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:

212. As to heaven's form and how it works and flows, this is incomprehensible even to angels. It can be brought to some measure of conceptualization by comparison with the form of all the elements of the human body as explored and examined by someone who is both wise and experienced; for as explained above in the relevant chapters, heaven as a whole resembles a single person (59-72) and everything in the human [body] corresponds to the heavens (87-102). We can see in a general way how incomprehensible and intricate this form is simply by looking at our nerve fibers, which serve to weave absolutely everything [in us] together. There is no way their nature and how they work and flow in the brain can be presented to our eyes, for the countless things involved are so intricate that viewed en masse they look like a soft, undefined lump. Yet actually each and every function of our volition and understanding flows into act through them with perfect definition. We can see how these fibers rejoin in the body by looking at the various plexuses - cardiac, mesenteric, and others - and the nodes called ganglia where many fibers from all over the body come together, combining within these nodes and then exiting in different arrangements to various functions, a pattern that is repeated over and over again. Further, there are similar arrangements in all our viscera, in each member and organ and muscle. Anyone who probes these and other wonders with the eye of wisdom will be utterly stunned; and yet these are the few things that the eye can see, and what it cannot see is more amazing still because it is more inward in nature.

It is abundantly clear that this form corresponds to heaven's form if we consider the way our volition and discernment work in it and according to it, because whatever we intend flows spontaneously into act and whatever we think travels along the fibers from their beginnings to their ends, giving rise to our senses. Further, since this is the form of our thought and intentions, it is the form of our intelligence and wisdom.

It is this form that corresponds to heaven's form. We can learn from this that it is this kind of form that determines the way all the affection and thought of angels reaches out, and that they enjoy intelligence and wisdom to the extent that they are in this form. It may be seen above (78-86) that this form of heaven comes from the Lord's divine human.

These matters have been included so that it may also be known that heaven's form by its very nature can never be fathomed even in a general way and is thus incomprehensible even to angels, as already stated.