544. And there was given unto them power as the scorpions of the earth have power, signifies their ability to persuade, and its effect and might. This is evident from the signification of a "scorpion," as being an infatuating and suffocating persuasiveness (of which presently); and from the signification of "power," as being might and effect, here the might of the sensual man from his persuasiveness, and the effect which is infatuating and suffocating. Just what and of what quality this persuasiveness is which is signified by a "scorpion" scarcely anyone in the world yet knows, because it is the persuasiveness of the spirit of the sensual man, which he has when he becomes a spirit, but does not have while he is living as a man in the world. The reason is that a man in the world rarely speaks out what his spirit thinks and inmostly loves, for he is taught from infancy to utter such things as pertain to civil and moral life, and even such as pertain to the spiritual life, although his spirit, which thinks and wills inwardly, is differently inclined. So long as man's spirit remains in the body it makes a show of such things before the world, because in no other way can it captivate minds so that his spirit may accomplish the ends it aims at, which are chiefly honors and gain, and name and reputation on account of them.

This is why it is unknown in the world just what and of what quality this infatuating and suffocating persuasiveness is that is signified by a "scorpion;" and yet with the spirits in whom it is, it is such as to infuse itself into the mind and disposition of another, and to benumb and almost extinguish his rational and intellectual faculties, making it impossible for him to know otherwise than that what is spoken is truth, although it be most false. Those who are in such persuasiveness do not speak from any reason, but from blind faith without reason, because they speak from the lowest sensual, and in this there is no reason, but only a persuasive faith from such things as ascend from the body and flow in from the world, inspired by the fire of self-love; it is this fire that breathes into, draws out, and pours into another. Consequently those are more especially in this persuasiveness who have imbued themselves with falsities from the love of self, and believe themselves to be wiser than others. This persuasiveness is said to be infatuating because it induces a stupor in the understanding, and is called suffocating because it takes away the free breathing of another; for everyone breathes in harmony with the thought of his mind. But inasmuch as this persuasiveness is most noxious and pernicious, including a kind of swoon on the mind of another, so that he can see nothing rationally, spirits are strictly forbidden to make use of it; and those who do make use of it are separated from the others, and are either punished or sent down into hell; for in the spiritual world everyone is allowed to confirm the opinions of his mind, whether they be true or false, by things rational and intellectual, but not by any persuasive fascination. (More respecting this persuasiveness may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia: as, That those who are constrained by it are inwardly bound, n. 5096. Those who make use of it shut up the rational of others, and as it were suffocate them, n. 3895, 5128. The Nephilim, Anakim, and Rephaim, mentioned in the Word, were, more than others, in direful persuasions of falsity, n. 581, 1268, 1270, 1271, 1673, 7686. These, before the Lord's coming, infested all in the other life through their direful persuasions, and almost extinguished their spiritual life, n. Arcana Coelestia 7686. They were cast into hell by the Lord when He was in the world, and that hell still appears under a kind of misty crag, and those who draw near it fall into a swoon, n. 311, 581, 1268, 1270, 7686; my own experience with some of the devils from that hell who were permitted to flow into me, n. 1268-1271. How hurtful the persuasion of falsity is, n. 794, 806. There are many kinds of the persuasions of falsity, n. 1673, 1675 the end.) This deadly persuasiveness is signified by a "scorpion," because a scorpion when it stings a man induces ¹ a like swooning of the mind and thence death, if there is no cure.

[2] Murderous persuasions are signified by "scorpions" also in the following passages. In Luke:

Jesus said to the seventy whom He sent out, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven. Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; that nothing may by any means hurt you (Luke 10:18, 19).

Evidently "serpents and scorpions" do not mean here serpents and scorpions, for the Lord says that "He saw Satan as lightning falling from heaven," and that He "gives them authority over all the power of the enemy;" therefore "serpents and scorpions" signify in the internal sense the crew of Satan, who were in craftiness and direful persuasiveness of falsity, by which men after death are spiritually murdered, unless they are defended by the Lord. The antediluvians, who were called the "Nephilim," were in such persuasiveness more than others, and unless the Lord when He was in the world had subjugated them and cast them into hell and had closed it up, no mortal could have been saved; for they were infesting and almost murdering whomsoever they met in the spiritual world. That the Lord delivered the spiritual world from these and like spirits is meant by His "seeing Satan falling from heaven," and by His giving to those who are in truths from good from Him "authority to tread on serpents and scorpions."

[3] This direful persuasiveness is also signified by "scorpions" in Ezekiel:

Son of man, be not afraid of them nor of their words, though the stubborn and thorny be with thee, and thou dwellest among scorpions; be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their faces. They are hard of face, and obdurate in heart (Ezekiel 2:6, 4).

"To dwell among scorpions" means among those who have persuaded themselves, and strongly persuade others, of falsities, and who do not admit any truth; therefore they are called "stubborn and thorny," also "hard of face and obdurate in heart." Moreover, in those who are in a strong persuasion of falsity the interiors which belong to the rational mind are closed up, consequently they think and speak from the lowest sensual only, and when this sensual is enkindled by the fire of self-love it is hard and obdurate, and also hardens and makes obdurate the interiors of others whom it addresses. For in the spiritual world there is a communication of minds, that is, of the thoughts and affections; and from those who are in such persuasiveness there is a pouring in, from which come the effects above mentioned.

[4] In Moses:

Jehovah God, who led thee through the great and fearful wilderness, of the serpent, the fiery serpent, and the scorpion (Deuteronomy 8:15).

The journeys and wanderings of the sons of Israel forty years in the wilderness represented and signified the temptations of the faithful, and as these come from the injections and persuasions of falsities by evil spirits, they were said to have been led "through a fearful wilderness, of the serpent, the fiery serpent, and the scorpion." Moreover, "serpents" in general signify the lowest sensual of man, and the various species of serpents the various states of that sensual in respect to evils and falsities; for sensual men are more crafty and malicious than others, and themselves believe, and induce others to believe, that they excel in genius, intellect, and judgment; but I can assert that they have nothing of understanding or judgment, but that they are as stupid in such things as are the essentials of faith and life as they are clever in scheming evils and persuading to falsities; and cunning, as is well known, is not wisdom, for wisdom is of truth from good, while cunning is of falsity from evil; and falsity from evil destroys truth from good, because they are opposites, and what is opposite destroys.

Poznámky pod čarou:

5128. 'When you were his cupbearer' means as is the normal position for sensory impressions of this kind. This is clear from the meaning of 'cupbearer' as the powers of the senses, that is, those of them that are subject to the understanding part of the mind, dealt with in 5077, 5082 - the normal position being meant by the expression 'when you were'. The need for sensory impressions to be subject and subordinate to rational ideas has been referred to already in what has gone before; but since the subjection and subordination of them is the subject here in the internal sense, something more must be said about the nature of this.

[2] The person with whom the senses have been made subject is called a rational person, but a person with whom they have not is called one ruled by his senses. But whether a person is rational or whether he is one ruled by his senses is scarcely discernible by others; only the individual himself can know, if he examines himself inwardly, that is, if he examines what he wills and what he thinks. Others cannot know from a person's speech whether he is one ruled by his senses or whether he is a rational person, nor can they know it from his actions, because the life of his thought held within his speech and the life of his will held within his actions cannot be perceived by any of the physical senses. These hear merely the sound he utters, or they see the movement made by his body together with the affection that impels him to make it. One cannot tell whether this affection is artificial or genuine. In the next life however those who are governed by good perceive clearly both what is held within a person's speech and what is held within his actions, and so perceive the nature of the life within them and where that life has its origin. Yet even in the world several indications exist which enable one to deduce to some extent whether the senses are subject to the rational, or the rational to the senses; or what amounts to the same, whether a person is rational or ruled solely by his senses. Those indications are as follows: If one notices that a person who makes false assumptions is not ready to become more enlightened but casts truths altogether aside, dispenses with reason, and obstinately defends falsities, this is an indication that he is ruled by his senses and is not a rational person. His rational is closed, so that it does not let in the light of heaven.

[3] Ruled even more by their senses are those who are quite convinced by what is false, for such a conviction closes the rational altogether. It is one thing to make false assumptions, another to be convinced by what is false. Those convinced by what is false do have some light shining within their natural, but this is like the light in winter. When it shines among them in the next life that light is as bright as snow; but as soon as the light of heaven falls on it, it becomes a dull light, the degree and nature of their conviction making it dark as night. The same is also evident in these people while they are living in the world, for during that time they are unable to see the faintest glimmer of truth. Indeed because of the dullness and benightedness due to the falsity of which they are convinced, they see no value at all in truths and laugh at them. To the simple those people sometimes give the impression that they are rational, for by means of that snowy-white wintry light they are able to employ clever reasonings to substantiate falsities and make them look like truths. This kind of conviction exists in many of the learned, more than in every other kind of person, for they have used syllogistic and philosophical reasonings, and finally much factual knowledge to become firmly convinced by falsities. Among the ancients such people were called serpents belonging to the tree of knowledge, 195-197, but today they may be called those who are ruled inwardly by their senses and are devoid of true rationality.

[4] The main indication that shows whether someone is ruled wholly by his senses or whether he is a rational person exists in the life he leads. By this one does not mean the kind of life that is evident in his words and deeds but the kind that is held inwardly in these. For the source of the life within his words is his thought, and the source of the life within his deeds is his will, both having their origin in his intentions or end in view. The nature therefore of the intentions or end in view present within his words and deeds determines the nature of the life they hold within them, for without the life within them words are mere sounds, while deeds are mere motions. This kind of life is also what is meant when one speaks of life continuing after death. If a person is rational his words flow from right thinking and his deeds from right willing; that is, his words are a product of faith and his deeds a product of charity. But if a person is not rational he can, it is true, make a pretence of acting as one who is rational, and likewise of speaking as one who is such; but no life at all is coming from his rational. For a life of evil closes entirely the path to or communication with the rational, which causes him to be a merely natural person or one ruled by his senses.

[5] There are two things which not only close that path of communication but also rob a person of the ability ever to become rational - deceit and profanation. Deceit is like a subtle poison which affects the inward parts, while profanation is that which mixes up falsities with truths and evils with forms of good. The two completely destroy the rational. Present with everyone there are forms of good and truth which have been stored away by the Lord since earliest childhood. In the Word these forms of good and truth are called remnants, regarding which see 468, 530, 560, 561, 661, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284; and it is these remnants that deceit poisons and that profanation mixes up with falsities and evils. For what profanation is, see 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 2426, 3398, 3402, 3489, 3898, 4289, 4601. All these indications show to some extent who a rational person is and who one ruled by his senses is.

[6] When the senses have become subject to the rational, the sensory powers that serve to form a person's first mental images receive light which comes through heaven from the Lord; they are at the same time brought into a state of order that enables them to receive that light and agree with the rational. Once they exist in this condition sensory impressions are no longer a barrier that prevents truths from being either acknowledged or seen, for those that are not in keeping with truths are instantly set aside, while those which are in keeping are accepted. Those that are in keeping are now so to speak at the centre and those that are not are on the fringes. Those at the centre are so to speak raised up towards heaven, while those on the fringes are hanging downwards. Those at the centre receive light from the rational, and when they are manifested visually in the next life they look like small glittering stars which radiate light, gradually decreasing, out to the fringes. This is the kind of form that natural or sensory images are being brought into when the rational has dominion and the senses exist subject to it. This is what happens to a person while he is being regenerated, bringing him as a consequence into a state in which truths can be seen and acknowledged by him in abundance. But when the rational is subject to the senses the opposite happens, for in this case falsities are in the middle or at the centre and truths are on the fringes. The falsities at the centre dwell in a certain kind of light, which however is an inferior and deceptive one, like that emitted by a coal fire. Into this there is flowing light on every side from hell. This inferior light is that which is called darkness, for as soon as any light from heaven flows into it, it is converted into darkness.