7217. For distress of spirit. ¹ That this signifies by reason of a state near to despair, is evident from the signification of “distress of spirit,” as being a state near to despair, for they who are in this state, are in distress of spirit. That this state is signified by the burden laid on the sons of Israel by Pharaoh, that they should search for themselves straw to make brick, was shown at the end of the preceding chapter. That distress of spirit denotes a state near to despair, can be seen from the fact that they who are in a state near to despair are in internal anxiety, and are then actually in shortness of breath. In the external sense this condition is a compression of the breast, and from this as it were a difficulty of breathing; but in the internal sense it is anxiety on account of the deprivation of the truth which is of faith, and of the good which is of charity, and from this is a state near to despair. (That a state of compression in respect to the breathing, and anxiety on account of the deprivation of the truth of faith and the good of charity, correspond to each other, as a natural effect in the body from a spiritual cause in the mind, can be seen from what has been shown above, n. 97, 1119, 3886, 3887, 3889, 3892, 3893.) That the deprivation of spiritual truth and good gives birth to such anxiety, and consequently to such distress, cannot be believed by those who are not in faith and charity; for these suppose that to be in distress on this account is weakness and sickliness of mind. The reason is that they do not place anything real in faith and charity, nor therefore in those things which belong to their souls and to heaven, but only in wealth and eminence, thus in the things of the body and the world. They also think, “What are faith and charity but mere words? What is conscience even? To feel distressed by these things is the same as being distressed by such things as a man sees within him from the silly creations of his fancy, and which he imagines to have some existence, although they have not any. Wealth and high position we can see with our eyes, and we know that they exist by the pleasure they afford, for they excite in our whole bodies an expansion and a fullness of joy.” So think merely natural men, and so do they speak among themselves. But spiritual men think differently, for these have their chief life in their spirit, thus in the things that belong to their spirit, that is, in faith and charity; and therefore when they believe themselves deprived of the truths and goods of faith and charity, they are affected with anguish, as are they who are in the anguish of death, for they see before them spiritual death, that is, damnation. As before said, to the merely natural these persons appear weak and sickly in spirit, but they are strong and healthy; whereas they who are merely natural appear to themselves strong and healthy, and also are so as to the body, but as to the spirit they are quite weakly, because spiritually dead. If they could see what kind of a spirit they have, they would acknowledge it to be so; but they do not see the spirit until the body has died.

脚注:

3887. In heaven or the Grand Man there are two kingdoms, one of which is called Celestial, and the other Spiritual. The celestial kingdom consists of angels who are called celestial, and these are they who have been in love to the Lord, and thence in all wisdom; for they are in the Lord, and thereby they are pre-eminently in a state of peace and innocence. They appear to others like little children; for a state of peace and innocence presents this appearance. Everything there is as it were alive before them, for whatever comes immediately from the Lord is alive. Such is the Celestial Kingdom. The other kingdom is called Spiritual. It consists of angels who are called spiritual, and these are they who have been in the good of charity toward the neighbor. They make the delight of their life to consist in the fact that they can do good to others without recompense; to them it is sufficient recompense to be allowed to do good to others. The more they will and desire this, in so much the greater intelligence and happiness are they; for in the other life everyone is gifted with intelligence and happiness by the Lord, in accordance with the use he performs from the affection of the will. Such is the Spiritual Kingdom.

[2] They who are in the Lord’s celestial kingdom all belong to the province of the heart; and they who are in the spiritual kingdom all belong to the province of the lungs. The influx from the celestial kingdom into the spiritual kingdom is like that of the heart into the lungs; as also is the influx of all things of the heart into those of the lungs; for by means of the blood vessels the heart rules in the whole of the body and in all its parts; and the lungs in all its parts by the respiration. Hence there is everywhere in the body as it were an influx of the heart into the lungs; but according to the forms there; and according to the states. From this arises all the sensation as well as all the action that is proper to the body, as may be seen from the case of foetuses and newborn infants, which cannot have any bodily sensation, nor any voluntary action, until their lungs have been opened, and thus an influx established of the one into the other. The case is similar in the spiritual world, but with the difference that there are not there bodily and natural things, but celestial and spiritual ones, which are the good of love and the truth of faith. Hence the cardiac motions with those in the spiritual world are according to the states of love, and the respiratory motions are according to the states of faith; the influx of the one into the other causes in them spiritual sensation and spiritual action. These things will necessarily appear to man as paradoxical, from his having no other idea of the good of love and the truth of faith than that they are certain abstract things without the power of effecting anything, when yet the contrary is true, namely, that all perception and sensation, and all energy and action, even in man on earth, are from the good of love and the truth of faith.