302. I have talked with angels about the conjunction of heaven with the human race, and I said that, while the man of the Church declares that all good is from God, and that angels are with man, yet few believe that angels are conjoined to man, still less that they are in his thought and affection. To this the angels replied that they know that there is such a belief and even such a mode of speaking in the world, and especially, to their surprise, within the Church, where yet there is the Word to teach men about heaven and its conjunction with man. Nevertheless, there is such a conjunction that man is unable to think the least thing apart from the spirits adjoined to him, and on this his spiritual life depends. They said that the cause of ignorance of this matter is man's belief that he lives from himself, without a connection with the First Being (Esse) of life; and that he does not know that this connection exists by means of the heavens; and yet if that connection were broken man would instantly fall down dead. If man believed, as is really true, that all good is from the Lord and all evil from hell, he would not make the good in him a matter of merit nor would evil be imputed to him; for he would then look to the Lord in all the good he thinks and does, and all the evil that inflows would be cast down to hell whence it comes. But because man does not believe that there is any influx into him either from heaven or from hell, and so supposes that all the things that he thinks and wills are in himself, and therefore from himself, he appropriates the evil to himself, and the inflowing good he defiles with merit.
The White Horse＃10
10. The internal sense of the Word is primarily for the angels, but it is also for men.
So that it may be known what the internal sense is, its nature and its origin, this will be stated in summary form. They think and speak differently in heaven from people on earth, in heaven spiritually and on earth naturally. Therefore when people read the word the angels who are with them perceive it spiritually, and the people naturally. So, angels are in the spiritual sense, people in the external sense; and yet they still make one unit because there is a correspondence between them. Angels not only think spiritually, they also speak spiritually; also, their presence with people, and their conjunction with people is achieved through the Word. This is seen in the work Heaven and Hell, where the wisdom of the angels of heaven is considered: 265-275; their speech: 234-245; their connection with people: 291-302; their connection through the Word: 303-310.
The Word is understood differently by the angels in heaven and by people on earth; and an internal or spiritual sense exists for the angels, while for men there is an external or natural sense: 1887, 2395. The angels perceive the Word in its internal sense, not its external, from the experience of those from heaven who talked with me when I read the Word: 1769-1772. Angelic ideas 1 and angelic speech are spiritual, while human ideas and speech are natural, and likewise the internal sense, which is spiritual, is for angels, as shown to me by my own experience: 2333. Nevertheless the literal sense of the Word 2 serves as a means of communicating the spiritual ideas of angels, in the same way that words of speech serve for the sense of a thing with people: 2143. Those things which belong to the internal sense of the Word fall into such things as are in the light of heaven, and so into the perception of angels: 2618-2619, 2629, 3086. Likewise those things which the angels perceive from the Word are very precious to them: 2540-2541, 2545, 2551. Angels understand not even one expression of the literal sense of the Word: 64-65, 1434, 1929. Nor do they know the names of persons and places mentioned in the Word: 1434, 1888, 4442, 4480. Names cannot enter heaven or be pronounced there: 1876, 1888. All names in the Word signify spiritual realities, and in heaven they are converted into the ideas of spiritual reality: 768, 1888, 4310, 4442, 5225, 5287, 10329. Also, angels abstract spiritual realities from people and their names: 4380, 8343, 8985, 9007. How elegant the internal sense of the Word is, even where no names occur, is seen in examples from the Word: 1224, 1888, 2395. Also, several names in succession express one thing in the internal sense: 5095. Also, all numbers in the Word signify things: 482, 487, 647-648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 6175, 9488, 9659, 10217, 10253. Spirits too perceive the Word in its internal sense, in so far as their internal parts are opened to heaven: 1771. The literal sense of the Word, which is natural, may be transmuted in a moment of time into spiritual form among the angels, because correspondence exists: 5648. And this is without their hearing or knowing what is in the literal or external sense: 10215. Thus, the literal or external sense exists only with man and progresses no further: 2015.
There is an internal sense of the Word, and also an innermost or supreme sense, about which see 9407, 10604, 10614, 10627. The spiritual angels, that is those who are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom, perceive the Word in its internal sense, and the celestial angels, who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom, perceive the Word in its innermost sense: 2157, 2275.
The Word is for people and also for angels, being appropriate for both: 7381, 8862, 10322. It is the Word which unifies heaven and earth: 2310, 2495, 9212, 9216, 9357. The linking of heaven with people exists through the Word: 9396, 9400-9401, 10452. The Word is called a covenant [contract]: 9396-since a covenant signifies a linking together: 665-666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778, 9396, 10632. There is an internal sense of the Word because the Word came down 3 from the Lord through the three heavens right as far as humans: 2310, 6597. It has become appropriate for the angels of the three heavens and also for humans: 7381, 8862. It is from this that the Word is divine: 4989, 9280, and holy: 10276, and spiritual: 4480, and inspired by the Divine: 9094. That is inspiration: 9094.
Furthermore, people who have been regenerated are actually in the internal sense of the Word even though they do not know this, since their internal being is opened, which has spiritual perception: 10400. But in their case the spiritual essence of the Word flows into natural ideas and is thus established in a natural sense, since while they live in the world they think as natural beings, as far as perception is concerned: 5614. The light of truth among those who are enlightened comes from their internal being, and thus through their internal being from the Lord: 10691, 10694. Also along that course flows what is holy, among those who hold the Word holy: 6789. Since regenerated people are actually in the internal sense of the Word, and in its holiness, although they do not know that, after death they arrive at that of themselves, and are no longer in the literal sense: 3226, 3342-3343. The ideas of an internal person are spiritual, but while people live in the world they are not aware of them since people are in their natural mode of thought, to which they impart their reasoning faculty: 10236, 10240, 10551. But after death people come into them as their own because they belong properly to their spirit, and at that time they not only think but also talk as from them: 2470, 2472, 2476, 10568, 10604. It is for this reason that it is said that regenerated people do not know that they are in the spiritual sense of the Word, and that from this enlightenment comes to them.
脚注:
1. The Latin of our text has ideae cogitationis at this point: 'ideas of thought.' Throughout his works Swedenborg often distinguishes between types of ideas but it is self evident in this instance that the ideas referred to are those 'of thought' in opposition to speech and hence cogitationis has been dropped.
2. I am grateful to the Rev'd John Elliott for the suggestion of translating litera as 'in its literal meaning.' I was in a fog as to Swedenborg's intention in using litera, which classically may mean either 'a letter' or 'writing.'
3. The Latin has descenderat, pluperfect tense, literally 'had descended; 'but the use of the pluperfect for a strong perfect is not uncommon in Swedenborg' (the Rev'd John Elliott), as is indeed the case sometimes in pre-classical and in poetical Latin. It has been translated as if perfect, therefore.
Arcana Coelestia＃9212
9212. 'If you ever take your companion's clothing as a pledge' means if factual knowledge of truths is dispersed by illusions that are a product of sensory impressions. This is clear from the meaning of 'taking as a pledge' as receiving a token for goods that are supplied, for 'a pledge' is a token for goods that are being lent. When spiritual things are understood instead of these, supplying goods means giving instruction in truths, and the token or pledge in this instance means truth on the level of the senses. For 'the clothing' here which is given as a pledge means the lowest level of the natural, which is that of the senses. Since illusions abound on this level and illusions wipe out truths, 'taking your companion's clothing as a pledge' means the dispersing of truths by illusions that are a product of sensory impressions. The fact that these things are meant is clear from the whole train of thought in the internal sense.
[2] In general 'clothing' means everything that clothes another, and so whatever is relatively more external. Consequently the external or natural man is called the clothing in relation to the internal or spiritual man. In a similar way truth is called the clothing in relation to good, because truth clothes good; likewise factual knowledge of truth in relation to the truth of faith which belongs to the internal man. Sensory perception, which constitutes the lowest level of life with a person, is the clothing in relation to factual knowledge of truth.
'Clothes' are lower things that cover higher ones, or what amounts to the same thing, exterior things that cover interior ones, see 2576, 5248. In general they are truths, 4545, 4763, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6917, 9093, factual knowledge of truths, 6918, or truths on the level of the senses, 9158. Sensory perception constitutes the lowest level of life with a person, 4009, 5077, 5125, 5128, 5767, 5774, 6201, 6313, 7442, 7693, and sensory perception is subject to illusions, 5084, 5089, 6201, 6948, 6949, 7442.
[3] The meaning of 'clothes' as truths owes its origin to representatives in the next life. There angels and spirits appear dressed in clothes in keeping with the state of faith or truth that is theirs, and their clothes are varied in keeping with the changes which that state undergoes. Those governed by authentic truth appear dressed in white garments, and those governed by truths springing from good in shining ones. But those governed purely by good, as angels of the inmost heaven are, called celestial angels, appear naked. So it is then that clothes are truths, and that truths are meant in the Word by 'clothes', as may be seen from places referred to above. To these places let the following in the Gospels be added:
[4] In Matthew,
When Jesus was transfigured His face shone like the sun, and His garments became [white] as the light. Matthew 17:2.
'Face' in the Word means the interiors, in particular the affections, 358, 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573, 4066, 4796, 4797, 5102, 5695, 6604, 6848, 6849, and 'God's face' Goodness itself, 222, 223, 5585. 'The sun' means God's love, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4321 (end), 4696, 7083, 8644. From this it is evident what the meaning is when it says that the Lord's face shone like the Sun, namely that His interiors were the Good of Divine Love. 'His garments became [white] as the light' means Divine Truth radiating from Him, which also appears in heaven as the light, 1521, 1619-1632, 3195, 3222, 3485, 3636, 3643, 4415, 5400, 8644.
[5] In the same gospel,
When Jesus drew near to Jerusalem they brought the she-ass and the colt and laid their garments on them and set Him on them. But a very great crowd spread their garments on the road, while others were breaking off branches from trees and spreading them on the road. Matthew 21:1, 7-8.
Riding on a she-ass and her colt was a representative sign of the Supreme Judge and King, see 2781, as also is evident from what comes before in verse 5,
Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you, meek, seated on a she-ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.
It is also evident in Mark 11:1-12; in Luke 19:28-41; in John 12:12-16; and in Zechariah 9:9-10, where it says of the Lord that He would ride on an ass, and on a young ass, a son of she-asses. There He is called a King, and in addition it says that His dominion will be from sea even to sea, and from the River even to the ends of the earth. The fact that the supreme judge rode on a she-ass, and his sons on young asses, see Judges 5:9-10; 10:3-4; 12:14; and that the king rode on a she-mule, and the king's sons on mules, 1 Kings 1:33, 38, 44-45; 2 Samuel 13:29.
[6] When the disciples laid their garments on the she-ass and her colt, it represented the recognition that truths in their entirety were the foundation on which the Lord as supreme Judge and King rested; for the disciples represented the Lord's Church in respect of truths and forms of good, see 2129, 3488, 3858 (end), 6397, and their garments truths themselves, 4545, 4763, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6917, 9093. This same recognition was likewise represented when the crowd spread their garments, also the branches of trees, on the road. Another reason why they spread them on the road was that 'the road' means the truth by means of which a member of the Church is led, see 627, 2333, 3477. And the reason why they also spread the branches of trees was that 'trees' meant perceptions and also cognitions or knowledge of truth and good, 2682, 2722, 2972, 4552, 7692, so that their branches are the truths themselves. Those actions were also performed then because it was customary for the chief persons among the people to lay their garments on supreme judges and kings' she-asses and mules when they rode in pomp on them, and for the people themselves to spread their garments on the road, or the branches of trees instead. For in heaven judgeship consists in Divine Truth derived from Good, and kingship in Divine Truth, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148.
[7] In Luke,
No one adds a piece of a new garment onto an old garment; in doing so he splits the new, and the binding from the new is unsuitable for the old.
The Lord used this comparison to describe the truth of the new Church and the truth of the old Church; for 'garment' means truth. Sewing on one or binding it to the other means destroying both; for the truth of the new Church is interior truth, thus truth for the internal man, whereas the truth of the old Church is exterior truth, thus truth for the external man. The latter kind of truth prevailed in the Jewish Church, for by means of external things this Church represented internal ones, whereas the Church of today has knowledge of the internal truths that were represented then, because the Lord has revealed them. The fact that these truths are not suited to external ones in such a way that they can exist together is what the words used by the Lord serve to mean. From all this also it is evident that 'garment' means the Church's truth.
[8] In John,
Jesus said to Peter, Truly, truly I say to you, When you were a boy you girded your loins and walked where you wished. But when you are old you will stretch out your hands, [and] another will gird your loins and lead you where you do not wish. John 21:18.
No one without knowledge of the internal sense can see what these words imply; plainly, they contain arcana. In the internal sense 'Peter' means the Church's faith, see the Prefaces to Genesis 18, 22, and 3750, 6000, 6073 (end), 6344 (end). Consequently Peter when he was a boy means the nature of the Church's faith as it is initially, and Peter when he would be old means the nature of the Church's faith as it is finally. From this it is evident what 'when you were a boy you girded your loins and walked where you wished' means, namely that the Church's faith as it is initially is faith composed of truth derived from good, thus faith composed of charity towards the neighbour and of love to the Lord. And at this time a member of the Church in doing what is good acts freely, because his actions spring from the Lord. For aspects of the good of love are meant by 'the loins', 3021, 3294, 4280, 4575, 5050-5062, so that 'girding the loins' means clothing good with truths; and living is meant by 'walking', 519, 1794, 8417, 8420, so that 'walking where one wishes' means leading a life that is free. Those people lead a life that is free, or act freely, whose faith springs from love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour; for they are led by the Lord, 892, 905, 2870-2893, 6325, 9096. 'When you are old you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird your loins and lead you where you do not wish' means that the Church's faith as it is finally will be none at all, at which time falsities that arise from evil springing from self-love and love of the world will take the place of faith and enslave it. This is the arcanum which these words spoken by Lord contain and which can be seen only from their internal sense. All this shows once again the kind of way in which the Lord spoke, namely in such a way that an inner meaning might be present within every detail, to the end that heaven might be joined to the world by means of the Word. For without the Word, that is, without Divine Truth that has been revealed, they are not joined together; and if they are not so joined the human race perishes.
