The White Horse # 12
12. The Word has been written through correspondences, and thus through representative ideas
The Word as regards its literal sense has been written through correspondences alone, and thus through such things as represent and signify the spiritual aspects of heaven and the Church: 1404, 1408-1409, 1540, 1619, 1659, 1709, 1783, 2179, 2763, 2899. This was done because of the internal sense in each particular instance: 2899; thus too for the sake of heaven, since those who are in heaven do not understand the Word according to its literal or natural sense but according to its internal, or spiritual sense: 2899. The Lord spoke through correspondences, through representative and signifying ideas, because He spoke from His divine being: 9049, 9063, 9086, 10126, 10276. The Lord thus spoke directly to the world and at the same time to heaven: 2533, 4807, 9049, 9063, 9086. Whatever the Lord spoke filled the whole of heaven: 1 4637. The historical narratives of the Word are representative, and their actual words have significances: 1540, 1659, 1709, 1783, 2686. The Word could not have been written in any other style for there to be communication through it with heaven: 2899, 6943, 9401. Those who treat the Word with contempt because of its simple and seemingly uncultivated style, and think that they would accept it if it had been written in a different style, are greatly mistaken: 8783. Also, the manner and style of writing of the most ancient authors was through correspondences and representative ideas: 605, 1756, 9942. I found through my own experience that the wise men of ancient times were delighted by the Word, because they found there representative and significant ideas: 2592-2593. If someone of the most ancient Church had read the Word, he would have seen clearly those things which are in the internal sense and obscurely those things in the external sense: 4493. The sons of Jacob were brought down into the land of Canaan because all places in that land were from very ancient times made representative: 1585, 3686, 4447, 5136, 6516; and so that the Word might be written there, where places were to be named because of their internal meaning: 3686, 4447, 5136, 6516. But in fact the Word in its external sense was altered on account of that people, though not as regards its internal sense: 10453, 10461, 10603-10604. Many passages from the Word are quoted about that nation, which must however be understood according to their internal sense-that is, other than according to the literal sense: 7051. Since that nation represented the Church, and because the Word was written among and about that nation, therefore heavenly ideas were signified by their names, for example Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Ephraim, Joseph and the rest; and by Judah in the internal sense is signified the Lord as regards celestial love, and His heavenly kingdom: 3654, 3881, 5583, 5782, 6362-6381.
So that it may be known what are the correspondences and their nature, and what is the nature of the representations in the Word, something will also be said about those. All things which correspond also represent and then signify something, such that correspondences and representations go together as one: 2896, 2899, 2973, 2987, 2989-2990, 3002, 3225. What those correspondences and representations are, from my own experience and examples: 2763, 2987-3002, 3213-3226, 3337-3352, 3472-3485, 4218-4228, 9280. The knowledge of correspondences and representations was the most important field of knowledge among the ancients: 3021, 3419, 4280, 4749, 4844, 4964, 4966, 6004, 7729, 10252; especially among people in eastern parts: 5702, 6692, 7097, 7779, 9391, 10252, 10407; in Egypt more than other places: 5702, 6692, 7097, 7779, 9391, 10407; even among the Gentiles, for example in Greece and elsewhere: 2762, 7729. But today it is among the lost fields of knowledge, especially in Europe: 2894-2895, 2995, 3630, 3632, 3747-3749, 4581, 4966, 10252. But always that type of knowledge is more important than all others, since without it the Word is not understood; nor are the rites of the Jewish Church which are written about in the Word; nor is it known what the nature of heaven is, nor is it known what that which is spiritual is, nor how it happens that there is an inflowing of the spiritual into the natural, nor how there is an inflowing of the soul into the body, and many other things: 4280, and in passages cited above. All things which appear among spirits and angels are representative in accord with correspondences: 1971, 3213-3226, 3475, 3485, 9457, 9481, 9576-9577. Heaven is full of representations: 1521, 1532, 1619. Representations are more beautiful and perfect the more interior they are in heaven: 3475. Representations there are real appearances since they come from the light of heaven, which is the divine truth; and this itself is the essential part of all things that are in existence: 3485.
The reason why every single thing in the spiritual world is represented in the natural world is that what is internal clothes itself as appropriate in what is its external guise, through which it presents itself visibly, and becomes apparent: 6275, 6284, 6299. Thus, an end clothes itself in suitable guises in order to present itself as a cause in a lower sphere, and then as an effect in a still lower sphere; and when an end passes by way of a cause into an effect, it presents itself visibly, or becomes apparent right before the eyes: 5711.
This is illustrated by the inflowing of the soul into the body: namely, the soul is clothed with such things in the body through which everything it thinks and wishes can present itself and become apparent visibly; therefore when thought flows down into the body it is represented by such gestures and actions as correspond to it: 2988. Quite clearly the feelings of the mind are represented in the face by its various expressions, to such an extent that they are seen there: 4791-4805, 5695. From this it is plain that in every single thing within the natural order there lies hidden deep inside a cause and an end from the spiritual world: 3562, 5711 since things which are in the natural order are final effects, within which are prior causes: 4240, 4939, 5651, 6275, 6284, 6299, 9216. Whatever is internal is that which is represented, and what is external that which serves to represent it: 4292.
What correspondences and representations are may be further seen in the work Heaven and Hell, where the correspondence of all things of heaven with all human things is dealt with: 87-102; the correspondence of heaven with all things of earth: 103-115; and representations and appearances in heaven: 170-176.
Since all things in the natural order are representative of spiritual and celestial realities, in ancient times there were churches in which all the external observances or rituals were representative: 519, 521, 2896. The Church was set up among the children of Israel as a representative church: 1003, 2179, 10149. There all the rituals were external forms representing the internal things of heaven and the Church: 4288, 4874. The representative things of the Church and worship ceased when the Lord came into the world and manifested Himself, because the Lord revealed the internal things of the Church, and all things of that Church, in a supreme sense, had regard to Him: 4835.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. pervaserint totum caelum (De Equo Albo), impleverint universum coelum (De Nova Hierosolyma). The latter stands closer to what Swedenborg has [...] in the entry in his index which he's drawing on here. On the assumption that De Equo Albo is subsequent to De Nova Hierosolyma, this exemplifies Swedenborg's continual effort to refine his wording, though I'm not sure why he changed from impleo to pervado:' the Revd John Elliott, who has noted many similar refinings.
Arcana Coelestia # 5651
5651. 'And take us as slaves, and our asses' means even to the point where whatever exists in either part of the natural is of no worth. This is clear from the representation of the ten sons of Jacob - who say this about themselves - as the truths in the natural, dealt with in 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512; from the meaning of 'slaves' or 'servants' as things which are of little value, 2541, in this case those that are of no worth, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'asses' as what was present in the natural, namely factual knowledge, dealt with in 5922, in this case facts present in the exterior natural since the truths meant by 'the sons of Jacob' reside in the interior natural.
[2] The implications of this, that whatever exists in either part of the natural is of no worth, are as follows: If a person is to become spiritual his natural must come to be of no worth, that is, it must cease to have any power that is essentially its own; for to the extent that the natural has any power of its own the spiritual lacks it. Since earliest childhood the natural has been acquiring no other ambitions than those that spring from selfish and worldly desires, thus ones that are the opposite of charity. These evil ambitions make it impossible for good to flow in from the Lord by way of the internal man; for whatever flows in is turned within the natural into what is evil, the natural being the final level into which what is inflowing goes. Consequently unless the natural, that is, the evil and falsity that have been giving shape to the natural, comes to be of no worth, no good can possibly flow in from the Lord by way of heaven. It finds no dwelling-place there and is dissipated, for it cannot stay in what is evil and false. For this reason the internal remains closed to the extent that the natural fails to become of no worth. This is something known within the Church from the teaching that one should put off the old man in order that one may put on the new. 1
[3] Regeneration consists in nothing else than the natural being made subservient and the spiritual becoming its lord; and the natural is made subservient when it is made to correspond to the spiritual. Once the natural is made to correspond it is no longer reactionary but acts as it is commanded, answering the beck and call of the spiritual, almost as the actions of the body are answers to the beck and call of the will, or as speech and facial expressions conform to the thought flowing into them. From this it is evident that for a person to become spiritual, his natural must come to be, so far as his power of will is concerned, of no worth whatsoever.
[4] But it should be realized that it is the old natural that must come to be of no worth, since it is shaped by evils and falsities. Once it has been made of no worth the person is endowed with a new natural, called the spiritual natural. This is called spiritual because the spiritual is what acts by means of it and also makes itself known through it, in the way a cause does through its effect - the cause, as is well known, being the entire reason for the effect. Consequently the new natural, so far as the activities of thought, will, and putting into effect are concerned, is nothing else than the representative of the spiritual. When this new natural comes into being a person receives good from the Lord; when he receives that good truths are conferred on him; when those truths are conferred on him his intelligence and wisdom are made more perfect; and when his intelligence and wisdom are made more perfect he is blessed with happiness that lasts for ever.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. A Pauline teaching; see for example Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:9-10.
