255. To this I will append the following account:

To prevent someone from entering into the spiritual meaning of the Word and perverting the genuine truth found in that meaning, the Lord has set protections, which in the Word are meant by cherubim, which is what the four living creatures here are.

That protections have been set was represented to me in the following way:

[2] I was given to see large purses, looking like sacks, which had stored away in them a great deal of silver. And since they were open, it seemed as if anyone might take the silver deposited in them, even to make off with it, but next to those purses two angels were sitting as guards. The place where the purses rested looked like a manger in a stable. In the next room I saw modest maidens, together with a chaste wife. Near that room were two little children, and I heard it said that they were not to be played with in a childish way, but wisely. And afterward a harlot appeared, then a horse lying dead.

[3] Having seen these things, I was told that they represented the literal meaning of the Word, which has a spiritual meaning within. The large purses full of silver symbolized concepts of truth and goodness in great abundance. The purses' being open and yet guarded by angels, meant symbolically that anyone might acquire concepts of truth there, but that one should take care not to falsify the spiritual meaning, which contains only truths.

The manger in the stable where the purses were sitting symbolized spiritual instruction for the intellect. (A manger has this symbolism, like the manger where the newborn Lord lay, because a horse, which eats from it, symbolizes an understanding of the Word.)

[4] The modest maidens I saw in the next room symbolized affections for truth, and the chaste wife the conjunction of truth and good. The little children symbolized the innocence of the wisdom in the Word (they were angels from the third heaven, all of whom appear like little children). The harlot together with the dead horse symbolized the falsification of the Word by many people today, by which all understanding of the truth has perished. (A harlot symbolizes falsification, and a dead horse no understanding of truth.)

[5] I have been given to speak with many people after death who believed they would shine like stars in heaven. They believed this, they said, because they held the Word holy, read it often, took many things from it, and used them to defend the tenets of their faith. As a result they were celebrated as learned in the world, so that they believed they would become Michaels or Raphaels. ¹ A number of them were examined, however, to see what love prompted them to study the Word. And it was discovered that some did so out of self-love, in order to appear great in the world and to be worshiped as leaders of the church, while others did so out of a love of the world, in order to acquire riches.

When they were explored to discover what they knew from the Word, they were found to know no genuine truth, but only what we call falsified truth, which in itself is false; and in the spiritual world this stinks in the nostrils of angels. Moreover the people were told that this was the case with them because their objectives were focused on themselves and the world, or to say the same thing, on their loves of these, and not on the Lord and heaven. And when people have themselves and the world as their focus, then when they read the Word their mind fastens on themselves and the world, and therefore they think continually in accord with their self-interest, which is in darkness regarding everything connected with heaven. In this state a person cannot be withdrawn from his own light and so be raised into the light of heaven. Consequently, neither can he receive anything flowing in from the Lord through heaven.

[6] I have also seen people like this let into heaven. But when they were discovered to be without truths, they were divested of their clothing and were seen with their private parts exposed. And because those who had falsified truths stunk, they were expelled. Still, however, there remained in them the conceit and confidence that they were deserving.

The outcome was different with people who had studied the Word out of an affection for knowing the truth because it is true, and because it served the useful ends of a spiritual life, not only their own life, but their neighbor's as well. I saw them raised into heaven and so into the light in which Divine truth exists there, and raised at the same time then into angelic wisdom and into its felicity, which is eternal life.

Poznámky pod čarou:

3605. About "place"

I noticed, whenever I heard something, that although I did not see it, I still conceived of a place and what the place there was like - but this was imaginary, because there was no such place about which fact I had not reflected before this was recalled into my memory and mental view. Then I acknowledged that I had made up the mental picture of the place.

I also noticed that when I had tarried somewhat longer in one room, it became familiar to me, so that I was able to form mental pictures there better than when I was in a different room or place. And yesterday when I switched to a room next to the other one in which I was accustomed to writing, then a calm ensued among the spirits as if they did not know where I was - which surprised me.

Just now I spoke about the fact that spirits like to have a mental image of a place adjoined, which, unless it presents the same picture, appears foreign to them, and they seem not to know where they are, since the idea is not defined unless a place is joined to it. Moreover, it was also observed that they prefer one place to another - and in fact a place from the neighborhood of the spirits, where they seem to dwell, as can be confirmed in many ways, among others from the people who are nearby and in their house. So things of this kind occur in the world of spirits, which, because they have become everyday and familiar, we do not think about, yet they derive their causes from the world of spirits. 1748, 17 Oct. The reason is that a mental image is not defined apart from a space, or, what is the same, apart from a structure. They drew back the foot when places were being thought about - a sign that places and material things serve them as fulcrums, so to speak, on which they rest.

3605. 1/2. About the inward parts of the Word, and how they must be laid bare

In sleep [the Word] was portrayed to me by many sacks of money in which a great deal of silver was stored away, some lower down, and some higher up. Because these sacks lay so exposed that anyone could plunder the silver, for they were not tied, a place was sought where they might be hidden away - first in a stable, by which the human understanding was symbolized. There no suitable place was found, signifying that the human intellect should have no part in laying bare the inward parts of the Word.

[2] Then I passed into a small chamber where it seemed to me at first it would have been pleasant to dwell. In it there were modest virgins in the company of a modest wife, signifying that they should not be explained in the way customary to preachers, so as to stir the feelings, for in this way not much is left. After that I was in a certain wide place where there were two little children, with whom I wanted to play - meaning that it is permissible to associate with them, but not to play in a childish manner.

While I was there, there came out of a very dark chamber a girl among some rather pretty ones. She wanted to violate me, and while I was fleeing from her, I awoke, and I saw the carcass of a horse, symbolizing that eloquence was not to be cultivated, which appears like a beautiful virgin. But because she was a prostitute, bursting out of that room, she appeared to me like a foul carcass of a horse. This girl is how she was portrayed by spirits, so they were not really girls.

I remember also having been in the place where there were sacks of silver, and four persons were sitting on them. The place was dark and unembellished, signifying that such is the sense of the letter, where the inward parts are hidden away as in sacks. 1748, 18 Oct. But these were so portrayed by spirits in whose favor these words have been inserted on account of their worthy purpose.

What kind of fantasies those have who are cunning demons

A cunning demon who had been present with me from behind, I believe for a whole day, is the one who had stirred up others also to feel sorry for him, when yet he was concerned with himself alone. His fantasies upon coming into a different aura were portrayed by snakes.