from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

El Cielo y el Infierno #2

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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.

  
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Swedenborg en Español website and Swedenborg Library, Bryn Athyn College of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.

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Juan 10:30

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30 Yo y el Padre una cosa somos.

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Heaven and Hell #551

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551. All the People Who Are in the Hells Are Absorbed in Evils and Consequent Falsities because of Their Love for Themselves and the World

All the people who are in the hells are devoted to evil goals and the distortions that result. There is no one there devoted to evil goals and interested in true perceptions. Many evil people in the world know about spiritual truths, the truths of the church, since they have learned them first in childhood and later from sermons and from reading the Word and have gone on to take them for granted in their conversations. Some of them have even led others to believe that they were Christians at heart because they had learned from these truths how to talk with apparent affection and to behave honestly as though motivated by a spiritual faith. As for the ones who inwardly thought the opposite, though, and who carefully refrained from doing the evil things they were thinking of simply because of civil laws and for the sake of their reputation and rank and profit, they are all evil at heart, involved in what is true and good only physically, not in spirit. So when their outer layers are stripped off in the other life and the inner natures that constituted their spirits are unveiled, they are wholly absorbed in evil and false concerns, unconcerned with anything true and good. Then one can see that the true and good values simply dwelt in their memories as things they had learned about, and that they retrieved them from memory when they were talking and imitated good deeds as though they were motivated by a spiritual love and faith.

When people like this are let into their inner natures - into their evils, that is - they can no longer say anything true. They can only say what is false because their speech arises from their evil intentions. It is impossible to say anything true for evil ends because by then their spirits are made up of nothing but their own evil, and falsity emanates from evil.

Every evil spirit is distilled to this state before he or she is thrown into hell (see above, 499-512). This is called being stripped down as to what is true and good. 1 The stripping down is simply the process of being let into their own inner natures, into what they have claimed as spirits, then, or into their spirits themselves. See also 425 above on these matters.

V:

1. [Swedenborg's footnote] Before evil people are thrown down into hell they are stripped of what is true and good, and once these elements have been taken away, they move voluntarily into hell: Arcana Coelestia 6977, 7039, 7795, 8210, 8232, 9330. The Lord does not strip them [of good and truth]-they do it to themselves: 7642 [7643?], 7926. Every evil has something false within it; so people who are intent on evil are intent on what is false, even though some of them do not realize it: 7577, 8094. People who are intent on evil cannot help but think falsely when they are thinking on their own: 7437. All the people who are in hell say what is false, with evil intent: 1695, 7351-7352, 7357, 7392, 7698 [7689?].

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