199. What good is effected by temptations.

The effect of temptations, a summary (n. 1692, 1717[1-3], 1740, 6144, 8958-8969). By temptations the spiritual or internal man acquires dominion over the natural or external man; consequently good over evil, and truth over falsity; because good resides in the spiritual man, which cannot exist without it, and evil resides in the natural man (n. 8961). Since temptation is a combat between them, it follows that dominion is the object of the contest, that is, whether the spiritual man shall have dominion over the natural man, thus whether good shall have dominion over evil, or vice versa; consequently, whether the Lord or hell shall have dominion over man (n. 1923, 3928). The external or natural man, by means of temptations, receives truths corresponding to the affection thereof in the internal or spiritual man (n. 3321, 3928). The internal spiritual man is opened and conjoined with the external by means of temptations, in order that man as to each may be elevated, and look to the Lord (n. 10685). The internal spiritual man is opened and conjoined with the external by means of temptations, because the Lord acts from the interior, and flows in thence into the external, and removes and subjugates the evils therein, and at the same time subjects and renders it subordinate to the internal (n. 10685).

Temptations take place for the sake of the conjunction of good and truth, and the dispersion of the falsities which adhere to truths and goods (n. 4572). Consequently that good is conjoined to truths by temptations (n. 2272). The vessels recipient of truth are softened by temptations, and put on a state receptive of good (n. 3318). Truths and goods, thus the things which belong to faith and charity, are confirmed and implanted by temptations (n. 8351, 8924, 8966-8967). And evils and falsities are removed, and room made for the reception of goods and truths (n. 7122). By temptations the loves of self and the world, from whence proceed all evils and falsities, are broken (n. 5356). And thus man is humbled (n. 8966-8967). Evils and falsities are subdued, separated, and removed, but not abolished, by temptations (n. 868). By temptations corporeal things with their lusts are subdued (n. 857, 868). ¹ Man by temptations learns what good and truth are, even from their relation to their opposites, which are evils and falsities (n. 5356). He also learns that of himself he is nothing but evil, and that all the good with him is from the Lord, and from His mercy (n. 2334).

By the temptations in which man conquers, evil spirits are deprived of the power of rising up against him any further (n. 1695, 1717[1-3]). The hells dare not rise up against those who have suffered temptations and have conquered (n. 2183, 8273).

After temptations in which man has conquered, there is joy arising from the conjunction of good and truth, although the man does not know that the joy is thence (n. 4572, 6829). There is then the enlightenment of the truth which is of faith, and the perception of the good which is of love (n. 8367, 8370). Thence he has intelligence and wisdom (n. 8966-8967). Truths after temptations increase immensely (n. 6663). And good has the precedence, or is in the first place, and truth in the second (n. 5773). And man, as to his internal spiritual man, is admitted into the angelic societies, thus into heaven (n. 6611).

Before a man undergoes temptations, the truths and goods which are with him are arranged in order by the Lord, that he may be able to resist the evils and falsities which are with him, and are excited from hell (n. 8131). In temptations the Lord provides good where the evil spirits intend evil (n. 6574). After temptations the Lord reduces truths with goods into a new order, and arranges them in a heavenly form (n. 10685). The interiors of the spiritual man are arranged into a heavenly form, see the work on Heaven and Hell, in the chapter on the Form of Heaven, according to which are the consociations and communications ² there (n. 200, 212).

They who fall in temptations, come into damnation, because evils and falsities conquer, and the natural man prevails over the spiritual man, and afterwards has the dominion; and then the latter state becomes worse than the former (n. 8165, 8169,8961).

Footnotes:

8165. 'Were there no graves in Egypt, [since] you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?' means that if damnation was their lot it made no difference whether it came to them through the falsities of molesters or through a state of temptations in which they would go under. This is clear from the meaning of 'graves' as damnation, dealt with in 2916, 5832; from the meaning of 'Egypt' as molestations, dealt with in 7278, for 'the Egyptians' and 'Pharaoh' represent those in the next life who molest by means of falsities, 7097, 7107, 7110, 7126, 7142, 7317; from the meaning of 'dying' too as damnation, dealt with in 5407, 6119, 7494; and from the meaning of 'the wilderness' as a state for undergoing temptations, 8098, and therefore 'dying in the wilderness' means going under in temptation and consequently suffering damnation. From all this it is evident that 'Were there no graves in Egypt, [since] you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?' means that if damnation was their lot it made no difference whether it came to them through the falsities of molesters, thus within the previous state that was theirs, or through temptations in which they would go under, thus within the subsequent state they were entering.

[2] These words, it is self-evident, are words of despair. They are also the kind that are thought by people in a state of despair, which is the final phase of a temptation. At that time they are on a slope so to speak or slipping down to hell. Yet thinking in that way at such times does no harm, and the angels take no notice of it; for each person's power is limited, and when temptation stretches him to the absolute limit of his power he cannot stand up to anything further and starts to slip. At that point however, that is, when he is on the slope and starts to slip, he is raised by the Lord and thereby delivered from despair. More often than not he is then brought into a bright state of hope and the comfort this brings, and also into a state of bliss. The words 'damnation through a state of temptations in which they would go under' are used because people who go under in temptations pass into a state of damnation. For the end in view with temptations is that truths and forms of good, and therefore faith and charity, may be strengthened and bonded together. But that end is achieved only when a person is victorious in temptations; if he goes under truths and forms of good are set aside and falsities and evils are strengthened. Hence those people's state of damnation.