Explanation of Deuteronomy 1
Durch Alexander Payne
Verses 1-8. A General Summary.
Verses 9-18. The selection of right principles in the mind.
Verses 19-21. Invitation to enter upon the heavenly life.
Verses 22-25. A search into what constitutes the heavenly life.
Verses 26-40. The unwillingness of the unregenerate heart to enter upon it.
Verses 41-46. The attempt to do so from selfhood and defeat in temptation.
Heaven and Hell #122
122. To angels, our world's sun looks like something murky opposite to heaven's sun, and our moon like something dim opposite to heaven's moon, consistently. This is because our world's fire corresponds to a love for ourselves, and the light it emits corresponds to the distortion that arises from that love. Love for oneself is the absolute opposite of divine love, and the distortion that arises from it is the absolute opposite of divine truth. Anything that is opposed to divine love and truth is darkness to angels.
This is why in the Word, worshiping our world's sun and moon and bowing down to them means loving oneself and the distortion that arises from self-love, and why these are to be abolished (Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3-5; 18:0, Jeremiah 8:1-2, Ezekiel 8:15-16, 18, Revelation 16:8, Matthew 13:6). 1
Fußnoten:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] Our world's sun is not visible to angels, but instead something dim behind them, opposite to heaven's sun or the Lord: 7078, 9755. In its opposite meaning, the sun means love for oneself: 2441; and in this meaning "worshiping the sun" means worshiping things that are contrary to heavenly love, or to the Lord: 2441, 10584. For people in the hells, heaven's sun is darkness: 2441.
