Apocalypse Explained # 199
199. And I will not blot his name out of the book of life, signifies that they will be in heaven because they are fitted for it. This is evident from the signification of "name," as being the quality of man's state of life (See above, n. 148); and from the signification of "the book of life," as being heaven (of which presently); therefore, "not to blot his name out of the book of life" signifies that they will be in heaven because their state in respect to love and faith is such, thus because they are fitted for heaven. "The book of life" signifies heaven, because a man who is in the love to the Lord and faith in Him is a heaven in least form, and this heaven of man corresponds to heaven in the greatest form; therefore he who has heaven in himself also comes into heaven, for he is fitted for it. (That there is such correspondence, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 51-58, 73-77, 87-102; and The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 230-236.) From this it is that "the book of life" is that with man that corresponds to the heaven with him. Because this remains with man to eternity, if he has become spiritual by means of the knowledges of truth and good applied to life in the world, it is said, "I will not blot his name out of the book of life." In the world indeed it may be blotted out if man does not remain spiritual to the end of life; but if he does so remain it cannot be blotted out, because he is conjoined to the Lord by love and faith, and such conjunction with the Lord as there has been in the world remains with man after death.
[2] From this it can be seen that "the book of life" means that from the Lord which has been written on man's spirit, that is, on his heart and soul, or what is the same, on his love and faith; and what is written by the Lord in man is heaven. From this it is clear what is meant by "the book of life" in the following passages. In Daniel:
The Ancient of Days sat, and the books were opened (Daniel 7:9-10).
In the same:
The people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book (Daniel 12:1).
In David:
Let them be blotted out of the book of lives, and not be written with the righteous (Psalms 69:28).
In Moses:
Moses said, Blot me, I pray, out of the book which Thou hast written. And Jehovah said, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of the book (Exodus 32:32-33).
In Revelation:
All shall worship the beast whose names have not been written in the Lamb's book of life (Revelation 13:8; 17:8).
Again:
I saw that the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is that of life; and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. And if any was not found written in the book of life he was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:12-13, 15).
Again:
There shall enter into the New Jerusalem only they that are written in the Lamb's book of life (Revelation 21:27).
In David:
My bone was not hidden from Thee when I was made in secret. Upon Thy book all the days were written in which they were formed, and not one of them is wanting (Psalms 139:15-16).
"All the days were written" means all states of life. (That each and all things that man has thought, willed, spoken, and done, even all that he has seen and heard, are with him in his spirit as if written therein, so that nothing whatever is wanting, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 462, 463; and Arcana Coelestia 2469-2494, 7398; and that this is man's "book of life," see n. 2474, 9386, 9841, 10505, n. 5212, 8067, 9334, 9723, 9841.
Heaven and Hell # 463
463. When we are being faced with our deeds after death, angels who have been given the task of examining look searchingly into the face and continue their examination through the whole body, beginning with the fingers first of one hand and then of the other and continuing through the whole. When I wondered why this was so, it was explained to me. The reason is that just as the details of our thought and intention are inscribed on our brains because that is where their beginnings are, so they are inscribed on the whole body as well, since all the elements of our thought and intention move out into the body from their beginnings and take definition there in their outmost forms. This is why the things that are inscribed on our memory from our intention and consequent thought are inscribed not only on the brain but also on the whole person, where they take form in a pattern that follows the pattern of the parts of the body. I could therefore see that our overall nature depends on the nature of our intention and consequent thought, so that evil people are their own evil and good people are their own good. 1
We may also gather from this what is meant by our book of life, mentioned in the Word. It is the fact that all our deeds and all our thoughts are written on our whole person and seem as though they are read from a book when they are called out of our memory. They appear in a kind of image when our spirit is looked at in heaven's light.
I should like to add to this something noteworthy about the memory that we keep after death, something that convinced me that not just the general contents but even the smallest details that have entered our memory do last and are never erased. I saw some books with writing in them like earthly writing, and was told that they had come from the memories of the people who had written them, that not a single word was missing that had been in the book they had written in the world. I was also told that all the least details could be retrieved from the memory of someone else, even things the person had forgotten in the world. The reason for this was explained as well; namely, that we have an outer and an inner memory, the outer proper to our natural person and the inner proper to our spiritual person. The details of what we have thought, intended, said, and done, even what we have heard and seen, are inscribed on our inner or spiritual memory. 2 There is no way to erase anything there, since everything is written at once on our spirit itself and on the members of our body, as noted above. This means that our spirit is formed in accord with what we have thought and what we have done intentionally. I know these things seem paradoxical and hard to believe, but they are true nevertheless.
Let no one believe, then, that there is anything we have thought or done in secret that will remain hidden after death. Believe rather that absolutely everything will come out into broad daylight.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] Good people, spirits, and angels are their own good and their own truth: that is, the nature of the whole person depends on the nature of that good and truth: 10298, 10367. This is because the good constitutes our volition and the true constitutes our intellect, and volition and intellect constitute the entire life for a person here, for a spirit, and for an angel: 3332, 3623, 6065. This is the same as saying that people here, spirits, and angels are their love: 6872, 10177, 10284.
2. [Swedenborg's footnote] We have two memories, an outer and an inner, or a natural one and a spiritual one: 2469-2494. We are not aware that we have this inner memory: 2470-2471. How much better the inner memory is than the outer one: 2473. The contents of our outer memory are in the world's light, while the contents of our inner memory are in heaven's light: 5212. It is because of our inner memory that we can think and talk intelligently and rationally: 9394. Absolutely everything we have thought, said, done, seen, and heard is inscribed on our inner memory: 2474, 7398. That memory is our book of life: 2474, 9386, 9841, 10505. In our inner memory are the true things that have become matters of our faith and the good things that have become matters of our love: 5212, 8067. Things that have become second nature to us and part of our life and therefore have been erased from our outer memory are in our inner memory: 9394, 9723, 9841. Spirits and angels talk from their inner memory, which is why they have a universal language: 2472, 2476, 2490, 2493. Languages in the world are matters of the outer memory: 2472, 2476.
