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Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings

This list of Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings was originally compiled by W. C. Henderson in 1960 but has since been updated.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #507

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507. The fifth experience. 1

I was talking with angels and we came at last to the subject of the lust for evil which every person acquires by birth. 'In the world where I live,' said one of them, 'those who are possessed by lust appear to us angels as fools, but to themselves they seem extremely wise. On this account, in order to drag them out of their folly, they are by turns allowed to lapse into it and are then brought to a rational frame of mind, which in their case is confined to externals. When they are in this state they see, acknowledge and confess that they are crazy. But they still long to exchange their rational state for their crazed one, and they plunge into it as being freedom and pleasure in place of compulsion and unpleasantness. So it is lust that inwardly delights them, not intelligence.

[2] 'There are three universal loves of which every person is from creation compounded: the love of the neighbour, which is also the love of performing services, and this is a spiritual love; the love of the world, which is also the love of possessing wealth, and this is a material love; and self-love, which is also the love of dominating others, and this is a bodily love. A person is truly human when the love of the neighbour, or the love of performing services, makes up the head, and the love of the world, or of possessing wealth, makes up the chest and belly, and self-love, or the love of dominating, makes up the feet and the soles of the feet. But if the love of the world makes up the head, a person is only human in the way a hunchback is. And if self-love makes up the head, he is not like a person standing on his feet, but like one standing on the palms of his hands with his head down and his haunches in the air.

[3] 'When the love of performing services makes up the head, and the other two loves duly make up the trunk and feet, the person appears in heaven to have the face of an angel with a lovely rainbow around his head. But if the love of the world or wealth makes up the head, seen from heaven he seems to have a pale face like a corpse with a yellow ring around his head. And if self-love or the love of dominating others makes up the head, seen from heaven he seems to have a face dark with fiery gleams with a white ring around his head.'

This led me to ask: 'What do the rings around the head represent?' Intelligence;' they replied, 'the white ring around the head of a person with a dark face with fiery gleams represents his intelligence being limited to externals or around him, and his craziness being in his internals or inside him. Also a person of this sort is wise when engaged in the body, but crazy when in the spirit. No one is wise in spirit except by the Lord's doing; this happens when he is born again and created anew by the Lord.'

[4] After this the ground on the left opened and I saw rising through the opening a devil with a dark face with fiery gleams and a white ring around his head. 'Who are you?' I asked. 'I am Lucifer,' he said, 'the son of the dawn. I was cast down for making myself like the Most High, as described in Isaiah, chapter 14.' He was not actually Lucifer, but he thought he was. 'Since you have been cast down,' I said, 'how can you rise again from hell?' 'There,' he said, 'I am a devil, but here an angel of light; don't you see I have a white ring round my head? And you will see, if you wish, that among moral people I am moral, among rational people rational, among spiritual people even spiritual. I was even able to preach.'

'What did you preach about?' I asked. 'Against cheats,' he said, 'against adulterers and all the hellish loves. In fact it was then I called myself the devil Lucifer and invoked curses against myself as such, so that I was praised to the skies. That was how I got the name of the son of the dawn. To my own surprise, when I was in the pulpit I could think of nothing but speaking correctly and properly. But the reason was revealed to me, that I was in externals and these were then separated from my internals. Yet despite having this revealed to me, I was still unable to change, because I regarded myself as superior to the Most High, and was proud enough to oppose Him.'

[5] 'How,' I asked then, 'could you have spoken like that when you are yourself a cheat and an adulterer?' 'I am different,' he replied, 'when I am in externals or the body, from what I am when in internals or the spirit. In the body I am an angel, but in the spirit a devil. For while I am in the body I am in the power of the understanding, but in the spirit I am in the power of the will, and the understanding carries me upwards, while the will carries me down. When I am in the power of the understanding there is a white ring surrounding my head; but when the understanding becomes completely subservient to the will and is its creature, which is our ultimate fate, the ring turns black and fades away. When this happens I can no longer climb up into this light,,

Suddenly, however, catching sight of the angels with me, his face became inflamed and his voice became harsh, and he turned black, including the ring around his head. Then he fell back into hell through the opening by which he had risen. The by-standers drew the conclusion from what they had seen and heard that it is the will and not the understanding which determines a person's character, since the will has no difficulty in bringing the understanding over to its side and making it subservient.

[6] Then I asked the angels where the devils got their rationality from. 'It is,' they said, 'from the glory of self-love, for self-love is surrounded by glory, since this is the brilliance of its fire, and glory raises the understanding almost into the light of heaven. Everyone's understanding is capable of being raised in proportion to his knowledge; but the will can only be raised by living in accordance with the truths taught by the church and by reason. That is why even atheists, who out of self-love boast of their reputation, and so pride themselves on their intelligence, enjoy a higher degree of rationality than many others. But this happens when they are deep in intellectual thought, not when they are letting their wills express their love. It is love in the will which takes possession of the internal man, but thought in the understanding which takes possession of the external man.' The angel went on to tell us the reason why man is a compound of three loves, that of service, that of the world, and self-love. It is so that he may be guided in his thoughts by God, yet think entirely as if of himself. He told us that the highest levels of the human mind are turned upwards to God, the middle levels outwards to the world, the lowest downwards to the body. It is because these are turned downwards that a person thinks as if entirely of his own accord, when in fact his thoughts are controlled by God.

Footnotes:

1. This section is repeated with modifications from Conjugial Love 269.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Conjugial Love #103

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103. To this I will append two narrative accounts. Here is the first:

One morning before sunrise, I looked out towards the east in the spiritual world and I saw four horsemen seemingly flying out of a cloud that shone with the blaze of dawn. On the heads of the horsemen I saw curled helmets 1 , on their arms what appeared to be wings, and about their bodies light orange-colored tunics. Thus dressed, like racers they rose up on their horses and held the reins out over their manes, so that the horses went out at a gallop like wing-footed steeds.

I followed their course or flight with my eyes, with a mind to find out where they were going. Then suddenly three of the horsemen peeled off in three directions, to the south, the west, and the north, while the fourth pulled up after a short space and came to a halt in the east.

[2] Wondering at this, I looked up to heaven and asked where the horsemen were going. I received the reply, "To the wise in the kingdoms of Europe, people of polished reason and keen sight in analytical investigations who enjoyed a reputation for genius among their contemporaries. They are being summoned to come and solve the secret of the origin of conjugial love and its vigor or potency."

Those speaking from heaven also said, "Keep looking, and in a little while you will see twenty-seven carriages, three with Spaniards in them, three with natives of France or Frenchmen, three with Italians, three with Germans, three with natives of the Netherlands or Dutchmen, three with Englishmen, three with Swedes, three with Danes, and three with Poles."

Then, after two hours, their carriages appeared, drawn by ponies light bay in color with strikingly decorated harnesses. And traveling rapidly to an immense house visible in the border region between the east and the south, the riders all got out of their carriages around the house and boldly went in.

[3] Moreover I was then told, "Go on over and go in, too, and you will hear."

I went and entered the house, and examining it inside, I saw that it was square, with sides facing towards the four points of the compass. Each of the sides had three high windows containing panes of crystal, whose frames were made of olive wood. From either side of the frames projected walls in the form of rooms, with vaulted ceilings and containing tables. These walls were made out of cedar, the ceilings out of fine sandarac wood 2 , and the floors out of boards of poplar. Against the east wall - where I did not see any windows - a table stood, overlaid with gold, on which had been placed a miter covered with precious stones. This would go as an award or prize to the one who found the secret of the riddle to be presently put before them.

[4] As I looked around at the rooms formed by the projecting walls, which were like compartments along the windows, I saw in each of them five men from the same European kingdom, who were ready and waiting for the topic on which they were to render judgment.

Instantly, then, an angel stood in the middle of the palace and said, "The subject on which you are to render judgment is the origin of conjugial love and its vigor or potency. Discuss it and come to a decision. Then when you have reached a decision, write your opinion on a piece of paper and put it into the silver urn that you see placed beside the gold table. Also, sign it with the initial letter of the kingdom you are from. For example, if you are natives of France or French, write F. If you are natives of the Netherlands or Dutch, write N. If you are Italian, write I. If you are English, write E. If you are Polish, write P. If you are German, write G. If you are Spanish, write Sp. If you are Danish, write D. And if you are Swedish, write Sw."

With these words the angel departed, saying as he left, "I will return."

The five fellow countrymen in each compartment along the windows then considered this instruction, analyzed the subject, and after coming to a decision to the best of their ability to judge, wrote it down on a piece of paper, signed it with the initial letter of their kingdom, and put it into the hollow silver container.

Three hours later, when they were all finished, the angel returned to draw the pieces of paper out of the urn one by one and read them in the presence of the whole gathering.

Footnotes:

1. Probably morions or comb morions.

2. Literally, "thyine wood." See Revelation 18:12, where it has been variously translated.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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