210. Ⅶ. 사람은 스스로 생각하고 스스로 모든 것을 지시한다는 가상이 들지 않으면 이 모든 일은 하나도 이루어질 수 없는 것.

[1] 앞에서 충분히 입증한 것은 사람은 자기 스스로 사는 것이 그에게 보이지 아니하면, 그러므로 그 스스로 생각하고 뜻하고 말하고 행동하는 듯 보이지 아니하면 사람일 수 없을 것이라 하였다. 이로써 사람은 그 자신의 분별력으로 그의 직업과 생활에 속한 모든 것을 지시하는 듯 보이지 아니하면, 그는 하나님의 섭리에 의해서 인도되거나 지시를 받을 수 없는 것이 분명하다. 왜냐하면 그는 축 늘어진 손을 하고, 입은 벌린 채, 눈을 감고, 숨은 들이마시고, 줄 것이나 기다리고 우두커니 서 있는 사람과 같을 것이기 때문이다. 이리하여 그는 스스로 살고, 생각하고, 뜻하고 말하고, 행동하는 듯 보이는 지각과 느낌을 갖는 인간성을 스스로 포기할 것이다. 그는 또 그것이 있어 짐승과 구분되는 자유성과 합리성의 두 기능까지도 포기할 것이다. 이 가상이 없으면 사람에게는 받아들이고 협력하는 어떠한 기능 곧 영혼불멸도 갖지 못할 것이라는 것은 이 책 위와 <하나님의 사랑과 하나님의 지혜> 안에서 입증한 바 있다.

[2] 그러므로 여러분이 만일 하나님의 섭리를 따르려 한다면 주인의 선을 착실하게 실천하는 종과 하인처럼 분별력을 쓰시기만 하면 될 것이고, 이 분별력은 그것을 가지고 장사하라고 하였으나 그 빚을 갚아야 하는 달란트인 것이다 (누가복음 19:13-25; 마태복음 25:14-31).

분별력 자체는 사람에게는 그의 것같이 보인다. 그리고 그는 하나님과 하나님의 섭리에 그것을 자기 것같이 믿는다. 이것은 나면서부터 모든 사람의 내성에 자리 잡고 있다. 만일 여러분이 그것을 알아차리지 못한다면 (그것은 알려지려 하지 않기 때문에) 그것은 안전하게 거처하여 사람이 그 문을 열거나 그리하여 주께서 그것을 밖으로 내던져버리지 않도록 문을 잠그고 있는 것이다. 사람은 그가 주님으로부터 한다는 인식 아래 스스로 하는 듯 악을 죄로 알고 끊음으로써 이 문을 열어젖힐 수 있다.

5433. 'You have come to see the nakedness of the land' means that nothing would please them more than to know for themselves that they are not truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming to see' as wishing to know that a thing is so, and therefore as nothing would give greater pleasure than to know it; from the meaning of 'the nakedness' as a lack of truths, thus that they are not truths, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church (see 566, 662, 1067, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355, 4447, 4535). So that 'the nakedness of the land' here means a lack of truths known to the Church. The reason 'the nakedness' means a deprivation or lack of truths is that 'clothes' in general means truths, while each specific type of garment means some particular kind of truth, see 2576, 3301, 4545, 4677, 4741, 4742, 4763, 5248, 5319, and therefore 'the nakedness' means a lack of truths, as will also be seen from the places below that are quoted from the Word.

[2] The implications of this may be seen from what has been stated immediately above in 5472, where it is said that people who do not learn truths for truth's own sake and for their life's sake, but for the sake of material gain, inevitably think that the truths known to the Church are not truths. The reason for this is that the affection for gain is an earthly affection, whereas the affection for truth is a spiritual one. One or the other must have dominion, for no one can serve two masters. Consequently where one affection exists the other does not, so that where the affection for truth is present the affection for gain is absent, and where the affection for gain is present the affection for truth is absent. This being so, if the affection for material gain has dominion, then inevitably nothing pleases the person more than to know that truths are not truths. Yet nothing else pleases him more than when others believe that truths are truths. If the internal man looks downwards, that is to say, towards earthly things and makes these everything, he cannot possibly look upwards and have anything there since earthly things completely swallow up and smother everything. The reason for this is that the angels from heaven who are present with a person cannot dwell among earthly things; they therefore depart, in which case spirits from hell draw near who, while they are present with a person, cannot dwell among heavenly things. As a consequence he then thinks that heavenly things are of no importance, while earthly ones are everything. And when that person thinks that earthly things are everything, he believes himself to be more learned and wiser than everybody else, in that he himself does not accept the truths known to the Church, and at the same time says that they exist for those who are simple. The affection that moves a person is therefore either an earthly affection or else a heavenly one, for he cannot have his being simultaneously with angels from heaven and with spirits from hell; for if he did he would be left hanging between heaven and hell. But when he is moved by an affection for truth for truth's own sake, that is, for the sake of the Lord's kingdom (where Divine Truth is present) and so for the Lord's sake, he is among angels. He does not in this case despise material gain insofar as it enables him to lead his life in the world. But such gain is not his end in view, only the useful purposes it serves which are seen by him as intermediate ends leading on to an ultimate heavenly one. This being so, his heart is by no means at all set on material gain.

[3] The fact that 'the nakedness' means a lack of truths may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in John,

To the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write, Because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy, so that I have need of nothing - when you do not know that you are wretched and miserable, and needy, and blind, and naked.... Revelation 3:17.

Here being 'naked' stands for suffering from a scarcity of truth. In the same place,

I counsel you to buy from Me gold purified in the fire, and white garments to clothe you, and do not let the shame of your nakedness be manifested. Revelation 3:18.

'Buying gold' stands for acquiring good and making this one's own, 'that you may become wealthy' for acquiring it to the end that celestial and spiritual good may be present; 'white garments' stands for spiritual truths, 'the shame of nakedness' for the lack of any goodness or truth. For 'buying' means acquiring and making one's own, see 5374; 'gold' celestial and spiritual good, 1551, 1552; 'garments' truths, 1073, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 5319; while 'white' is attributed to truth because this comes from the light of heaven, 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319.

[4] In the same book,

Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is he who is awake and keeps his garments, so that he may not walk naked. Revelation 16:15.

'He who keeps his garments' stands for the person who hangs on to truths. 'So that he may not walk naked' stands for so that he is not without truths. In Matthew,

The King will say to those at His right hand, I was naked and you clothed Me around, and to those at His left, I was naked and you did not clothe Me around. Matthew 25:36, 43.

'Naked' stands for the good who acknowledge that within themselves no good or truth at all exists, 4958.

[5] In Isaiah,

Is not this the fast, to break your bread for the hungry, and that you may bring afflicted outcasts to your house, when you see the naked and cover him? Isaiah 58:7.

Here the meaning is similar. In Jeremiah,

Jerusalem sinned grievously, therefore she became a menstruous woman; all who honoured her despised her, for they saw her nakedness. Lamentations 1:8.

Here 'nakedness' stands for a lack of truths. In Ezekiel,

You reached full beauty, your breasts were formed and your hair had grown; but you were naked and bare. I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. You did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare. Ezekiel 16:7-8, 22.

[6] This refers to Jerusalem, by which the Ancient Church is meant - what it was like when it was first established and what it came to be like after that. That is to say, initially it was lacking in truths, after which it was furnished with them, but finally it cast them aside. In the same prophet,

If a man is righteous, one who has executed judgement and righteousness, he gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing. Ezekiel 18:5, 7.

'Covering the naked with clothing' stands for furnishing with truths those who desire truths. In Hosea,

Lest I strip her naked, present her as she was on the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a land of dryness, and slay her with thirst. Hosea 2:3.

'Stripping her naked' stands for leaving her without truths. In Nahum,

I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame. Nahum 3:5.

'Showing the nations its nakedness' stands for its ugliness. All ugliness is a result of the absence of truths, all beauty a result of the presence of them, 4985, 5199.