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).

139. From Secrets of Heaven

Conscience. People who have no conscience do not know what a conscience is: 7490, 9121. There are some people who laugh at conscience when they are told that there is such a thing: 7217. Some believe that there is no such thing as conscience; some believe that it is a kind of earthly pain and sadness brought on by a change either in physical health or in worldly circumstances; some believe that it is a form of control put on the lower classes by their religious tradition: ¹ 206, 847, 950. Some are unaware that they have a conscience even though they do: 2380.

[2] Good people have a conscience; evil people do not: 831, 965, 7490. If our life is devoted to love for God or to love for our neighbor, we have a conscience: 2380. It is especially the case that we have a conscience if we have been regenerated by the Lord: 977. We do not have a conscience if we are focused only on knowing what is true and not on living by it: 1076, 1077, 1919. We do not have a conscience if we do what is good simply because we are good-natured and not for religious reasons: 6208.

[3] We develop a conscience based on the teachings of our church or of whatever religious tradition we follow: 9112. Our conscience is shaped by the principles we believe to be true that we have been taught by our religion: 1077, 2053, 9113. Conscience is an inner restraint that keeps us focused on thinking, saying, and doing what is good and that holds us back from thinking, saying, and doing what is evil, not for selfish and worldly reasons but for the sake of what is good, true, fair, and right: 1919, 9120. Conscience is an inner voice telling us whether or not to act in some particular way: 1919, 1935. Essentially, conscience is an awareness of what is true and right: 986, 8081. The new will in a spiritual, regenerated individual is a conscience: 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 4299, 4328, 4493, 9115, 9596. Our spiritual life comes from our conscience: 9117.

[4] Conscience may be true, or spurious, or false: 1033 (which includes discussion). The genuineness of the truths that shape our conscience is what determines how true our conscience is: 2053, 2063, 9114. In general, there are two levels on which conscience can exist, an inner level and an outer level. A conscience on an inner level is a conscience that is focused on what is spiritually good; its essence is truth. A conscience on an outer level is a conscience that is focused on what is morally and civically good; its essence is honesty and fairness-or more broadly, what is right: 5145, 6207, 10296.

[5] The pain felt in our conscience is a mental anxiety because of what is unfair, dishonest, and in any way evil, something we believe to be contrary to God and to the well-being of our neighbor: 7217. If we feel anxious when our thoughts take an evil turn, that comes from our conscience: 5470. The pain felt in our conscience is anguish because of something evil that we are doing, or else because of a loss of goodness or truth: 7217. Because a spiritual crisis ² is a battle between what is true and what is false in our deeper levels, and because there is pain and anxiety involved in crises of the spirit, only people who have a conscience are allowed to have spiritual crises: 847.

[6] People who have a conscience speak and act from the heart: 7935, 9114. People who have a conscience do not swear empty oaths: 2842. People who have a conscience enjoy a sense of inner well-being when they are doing something good or performing some act of justice that accords with their conscience: 9118. People who have a conscience in this world have a conscience in the other life as well and are among the happy there: 965. Heaven flows into our conscience: 6207, 6213, 9122. The Lord governs spiritual people through their conscience, which serves them as an inner restraint: 1835, 1862. People who have a conscience have an inward kind of thinking, while people who do not have a conscience have only a superficial kind of thinking: 1919, 1935. People who have a conscience base their thinking on what is spiritual, while people who do not have a conscience base their thinking only on what is earthly: 1914. People who do not have a conscience are only outwardly human: 4459. The Lord governs people who do not have a conscience by means of outward restraints, all of which have to do with their love for themselves and for the world and the accompanying fear of losing reputation, status, position, profit, and possessions, as well as fear of the law and of loss of life: 1077, 1080, 1835. People who have no conscience and yet allow themselves to be controlled by these external restraints can still function well in high offices in this world and do just as much good as people who do have a conscience; but the restraints under which the former are operating are external and the things they do are good outwardly, whereas the restraints under which the latter are operating are internal and the things they do are good inwardly: 6207.

[7] People who do not have a conscience try to destroy the conscience of people who do: 1820. People who have no conscience in this world have no conscience in the other life either: 965, 9122. This means that for people in hell there is no torment of conscience on account of the evil things they did in this world: 965, 9122.

[8] The identity and nature of people who are hyperconscientious: ³ how hard they are on others, and what they correspond to in the spiritual world: 5386, 5724.

[9] People from the Lord's spiritual kingdom have a conscience, and it takes shape in their intellect: 863, 865, 875, 895, 927, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113, 8521, 9115, 9915, 9995, 10124. People who are in the Lord's heavenly kingdom have something higher than conscience: 927, 1043, 4493, 5113, 6367, 8521, 9915, 9995, 10124.

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