215. The proprium is nothing but evil and falsity. This has been made clear to me from the fact that anything spirits at any time have spoken from themselves has been evil and false, and so much so that the moment I was made to realize that it originated in themselves I knew it was false, even though, when they spoke, they were so sure of its being the truth that they were in no doubt about it. The same is true of the person who speaks from himself. Similarly whenever people have started to reason about the things which constituted spiritual and celestial life or about those which comprised faith, I have been allowed to perceive that they doubted, indeed denied, those things; for reasoning about faith amounts to doubting and denying. And because they reason from themselves, that is, from the proprium, they plunge into utter falsities, and therefore into abysmal thick darkness, that is, thick darkness of falsities. At such times the tiniest quibble weighs more heavily than a thousand truths, just as a speck of dust deposited on the pupil of the eye prevents it from seeing the universe and everything it contains. The Lord speaks of these people in Isaiah as follows,

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and in their own sight are intelligent! Isaiah 5:21

And in the same prophet,

Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else besides me. And evil will come upon you, whose origin you do not know, and disaster will befall you, which you will not be able to expiate, and vastation will come upon you suddenly of which you know not. Isaiah 47:10-11.

In Jeremiah,

Every man has been made stupid by knowledge; every metal-caster is put to shame by his statue, for the idol he moulds is a lie, and there is no spirit in those things. Jeremiah 51:17.

'Statue' stands for the falsity which belongs to the proprium, and 'idol' for the evil which belongs to it.

183. FROM THE ARCANA COELESTIA.

What Regeneration is, and why it is effected.

At this day little is known concerning regeneration; the reason (n. 3761, 4136, 5398). Man is born into evils of every kind, and thence as to his proprium by birth, he is nothing but evil (n. 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307-2308, 3518, 3701, 3812, 8480, 8549-8550, 8552, 10283-10284, 10286, 10731). Man's hereditary nature is nothing but evil, see the extracts above in this doctrine (n. 83). Man's proprium is nothing but evil, see the same (n. 82). Man of himself, so far as he is under the influence of his hereditary nature and the proprium, is worse than the brute animals (n. 637, 3175). Therefore of himself he continually looks to hell (n. 694, 8480). Therefore, if man should be led by his own proprium, he could not possibly be saved (n. 10731).

Man's natural life is contrary to spiritual life (n. 3913, 3928). The good which he does from himself or from proprium, is not good, because he does it for the sake of self, and the world (n. 8480). Man's proprium must be removed so that the Lord and heaven may be able to be present (n. 1023, 1044). It is actually removed when he is regenerated by the Lord (n. 9334-9336, 9452, 9454, 9938). Therefore he must be created anew, that is, regenerated (n. 8548-8549,9452, 9937). "Creating" man, in the Word, signifies to regenerate him (n. 16, 88, 10634).

Man is conjoined to the Lord by regeneration (n. 2004, 9338). And consociated with angels in heaven (n. 2474). He does not come into heaven, until he is in a state to be led by the Lord by means of good, which is the case when he is regenerated (n. 8516, 8539, 8722, 9139, 9832, 10367).

The external or natural man rules, and the internal man serves, in the man who is not regenerated (n. 3167, 8743). Thus the state of man's life is inverted from his birth, and must be entirely inverted again in order that he may be saved (n. 6507, 8552-8553, 9258). The end of regeneration is, that the internal or spiritual man may rule, and the external or natural man serve (n. 911, 913). This is actually effected after man is regenerated (n. 5128, 5651, 8743). For after regeneration the love of self and the world no longer reigns, but love to the Lord and towards the neighbor, thus the Lord and not man (n. 8856-8857). Hence it is plain that man cannot be saved unless he is regenerated (n. 5280, 8548, 8772, 10156).

Regeneration is a plane to perfect the life of man to eternity (n. 9334). The regenerate man is perfected to eternity (n. 6648, 10048). The quality of the regenerate and the unregenerate man described (n. 977, 986, 10156).