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Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings

This list of Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings was originally compiled by W. C. Henderson in 1960 but has since been updated.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #255

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255. To this I will append the following account:

To prevent someone from entering into the spiritual meaning of the Word and perverting the genuine truth found in that meaning, the Lord has set protections, which in the Word are meant by cherubim, which is what the four living creatures here are.

That protections have been set was represented to me in the following way:

[2] I was given to see large purses, looking like sacks, which had stored away in them a great deal of silver. And since they were open, it seemed as if anyone might take the silver deposited in them, even to make off with it, but next to those purses two angels were sitting as guards. The place where the purses rested looked like a manger in a stable. In the next room I saw modest maidens, together with a chaste wife. Near that room were two little children, and I heard it said that they were not to be played with in a childish way, but wisely. And afterward a harlot appeared, then a horse lying dead.

[3] Having seen these things, I was told that they represented the literal meaning of the Word, which has a spiritual meaning within. The large purses full of silver symbolized concepts of truth and goodness in great abundance. The purses' being open and yet guarded by angels, meant symbolically that anyone might acquire concepts of truth there, but that one should take care not to falsify the spiritual meaning, which contains only truths.

The manger in the stable where the purses were sitting symbolized spiritual instruction for the intellect. (A manger has this symbolism, like the manger where the newborn Lord lay, because a horse, which eats from it, symbolizes an understanding of the Word.)

[4] The modest maidens I saw in the next room symbolized affections for truth, and the chaste wife the conjunction of truth and good. The little children symbolized the innocence of the wisdom in the Word (they were angels from the third heaven, all of whom appear like little children). The harlot together with the dead horse symbolized the falsification of the Word by many people today, by which all understanding of the truth has perished. (A harlot symbolizes falsification, and a dead horse no understanding of truth.)

[5] I have been given to speak with many people after death who believed they would shine like stars in heaven. They believed this, they said, because they held the Word holy, read it often, took many things from it, and used them to defend the tenets of their faith. As a result they were celebrated as learned in the world, so that they believed they would become Michaels or Raphaels. 1 A number of them were examined, however, to see what love prompted them to study the Word. And it was discovered that some did so out of self-love, in order to appear great in the world and to be worshiped as leaders of the church, while others did so out of a love of the world, in order to acquire riches.

When they were explored to discover what they knew from the Word, they were found to know no genuine truth, but only what we call falsified truth, which in itself is false; and in the spiritual world this stinks in the nostrils of angels. Moreover the people were told that this was the case with them because their objectives were focused on themselves and the world, or to say the same thing, on their loves of these, and not on the Lord and heaven. And when people have themselves and the world as their focus, then when they read the Word their mind fastens on themselves and the world, and therefore they think continually in accord with their self-interest, which is in darkness regarding everything connected with heaven. In this state a person cannot be withdrawn from his own light and so be raised into the light of heaven. Consequently, neither can he receive anything flowing in from the Lord through heaven.

[6] I have also seen people like this let into heaven. But when they were discovered to be without truths, they were divested of their clothing and were seen with their private parts exposed. And because those who had falsified truths stunk, they were expelled. Still, however, there remained in them the conceit and confidence that they were deserving.

The outcome was different with people who had studied the Word out of an affection for knowing the truth because it is true, and because it served the useful ends of a spiritual life, not only their own life, but their neighbor's as well. I saw them raised into heaven and so into the light in which Divine truth exists there, and raised at the same time then into angelic wisdom and into its felicity, which is eternal life.

Footnotes:

1. I.e., archangels.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Conjugial Love #461

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461. To this I will append the following narrative account:

I once spoke with a newly arrived spirit who, when he lived in the world, thought much about heaven and hell. (By newly arrived spirits I mean people recently deceased, who, being then spiritual beings, are called spirits.) As soon as this spirit came into the spiritual world, he began to think as before about heaven and hell; and when thinking about heaven he seemed to himself to be in a state of joy, and when thinking about hell, in a state of despondency.

When he noticed that he was in the spiritual world, he at once asked where heaven was and where hell was, and also what the one and the other were and what they were like.

To which the people he asked replied, "Heaven is above your head and hell beneath your feet, for you are now in the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell. However, as to what heaven and hell are and what they are like, this we cannot describe in a few words."

So, then, because he burned with a desire to know, he threw himself on his knees and prayed earnestly to God to be instructed. And suddenly an angel appeared at his right side, who raised him up and said, "You have begged to be instructed regarding heaven and hell. Inquire and learn what delight is, and you will know." After which statement the angel rose and vanished.

[2] Then the newly arrived spirit said to himself, "What does this mean, 'Inquire and learn what delight is, and you will know what heaven and hell are and what they are like'?"

However, departing from that place he wandered about, speaking to the people he met and saying, "Pray tell me, please, what delight is."

And some said, "What sort of question is this? Who does not know what delight is? Is it not joy and gladness? Therefore delight is delight, one being like another. We do not know of any distinction between them."

Others said that delight was a laughter of the mind; "for when the mind laughs," they said, "the face is merry, the speech jocular, the conduct playful, and the whole person in a state of delight."

Still others said, "Delight is nothing else than to dine and eat fine foods, and to drink and become drunk on excellent wine, and then to converse on various subjects, especially regarding the sports of Venus and Cupid."

[3] On hearing their replies, the newly arrived spirit said in annoyance to himself, "These responses are oafish and uninformed. Such delights are not heaven or hell. If only I could meet people who are wise!"

So he departed from the people he was with and inquired, "Where can I find people who are wise?"

He was observed, then, by a certain angelic spirit, who said to him, "I perceive that you are fired by a desire to know what the universal characteristic of heaven is and the universal characteristic of hell; and because it is delight, I will take you to the top of a hill where daily assemblies convene of people who examine effects, of people who investigate causes, and of people who explore ends. There are three companies. Those who examine effects are called spirits of empirical knowledge, and, abstractly, forms of such knowledge; those who investigate causes are called spirits of intelligence - abstractly, forms of intelligence; and those who explore ends are called spirits of wisdom - abstractly, forms of wisdom. In the heaven directly above them are angels who from ends see causes, and from causes, effects. It is from these angels that the three companies have their enlightenment."

[4] Taking the newly arrived spirit by the hand, the angelic spirit then led him to the hilltop, to the company composed of those who explore ends and are called forms of wisdom.

To them the newly arrived spirit said, "Pardon me for coming up here to you. I have ascended because from childhood I have thought about heaven and hell, and have recently come into this world; and some of the people with whom I was then associated told me that in this world heaven is above my head and hell beneath my feet. But they did not say what the one and the other are and what they are like. Consequently, being made anxious from constant thought about them, I prayed to God; and an angel then appeared beside me, who said, 'Inquire and learn what delight is, and you will know.' I have inquired, but so far in vain. I entreat you therefore to please explain to me what delight is."

[5] To this the forms of wisdom replied, "Delight is the whole of life for all in heaven and the whole of life for all in hell. In the case of those who are in heaven it is a delight in goodness and truth, while in the case of those who are in hell it is a delight in evil and falsity. For all delight is a matter of love, and love is the very essence of a person's life. So, then, as a person is the kind of person he is according to the character of his love, so also is he the kind of person he is according to the character of his delight. The activity of love causes the sensation of delight. Its activity in heaven is accompanied by wisdom, while its activity in hell is accompanied by irrationality. Each produces in its subjects a feeling of delight; but the heavens and the hells experience opposite delights, because they have opposite loves. The heavens are directed by a love of, and thus a delight in, doing good, whereas the hells are directed by a love of, and thus a delight in, doing evil. Consequently, if you know what delight is, you will know what heaven and hell are and what they are like.

"But inquire and learn further what delight is from those who investigate causes and are called forms of intelligence. They are over there to the right of us."

[6] So the newly arrived spirit left and went over to that company, and explaining the reason for his coming, entreated them to tell him what delight was.

They, then, glad at the inquiry, said, "It is true that anyone who knows what delight is also knows what heaven and hell are and what they are like. The will, which makes a person the person he is, is not moved even the least bit except by delight; for the will, regarded in itself, is nothing but the action and effect of some love, thus of delight, inasmuch as it is some element of fancy, liking and pleasure which causes one to will. Moreover, because it is the will that impels the intellect to think, there is not the least idea existing in the thought which does not flow in from a delight of the will.

"This is as it is because the Lord activates all the elements of the soul and all the elements of the mind in angels, spirits and men through an influx from Him, and this through an influx of love and wisdom; and this influx is the underlying activity from which springs every delight, which in its origin is called bliss, happiness and felicity, and in its descent delight, gratification and pleasure, and in its universal sensation, good.

"But spirits in hell turn everything into its opposite in them, thus turning also good into evil and truth into falsity, with a constantly enduring delight. For without the continuance of delight they would have no will, neither any sensation, thus no life.

"It is apparent from this what the delight of hell is and its character and origin, likewise what the delight of heaven is and its character and origin."

[7] After hearing this, the newly arrived spirit was taken to the third company, where the people were those who examine effects and are called forms of empirical knowledge.

These said to him, "Go down into the land below, then go up into the land above. In the first you will perceive and feel the delights of spirits in hell, and in the other the delights of angels in heaven."

However, suddenly then, at some distance from them, the ground opened, and through the opening ascended three devils, seemingly on fire owing to the delight of their love. At that, because they perceived that it had been provided that the three come up from hell, the people who were with the newly arrived spirit said to them, "Do not come any closer, but from where you are tell us something about your delights."

So the devils said, "Be assured that everyone, whether good or evil, is in the enjoyment of his delight - a good person in the enjoyment of the delight of his good, and an evil person in the enjoyment of the delight of his evil."

The people then asked, "What delight do you have?"

The devils said that it was the delight of whoring, stealing, deceiving others, and blaspheming.

Again, then, the people asked, "What kind of delights are these?"

The devils replied that they were perceived by others as being like the foul odors of piles of excrement, like the putrid smells of corpses, and like the fetid stenches of stagnant pools of urine.

Whereupon the people asked, "Do you find these things delightful?"

"Most delightful," the devils said.

At that the people said, "Then you are like unclean animals that dwell in such filth."

But the devils replied, "If we are, we are; but to our nostrils these things are delightful."

[8] The people then asked if the devils had anything further to say.

They said that it is permitted everyone to be in the enjoyment of his delight, even one most unclean (as others term it), provided he does not molest good spirits and angels. "But because our delight is such that we cannot help but molest them," they said, "we have been thrown into workhouses where we suffer terrible hardships. It is the restricting and rescinding of our delights there is that is called the torment of hell. It is also an interior suffering."

Thereupon the people asked, "Why did you molest good spirits?"

The devils said they could not help it. It is as though a kind of madness invades them whenever they see some angel and feel the Divine atmosphere surrounding him.

At that the people said, "Then you are also like wild animals."

And a few moments later, when the devils saw the newly arrived spirit in association with angels, a madness came over them, which appeared as the fire of hatred. Therefore, to prevent them from doing any harm, they were cast back into hell.

After that the angels appeared who from ends see causes, and through causes, effects, who dwelt in the heaven above the three companies. They were seen in the midst of a bright white light, which, winding downward in spiral revolutions, bore with it a wreath of flowers, which it placed on the head of the newly arrived spirit. At the same time, then, the declaration was made to him from there, "This laurel is given to you because from childhood you have thought about heaven and hell."

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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