Wilderness
'Wilderness' signifies something with little life in it, as described in the internal sense in Luke 1:80 'Wilderness' signifies somewhere there is no good because there is no truth. 'Wilderness,' as in Jeremiah 23:10, signifies the Word when it is adulterated.
(Referenties: Arcana Coelestia 1927)
Heaven and Hell #484
484. We do need to know that all works and deeds are matters of moral and civic life and therefore focus on what is honest and right and what is fair and equitable. What is honest and right is a matter of moral life, and what is fair and equitable is a matter of civic life. The love these come from is either heavenly or hellish. The works and deeds of our moral and civic life are heavenly if we do them from a heavenly love, because things that we do from a heavenly love we do from the Lord, and everything we do from the Lord is good. On the other hand, the deeds and works of our moral and civic life are hellish if they come from a hellish love, since whatever we do from this love, which is a love for ourselves and the world, we do from ourselves, and whatever we do from ourselves is intrinsically evil. In fact, seen in our own right, or in terms of what is actually ours, we are nothing but evil. 1
Voetnoten:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] Our own nature is to love ourselves more than God and the world more than heaven, and to regard the neighbor as nothing in comparison to ourselves, so it is a love for oneself and for the world: Arcana Coelestia 634 [694], 731, 4317. This is the self into which we are born, and it is solid evil: 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307, 2318 [2308?], 3518, 3701, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283-10284, 10286, 10731 [10832?]. From our self-image comes not only everything evil but also everything false: 1047, 10283-10284, 10286. The evils that come from our self-image are contempt for others, hostility, hatred, vengefulness, cruelty, and deceit: 6667, 7372-7374, 9348, 10038, 10742 [10743?]. To the extent that our self-image rules, we either reject or stifle or pervert the goodness of love and the truth of faith: 2041, 7491-7492, 7643, 8487, 10455, 10743. Our self-image is hell for us: 694, 8480. Anything good that we do because of our self-image is not good but is essentially evil: 8478 [8480, 8487].
