Arcana Coelestia #4329
4329. Some spirits arrived at a point fairly high up who, to judge by the sound they made, seemed to be many. I learnt from the ideas comprising their thought and speech which were channelled in my direction that they did not have a distinct idea of anything, only a general idea of many things. This led me to suppose that they were not capable of perceiving anything distinct and separate, but only something general and not distinct, and so something obscure; for I was of the opinion that something general could not be other than obscure. That their thought was general, that is, the thought of many things at one and the same time, I was able to recognize clearly from the ideas which were flowing into my thought from them.
[2] But they were provided with a spirit as an intermediary through whom they talked to me; for that kind of general thought could not be put into words without the help of others. And when I spoke to the spirits through the intermediary I said, as I supposed, that general things could not present a distinct and separate idea of any particular matter, only an idea so obscure as to be so to speak none at all. But after a quarter of an hour they showed that they had a distinct idea of things that were general, and of many aspects of those that were general. They showed this in particular by observing, so accurately and distinctly that no other spirits could do better, all the variations and changes in my thoughts and affections, and noting the smallest details in these. From these experiences I was able to deduce that a general idea which is obscure, as it is among people who have little knowledge and are therefore in obscurity about everything, is quite different from a general idea which is clear, as it is among those who have been taught about truths and forms of good. For those truths and forms of good have been introduced - in their own order and own connected series - into a general profile of them, and have been arranged in such a way that those people are able from that general profile to see them all distinctly.
[3] The spirits are those who in the next life constitute the general and voluntary sensory activity, and who by means of cognitions of goodness and truth have acquired to themselves the ability to look at things from what is general, and by doing that to contemplate things broadly and to discover instantly whether something is true. They see things, it is true, in obscurity so to speak, since they see them from the general profile to which they belong. Yet because they have been ordered and made distinct within the general profile, those things are therefore clear to them. This general sensory activity that is voluntary does not occur except in the wise. The fact that these spirits were such was another thing I learnt, for they could see in me every single detail of what I had concluded, and from this drew conclusions about the interior aspects of my thoughts and affections. Those conclusions were so accurate that I began to be afraid even to think anything more at all. For they uncovered things which I did not know to exist with me, and yet from the conclusions reached by them I had to admit to what they had uncovered. From this I perceived in myself a disinclination to talk to them, a disinclination which, when I became aware of it, took on the appearance of something hairy and of something in it speaking yet making no sound. I was told that this meant the general sensory awareness in the body that corresponds to those spirits. The next day I again spoke to them and once more discovered that they had a general perception that was not obscure but clear, and that as general things and the states that go with these varied so did particular ones and the states that go with them since the latter are related by their order and connected series to the former.
[4] I was told that general and voluntary sensory powers that are yet more perfect exist within the interior sphere of heaven and that when angels have a general or universal idea they have at the same time specific ideas which are ordered and made distinct by the Lord within the universal. General and universal wholes, I have been told, are not anything if they do not include within them the individual and the specific parts from which they exist and are so called, and that they exist just insofar as these individual and specific parts are present within them. From this it is also evident that without every most specific detail within it and from which it exists the Lord's Providence is nothing at all, and that it is quite stupid to think of the existence of something universal in the case of the Divine and to take specific details away from it.
Luke 12
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In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
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For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
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Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
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And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
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But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
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Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
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But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
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Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:
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But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.
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And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.
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And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
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For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
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And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.
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And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
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And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
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And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
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And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
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And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
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And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
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But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
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So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
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And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
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The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
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Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
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And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
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If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
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Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
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If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
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And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
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For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
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But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
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Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
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Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.
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For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;
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And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
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Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
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And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
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And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
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Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
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Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?
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And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
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Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
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Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.
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But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
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The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
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And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
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But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
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I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I if it be already kindled?
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But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
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Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
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For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
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The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
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And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is.
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And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.
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Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?
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Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?
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When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison.
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I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.
