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Hesekiel 23:39

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39 Denn wenn sie ihre Kinder ihren Götzen schlachteten, so kamen sie an demselben Tage in mein Heiligtum, es zu entweihen; und siehe, also haben sie getan inmitten meines Hauses.

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Apocalypse Explained #126

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126. And I will give thee a crown of life. That this signifies wisdom, and thence eternal happiness, is evident from the signification of a crown, when said of those who are in the spiritual affection of the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good, as being wisdom, concerning which more will be said in what follows; and from the signification of life, as being eternal happiness, which is also called life eternal. The reason why those who are in the spiritual affection of truth and good, and who are here treated of, have eternal happiness is, that heaven is implanted in man by means of the knowledges of truth and good from the Word. He who believes that heaven is implanted by any other means, is much deceived; for man is born natural only, with the faculty of becoming spiritual; but he becomes spiritual by means of truths from the Word, and by a life according to them. How can any one ever become spiritual, unless he be instructed about the Lord, about heaven, a life after death, faith, and love, and other things which are the means of salvation? If man is ignorant of these things, he must remain natural; and a merely natural man cannot have anything in common with the angels of heaven, who are spiritual.

Man has two minds, one exterior, and the other interior; the exterior mind is called the natural mind, but the interior is called the spiritual mind; the former is opened by means of the knowledges (cognitiones) of things in the world, but the latter by the knowledges (cognitiones) of things which are in heaven; these the Word teaches, and the church from the Word; by means of these man becomes spiritual, when he knows them and lives according to them.

[2] This is meant by the words of the Lord in John:

"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (3:5):

by water, are signified the truths of faith, and by spirit, a life according to them (as may be seen above, n. 71; and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 202-209). Very many people believe at this day, that mankind will go to heaven solely by sacred worship performed in temples, and by adorations and prayers; but such of them as are unconcerned about the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good from the Word, and who neglect to furnish not only the memory, but also the life, with these, remain natural as before, nor do they become spiritual, because their sacred worship, adorations and prayers, do not proceed from a spiritual origin; for their spiritual mind is not opened by the knowledges of spiritual things and by a life according to them, but is empty; and worship proceeding from what is void is only a natural gesture, within which there is nothing spiritual. If such persons are insincere and unjust as to moral and civil life, then their sacred worship, adorations and prayers are inwardly of such a nature as to repel heaven, instead of which they believe that they receive heaven by this means; for such worship is like a vessel containing putrid or filthy matters, which filter through; it is also like a splendid garment that clothes a body covered with ulcers: I have seen many thousands of such cast into hell. But it is otherwise with the holy worship, the adorations and prayers of those who are in the knowledges of truth and good, and whose life is in accordance with them; with such, those things are pleasing to the Lord, for they are the effects of their spirit in the body, or the effects of their faith and love, and thus are not only natural gestures, but spiritual acts.

From these considerations it is evident that the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, and a life in agreement with them, alone make man spiritual: and that he who is thus made spiritual can be gifted with angelic wisdom from the Lord, together with eternal happiness; nor do the angels derive happiness from any other source than wisdom.

[3] The reason why a crown signifies wisdom is, that all those things that clothe man, and distinguish him, derive their signification from that part of him which they clothe or adorn (see Arcana Coelestia 9827), and a crown signifies wisdom, because it is worn on the head, by which in the Word wisdom is signified, for there wisdom resides. Accordingly it is written in Ezekiel:

"I have adorned thee with ornament, and I have placed bracelets upon thy hands; and a chain upon thy neck. Moreover, I have put a jewel upon thy nose, and earrings upon thine ears, and a crown of ornament upon thy head" (16:11, 12).

Jerusalem is here treated of, by which is signified the church, as established by the Lord, and its quality; by the particular adornments here mentioned are meant, in the spiritual sense, such things as belong to the church; these derive their respective significations from the part to which they are applied; by a crown is here meant wisdom. (But what is meant specifically by ornament, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 10536, 10540; what by bracelets, n. 3103, 3105; what by a chain, n. 5320; what by a jewel, n. 4551; and what by earrings, n. 4551, 10402.) Similarly the wisdom that is from the knowledges of truth and good from the Word and from a life according to them, is signified by a crown in many other passages in the Word, as in Isaiah 28:5; Jeremiah 13:18; Lamentations 5:15, 16; Ezekiel 21:25, 26; 23:42; Zech. 6:11-13; Psalms 89:38, 39; 132:17, 18; Job. 19:9; Apoc. 3:11; 4:4. The custom of crowning kings comes down from ancient times, when men were acquainted with representatives and significatives, for they knew that kings represented the Lord as to Divine truth, and that a crown was used to signify wisdom. (That kings represented the Lord as to Divine truth, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5068, 6148.) That those who are in truths are called kings and kings' sons (see above, n. 31). And because those who are in the knowledges of truth are called kings in the Word, and kings have crowns, therefore in this place, where they are treated of, it is said that they should receive a crown of life.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

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Arcana Coelestia #8994

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8994. 'She shall not go out as the male slaves do' means a state unlike truth devoid of affection. This is clear from the meaning of 'going out' - out of servitude - as a state after conflict or labour, dealt with above in 8980, 8984; and from the meaning of 'the male slaves' as those imbued with truths and not complementary good, dealt with in 8974, thus those imbued with truth devoid of affection. From all this it is evident that 'she shall not go out as the male slaves do' means a state unlike truth devoid of affection.

[2] The implications of this must be stated briefly. There are those who are imbued with truth and no affection for it, and there are those who are imbued with an affection. The former were represented by male slaves from the children of Israel, the latter by female slaves, also from the children of Israel. But 'female slaves' did not represent those with a genuine affection for truth, only those with an affection that is not genuine, as may be seen from what has been shown immediately above in 8993.

[3] The difference between those imbued with truth devoid of affection, who were represented by the male slaves, and those imbued with an affection for truth, who were represented by the female slaves, is akin to the difference between knowing truth and willing truth. Knowing truth belongs solely to the understanding part of the mind, whereas willing truth belongs to the will part; consequently the difference is akin to that between knowledge and affection. Those imbued with a knowledge of truth and good, meant by male slaves or the men in the representative sense, have no affection for truth and good, only for the knowledge of them; consequently they are delighted with truths for the sake of knowing them. But those imbued with an affection for truth and good, meant by female slaves or the women in the representative sense, have no affection for the knowledge of truth and good, only for truths and forms of good themselves, as they hear and perceive them from others. This kind of affection exists generally with good women, but the affection for knowledge of truth exists generally with men.

[4] So it is that those who are spiritually perceptive have a liking for women with an affection for truths, but not for women who concentrate on gaining knowledge. For it is in keeping with Divine order for men to know things and for women purely to have an affection for them, so the women do not love themselves because of their knowledge but love men; and from this springs the desire for marriage. This also is why those of old said that women must keep silent in the Church. All this being so, factual and religious knowledge are represented by men, but affections by women; at this point affection for truth that pours out of the delights belonging to natural kinds of love is represented by female slaves. And because people with this kind of affection are of an entirely different disposition from those with an affection for knowledge, the situation with female slaves is entirely different from that with male slaves. So this is what is meant by 'a female slave shall not go out as the male slaves do'. It should be recognized however that this is the situation among those who belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, whereas among those who belong to His celestial kingdom the reverse applies. There husbands are the ones with affection, and wives are the ones with knowledge of good and truth; and this is what the desire for marriage springs from among them.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.