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Listen "The Third Round: The more the sense of self submits to the Lord alone being Self, the more the sense of self becomes an appearance"
Episode Synopsis
The Intercourse of the Soul and Body
#14 (3) For the sake of this end, there is given to man the faculty of raising his understanding almost into the light in which the angels of heaven are, that he may see what he ought to will and thence to do, in order to be prosperous in the world for a time, and blessed after death to eternity. He becomes prosperous and blessed if he procures to himself wisdom, and keeps his will in obedience thereto; but unprosperous and unhappy if he puts his understanding under obedience to his will. The reason is that the will inclines from birth towards evils, even to those which are enormous; hence, unless it were restrained by means of the understanding, a man would rush into acts of wickedness, indeed, from his inherent savage nature, he would destroy and slaughter, for the sake of himself, all who do not favour and indulge him.
(4)... unless the understanding could be separately perfected, and the will by means of it, a man would not be a man but a beast. For without that separation, and without the ascent of the understanding above the will, he would not be able to think, and from thought to speak, but only to express his affection by sounds; neither would he be able to act from reason, but only from instinct; still less would he be able to know the things which are of God, and by means of them to know God, and thus to be conjoined to Him, and to live to eternity.
Fora man thinks and wills as of himself; and this thinking and willing as of himself is the reciprocal element of conjunction: for there can be no conjunction without reciprocity, just as there can be no conjunction of an active with a passive without reaction.
God alone acts, and a man suffers himself to be acted upon; and he reacts to all appearance as from himself, though interiorly it is from God.
[5] From these considerations, rightly apprehended, may be seen what is the nature of the love of a man's will if it is raised by means of the understanding, and what is its nature if it is not raised;
(6).... Such is the man whose will or love is not raised by means of the understanding; for he then remains below, at the foot, immersed in the unclean things of nature and the lusts of the senses. It is altogether otherwise with those who subdue the allurements of the lusts of the will by means of the wisdom of the understanding.
With them the understanding afterwards enters into a marriage-covenant with the will, thus wisdom with love, and they dwell together above with the utmost delight.
Arcana Coelestia
6071. And set them before Pharaoh. That this signifies insinuation into memory-knowledges, is evident from the representation of Pharaoh, as being memory-knowledge in general (see n. 5799, 6015). Insinuation is signified by “setting before him,” because the end in presenting them was to insinuate them, that is, the truths of the church, for these are the “sons of Jacob.” As regards truths, that they must be insinuated into the memory-knowledges of the church, see n. 6004, 6023, 6052; but as at this day this is a subject about which nothing is known, it must be illustrated further. At the present day the memory-knowledges of the church are those which belong to the literal sense of the Word. Unless truths from the internal sense are insinuated into these memory-knowledges, the mind can be drawn into every heresy; but when truths have been insinuated into them, the mind cannot be drawn into heresies.
[2] For example, he who has learned from the literal sense of the Word that God is angry, that He punishes, leads into temptations, casts into hell, and causes evil, may be drawn into false ideas about God, as that from good itself, which is God, can come forth evil, thus what is opposite to Him; when yet from good comes good, and from evil comes evil. But this memory-knowledge appears with quite another aspect if interior truths are insinuated into it,
#14 (3) For the sake of this end, there is given to man the faculty of raising his understanding almost into the light in which the angels of heaven are, that he may see what he ought to will and thence to do, in order to be prosperous in the world for a time, and blessed after death to eternity. He becomes prosperous and blessed if he procures to himself wisdom, and keeps his will in obedience thereto; but unprosperous and unhappy if he puts his understanding under obedience to his will. The reason is that the will inclines from birth towards evils, even to those which are enormous; hence, unless it were restrained by means of the understanding, a man would rush into acts of wickedness, indeed, from his inherent savage nature, he would destroy and slaughter, for the sake of himself, all who do not favour and indulge him.
(4)... unless the understanding could be separately perfected, and the will by means of it, a man would not be a man but a beast. For without that separation, and without the ascent of the understanding above the will, he would not be able to think, and from thought to speak, but only to express his affection by sounds; neither would he be able to act from reason, but only from instinct; still less would he be able to know the things which are of God, and by means of them to know God, and thus to be conjoined to Him, and to live to eternity.
Fora man thinks and wills as of himself; and this thinking and willing as of himself is the reciprocal element of conjunction: for there can be no conjunction without reciprocity, just as there can be no conjunction of an active with a passive without reaction.
God alone acts, and a man suffers himself to be acted upon; and he reacts to all appearance as from himself, though interiorly it is from God.
[5] From these considerations, rightly apprehended, may be seen what is the nature of the love of a man's will if it is raised by means of the understanding, and what is its nature if it is not raised;
(6).... Such is the man whose will or love is not raised by means of the understanding; for he then remains below, at the foot, immersed in the unclean things of nature and the lusts of the senses. It is altogether otherwise with those who subdue the allurements of the lusts of the will by means of the wisdom of the understanding.
With them the understanding afterwards enters into a marriage-covenant with the will, thus wisdom with love, and they dwell together above with the utmost delight.
Arcana Coelestia
6071. And set them before Pharaoh. That this signifies insinuation into memory-knowledges, is evident from the representation of Pharaoh, as being memory-knowledge in general (see n. 5799, 6015). Insinuation is signified by “setting before him,” because the end in presenting them was to insinuate them, that is, the truths of the church, for these are the “sons of Jacob.” As regards truths, that they must be insinuated into the memory-knowledges of the church, see n. 6004, 6023, 6052; but as at this day this is a subject about which nothing is known, it must be illustrated further. At the present day the memory-knowledges of the church are those which belong to the literal sense of the Word. Unless truths from the internal sense are insinuated into these memory-knowledges, the mind can be drawn into every heresy; but when truths have been insinuated into them, the mind cannot be drawn into heresies.
[2] For example, he who has learned from the literal sense of the Word that God is angry, that He punishes, leads into temptations, casts into hell, and causes evil, may be drawn into false ideas about God, as that from good itself, which is God, can come forth evil, thus what is opposite to Him; when yet from good comes good, and from evil comes evil. But this memory-knowledge appears with quite another aspect if interior truths are insinuated into it,
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