273. (Verse 5) And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices. That this signifies enlightenment, understanding, and perception of the Divine truth in the heavens from the Lord is evident from the signification of lightnings, thunderings and voices, as being said of the Divine truth; lightnings of its enlightenment, thunderings of its understanding, and voices of its perception; that these things are signified will be evident from the passages in the Word where they are mentioned. But something shall first be said concerning the ground of those significations. All the things seen in the visible heaven by the eyes of men are correspondences; as the sun, the moon, the stars, the air, the ether, light, heat, clouds, mists, showers, and many others; they are correspondences because all the things in the natural world correspond to those that are in the spiritual world. Those things are also correspondences in heaven, where the angels are, since similar things are seen by them; but there they are not natural but spiritual, as is evident from what is shown respecting them in Heaven and Hell. For example, concerning the sun and the moon in heaven (n. 116-125); concerning light and heat in heaven (n. 126-140); and in general concerning the correspondence of heaven with all things on earth (n. 103-115); and concerning appearances in heaven (n. 170-176). Hence also lightnings and thunderings are correspondences; and because they are correspondences, they signify those things to which they correspond; in general they signify the Divine truth received and uttered by the higher angels, which, when it descends to the lower angels, is sometimes seen as lightning, and heard as thunder with voices. This is why lightning signifies the Divine truth as to enlightenment; thunder, the Divine truth as to understanding; and voices, the Divine truth as to perception.

It is said as to understanding and as to perception, because what enters by hearing into the mind is both seen and perceived; it is seen in the understanding, and it is perceived by communication with the will. (What is properly perception, such as the angels in heaven enjoy, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 140.)

[2] This, now, is why lightnings and thunders in the Word signify Divine truth as to enlightenment and as to understanding, as is evident from the following passages. In David:

"Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people. The clouds dropped waters; the skies uttered a voice; thine arrows also went abroad; the voice of thy thunder into the world; the lightnings lightened the world" (Psalms 77:15, 17, 18).

The subject treated of in this Psalm is the establishment of the church anew; by the clouds dropping waters are signified truths from the sense of the letter of the Word; by the skies, or higher clouds, uttering a voice, are signified truths from the spiritual sense of the Word; by the arrows which went abroad are meant thunderbolts, from which there appear as it were arrows from a bow, these being present when there are thunders and lightnings, and by them are signified Divine truths; by the voice of thunder into the world is signified Divine truth as to perception and understanding in the church; and by the lightning lightening the world is signified enlightenment: the world signifies the church.

[3] Again:

"A fire shall go before" Jehovah, "and burn up his enemies round about. His lightnings shall enlighten the world" (Psalms 97:3, 4).

From these words also it is evident that lightnings signify Divine truth as to enlightenment: for it is said his lightnings shall enlighten the world.

[4] In Jeremiah:

"The maker of the world by his power, he prepareth the world by his wisdom, and by his intelligence stretcheth out the heavens; at the voice which he giveth there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he maketh the vapours to ascend from the end of the earth, he maketh the lightnings of the rain" (10:12, 13; 51:16; Psalms 135:7).

Here also the establishment of the church is treated of. That by the voice of thunder is signified the Divine truth as to perception and understanding, and by lightnings the same as to enlightenment is evident from its being said that the maker of the earth prepareth the world by His wisdom, and stretcheth out the heavens by His intelligence; and immediately after, that when He uttereth His voice there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and that He maketh lightnings of the rain. The earth and the world signify the church; waters in the heavens signify spiritual truths; rain signifies the same when they descend and become natural; their enlightenment is signified by lightnings.

[5] In the second book of Samuel:

"Jehovah thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice, and sent arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and confounded them" (22:14, 15).

Thunders are here expressed by thundering from heaven, and by uttering a voice; flying thunderbolts by arrows; and by both are signified Divine truths, and by lightning, their light. And as these quicken and enlighten the good, so they affright and blind the wicked; which is meant by His sending arrows and scattering them, lightning, and confounding them for the evil cannot sustain Divine truths, nor any light at all from heaven, therefore they flee away from their presence.

[6] Similarly in David:

"Jehovah also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest uttered his voice, and sent his arrows, and scattered them and many thunderbolts, and discomfited them" (Psalms 18:13, 14).

And elsewhere:

"Hurl thy lightning, and scatter them; send forth thine arrows, and destroy them" (Psalms 144:6).

That thunders and lightnings signify the Divine truth as to understanding and as to enlightenment is still further evident from the following passages. In David:

"Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place, in thunder" (Psalms 81:7).

In the Apocalypse:

"And I heard as it were the voice of thunder, and one of the four animals saying, Come and see" (6:1).

Again:

"The angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth; and there were thunderings, voices, and lightnings" (8:5).

Again:

The angel "cried with a loud voice, as a lion; and when he cried seven thunders uttered their voices" (10:3, 4).

Again:

"The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in the temple the ark of the covenant; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings" (11:19).

Again:

"I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder" (14:2).

And again:

"I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord our God omnipotent reigneth" (19:6).

Because thunders and lightnings signify Divine truths, therefore also when Jehovah descended upon Mount Sinai to promulgate them,

"There were voices, and lightnings, and also the voice of a trumpet" (Exodus 19:16).

That the voice of a trumpet signifies Divine truth as to revelation, may be seen above (n. 55, 262.) The voice which came from heaven to the Lord was also heard as thunder, as may be seen in John (12:28, 29); and James and John were called Boanerges, or sons of thunder (Mark 3:14, 17).

2715. Two arcana exist here, the first being that, compared with the good of the celestial man, that of the spiritual man is obscure, the second that this obscurity is brightened by light from the Lord's Divine Human. As regards the first of these - that the good residing with the spiritual man is obscure compared with the celestial man's - this may be seen from what has been stated above in 2708 about the state of the spiritual man in comparison with that of the celestial man. From a comparison of the two states the fact of that obscurity is quite evident. With those who are celestial good itself exists implanted in the will part of their mind, and from there light enters the understanding part. But with those who are spiritual the whole of the will part is corrupted, so that they have no good at all from there, and therefore the Lord implants good in the understanding part of their mind, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2124, 2256. The will part is, in the main, the part of man's mind that possesses life, whereas the understanding part receives life from the will. Since therefore the will part in the case of the spiritual man is so corrupted as to be nothing but evil, and yet evil is flowing in from there unceasingly and constantly into the understanding part, that is, into his thought, it is clear that the good there is obscure compared with the celestial man's good.

[2] As a consequence those who are spiritual do not have love to the Lord, as those who are celestial do; nor therefore does that humility exist with them which is essential in all worship and by means of which good can flow in from the Lord; for a heart that is haughty is not at all receptive, only one that is humble. Nor do those who are spiritual have love towards the neighbour, as those who are celestial do, because self-love and love of the world are constantly flowing in from the will part of their mind, bringing obscurity into the good that goes with that love towards the neighbour. This may also become clear to one who reflects from the fact that when he helps another he does so for worldly reasons; thus though he may not consciously have it in mind he is nevertheless thinking about what he will get in return either from those he helps or in the next life from the Lord, which being so his good is still defiled with merit-seeking. It may also become clear to him from the fact that when he has done anything good and is able to speak about it to others and so set himself up above others, he is in his element. But those who are celestial love the neighbour more than they love themselves, and do not ever think about repayment or in any way set themselves up above others.

[3] The good residing with those who are spiritual is in addition made obscure by persuasive beliefs that are the product of various assumptions, which likewise have their origin in self-love and love of the world. For the nature of their persuasive beliefs even in matters of faith, see 2682, 2689 (end). This too is a product of the influx of evil from the will part of their mind.

[4] It may in addition become clear that the good residing with the spiritual man is obscure compared with the celestial man's, from the fact that he does not know what truth is, as those who are celestial do, from any perception. Instead he knows what truth is from what he has learned from parents and teachers, and also from the doctrine into which he was born. And when he adds to this anything from himself and from his own thinking, it is for the most part the senses and the illusions of the senses, also the rational and the appearances present within the rational, that predominate, and these make it barely possible for him to acknowledge any pure truth like that acknowledged by those who are celestial. But in spite of this, within things that are seemingly true the Lord implants good, even though these truths are mere illusions or else appearances of truth. But this good is made obscure by such truths, for it derives its specific nature from the truths to which it is joined. It is like the light of the sun falling upon objects. The nature of the objects receiving the light causes the light to be seen within those objects in the form of colours, which are beautiful if the nature of the recipient form and the manner of its receiving are fitting and correspondent, hideous if the nature of the recipient form and the manner of its receiving are not fitting and so not correspondent. In the same way good itself acquires a specific nature from the truth [to which it is joined].

[5] The same arcanum is also evident from the fact that the spiritual man does not know what evil is. He scarcely believes that any other evils exist than actions contrary to the Ten Commandments. Of evils present in affection and thought, which are countless, he has no knowledge nor does he reflect on them or call them evils. All delights whatever that go with evil desires and pleasures he does not regard as other than good; and the actual delights that are part of self-love he both pursues, approves of, and excuses, without knowing that such things have an effect on his spirit and that he becomes altogether such in the next life.

[6] From this it is in a similar way clear that although the whole of the Word deals with scarcely any other matter than the good which goes with love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, the spiritual man does not know that that good is the sum and substance of faith, nor even what the essential nature of love and charity is. It is also clear that though something which is a matter of faith may be known to him - faith being considered by him to be essential in itself - he nevertheless discusses whether it is true, unless he has been confirmed by much experience of life. Those who are celestial do not discuss the same because they know and have a perception that it is true hence the Lord's statement in Matthew,

Let your words be, Yes, yes; No, no; anything beyond this is from evil. ¹ Matthew 5:37.

For those who are celestial are immersed in the truth itself about which those who are spiritual dispute. Consequently because those who are celestial are immersed in the truth itself, they are able to see from it numberless facets of that truth, and so from light to see so to speak heaven in its entirety. But those who are spiritual, because they dispute whether it is true, cannot - so long as they do so - arrive at the remotest boundary of the light existing with those who are celestial, let alone behold anything from their light.

Poznámky pod čarou: