The Third Round: The more we come into the Word’s good and truth, the more the nature of evil and falsity is revealed

01/05/2023 6 min
The Third Round: The more we come into the Word’s good and truth, the more the nature of evil and falsity is revealed

Listen "The Third Round: The more we come into the Word’s good and truth, the more the nature of evil and falsity is revealed"

Episode Synopsis

Every truth and good has an opposing evil and falsity to be revealed

Arcana Coelestia 6368 [2] But be it known that no one can be torn away and delivered from hell unless in the life of the body he has been in spiritual good, that is, in charity through faith; for unless he has been in this good through faith, there is nothing to receive the good which flows in from the Lord; but it flows through, except that which can be fixed somewhere; and therefore these persons cannot be torn away or delivered from hell. For all the states that a man has acquired in the life of the body are retained in the other life, and are filled; with the good the states of good are retained and filled with good, and by means of these states they are elevated into heaven; and with the evil the states of evil are retained and filled with evil, and by means of these states they sink down into hell. This is the meaning of the saying that as a man dies, so he remains. This shows who they are that can be delivered by the Lord from hell by means of the Divine celestial.

Heaven and Hell 598. Man cannot be reformed unless he has freedom, for the reason that he is born into evils of every kind; and these must be removed in order that he may be saved; and they cannot be removed unless he sees them in himself and acknowledges them, and afterwards ceases to will them, and finally holds them in aversion. Not until then are they removed. And this cannot be done unless man is in good as well as in evil, since it is from good that he is able to see evils, while from evil he cannot see good...

Arcana Coelestia 9128[2] As this is an important matter, something shall be said about sight from within. A man sees in himself whether what he thinks and wills, and consequently what he says and does, is good or evil, and consequently whether it is true or false. This is quite impossible unless he sees from within. Seeing from within is seeing from the sight of the internal man in the external. The case is the same as with the sight of the eye: the eye cannot see the things which are within it, but only those which are outside of it. From this then it is that a man sees the good and the evil that are in himself. Nevertheless one man sees this better than another, and some do not see it at all. They who see it, are they who have received from the Lord the life of faith and charity, for this life is the internal life, or the life of the internal man. Such persons, being from faith in truth, and from charity in good, can see the evils and falsities in themselves; for evil can be seen from good, and falsity from truth; but not contrariwise. The reason is that good and truth are in heaven, and in its light; whereas evil and falsity are in hell, and in its darkness. From this it is evident that those who are in evil and thence in falsity cannot see the good and truth, nor even the evil and falsity, which are in themselves, consequently neither can they see from within.

[3] But be it known that to see from within is to see from the Lord; for it is the same with sight as with everything that exists, in that nothing exists from itself, but from that which is prior to or higher than itself, thus finally from the First and Highest. The First and Highest is the Lord. He who apprehends this can also apprehend that everything of life with man is from the Lord; and that as charity and faith constitute the veriest life of man, everything of charity, and everything of faith, are from the Lord.

Heaven and Hell 594. How all things are so arranged in the heavens and in the hells that each and all of those who are there may be in their equilibrium, can in some measure be seen from what has been said and shown above respecting the heavens and the hells, namely, that all the societies of heaven are distinctly arranged in accordance with goods and their kinds and varieties, and all the societies of hell in accordance with evils, and their kinds and varieties; and that beneath each so...

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