There is, for everyone, a crossroads when it comes to spiritual things, a basic decision to be made. Are you going to believe in the Lord and in spiritual reality? Or are you only going to believe what you can see, touch, feel and otherwise "know" from your own mind? The Writings say those who choose the latter course are closing themselves off from the truth, because by definition spiritual reality cannot be seen, touched, felt or otherwise "known" through purely human means. That's what it means to eat "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," and it leads to spiritual death – which is being cut off from the goodness and truth the Lord wishes to bestow on us.

The people of the Most Ancient Church were in a state of love to the Lord, and had been invited to gather all the wisdom and knowledge flowing from that love – the fruit of all the other trees. But they had to accept the Lord as the source, had to accept that He existed, had to accept that He was infinite and beyond their finite understanding. To think otherwise – to think that through their own minds they could explain the Lord – would be to put themselves above him, and lead them into evil.

It's worth noting that this was not a call for people to shut down their minds. The fruit of the other trees represents an incredible bounty of exploration, learning and wonderment. And we're not called on to shut down our minds today; the Lord gave us our intellectual faculties for a reason. To let the Lord in, though, we have to accept the unprove-able idea that He is love itself and reality itself, and see all other knowledge in that light.

(Референце: Arcana Coelestia 126-132, 127, 128-134, 129, 0130)

758. He persecuted the woman that brought forth the male, signifies that those who are meant by "the dragon" would from hatred and enmity reject and revile the church which is the New Jerusalem, because it has the doctrine of life. This is evident from the signification of "persecuting," as being, in reference to those who are meant by "the dragon," to reject and revile from hatred and enmity (of which presently); also from the signification of "the woman," as being the church that is called the New Jerusalem (of which above, n. 707, 721, 730); also from the signification of "the male," as being the doctrine of that church, which is the doctrine of life (See above, n. 724, 725). From this it is clear that "the dragon persecuting the woman that brought forth the male" signifies that those who are meant by the dragon will from hatred and enmity reject and revile the church which is the New Jerusalem, because it has the doctrine of life. That "to persecute" signifies here to reject and revile from hatred and enmity follows from what precedes, that "the dragon stood near the woman who was about to bring forth, that he might devour her offspring," and that "he fought with Michael and his angels," and that when he was cast unto the earth "he had great anger," and that from this anger, which signifies hatred, "he persecuted the woman;" that his "anger" signifies hatred see above n. 754. His hatred is further described in what follows by the words, "he cast out after the woman out of his mouth water as a river, that it might swallow her up;" and at last, when he had tried all in vain, "he was wroth, and went away to make war with the remnant of her seed."

[2] Those who are meant by "the dragon" have such hatred against those who are meant by "the woman," because those who are in faith separated from charity have such hatred against those who are in charity, and as those who are in separated faith have conjunction with the hells, their hatred is like that of the hells against the heavens. The source of this hatred shall also be briefly explained. All who are in the hells are in the loves of self and the world, but all who are in the heavens are in love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, and these loves are direct opposites. Those who are in the loves of self and of the world love nothing but what is their own [proprium], and what is man's own is nothing but evil; but those who are in love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor do not love what is their own, for they love the Lord above self, and the neighbor beyond self. Moreover, they are withheld from what is their own, and are held in the Lord's own [proprium], which is the Divine. Furthermore, all the delights of life are delights of loves; the delights of the loves of self and of the world are the delights of various kinds of hatred, but the delights of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor are the delights of various kinds of charity, and the former are the direct opposites of the latter; and as those who are in the hells act in all their activities from the delights of their loves, which, as has been said, are the delights of various kinds of hatred, it is evident why the dragon has such hatred against the woman; for "the dragon" means those who are in the love of self; and this is why he is called "the great red dragon," "great red" signifying that love. He is also called "the devil" and "Satan," "the devil" meaning every evil that is from hell, and "Satan" every falsity therefrom, and evil is in hatred against good, and falsity is in hatred against truth. He is also called "the old serpent," which means the sensual, which is the ultimate of man's life, and in that sensual all such hatred has its seat. Those who are in faith separated from charity have a like hatred against those who are in charity; which hatred is not manifested in this world, but in the spiritual world when they become spirits. That this is a deadly hatred, and that it is the very delight of the life of evil spirits, may be seen above n. 754; but that such delight is turned into what is direfully infernal may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell 485-490.