We know, in a general sense, what “false” means. It’s the wrong answer on a “true or false” test; it’s saying 2+2=5; it’s saying that the sky is green and the clouds are orange.

That simplicity, however, comes from applying the idea of “truth” to simple, concrete facts. It gets much trickier when we try to apply the idea to the things we love and feel.

Consider, for instance, the idea that “you’ve got to look out for yourself, because no one else is going to.” Is that true? It feels true in a way, and seems to apply to a lot of real-world situations. To some degree, no matter how high-minded we might be, we have to take care of ourselves if we’re going to be any good to anyone else. But if we take that idea and make it central to our lives, will it help us be loving people? Or will it encourage selfishness, which is pretty strong in most of us anyway? Clearly the answer is the latter.

Swedenborg would label that a “falsity,” because it is ultimately a description of how to be selfish. “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” would, by contrast, be labeled a “truth” because it is a description of how to be caring and kind. Basically, statements describing or springing from love of the Lord and love of the neighbor are “truth” and those springing from love of self or love of worldly things are “falsity.”

You might wonder why that is. The fact that “look out for yourself” is selfish doesn’t make it necessarily untrue; it’s a selfish world! But in Swedenborg’s theology, the universe and reality itself are direct products of the Lord’s infinite love, and are thus ultimately expressions of love. The only reason selfishness exists is that the Lord created us with freedom, which includes the ability we have to reject His love and turn it toward ourselves instead. The Lord’s every intention and purpose is to get us turn away from ourselves and toward Him; if we do that, reality can fulfill its loving purpose.

True reality, then, is completely loving, and expressions that reflect and support that loving nature are “true” - they are aligned with reality in its purest, greatest and intended form. Statements that reject and deny that loving nature are “false” because they are contrary to reality’s true form.

But there’s an argument: Couldn’t someone use the idea that “you’ve got to look out for yourself, because no one else is going to” to become strong and self-reliant, in a better position to help others, and use it to be a better person? Yes, they could; ideas that are essentially false can at times be used for good purposes. In a broad application, religious systems can have false ideas about the Lord, but still lead people to good lives and ultimately to heaven. On the flip side, ideas that are essentially true can be used for evil purposes (“love thy neighbor” could prompt giving aid to someone engaged in evil, for instance). “Truth” only becomes truly real when it is married to the desire for good; “falsity” only becomes truly real when it is married to the desire for evil.

(Referencat: Apocalypse Explained 734; Conjugial Love 428; Divine Providence 318; The Apocalypse Explained 526 [1-2]; The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 171)

7392. 'To remove the frogs from me, and from my people' means in order that they might not be compelled to use reasonings arising from utter falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'removing' as not being compelled, for what caused the pleading was weariness resulting from their being compelled to use reasonings arising from utter falsities; from the meaning of 'the frogs' as reasonings arising from utter falsities, dealt with in 7351, 7352; and from the representation of Pharaoh, and also of the Egyptians, as those who are steeped in falsities and engage in molestation, dealt with often.

[2] With regard to that weariness which is the cause of the pleading or self-abasement in those who engage in molestation, it should be recognized that those people find this undelightful; for they are unable to do evil by the use of reasonings that arise from utter falsities, since the upright - who at this point are those members of the Lord's spiritual Church whom they were molesting - laugh at utter falsities, which are contradictions of the truth. But they were able to do evil through their use of falsities based on illusions and appearances, by which they falsify truths, such truths being meant by 'the blood' into which the waters of Egypt were turned, 7317, 7326; for illusions and appearances mislead people since they cast a sort of shadow or veil over truths. Because they are unable to do any evil through their use of reasonings arising from utter falsities, that is, arising from total contradictions of the truth, they have found them to be undelightful and therefore beg to have them taken away. For nothing delights those in hell except doing evil, in whatever possible way. Indeed doing evil is the very delight of their life; so great is it that it constitutes their whole life. When therefore they are not allowed to do it weariness overtakes them. This is the reason why Pharaoh begged to have the plague of frogs taken away, but not that of blood described above, nor that of the lice described below. For 'the plague of frogs' means molestation through the use of reasonings arising from utter falsities, by the use of which however they are unable to do any evil; but 'the plague of blood' means molestation by the use of falsities arising from illusions and appearances, a molestation which gives them delight because they are able to do ill by means of it. And 'the plague of lice' means evils which give them delight because they are evils.

[3] A feeling of delight in doing evil exists in the next life with all those who in the world do not do good to their neighbour for their neighbour's sake, to their country for their country's sake, or to the Church for the Church's sake, but for their own sake. Consequently they do not do what is true and good for the sake of what is true and good. The fact that their delight consists in doing evil is not evident in the world because the external man conceals it. But in the next life, when superficial things are taken away and a person is left with what he is inwardly, that delight then emerges and reveals itself. So it is that such people are in hell; for those who are there all love to do evil, whereas those in heaven all love to do good.