Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 8858

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

8858. A person's whole character is determined by the nature of whatever dominates his life; this is what marks him off from others. His heaven is formed in accordance with it if he is good, or his hell if he is bad. For it constitutes his true will and so the true being of his life, which is unchangeable after death. From all this one may see what the life is like in a person who has been regenerated, and what it is like in one who has not been regenerated.

  
/ 10837  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 8885

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

8885. 'Remember' means what is perpetually in the thoughts. This is clear from the meaning of 'remembering', when said in connection with the kind of thing which must by no means be forgotten, as what is perpetually in the power of thought. What is perpetually in the thoughts is that which reigns universally there; and that reigns universally with a person which is present perpetually in his thoughts, even when his mind is on other things or he is occupied with his work. A person's thoughts contain a number of things existing together with one another, for it is the form produced by a number of things which have entered in successive stages. The ones which are clearly perceptible lie in the middle then and so are in the light that inner sight possesses, while the remainder then are to the sides round about. Those which lie in the surrounding parts are in obscurity and are not plainly visible, except when the kinds of matters which they have been connected with crop up. But those which are even more outlying, and are not on the same level but slope away downwards, are the kinds of things which a person has thrown aside and which he detests. The latter are evils and falsities in the case of people who are good, and forms of good and truths in the case of those who are bad.

[2] Within a person's thoughts there are things which are there perpetually, that is, they reign universally there; these are his inmost things. From them the person regards others which are not perpetually there, that is, are not yet reigning universally, as being outside himself, and also as beneath himself and not as yet related to him. From these others he can at that time choose and link to himself ones which accord with the inmost; and when they have been linked to and at length combined with them, the inmost, that is, those reigning universally, are made stronger. This is done by means of new truths in the case of those who are good, and by means of new falsities, or by wrong application of truths, in the case of those who are bad.

[3] It should be recognized in addition that that which reigns universally is whatever has been instilled into the actual will, which is the inmost part of a person because it has been formed from his love. For whatever a person loves, that is what he wills; and what he loves above all he wills in his inmost being. The understanding however serves to make plain to others the things a person wills, that is, loves. But also it serves to bend other people's wills; the person uses ideas formulated in various ways to make their wills comply with his own. When this happens love or affection also passes from the will into ideas in the understanding, and by means of a kind of inspiration breathes life and movement into them.

[4] In the case of people who are good those ideas in the understanding make one with affections belonging to the will. But in the case of people who are bad it is different. With them thought and will inmostly do indeed accord with each other; for the evil desired by the will occupies the understanding in the form of falsity according with that evil. But this agreement is not evident to people in the world; for they learn from earliest childhood to speak other than they think, and to do other than they will. In short they learn to separate their inner man from their outer man, to develop in the latter a will and also thought other than what is in the inner man, and so by means of their outer man to feign good that is altogether out of keeping with their inner man, which in the same instant desires evil and also imperceptibly is thinking it. But what the inner will and thought are like is evident in the next life, as in broad daylight; for there externals are taken away and internals are laid bare.

  
/ 10837  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 395

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

395. 'Anyone killing Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold' means that to violate faith thus separated was utterly forbidden. This is clear from the meaning of 'Cain' as separated faith, and from the meaning of 'seven' as utterly inviolable. As is well known, the number seven was considered holy on account of the six days of creation and of the seventh, which is the celestial man in whom peace, rest, and the Sabbath exist. This is the reason why the number seven occurs so many times in the religious ceremonies of the Jewish Church, in every instance standing for that which is holy. It is also the reason why periods of time, long as well as short, were divided into seven, and were called weeks, as in the case of the long time intervals leading up to the time when the Messiah was to come, Daniel 9:24-25. A period of seven years is also called a week by Laban and Jacob, Genesis 29:27-28. Consequently wherever the number seven occurs it stands either for something holy or else for something utterly inviolable, as in David,

Seven times in the day I praise You. Psalms 119:164.

In Isaiah,

The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days. Isaiah 30:26.

Here 'the sun' is love, and 'the moon' faith deriving from love, a faith which is to be as love.

[2] Just as the periods of man's regeneration divide into six before he reaches the seventh, which is the celestial man, so also do the periods of vastation even until nothing celestial is left. This was represented by the many captivities of the Jews, and by the last of them, the Babylonian, which was a captivity of seven decades, that is, seventy years. And it was several times stated that the land had to rest during its Sabbaths. It was also represented by Nebuchadnezzar, of whom it is said in Daniel,

His heart will be changed from man, and the heart of a beast given him until seven times will pass over him. Daniel 4:16, 25, 32.

In reference to the vastation of the last times it is recorded in John,

I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful - seven angels holding the seven Revelation 15:1, 6-7.

They will trample over the holy city for forty-two months (that is, six times seven). Revelation 11:2.

In the same book,

I saw a book [written] within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Revelation 5:1.

Severe and increased penalties were for the same reason expressed by the number seven, as in Moses,

If you will not obey Me in this matter, I will chastise you seven times worse for your sins. Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28.

In David,

Return to our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom. Psalms 79:12.

So then, it is because it was utterly forbidden to violate faith - since it had a use to serve, as has been stated - that the statement is made about 'vengeance being taken sevenfold on him who killed Cain'.

  
/ 10837  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.