8857. It is similar with love to the Lord. When that love is dominant it is present in every aspect of his life, as when he loves his monarch or loves his parent. While he is in their presence love towards them shines from every part of his face, is heard in every syllable of his speech, and is apparent in every one of his gestures. This is how to understand the command ¹ to have the Lord unceasingly before one's eyes and to love Him above all, with all one's soul and all one's heart.

სქოლიოები:

183. FROM THE ARCANA COELESTIA.

What Regeneration is, and why it is effected.

At this day little is known concerning regeneration; the reason (n. 3761, 4136, 5398). Man is born into evils of every kind, and thence as to his proprium by birth, he is nothing but evil (n. 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307-2308, 3518, 3701, 3812, 8480, 8549-8550, 8552, 10283-10284, 10286, 10731). Man's hereditary nature is nothing but evil, see the extracts above in this doctrine (n. 83). Man's proprium is nothing but evil, see the same (n. 82). Man of himself, so far as he is under the influence of his hereditary nature and the proprium, is worse than the brute animals (n. 637, 3175). Therefore of himself he continually looks to hell (n. 694, 8480). Therefore, if man should be led by his own proprium, he could not possibly be saved (n. 10731).

Man's natural life is contrary to spiritual life (n. 3913, 3928). The good which he does from himself or from proprium, is not good, because he does it for the sake of self, and the world (n. 8480). Man's proprium must be removed so that the Lord and heaven may be able to be present (n. 1023, 1044). It is actually removed when he is regenerated by the Lord (n. 9334-9336, 9452, 9454, 9938). Therefore he must be created anew, that is, regenerated (n. 8548-8549,9452, 9937). "Creating" man, in the Word, signifies to regenerate him (n. 16, 88, 10634).

Man is conjoined to the Lord by regeneration (n. 2004, 9338). And consociated with angels in heaven (n. 2474). He does not come into heaven, until he is in a state to be led by the Lord by means of good, which is the case when he is regenerated (n. 8516, 8539, 8722, 9139, 9832, 10367).

The external or natural man rules, and the internal man serves, in the man who is not regenerated (n. 3167, 8743). Thus the state of man's life is inverted from his birth, and must be entirely inverted again in order that he may be saved (n. 6507, 8552-8553, 9258). The end of regeneration is, that the internal or spiritual man may rule, and the external or natural man serve (n. 911, 913). This is actually effected after man is regenerated (n. 5128, 5651, 8743). For after regeneration the love of self and the world no longer reigns, but love to the Lord and towards the neighbor, thus the Lord and not man (n. 8856-8857). Hence it is plain that man cannot be saved unless he is regenerated (n. 5280, 8548, 8772, 10156).

Regeneration is a plane to perfect the life of man to eternity (n. 9334). The regenerate man is perfected to eternity (n. 6648, 10048). The quality of the regenerate and the unregenerate man described (n. 977, 986, 10156).

3175. 'Let the girl stay with us' means being kept back by them. This is clear from the meaning of 'staying' as being kept back, as is also evident from the train of thought in the internal sense. For the fact of the matter is that nobody is ever born into any truth at all, not even into any natural truth, such as the commandments not to steal, nor to kill, nor to commit adultery, and so on. Still less is he born into any spiritual truth, such as the truth that there is a God, that he has an inner being which will live after death; and so of himself such a person does not know anything whatever of that which has to do with eternal life. Every commandment and truth has to be learned by him, and if he did not learn them he would be far worse than any animal; for because of his heredity he is inclined to love himself above everybody else and to crave possession of everything that exists in the world. Consequently unless the laws of society, and the fear of losing position, gain, reputation, and life restrained him he would without any sense of conscience steal, kill, or commit adultery. The truth of this is absolutely plain, for even a person who has been taught nevertheless acts in such ways without conscience. Indeed he defends his actions and finds many arguments to support the lawfulness of them. What would he be like if he were not given any teaching at all? It is similar in spiritual things, in that among those who have been born within the Church, who possess the Word, and who are constantly receiving teaching, there are nevertheless very many who ascribe little, or scarcely anything, to God but every single thing to natural causes. They are accordingly people who in their hearts do not believe in the existence of any God, nor thus that they will live after death. Consequently they are people who do not wish to know anything at all about things to do with eternal life.

[2] From these considerations it is evident that no one is born into any truth but that everything has to be learned - learned by an external way, namely that of hearing and sight. By this way truth has to be introduced into and implanted in a person's memory; but so long as truth is confined to the memory it is merely knowledge. So that truth may suffuse a person it has to be summoned from the memory and taken more towards the interior parts of his mind; for he is a human being by virtue of what is interiorly in him, which is the rational part of his mind. For without the faculty of reason no one is a human being. The character of a person's rationality, and the amount he has, therefore determine what kind of a human being and how much of a human being he is. No one can possibly be rational unless good exists in him. The good which sets the human being above other living beings consists in loving God and loving the neighbour. All human good comes from that source, to which good truth has to be introduced and joined, within the rational. Truth is introduced and joined to good when a person loves God and loves the neighbour, for in that case truth enters into good, since good and truth mutually acknowledge each other. Indeed good is the source of all truth, and truth regards good as its own end in view and as its own soul - thus the source of its life.

[3] But it is not easy for truth to be separated from the natural man and to be raised up from there into the rational, for present in the natural man there are delusions, there are evil desires, and there are false persuasions. During the time these are present there and are linking themselves to truth the natural man holds on to such truth and does not allow it to be raised up into the rational. This is what is meant in the internal sense by these words, 'Let the girl stay with us for a week or ten days; after that you will go'. The reason for this is that it doubts the truth and it reasons whether it really is the truth. But as soon as the evil desires and false persuasions, with their resulting delusions, are separated by the Lord, and that person - from good - begins to reject his reasonings against truth, and to treat his doubts with disdain, truth is in a condition to depart from the natural, to be raised up into the rational and to assume a state of good. For in this case truth comes to be truth rooted in good, and possesses life.

[4] To make these matters more intelligible let some examples be taken: It is a spiritual truth that all good comes from the Lord and all evil from hell. This truth has to be firmly established and elucidated in many ways before it can be raised up from the natural man into the rational. Nor can it possibly be raised up in that direction until the love of God abides in a person. For previously that truth is not acknowledged and so not believed. It is similar with other truths, such as with the truth that Divine providence exists in the most individual aspects of everything, and if it did not exist in these it would not exist in the whole. Or with the truth that a person first starts to live when that which in the world he believes to constitute the whole of life perishes and that the life which he now receives is in comparison with the life he had previously beyond words and boundless, and that no one has any knowledge at all of this life as long as he is under the influence of evil. These truths and others like them cannot be believed unless the person is governed by good. Good is what comprehends them, for the Lord flows in with wisdom by way of good.