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Arcana Coelestia #8911

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8911. The things that have been stated so far show what the situation is with a person and his life. That is to say, they show that a person is such as his will is, and that he remains such after death since death is not the end to life but the continuation of it. Since therefore a person is such as his will is - because, as has been stated above, the will is the real person - being judged according to one's deeds means being judged according to one's will, since there is no disparity between will and deed. Though external restraints exist - fear of the law, and fear of the loss of position, gain, reputation, or life - to inhibit the deed, the deed is all along in the will, and the will all along in the deed. It is like endeavour and motion. Motion is nothing other than an extension of the endeavour; for as endeavour comes to an end, so does motion. Therefore there is nothing essential within motion apart from endeavour. Learned people know this, for it is a recognized and well-established idea. In the human being endeavour is the will and motion is action; and they are called such in the human being because in him endeavour and motion are living. Being judged according to one's will is the same as being judged according to one's love; it is also the same as being judged according to the ends one has in view in life, as well as being judged according to the way one lives. For a person's will is his love, it is the end he has in view in life, and it is the very life itself within him. The truth of this is clear from the Lord's words which have already been quoted - One who looks at a woman 1 in such a way that he lusts after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28. It is clear also from His saying that killing someone is not only performing that deed but also the desire to perform it, which is meant by being angry and reviling him with insults, Matthew 5:21-22. Furthermore a person is indeed judged according to his deeds; yet no further questions are asked than these - How far did those deeds spring from his will? and What nature did his will give them?

Notes de bas de page:

1. Following the version of Sebastian Schmidt Swedenborg adds a word which implies that the woman is another man's wife.

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

Des oeuvres de Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Explained #168

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168. And I will give to each one of you according to your works, signifies eternal blessedness according to one's internal in the external. This is evident from the signification of "works," as being the things that are of love and of faith therefrom (of which see above, n. 98, 116); and as being the same in deeds or works (See n. 157; also from the signification of "giving to each one according to his works," as being eternal blessedness; for everything blessed and delightful is of love and according to the love (of which also see above, n. 146. Here "giving to each one according to his works" signifies eternal blessedness according to the internal in the external, because those are here treated of, who at the same time are in the internal and the external, and of the conjunction of the two (See above, n. 150). It is said, eternal blessedness according to the internal in the external, because all heavenly blessedness with man, spirit, and angel flows in through the internal into their external; for their internal is formed for the reception of all things of heaven, and their external for the reception of all things of the world; therefore there is heavenly blessedness with those only with whom the internal has been opened and formed after the image of heaven; and not with those in whom the internal has been shut; the blessedness of these is the delight of honor, glory, and gain, which delight a man may have so long as he lives in the world. (But after death, when man becomes a spirit, this is changed into the corresponding delight which is filthy and direful, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 485-490; and that the blessedness of heaven, which is called heavenly joy, those only have who are in the internal and from that in the external, see the same, n. 395-414; and what the internal and the external are, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 36-53.)

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.

Le texte de la Bible

 

Psalms 73:21-22

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21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.

22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.