neighbor by accusing him falsely. But in the internal sense it signifies to call what is just unjust, and what is unjust just, and to confirm this by means of falsities; while in the inmost sense it signifies to falsity the truth and good of the Word, and on the other hand to prove a falsity of doctrine to be true by confirming it by means of fallacies, appearances, fabrications, knowledges falsely applied, sophistries, and the like.

The confirmations themselves and the consequent persuasions are false witnesses, for they are false attestations.

From this it can be seen that what is here meant is not only false witness before a judge, but even a judge himself who in perverting right makes what is just unjust, and what is unjust just, for he as well as the witness himself acts the part of a false witness. The same is true of every man who makes what is straight to appear crooked, and what is crooked to appear straight; likewise any ecclesiastical leader who falsifies the truth of the Word and perverts its good. In a word, every falsification of truth, spiritual, moral, and civil, which is done from an evil heart, is false witness. (A.E., n. 1019.)

When a man abstains from false testimonies understood in a moral and spiritual sense, and shuns and turns away from them as sins, a love of truth and a love of justice flow in from the Lord through heaven. And when, in consequence, the man loves truth and loves justice he loves the Lord, for the Lord is truth itself and justice itself. And when a man loves truth and justice it may be said that truth and justice love him, because the Lord loves him; and as a consequence his utterances become utterances of truth, and his works become works of justice. (A.E., n.

1020.)

IX: The Ninth and Tenth Commandments

The ninth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house," is now to be treated of. There are two loves from which all l.u.s.ts spring and flow forth perpetually like streams from their fountains. These loves are called love of the world and love of self. l.u.s.t is a love continually desiring, for what a man loves, that he continually longs for. But l.u.s.ts belong to the love of evil, while desires and affections belong to the love of good. Now because love of the world and love of self are the fountains of all l.u.s.ts, and all evil l.u.s.ts are forbidden in these last two commandments, it follows that the ninth commandment forbids the l.u.s.ts that flow from love of the world, and the tenth commandment the l.u.s.ts that flow from love of self. "Not to covet a neighbor's house" means not to covet his goods, which in general are possessions of wealth, and not to appropriate them to oneself by evil arts. This l.u.s.t belongs to love of the world. (A.E., n. 1021.)

The tenth commandment is "Thou shalt not covet (or try to get possession of) thy neighbor's wife, his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his a.s.s." These are l.u.s.ts after what is man's own, because the wife, man-servant, maid-servant, ox, and a.s.s, are within his home, and the things within a man's home mean in the spiritual internal sense the things that are his own, that is, the wife means affection for spiritual truth and good, "man-servant and maid-servant," affection for rational truth and good serving the spiritual, and "ox and a.s.s" affection for natural good and truth. These signify in the Word such affections; but because coveting and trying to get possession of these affections means to wish and eagerly desire to subject a man to one's own authority or bidding, it follows that l.u.s.ting after these affections means the l.u.s.ts of the love of self, that is, of the love of ruling, for thus does one make the things belonging to a companion to be his own.

From this it can now be seen that the l.u.s.t of the ninth commandment is a l.u.s.t of the love of the world, and that the l.u.s.ts of the tenth commandment are l.u.s.ts of the love of self. For, as has been said before, all l.u.s.ts are of love, for it is love that covets; and as there are two evil loves to which all l.u.s.ts have reference, namely, love of the world and love of self, it follows that the l.u.s.t of the ninth commandments has reference to love of the world, and the l.u.s.t of this commandment to love of self, especially to the love of ruling. (A.E., n. 1022.)

X. The Commandments in General

The commandments of the Decalogue are called the ten words or ten commandments, because "ten" signifies all; consequently the ten words mean all things of the Word, and thus all things of the church in brief.

All things of the Word and all things of the church in brief are meant, because there are in each commandment three interior senses, each sense for its own heaven, for there are three heavens. The first sense is the spiritual moral sense; this is for the first or outmost heaven; the second sense is the celestial spiritual sense, which is for the second or middle heaven; and the third sense is the Divine celestial, which is for the third or inmost heaven. There are thus three internal senses in every least particular of the Word. For from the Lord, who is in things highest, the Word has been sent down in succession through the three heavens even to the earth, and thus has been accommodated to each heaven; and therefore the Word is in each heaven and I may say in each angel in its own sense, and is read by them daily; and there are preachings from it, as on the earth.

For the Word is Divine truth itself, thus Divine wisdom, going forth from the Lord as a sun, and appearing in the heavens as light. Divine truth is the Divine that is called the Holy Spirit, for it not only goes forth from the Lord but it also enlightens man and teaches him, as is said of the Holy Spirit. As the Word in its descent from the Lord has been adapted to the three heavens, and the three heavens are joined together as inmosts are with outmosts through intermediates, so, too, are the three senses of the Word; which shows that the Word is given that by it there may be a conjunction of the heavens with each other, and a conjunction of the heavens with the human race, for whom the sense of the letter is given, which is merely natural and thus the basis of the other three senses. That the ten commandments of the Decalogue are all things of the Word in brief can be seen only from the three senses of those commandments, which are as above stated. (A.E., n. 1024).

What these three senses in the commandments of the Decalogue are can be seen from the following summary explanation. The first commandment, "Thou shalt not wors.h.i.+p other G.o.ds beside Me," involves in the spiritual moral sense that nothing else nor anyone else is to be wors.h.i.+pped as Divine; nothing else, that is, Nature, by attributing to it something Divine of itself; nor anyone else, that is, any vicar of the Lord or any saint. In the celestial spiritual sense it involves that one G.o.d only is to be acknowledged, and not several according to their qualities, as the ancients did, and as some heathens do at this day, or according to their works, as Christians do at this day, who make out one G.o.d because of creation, another because of redemption, and another because of enlightenment.

This commandment in the Divine celestial sense involves that the Lord alone is to be acknowledged and whors.h.i.+pped, and a trinity in Him, namely, the Divine itself from eternity, which is meant by the Father, the Divine Human born in time, which is meant by the Son of G.o.d, and the Divine that goes forth from both, which is meant by the Holy Spirit.

These are the three senses of the first commandment in their order.

From this commandment viewed in its threefold sense it is clear that it contains and includes in brief all things that concern the essence of the Divine.

The second commandment, "Thou shalt not profane the name of G.o.d,"

contains and includes in its three senses all things that concern the quality of the Divine, since "the name of G.o.d" signifies His quality, which in its first sense is the Word, doctrine from the Word, and wors.h.i.+p of the lips and of the life from doctrine; in its second sense it means the Lord's kingdom on the earth and the Lord's kingdom in the heavens; and in its third sense it means the Lord's Divine Human, for this is the quality of the Divine itself.

In the other commandments there are likewise three internal senses for the three heavens; but these, the Lord willing, will be considered elsewhere. (A.E., n. 1025.)

As the Divine truth united to Divine good goes forth from the Lord as a sun, and by this heaven and the world were made (John i. 1, 3, 10), it follows that it is from this that all things in heaven and in the world have reference to good and to truth and to their conjunction in bringing forth something. These ten commandments contain all things of Divine good and all things of Divine truth, and there is also in them a conjunction of these. But this conjunction is hidden; for it is like the conjunction of love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, Divine good belonging to love to the Lord, and Divine truth to love toward the neighbor; for when a man lives according to Divine truth, that is, loves his neighbor, the Lord flows in with Divine good and conjoins Himself.

For this reason there were two tables on which these ten commandments were written, and they were called a covenant, which signifies conjunction; and afterward they were placed in the ark, not one beside the other, but one above the other, for a testimony of the conjunction between the Lord and man. Upon one table the commandments of love to the Lord were written, and upon the other table the commandments of love toward the neighbor. The commandments of love to the Lord are the first three, and the commandments of love toward the neighbor are the last six; and the fourth commandment, which is "Honor thy father and thy mother," is the mediating commandment, for in it "father" means the Father in the heavens, and "mother" means the church, which is the neighbor. (A.E., n. 1026.)

Something shall now be said about how conjunction is effected by means of the commandments of the Decalogue. Man does not conjoin himself to the Lord, but the Lord alone conjoins man to Himself, and this He does by man's knowing, understanding, willing, and doing these commandments; and when man does them there is conjunction, but if he does not do them he ceases to will them, and when he ceases to will them he ceases also to understand and know them. For what does willing amount to if man when he is able does not do? Is it not a figment of reason? From this it follows that conjunction is effected when a man does the commandments of the Decalogue.

But it has been said that man does not conjoin himself to the Lord, but that the Lord alone conjoins man to Himself, and that conjunction is effected by doing; and from this it follows that it is the Lord in man that does these commandments. But anyone can see that a covenant cannot be entered into and conjunction be effected by it unless there is some return on man's part, not only in consent but also in acceptance. To this end the Lord has imparted to man a freedom to will and act as if of himself, and such a freedom that man does not know otherwise, when he is thinking about truth and doing good, than that the freedom is in himself and thus from himself. There is this return on man's part in order that conjunction may be effected. But as this freedom is from the Lord, and continually from Him, man must by all means acknowledge that thinking about and understanding truth and willing and doing good are not from himself, but are from the Lord.

Consequently when man through the last six commandments conjoins himself to the Lord as if of himself, the Lord then conjoins Himself to man through the first three commandments, which are that man must acknowledge G.o.d, must believe in the Lord, and must keep His name holy.

These man does not believe, however much he may think that he does, unless the evils forbidden in the other table, that is, in the last six commandments, he abstains from as sins. These are the things pertaining to the covenant on the part of the Lord and on the part of man, through which there is reciprocal conjunction, which is that man may be in the Lord and the Lord in man (John xiv. 20). (A.E., n. 1027.)

It is said by some that he who sins against one commandment of the Decalogue sins also against the rest, thus that he who is guilty of one is guilty of all. It shall be told how far this is in harmony with the truth. When a man transgresses one commandment, a.s.suring himself that it is not a sin, thus offending without fear of G.o.d, because he has thus rejected the fear of G.o.d he does not fear to transgress the rest of the commandments, although he may not do this in act.

For example, when one does not regard as sins frauds and illicit gains, which in themselves are thefts, neither does he regard as a sin adultery with the wife of another, hating a man even to murder, lying about him, coveting his house and other things belonging to him; for when he rejects from his heart in any one commandment the fear of G.o.d he denies that anything is a sin; consequently he is in communion with those who in like manner transgress the other commandments. He is like an infernal spirit who is in a h.e.l.l of thieves; and although he is not an adulterer, nor a murderer, nor a false witness, yet he is in communion with such, and can be persuaded by them to believe that such things are not evils, and can be led to do them. For he who becomes an infernal spirit through the transgression of one commandment, no longer believes it to be a sin to do anything against G.o.d or anything against the neighbor.

But the opposite is true of those who abstain from the evil forbidden in one commandment, and who shun and afterward turn away from it as a sin against G.o.d. Because such fear of G.o.d, they come into communion with angels of heaven, and are led by the Lord to abstain from the evils forbidden in the other commandments and to shun them, and finally to turn away from them as sins; and if perchance they have sinned against them, yet they repent and thus by degrees are withdrawn from them.

(A.E., n. 1028.)

Part Third--PROFANATIONS OF GOOD AND TRUTH

I. Goods and Truths and Their Opposites

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 const.i.tute 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 h.e.l.l 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 h.e.l.ls 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 h.e.l.ls, because the heavens and the h.e.l.ls 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 h.e.l.l; and thus between truth from heaven and falsity from h.e.l.l. For the Lord arranges unceasingly that all kinds and species of good and truth in the heavens shall have opposite to them in the h.e.l.ls 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 h.e.l.ls 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 h.e.l.l. (A.E., n. 1043.)

II. The First Kind of Profanation

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 wors.h.i.+p, 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 pa.s.s that man is at the same time in heaven and in h.e.l.l; consequently, when heaven wills to have its own, and h.e.l.l 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.