Volume 15 Theistic Psychology: The Scientific Knowledge of God Extracted From the Correspondential Sense of Sacred Scripture by Dr. Leon James, Professor of Psychology, University of Hawaii

There are two different approaches to knowing God that have been practiced by humanity over the generations. In theistic psychology these two spiritual disciplines are called sensuous spirituality and rational spirituality (see Section xx).

The discipline of sensuous spirituality involves experiencing the "divine" through various methods -- meditation, yoga, fasting, trance, self-flagellation, sexual abstinence, visions, animal sacrifices, making miracles happen, hearing living voices, ingesting psychotropic chemicals, and others. These methods involve the idea that the "divine" can be experienced by human beings. In theistic psychology this is known as the philosophy of nonduality (see Section xx). Non-duality is the opposite of dualism (see Section xx). Nonduality asserts that God and human beings are of one continuous substance, which implies that we can climb high enough to actually realize that all along we were God.

In contrast, rational spirituality is the spiritual discipline of getting closer to God through Sacred Scripture. In theistic psychology it is known that the spiritual mind in which our heaven of eternity lies, is formed by the spiritual-rational and celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Speech hidden within Sacred Scripture. This makes sense when you consider the fact that God is Divine Love (or Good) covered over with Divine Truth (or Rationality) (see Section xx). Good can only conjoin with its own truth (see Section xx). The higher the level of Divine truth that we can consciously understand rationally, the closer we come to God's Divine Truth and Rationality. Truth is the spiritual-rational and celestial-rational substance that forms the rationality in the mind of every human being (see Section xx).

Rational spirituality is the discipline of extracting the rational doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture using the method of correspondences that is revealed in Sacred Scripture, and then applying this doctrine of truth to one's daily willing, thinking, and doing (see Section xx).

It is not yet known in our modern times that the heaven of our eternity is located within spiritual-rational and celestial-rational correspondences of Sacred Scripture. When we understand and love these rational correspondences of Divine Speech, which means living and thinking according to them, then we are preparing our spiritual mind to be a conjugial heaven in which we know God directly and receive from Him all that we are willing and able to take in terms of human potential and happiness.

It is clear that knowledge about eternity and God is not possible to be discovered through the sensations from our physical body and the reasoning power of our natural mind. The proof of this is that traditional science, with its amazing history of inventions and explanations, knows zero about eternity and God, so that all it can do is to deny that such things exist or are part of scientific reality. Another proof is that the enormous scholarship and effort invested over the centuries in the literature on religion, God, and spirituality, has brought zero knowledge about God and eternity, and only wild speculations and disagreements among them.

All this proves that scientific and scholarly knowledge of God cannot be discovered and invented, but only received from God through the correspondences of Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture -- not the literal sense of Sacred Scripture (which is sectarian religion), but the revealed correspondential sense that lies hidden within (see Section xx). The diagram below portrays the distinct difference between religion and theistic psychology, even though they are both closely related to Sacred Scripture.

Sacred Scripture is the expression of Divine Speech in a natural language, transformed through the laws of correspondences that God used to create the layers of mind and existence (see Section xx).

Although the sentences of Sacred Scripture are written out by a an individual in a particular language and culture, they are not the individual's own sentences, but sentences that have been transformed by correspondences as Divine Speech descends into that individual's mind from its unconscious spiritual level to its conscious natural level (see Section xx). First, Divine Speech enters the celestial-rational mind of the individual. This is unconscious while we are still connected to the physical world. Second, Divine Speech descends into the spiritual-rational layer of the individual's mind, which is also unconscious until our resuscitation (see Section xx). Third, Divine Speech descends by correspondential meaning into the natural mind of the individual, where it becomes conscious and the person is able to write it down. The "prophet" or "revelator" does not himself know what layers of correspondential meanings lie hidden with the sentences they write down. They and others are only aware of the literal meaning.

The descent of Divine Speech through the layers of the human mind takes place by correspondences (see Section xx). Those who are conscious in their celestial-rational mind after their resuscitation (see Section xx), are conscious of Divine Speech in terms of celestial-rational correspondences (see Section xx). These celestial-rational meanings or truths give human beings the highest possible consciousness, knowledge, worship, and love of God.

Those who, after resuscitation, are conscious in their spiritual-rational mind, are conscious of Divine Speech in terms of spiritual-rational correspondences (see Section xx). These meanings of Sacred Scripture give human beings the next lowest possible consciousness, knowledge, worship, and love of God. Those who are conscious in their natural mind, namely, us while we are still connected to earth, are conscious of Divine Speech in terms of natural correspondences of Divine Speech (see Section xx). These natural meanings of Sacred Scripture give human beings the next lowest possible consciousness, knowledge, worship, and love of God.

We are connected to earth by the laws of correspondences which functionally link together our mental body in eternity and our physical body in time-space. Our conscious natural mind is capable of entering virtually, as a training ground, into the various layers of worship and love of God. We begin with natural worship and love of God which is based on our ethnic membership in a particular religion and our historical ties to the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture recognized in that religion. If we do not try to live by the truths of Sacred Scripture as we understand them, then we are not preparing ourselves adequately for immortality in eternity (see Section xx). Instead of being or existing in a heaven within our spiritual-rational mind, our consciousness then sinks into the bottom of our natural mind, which is called the corporeal-sensuous mind, as opposed to the natural-rational mind (see Section xx).

At this level of feeling and thinking, the correspondences of Sacred Scripture cannot be comprehended rationally. All truth of Sacred Scripture is inverted and perverted through irrational thoughts and feelings, which taken together as a whole, are called the human hells in the mind (see Section xx). It is our choice, but the choice is to be made prior to death, while we still can reform our character from inherited hellish traits to freely acquired heavenly traits (see Section xx).

To the extent that we try to live by the truths of Sacred Scripture that we understand, to that extent God can elevate our consciousness from the natural-sensuous thinking and feeling, to the natural-rational thinking and feeling (see Section xx). When God thus elevates and enlightens our understanding of Him, we become capable of a higher spiritual-rational worship and love of God, as a result of which God can further elevate our consciousness from natural-rational, to spiritual-rational, and finally to celestial-rational meanings of Sacred Scripture.

This process of elevation of the individual by God takes place through

(1) the individual's rational study and understanding of Sacred Scripture as Divine Truth, and
(2) in proportion to the individual's efforts at applying this understanding to one's daily willing, thinking, and doing.

Knowledge of Divine truth cannot change our hellish character, but can only give us an understanding of how God's truth is to dictate our willing, thinking, and doing. Conjunction with God occurs afterward, and only to the extent that we are willing to give up our hellish and selfish enjoyments, and replace them with heavenly and altruistic enjoyments. In proportion as we do this, to that extent we are conjoined to God in rational understanding, worship, and love. Conjunction with God gives us an eternal conjugial heaven with a maximum of human love, altruism, enjoyment, and happiness (in the affective organ), along with their consequent rationality, wisdom. intelligence, knowledge, and inventiveness (in the cognitive organ).

We vary in sincerity and consistency. We must be willing to undergo the temptations that God puts in our way in our mind. This requires spiritual combat. Our understanding of Divine truth from Sacred Scripture provides the weapons for the combat against our hellish enjoyments (see Section xx). Once we engage in combat, as if of our own, then God immediately manages the victory for us. We can have no victory if we believe that we are fighting our evils with our own power and intelligence. God can provide victory only if we acknowledge in our mind and understand rationally, that by ourselves we have zero power since God is omnipotent and has all the power.

Under some conditions we fall into the persuasion that to fight our temptations as if on our own, would be to think that the power to fight is ours -- which is a hellish thought against the reality of truth. As a result of this kind of thinking, we fall into a passive mode and wait for God to liberate us in our trial. But this strategy cannot work and it prevents character reformation. In that case God cannot bring spiritual temptations for us to fight, but only natural temptations (see Sections xx). Natural temptations build our external personality, appearance, and overt conduct. This is necessary for acquiring morality according to one's conscience. But the inner character cannot be altered by natural temptations. It requires spiritual temptations. God brings spiritual temptations to our mind to the extent of our rational understanding of truth from Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

Without the truth of Sacred Scripture in our rational understanding, God cannot bring spiritual temptations to our mind, and as a result, we cannot be regenerated. We die in the character that we inherited, which is a hell (see Section xx). Only the truth of Sacred Scripture, applied to spiritual temptations, can give us the new heavenly character we need to live in the heavens of our eternity (see Section xx). God can bring spiritual temptations to us only when we have acquired as-of self, truths from Sacred Scripture in our mind. These truths in our mind must be present before God can bring spiritual temptations to us, and thus regenerate us (see Section xx).

Hence it is necessary for us to have in our understanding Divine rational truth in order for us to be prepared for heaven by temptations through regeneration or daily efforts at character reformation. The higher the rationality in our understanding of truth from Sacred Scripture, the more we can be regenerated by God to higher and higher heavenly potentials, in proportion to our daily efforts in applying the truth to our daily willing, thinking, and doing.

It makes sense therefore to think that God has provided a method by which we can acquire higher and higher meanings, or more and more rational meanings, so that we can apply it to our daily willing and thinking, and thereby become celestial beings in our heavenly eternity (see Section xx).

The diagram above shows that theistic psychology, and theistic science generally, is the scientific knowledge that is extracted from Sacred Scripture, when we apply the method of correspondences with enlightenment (see Section xx). There are two ideas to understand here: correspondences and enlightenment.

When Divine Speech, or Divine Truth, descends by correspondences through the layers of the human mind, we are conscious of it differently at each successive layer. That is, Divine Speech forms our consciousness at each level of the mind, through meanings of Sacred Scripture.

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

AC 5614. Surely we had now returned these two times. [Genesis 43:10]
That this signifies that there would have been spiritual life both exterior and interior, is evident from the signification of "going," as being to live (of which above, n. 5605); and therefore "returning" is living therefrom, for they went thither to procure corn, and by "corn" is signified the good of truth from which is spiritual life; and from the signification of "these two times," which, as it relates to life, denotes life exterior and interior, for by the "produce" they got the first time was signified life that is exterior or in the natural, for the reason that they were without an intermediate (as explained in the preceding chapter); while by the "corn" they get this time is signified interior life, because they were now with Benjamin, who is the intermediate, as explained in this and in the following chapter.

Hence it is that by "surely we had now returned these two times," is signified spiritual life both exterior and interior.

[2] That this is the signification cannot but seem strange, especially to one who knows nothing about what is spiritual; for it seems as if "returning these two times" has nothing in common with the spiritual life that is signified; but still this is the internal sense of the words. If you will believe it, the interior thought itself of the man who is in good apprehends this, because this thought is in the internal sense, although while in the body the man is deeply ignorant of it; for unknown to him the internal sense, that is, the spiritual sense, which is of the interior thought, falls into material and sensuous ideas that partake of time and space and of such things as are in the world, and therefore it does not appear that his interior thought is of such a nature; for his interior thought is like that of the angels, his spirit being in company with them.

[3] That the thought of the man who is in good is according to the internal sense, may be seen from the fact that when after death he comes into heaven, he at once without any information is in the internal sense, and this could not be unless as to his interior thought he had been in this sense while in the world. The reason of his being in this internal sense is that there is a correspondence between spiritual and natural things so complete that there is not the smallest thing that has not its correspondence; and therefore because the interior or rational mind of the man who is in good is in the spiritual world, and his exterior or natural mind in the natural world, it must needs be that both minds think (the interior mind spiritually, and the exterior naturally), and that the spiritual falls into the natural, and they act as a one by correspondence.

[4] That man's interior mind, the ideas of thought of which are called intellectual and are said to be immaterial, does not think from the words of any language, nor consequently from natural forms, can be seen by him who is able to reflect on these things, for he can think in a moment what he can scarcely utter in an hour, and he does so by universals which comprise in them very many particulars. These ideas of thought are spiritual, and when the Word is being read are no other than as the internal sense is; although the man does not know this, because as before said these spiritual ideas, by influx into what is natural, present natural ideas, so that the spiritual ideas do not appear; insomuch that unless he has been instructed the man believes that there is no spiritual unless it is like the natural, and even that he does not think otherwise in spirit than as he speaks in the body. In such a manner does the natural cast a shade over the spiritual. (AC 5614)

In order to understand rationally what is Divine Speech and how it manages our thoughts and the universe, we need to remember the idea of "substantive dualism" in the positive bias (see Section xx). The word "substantive" in the mental world of eternity corresponds to the word "material" in the physical world of time. The physical sun in time-space provides all the matter needed on the planets -- air, earth, minerals, plant protein, brain tissue, electricity -- it all comes originally from a piece of the sun. All planets in a solar system are offshoots of the star that cool down and become planets. Hence everything on a planet comes from the sun. These things are so in the physical world because they are correspondences or effects produced by things in the mental world to which they correspond by creation and since creation (see Section xx).

The mental things to which they correspond include the Spiritual Sun, which corresponds to the physical sun, that is, to each star and to their totality of endless stars with endless planets. The material light with its heat that streams from the physical sun crosses instantly the space between it and the planets, and activates the things on the planet. This is so because substantive light with its heat streams out from the Spiritual Sun and crosses instantly the mental world of humanity tat God created in eternity. In other words, God created a dual universe, one materila in time-space, the other substantive in eternity. What is not known generally is that the substantive world of eternity is the mental world of the human race.

In order to create the human race, God had to create a mental world in eternity and a physical world in time. The mental world of eternity is known as the afterlife. What is not known that human beings are born simultaneously in both universes. The material body in time-space, which is temporary, and the substantive body in eternity. The substantive body is also known as the spiritual body or the mental body. The shape and form of the physical body is caused by the shape and form of the spiritual body to which it corresponds in every part and detail. When the physical body "dies", we continue life in our spiritual body, with the only difference, that now we are no longer aware of the physical world. Since we are born into eternity, we are immortal.

The reason this must be so is because our consciousness, our sensations, our thoughts, and our feelings are not made of material things from the physical sun, as our brain is. Our brain and physical body is material and temporary, but our mental life in the spiritual body is eternal. Hence it is that our personality or self, as we know ourselves, is immortal. Whatever is constructed out of substances from the Spiritual Sun, must necessarily be immortal or eternal. Our mental life is constructed out of the light and heat from the Spiritual Sun that streams into the mental world of the human race. Every spiritual body, containing our mental organs of willing (affective), thinking (cognitive), and sensing-moving (sensorimotor) is constructed, then activated, by the spiritual light streaming into the cognitive organ, and the spiritual heat streaming into the affective organ (see diagrams in Section xx).

So with that explanation as a background context, you can understand rationally how Divine Speech manages both universes. First the universes are constructed out of the substances of spiritual light and heat which stream out in infinite variety and quantity form the Spiritual Sun. Divine Speech is nothing else than this stream of spiritual light and heat creating the two universes and continuing to create them and manage them by a continuous and endless stream of spiritual light and heat.

The inmost structural framework of any created thing in the two universes is therefore this spiritual light and heat that streams out in infinite variety. Then, in successive discrete layers, this stream of substantive light and heat creates the mental world out of rational ether, with succeeding mental layers that become more and more specialized or limited in property. The upper layers of the mental world are called heavenly experiences, the middle layers are called natural experiences, and the lowest layers are called hellish experiences. Your experience as an individual is determined by which layer your consciousness is bottoming out. You can be in heavenly layers today and in hellish layers tomorrow, and then again in heavenly layers sometimes later.

While we are connected to a physical body, we can alternate across all the layers. This is because we need training and preparation for conscious life in eternity. During this training period we accumulate experiences, traits, habits, and above all, loves. Every love we accumulate is immortal and stays in our mental world forever. Hence it becomes extremely critical for us to manage our loves. We inherit strong tendencies to love and enjoy hellish traits. Unless we learn to detach ourselves from these inherited loves, they remain attached to us in our mental world. After we are resuscitated, a few hours following our "death", we have various experiences that force us to look at all our loves, both heavenly and hellish. Then after exploring them, we are forced to select what we are willing to give up. This is called the vastation (see Section xx).

If we are unwilling to give up even one of our hellish loves, then all our heavenly loves and traits are put to sleep biologically, and rendered inoperative. This is called "damnation" or "second death." Your personality in hell, that is, when all your heavenly traits are removed, is crude, gross, beastly, evil, infernal, monstrous, irrational, delusional, constantly enraged, stupid, and with the deepest hatred for God, innocence, infants, and conjugial marriage. Further, Swedenborg reports that our mental states in hell do not allow any sexuality that can satisfy us, but only compulsions and fetishes that are inherently acerbating and tormenting our mind endlessly.

Bit if we are willing to give up all hellish loves, then they are biologically put to sleep, rendered inoperative. This allows our consciousness to rise to our heavenly loves, and to remain in them forever (see Section xx). Your heavenly personality is celestial, conjugial, rational, wise, intelligent, peaceful, and loving God, innocence, infants, and conjugial marriage. Further, Swedenborg reports that our mental states in heaven allow true human sexuality that can satisfy us with joy and conjugial bliss that is inherently expanding and enriching our mind endlessly.

Throughout the generations of communities over the millennia, God has provided information on the two universes, how He manages them, and how we are to prepare for our immortal life in eternity. This information is obtained from the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture, which has been provided in some form in every culture.

Divine Speech issuing from the Spiritual Sun and spreading into the two universes, becomes conscious to human beings through the meanings of Sacred Scripture, and these meanings are different throughout the layers of the mind. Sacred Scripture exists in every layer of the mind so that people who live in that layer can have conscious access to Divine Speech. After you are resuscitated you will be able to see copies of Sacred Scripture. Swedenborg saw these on a regular basis and reports that a very intense light shines forth from the book, and this is on account of the Spiritual Sun which is in its inmost layer of meaning (see Section).

Divine Speech comes to us as meaning. This meaning is our consciousness itself. The mental world of the human race is constructed out of meaning or rational ether. There is only one mental world of eternity, just as there is only physical world of space. Every spiritual body is in this one mental world. So the source of your sensations, thoughts, and feelings is the same as the source of my sensations, thoughts, and feelings. This is true for every individual and the entire human race (see Vertical Community, Section xx).

The meaning of Sacred Scripture in the highest layer of our mental world is at the level of consciousness called celestial-rational. Anyone whose loves are heavenly, and has given up loves that are hellish, resides and exists in this celestial mental layer of the human race. Sacred Scripture is available at any layer to allow us to climb up in consciousness to the celestial-rational meanings and thinking. At this level of existence we are Angels of great power and knowledge, existing in conjugial bliss that increases to eternity (see Section xx).

The next layer of consciousness is to think in terms of spiritual-rational correspondences of Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture. In a lower layer we can exist in spiritual-natural correspondences of Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture. Below that we can exist in the natural correspondences of Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture. This is the level the people are typically conscious of. They read Sacred Scripture in a natural language and they see that it contains information about God's interactions with certain people at certain times. All religions are based on this natural interpretation of their Sacred Scripture.

This is why there needs to be as many religions as there are groupings of cultures, and each religion must have its own original revelation or Sacred Scripture, given to a prophet by God. This is done with people who are willing to be the trustworthy guardians and protectors of that Sacred Scripture. In other words these people were "chosen" by God because He could activate their loves as loyal keepers of the sacred text. You can see how important it was for the text to be preserved exactly as dictated by God through the prophet's mind. The text starts as celestial-rational ideas of God's words, then changes to spiritual ideas of God's words, then to natural ideas of God's words. That's when the prophet becomes conscious of the words and writes them down.

You can see that it's not possible for the prophet to know or express God's words in either celestial or spiritual meanings. The prophet thinks and writes in a natural language, not spiritual, not celestial. So the text of God's words in a natural language looks like....what? Well, we know this from the Sacred Scripture familiar to us from our socialization or education. God talks about His relationship to a particular people and tells stories about their lives on earth. God also talks about commandments were must do. Also, that He loves us and provides for us. And also, that if we love Him, He can reward us with heaven. But if we oppose Him, we will suffer the torments of hell.

What do you think? Is this all? Is it all that God is talking about to human beings? No insights? No solved puzzles? No description of the afterlife? Of the future? Of how God manages it all? Why isn't God talking about that? Wouldn't it be more believable if God talked about these higher things instead of ordinary things that ordinary people and children can understand?

The answer is that these higher things are the very things God is talking to us about, but by the time it gets translated from celestial, to spiritual, to natural, what's left are the things understood by ordinary people and children. God also provides a way for people who want more. He makes sure that all sacred text written out by a prophet is sequenced and selected so that the inner and inmost layers of meaning in it, are maintained.

The result is that all Sacred Scripture serves two purposes. One for letting ordinary people and children know that there is God, that He loves them, that He wants to take them to heaven, but that they must cooperate by following the commandments in the sacred text. The second source of Sacred Scripture is for scientists, scholars, and students who want to climb up the layers of meaning hidden with. Every single word of Sacred Scripture is sacred, holy, and Divine, and every sequence of words is Divine Truth. This fact cannot be known or understood unless one knows that there are layers of Divine meaning hidden within, and to some extent, what they are (celestial, spiritual, natural, see Section xx).

People entrusted with the sacred task of being keepers and protectors of some Sacred Scripture ought to be honored for their efforts over the centuries and generations. Even if they do not accept the ideas of theistic psychology, that there are hidden layers of meaning, they still are ready to defend and protect the text itself. With this they are performing a universal service for all humanity, past, present and future. Every Sacred Scripture represents a unique link God has created between Him and humanity. Through this link flows a never ending and continuous stream of consciousness raising meanings that equip us with heavenly truths that we can use to empower our heavenly loves to defeat the hellish ones.

So the purpose of all Sacred Scripture is to give human beings heavenly truths that we can use to defeat our hellish loves and their falsities. Without these truths, we are pulled down inexorably into the psychobiology of existence in eternal hell.

All this has been arranged by God as a method for our spiritual growth, which is achieved by climbing up the layers of meaning hidden in Sacred Scripture. All Sacred Scripture at any particular layer of the mental world, contains all the layers that are above it. Hence whatever layer people are at in their thinking and feeling, they can use their Sacred Scripture to climb up to the celestial-rational level of thinking and loving. The climbing of meaning in all Sacred Scripture is different outwardly between different sacred texts, but the same inwardly in all of them.

This is because there is only one God and He manages every person regardless of their culture, beliefs or knowledge. Theistic psychology is the knowledge we acquire through which we can make this climb successful with any Sacred Scripture. Success is guaranteed because it is prescribed by God in the hidden layers of meaning of Sacred Scripture.

God's meanings or Divine Rationality is adapted or accommodated to the individual's mind by means of the layers of meanings that there are in correspondences. The change in meaning of Sacred Scripture across the layers of the human mental world, is managed by God through successive levels of correspondences to His Divine Speech or Rational Ideas. God wants us to know what these correspondences are that He uses to manage the created universe through Divine Speech or truth (see Section xx). God has therefore revealed through Sacred Scripture what these correspondences are. But subsequently these correspondences were corrupted and used for magic so that God managed to have them forgotten until this desire to corrupt correspondences died out. God then gave new sacred text in which he revealed once more what correspondences are (see Section xx). Illustrations and demonstrations will be given in the following Sections (see also Section xx). The new revelations about correspondences in the Writings Sacred Scripture given through Swedenborg in the 18th century, now provides modern science access to this powerful knowledge.

One must therefore study and understand the laws of correspondences by which Divine Speech becomes Sacred Scripture at various levels of human thinking and feeling. These laws are Divine and cannot be discovered. We must not invent them or construct them from human intelligence. In the Writings Sacred Scripture, God has revealed to the modern scientific mind what these correspondences are. The same correspondences apply to all Sacred Scripture since there is only one Divine Speech that filters through the various natural language versions of Sacred Scripture in all the genuine religions that God has created on this earth.

But note this important phenomenon:

You can read a dictionary of correspondences (see Section xx) and try to understand the spiritual meaning of natural expressions in Sacred Scripture -- but this will only allow you to perceive the natural meaning of these correspondences. For instance we can read in the dictionary of correspondences that when Sacred Scripture mentions "water" in some sense (rain, ocean, river, flood, fountain) it is actually discussing cognitive operations in the natural layer of our mind, which involves meanings paraphrased from the literal sense of the sacred text. When the sacred text contrasts "water" with "wine" in some way, it is referring to cognitive operations in the spiritual layer of our mind, which involves meanings we derive by correspondences of the literal text of Sacred Scripture.

Spiritual meanings of God and eternity (wine) and natural meanings of God and eternity (water) are at different layers of understanding or consciousness in our mind. The sacred text is striving to bring our focus on its spiritual meanings because these are the meanings that raise our consciousness above the natural world. These spiritual meanings are needed for our preparation for eternity. This is why theistic psychology can be so beneficial to all humanity.

Theistic psychology is the scientific knowledge that we accumulate through the method of correspondences with enlightenment. The reason we say "with enlightenment" is that all spiritual meanings must be perceived by enlightenment from God. God constantly and ceaselessly works in our individual mind to enlighten it with spiritual light from the Spiritual Sun. This results in the elevation of our consciousness from the natural world to the spiritual world of eternity.

You can see the result of this effort as you read throughout the 18 volumes of this work. If your purpose for studying theistic psychology is to acquire correspondential truths from Sacred Scripture ("wine"), with a view to applying them to your daily willing, thinking, and doing, then God will enlighten you, raise your consciousness to the highest levels, and empower you with wisdom and conjugial love (see Section xx). If your purpose is not that of applying the knowledge to your character reformation, then it is impossible for God to enlighten you and to raise your consciousness. This is because enlightenment is the process of using spiritual truths to fight our hellish enjoyments (temptations, see Section xx).

The following diagram depicts the evolutionary steps of humankind on this earth created by Divine Speech exteriorized as Sacred Scripture. It presents a historical sequence extracted from the Writings Sacred Scripture.

The above diagram presents evolution in a successive order (see Section xx). The diagram below presents it in simultaneous order. It shows that what has been produced by successive steps in development exists in real time in simultaneous order. That is, what was first is now inmost, and what was last is now outmost.

See also the following diagram which explains the relationship between successive and simultaneous order.

God creates all things by means of truth within which is good (see Section xx). These two substances are living and infinite as they are part of God's own infinite substance. It follows therefore that the inmost framework of an object is the substance of good and truth arranged in a particular and unique order to produce existence of that object. Divine truth within which is good is therefore the basic infrastructure upon which all creation rests, and from which all objects get their unique form and properties. Remember that God is omnipresent. Now you can begin to see how that is scientifically true.

God is omnipresent not in space but apart from space (see Section xx). The words "apart" and "within" are used in theistic psychology to refer to the discrete layers of all created objects. God is present in every object, molecule, or property, in a discrete degree "apart" or "within" the object itself. Since good and truth are substances in God and of God, they remain of God when they are "apart" or "within" any object. Hence it is that God is omnipresent -- through his own substance that lies within every object, maintaining it in existence, thus giving it subsistence (see Section xx).

It is the same whether you say truth within which is good, or whether you say Divine Truth within which is Divine Good, and also, whether you say Divine Speech within which is Divine Love. Hence you can see that we can also say that God creates and maintains all things in existence through Divine Speech. As Divine Speech descends from God it first enters into the mental world of the human race (see Section xx). From the top layer called celestial mind, it then descends or exteriorizes into the next layer called the spiritual mind, then the rational mind, then the natural mind, then the physical body and the rest of the physical world of matter in time space. This is at the bottom or the most exterior level of existence.

Divine Speech enters each layer of creation by the power of correspondences that is built into good and truth. In other words, the substances of good and truth can exist at different spiritual distance from that which first proceeds from the Divine Human through the Spiritual Sun (see Section xx). The celestial arrangement of good and truth is as perfect an image and likeness of God's mind as is possible to achieve for created and finite human beings. The Sacred Scripture that exists in the celestial layer of the mental world was seen by Swedenborg, and may be seen by all whose consciousness rests on celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Speech (see Section xx).

Swedenborg was able to compare the written version of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures across the four layers of the human mind: celestial or third heaven, spiritual or second heaven, interior-natural or first heaven (spiritual-natural), and finally exterior-natural, which is the version that is known here on earth in a natural language and script.

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

AC 3737. Such an order has been instituted by the Lord that higher things inflow into lower ones, and therein present an image of themselves in general, and consequently are together therein in a certain general form, and thus are in order from the Highest, that is, from the Lord; from this it is that the proximate image of the Lord is the inmost heaven, which is the heaven of innocence and peace, where those who are celestial dwell; which heaven, because nearest to the Lord, is called His "likeness." The next heaven, namely, that which succeeds and is in a lower degree, is an "image" of the Lord, because in this heaven, as in something general, there are simultaneously presented the things which are in the higher heaven. The ultimate heaven, which succeeds this again, is similarly circumstanced, for the particulars and singulars of the heaven next higher inflow into this heaven, and are therein presented in general, and in a correspondent form.

[2] The case is similar with man, for he has been created and formed to be an image of the three heavens. In man that which is inmost inflows in like manner into that which is lower; and this in like manner into that which is lowest or last. The natural and corporeal consists of such an influx and concourse into those things which are beneath, and finally into those which are last. In this way there is a connection of the last or ultimate things with the first, without which connection that which is last in order would not subsist a single moment. Thus it is manifest what is meant by higher things being in the ultimate of order as in their house. Whether we speak of things higher and lower, or interior and exterior, it is the same; for to man's view things interior appear as higher; and for this reason man places heaven on high, when yet it is in what is internal. (AC 3737)

It is revealed in Sacred Scripture that the physical world is created for the sake of our physical body which allows us to develop a natural mind that contains an operational affective organ for feelings, a cognitive organ operating our thoughts, and a sensorimotor organ that acts as an intermediary between the interior mental and the exterior mental (see Section xx). The question immediately arises as to why there is evil in the human mind and things in the world that are noxious to the life and happiness of human beings. Evil in the mind, like selfishness and cruelty, and noxious things in the world, like poisons and draughts, were not present with the earliest generations that lived on this earth. They were "celestial" people, peace loving and in mutual respect and love to each other (see Section xx). Their natural mind grew and was formed into a natural heaven that corresponded to their spiritual and celestial mind or heaven. Earth was then a paradise in outward form. When the inhabitants reached their third decade of life they were regenerated sufficiently so that they could transition from their natural mind to their spiritual mind in eternity.

Swedenborg interviewed some of them in their celestial heavens and they appeared to him to live in an heavenly paradise similar in appearance to what they had on earth many thousands of years ago, by earth time. They were not at all conscious of time and appeared in age to be around 20. They lived as conjugial couples in eternal bliss. They possessed, worshipped, and cherished God as the Divine Human, whom they could not see or talk to directly until after the Incarnation Event. They were able to talk to the Divine Human through an intermediary celestial person who was then put into a trance like mental state, speaking only what God spoke through the intermediary person (see Section xx). They had with them the Sacred Scripture of the Most Ancient Church called the Most Ancient Word (see Section xx). Their religions were celestial rational, as the diagram above shows. Their Oral Sacred Scripture was the source of all their knowledge about God and reality. When they left their physical body they were resuscitated directly into the heaven of their celestial mind. Hell did not yet exist in the human mind.

But subsequent generations did not do as well. They started exploring what it would feel like to disobey their conscience and their teachers from heaven who communicated with them. God allowed this to occur and provided for it as well, always moderating their tendency to precipitate themselves into greater and greater profanation of the truth of their Oral Sacred Scripture which they had in their understanding and memory. When these people were resuscitated they were unable to raise their consciousness and life to the level of their heavens. Their feelings and emotions could not stand the obedient, altruistic, and virtuous spheres of their heavens. Hence God provided for them a portion of the mental world where a sphere of hell can exist and support their life of evil loves, delusional beliefs, and bestial lifestyle. After this, all people who were born on this earth inherited this hell in their mind. Life on earth then became a struggle to regenerate, to alter fundamentally one's inherited character traits, from a love of hellish traits, to a love of heavenly traits (see Section xx).

You can see therefore that the generations that were born after the human hells had been created are different from the generations that were before. The earliest generations, called the celestial human race, does not have a hell in their affective organ of the natural mind. Subsequent generations, called the spiritual race, were born with hell in their mind. This essential anatomical difference in mental structure necessitates the separation in spiritual geography, of the two races, celestial and spiritual. The people of the celestial race that live in the hells are separated from the rest of the celestial race that does not have a hell in the mind.

The spiritual race has therefore a different evolutionary history. The early generations of the spiritual race, called the Ancient Church, derived their rationality and knowledge from the Ancient Sacred Scripture which they had with them. This was the first time that a written Sacred Scripture became available to the human race. Their religions were spiritual-rational, as shown in the diagram above. Swedenborg was able to read this version in the spiritual world as it is still with the people in heaven who had received it while on earth. A few passages from this Ancient Word are quoted in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). This is an indication that the evolution of Sacred Scriptures on this earth took place not by replacement of each other but by incorporation. The later version always incorporates the earlier version, making it a basis for itself, and then expanding on it by new revelations that take the human race further in its evolution, that is, in its relationship to God.

The spiritual-rational religions also evolved in the course of time until the original understanding was gradually lost. Subsequent versions of Sacred Scripture were given which incorporated the previous versions, and took them to new revelations and new relationships to God. First among these natural-rational religions was the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, then the New Testament Sacred Scripture, then the Qu'ran Sacred Scripture.

The next evolutionary step came when the human race was brought to modern times and science and a new ability to understand Sacred Scripture rationally. The Writings Sacred Scripture were given in the 18th century as a spiritual-rational revelation in modern scientific terms, and they incorporate, confirm, and strengthen the Divine truths that have been revealed in all of Sacred Scripture until then, but now, in a scientific way which was not possible before. This has given birth to theistic psychology, which may be called a celestial-rational science.

It is clear therefore that Sacred Scripture plays a principal and essential role in the evolution of the human race both on earth and in eternity.

This presentation continues in Section 1.1.4.3.2 Extracting the Content of Divine Speech Through Correspondences and related Sections. (see Section xx).

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

SS 1. Doctrine of Holy Scripture THE HOLY SCRIPTURE OR WORD IS DIVINE TRUTH

It is in everybody's mouth that the Word is from God, is Divinely inspired, and is therefore holy; and yet hitherto no one has known wherein it is Divine. For in the letter the Word appears like a common writing, in a style that is strange, and neither so sublime nor so brilliant as apparently are the writings of the day. For this reason a man who worships nature as God, or in preference to God, and who consequently thinks from himself and what is proper to himself, and not from heaven from the Lord, may easily fall into error in respect to the Word, and into contempt for it, and while reading it may say to himself, What is this? What is that? Can this be Divine? Could God, whose wisdom is infinite, speak in this manner? Wherein consists its holiness, and whence comes its holiness, except from religious feeling and its consequent persuasion?

SS 2. But he who thinks in this way does not consider that Jehovah Himself, the God of heaven and earth, spoke the Word through Moses and the prophets, and that it must therefore be Divine truth itself, for what Jehovah Himself speaks can be nothing else. Nor does he consider that the Lord, who is the same as Jehovah, spoke the Word that is in the Gospels, much of it with His own mouth, and the rest from the spirit of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit. This is why, as He Himself says, there is Life in His words, that He is the Light which enlightens, and that He is the Truth.*

[2] That the words which the Lord Himself spoke in the Gospels are Life, is declared in John:
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63).

Jesus said to the woman at Jacob's well, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life (John 4:6, 10, 14).

"Jacob's well" signifies the Word, as also in Deut. 33:28, for which reason the Lord sat there and conversed with the woman. And "water" signifies the truth that is in the Word.

[3] Again in John:

If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37-38).
Peter said unto Jesus, Thou hast the words of eternal life (John 6:68).
And therefore the Lord says in Mark:
Heaven and earth shall pass away; but My words shall not pass away (Mark 13:31).
The reason the Lord's words are "Life" is that He Himself is the "Life" and the "Truth," as He teaches in John:
I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word; in Him was life; and the life was the light of men (John 1:1, 4.)

"The Word" here means the Lord as to Divine truth, in which alone there is life and there is light.

[4] It is on this account that the Word, which is from the Lord and which is the Lord, is called

A fountain of living waters (Jer. 2:13; 17:13; 31:9).
A fountain of salvation (Isa. 12:3).
A fountain (Zech. 13:1).
A river of the water of life (Rev. 22:1).

And it is said that

The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters (Rev. 7:17).
Besides other passages where the Word is called the "sanctuary" and the "Tabernacle" in which the Lord dwells with man.

(SS 1)

SS 3. But the natural man cannot be persuaded by these considerations to believe that the Word is Divine truth itself wherein are Divine wisdom and Divine life; for he judges it by its style, and in this they do not appear. Yet the style of the Word is the Divine style itself, with which no other style, however sublime and excellent it may seem, is at all to be compared; for every other style is as darkness is to light. The style of the Word is such that there is holiness in every sentence, and in every word, and in some places in even the very letters. This is why the Word conjoins man with the Lord, and opens heaven. From the Lord proceed two things: Divine love, and Divine wisdom (or, what is the same, Divine good, and Divine truth, for Divine good is of His Divine love, and Divine truth is of His Divine wisdom), and in its essence the Word is both of these; and as it conjoins man with the Lord, and opens heaven, it follows that the man who reads it from the Lord, and not from himself alone, is filled by it with the good of love and the truths of wisdom; his will with the good of love, and his understanding with the truths of wisdom. In this way man has life by means of the Word. (SS 3)

SS 4. Therefore in order to remove all doubt as to such being the character of the Word, the Lord has revealed to me the Word's internal sense. In its essence this sense is spiritual, and in relation to the external sense, which is natural, is as soul is to body. This sense is the spirit which gives life to the letter; it can therefore bear witness to the divinity and holiness of the Word, and convince even the natural man, if he is willing to be convinced. (SS 4)

SS 6. From the Lord proceed the CELESTIAL, the SPIRITUAL, and the NATURAL, one after another. That is called the celestial which proceeds from His Divine love, and is Divine good; that is called the SPIRITUAL which proceeds from His Divine wisdom, and is Divine truth; the NATURAL is from both, being their complex in the ultimate. The angels of the Lord's celestial kingdom, of whom is composed the third or highest heaven, are in that Divine which proceeds from the Lord that is called the celestial, for they are in the good of love from the Lord. The angels of the Lord's spiritual kingdom, of whom is composed the second or middle heaven, are in that Divine which proceeds from the Lord that is called the spiritual, for they are in truths of wisdom from the Lord.* But the men of the church on earth are in the Divine Natural, which also proceeds from the Lord.

From this it follows that the Divine in proceeding from the Lord to its ultimates descends through three degrees, and is named the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural. The Divine which comes down from the Lord to men descends through these three degrees; and when it has come down, it holds these three degrees contained within it. Such is everything Divine, so that when it is in its ultimate degree it is in its fullness. Such is the Word; in its ultimate sense it is natural, in its interior sense it is spiritual, and in its inmost sense it is celestial; and in each sense it is Divine. That such is the nature of the Word does not appear in the sense of the letter, which sense is natural, for the reason that hitherto the man of this world has known nothing about the heavens; and consequently has not known what the spiritual is, nor what the celestial is, nor therefore the distinction between them and the natural. (SS 6)

SS 8. As therefore the Word interiorly is spiritual and celestial, it is written exclusively by correspondences. And what is thus written is in its ultimate sense written in a style such as is that of the Prophets and Evangelists, which, although it may appear common, yet conceals within it Divine and all angelic wisdom. (SS 8)

SS 9. ii. The spiritual sense is in all things of the Word, and in every single particular of it. This cannot be better seen than by examples, such as the following. John says in Revelation:

I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns, and He had a name written that no man knew but He Himself, and He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And His armies in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, Come and gather yourselves together to the great supper, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, and small and great (Rev. 19:11-18).

What these things signify cannot be known except from the spiritual sense of the Word, and no one can know the spiritual sense except from a knowledge of correspondences, for all the above words are correspondences, and not one word there is without meaning. The knowledge of correspondences teaches what is signified by the white horse, what by Him who sat thereon, what by His eyes that were as a flame of fire, what by the crowns that were upon His head, what by His vesture dipped in blood, what by the white linen in which they were clothed who were of His army in heaven, what by the angel standing in the sun, what by the great supper to which they should come and gather themselves, and what by the flesh of kings, and captains, and others, which they should eat.

The signification of each of these things in the spiritual sense may be seen in White Horse, where they are explained, so that it is unnecessary to explain them further here. In that little work it has been shown that the Lord in respect to the Word is here described; and that by His eyes which were as a flame of fire, and by the crowns that were upon His head, and by the name that no one knew but He Himself, is meant the spiritual sense of the Word, and that no one can know it but the Lord Himself and he to whom He wills to reveal it; and also that by His vesture dipped in blood is meant the natural sense of the Word, which is the sense of its letter, to which violence has been done. That it is the Word which is thus described is very evident, for it is said "His name is called the Word of God"; and that it is the Lord who is meant is equally clear, for it is said that the name of Him who sat on the white horse was written, King of kings and Lord of lords. That at the end of the church the spiritual sense of the Word is to be opened is signified not only by what is said of the white horse and of Him who sat thereon, but also by the great supper to which the angel standing in the sun invited all to come, and to eat the flesh of kings and of captains, of mighty men, of horses, and of them that sat on them, and of all both free and bond. All these expressions would be empty words and devoid of spirit and life, unless there were what is spiritual within them, like soul in body. (SS 9)

SS 12. In Revelation, chapter 6, it is said:

That when the Lamb opened the first seal of the book, there went forth a white horse, and that he who sat thereon had a bow, and to him was given a crown; that when He opened the second seal there went forth a red horse, and that to him who sat thereon was given a great sword; that when He opened the third seal there went forth a black horse, and that he who sat thereon had a pair of balances in his hand; and that when He opened the fourth seal there went forth a pale horse, and that the name of him who sat thereon was death (Rev. 6:1-8).

What these things signify can be unfolded solely by means of the spiritual sense; and it is completely unfolded when it is known what is signified by the opening of the seals, by a horse, and by the other things mentioned. By them are described the successive states of the church, from its beginning to its end, in respect to its understanding of the Word. The "opening of the seals of the book by the Lamb" signifies the manifestation by the Lord of those states of the church. A "horse" signifies the understanding of the Word; the "white horse," the understanding of truth from the Word in the first state of the church; the "bow" of him who sat upon that horse, the doctrine of charity and faith fighting against falsities; the "crown," eternal life, the prize of victory. The "red horse" signifies the understanding of the Word destroyed in respect to good, in the second state of the church; the "great sword," falsity fighting against truth. The "black horse" signifies the understanding of the Word destroyed in respect to truth, in the third state of the church; the "pair of balances," the estimation of truth so small that there was scarcely any. The "pale horse" signifies the understanding of the Word annihilated by evils of life and the derivative falsities, in the fourth or last state of the church; and "death" signifies eternal condemnation.

It is not apparent in the sense of the letter or natural sense that such is the signification of these things in the spiritual sense, so that unless the spiritual sense were at some time opened, the Word as to this and all other things in Revelation would be so completely closed that at last no one would know wherein its Divine holiness lies. It is equally so in respect to what is signified by the "four horses" and the "four chariots" that came forth from between two mountains of brass (Zech. 6:1-8). (SS 12)

SS 15. In order that it may be seen that without the spiritual sense the prophetical parts of the Word of the Old Testament are in many passages not intelligible, I will adduce a few, such as the following in Isaiah:

Then shall Jehovah stir up a scourge against Asshur, according to the smiting of Midian at the rock of Oreb, and his rod shall be upon the sea, which he shall lift up in the way of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck. He shall come against Aiath; he shall pass to Migron; against Michmash he shall command his arms; they shall pass over Mebara; Gebah shall be a lodging to us; Ramah shall tremble; Gibeah of Saul shall flee. Wail with thy voice O daughter of Gallim; hearken O Laish, O wretched Anathoth. Madmenah shall be a wanderer; the inhabitants of Gebim shall gather themselves together. Is there as yet a day to stand in Nob? The mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem, shall shake her hand. Jehovah shall cut off the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a magnificent one (Isa. 10:26-32, 34).

Here we meet with mere names, from which nothing can be drawn except by the aid of the spiritual sense, in which all the names in the Word signify things of heaven and the church. From this sense it is gathered that these words signify that the whole church has been devastated by memory-knowledges [scientifica]* perverting all truth, and confirming falsity.
[2] In another place in the same prophet:

In that day the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the enemies of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not straiten Ephraim; but they shall fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the sea, together shall they spoil the sons of the east, Edom and Moab shall be the putting forth of their hand. Jehovah shall utter a curse against the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with the vehemence of His spirit He shall shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it into seven streams, so that He shall make a way [to pass over it] with shoes. Then shall there be a path for the remnant of his people, which remnant shall be from Asshur (Isa. 11:13-16).

Here also no one would see anything Divine except one who knows what is signified by the several names; and yet the subject treated of is the Lord's advent, and what shall then come to pass, as is plainly evident from verses 1 to 10. Who, therefore, without the aid of the spiritual sense, would see that by these things in their order is signified that they who are in falsities from ignorance, yet have not suffered themselves to be led astray by evils, will come to the Lord, and that the church will then understand the Word; and that falsities will then no longer harm them?

[3] The case is the same where there are not names, as in Ezekiel:

Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Son of man, say unto the bird of every wing, and to every wild beast of the field, Assemble yourselves and come, gather yourselves from round about to My sacrifice which I sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood; ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth; ye shall eat fat to satiety, and drink blood to drunkenness, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Ye shall be sated at my table with the horse and the chariot, with the mighty man, and with every man of war. Thus will I set my glory among the nations (Ezek. 39:17-21).

One who does not know from the spiritual sense what is signified by a sacrifice, by flesh and blood, by a horse, a chariot, a mighty man, and a man of war, would suppose that such things were to be eaten and drunk. But the spiritual sense teaches that to "eat the flesh and drink the blood of the sacrifice which the Lord Jehovih will offer upon the mountains of Israel" signifies to appropriate to one's self Divine good and Divine truth from the Word; for the subject treated of is the calling together of all to the Lord's kingdom, and, specifically, the setting up anew of the church by the Lord among the nations. Who cannot see that by "flesh" is not here meant flesh, nor blood by "blood"? As that people should drink blood to drunkenness, and that they should be sated with horse, chariot, mighty man, and every man of war. So in a thousand other passages in the prophets.

SS 16. Without the spiritual sense no one would know why the prophet Jeremiah was commanded

To buy himself a girdle, and put it on his loins; and not to draw it through the waters, but to hide it in a hole of the rock by Euphrates (Jer. 13:1-7).

Or why the prophet Isaiah was commanded

To loose the sackcloth from off his loins, and put the shoe from off his foot, and go naked and barefoot three years (Isa. 20:2-3).

Or why the prophet Ezekiel was commanded

To pass a razor upon his head and upon his beard, and afterwards to divide the hairs, and burn a third part in the midst of the city, smite a third part with the sword, scatter a third part in the wind, and bind a few of them in his skirts, and at last throw them into the midst of the fire (Ezek. 5:1-4).

Or why the same prophet was commanded

To lie upon his left side three hundred and ninety days, and upon his right side forty days, and to make himself a cake of wheat, and barley, and millet, and spelt, with the dung of an ox, and eat it; and in the meantime to raise a rampart and a mound against Jerusalem, and besiege it (Ezek. 4:1-15).

Or why the prophet Hosea was twice commanded

To take to himself a harlot to wife (Hos. 1:2-9; 3:2-3).

And many like things. Moreover, without the spiritual sense who would know what is signified by all the things pertaining to the Tabernacle, such as the ark, the mercy-seat, cherubim, lampstand, altar of incense, the bread of faces on the table, and its veils and curtains? Who without the spiritual sense would know what is signified by Aaron's garments of holiness, by his coat, cloak, ephod, urim and thummim, miter, and other things? Who without the spiritual sense would know what is signified by all the things enjoined concerning the burnt-offerings, sacrifices, meat-offerings, and drink-offerings, and also concerning the Sabbaths and feasts? The truth is that not the least thing was commanded concerning them that did not signify something of the Lord, heaven, and the church. From these few examples it may be clearly seen that there is a spiritual sense in all things of the Word and in every particular of it. (SS 16)

SS 17. That the Lord when in the world spoke by correspondences, thus that He spoke spiritually while He spoke naturally, is evident from His parables, in each and every word of which there is a spiritual sense. Take for example the parable of the ten virgins:

The kingdom of the heavens is like unto ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom; five of them were wise, and five were foolish; they that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil, but the wise took oil in their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept; and at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins awaked, and trimmed their lamps; and the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out; but the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Afterwards came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, lord, open to us; but he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not (Matt. 25:1-12).

[2] That there is a spiritual sense in each and every one of these things, and a consequent Divine holiness, can be seen by him only who knows that a spiritual sense exists, and what is its nature. In the spiritual sense, the "kingdom of God" means heaven and the church; the "bridegroom," the Lord; the "wedding," the marriage of the Lord with heaven and the church by means of the good of love and of faith. "Virgins" signify those who are of the church; "ten," all; "five," some; "lamps," the truths of faith; "oil," the good of love; to "sleep," and to "awake," the life of man in this world which is natural life, and his life after death which is spiritual; to "buy," to procure for themselves; to "go to them that sell and buy oil," to procure for themselves the good of love from others after death; and as this can then be no longer procured, although they came with their lamps and the oil they had bought to the door where the wedding was, yet the bridegroom said to them "I know you not." The reason is that after his life in this world a man remains such as he had lived in this world.

[3] From all this it is evident that the Lord spoke exclusively by correspondences, and this because He spoke from the Divine that was in Him, and was His. That the "bridegroom" signifies the Lord; the "kingdom of the heavens," the church; a "wedding," the marriage of the Lord with the church by means of the good of love and of faith; "ten," all; "five," some; to "sleep," a natural state; to "buy," to procure for one's self; a "door," entrance into heaven; and "not to know them," when spoken by the Lord, not to be in His love, is evident from many passages in the prophetic Word where these expressions have a like signification. It is because "virgins" signify those who are of the church that the virgin and daughter of Zion, of Jerusalem, of Judah, and of Israel are so often mentioned in the prophetic Word. And it is because "oil" signifies the good of love that all the holy things of the Israelitish church were anointed with oil. It is the same with all the other parables, and with all the words the Lord spoke, and that were written in the Gospels. This is why the Lord says that

His words are spirit and are life (John 6:63).

[4] It is the same with all the Lord's miracles, which were Divine because they signified the various states of those with whom the church was to be set up anew by the Lord. Thus when the blind received sight, it signified that they who had been in ignorance of truth should receive intelligence; when the deaf received hearing, it signified that they who had previously heard nothing about the Lord and the Word should hearken and obey; when the dead were raised, it signified that they who otherwise would spiritually perish would become living; and so on. This is meant by the Lord's reply to the disciples of John, who sent them to ask whether He was the one that should come:

Tell John the things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead rise again, and the poor hear the gospel (Matt. 11:3-5).

Moreover, all the miracles related in the Word contain in them such things as belong to the Lord, to heaven, and to the church. This makes these miracles Divine, and distinguishes them from those which are not Divine. These few examples are given in order to illustrate what the spiritual sense is, and to show that it is in all things of the Word and in every particular of it. (SS 17)

SS 18. iii. From the spiritual sense it is that the Word is Divinely inspired, and is holy in every word. It is said in the church that the Word is holy, and this because Jehovah God spoke it; but as its holiness is not apparent from the letter alone, he who on this account once doubts its holiness, afterwards confirms his doubt when reading the Word by many things in it, for he then thinks, Can this be holy; can this be Divine? Therefore lest such a thought should flow in with many, and should afterwards prevail, and thereby the conjunction of the Lord with the church, in which is the Word, should perish, it has now pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual sense, in order that it may be known where in the Word this holiness lies hid.

[2] This again may be illustrated by examples. The Word treats sometimes of Egypt, sometimes of Asshur, sometimes of Edom, of Moab, of the sons of Ammon, of Tyre and Sidon, of Gog; and one who does not know that these names signify things of heaven and the church may be led into the error that the Word treats much of nations and peoples, and but little of heaven and the church; thus much of earthly, and little of heavenly things. But when he knows what is signified by them, or by their names, he can come out of error into truth.

[3] And so when he sees in the Word such frequent mention of gardens, groves, and forests, and also of the trees in them, as the olive, vine, cedar, poplar, oak; and also such frequent mention of the lamb, sheep, goat, calf, ox; and likewise of mountains, hills, valleys, and the fountains, rivers, and waters in them, and many like things, one who knows nothing about the spiritual sense of the Word must believe that these things only are meant. For he is not aware that a garden, grove, and forest, mean wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge; that an olive, vine, cedar, poplar, and oak, mean the celestial, spiritual, rational, natural, and sensuous good and truth of the church; that a lamb, sheep, goat, calf, and ox mean innocence, charity, and natural affection; that mountains, hills, and valleys, mean higher, lower, and lowest things of the church; that Egypt signifies memory-knowledge,* Asshur reason, Edom the natural, Moab the adulteration of good, the sons of Ammon the adulteration of truth, Tyre and Sidon the knowledges of truth and good, and Gog external worship without internal. But when a man knows these things he is able to consider that the Word treats solely of heavenly things, and that these earthly things are merely the subjects [subjecta] in which the heavenly things are.

[4] But let this also be illustrated by an example from the Word. We read in David:

The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; the God of glory maketh it to thunder; Jehovah is upon the great waters. The voice of Jehovah breaketh the cedars; yea, Jehovah breaketh in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a son of unicorns. The voice of Jehovah cutteth out as a flame of fire. The voice of Jehovah maketh the wilderness to tremble; it maketh the wilderness of Kadesh to tremble. The voice of Jehovah maketh the hinds to be in travail, and layeth bare the forests; but in his temple everyone saith, Glory (Ps. 29:3-9).

He who is not aware that everything here, even as to every single word, is Divinely holy, may, if a merely natural man, say to himself, What is this - that Jehovah sitteth upon the waters, that by His voice He breaketh the cedars, maketh them skip like a calf, and Lebanon like a son of unicorns, and maketh the hinds to be in travail, and so on? For he knows not that in the spiritual sense the power of Divine truth, or of the Word, is described by these things.

[5] In this sense, the "voice of Jehovah," here called "thunder" means the Divine truth or Word in its power. The "great waters," upon which Jehovah sits, mean the truths of the Word. The "cedars," and "Lebanon," which He "breaks," and "breaks in pieces" mean the false things of the rational man. The "calf," and a "son of unicorns" mean the false things of the natural and of the sensuous man. The "flame of fire" means the affection of what is false. The "wilderness," and the "wilderness of Kadesh" mean the church in which there is not anything true and good. The "hinds" which the voice of Jehovah causes to be in travail, mean the nations who are in natural good. And the "forests" which He lays bare, mean the knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones]* which the Word opens to them. Therefore these words follow: "In his temple everyone saith, Glory," which mean that there are Divine truths in each and every thing of the Word. For the "temple" signifies the Lord, and therefore the Word, and also heaven and the church; and "glory" signifies Divine truth. From all this it is evident that there is not a word in this passage that is not descriptive of the Divine power of the Word against falsities of every kind in natural men, and of the Divine power in reforming the nations. (SS 18)

SS 25. The reason why the spiritual sense of the Word has been at this day disclosed by the Lord is that the doctrine of genuine truth has now been revealed; and this doctrine, and no other, is in accord with the spiritual sense of the Word. This sense, moreover, is signified by the appearing of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with glory and power (Matt. 24:30, 31); which chapter treats of the consummation of the age, by which is meant the last time of the church. The opening of the Word as to its spiritual sense was also promised in Revelation. It is there meant by the "white horse," and by the "great supper" to which all are invited (Rev. 19:11-18). That for a long time the spiritual sense will not be recognized, and that this is entirely owing to those who are in falsities of doctrine, especially concerning the Lord, and who therefore do not admit truths, is meant in Revelation by the "beast," and by the "kings of the earth," who should make war with him that sat upon the white horse (19:19). By the "beast" are meant the Papists, as in chapter 17:3; and by the "kings of the earth" are meant the Reformed who are in false things of doctrine. (SS 25)

SS 26. v. Henceforth the spiritual sense of the Word will be imparted solely to him who from the Lord is in genuine truths. The reason of this is that no one can see the spiritual sense except from the Lord alone, nor unless from Him he is in genuine truths. For the spiritual sense of the Word treats solely of the Lord and His kingdom; and this is the sense in which are His angels in heaven, for it is His Divine truth there. To this sense a man can do violence if he has a knowledge of correspondences, and wishes by means of it and from self-intelligence to investigate the spiritual sense of the Word. For through some correspondences with which he is acquainted he may pervert the meaning of it, and may even force it to confirm what is false, and this would be doing violence to Divine truth, and also to heaven. And therefore if anyone purposes to open that sense from himself and not from the Lord, heaven is closed; and then the man either sees nothing, or else becomes spiritually insane.

[2] Another reason is that the Lord teaches everyone by means of the Word, and He teaches from those truths which the man already has, and not without a medium does He pour new truths in, so that unless man is in Divine truths, or if he is only in a few truths and at the same time in falsities, he may from these falsify the truths, as it is well known is done by every heretic in regard to the Word's sense of the letter. Therefore in order to prevent anybody from entering into the spiritual sense of the Word, or from perverting the genuine truth that belongs to that sense, guards have been set by the Lord, which in the Word are meant by the cherubim.

[3] That guards have been set has been represented to me in the following manner:

It was granted me to see great purses, having the appearance of sacks, in which silver was stored up in great abundance. As the purses were open, it seemed as if anyone might take out, and even pillage, the silver therein deposited; but near those purses sat two angels as guards. The place where the purses were laid appeared like a manger in a stable. In an adjoining apartment were seen modest maidens together with a chaste wife, and near that apartment stood two little children, and it was said that they were to be sported with, not in childish fashion, but wisely. After this there appeared a harlot, and a horse lying dead.

[4] On seeing these things I was instructed that by them was represented the sense of the letter of the Word, in which is the spiritual sense. The large purses full of silver, signified knowledges of truth in great abundance. Their being open and yet guarded by angels, signified that everyone may get knowledges of truth from the Word, but that care is taken lest anyone should falsify the spiritual sense, in which are pure truths. The manger in a stable in which the purses lay, signified spiritual instruction for the understanding - a manger signifies this because the horse that feeds from it signifies the understanding.

[5] The modest maidens seen in the adjoining apartment, signified affections of truth; and the chaste wife, the conjunction of good and truth. The little children signified the innocence of wisdom therein; they were angels from the third heaven, who all appear like little children. The harlot, together with the dead horse, signified the falsification of the Word by many of this day, whereby all understanding of truth perishes. The harlot signified falsification; and the dead horse, no understanding of truth. (SS 26)

SS 35. It has been shown in Doctrine of the Lord (n. 28) that the prophets of the Old Testament represented the Lord in respect to the Word, and thereby signified the doctrine of the church from the Word, and that for this reason they were called "sons of man." From this it follows that by means of the various things they suffered and endured, they represented the violence done by the Jews to the sense of the letter of the Word. Thus:

The prophet Isaiah was commanded to put off the sackcloth from off his loins, and to put off his shoe from off his foot, and to go naked and barefoot three years (Isa. 20:2-3).

And so

The prophet Ezekiel was commanded to pass a barber's razor upon his head and upon his beard, and to burn a third part in the midst of the city, to smite a third part with the sword, and to scatter a third part in the wind, and to wrap a few of the hairs in his skirts, and at last to cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them (Ezek. 5:1-4).

[2] As the "prophets" represented the Word, and consequently signified the doctrine of the church from the Word, as said above, and as the "head" signifies wisdom from the Word, therefore the "hair" and "beard" signify the ultimate of truth. By reason of this signification, it was a mark of deep mourning, and also a great disgrace, for anyone to make himself bald, or to be seen bald. For this and no other reason it was that the prophet shaved off the hair of his head and his beard, that so he might represent the state of the Jewish Church in respect to the Word. For this and no other reason was it that

The forty-two children who called Elisha bald were torn to pieces by two she-bears (2 Kings 2:23-24).

For as before said a "prophet" represented the Word, and "baldness" signified the Word without its ultimate sense.

[3] It will be seen in the next chapter (n. 49) that the "Nazirites" represented the Lord in respect to the Word in its ultimates; and therefore it was an ordinance for them that they should let their hair grow, and shave off none of it. Moreover the term "Nazirite" in the Hebrew tongue means the hair of the head.

It was also an ordinance for the high priest that he should not shave his head (Lev. 21:10).
Likewise for the head of a household (Lev. 21:5).

[4] This was why baldness was to them a great disgrace, as is evident from the following passages:

On all heads baldness, and every beard shaven (Isa. 15:2; Jer. 48:37).
Shame upon all faces, and baldness upon all heads (Ezek. 7:18).
Every head made bald, and every shoulder plucked (Ezek. 29:18).
I will cause sackcloth to come up upon all loins, and baldness upon every head (Amos 8:10).
Put on baldness, and shave thee on account of the sons of thy delights, and enlarge thy baldness, for they are gone into exile from thee (Micah 1:16).

To "put on baldness" and to "enlarge" it here signifies to falsify the truths of the Word in its ultimates, for when these are falsified (as was done by the Jews) the whole Word is destroyed; for the ultimates of the Word are its props and supports; indeed, each word is a prop and a support to its celestial and spiritual truths. As the "hair" signifies truth in the ultimates, in the spiritual world all who despise the Word, and falsify its sense of the letter, appear bald; whereas they who honor and love it appear with becoming hair. On this subject see also below (n. 49). (SS 35)

SS 38. There are in heaven and in this world a successive order and a simultaneous order. In successive order one thing succeeds and follows another from highest to lowest; but in simultaneous order one thing is next to another from inmost to outmost. Successive order is like a column with successive parts from the top to the bottom; but simultaneous order is like a connected structure with successive circumferences from center to surface. It shall now be told how successive order becomes simultaneous order in the ultimate. It is in this way: The highest things of successive order become the inmost ones of simultaneous order, and the lowest things of successive order become the outermost ones of simultaneous order. Comparatively speaking it is as if the column of successive parts were to sink down and become a connected body in a plane.

[2] Thus is the simultaneous formed from the successive, and this in all things both in general and in particular of the natural world, and also of the spiritual world; for everywhere there is a first, a middle, and an ultimate, and the first aims at and goes through the middle to its ultimate. Apply this to the Word. The celestial, the spiritual, and the natural proceed from the Lord in successive order, and in the ultimate are in simultaneous order; and it is in this way that the celestial and spiritual senses of the Word are simultaneous in its natural sense. When this is comprehended, it may be seen how the natural sense of the Word, which is the sense of the letter, is the basis, containant, and support of its spiritual and celestial senses; and how in the sense of the letter of the Word Divine good and Divine truth are in their fullness, in their holiness, and in their power. (SS 38)

SS 40. The truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are in part not naked truths, but appearances of truth, and are as it were likenesses and comparisons taken from things such as exist in nature, and thus accommodated and adapted to the apprehension of the simple and of little children. But being correspondences they are receptacles and abodes of genuine truth; and are like enclosing and containing vessels, as a crystal cup encloses noble wine, and as a silver plate holds palatable food. They are also like garments which clothe, as swathings do an infant, and a pretty dress a maiden. They are also like the memory-knowledges [scientifica] of the natural man which contain within them perceptions and affections of truth of the spiritual man. The naked truths themselves which are enclosed, held, clothed, and contained, are in the spiritual sense of the Word; and the naked goods are in its celestial sense.

[2] But let this be illustrated from the Word. Jesus said:

Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, because ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may be clean also (Matt. 23:25-26).

The Lord here spoke by means of ultimate things which are containants, and said "cup and platter"; and "cup" means wine, and "wine" the truth of the Word; and "platter" means food, and "food" the good of the Word. To "cleanse the inside of the cup and platter" means to purify by means of the Word the interior things which belong to will and thought and thus to love and faith. "That the outside may be clean also" means that in this way, exterior things, which are the actions and the conversation, will have been made pure, for these derive their essence from the interior things.

[3] Again, Jesus said:

There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in crimson and fine linen, and living in mirth and splendor every day; and there was a certain poor man, named Lazarus, who was laid at his porch, full of sores (Luke 16:19-20).

Here also the Lord spoke by means of natural things that were correspondences, and contained spiritual things. The "rich man" means the Jewish nation, which is called "rich" because it possessed the Word, in which are spiritual riches. The "crimson and fine linen" with which he was clothed signify the good and truth of the Word; "crimson" its good, and "fine linen" its truth. To "live in mirth and splendor every day" signifies the delight they had in possessing and reading the Word. The "poor man Lazarus" means the Gentiles who had not the Word; and that these were despised and scorned by the Jews, is meant by Lazarus lying at the rich man's porch full of sores.

[4] The reason the Gentiles are meant by "Lazarus" is that the Gentiles were beloved by the Lord, as
Lazarus, who was raised from the dead was beloved by the Lord (John 11:3, 5, 36), and is called His friend (John 11:11), and reclined with the Lord at table (John 12:2).

From the two foregoing passages it is evident that the truths and goods of the sense of the letter of the Word are as vessels and as garments for the naked truth and good that lie hidden in its spiritual and celestial senses. (SS 40)

SS 50. V. THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH IS TO BE DRAWN FROM THE SENSE FO THE LETTER OF TH WORD, AND IS TO BE CONFIRMED THEREBY

It has been shown in the preceding chapter that the Word in the sense of the letter is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power; and as the Lord is the Word (for He is the all of the Word), it follows that He is most of all present in the sense of the letter, and that from it He teaches and enlightens man. But these things shall be set forth in the following order:
i. The Word cannot be understood without doctrine.
ii. Doctrine must be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word.
iii. But the Divine truth which must be of doctrine appears to none but those who are in enlightenment from the Lord. (SS 50)

SS 51. i. The Word cannot be understood without doctrine. This is because the Word in the sense of the letter consists exclusively of correspondences, to the end that things spiritual and celestial may be simultaneous or together therein, and that every word may be their container and support. For this reason, in some places in the sense of the letter the truths are not naked, but clothed, and are then called appearances of truth. Many truths also are accommodated to the capacity of simple folk, who do not uplift their thoughts above such things as they see before their eyes. There are also some things that appear like contradictions, although the Word when viewed in its own light contains no contradiction. And again in certain passages in the Prophets, names of persons and places are gathered together from which, in the letter, no sense can be elicited, as in those passages adduced above (n. 15). Such being the Word in the sense of the letter, it is evident that it cannot be understood without doctrine.

[2] But to illustrate this by examples. It is said,

That Jehovah repents (Exod. 32:12, 14; Jonah 3:9; 4:2);

And also

That Jehovah does not repent (Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29).

Without doctrine these passages cannot be reconciled. It is said

That Jehovah visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation (Num. 14:18);

And it is also said that

The father shall not die for the son, nor the son for the father, but everyone for his own sin (Deut. 24:16).

Interpreted by doctrine these passages are not discordant, but are in agreement.

[3] Jesus says,

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for everyone that asketh shall receive, and he that seeketh shall find, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened (Matt. 7:7-8; 21:21-22).

Without doctrine it might be believed that everyone will receive what he asks for; but from doctrine it is believed that whatever a man asks not from himself but from the Lord is given; for this also is what the Lord says,

If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you (John 15:7).

[4] The Lord says,

Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God (Luke 6:20).
Without doctrine it may be thought that heaven is for the poor and not for the rich, but doctrine teaches that the poor in spirit are meant, for the Lord says,
Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:3).

[5] The Lord says,

Judge not, that ye be not judged; for with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged (Matt. 7:1-2; Luke 6:37).

Without doctrine this might be cited to confirm the notion that it is not to be said of what is evil that it is evil, thus that an evil person is not to be judged to be evil; yet according to doctrine it is lawful to judge, but justly; for the Lord says,

Judge righteous judgment (John 7:24).

[6] Jesus says,

Be not ye called Teacher, for One is your Teacher, even the Christ. And call no man your father on the earth; for One is your Father in the heavens. Neither be ye called masters; for One is your Master, the Christ (Matt. 23:8-10).

Without doctrine it would seem that it is not lawful to call any person teacher, father, or master; but from doctrine it is known that in the natural sense it is lawful to do this, but not in the spiritual sense.

[7] Jesus said to His disciples,

When the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28).

From these words it may be inferred that the Lord's disciples will sit in judgment, when yet they can judge no one. Doctrine therefore must reveal this secret by explaining that the Lord alone, who is omniscient and knows the hearts of all, will sit in judgment, and is able to judge; and that His twelve disciples mean the church as to all the truths and goods it possesses from the Lord through the Word; from which doctrine concludes that these truths will judge everyone, according to the Lord's words in John 3:17-18; 12:47-48.

[8] He who reads the Word without doctrine does not see the consistency of what is said in the prophets about the Jewish nation and Jerusalem - that the church with that nation, and its seat in that city, will remain to eternity; as in the following passages:

Jehovah will visit his flock the house of Judah, and will make them as a horse of glory in war; from him shall come forth the corner stone, from him the nail, and from him the bow of war (Zech. 10:3-4, 6-7).

Behold I come, that I may dwell in the midst of thee. And Jehovah shall make Judah an inheritance, and shall again choose Jerusalem (Zech. 2:10, 12).
It shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and Judah shall be to eternity, and Jerusalem from generation to generation (Joel 3:18-20).

Behold, the days come in which I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and in which I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; and this shall be the covenant, I will put My law in their inward parts, and will write it upon their heart and I will be their God, and they shall be My people (Jer. 31:27, 31, 33).

In that day ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, of the skirt of a man that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you (Zech. 8:23)

So in other places, as Isa. 44:21, 24, 26; 49:22, 23; 65:9; 66:20, 22; Jer. 3:18; 23:5; 50:19, 20; Nahum 1:15; Mal. 3:4.

In these passages the Lord's advent is treated of, and that this [establishment of the Jews] will then come to pass.

[9] But the contrary is declared in many other places, of which this passage only shall be adduced:
I will hide My face from them, I will see what their latter end shall be, for they are a generation of perversions, sons in whom is no faithfulness. I said, I will cast them into outermost corners, I will make the remembrance of them to cease from man, for they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there understanding in them; their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall; their clusters are of bitternesses; their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Is not this hidden with Me, sealed up among My treasures? To Me belongeth vengeance and retribution (Deut. 32:20-35).

It is of that same nation that these things are said. And things of the same purport are said elsewhere,
As in Isa. 3:1-2, 8; 5:3, 6; Deut. 9:5-6; Matt. 12:39; 23:27-28; John 8:44;
and in Jeremiah and Ezekiel throughout.

These passages which seem contradictory will however from doctrine be seen to accord, for this teaches that in the Word "Israel" and "Judah" do not mean Israel and Judah, but the church in both senses, in one that it is devastated, in the other that it is to be set up anew by the Lord.
Other things like these exist in the Word, from which it plainly appears that the Word cannot be understood without doctrine.

SS 52. From all this it is evident that they who read the Word without doctrine, or who do not acquire for themselves doctrine from the Word, are in obscurity as to every truth, and that their minds are wavering and uncertain, prone to errors, and pliant to heresies, which they also embrace wherever inclination or authority favors, and their reputation is not endangered. For the Word is to them like a lampstand without a lamp, and in their gloom they seem to see many things, and yet see scarcely anything, for doctrine alone is a lamp. I have seen such persons examined by angels, and found to be able to confirm from the Word whatever they please, and it was also found that they confirm what is of their own love and of the love of those whom they favor. And I have seen them stripped of their garments, a sign that they were devoid of truths; for in the spiritual world garments are truths. (SS 52)

SS 54. That by means of doctrine the Word not only becomes intelligible, but also as it were shines with light, is because without doctrine it is not understood, and is like a lampstand without a lamp, as has been shown above. By means of doctrine therefore the Word is understood, and is like a lampstand with a lighted lamp. The man then sees more things than he had seen before, and also understands those things which before he had not understood. Dark and contradictory things he either does not see and passes over, or sees and interprets them so that they agree with the doctrine. The experience of the Christian world attests that the Word is seen from doctrine, and is also interpreted according to it. All the Reformed see and interpret the Word from and according to their own doctrine; so do the Papists from and according to theirs, and even the Jews do so from and according to theirs; thus from a false doctrine all see falsities, and from a true doctrine truths. It is evident therefore that true doctrine is like a lamp in the dark, and a guidepost on the way. But doctrine is not only to be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word, but must also be confirmed thereby; for if not so confirmed the truth of doctrine appears as if only man's intelligence were in it, and not the Lord's Divine wisdom; and so the doctrine would be like a house in the air, and not on the earth, and would lack a foundation. (SS 54)

SS 56. It might be believed that the doctrine of genuine truth could be procured by means of the spiritual sense of the Word which is furnished through a knowledge of correspondences. But doctrine is not procured by means of that sense, but is only lighted up and corroborated. For as said before (n. 26), no one comes into the spiritual sense of the Word by means of correspondences unless he is first in genuine truths from doctrine. If a man is not first in genuine truths he may falsify the Word by means of some correspondences with which he is acquainted, by connecting them together and interpreting them so as to confirm that which cleaves to his mind from some principle previously received. Moreover the spiritual sense of the Word is not given anyone except by the Lord alone, and it is guarded by Him as heaven is guarded, for heaven is in it. It is better therefore for man to study the Word in the sense of the letter; from this alone is doctrine furnished. (SS 56)

SS 57. iii. The genuine truth which must be of doctrine appears in the sense of the letter to none but those who are in enlightenment from the Lord. Enlightenment is from the Lord alone, and exists with those who love truths because they are truths and make them of use for life. With others there is no enlightenment in the Word. The reason why enlightenment is from the Lord alone is that the Lord is in all things of the Word. The reason why enlightenment exists with those who love truths because they are truths and make them of use for life is that such are in the Lord and the Lord in them. For the Lord is His own Divine truth, and when this is loved because it is Divine truth (and it is loved when it is made of use), the Lord is in it with the man. This the Lord teaches in John:

In that day ye shall know that ye are in Me and I in you. He that hath My commandments, and doeth them, he loveth Me, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him; and I will come unto him, and make My abode with him (John 14:20-21, 23).

And in Matthew:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8).

These are they who are in enlightenment when they are reading the Word, and to whom the Word shines and is translucent. (SS 57)

SS 60. The contrary takes place with those who read the Word from the doctrine of a false religion, and still more with those who confirm that doctrine from the Word, having in view their own glory or this world's riches. With them the truth of the Word is as it were in the shade of night, and what is false is as in the light of day. They read what is true, but do not see it; and if they see the shadow of it they falsify it. These are they of whom the Lord says that:

They have eyes, but see not; and ears, but do not understand (Matt. 13:13).

For nothing else blinds a man except his own and the confirmation of what is false. Man's own is the love of self and the derivative conceit of self-intelligence; and the confirmation of what is false is thick darkness counterfeiting the light. The light of such men is merely natural, and their sight is like that of one who sees phantoms in the gloom. (SS 60)

SS 62. VI BY MEANS OF THE SENSE OF THE LETTER OF THE WORD THERE IS CONJUNCTION WITH THE LORD AND ASSOCIATION WITH THE ANGELS

The reason why there is conjunction with the Lord by means of the Word is that the Word treats solely of him, and the Lord is consequently its all in all and is called the Word, as has been shown in Doctrine of the Lord. The reason why the conjunction is in the sense of the letter is that in this sense the Word is in its fullness, its holiness, and its power, as has been shown above in its proper chapter. The conjunction is not apparent to the man, but is in the affection of truth, and in his perception of it, thus is in the man's love for and faith in Divine truth. (SS 62)

SS 63. The reason why there is association with the angels of heaven by means of the sense of the letter is that the spiritual sense and celestial sense are in it, and the angels are in these senses, the angels of the spiritual kingdom being in the Word's spiritual sense, and those of the celestial kingdom in its celestial sense. These senses are evolved from the Word's natural sense which is the sense of the letter while a true man is in it. The evolution is instantaneous; consequently so is the association. (SS 63)

SS 64. It has been made plain to me by much experience that the spiritual angels are in the spiritual sense of the Word, and the celestial angels in its celestial sense. While reading the Word in its sense of the letter it has been given me to perceive that communication was effected with the heavens, now with this society of them, now with that, and that what I understood according to the natural sense, the spiritual angels understood according to the spiritual sense, and the celestial angels according to the celestial sense, and this in an instant. As I have perceived this communication many thousands of times, there remains with me no doubt about it. Moreover there are spirits beneath the heavens who abuse this communication; they recite some sayings from the sense of the letter, and immediately observe and take note of the society with which communication is effected. This I have frequently seen and heard. From these things it has been given me to know by actual experience that the Word in respect to its sense of the letter is the Divine medium of conjunction with the Lord and with heaven. (Concerning this conjunction by the Word see also what is said in Heaven and Hell, n. 303-310.) (SS 64)

SS 67. We may now illustrate by an example how from the natural sense in which is the Word with men, the spiritual angels draw forth their own sense, and the celestial angels theirs. Take as an example five commandments of the Decalogue: Honor thy father and thy mother. By "father and mother" a man understands his father and mother on earth, and all who stand in their place, and by to "honor" he understands to hold in honor and obey them. But a spiritual angel understands the Lord by "father," and the church by "mother," and by to "honor" he understands to love. And a celestial angel understands the Lord's Divine love by "father," and His Divine wisdom by "mother," and by to "honor" to do what is good from him.

[2] Thou shalt not steal. By to "steal" a man understands to steal, defraud, or under any pretext take from his neighbor his goods. A spiritual angel understands to deprive others of their truths of faith and goods of charity by means of falsities and evils. And a celestial angel understands to attribute to himself what is the Lord's, and to claim for himself His righteousness and merit.

[3] Thou shalt not commit adultery. By "committing adultery" a man understands to commit adultery and fornication, to do obscene things, speak lascivious words, and harbor filthy thoughts. A spiritual angel understands to adulterate the goods of the Word, and falsify its truths. And a celestial angel understands to deny the Lord's Divinity and to profane the Word.

[4] Thou shalt not kill. By "killing," a man understands also bearing hatred, and desiring revenge even to the death. A spiritual angel understands to act as a devil and destroy men's souls. And a celestial angel understands to bear hatred against the Lord, and against what is His.

[5] Thou shalt not bear false witness. By "bearing false witness" a man understands also to lie and defame. A spiritual angel understands to say and persuade that what is false is true and what is evil good, and the reverse. And a celestial angel understands to blaspheme the Lord and the Word.

[6] From these examples it may be seen how the spiritual and celestial of the Word are evolved and drawn out from the natural sense in which they are. Wonderful to say, the angels draw out their senses wi

Theistic Psychology: The Scientific Knowledge of God Extracted from the Correspondential Sense of Sacred Scripture

Universal Sacred Scripture

Theistic Psychology:
The Scientific Knowledge of God
Extracted from the
Correspondential Sense of Sacred Scripture