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.

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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).

986. That 'the fear of you and the dread of you' means the lordship of the internal man - 'fear' having regard to evils and 'dread' to falsities - becomes clear from the state of a regenerate person. A person's state prior to regeneration is one in which the evil desires and the falsities that belong to the external man predominate all the time, which gives rise to conflict. But once he has been regenerated the internal man rules over the external, that is, over his desires and falsities. When it is the internal man that rules, the person has a fear of evils and a dread of falsities, for both evils and falsities are contrary to conscience, and to act contrary to conscience is abhorrent to him.

[2] It is not however the internal man that fears evils and dreads falsities, but the external; hence the statements at this point about the fear of you and the dread of you being upon every beast of the earth and every bird of the air ¹ , that is, over all evil desires meant by 'beast' and over falsities meant by 'bird of the air'. ¹ This fear and this dread are seemingly the person's own, but the reality is this: As stated already everybody has at least two angels with him through whom he has communication with heaven, and two evil spirits through whom he has communication with hell. When the angels rule, as is so with a regenerate person, the evil spirits who are present dare not do anything contrary to what is good and true, for they are at that time held in bonds. And when they do try to do anything evil or to utter what is false - that is, to activate it - some hellish kind of fear and dread instantly overtakes them. This fear and this dread are what a person feels within himself for things that are contrary to conscience. This also is why, as soon as he does or utters anything contrary to conscience, he runs into temptation and the gnawings of conscience, that is, into a kind of hellish torment.

[3] On the point that fear has reference to evils and dread to falsities, the situation Is this: The spirits that reside with a person are less afraid of practising evil deeds than of uttering falsities, the reason being that a person is born again and receives a conscience by means of truths of faith, and consequently spirits are not allowed to activate falsities. Indeed nothing but evil is present with every one of them, so that they are immersed in evil; their whole nature, and consequently everything they attempt is evil; and since they are immersed in evil and their own life within them consists in evil, their performance of evil is ignored when they are serving some use. But they are not permitted to utter anything false, for the reason that they may learn what is true, and in so doing may be corrected, so far as possible, to perform some inferior kind of service. But more concerning these matters will in the Lord's Divine mercy be mentioned later on. It is similar with a regenerate person, for his conscience is formed from truths of faith. Consequently his conscience is a conscience for what is right. For him the very evil of life lies in falsity because falsity is the reverse of the truth of faith. But with the member of the Most Ancient Church who had perception it was different. He perceived evil of life as evil, and falsity of faith as falsity.

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