The Bible

 

Genesis 1:2

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2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #57

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57. 'The plant yielding seed' is every truth that looks towards a use. 'The tree in which there is fruit' is the good that accompanies faith. 'Fruit' is what the Lord gives to the celestial man, while 'seed', the source of the fruit, is what He gives to the spiritual man. This is why it is said that 'the tree producing seed will be for you for food'. That celestial food is called 'fruit from a tree' is clear from the next chapter where the subject is the celestial man. Here let just that be mentioned which the Lord spoke through Ezekiel,

Beside the river there is rising up upon its bank, on this side and on that, every tree for food. Its leaf will not fall nor its fruit fail. It is re-born monthly, for its waters flow out from the Sanctuary, and its fruit will be for food, and its leaf for medicine. Ezekiel 47:12.

'Waters from the Sanctuary' means the life and mercy of the Lord, who is the Sanctuary; 'fruit' means wisdom, which is food for them; 'leaf' is intelligence, which is given them for a use, which is called 'medicine'. Spiritual food however is called 'a plant', as stated through David,

[Jehovah is] my Shepherd, I shall not want; He makes me 1 lie down in green pastures. 2 Psalms 23:1-2.

Footnotes:

1. The Latin means You makest me; but the Hebrew means He makes me or, as Swedenborg renders in other places where he quotes this verse, He will make me.

2. literally, pastures of the plant

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4410

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4410. Much experience has made it plain to me that the sight of the left eye corresponds to the truths seen by the understanding and the right eye to the affections for truth which are also present with the understanding; and therefore that the left eye corresponds to the truths of faith and the right eye to the goods of faith. The reason why such correspondence exists is that the light which comes from the Lord is heat as well as light, the light itself being the truth which proceeds from the Lord and the heat the good. This, together with influx into the two hemispheres of the brain, is the origin of that correspondence; for those who are governed by good are on the Lord's right, and those governed by truth on His left.

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