122. Maar men moet terdege weten dat de mens die boete wil doen, tot de Heer alleen moet schouwen. Indien hij schouwt tot God de Vader alleen, kan hij niet gezuiverd worden; noch indien hij ziet tot de Vader ter wille van de Zoon, noch indien tot de Zoon als alleen een mens. Immers, er is één God en de Heer is Hij, want het Goddelijke en het Menselijke van Hemzelf is één Persoon, zoals in de ‘Leer van Nova Hierosolyma over de Heer’ is getoond. Opdat ieder die boete wil doen tot de Heer alleen zal schouwen, is het Heilig Avondmaal door Hem ingesteld, hetwelk de vergeving van de zonden bevestigt bij hen die boete doen. Het bevestigt omdat in dat Avondmaal of die Communie ieder gehouden is tot de Heer alleen te schouwen.

129. It Is a Law of Divine Providence That We Should Not Be Compelled by Outside Forces to Think and Intend and So to Believe and Love in Matters of Our Religion, but That We Should Guide Ourselves and Sometimes Compel Ourselves

This law of divine providence follows from the two preceding ones, namely, that we should act in freedom and in accord with reason (71-99), and that we should do this for ourselves, even though it is being done by the Lord--that is, in apparent autonomy (100-128). Since it is not from freedom and according to reason and not in autonomy to be compelled but comes from the absence of freedom and from someone else, this law of divine providence follows directly from the two earlier ones. Everyone recognizes that none of us can be compelled to think what we do not want to think or to intend what we think we do not want to intend. So we cannot be compelled to believe what we do not believe and certainly not anything that we do not want to believe; or to love what we do not love and certainly not anything that we do not want to love. Our spirit or mind has complete freedom to think, intend, believe, and love. This freedom comes to us by an inflow from the spiritual world, which does not compel us. Our spirit or mind is actually in that world. The freedom does not flow in from the physical world, which accepts the inflow only when the two worlds are in unison.

[2] We can be compelled to say that we think and intend something or that we believe and love something, but unless this is or becomes a matter of our own desire and our consequent reasoning, it is not something that we really think, intend, believe, and love. We can also be compelled to speak in favor of religion and to act according to religion, but we cannot be compelled to think in its favor as a matter of our own faith and to intend it as a matter of our own love. In countries where justice and judgment are cherished, everyone is obliged not to speak against religion or to violate it in action, but still no one can be compelled to think and intend in its favor. This is because each of us has a freedom to think in sympathy with hell and to intend in its favor, or to think in sympathy with heaven and to intend in its favor. Still, our reason tells us what the quality is of the one and of the other and what lot awaits the one and what lot awaits the other. Our ability to intend on the basis of reason is our capacity to choose and to decide.

[3] This may serve to show that what is outside cannot compel what is inside. However, it does happen sometimes, and I need to show that it is harmful in the following sequence.

1. No one is reformed by miracles and signs, because they compel.

2. No one is reformed by visions or by conversations with the dead, because they compel.

3. No one is reformed by threats or by punishment, because they compel.

4. No one is reformed in states where freedom and rationality are absent.

5. Self-compulsion is not inconsistent with rationality and freedom.

6. Our outer self has to be reformed by means of our inner self, and not the reverse.

Why do we do the things we do? In reality, all motivation and endeavor are from our will. When we think about doing something, we think about what we want or love and how to do it. Our motives come from a love for what we want or want to do. In other words, why we do something comes from our will or loves; how we do something comes from our understanding or thinking.

In this world we are free to think and do both good things and bad things and we are also free to do good things from bad motives, like selfishness, pride, honor or gain. Our freedom is important to the purpose of life in this world - deciding where our eternal home will be. We need to be free to choose good or evil to make our choices meaningful and lasting.

Swedenborg teaches that we shouldn’t be forced or compelled to act against our will. What is forced on us doesn’t become our own and doesn’t last after the compulsion is over. However, we should compel ourselves to do what we learn is true until, in time, we come to love doing it. We are freely choosing to compel ourselves and what we choose to do in freedom, becomes us.

There is a great explanation of this concept of freedom and compulsion in The Heavenly City, A Spiritual Guidebook 143 where, in part, it says, “….Goodness and truth have to be worked into our love and motivation in order to become a part of our life. This cannot happen unless we are free to have harmful and false thoughts as well as good and true ones….”

It is important that we are free to do evil so that we are equally free to do good. If good were the only choice, we wouldn’t be free. In fact, even in the Garden of Eden, the Lord put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because it was so important for people to have a free choice.

Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” Swedenborg teaches in essence, “I will, therefore I am.” At first our thinking guides our will and actions and then eventually our will guides our thinking and actions. We are our motivation.

(Referenties: Arcana Coelestia 8911; Divine Providence 129)