We know many things. Our memories are crammed full of knowledge, ever since we have started learning and remembering facts as babies.

One useful way to classify the kinds of knowledges we have is to think of them as being external or internal. External ones have to do with natural things. Sometimes, in New Christian teachings, there are called "scientifics", from the Latin root "scientia", which means "to know". Internal knowledges have to do with spiritual things, and are sometimes called "cognitions", again from Latin, this time "cognitio", which again means to know, but with connotations of learning, and together.

Without knowledges, we can’t do anything. We may not always see that, because we learned some of our daily tasks so long ago that our actions are almost automatic, and we no longer recognize them as things we once had to learn. Nevertheless, we can’t do something we don’t know how to do. Because knowledges are used to figure out what to do or how to do it, they are represented in the Word by servants or beasts of burden such as donkeys or camels.

In order to regenerate, or become angelic, the first requirement is that we must have cognitions from religion that tell us what is good and what is evil. In the Christian world these come from the Word, and in other religions from other teachings, but in either case there has to be an acknowledgment that they are from God, not from ourselves or from some “expert.” The second requirement is that we must act from the knowledges we have. We must avoid doing the evil things of which the Ten Commandments inform us, and try to do good according to what we know. If we do, God will work to bring our minds into better order, and help us by forming our ideas about good more perfectly and giving us better perceptions of new knowledges as we acquire them. He will change us for the better as much as we want and are ready to be changed. When this begins to happen what was once a knowledge becomes what we call a “truth of faith,” and it joins with other truths in our understanding to form the operating blueprint of our spiritual life.

This process will go on all our lives, both here and in heaven.

(参照: Apocalypse Explained 126; Arcana Coelestia 1460 [1-4], 1461, 1476, 1555, 3161, 3665 [2], 6384, 6483; The Apocalypse Explained 105 [3], 112 [3])