Heaven and Hell #214
214. The form of government in the Lord's heavenly kingdom is called justice, since all the people there are intent on the good the Lord's love does in and through us, and anything that results from this good is called just. This government belongs to the Lord alone. He leads them and teaches them in matters of life. The truths that we associate with judgment are engraved on their hearts. Everyone knows them, grasps them, and sees them. 1 So matters of judgment never come into dispute for them, only matters of justice that are matters of life. The less wise ask the wiser ones about them, and they in turn ask the Lord and bring back the responses. Their heaven - their deepest delight - is to live justly from the Lord.
Bilješke:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] Heavenly angels do not think and talk on the basis of truths the way spiritual angels do, because they enjoy a perception of all matters of truth from the Lord: 202, 597, 607, 784, 1121, 1387 [1384?], 1398, 1442, 1919, 7680, 7877, 8780, 9277, 10336. Concerning truths, heavenly angels say, "Yes, yes," or "No, no," while spiritual angels consider whether they are true or not: 2715, 3246, 4446 [4448?], 9166, 10786; where explanation is given of the Lord's words, "Let your conversation be 'Yes, yes,' 'No, no'; anything beyond this is from evil" (Matthew 5:37).
Arcana Coelestia #1387
1387. I have spoken on several occasions about perception to those in the next life who, while they lived in the world, imagined that they had the ability to see into and understand all things. I told them that angels perceive that they think and speak, will and act, from the Lord; but they were still unable to envisage what perception was, for they imagined that if all things flowed in from Him in that way they would be bereft of all life. They would be bereft of it because they would not think anything from themselves or from their proprium - in which activity they made life consist - and so it would be another who did the thinking and not they themselves, so that they would be organs without any life in them. They were told however that so far as life is concerned the difference between having perception and not having it is like the difference between darkness and light, and that people first begin to feel alive when they are receiving such perception, for in that case they live from the Lord yet also have a proprium, which is imparted to them together with every happiness and delight. They were also shown from much experience what perception really was, during which time they acknowledged the existence of it. But after a while they again had no knowledge of it, and doubted and denied its existence. This made clear how difficult it is for man to grasp what perception is.
