137. It says in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word: all things were made by means of him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of humankind. He was in the world, and the world was made by means of him. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory. (John 1:1, 3-4, 10, 14)

It is clear that the Lord is the one who is meant by "the Word," since it says that the Word was made flesh. Precisely what is meant by "the Word," though, is not yet known and must therefore be stated. The Word in this passage is the divine truth that is in the Lord and from the Lord, ¹ so here it is also called the light, which is divine truth, as has been shown earlier in this chapter. Now we need to explain the statement that all things were made and created by means of divine truth.

[2] In heaven, it is divine truth that possesses all power, and apart from it there is no power whatever. ² All angels are called "powers" because of divine truth, and are powers to the extent that they are recipients or vessels of it. Through it they prevail over the hells and over all who oppose them. A thousand enemies there cannot bear one ray of heavenly light, which is divine truth. Since angels are angels because of their acceptance of divine truth, it follows that all heaven is from this source and no other, since heaven is made up of angels.

[3] People cannot believe that this kind of power is inherent in divine truth if the only concept of truth they have has to do with thought or speech, which have no power in them except to the extent that other people concede it by being obedient. There is an intrinsic power within divine truth, though, power of such nature that by means of it heaven, the world, and everything in them was created.

We can illustrate the fact that this kind of power is inherent in divine truth by two comparisons - by the power of what is true and good in us, and by the power of light and warmth from the sun in our world.

By the power of what is true and good in us: Everything we do, we do out of our discernment and intent. Out of our intent, we act by means of what is good, and out of our discernment by means of what is true. In fact, all the elements of our volition are related to what is good, and all the elements of our discernment are related to what is true. ³ On this basis, then, we set our whole body in motion and a thousand things there rush to do our bidding of their own accord. We can see from this that our whole body is formed for obedience to what is good and true and therefore from what is good and true.

[4] By the power of light and warmth from the sun in our world: Everything that grows in our world - things like trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses, fruits, and seeds - arises only by means of the warmth and light of the sun. So we can see what kind of productive power is inherent in that warmth and light. What about the divine light that is divine truth, then, and the divine warmth that is divine good, the source from which heaven comes into being and consequently the world as well, since as we have shown above, it is through heaven that the world comes into being?

This enables us to determine how to understand the statement that all things were made by means of the Word, and that without him nothing was made that was made, and further that the world was made by means of him, namely that this was accomplished by means of divine truth from the Lord. ⁴

This is also why in the book of creation it first mentions light and then the things that arise from light (Genesis 1:3-4). It is also why everything in all heaven and earth has to do with what is good and true and to their union if it is to be anything at all. ⁵

Poznámky pod čarou:

5977. The reason for two is that there are two kinds of spirits in hell and two kinds of angels in heaven, who correspond to the two mental powers in a person of will and understanding. The first kind of spirits are called simply spirits, and they act on the thoughts in a person's understanding; the second kind are called genii, and these act on the desires in a person's will. The two kinds are utterly distinct and separate. Those called simply spirits instill falsities, for they argue against the truth and experience the delight of their life when they can make truth look like falsity, and falsity look like truth. But those called genii instill evils; they act on a person's affections and cravings, scenting in an instant what is the object of the person's desire. If the desire is good they bend it with very great skill into what is evil, and they experience the delight of their life when they can make a person perceive good as evil, and evil as good. They have been allowed to act on my own desires so that I might know what such genii are like and how they operate; and I must confess that unless the Lord had employed angels to protect me, those genii would have turned my desires into cravings for evil, which they would have carried out so secretly and silently that I would have known scarcely anything about it. The ones who are called genii have nothing whatever in common with those called spirits. Genii have no interest at all in what a person thinks, only in what he loves, whereas spirits have no interest at all in what a person loves, only in what he thinks. Genii take delight in keeping quiet, but spirits in talking. The two kinds are also completely separate from each other. The genii are in hells deep down behind the back, out of spirits' sight; and when anyone looks down there they look like shadows flitting around. But the spirits are in hells located to the sides and in front. Here then is the reason why two spirits from hell are present with a person.