270. I need now to say something about the wisdom of the angels of the third or inmost heaven, and about how much it surpasses the wisdom of the first or outmost heaven.

The wisdom of angels of the third or inmost heaven is beyond comprehension, even for angels of the first or outmost heaven. This is because the inner natures of angels of the third heaven are opened at the third level, while those of angels of the first heaven are open only at the first level; and all wisdom increases as you move toward the deeper levels and is perfected as they are opened (208, 267).

[2] Since the inner levels of angels of the third heaven are opened at the third level, they have divine truths virtually engraved on them, for inner matters at the third level are more in heaven's form than those at the second and first level. Heaven's form arises from divine truth and therefore is in agreement with divine wisdom. This is why divine truths seem to these angels to be engraved, or to be instinctive and innate. Because of this, as soon as they hear genuine divine truths, they immediately acknowledge and grasp them and from then on virtually see them within themselves. Because this is characteristic of angels of this heaven, they never try to figure out divine truths, much less argue whether some particular truth is true or not. They do not know what it is to believe or have faith, but say, "What is faith? I perceive and see that this is so." They offer a comparison by way of illustration. It would be like someone seeing a house and various things in and around it and telling someone with him that he ought to believe that they existed and that they were what they seemed to be. Or it would be like someone seeing a garden with trees and fruit in it and telling someone that she should have faith that it was a garden and that those were trees and fruit when she could see them plainly with her own eyes. So these angels never call "faith" by name and in fact have no concept of it. This is why they do not try to figure out divine truths, much less argue whether any particular truth is true or not. ¹

[3] In contrast, angels of the first or outmost heaven do not have divine truths engraved on their inner natures in this way because for them only the first level of life has been opened. So they do try to figure things out, and people who are calculating in this way see little more than the subject they are puzzling over. They do not go beyond that subject except to find support for their conclusions, and once they have decided, they say that these should be matters of faith and are to be believed.

[4] I have talked about this with angels, who have told me that the difference between the wisdom of angels of the third heaven and the wisdom of angels of the first heaven is like the difference between something bright and something dark. Or again, they have compared the wisdom of angels of the third heaven to a palace full of everything useful, surrounded far and wide by parklands, with all sorts of splendid things beyond. Since these angels enjoy truths of wisdom, they can enter the palace and see everything there. They can stroll anywhere in the parks and enjoy whatever they see. It is different for people who are trying to figure things out, though, and even more so for people who argue about them. These individuals do not see truths in the light of truth, but adopt them either from other people or from the literal meaning of the Word, which they do not understand in depth. So they say that truths must be believed or that people must have faith in things - things that they then do not want anyone looking into very deeply. The angels kept saying that these people could not get to the first threshold of the palace, much less enter it and stroll around in its parks, because they are stuck at the first step. It is different for people who are engaged in actual truths. Nothing keeps them from moving ahead without limit; for once truths have been seen they lead on wherever they are headed, even into spacious meadows, because every truth has an infinite outreach and is united to many, many others.

[5] They also said that the wisdom of angels of the inmost heaven consists primarily of their seeing divine and heavenly things in individual objects and wonders in series of objects, for everything that appears to their eyes has a correspondence. When they see palaces and gardens, for instance, their insight does not dwell on the things in front of their eyes but sees the deeper things they stem from, the things, that is, to which they correspond. This goes on with constant variety in keeping with the appearance of the objects; so at any given time there are countless things in a pattern and a connectedness so delightful to their minds that they seem to be transported. (Everything that is visible in the heavens corresponds to something divine that is from the Lord in angels, .)

Poznámky pod čarou:

4430. 'And Shechem saw her' means truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Shechem' as truth, in this case the truth received by the Church from ancient times. The reason why 'Shechem' has this representation is that remnants of the Church still existed with the nation to which Shechem belonged. The fact that his nation was one of the upright nations is evident from the genuineness behind the things that Hamor and Shechem said to Jacob and his sons, verses 8-12, and from the deference that was shown by them in order that Shechem might marry Dinah, verses 18-24, on account of which they represented the truth of the Church. Furthermore the city of Shechem was Abram's first stopping-place when he came from Syria into the land of Canaan, Genesis 12:6, and was now also Jacob's first stopping-place when he too came from Syria, where he stretched his tent, made booths, and set up an altar, Genesis 33:17-20. It has been shown frequently that the journeys or wanderings of Abraham and Jacob represented advances into the truths of faith and the goods of love - in the highest sense, the Lord's own advances, and in the relative sense those made by the person who is being regenerated by the Lord. Hence 'Shechem' meant the first degree of light, 1440, 1441, and therefore interior truth since this is the first degree of light.

[2] But in the present chapter the subject in the internal sense is the way in which the descendants of Jacob annihilated this first degree of light or interior truth residing with them. In this sense, which is the internal historical sense, 'the sons of Jacob' means all his descendants, for the internal sense of the Word deals solely with the things that belong to the Lord's kingdom, and so those that belong to His Church. Jacob's actual sons did not constitute any Church but their descendants did, though not until after they had come out of Egypt, and in actual fact not until they entered the land of Canaan.

[3] Furthermore regarding this city named after Shechem, it was called Salem in ancient times, as is clear in the previous chapter,

Jacob came to Salem, the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan. Genesis 32:18.

'Salem' means serenity, and 'the city of Shechem' the interior truths of faith; and a person comes into a state of serenity when he arrives at those truths, see 4393. But later on the same city was called Shechem, as may be seen in Joshua,

The bones of Joseph which the children of Israel caused to be brought up out of Egypt they buried in Shechem, in the part of the field which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs. Joshua 24:32.

And in the Book of Judges,

Gaal the son of Ebed said to the citizens of Shechem, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal. and Zebul is his commander? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem; and why shall we serve him? Judges 9:28.

[4] The same city after that was called 'Sychar', as is evident in John,

Jesus came into a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to Joseph his son; Jacob's well was there. John 4:5-6.

From these places, as well as from others where it is mentioned, it is evident that this city means interior truth. It is also clear in Hosea,

Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood; and as troops wait for a man so the company of priests murder on the way to Shechem, for they have committed villainy. In the house of Israel I have seen a foul thing. Hosea 6:8-10.

Here 'they murder on the way to Shechem' means that they annihilate truths, including interior ones, and so annihilate all truths. The annihilation of interior truth is also meant by the reference to Abimelech's destruction of that city and sowing it with salt, Judges 9:45.