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 #8

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8. The second state is when a distinction is made between the things that are the Lord's and those that are man's own. Those which are the Lord's are called in the Word 'remnants', and here they are chiefly the cognitions of faith which a person has learned since he was a small child. These are stored away and do not come out into the open until he reaches this state. Nowadays this state rarely occurs without temptation, misfortune, and sorrow, which lead to the inactivity and so to speak the death of bodily and worldly concerns - the things which are man's own. In this way what belongs to the external man is segregated from what belongs to the internal. Within the internal are the remnants, stored away by the Lord until this time and for this purpose.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #142

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142. Verses 19-20 And Jehovah God formed out of the ground every beast of the field, and every bird of the air, 1 and He brought it to the man to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called it, the living creature, 2 that was its name. And the man gave names to every beast, and to the birds of the air, 1 and to every wild animal of the field; but for man there was not found a help suitable for him.

'Beasts' means celestial affections, 'birds of the air' 3 spiritual ones; that is, 'beasts' means things that belong to the will, and 'birds' those that belong to the understanding. 'Bringing them to the man to see what he would call them' means enabling him to know their nature. 'He gave them names means that he did recognize their nature. But even though he knew the nature of the affections for good and the cognitions of truth which the Lord had granted him, he still set his heart on the proprium, which is expressed in the same way as before - 'there was not found a help suitable for him'.

Footnotes:

1. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)

2. literally, the living soul

3. literally, birds of the heavens (or the skies)

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