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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

 

Conjugial Love #269

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269. We subsequently ascended from this underworld in a southerly direction to where we had been before; and there the angels recounted a number of other things worth mentioning, concerning lust that is not delusionary or given to fantasy - the kind everyone is possessed of from birth. Whenever people are caught up in this lust, they said, they are as fools, and yet appear to themselves as extremely wise. But they are by turns brought back from this foolish state into a rational one, which in them resides in their outward faculties; and in that state they see, recognize and acknowledge their insanity.

"But still," the angels continued, "they long to go from their rational state into their irrational one, and they also let themselves go into it, as from a compelled and unpleasant condition into a free and pleasant one. Thus it is lust that pleasures them inwardly, and not intelligence.

[2] "Every human being is from creation a combination of three universal loves: love of the neighbor, which is also a love of performing useful services; love of the world, which is also a love of possessing riches; and love of self, which is also a love of exercising command over others.

"Love of the neighbor, or a love of performing useful services, is a love of the spirit. Love of the world, on the other hand, or a love of possessing riches, is a love of material things. And love of self, or a love of exercising command over others, is a love of one's own person.

[3] "A person is a human being as long as love of the neighbor or a love of performing useful services forms the head, with love of the world forming the body, and love of self forming the feet. But if love of the world forms the head, a person is not a human being except in a kind of hunchbacked way. And when love of self forms the head, he is no longer a human being standing on his feet, but one standing on his hands with his head down and bottom up.

"When love of the neighbor forms the head, and the other two loves form respectively the body and feet, the person appears, when viewed from heaven, to have an angelic face, with a beautiful rainbow-like halo about his head. But if love of the world forms the head, he appears when viewed from heaven to have a pallid face, like that of a dead man, with a yellow circle about his head. And if love of self forms the head, he appears from heaven to have a dark face, with a white circle about his head."

At that point I asked what the circles around the heads represented.

"They represent intelligence," they replied. "A white circle around a head with a dark face represents that the person's intelligence lies in his outward faculties or round about him, while insanity resides in his inward faculties or within him. Even a person like that is wise so long as he is in a state of the body, but when he is in a state of the spirit he is insane. No one is ever wise in spirit except from the Lord, which comes about when he is being born again or created anew by Him."

[4] Following these words, the ground to my left opened, and through the opening I saw a devil rising, having a luminous white circle about his head. I asked him therefore, "Who are you?"

"I am Lucifer," he answered, "son of the dawn. And because I made myself like the Most High, I was cast down." 1

In fact he was not really Lucifer, but he thought he was. So I asked him, "Seeing that you were cast down, how is it that are you able to rise again from hell?"

To which he replied, "In hell I am a devil, but here I am an angel of light. Do you not see the ring of light encircling my head? And if you wish, you will see, too, that with moral people I am more than moral; with rational people, more than rational; indeed, with spiritual people, more than spiritual. I can even preach, and moreover have preached."

"What have you preached?" I asked.

"I have preached," he said, "against swindlers, against adulterers, and against infernal loves of every kind. Indeed, at such times I have called myself - Lucifer - a devil, and have uttered falsehoods against myself as such; and for that I have been praised to the sky. That is why I have been called son of the dawn. Moreover - what has surprised me - whenever I was in the pulpit, I had no other thought than to speak uprightly and fittingly. However, I discovered in myself the reason, which is that I was caught up in external states, and these were then separate from my inward ones. Yet, having discovered this in myself, still I could not change, because my arrogance prevented me from having regard for God."

[5] I then inquired, "How were you able to speak as you did, seeing that you are a swindler, adulterer, and devil yourself?"

He replied, "I am one sort of person when I am in external states or a state of the body, and another when I am in internal states or a state of the spirit. In a state of the body I am an angel, but in a state of the spirit a devil. For in a state of the body I am directed by my understanding, but in a state of the spirit by my will; and my understanding carries me upward, while my will carries me down. Furthermore, when I am directed by my understanding, a band of white encompasses my head; however, as soon as my understanding surrenders itself completely to my will and becomes its servant - which is our ultimate fate - then the band turns black and disappears. When that happens, we can no longer ascend into this light."

The devil afterwards talked about his dual states, one external, one internal, and he spoke of them more rationally than anybody else has. But suddenly, when he noticed the angels with me, he became inflamed in face and voice and turned black, including even the band about his head; and he sank back down to hell through the opening through which he had risen.

There were some people standing by who witnessed these events, and they drew from them the following conclusion, that a person's character is shaped by his will, and not by his intellect, since love easily carries away the understanding into seeing things its way and becoming its servant.

[6] I then asked the angels, "How is it possible for devils to have such rationality?"

And they said, "It comes from the glory of self-love; for love of self is wrapped in glory, and glory raises the understanding even into the light of heaven. Indeed, in every person the understanding is capable of being raised in accordance with his knowledge, in contrast to the will, which can be raised only by living in accordance with the truths of the church and of reason. That is why even atheists who from love of self are motivated by the glory of their reputation and by a resulting conceit in their own intelligence, may possess a higher degree of rationality than many others - but only when they are directed by the thought of their intellect, and not by the affection of their will. For the affection of the will governs a person's inner self, while the thought of the intellect governs his outer one."

One of the angels further explained why human beings are a combination of the three loves referred to previously, namely, a love of being useful, a love of the world, and a love of self. The reason, he said, is to enable a person to think in accord with God, yet do so as though on his own. The highest elements in a person are directed upwards to God, the intermediate elements outwards to the world, and the lowest ones downwards to self. And because these last elements are directed downwards, a person thinks as though on his own, when in fact he does so from God.

Footnotes:

1. See Isaiah 14:12-15. The reference is a metaphor for the king of Babylon (Isaiah 14:3,4), but based on an erroneous connection with Luke 10:18 (cf. also Revelation 9:1, 12:7-10), since the 3rd century it has been applied to Satan, a mythical rebel angel cast down from heaven. Modern interpreters generally understand the reference as an allusion to the planet Venus, translating it usually as "day star" or "morning star."

  
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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

 

Apocalypse Revealed #656

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656. REVELATION: CHAPTER 15

1. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.

2. And I saw as though a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over its image and over its mark and over the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass, having harps of God.

3. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:

"Great and marvelous are Your works,

Lord God Almighty!

Just and true are Your ways,

O King of the saints!

4. Who does not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?

For You alone are holy.

Therefore all nations shall come and worship before You,

For Your judgments have been manifested."

5. After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.

6. And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in clean bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden sashes.

7. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.

8. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were ended.

THE SPIRITUAL MEANING

The Contents of the Whole Chapter

A preparation to reveal the last state of the church and expose the evils and falsities in which those who belonged to that church were caught up (verses 1, 5-8). The separation from them of those who had confessed the Lord and lived in accordance with His commandments (verses 2-4).

The Contents of the Individual Verses:

Verse ContentsSpiritual Meaning
1. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous:A revelation from the Lord regarding the state of the church on earth and its character with respect to love and faith.
seven angels having the seven last plagues,The evils and falsities that exist in the church in its last state exposed in their entirety by the Lord.
for in them the wrath of God is complete.The destruction of the church and its end then.
2. And I saw as though a sea of glass mingled with fire,The farthest boundary of the spiritual world, where those people were gathered who had religion and consequently worshiped, but lacked any goodness of life.
and those who have the victory over the beast, over its image and over its mark and over the number of its name,People who rejected faith alone and its accompanying doctrine, and so did not acknowledge or become imbued with its falsities, and did not falsify the Word.
standing beside the sea of glass, having harps of God.The Christian heaven at the boundaries [of the spiritual world], and the faith accompanying charity in the people there.
3. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb,A confession springing from charity, thus from a life in accordance with the precepts of the Law contained in the Ten Commandments, and from a faith in the Divinity of the Lord's humanity.
saying: "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!Everything in the world, in heaven and in the church was created and formed by the Lord out of Divine love by means of Divine wisdom.
For just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!Everything that emanates from the Lord is just and true, because He is Divine goodness itself and Divine truth itself in heaven and in the church.
4. Who does not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?The Lord alone is to be loved and worshiped.
For You alone are holy.He embodies the Word, truth, and enlightenment.
Therefore all nations shall come and worship before You,People who possess the goodness of love and charity will acknowledge the Lord alone to be God.
For Your judgments have been manifested."The truths in the Word openly attest to this.
5. After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.The inmost of heaven appeared, where the Lord is present in His holiness in the Word and in the Law contained in the Ten Commandments.
6. And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues,A preparation by the Lord for influx from the inmost of heaven into the church, to expose its evils and falsities and so to separate evil people from the good,
clothed in clean bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden sashes.this in accordance with the pure and genuine truths and goods in the Word.
7. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowlsThe truths and goods by which evils and falsities in the church are exposed, drawn from the literal sense of the Word.
full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.The evils and falsities that will be exposed to view by the pure and genuine truths and goods present in the Word.
8. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power,The inmost of heaven filled with the Lord's spiritual and celestial Divine truth,
and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were ended.to such a degree there that no higher truth could be endured, and this until that church was destroyed and its end became apparent.

THE EXPOSITION

15:1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous. This symbolizes a revelation from the Lord regarding the state of the church on earth and its character with respect to love and faith.

This is the subject of the present chapter and the next, and it is symbolically meant, therefore, by a sign in heaven, great and marvelous. That a sign in heaven symbolizes a revelation from the Lord regarding heaven and the church and their state, may be seen in nos. 532, 536 above. That it has to do with love and faith is because it is called great and marvelous, and greatness in the Word is predicated of things having to do with affection and love, while marvelousness is predicated of things having to do with thought and faith.

  
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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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