Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Engelenwijsheid over de Goddelijke Liefde en de Goddelijke Wijsheid #273

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273. 1. Dat het natuurlijk gemoed dat in boze dingen en in valse dingen daaruit is, een vorm en beeld van de hel is. Hoedanig het natuurlijk gemoed in zijn substantiële vorm is bij de mens, of hoedanig het is in zijn vorm vanuit de substanties van de ene en de andere wereld samengeweven in de hersenen, waar dat gemoed in zijn eerste dingen zetelt, kan hier niet worden beschreven. De universele idee ten aanzien van die vorm zal gegeven worden in de volgende dingen waar gehandeld moet worden over de overeenstemming van het gemoed en van het lichaam. Hier zal alleen iets gezegd worden over de vorm daarvan naar de staten en de veranderingen ervan, waardoor het waarnemen, het denken, bedoelen en willen en de dingen die daarvan zijn, optreden. Want het natuurlijk gemoed dat in boze dingen en de valse dingen daaruit is, is ten aanzien daarvan een vorm en beeld van de hel. Zo’n vorm veronderstelt een substantiële vorm als subject, want veranderingen van staat zonder substantiële vorm die het subject is, kunnen er niet zijn, geheel zoals het gezicht niet zonder het oog en het gehoor zonder het oor. Wat dus de vorm of het beeld betreft waarmee het natuurlijk gemoed op de hel gelijkt, die vorm en dat beeld is zodanig dat de regerende liefde met de begeerten ervan, wat de universele staat van dit gemoed is, is zoals in de hel de duivel is en dat de gedachten van het valse die opkomen vanuit die regerende liefde, zijn zoals de duivelse bende. Onder de duivel en onder de bende van hem wordt ook niets anders in het Woord verstaan. De zaak is ook eender, want in de hel is de liefde van heersen vanuit de eigenliefde de regerende liefde; deze wordt daar de duivel geheten; en de aandoeningen van het valse met de gedachten die opkomen vanuit die liefde, worden de bende van hem geheten. Het eendere is in elk willekeurig gezelschap van de hel, met verschillen zodanig als de specifieke verschillen zijn van een enkel geslacht. In een eendere vorm is ook het natuurlijk gemoed dat in boze dingen en in valse dingen daaruit is. Daarom ook komt de natuurlijke mens die zodanig is, na de dood in een gezelschap van de hel dat aan hem eender is en dan handelt hij in alle en in de afzonderlijke dingen één hiermee, want hij komt in zijn vorm, dat wil zeggen, in de staat van zijn gemoed. Er is eveneens een andere liefde, die satan wordt geheten, deze is ondergeordend aan de eerdergenoemde liefde die duivel wordt geheten. Dit is de liefde van goederen van anderen willen bezitten door onverschillig welke boze kunst; scherpzinnige boosaardigheden en arglistigheden zijn de bende van hem. Wie in deze hel zijn, die worden in het algemeen satans geheten en wie in de vorige zijn, die worden in het algemeen duivels geheten, en wie daar niet op heimelijke wijze handelen, wijzen hun naam niet af; vandaar is het dat de hellen in het samengestelde, duivel en satan worden genoemd. Dat de twee hellen volgens die twee liefden in het algemeen zijn onderscheiden, is omdat alle hemelen in twee rijken: het hemelse en het geestelijke, volgens twee liefden zijn onderscheiden; en de duivelse hel vanuit het tegenovergestelde overeenstemt met het hemels rijk en de satanische hel vanuit het tegengestelde overeenstemt met het geestelijk rijk. Dat de hemelen in twee rijken, het hemelse en het geestelijke, zijn onderscheiden, kan men zien in het werk Hemel en Hel 20-28 n.. Dat het natuurlijk gemoed dat zodanig is, in vorm een hel is, is omdat elke geestelijke vorm in grootste en kleinste dingen aan zichzelf eender is; vandaar is het, dat iedere engel een hemel in kleinere vorm is, zoals eveneens in het werk Hemel en Hel 51-58 is getoond. Hier vanuit volgt ook dat iedere mens of geest die een duivel of een satan is, een hel in kleinere vorm is.

  
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Published by Swedenborg Boekhuis.

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Goddelijke Voorzienigheid #6

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6. Door velen wordt erkend dat er één enige substantie is, welke ook de eerste is, waar vanuit alle dingen zijn. Maar hoedanig die substantie is, weet men niet; men gelooft dat zij zo enkelvoudig is dat niets enkelvoudiger is, en dat dit vergeleken kan worden met een punt, die geen afmeting heeft, en dat vanuit een oneindig aantal zulke punten de vormen van afmeting zijn ontstaan. Maar dit is een begoocheling, afkomstig uit de voorstelling van de ruimte; want vanuit deze voorstelling verschijnt een zodanig kleinste. Niettemin is het de waarheid dat hoe enkelvoudiger en zuiverder iets is, des te meer en des te voller het is. Dit is de oorzaak dat hoe innerlijker enig object wordt beschouwd, des te wonderlijker, volmaakter, en fraaier dingen daarin worden ontwaard; en dat zo dus in de eerste substantie de wonderlijkste, volmaaktste, en fraaiste dingen van alle zijn. Dat dit zo is, komt omdat de eerste substantie vanuit de geestelijke Zon is, welke, zoals is gezegd, uit de Heer is en waarin de Heer is. Die Zon zelf is dus de enige substantie, die omdat zij niet in de ruimte is, het al in alle dingen is, en in het grootste en het kleinste van het geschapen heelal. Daar die Zon de eerste en enige substantie is, vanuit welke alle dingen zijn, volgt dat daarin oneindig meer dingen zijn dan die welke kunnen verschijnen in de daaruit afkomstige substanties, die gesubstantieerde dingen en ten slotte materieel worden genoemd. Dat zij niet in deze kunnen verschijnen, komt omdat zij uit die Zon neerdalen in graden van tweevoudig geslacht, volgens welke alle volmaaktheden afnemen. Vandaar komt het, dat, zoals boven is gezegd, hoe innerlijker iets wordt beschouwd, des te wonderlijker, volmaakter, en fraaier dingen worden ontwaard. Dit is gezegd opdat het bevestigd wordt dat het Goddelijke in een zeker beeld is in al het geschapene, maar dat het minder en minder verschijnt bij het neerdalen door de graden heen, en nog minder wanneer de lagere graad, gescheiden van de hogere graad, door toesluiting wordt verstopt met aardse materie. Maar deze dingen kunnen wel niet anders dan duister schijnen, tenzij men de dingen heeft gelezen en verstaan die in de verhandeling over de ‘Goddelijke Liefde en de Goddelijke Wijsheid’, over de geestelijke Zon, n. 83-172, over de graden, n. 173-281, en over de schepping van het heelal, n. 282-357, zijn aangetoond.

  
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Nederlandse vertaling door Henk Weevers. Digitale publicatie Swedenborg Boekhuis, 2017, op www.swedenborg.nl

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Apocalypse Explained #519

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519. Verse 11. And the name of the star is called Wormwood, signifies truth mixed with the falsity of evil. This is evident from the signification of "name," as meaning what the state is, and what the thing is (See above, n. 148); from the signification of "star," here "a great star burning as a lamp," as being the truth of the Word falsified by self-love; and from the signification of "wormwood," as being truth mixed with the falsity of evil. This is signified by "wormwood" because of its bitterness, and bitterness springs from what is sweet mixed with the opposite unsweet; therefore "bitterness" like that of wormwood and gall means in the spiritual sense truth mixed with the falsity that is the opposite of truth, which is the falsity of evil; for savor and taste signify the affection of knowing and of becoming wise, therefore what is savory signifies the delightfulness and pleasantness of wisdom; and "delicacies," because they are savory, signify the truths of wisdom. (That this is from correspondence see Arcana Coelestia 3502, 3536, 3589, 4791-4805.) That "wormwood" and "gall" from their bitterness, signify truth mixed with the falsity of evil is evident also from what follows in this verse; for it is said that "many men died of the waters because they were made bitter," which signifies that through truths falsified all such perished in respect to spiritual life; for truths are what make the spiritual life, while falsities of evil extinguish it; and when truths are mixed with falsities of evil they are no longer true but falsified; and truths falsified are in themselves falsities.

[2] Such falsities were with the Jewish nation; but among the upright Gentiles they were falsities of another kind; these falsities are signified by the "vinegar," but the former by "the gall and wine mingled with myrrh," in the Gospels:

When they were come unto a place called Golgotha, they gave Jesus vinegar mingled with gall; but when He had tasted He would not drink. When He had been crucified, one of them running and taking a sponge and filling it with vinegar, and putting it on a reed gave Him to drink (Matthew 27:33-34, 48; Mark 15:23, 36).

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled said, I thirst. And there had been placed a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge and placed it upon hyssop and put it to His mouth. And when He had received the vinegar He said, It is finished (John 20:28-30).

Each and every thing that is related in the Gospels respecting the Lord's passion, signifies in the spiritual sense, the state of the church at that time in relation to the Lord and the Word; for the Lord was the Word because He was Divine truth; and as the Jews had treated the Word, or Divine truth, so they treated the Lord (respecting which see above, n. 64, 195). Their giving to the Lord "vinegar mingled with gall," which was also called "wine mingled with myrrh," signified the quality of the Divine truth from the Word with the Jewish nation, namely, that it was mingled with the falsity of evil, and thus altogether falsified and adulterated, therefore He would not drink it. But that afterwards "they gave the Lord vinegar in a sponge and placed it upon hyssop" signified the kind of falsity there was among the upright Gentiles, which was falsity from ignorance of the truth, in which there was something good and useful; because this falsity is accepted by the Lord He drank this vinegar; the "hyssop" upon which they placed it signifies the purification of the falsity; that the Lord said "I thirst," signifies Divine spiritual thirst, which is for Divine truth and good in the church, by which the human race is saved. (Respecting the falsity of evil, what it was with the Jewish nation, and the falsity of ignorance in which there is good, what this was with the upright Gentiles, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 21.)

[3] "Gall" and "vinegar" have a like signification in David:

They gave me gall for My food; and in my thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink. Let their table before them become a snare; and for retributions let there be a lure. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not; and make their loins continually to falter (Psalms 69:21-23).

Here "gall," "vinegar," and "thirst," have a similar signification as above, since this is said of the Lord; the "table that shall be to them for a snare," signifies going astray in respect to every truth of doctrine from the Word, for "table" has reference to all spiritual food, and spiritual food is everything of doctrine from the Word; the "eyes that will be darkened that they see not," signify the understanding of truth; the "loins that will be made to falter," signify the will of good, and its marriage with the understanding of truth; "loins" have the same signification in other parts of the Word.

[4] In Lamentations:

He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. Therefore I said, My victory hath perished, and my hope from Jehovah. Remember my misery and my lament, the wormwood and the hemlock (Lamentations 3:15, 18, 19).

This, too, is said of the Lord. That the Lord found nothing but falsities and falsified truths in the church that then existed among the Jews is signified by "He hath filled me with bitterness, and hath made me drunken with wormwood," "wormwood" meaning the falsity of evil mixed with truths, thus what is falsified; the Lord's combat with the hells, and His hopelessness of ever bringing back the Jewish nation to a reception and acknowledgment of truths is signified by "My victory hath perished, and my hope from Jehovah; remember my misery and my lament, the wormwood and the hemlock;" for the spirits who are in the falsities of evil and yet in truths from the sense of the letter of the Word make longer resistance before they are subjugated and cast down into hell, and for the reason that through truths they have communication with heaven, and this communication and consequent conjunction must be broken and removed before they are cast down; this involves despair as to victory, such as the Lord experienced upon the cross when He said "I thirst," and they gave Him vinegar.

[5] In Jeremiah:

Jehovah our God hath cut us off and hath given us waters of gall to drink (Jeremiah 8:14).

In the same:

Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and make them to drink waters of gall; and I will scatter them among the nations; and I will send the sword after them until I shall have consumed them (Jeremiah 9:15, 16).

In the same:

Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink waters of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem hypocrisy hath gone forth into all the land (Jeremiah 23:15).

This, too, is said of the Jewish nation, which in a thousand ways perverted the Word, falsified its truth, and adulterated its good; "wormwood" signifies the evil of falsity, and "waters of gall" the falsity of evil, both mixed with the truths and goods of the Word. That from themselves and from their heart they were in evils and falsities from evils is signified by "Jehovah will feed them with wormwood, and make them to drink waters of gall;" for evil and falsity are attributed to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, as in many passages elsewhere, and yet they are of man himself; the reasons for this have often been given above. "The hypocrisy that went forth from the prophets of Jerusalem" signifies such mingling of falsity and truth, for they spoke truths while they taught falsities; they spoke truths when they spoke from the Word, and they taught falsities when they taught from themselves and their doctrine; their destruction by the evils of falsity and by the falsities of evil is signified by "I will scatter them among the nations, and I will send the sword after them;" "to scatter among the nations" signifying to destroy by the evils of falsity, and "to send the sword after them" signifying to destroy by the falsities of evil. (That "nations" signify evils see above, n. 175, 331; and that "sword" signifies the combat of truth against falsity, and the combat of falsity against truth, and its destruction, see also above, n. 131, 367.)

[6] In Amos:

Behold, Jehovah will smite the great house with gaps and the little house with clefts. Shall horses run upon the rock? Shall one plow with oxen? For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood (Amos 6:11, 12).

In the same:

They turn judgment into wormwood, and thrust down righteousness to the earth (Amos 5:7).

"Jehovah will smite the great house with gaps, and the little house with clefts," signifies much perversion and falsification of truth with the learned, and some with the unlearned, a "great house" signifying a learned man, and a "little house" an unlearned man; "gaps" signify truths destroyed by falsities, and "clefts" the same, but in a less degree; that the understanding of truth and the will of good are not possible where there is the falsity of evil, is signified by "Shall horses run upon the rock? Shall one plow with oxen?;" "horses running" meaning the understanding of truth, and "plowing with oxen" the will of good. That this is because truths were falsified and the goods of the Word were adulterated is signified by, "For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood," "judgment" signifying the truth of the Word, and "the fruit of righteousness" its good.

[7] That the quality of the sons of Jacob, who were called Israelites and Jews, was such, is plainly declared by Moses in his song, in which they are described in these words:

Their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, they have clusters of bitterness. Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps (Deuteronomy 32:32, 33).

"Vine" signifies the church, and this is said to be "of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah" because "Sodom" signifies all evils springing from the love of self, and "Gomorrah" all the falsities of those evils; "grapes" signify the goods of the church, and "clusters" the truths of the church. That instead of the goods of the church they had the worst evils and falsities mingled with truths is signified by "their grapes are grapes of gall, they have clusters of bitterness;" "wine" signifies the truth and good of faith; that this with them was external, in which was evil from the interior, is signified by "their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps." (That the sons of Jacob were such, although there was a church among them, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 248.)

[8] That "gall" and "wormwood" signify evil and falsity mingled with good and truth, is further evident from these words in Moses:

Lest there be among you man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart looketh back this day from with Jehovah our God, to go to serve the gods of the nations; lest there be among you a root bearing gall and wormwood (Deuteronomy 29:18).

Here, too, "gall" and "wormwood" signify the mingling of good and truth with evil and falsity, which is done when other gods are worshiped with the heart, and Jehovah only with the lips; then the external sounds like good and appears like truth, but the internal is evil and falsity; and when the interiors are evils and falsities, and the exteriors are goods and truths, there is a mingling of the two, and then the good becomes gall, and the truth becomes wormwood. It is similar when man in his heart hates the neighbor and denies the truths of the church, and yet outwardly avows charity towards the neighbor and professes the truths of the church; there is then in him "a root bearing gall and wormwood," for he lets in evils and falsities from the interior, and mixes them with the goods and truths that he displays in the externals.

[9] In Job:

Though evil shall have been sweet in his mouth, though he shall have hidden it under his tongue; though he shall have spared it and not forsaken it but shall keep it within his mouth, his bread in his bowels shall be changed, it shall be the gall of asps in the midst of him; he hath swallowed riches and he shall vomit them up again, God shall cast them out of his belly. He shall suck the poison of asps, the viper's tongue shall slay him (Job 20:12-16).

Thus is described the hypocrisy from which man speaks things holy and stimulates good affections, while inwardly he denies and blasphemes. What is within is described by "he hides evil under his tongue, and keeps it within his mouth." That consequently good is infected with evil and is cast out, is signified by "his bread in his bowels shall be changed, it shall be the gall of asps in the midst;" "bread" meaning the good of love, "in the bowels" is inwardly, and "the gall of asps" means good mingled with evil. That truth also is cast out by falsity is signified by "he hath swallowed riches and he shall vomit them up again, God shall cast them out of his belly;" this falsity is meant by "the poison of asps."

[10] It is to be known that good and evil, and the truth of good and the falsity of evil, are mingled when evil and falsity are in man's spirit while good and truth are in the deeds and speech of his body. But what is in the spirit of man, that is, what is interior, acts into that which belongs to the body or what is exterior; for it flows in and causes the exterior, which appears to be good and true, nevertheless to be bitter like gall and wormwood, although before men it seems to be sweet. And because the good and truth of their mouth and speech are such, therefore when man after death becomes a spirit the good is separated from the evil and the falsity from the truth, and good and truth are taken away, and thus the spirit becomes his own evil and falsity. But it must be known that this mingling of good and evil and of truth and falsity is not the profanation of good and truth; profanation occurs only with those who have first received truth and good in heart and faith, and afterwards in heart and faith deny them.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.