Capítulo 1 (EL CIELO): El Dios del Cielo es el Señor

2. Lo primero será saber quien es el Dios del cielo, puesto que de ello dependen las demás cosas. En el cielo entero sólo el Señor es reconocido por Dios del cielo y ningún otro. Allí dicen, como Él mismo enseñó:

Que Él es uno con el Padre; que el Padre es en Él y Él en el Padre; que quien ve a Él, ve al Padre y que todo lo Santo procede de Él (Juan 10:30, 38; 14:9-11; 16:13-15).

He hablado varias veces con los ángeles sobre este particular, y siempre han dicho, que en el cielo no se puede partir lo Divino en tres, porque saben y sienten que la Divinidad es única, y que es única en el Señor. También han dicho, que los de la iglesia que llegan del mundo, teniendo la idea de tres Divinidades (Divinas Personas), no pueden ser admitidos en el cielo, puesto que su pensamiento pasa continuamente de uno a otro, y allí no es permitido pensar tres y decir uno; porque cada uno en el cielo habla por el pensamiento, siendo así que allí el hablar es pensar, o sea el pensar es hablar, por lo cual los que en el mundo han dividido la Divinidad en tres, formándose separada idea de cada uno, y no habiéndolos reunido y concentrado en el Señor, no pueden ser recibidos, porque en el cielo tiene lugar una comunicación de todo pensamiento; por lo cual si allí entrase alguien que pensara tres y dijera uno, sería en seguida descubierto y rechazado. Pero hay que saber que todos aquellos que no han separado la verdad del bien, o sea la fe del amor, al ser instruidos en la otra vida, reciben el celestial concepto del Señor de que Él es el Dios del universo. Otra cosa sucede con los que han separado la fe de la vida, es decir, los que no han vivido conforme a los preceptos de la verdadera fe.

3849. 'And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, Bilhah his servant-girl - to her to be a servant-girl' means exterior affections which are subservient bonds or means. This is clear from what has been stated above in 3835. The reason 'Bilhah the servant-girl' means exterior affections, and 'Zilpah, Leah's servant-girl' external affections, is that 'Rachel' represents the affection for internal truth and 'Leah' the affection for external truth. Exterior affections are natural affections subservient to internal. The reason these exterior affections are means that serve in the joining of truth to good is that no matter of doctrine, nor indeed any item of knowledge, can enter anyone except by means of affections. For affections hold life within themselves, but truths which belong to doctrine and knowledge do not without those affections hold it within themselves. The truth of this is quite evident, for without affection no one can even think, or indeed utter a single word. Anyone who gives this matter any consideration will perceive that a voice devoid of affection is the voice of an automaton and so simply a sound with no life to it; but that when it does have affections present in it the amount and the nature of that affection determines the amount and the nature of the life present in it. This shows what truths are without good, and that the affection present in truths springs from good.

[2] Anyone who gives the matter any consideration may also be aware of the same point from the fact that the human understanding is no understanding unless the will is present in it, for the life of the understanding is received from the will. This consideration too shows what truths are without good, namely that they are not truths at all, and that good is the source from which they draw their life; for truths belong to the understanding part of the mind and good to the will part. From this anyone is able to judge for himself what faith, which essentially is truth, is when devoid of charity, which essentially is good, and to judge that the truths of faith when devoid of the good of charity are dead, for as has been stated, the amount of affection present in truths, and the nature of it, determine the amount and nature of the life present there. But what give truths the appearance of still possessing life even when the good of charity is absent are the affections that go with self-love and love of the world, which possess no other life than that which in the spiritual sense is called death and is the life of hell. The word affection is used, and by that is meant that which is an extension from some love.

[3] From these considerations it may now be seen that affections are meant that serve in the joining of truth and good, and that affections are the means by which truths are introduced and also by which these are arranged into order. Genuine affections which go with love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour bring them into a heavenly order, but evil affections which go with self-love and love of the world bring them into a hellish order, that is, into that which is the contrary of heavenly order.

[4] The most external affections of all are those which belong to the body and are called appetites and desires. Those immediately interior to these belong to the lower mind (animus) and are called natural affections. But internal affections belong to the rational mind find are called spiritual affections. To the latter, that is to say, to spiritual affections which belong to the higher mind (mens), truths expressed in matters of doctrine are introduced by means of the more external and the most external affections, that is, by natural and bodily ones. These are consequently subservient means and are meant by the servant-girls given by Laban to Rachel and to Leah. When they are called Laban's servant-girls the meaning is that those affections had their origin in the good represented by Laban, a good dealt with already. For the truths that are learned first cannot at first be instilled by means of any other affections. Genuine affections arrive in the process of time, but not until a person is acting from good.