574. All reason plainly shows that man needs to be regenerated. For he acquires by birth from his parents evils of all kinds, and these are lodged in his natural man, which is of itself diametrically opposed to the spiritual man. Yet he is by birth destined for heaven, and he cannot reach heaven, unless he becomes spiritual; and the only way this can happen is by being regenerated. The necessary consequence is that the natural man with his longings must be tamed, subdued and turned upside down; otherwise a person cannot advance a step nearer heaven, but more and more he drags himself down to hell. Everyone can see this, if he believes that he has acquired by birth evils of all kinds, and if he acknowledges the existence of good and evil, one opposed to the other; and if he believes in life after death, in hell and in heaven, and that evils make hell, good makes heaven. The natural man regarded in himself is as concerns his nature not in the slightest different from an animal. He is equally untamed, but this as regards his will. In respect of the understanding, however, he differs from the animals, for the understanding can be raised above the cravings of the will, and can not only see them, but also control them. That is why man is able to use his understanding to think, and his thinking to talk, which no animal can do.

[2] What man is like by birth, and what he would be like if not regenerated can be seen from wild beasts of all kinds. He would be a tiger, a panther, a leopard, a wild boar, a scorpion, a tarantula, a viper, a crocodile and so on. So unless he were by regeneration transformed into a sheep, what else would he be but a devil among the devils in hell? Were it not for the restraint the laws of the kingdom impose on their innate ferocity, would not one then rush to attack another, so that they would slaughter one another or strip them of everything down to their underpants? How many of the human race are there who were not by birth satyrs and priapi, or four-footed lizards? Everyone of either class, if he is not regenerated, turns into an ape. This is the result of external morality, which is the extra lesson learned in order to cover up one's internals.

Human nature is a good news / bad news situation. Our nature by itself is self-centered. In fact, it is evil from our birth. See Arcana Coelestia 3701:2 for an explanation of how we each start with a proprium or selfhood that is nothing but evil and false. That is the bad news.

However, there is good news. There are evils that we are not to blame for just because they come from generations of heredity. But we are to blame for those we accept and make our own by deliberate choice in our thoughts and actions. See Arcana Celestia 4171:1 and 4172 for an explanation of this.

As we grow we learn how to behave well but it may be in order to get what we want. So, while we may learn an ethic of good actions, our basic nature does not change.

Our basic self-centered nature will only begin to change when we recognize it for what it is and start to work towards regeneration. How do we change? How do we regenerate so that we do good from love of the Lord and others not from love of ourselves?

We do this first by deliberately turning from our evils as sins against God. This is daily repentance. And then we begin to live a new life based on the commandments of God from love for Him and others. We can’t do this ourselves but we can ask the Lord to do it for us. See The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine #186 for a thorough description of the steps of regeneration from seeing truth and so doing good to loving good and doing good by means of truth. This number also includes references to many other numbers in the Writings of Swedenborg on the topic.

So our human nature at birth is only the starting point and with the Lord’s help we can change and truly love the Lord above all and our neighbors as ourselves.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 3167; True Christian Religion 574)