9050. The fact that 'soul' means spiritual life is clear from the meaning of 'soul' as a person's life - the life of his faith, which is spiritual life. Various places in the Word use the expression 'heart and soul', and in those places 'heart' means the life of love and 'soul' the life of faith. A person has two mental powers for receiving life from the Lord, one being called the will, the other the understanding. Love belongs to the power called the will, for forms of the good of love compose its life; but faith belongs to the power called the understanding, for the truths of faith compose its life. Yet these two powers of life with a person nevertheless make one; and when they make one matters of faith are also aspects of love because they are loved, and aspects of love in turn are also matters of faith because they are believed. This is the kind of life that all in heaven possess.

[2] The reason why in the Word the life of love, or what amounts to the same thing, the will, is called 'the heart', and why the life of faith, or what amounts to the same thing, the understanding, is called 'the soul', is this: Those in the Grand Man or heaven who are governed by love to the Lord and are called celestial angels constitute the province of the heart, and those governed by faith in the Lord and from this by charity towards the neighbour constitute the province of the lungs, see 3635, 3883-3896. So it is that 'the heart' in the Word means love, which is the life of the will, while 'the soul' means faith, which is the life of the understanding, 2930, 7542, 8910. For 'soul' in the original language is derived from a word that means breathing, which is the function of the lungs.

[3] The reason why faith belongs to the understanding is that this mental power is enlightened by the Lord when the person receives faith, so that he has light, or discernment of truth, in such things as are matters of faith when he reads the Word. And the reason why love belongs to the will is that this mental power is kindled by the Lord when the person receives love, so that he has the fire of life and keen perception of good.

[4] All this shows what the proper meaning of 'the heart' is in the Word and what the proper meaning of 'the soul' is, as in the following places: In Moses, You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5-6.

In the same author,

You shall love Jehovah your God, and serve Him, with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 10:12; 11:13.

In the same author,

You shall keep the statutes and judgements, and observe them, with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 26:16.

In the Gospels,

Jesus said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and your thought. Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30, 32; Luke 10:27.

'Heart' stands for the life of love, and 'soul' for the life of faith. 'Strength' stands for those things that emanate from the life of love, and so from the heart or will, and 'thought' stands for those that emanate from the life of faith, and so from the soul or an enlightened understanding.

[5] Similarly in Isaiah,

A deceived heart causes him to go astray, so that he does not rescue his soul and say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? Isaiah 44:20.

In Jeremiah,

I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in the land in truth, with all My heart and with all My soul. Jeremiah 32:41.

This refers to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord. 'Heart' is attributed to Him because of His Divine Goodness, which is the good of love or mercy with a person, and 'soul' because of His Divine Truth, which is the truth of faith with him.

[6] Few within the Church at the present day know that these things are meant by 'the heart' and 'the soul' in the Word. They do not know them because they have not considered that a person has two powers of mind that are distinct from each other, that is to say, the will and the understanding, and that these two powers must constitute a single mind if the person is to be truly human. Nor have they considered that all things in the whole of creation, both in heaven and in the world, have connection with goodness and truth, and that these must be joined together if they are to be anything or be productive. The outcome of their ignorance of these things has been that they have separated faith from love; for one who is ignorant of those universal laws cannot know that faith has connection with truth and love with good, or that unless faith and love have been joined together they are not anything. Faith without love is not faith, and love without faith is not love. Love receives its specific quality from faith, and faith its life from love, so that faith without love is dead, whereas faith together with love is living. The truth of this becomes clear from every detail in the Word, for where faith is dealt with, so too is love, in order that the marriage of good and truth, that is, heaven, and in the highest sense the Lord, may be present in every single detail there. Regarding the existence of that marriage, see 683, 793, 801, 2516, 2712, 4138 (end), 5138, 5502, 6343, 7945, 8339. From all this it is now evident why it is that a member of the Church has not up to now known what is meant in the Word by 'the heart' and what by 'the soul'.

[7] The meaning of 'the soul' in the Word as the life of faith becomes perfectly clear from places where 'the soul' is mentioned, as in the following: In Moses,

No one shall take ¹ as a pledge the mill or the milling stone, for he is taking the [person's] soul as a pledge. Deuteronomy 24:6.

It says that he takes the soul as a pledge if he takes the mill because in the internal sense 'the mill' means matters of faith, 7780. In Isaiah,

It will be as when a hungry man dreams - as if he were eating - but when he wakes up his soul is fasting; or as when a thirsty man dreams - as if he were drinking - but when he wakes up, behold, he is faint, and his soul is craving. Isaiah 29:8.

'A fasting soul' and 'a craving soul' stand for the desire to learn the forms of good and the truths of faith. In the same prophet,

If you bring out for the hungry your soul ² and satisfy the afflicted soul ... Isaiah 58:10.

'Bringing out for the hungry your soul' stands for teaching the truths of faith to one who desires them, and 'satisfying the afflicted soul' stands for teaching the good of faith.

[8] In Jeremiah,

If you clothe yourself in twice-dyed and deck yourself with ornaments of gold, if you widen your eyes with stibium, ³ in vain will you make yourself beautiful; your lovers will abhor you, they will seek your soul. Jeremiah 4:30.

Here 'soul' stands for the life of faith, and therefore for the faith itself present with a person since it composes his spiritual life. The fact that faith is what 'soul' is used to mean is evident from the details of the verse. In the same prophet,

They will come and sing on the height of Zion, and converge towards the goodness of Jehovah, towards wheat, and towards new wine, and towards oil, and towards the young ⁴ of the flock and of the herd; and their soul will become like a watered garden. I will water the weary soul, and every soul that sorrows [I will replenish]. Jeremiah 31:12, 25.

'Soul' stands for the life of faith present with a member of the Church, who is said to become like a garden because 'a garden' means intelligence, which consists of the truths of faith, 100, 108, 2702; and the soul is said to be watered because 'being watered' means receiving instruction.

[9] In the same prophet,

In peril of our souls we acquire our bread, because of the sword of the wilderness. Lamentations 5:9.

'Peril of souls' is the risk of loss of belief and therefore of spiritual life; for 'the sword of the wilderness' is falsity engaged in conflict against the truths of faith, 2799, 4499, 6353, 7102, 8294. In Ezekiel,

Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your merchants; untie the souls of men (homo) and vessels of bronze, they traded for you. ⁵ Ezekiel 27:13.

'The souls of men' stands for the more internal truths of faith derived from good, 'vessels of bronze' for the more external truths of faith derived from good. 'Vessels' are the more external truths or factual knowledge containing truths, 3068, 3079, and 'bronze' is the good of the natural, 425, 1551. Without the knowledge that 'the souls of men' means faith no one could understand what is meant by trading 'with the souls of men and with vessels of bronze'.

[10] In the same prophet,

Every living soul that creeps, wherever the [two] rivers come to, will live; as a result the fish become very many, for these waters go there, and become fresh. Ezekiel 47:9.

This refers to the new temple, that is, to the new spiritual Church from the Lord. 'Living soul that creeps' stands for factual knowledge embodying the truths of faith; 'the fish' which as a result are many are known facts, 40, 991; and 'the rivers' stands for matters of intelligence, which consists of the truths of faith, 2702, 3051. Again no one could know without the internal sense what might be meant by the fish which become many as a result of the rivers going there. In David,

Make me safe, O God, for the waters have come even to my soul. Psalms 69:1.

And in Jonah,

The waters surrounded me, even to my soul. Jonah 2:5.

'Waters' here stands for falsities, and also for temptations caused by falsities that have been introduced, 705, 739, 756, 790, 8137, 8138, 8368.

[11] In Jeremiah,

Jehovah has said, Will not My soul be avenged on a nation which is like this? Jeremiah 5:9, 29.

In the same prophet, Take warning, ⁶ O Jerusalem, lest My soul turn from you, and I reduce you to a waste.

Since 'soul' is attributed to the Lord it stands for Divine Truth. In John,

The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of one dead, from which every living soul died in the sea. Revelation 16:3.

'The sea' stands for known facts in their entirety, 28; 'blood' stands for the truths of faith derived from good, and in the contrary sense for truths of faith that have been falsified and rendered profane, 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326. Therefore 'living soul' stands for life from faith.

[12] In Matthew,

Do not be anxious for your soul, what you are going to eat or what you are going to drink. Matthew 6:25.

'Soul' stands for the truths of faith, 'eating and drinking' for receiving instruction in the goodness and truth of faith; for the internal sense at this point refers to spiritual life and the nourishment of that life. In the same gospel,

Whoever wishes to find his soul will lose it, and whoever loses his soul for My sake will find it. Matthew 10:39.

'Soul' stands for the life of faith, such as believers possess, and in the contrary sense for the life that is not that of faith, such as unbelievers possess. In Luke,

In your patience possess your souls. Luke 21:19.

'Possessing their souls' stands for the things of faith and consequently of spiritual life. 'Soul' has a similar meaning in very many other places.

Poznámky pod čarou:

6344. 'And the beginning of my strength' means that through that faith comes the initial power which truth possesses. This is clear from the meaning of 'the beginning of strength' as initial power; and since 'strength' is used with reference to truth, the initial power that truth possesses is what is meant. A similar usage occurs in Isaiah,

Jehovah imparts might to the weary, and to him who has no strength He gives greater power. Isaiah 40:29.

Here 'might' is used with reference to good and 'strength' to truth, 'power' with reference to both.

A brief statement will be made about how one should understand the explanation that through faith comes the power which good possesses, and the initial power which truth possesses, meant by 'Reuben my firstborn, you are my might and the beginning of my strength'. In the spiritual world all power comes from good through truth; without good truth has no power at all. For truth is so to speak the body, and good so to speak the soul of that body, and to accomplish anything the soul must act through the body. From this it is evident that truth without good has no power at all, even as the body without the soul has none at all. A body without its soul is a corpse; so too is truth without good.

[2] As soon as good effects the birth of faith that is composed of truth, power reveals itself in truth. This power is what is called the initial power that truth possesses through faith and is what is meant by 'the beginning of strength', as in other places in the Word where the condition of the firstborn is referred to, for example in David,

He smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the beginning of strength in the tents of Ham. Psalms 78:51.

And in another place,

He smote all the firstborn in their land, the beginning of all their strength. Psalms 105:36.

Also in Deuteronomy,

He must acknowledge the firstborn son of her that is hated, to give him two parts of all that will be found for him, in that he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the first born is his. Deuteronomy 21:17.

[3] The genuine meaning of 'the firstborn' is the good of charity, though the apparent meaning is the truth of faith, 3325, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930. And because both that good and this truth are the fundamental qualities of the Church, the ancients spoke of the firstborn as his 'father's might and the beginning of his strength'. The fact that those fundamental qualities were meant by 'the firstborn' is quite evident from the considerations that everything which was a firstborn was Jehovah's or the Lord's and that the tribe of Levi was taken instead of all the firstborn and became the priesthood.

[4] Scarcely anyone in the world can know what the power possessed by truth coming from good is; but it is known to those in the next life, and so can be known through revelation from there. People in possession of truth that comes from good, that is, of faith derived from charity, possess power that comes through truth from good. All angels possess that power, which also is why in the Word angels are called 'powers'. For they have the power to restrain evil spirits; even one angel can restrain a thousand together. Their power they use most especially among men; sometimes they protect a person from numerous hells, in thousands of ways.

[5] This power that angels possess comes to them through the truth of faith derived from the good of charity. But because the faith they have comes from the Lord, the Lord alone is the power that resides with them. This power which comes from the Lord through faith is meant by the Lord's words to Peter,

On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:18-19.

These words were addressed to Peter because he represented faith, see Preface to Genesis 22, as well as 3750, 4738, 6000, 6073 (end). Also wherever 'rock', ¹ as Peter is called here, occurs in the Word, faith is meant in its internal sense, and the Lord in respect of faith in its highest sense.

Poznámky pod čarou: