TEN LAWS OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE

Selections from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

[Interspersed Series Between Numbers 1135 - 1194 From The Apocalypse Explained]

Lesson 3
 

The third law of Divine providence is, That to think and speak truth and to will and do good from freedom according to reason is not from man but from the Lord; and that to think and speak falsity and to will and do evil from freedom is not from man but from hell, and yet in such a way that while the evil and falsity are from hell, the freedom itself regarded in itself, and the ability itself to think, will, speak, and do, regarded in itself, are from the Lord. That every good that is good in itself and every truth that is truth in itself is from the Lord and not from man, can be comprehended by the understanding from this, that the light that proceeds from the Lord as a sun is the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom, and that the heat that proceeds from the Lord as a sun is the Divine good of His Divine love; and as man is a recipient of these it follows, that every good which is from love and every truth which is from wisdom is from the Lord and not from man. But that every evil and every falsity is from hell and not from man has not been made a matter of faith, as the fact that good and truth are not from man has, because heretofore this has not been heard. But that evil and falsity are from man is an appearance, and if believed is a fallacy, cannot be comprehended until it is known what hell is, and how hell with evil and falsity can flow in on the one side as the Lord with good and truth flows in on the other. Therefore it shall be told in the first place of whom hell consists, what hell is, whence it is, and how it flows in and acts against good, and thus how man who is in the midst is acted upon on either side as a mere recipient.

First it shall be told of whom hell consists. Hell consists of spirits who when they were men in the world denied God, acknowledged nature, lived contrary to Divine order, loved evils and falsities, although not before the world for appearance's sake; consequently they were either insane as to truths, or despised truths, or denied them in heart if not with the lips. Of all such from the creation of the world hell consists. All these are called either devils or satans; those in whom the love of self has predominated are called devils, and those in whom the love of the world has predominated are called satans. The hell where devils are is meant in the Word by the "Devil," and the hell where satans are is meant by "Satan." Moreover, the Lord has so joined the devils together that they are as one, and also the satans; and this is why the hells are called the Devil and Satan in the singular. Hell does not consist of spirits immediately created, neither does heaven consist of angels immediately created; but hell consists of men born in the world, who were made devils or satans by themselves, and in like manner heaven consists of men born in the world, who were there made angels by the Lord. All men as to the interiors which belong to their minds are spirits, clothed in the world with a material body which is under the direction of the thought of the spirit and under the control of its affection; for the mind which is spirit acts, and the body which is matter is acted upon; and every spirit after the material body has been cast off, is a man similar in form as a man in the world (see above, n. 1127). All this makes clear of whom hell consists.

The hell where those are who are called devils is the love of self; and the hell where those are who are called satans is the love of the world. The diabolical hell is the love of self because that love is the opposite of celestial love which is love to the Lord; and the satanic hell is the love of the world because that love is the opposite of spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbor. Now as the two loves of hell are opposites of the two loves of heaven, hell and the heavens are in opposition to each other; for all who are in the heavens look to the Lord and to the neighbor, but all who are in the hells look to self and the world. All who are in the heavens love the Lord and the neighbor, and all who are in the hells love self and the world, and consequently hate the Lord and the neighbor. All who are in the heavens think what is true and will what is good, because they think and will from the Lord; but all who are in the hells think what is false and will what is evil, because they think and will from self. From this it is that all who are in the hells appear turned backward, with the face turned away from the Lord; they also appear turned upside down, with the feet upwards and the head downwards. They so appear in accordance with their loves, which are opposite to the loves of heaven.

As hell is the love of self it is also fire, for all love corresponds to fire, and in the spiritual world is so presented as to appear like a fire at a distance, although it is not fire but love; and thus the hells appear within to be on fire, and without like outbursts of fire in smoke from furnaces or from conflagrations; and sometimes the devils themselves appear like fires of coals. Their heat from that fire is like a boiling up from impurities, which is lust, and their light from that fire is only an appearance of light from fantasies and from confirmations of evil by falsities, but still it is not light, for when the light of heaven flows in it becomes to them thick darkness, and when the heat of heaven flows in it becomes to them cold; nevertheless, they see from their light, and live from their heat; but they see like owls, birds of night, and bats, whose eyes are blinded in the light of heaven, and they live half dead. The living principle in them is from the ability to think, to will, to speak, to do, and in consequence to see, to hear, to taste, to smell, and to feel; and this living principle is merely the ability arising from action upon them from without of the life which is God, according to order, and continually impelling them towards order. It is from that power that they live to eternity. Their dead principle is from the evils and falsities that spring from their loves. Consequently their life viewed from their loves is not life but death; and this is why in the Word hell is called "death," and those who are there are called "the dead."

It has been said that the love of self and the love of the world are hell, but the source of those loves shall now be explained. Man was created to love self and the world, to love the neighbor and heaven, and to love the Lord. For this reason when a man is born he first loves himself and the world, and afterwards, so far as he becomes wise, he loves the neighbor and heaven, and as he becomes still wiser he loves the Lord. Such a man is in the Divine order, and is actually led by the Lord, although apparently by himself. But so far as he is not wise he stops in the first degree, which is to love himself and the world; and if he loves the neighbor, heaven, and the Lord, it is for the sake of self before the world. But if he is wholly unwise he loves himself alone, and the world and also the neighbor for the sake of self; while heaven and the Lord he either despises or denies or hates in heart, if not in words. These are the origins of the love of self and of the love of the world, and as these loves are hell, it is evident whence hell is.

When a man has become a hell, he is like a tree cut off or like a tree whose fruits are malignant; or he is like sandy soil in which no seed will take root, or like soil, out of which springs nothing but the thorn that pricks or the nettle that stings. When a man becomes a hell the inner or higher parts of his mind are closed up and the outer and lower are opened. And as the love of self determines all things of the thought and will to itself and immerses them in the body, it inverts and twists back the outer parts of the mind, which, as has been said, are open, and as a consequence these incline and bend and are borne downwards, that is, towards hell.

But since man has still an ability to think, to will, to speak and to do, and this ability is in no case taken away from him, because he was born a man, so having become inverted and no longer receiving any good or any truth from heaven, but only evil and falsity from hell, he acquires a kind of light by confirmations of evil from falsity, and of falsity from evil in order that he may be eminent above others. This he believes to be a rational light, when yet it is an infernal light, and in itself fatuous, producing vision like that of a dream in the night, or a delirious fantasy, by reason of which things that are appear as if they were not, and things that are not appear as if they were. But this will be seen more clearly from a comparison between an angel-man and a devil-man.

In the world there are angel-men and devil-men; heaven is constituted of angel-men, and hell of devil-men. With an angel-man all the degrees of his life are open to the Lord; but with a devil-man only the lowest degree is open, and the higher degrees are closed. An angel-man is led by the Lord both from within and from without; but a devil-man is led by himself from within, and by the Lord from without. An angel-man is led by the Lord according to order, from within from order, and from without to order; but a devil-man is led by the Lord to order from without, but by himself against order from within. An angel-man is continually led away from evil by the Lord, and led to good; a devil-man also is continually led away from evil by the Lord, but from a more to a less grievous evil, for he cannot be led to good. An angel-man is continually led away from hell by the Lord, and is led into heaven more and more interiorly; a devil-man is also continually led away from hell, but from a more grievous to a milder hell, for he cannot be led into heaven.

Because an angel-man is led by the Lord he is led by civil law, by moral law, and by spiritual law, for the sake of the Divine in them; a devil-man is led by the same laws, but for the sake of himself [suum] in them. An angel-man from the Lord loves the goods of the church, which are the goods of heaven, because they are goods, also its truths because they are truths; but he loves from self the goods of the body and of the world because they are for use and because they are for pleasure, likewise the truths that belong to the sciences; but although he loves all these in appearance from self, in reality he loves them from the Lord. A devil-man also loves from self the goods of the body and of the world, because they are for use and because they are for pleasure, likewise the truths that belong to the sciences; but although he loves all these in appearance from self, in reality he loves them from hell. An angel-man is in freedom and in the delight of his heart when he is doing good from good, and when he is not doing evil; but a devil-man is in freedom and in the delight of his heart when he is doing good from evil, and when he is doing evil. An angel-man and a devil-man in externals appear alike, but in internals they are wholly unlike; therefore when external things are laid aside by death they are manifestly unlike. The one is taken up into heaven, and the other is taken down into hell.

That man is merely a recipient of good and truth from the Lord and of evil and falsity from hell, must be illustrated by comparisons confirmed by the laws of order and influx, and finally established by experience. It is illustrated by the following comparisons. The sensories of the body are recipient and percipient only seemingly from themselves; the sensory of sight, which is the eye, sees objects out of itself as if it were close by them, when, in fact, the rays of light convey with wings of ether their forms and colors into the eye, and these forms when perceived in the eye are observed by an internal sight that is called the understanding, and are distinguished and recognized according to their quality. It is the same with the sensory of hearing. This perceives sounds, whether words or musical tones, from the place from which they come as if it were there; when in fact, the sounds flow in from without and are perceived by the understanding within the ear. It is the same with the sensory of smell; this, too, perceives from within what flows in from without, sometimes from a great distance. Also the sensory of taste is excited by the foods that come in contact with the tongue from without. The sensory of touch does not feel unless it is touched. These five bodily sensories by virtue of an influx from within are sensible of what flows in from without; the influx from within is from the spiritual world, and the influx from without is from the natural world.

With all this the laws inscribed on the nature of all things are in harmony, which laws are: (1) That nothing exists or subsists from itself, or is acted upon or moved by itself, but only by something else. From this it follows that everything exists and subsists and is acted upon and moved by the First that is not from another, but is in itself the living force, which is life. (2) That nothing can be acted upon or moved unless it is intermediate between two forces, one of which acts and the other reacts, that is, unless one acts on the one side and the other on the other, and unless one acts from within and the other from without. (3) And since these two forces when at rest produce an equilibrium, it follows that nothing can be put in action or moved unless it is in equilibrium, and when put in action it is out of the equilibrium; also that everything put in action or moved seeks to return to an equilibrium. (4) That all activities are changes of state and variations of form, and that the latter are from the former. By state in man his love is meant, and by changes of state the affections of love; by form in man his intelligence is meant, and by variations of form his thoughts; and thoughts are from affections.

On this subject also we will speak from experience. The angels of the higher heavens have a clear feeling and perception that their goods and truths are from the Lord, and that they have nothing at all of good and truth from themselves. And when they are let down into the state of their self [proprium] as is now and then done, they have a clear feeling and perception that the evil and falsity belonging to their self [proprium] they have from hell. Some angels of the lowest heaven, who did not comprehend that evil and falsity are from hell, because they had believed in the world that they were themselves in evils from birth and from actual life, were led through infernal societies from one to another, and in each one while they were in it they thought just as the devils there thought, and differently in the several societies, thinking in opposition to goods and truths. They were told to think from themselves, and thus otherwise, but they said that they were wholly unable to do so. In this way they were made to comprehend that evils and falsities flow in from hell. It is the same with many who believe and insist that they have life in themselves. Also it sometimes occurs that angels are separated from the societies with which they are connected, and when thus separated they are unable to think, will, speak, or act, but lie like newborn infants; but as soon as they are restored to their societies they revive. For everyone, man, spirit or angel, is connected as to his affections and thoughts therefrom with societies, and acts as one of them; and for this reason it is known what each one is from the society in which he is. All this makes clear that the quality of each one's life flows in from without.

With regard to myself I can testify that for fifteen years I have clearly perceived that I have thought nothing and willed nothing of myself; also that every evil and falsity has flowed in from infernal societies, and that every good and truth has flowed in from the Lord. Some spirits reflecting upon this declared that I had no life. It was permitted me to reply, I am more alive than you are, since I feel the influx of good and truth from the Lord and see and perceive the enlightenment. I also perceive from the Lord that evils and falsities are from hell, and not only that this is so, but also from what spirits they come; and it has been granted me to speak with these, to rebuke them, and to reject them with their evils and falsities, and thus I was delivered from them. Furthermore, it was granted me to say that now I know that I live, and before I did not know it. From all this I have been fully convinced that every evil and falsity is from hell, and every good and truth, together with the perception of them, is from the Lord; and moreover, that I have freedom and thus perception as if from myself.

Again, that every evil and falsity is from hell it has been granted me to see with my own eyes. Over the hells there is an appearance of fires and smoke; evils are fires and falsities are smoke. These are continually exhaled and rise up, and the spirits that dwell in the midst between heaven and hell are affected by them according to their love. It shall be told briefly how evil and falsity have power to flow forth from hell, when there exists only one acting force, which is the life that is God; this also has been revealed. There was uttered with a loud voice out of heaven a truth from the Word, which flowed down to hell and through it to its lowest part; and it was heard that this truth in its flowing down was successively and by degrees turned into falsity, and at length into such falsity as is wholly opposite to the truth; then it was in the lowest hell. It was so changed because everything is received according to the state and form; so truth flowing into inverted forms, such as are in hell, became successively inverted and changed into the falsity opposite to the truth. From this it is clear what hell is from top to bottom, also that there is but one acting force, which is the life that is the Lord.

That man nevertheless is a subject of guilt follows from what has been said above, and also from what has been before established respecting the life that is God and that is with man from God; it follows also from the above-mentioned laws, which are truths. Evil is imputed to man because it has been granted him, and is continually granted him, to feel and to perceive as if life were in him; and as he is in that state he also has the freedom and ability to act as if from himself; and that ability regarded in itself, and that freedom regarded in itself, are not taken away from man, because he is born a man who is to live forever. It is from that ability and that freedom that he is able to receive both good and evil as if of himself. And as man is held in the midst between heaven and hell, the Lord gives him to know that good is from Him and that evil is from the devil, also to know by truths in the church what is good and what is evil. When man knows this, and it is granted him by the Lord to think, will, speak, and do this as if from himself, and this continually by influx, then if he does not receive he becomes guilty.

But man is in fallacies thence, especially because he does not know that his freedom and his ability to act as if from himself are from an influx of life from the Lord into his inmost, and that this influx is never taken away from him, since he is born a man, and man has such an inmost; yet the influx of life from the Lord into the recipient forms that are beneath that inmost, where and in which forms the understanding and will have their seat, is varied according to the reception of good and truth; and in fact, the influx is diminished and even taken away in the measure in which evil and falsity are received. In a word, the life that makes man to be man and that distinguishes him from brute animals, and which is in his inmost, and is therefore universally active in the lower parts, and from which he has freedom and the ability to think, will, speak, and act, is unceasingly with man from the Lord; but man's understanding and will therefrom, that is, from that life, are changed and varied according to reception. Man lives in the midst between heaven and hell, and the delight of the love of evil and of falsity therefrom flows into him from hell, while the delight of the love of good and of truth therefrom flows into him from the Lord, and he is constantly held in the feeling and perception that life is from himself, and thereby is also held constantly in the freedom to choose the one or the other, and in the ability to receive the one or the other. So far, therefore, as he chooses and receives evil and falsity, so far from that middle state he is carried down towards hell, and so far as he chooses good and truth, so far from that middle state is he taken up towards heaven.

Man is from creation in a state to know that evil is from hell, and that good is from the Lord, and to perceive these in himself as if they were from himself, and when he so perceives them to cast the evil down to hell and to receive the good, with the acknowledgment that it is from the Lord. When he does these two things he does not appropriate evil to himself, and does not claim merit for the good. But I know that there are many who do not comprehend this, and who have no desire to comprehend it, but let them pray, "That the Lord may be with them continually, that He may lift up and turn His face to them, that He may teach, enlighten, and lead them, since of themselves they can do nothing that is good, that He may grant to them to live; that the devil may not lead them astray and instill evils into their hearts, knowing that if they are not led by the Lord the devil will lead them and breathe into them evils of every kind, as hatred, revenge, cunning, and deceit, as a serpent instills poison; for the devil is present stirring up and continually accusing, and wheresoever he meets with a heart turned away from God, he enters in, dwells there, and draws the soul down to hell. O Lord, deliver us." These words coincide with what has been said above, for hell is the devil. Moreover, this is an acknowledgment that man is led either by the Lord or by hell, thus that he is between the two. See also what has been said above upon this subject (n. 1134).