1384. Wat de eerste soort betreft, die de engelen eigen is, en daarin bestaat, dat zij innerlijk gewaarworden, wat waar en goed is, en gewaarworden wat van de Heer komt, en wat van henzelf, en verder ook van waar en hoedanig datgene is wat zij denken, spreken en doen, wanneer het uit henzelf komt. Het werd mij gegeven met de zonen van de Oudste Kerk te spreken over hun innerlijke gewaarwording; zij zeiden dat zij niets uit zichzelf denken of denken kunnen, en niets uit zichzelf willen, maar dat zij bij alles, wat zij in het algemeen en in het bijzonder denken en willen en gewaarworden, wat van de Heer en wat van elders komt, en dat zij niet alleen gewaarworden, hoeveel van de Heer en hoeveel als van henzelf komt, maar ook, wanneer iets als van henzelf komt, waar het dan vandaan komt, van welke engelen, en verder van welke aard die engelen zijn, van welke aard hun gedachten, met alle verscheidenheid, en zo dus welke invloed het is, en ontelbare andere dingen meer. De innerlijke gewaarwording van deze soort zijn van een grote verscheidenheid; bij de hemelse engelen, die in de liefde tot de Heer zijn, bestaat een innerlijke gewaarwording van het goede en vandaar van al wat tot het ware behoort, en omdat zij uit het goede het ware gewaarworden, laten zij niet toe dat er gesproken, nog minder dat er geredeneerd wordt over het ware, maar zij zeggen: zo is het of zo is het niet. De geestelijke engelen echter, die ook innerlijke gewaarwording hebben, maar niet van dien aard als de hemelse engelen, spreken over het ware en het goede; niettemin worden zij het ware en het goede gewaar, maar met onderscheid, want de verscheidenheden van deze innerlijke gewaarwording zijn ontelbaar. De verscheidenheden rusten hierop, dat zij gewaarworden of iets komt van de wil van de Heer, of dat Hij het vergunt, of dat Hij het toelaat, waartussen een scherp onderscheid ligt.

1919. That 'Abram said to Sarai' means perception is clear from what has been stated above in 1898. The perception which the Lord had was represented and is here meant by 'Abram said to Sarai', but thought which sprang from that perception is meant by 'Sarai said to Abram' - perception being the source of thought. The thought possessed by those who have perception comes from no other source. Yet perception is not the same as thought. To see that it is not the same, let conscience serve to 'illustrate this consideration.

[2] Conscience is a kind of general and thus obscure dictate which presents those things that flow in from the Lord by way of the heavens. Those things that flow in manifest themselves in the interior rational man where they are enveloped so to speak in cloud. This cloud is the product of appearances and illusions concerning the goods and truths of faith. Thought is, in truth, distinct and separate from conscience; yet it flows from conscience, for people who have conscience think and speak according to it. Indeed thought is scarcely anything more than a loosening of the various strands that make up conscience, and a converting of these into separate ideas which pass into words. Hence it is that the Lord holds those who have conscience in good thoughts regarding the neighbour and withholds them from evil thoughts. For this reason conscience can never exist except with people who love the neighbour as themselves and have good thoughts regarding the truths of faith. These considerations brought forward here show how conscience differs from thought, and from this one may recognize how perception differs from thought.

[3] The Lord's perception came directly from Jehovah, and so from Divine Good, whereas His thought came from intellectual truth and the affection for it, as stated above in 1904, 1914. No idea, not even an angelic one, is adequate as a means to apprehend the Lord's Divine perception, and thus this lies beyond description. The perception which angels have - described in 1384 and following paragraphs, 1394, 1395 - adds up to scarcely anything at all when contrasted with the perception that was the Lord's. Because the Lord's perception was Divine, it was a perception of everything in heaven; and being a perception of everything in heaven it was also a perception of everything on earth. For such is the order, interconnection, and influx that anyone who has a perception of heavenly things has a perception of earthly as well.

[4] But after the Lord's Human Essence had become united to His Divine Essence, and had become at the same time Jehovah, the Lord was then above what is called perception, for He was above the order which exists in the heavens and from there upon earth. It is Jehovah who is the source of order, and therefore one may say that Jehovah is Order itself, for from Himself He governs order, not merely, as is supposed, in the universal but also in its most specific singulars, for it is these singulars that make up the universal. To speak of the universal and then separate such singulars from it would be no different from speaking of a whole that has no parts within it and so no different from speaking of something consisting of nothing. Thus it is sheer falsity - a figment of the imagination, as it is called - to speak of the Lord's Providence as belonging to the universal but not to its specific singulars; for to provide and govern universally but not specifically is to provide and govern absolutely nothing. This is true philosophically, yet, strange to say, philosophers themselves, including the more eminent, understand this matter in a different way and think in a different way.

279. Of Order.

The Divine truth proceeding from the Lord is the source of order, and the Divine good is the essential of order (n. 1728, 2258, 8700, 8988). The Lord is order, since the Divine good and the Divine truth are from the Lord, yea, are the Lord, in the heavens and on earth (n. 1919, 2011, 5110, 5703, 10336, 10619). Divine truths are the laws of order (n. 2447, 7995). Where order is, the Lord is present, but where order is not, the Lord is not present (n. 5703). As the Divine truth is order, and the Divine good the essential of order, therefore each and all things in the universe have relation to good and truth, that they may be anything, because they have relation to order (n. 2452, 3166, 4390, 4409, 5232, 7256, 10122, 10555). Good, because it is the essential of order, disposes truths into order, and not vice versa (n. 3316, 3470, 4302, 5704, 5709, 6028, 6690). The entire heaven, as to all the angelic societies, is arranged by the Lord according to His Divine order, because the Divine of the Lord with the angels makes heaven (n. 3038, 7211, 9128, 9338, 10125, 10151, 10157). Hence the form of heaven is a form according to Divine order (n. 4040-4043, 6607, 9877).

So far as man lives according to order, thus so far as he lives in good according to Divine truths, which are the laws of order, so far is he a man (n. 4839). Yea, as far as a man thus lives, so far he appears in the other life as a perfect and beautiful man, but so far as he does not thus live, so far he appears as a monster (n. 4839, 6605, 6626). Hence it appears that all things of Divine order are collected together in man, and that from creation he is Divine order in form (n. 4219-4220, 4223, 4523-4524, 5114, 5368, 6013, 6057, 6605, 6626, 9706, 10156, 10742). Every angel is in the human form because he is a recipient of Divine order from the Lord, perfect and beautiful according to reception (n. 322, 1880-1881, 3633, 3804, 4622, 4735, 4797, 4985, 5199, 5530, 6054, 9879, 10177, 10594). The angelic heaven also in its whole complex is in the human form, because the whole heaven as to all its angelic societies, is disposed by the Lord according to Divine order (n. 2996, 2998, 3624-3629, 3636-3643, 3741-3745, 4625). Hence it is evident, that the Divine Human is the source from which all these things are derived (n. 2996-2998, 3624-3649, 3741-3745). Hence also it follows that the Lord is the only Man, and that they are men who receive the Divine from Him (n. 1894[1-2]). So far as they receive it, so far they are images of the Lord (n. 8547).

Man is not born into good and truth, but into evil and falsity, thus not into Divine order, but into what is contrary to order, and on this account into mere ignorance, and he ought therefore necessarily to be born anew, that is regenerated, which is done by Divine truths from the Lord, and by a life according to them, to the intent that he may be inaugurated into order, and thus become a man (n. 1047, 2307-2308, 3518, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283-10284, 10286, 10731). When the Lord regenerates man, He disposes all things with him according to order, that is, according to the form of heaven (n. 5700, 6690, 9931, 10303). The man who is led by the Lord, is led according to Divine order (n. 8512). The interiors which are of the mind are open into heaven, even to the Lord, with the man who is in Divine order, but shut with him who is not in Divine order (n. 8513). So far as man lives according to order, so far he has intelligence and wisdom (n. 2592).

The Lord rules the firsts and the ultimates of order, and the firsts from the ultimates and the ultimates from the firsts; and thus keeps all things in connection and order (n. 3702, 3739, 6040, 6056, 9828). Of successive order; and of the ultimate of order, in which things successive are together in their order (n. 634, 3691, 4145, 5114, 5897, 6239, 6326, 6465, 8603, 9215-9216, 9828, 9836, 10044, 10099, 10329, 10335).

Evils and falsities are contrary to order, and still they are ruled by the Lord, not according to order, but from order (n. 4839, 7877, 10778). Evils and falsities are ruled by the laws of permission, and this is for the sake of order (n. 7877, 8700, 10778). What is contrary to Divine order is impossible, as that a man who lives in evil can be saved from mercy alone, as likewise that the evil can be consociated with the good in the other life, and many other things (n. 8700).