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Serve

  

Generally speaking, people who are at lower levels of an organization serve those at higher levels. Bosses boss and their employees serve; coaches devise strategy and players do what the coach tells them to do; engineers design car parts and workers assemble them according to the engineers' instructions. Ideally, of course, it's a two-way street: A good boss knows he is really there to help his employees succeed; a good coach creates strategies based on his players' strengths. Even there, though, the boss and coach are really working in service of a higher goal, seeking organizational success. The same is true in the spiritual sense of the Bible. When someone serves another, they are in a lower state, serving a higher state (or a deeper evil, if they are being enslaved by people who represent evil). This can take many different forms, depending on the circumstances. In many cases, this creates a connection between "service" and intellectual things. This is because who we are is determined by what we love; our loves are the deepest part of us. What we think, our reasoning and intellect and the things we learn about, come from those loves and serve those loves.

Iz Swedenborgovih djela

 

De Verbo (The Word) #24

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24. XXIV. The Word.

In the spiritual kingdom they have the Word in its higher region, written in such a way that it can be understood ever more intelligently by an intelligent person, but simply by a simple person. In short, in this there is manifest an inner and an outer intelligence; and there is an inner script. 1 This is achieved by various sorts of pointing over the letters; the pointing means affections, and series of points express ever more inward types of intelligence for the more intelligent people. This Word was seen by me, at least some of it.

I also saw something in the Word 2 of the celestial kingdom. This has still more secrets noted, but by means of various curves and squiggles above and inside the letters, which are peculiar to the celestial kingdom. These secrets are especially transcendental, and cannot be grasped by an angel of the spiritual kingdom. In fact, he cannot think about them. They were accordingly told that they cannot come anywhere near the wisdom of the angels of the celestial kingdom, just as neither can those in the natural sphere come near the intelligence of the angels of the spiritual kingdom. It is utterly transcendental. I have frequently experienced this. Experience has established for me that the intelligence of the angels of the spiritual kingdom is indescribable and incomprehensible to those in the natural kingdom, and the wisdom of the angels of the celestial kingdom is incomprehensible and indescribable to those in the spiritual kingdom.

As regards the Lord's Divine wisdom, this is so far above all other wisdom that it has no standard of comparison. For all the intelligence and wisdom of the angels is finite, but the Lord's Divine intelligence and wisdom is infinite. The finite and the infinite have no standard of comparison. The reason why the intelligence and wisdom of the angels is finite is that angels are recipients, and all recipients are created, and also finite.

Bilješke:

1. The text reads 'and the inner is written', but scripta is probably an error for scriptura. -Translator

2. The text should perhaps read 'in Verbo' for 'in eo Verbo', or if in is deleted 'ex Verbo'. -Translator

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