Three
Discrete Degrees
in Man
End, Cause, and Effect
Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
THESE THREE DEGREES OF
HEIGHT ARE IN EVERY MAN FROM BIRTH, AND CAN BE OPENED SUCCESSIVELY;
AND, AS THEY ARE OPENED, MAN IS IN THE LORD AND THE LORD IN MAN.
236.
That there are three degrees of height in every man, has not until
now become known for the reason that these degrees have not been
recognized, and so long as they remained unnoticed, none but
continuous degrees could be known; and when none but continuous
degrees are known, it may be supposed that love and wisdom increase
in man only by continuity. But it should be known, that in every man
from his birth there are three degrees of height, or discrete
degrees, one above or within another; and that each degree of
height, or discrete degree, has also degrees of breadth, or
continuous degrees, according to which it increases by continuity.
For there are degrees of both kinds in things greatest and least of
all things (as was shown above, n. 222-229); for no degree of one
kind is possible without degrees of the other kind.
237.
These three degrees of height are called natural, spiritual, and
celestial (as was said above, n. 232). When man is born he comes
first into the natural degree, and this grows in him, by continuity,
according to his knowledges and the understanding acquired by means
of knowledges even to the highest point of understanding, which is
called the rational. Yet not by this means is the second degree
opened, which is called the spiritual. That degree is opened by
means of a love of uses in accordance with the things of the
understanding, although by a spiritual love of uses, which is love
towards the neighbor. This degree may grow in like manner by
continuous degrees to its height, and it grows by means of
knowledges of truth and good, that is, by spiritual truths. Yet even
by such truths the third degree which is called the celestial is not
opened; for this degree is opened by means of the celestial love of
use, which is love to the Lord; and love to the Lord is nothing else
than committing to life the precepts of the Word, the sum of which
is to flee from evils because they are hellish and devilish, and to
do good because it is heavenly and Divine. In this manner these
three degrees are successively opened in man.
238.
So long as man lives in the world he knows nothing of the opening of
these degrees within him, because he is then in the natural degree,
which is the outmost, and from this he then thinks, wills, speaks,
and acts; and the spiritual degree, which is interior, communicates
with the natural degree, not by continuity but by correspondences,
and communication by correspondences is not sensibly felt. But when
man puts off the natural degree, which he does at death, he comes
into that degree which has been opened within him in the world; he
in whom the spiritual degree has been opened coming into that
degree, and he within whom the celestial degree has been opened
coming into that degree. He who comes into the spiritual degree
after death no longer thinks, wills, speaks, and acts naturally, but
spiritually; and he who comes into the celestial degree thinks,
wills, speaks, and acts according to that degree. And as there can
be communication between the three degrees only by correspondences,
the differences of love, wisdom, and use, as regards these degrees
are such as to have no common ground by means of anything
continuous. From all this it is plain that man has three degrees of
height that may be successively opened in him.
239.
Since there are in man three degrees of love and wisdom, and
therefore of use, it follows that there must be in him three
degrees, of will, of understanding, and of result therefrom, thus of
determination to use; for will is the receptacle of love,
understanding the receptacle of wisdom, and result is use from
these. From this it is evident that there are in every man a
natural, a spiritual, and a celestial will and understanding,
potentially by birth and actually when they are opened. In a word
the mind of man, which consists of will and understanding, is from
creation and therefore from birth, of three degrees, so that man has
a natural mind, a spiritual mind, and a celestial mind, and can
thereby be elevated into and possess angelic wisdom while he lives
in the world; but it is only after death, and then only if he
becomes an angel, that he enters into that wisdom, and his speech
then becomes ineffable and incomprehensible to the natural man. I
knew a man of moderate learning in the world, whom I saw after death
and spoke with in heaven, and I clearly perceived that he spoke like
an angel, and that the things he said would be inconceivable to the
natural man; and for the reason that in the world he had applied the
precepts of the Word to life and had worshiped the Lord, and was
therefore raised up by the Lord into the third degree of love and
wisdom. It is important that this elevation of the human mind should
be known about, for upon it depends the understanding of what
follows.
240.
There are in man from the Lord two capacities whereby he is
distinguished from beasts. One of these is the ability to understand
what is true and what is good; this is called rationality, and is a
capacity of his understanding. The other is an ability to do what is
true and good; this is called freedom, and is a capacity of his
will. For man by virtue of his rationality is able to think whatever
he pleases, either with or against God, either with or against the
neighbor; he is also able to will and to do what he thinks; but when
he sees evil and fears punishment, he is able, by virtue of his
freedom, to abstain from doing it. By virtue of these two capacities
man is man, and is distinguished from beasts. Man has these two
capacities from the Lord, and they are from Him every moment; nor
are they taken away, for if they were, man's human would perish. In
these two capacities the Lord is with every man, good and evil
alike; they are the Lord's abode in the human race; from this it is
that all men live for ever, both the good and evil. But the Lord's
abode in man is nearer as by the agency of these capacities man
opens the higher degrees, for by the opening of these man comes into
higher degree of love and wisdom, thus nearer to the Lord. From this
it can be seen that as these degrees are opened, man is in the Lord
and the Lord in him.
241.
It is said above, that the three degrees of height are like end,
cause, and effect, and that love, wisdom, and use follow in
succession according to these degrees; therefore a few things shall
be said here about love as being end, wisdom as being cause, and use
as being effect. Whoever consults his reason, if it is enlightened,
can see that the end of all things of man is his love; for what he
loves that he thinks, decides upon, and does, consequently that he
has for his end. Man can also see from his reason that wisdom is
cause; since he, that is, his love, which is his end, searches in
his understanding for its means through which to attain its end,
thus consulting its wisdom, and these means constitute the
instrumental cause. That use is effect is evident without
explanation. But one man's love is not the same as another's,
neither is one man's wisdom the same as another's; so it is with
use. And since these three are homogeneous (as was shown above, n.
189-194), it follows that such as is the love in man, such is the
wisdom and such is the use. Wisdom is here spoken of, but by it what
pertains to man's understanding is meant.
(Divine Love and Wisdom 236 -
241) |
