The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Teachings #27
27. Wisdom comes into being out of goodness by means of truth. How rationality is conceived and born in us: 2093, 2524, 2557, 3030, 5126. This is brought about by means of an inflow of the Lord through heaven into whatever spiritual and worldly knowledge 1 we have, lifting us up as a result: 1895, 1899, 1900, 1901. This lifting up depends on the useful things we do 2 and on our love of them: 3074, 3085, 3086. Our rationality is born by means of truths, so the nature of the truths determines the nature of our rationality: 2093, 2524, 2557. Our rationality is opened and given form by truths that arise from living a good life; it is closed and destroyed by falsities that arise from living an evil life: 3108, 5126. Our being able to argue that this or that is true does not mean we are rational; we are rational if we are able to see and perceive whether something is actually true or not: 1944. We are not born with any truth, because we are not born with any goodness; we need to learn and absorb everything: 3175. Because of the deceptiveness of our senses and the persuasiveness of falsity, which lead to rationalizations and doubts, we are barely able to accept genuine truths and then become wise: 3175. The beginning of our wisdom occurs when we start to turn our backs on rationalizations that deny what is true, and to cast aside our doubts: 3175. When our rational ability is not enlightened it scoffs at inner truths: 2654 (which includes examples). Our truths can properly be called inner truths only when they have been rooted in our lives, and not merely because we know about them, even though some truths that we know about might be said to be of a deeper kind: 10199.
[2] Within goodness there lies a capacity to grow in wisdom; if our lives have been devoted to doing what is good, we attain angelic wisdom after our departure from this world: 5527, 5859, 8321. Within every type of goodness countless other types of goodness lie hidden: 4005. From goodness countless things can be learned: 3612. How truth multiplies as a result of goodness: 5345, 5355, 5912. By means of truths and by means of living according to them, the goodness we have in early childhood becomes the goodness that belongs to wisdom: 3504.
[3] We can be moved by a desire for truth and we can be moved by a desire for goodness: 1904, 1997. What we are like when we are moved by a desire for truth and what we are like when we are moved by a desire for goodness: 2422, 2429. Which people can come to desire truth and which people cannot: 2689. All truths are arranged under some emotion that they have in common: 9094. In earthly-minded people a desire for truth and a desire for goodness are like brother and sister, while in spiritually minded people they are like husband and wife: 3160.
[4] Pure truths are not to be found in us or even in angels-only in the Lord: 3207, 7902. Any truths that we have are only apparently true: 2053, 2519. The first truths we have are things that seem to be true according to our deceptive senses; we gradually shed these as we increase in wisdom: 3131. If we are devoted to what is good, the things we think are true are accepted as real truths by the Lord: 2053, 3207. The substance and nature of things that seem to be truths: 3207, 3357-3362, 3368, 3404, 3405, 3417. Much of the literal meaning of the Word is adapted to suit the way things seem to people: 1838. The same truths can be more true for one individual, less true for another, and false for yet another because they have been distorted: 2439. By coordinating the impressions of our earthly self with those of our spiritual self, we can see whether the things we hold as true are actually true or not: 3128, 3138. How true our truths are varies depending on our ideas and concepts of them: 3470, 3804, 6917.
[5] When a truth has been joined to goodness it vanishes from our memory because it has become part of our life: 3108. Truths can be joined to goodness only in a state of freedom: 3158. Truths are joined to goodness by means of the crises of the spirit we go through: 3318, 4572, 7122. All goodness makes a constant effort to put truths in their place and to be restored by means of an inversion of its state: 3610. Truths become unpleasant when their connection with goodness is cut off: 8352. It is hard for us to tell the difference between truth and goodness because it is hard for us to tell the difference between thinking and willing: 9995. In the Word, what is good is called the brother 3 of what is true: 4267. From one point of view, whatever is good is called a lord and whatever is true is called a servant: 3409, 4267.
Bilješke:
1. The Latin words here translated "spiritual and worldly knowledge" are cognitiones and scientiae. Swedenborg uses both of these terms to refer to types of knowledge, or to concepts, and generally to two different types of knowledge or concepts, though he does not always distinguish between them, or distinguish between them in the same way. Cognitiones, however, tends to be used of "deeper" knowledge, the concepts of the inner self ( Secrets of Heaven 24), while scientiae tends to refer to facts learned by the outer self. Given these tendencies of use, the contrast between the two aligns with the contrast between knowledge about religious matters, the province of cognitiones, and knowledge about worldly matters, the province of scientia. See Secrets of Heaven 9945, where Swedenborg notes that by cognitiones he means "relatively deep facts, such as facts about faith and love that are known to the church"; and also Secrets of Heaven 1458, where he calls cognitiones "heavenly and spiritual truths. " (Compare also Secrets of Heaven 1171[4], where he says that without cognitiones "no one can become part of the church. ") In Heaven and Hell 353, he defines scientiae as "the various experimental disciplines such as physics, astronomy, chemistry, mechanics, geometry, anatomy, psychology, philosophy, and political history, as well as the realms of literature and criticism and language study. " And thus scientifica (compare note 1 in New Jerusalem 26), a word related to scientia, tends to mean facts about nonspiritual matters known to the earthly self ( Secrets of Heaven 3309, 9394:1; New Jerusalem 51:2) that are merely stored in the memory of the outer self; compare Secrets of Heaven 24, 27, 7689 ("the kind of truth the earthly mind contains is facts"); and contrast §§4749, 5934. Swedenborg does not dismiss outer knowledge, scientiae, as worthless; he notes several times that initially such knowledge forms the basis of the inner knowledge, cognitiones ( Secrets of Heaven 1472, 9918). He also observes, however, that for many people knowledge about religion stops short at merely factual knowledge that is not applied or brought to bear on life, and so remains a matter of shallow, rote faith ( Secrets of Heaven 200, 1162-1163, 1197:1, 1198, 3412, 3762:2, 9230:2). "In the absence of any deeper content," even cognitiones may be merely "superficial knowledge" and "just a collection of facts" ( Secrets of Heaven 1201[2]; compare 2973). [SS, LHC]
2. The Latin word here translated "the useful things we do" is usus, which is sometimes also translated "functions," "service," "useful purposes," or "uses. " When "use" is synonymous with "action" (as in the notion of "performing a use") it refers to an action that is helpful to-does good for-someone. When indicating an aspect of an activity or the person who performs it, it refers to the help that the activity or person provides; for instance, if one were to refer to "the use of a wise person" (compare Marriage Love 18[1-2]). For an extended treatment of use or service from a philosophical perspective, see Divine Love and Wisdom 296-348. For a more practical treatment of a life of useful service, see the small work Sketch on Goodwill (= Swedenborg 1995). For briefer statements on use or service, see, for example, Secrets of Heaven 997, 7038; Heaven and Hell 387-394, 402-403. Swedenborg's notion of "use" is also explored in Van Dusen 1981. [RHK, GFD, LSW]
3. The Latin word here translated "brother" is frater. This term can be used of not only male but female siblings under certain grammatical circumstances, but the Secrets of Heaven context suggests that masculine imagery is intended. Specifically, Secrets of Heaven 4267, the passage referenced here, concerns Genesis 32:17-18, in which Jacob sends a message to his brother Esau. [GFD]
Arcana Coelestia #9995
9995. 'Of fine wheat flour you shall make them' means truth which springs from Divine Good, of which those [celestial kinds of good] consist. This is clear from the meaning of 'fine flour' as truth, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'wheat' as the good of love, dealt with in 3941, and so in the highest sense as Divine Good; and from the meaning of 'making them' as the requirement that those kinds of celestial good, meant by unleavened bread, cakes, and wafers, must consist of that truth. The situation in all this is that all the truths and forms of good that exist in heaven have their origin in Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good. This Divine Truth as received by angels in the celestial kingdom is called celestial good, but as received in the spiritual kingdom by angels there it is called spiritual good; for no matter how often Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good is called Truth it is still good. The reason for referring to it as Truth is that it appears in heaven, before angels' outward sight there, as light; for the light there is Divine Truth, but the heat within that light, which is the good of love, causes it to be good. The situation is similar with people in this world. When the truth of faith emanates from the good of charity, as happens when a person has been regenerated, truth appears as good, which is also as a consequence called spiritual good since the inner being of truth is good, and truth is the outward form of good.
[2] From all this it may become clear why a person finds it so hard to distinguish between thinking and willing, for when he wills something he says that he thinks it, and often when he thinks something that he wills it. Yet they are as distinct and separate as truth and good are; for the inner being of thought is the will and the outward form of the will is thought, just as the inner being of truth is good and the outward form of good is truth, as stated immediately above. Since a person finds it so hard to distinguish one from the other he does not know what the inner being of his life is, or that good constitutes it, not truth except insofar as it springs from good. Good belongs to the will, and the will consists in what a person loves, so that truth does not become the being of a person's life until he loves it; and when the person loves it he does it. Truth however belongs to the understanding, whose function is thinking; and when he thinks it he is able to speak about it. Also it is possible to understand the truth and think it without willing or doing it; but then it does not become the person's own, part of his life, because it does not have within itself the inner being of his life. Knowing nothing about any of this a person consequently ascribes salvation wholly to faith and scarcely at all to charity, when in fact faith receives its inner being of life from charity, even as truth receives it from good.
[3] Furthermore all good with a person is given form by truth, for good flows in from the Lord by an inward path, while truth enters by an outward path. They then marry in the internal man, though in one way in the case of a spiritual person or angel and in another in the case of a celestial person or angel. With a spiritual person or angel the marriage takes place in the understanding part of the mind, but in a celestial person or angel in the will part. The outward path by which truth enters lies through hearing and sight into the understanding, but the inward path by which good flows in from the Lord lies through what is inmost in the person into the will. On this subject see what has been shown in the places referred to in 9596. From all this it is evident that the celestial kinds of good meant by unleavened bread, cakes, and wafers, come into being through Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, and that this is what should be understood by 'of fine wheat flour you shall make them'. This goes to explain why minchahs, though varying in how they were made, all consisted of fine flour mixed with oil, see Leviticus 2:1-16; 6:20-23; Numbers 7:13ff; 15:2-15; 28:11-15.
[4] The fact that 'fine flour', and also 'flour', mean truth that springs from good is clear from the following places: In Ezekiel,
You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; therefore you became extremely beautiful. Ezekiel 16:13.
These things are said of Jerusalem, by which the Ancient Church is meant in that chapter in Ezekiel. 'Fine flour' means that Church's truth which springs from good, 'honey' its delight, 'oil' the good of love, and 'eating' making it one's own. The words 'you became beautiful' are consequently used, for spiritual beauty comes as a result of truths and forms of good.
[5] In Hosea,
He does not have any standing grain; the ears will yield no flour. [If] by chance they do yield it, aliens will swallow it up. Hosea 8:7.
'Standing grain' means the truth of faith springing from good, in the process of being conceived, 9146, 'the ears will yield no flour' sterility because there is no truth springing from good, and 'aliens' who 'will swallow it up' falsities arising from evil that will consume it.
[6] In 1 Kings 17:12-15 the Sidonian woman in Zarephath told Elijah that she had nothing to make a cake with except a handful of flour in a jar and a tiny amount of oil in a flask. So Elijah told her that she should make a cake for him first, and that 'the jar of flour will not be used up, nor will the flask of oil fail', which was indeed what happened. Here 'flour' means the Church's truth, and 'oil' its good; for the woman in Sidon represents a Church that is in possession of cognitions or knowledge of truth and good, while Elijah the Prophet represents the Lord in respect of the Word. From this it is evident what this miracle has to do with, for all the miracles described in the Word have to do with things such as belong to the Church, 7337, 8364, 9086. From this it is evident what is meant by 'the jar of flour will not be used up, nor will the flask of oil fail' if from the little she had she made a cake for Elijah first and for her son after that. For the meaning of 'the woman' as the Church, see 252, 253; for that of 'Sidon' as cognitions of truth and good, 1201; and for that of 'Elijah' as the Lord in respect of the Word, 2762, 5247 (end).
[7] In Isaiah,
O daughter of Babel, take a mill, and grind flour. Isaiah 47:1-2.
'Daughter of Babel' stands for those within the Church who are outwardly holy but inwardly unholy. 'Grinding flour' stands for choosing matters from the literal sense of the Word such as serve to strengthen the evils of self-love and love of the world. For any such evil is unholy, 'grinding' describes choosing, and also explaining in support of those kinds of love, while 'flour' means truth that serves, see 4335.
[8] From all this it is evident what 'grinding' means and therefore what something 'ground up' means, as in Jeremiah,
Princes have been hung up by their hands, the faces of the old men have not been honoured; the young men have been led away to grind at the mill. Lamentations 5:12-13.
In Moses,
Moses took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it up till it became fine powder 1 . Then he sprinkled it over the face of the water and made the children of Israel drink it. Exodus 32:20; Deuteronomy 9:21.
And in Matthew,
At that time two will be in the field, one will be taken, the other left behind. Two women grinding; one will be taken, the other will be left behind. Matthew 24:40-41.
From these places it is evident what 'grinding' means, namely this: In a good sense it means choosing truths from the Word and explaining them in such a way that they are made to serve what is good, and in a bad sense in such a way that they are made to serve what is bad, see 7780. And from this it is also clear what something 'ground up' means, consequently what 'flour' and 'fine flour' mean.
Bilješke:
1. literally, became the minutest
