Chapter XI: Part 11

351. It is believed in the world that those who have much knowledge, whether it be knowledge of the teachings of the church and the Word or of the sciences, have a more interior and keen vision of truth than others, that is, are more intelligent and wise; and such have this opinion of themselves. But what true intelligence and wisdom are, and what spurious and false intelligence and wisdom are, shall be told in what now follows. [2] True intelligence and wisdom is seeing and perceiving what is true and good, and thereby what is false and evil, and clearly distinguishing between them, and this from an interior intuition and perception. With every man there are interior faculties and exterior faculties; interior faculties belonging to the internal or spiritual man, and exterior faculties belonging to the exterior or natural man. Accordingly as man's interiors are formed and made one with his exteriors man sees and perceives. His interiors can be formed only in heaven, his exteriors are formed in the world. When his interiors have been formed in heaven the things they contain flow into his exteriors which are from the world, and so form them that they correspond with, that is, act as one with, his interiors; and when this is done man sees and perceives from what is interior. The interiors can be formed only in one way, namely, by man's looking to the Divine and to heaven, since, as has been said, the interiors are formed in heaven; and man looks to the Divine when he believes in the Divine, and believes that all truth and good and consequently all intelligence and wisdom are from the Divine; and man believes in the Divine when he is willing to be led by the Divine. In this way and none other are the interiors of man opened. [3] The man who is in that belief and in a life that is in accordance with his belief has the ability and capacity to understand and be wise; but to become intelligent and wise he must learn many things, both things pertaining to heaven and things pertaining to the world--things pertaining to heaven from the Word and from the church, and things pertaining to the world from the sciences. To the extent that man learns and applies to life he becomes intelligent and wise, for to that extent the interior sight belonging to his understanding and the interior affection belonging to his will are perfected. The simple of this class are those whose interiors have been opened, but not so enriched by spiritual, moral, civil and natural truths. Such perceive truths when they hear them, but do not see them in themselves. But the wise of this class are those whose interiors have been both opened and enriched. Such both see truths inwardly and perceive them. All this makes clear what true intelligence is and what true wisdom is.

352. Spurious intelligence and wisdom is failing to see and perceive from within what is true and what is good, and thereby what is false and what is evil, but merely believing that to be true and good and that to be false and evil which is said by others to be so, and then confirming it. Because such see truth from some one else, and not from the truth itself, they can seize upon and believe what is false as readily as what is true, and can confirm it until it appears true; for whatever is confirmed puts on the appearance of truth; and there is nothing that can not be confirmed. The interiors of such are opened only from beneath; but their exteriors are opened to the extent that they have confirmed themselves. For this reason the light from which they see is not the light of heaven but the light of the world, which is called natural light [lumen]; and in that light falsities can shine like truths; and when confirmed they can even appear resplendent, but not in the light of heaven. Of this class those are less intelligent and wise who have strongly confirmed themselves, and those are more intelligent and wise who have less strongly confirmed themselves. All this shows what spurious intelligence and wisdom are. [2] But those are not included in this class who in childhood supposed what they heard from their masters to be true, if in a riper age, when they think from their own understanding, they do not continue to hold fast to it, but long for truth, and from that longing seek for it, and when they find it are interiorly moved by it. Because such are moved by the truth for the truth's sake they see the truth before they confirm it.{1} [3] This may be illustrated by an example. There was a discussion among spirits why animals are born into all the knowledge suited to their nature, but man is not; and the reason was said to be that animals are in the order of their life, and man is not, consequently man must needs be led into order by means of what he learns of internal and external things. But if man were born into the order of his life, which is to love God above all things and his neighbor as himself, he would be born into intelligence and wisdom, and as knowledges are acquired would come into a belief in all truth. Good spirits saw this at once and perceived it to be true, and this merely from the light of truth; while the spirits who had confirmed themselves in faith alone, and had thereby set aside love and charity, were unable to understand it, because the light of falsity which they had confirmed had made obscure to them the light of truth.

{Footnote 1} It is the part of the wise to see and perceive
whether a thing is true before it is confirmed and not merely
to confirm what is said by others (n. 1017, 4741, 7012, 7680,
7950). Only those can see and perceive whether a thing is true
before it is confirmed who are affected by truth for the sake
of truth and for the sake of life (n. 8521). The light of
confirmation is not spiritual light but natural light, and is
even sensual light which the wicked may have (n. 8780). All
things, even falsities, may be so confirmed as to appear like
truths (n. 2477, 2480, 5033, 6865, 8521).

353. False intelligence and wisdom is all intelligence and wisdom that is separated from the acknowledgment of the Divine; for all such as do not acknowledge the Divine, but acknowledge nature in the place of the Divine, think from the bodily-sensual, and are merely sensual, however highly they may be esteemed in the world for their accomplishments and learning.{1} For their learning does not ascend beyond such things as appear before their eyes in the world; these they hold in the memory and look at them in an almost material way, although the same knowledges serve the truly intelligent in forming their understanding. By sciences the various kinds of experimental knowledge are meant, such as physics, astronomy, chemistry, mechanics, geometry, anatomy, psychology, philosophy, the history of kingdoms and of the literary world, criticism, and languages. [2] The clergy who deny the Divine do not raise their thoughts above the sensual things of the external man; and regard the things of the Word in the same way as others regard the sciences, not making them matters of thought or of any intuition by an enlightened rational mind; and for the reason that their interiors are closed up, together with those exteriors that are nearest to their interiors. These are closed up because they have turned themselves away from heaven, and have retroverted those faculties that were capable of looking heavenward, which are, as has been said above, the interiors of the human mind. For this reason they are incapable of seeing anything true or good, this being to them in thick darkness, while whatever is false and evil is in light. [3] And yet sensual men can reason, some of them more cunningly and keenly than any one else; but they reason from the fallacies of the senses confirmed by their knowledges; and because they are able to reason in this way they believe themselves to be wiser than others.{2} The fire that kindles with affection their reasonings is the fire of the love of self and the world. Such are those who are in false intelligence and wisdom, and who are meant by the Lord in Matthew:

Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do
they understand (13:13-15).

And again:

These things are hid from the intelligent and wise, and
revealed unto babes (11:25, 26).

{Footnote 1} The sensual is the outmost of man's life, clinging
to and inhering in his bodily part (n. 5077, 5767, 9212, 9216,
9331, 9730). He is called a sensual man who forms all his
judgments and conclusions from the bodily senses, and who
believes nothing except what he sees with his eyes and touches
with his hands (n. 5094, 7693). Such a man thinks in things
outermost and not interiorly in himself (n. 5089, 5094, 6564,
7693). His interiors are so closed up that he sees nothing of
Divine truth (n. 6564, 6844, 6845). In a word he is in gross
natural light and thus perceives nothing that is from the light
of heaven (n. 6201, 6310, 6564, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624,
6844, 6845). Therefore he is inwardly opposed to all things
pertaining to heaven and the church (n. 6201, 6310, 6844, 6845,
6948, 6949). The learned that have confirmed themselves against
the truths of the church are sensual (n. 6316). A description
of the sensual man (n. 10236).

{Footnote 2} Sensual men reason keenly and cunningly, since
they place all intelligence in speaking from the bodily memory
(n. 195, 196, 5700, 10236). But they reason from the fallacies
of the senses (n. 5084, 6948, 6949, 7693). Sensual men are more
cunning and malicious than others (n. 7693, 10236). By the
ancients such were called serpents of the tree of knowledge (n.
195-197, 6398, 6949, 10313).

354. It has been granted me to speak with many of the learned after their departure from the world; with some of distinguished reputation and celebrated in the literary world for their writings, and with some not so celebrated, although endowed with profound wisdom. Those that in heart had denied the Divine, whatever their professions may have been, had become so stupid as to have little comprehension even of anything truly civil, still less of anything spiritual. I perceived and also saw that the interiors of their minds were so closed up as to appear black (for in the spiritual world such things become visible), and in consequence they were unable to endure any heavenly light or admit any influx from heaven. This blackness which their interiors presented was more intense and extended with those that had confirmed themselves against the Divine by the knowledges they had acquired. In the other life such accept all falsity with delight, imbibing it as a sponge does water; and they repel all truth as an elastic bony substance repels what falls upon it. In fact, it is said that the interiors of those that have confirmed themselves against the Divine and in favor of nature become bony, and their heads down to the nose appear callous like ebony, which is a sign that they no longer have any perception. Those of this description are immersed in quagmires that appear like bogs; and there they are harassed by the fantasies into which their falsities are turned. Their infernal fire is a lust for glory and reputation, which prompts them to assail one another, and from an infernal ardor to torment those about them who do not worship them as deities; and this they do one to another in turns. Into such things is all the learning of the world changed that has not received into itself light from heaven through acknowledgment of the Divine.

355. That these are such in the spiritual world when they come into it after death may be inferred from this alone, that all things that are in the natural memory and are in immediate conjunction with the things of bodily sense (which is true of such knowledges as are mentioned above) then become quiescent; and only such rational principles as are drawn from these then serve for thought and speech. For man carries with him his entire natural memory, but its contents are not then under his view, and do not come into his thought as when he lived in the world. He can take nothing from that memory and bring it forth into spiritual light because its contents are not objects of that light. But those things of the reason and understanding that man has acquired from knowledges while living in the body are in accord with the light of the spiritual world; consequently so far as the spirit of man has been made rational in the world through knowledge and science it is to the same extent rational after being loosed from the body; for man is then a spirit, and it is the spirit that thinks in the body.{1}

{Footnote 1} Knowledges belong to the natural memory that man
has while he is in the body (n. 5212, 9922). Man carries with
him after death his whole natural memory (n. 2475) from
experience (n. 2481-2486). But he is not able, as he was in the
world, to draw anything out of that memory, for several reasons
(n. 2476, 2477, 2479).

356. But in respect to those that have acquired intelligence and wisdom through knowledge and science, who are such as have applied all things to the use of life, and have also acknowledged the Divine, loved the Word, and lived a spiritual moral life (of which above, n. 319), to such the sciences have served as a means of becoming wise, and also of corroborating the things pertaining to faith. The interiors of the mind of such have been perceived by me, and were seen as transparent from light of a glistening white, flamy, or blue color, like that of translucent diamonds, rubies, and sapphires; and this in accordance with confirmations in favor of the Divine and Divine truths drawn from science. Such is the appearance of true intelligence and wisdom when they are presented to view in the spiritual world. This appearance is derived from the light of heaven; and that light is Divine truth going forth from the Lord, which is the source of all intelligence and wisdom (see above, n. 126-133). [2] The planes of that light, in which variegations like those of colors exist, are the interiors of the mind; and these variegations are produced by confirmations of Divine truths by means of such things as are in nature, that is, in the sciences.{1} For the interior mind of man looks into the things of the natural memory, and the things there that will serve as proofs it sublimates as it were by the fire of heavenly love, and withdraws and purifies them even into spiritual ideas. This is unknown to man as long as he lives in the body, because there he thinks both spiritually and naturally, and he has no perception of the things he then thinks spiritually, but only of those he thinks naturally. But when he has come into the spiritual world he has no perception of what he thought naturally in the world, but only of what he thought spiritually. Thus is his state changed. [3] All this makes clear that it is by means of knowledges and sciences that man is made spiritual, also that these are the means of becoming wise, but only with those who have acknowledged the Divine in faith and life. Such also before others are accepted in heaven, and are among those there who are at the center (n. 43), because they are in light more than others. These are the intelligent and wise in heaven, who "shine as with the brightness of the firmament" and "who shine as the stars," while the simple there are those that have acknowledged the Divine, have loved the Word, and have lived a spiritual and moral life, but the interiors of their minds have not been so enriched by knowledges and sciences. The human mind is like soil which is such as it is made by cultivation.

{Footnote 1} Most beautiful colors are seen in heaven (n. 1053,
1624). Colors in heaven are from the light there, and are
modifications or variegations of that light (n. 1042, 1043,
1053, 1624, 3993, 4530, 4742, 4922). Thus they are
manifestations of truth from good, and they signify such things
as pertain to intelligence and wisdom (n. 4530, 4677, 4922,
9466).

EXTRACTS FROM THE ARCANA COELESTIA RESPECTING KNOWLEDGES.

[In these extracts scientia, scientificum and cognitio are alike rendered knowledge, because any distinction between them intended by the author is not sufficiently obvious to be uniformly indicated in English. -- Tr.]

Man ought to be fully instructed in knowledges [scientiis
et cognitionibus], since by means of them he learns to
think [cogitare], afterwards to understand what is true
and good, and finally to be wise (n. 129, 1450, 1451,
1453, 1548, 1802).

Knowledges [scientifica] are the first things on which the
life of man, civil, moral, and spiritual, is built and
founded, and they are to be learned for the sake of use as
an end (n. 1489, 3310).

Knowledges [cognitiones] open the way to the internal man,
and afterwards conjoin that man with the external in
accordance with uses (n. 1563, 1616).

The rational faculty has its birth by means of knowledges
[scientias et cognitiones] (n. 1895, 1900, 3086).

But not by means of knowledges [cognitiones] themselves,
but by means of affection for the uses derived from them
(n. 1895).

[2] There are knowledges [scientifica] that give entrance
to Divine truths, and knowledges [scientifica] that do not
(n. 5213).

Empty knowledges [scientifica] are to be destroyed (n.
1489, 1492, 1499, 1581).

Empty knowledges [scientifica] are such as have the loves
of self and of the world as an end, and sustain those
loves, and withdraw from love to God and love towards the
neighbor, because such knowledges close up the internal
man, even to the extent that man becomes unable to receive
any thing from heaven (n. 1563, 1600).

Knowledges [scientifica] are means to becoming wise and
means to becoming insane and by them the internal man is
either opened or closed, and thus the rational is either
enriched or destroyed (n. 4156, 8628, 9922).

[3] The internal man is opened and gradually perfected by
means of knowledges [scientifica] if man has good use as
an end, especially use that looks to external life (n.
3086).

Then knowledges [scientificis], which are in the natural
man, are met by spiritual and heavenly things from the
spiritual man, and these adopt such of them as are
suitable (n. 1495).

Then the uses of heavenly life are drawn forth by the Lord
and perfected and raised up out of the knowledges
[scientificis] in the natural man by means of the internal
man (n. 1895, 1896, 1900, 1901, 1902, 5871, 5874, 5901).

While incongruous and opposing knowledges [scientifica]
are rejected to the sides and banished (n. 5871, 5886,
5889).

[4] The sight of the internal man calls forth from the
knowledges [scientificis] of the external man only such
things as are in accord with its love (n. 9394).

As seen by the internal man what pertains to the love is
at the center and in brightness, but what is not of the
love is at the sides and in obscurity (n. 6068, 6084).

Suitable knowledges [scientifica] are gradually implanted
in man's loves and as it were dwell in them (n. 6325).

If man were born into love towards the neighbor he would
be born into intelligence, but because he is born into the
loves of self and of the world he is born into total
ignorance (n. 6323, 6325).

Knowledge [scientia], intelligence, and wisdom are sons of
love to God and of love towards the neighbor (n. 1226,
2049, 2116).

[5] It is one thing to be wise, another thing to
understand, another to know [scire], and another to do;
nevertheless, in those that possess spiritual life these
follow in order, and exist together in doing or deeds (n.
10331).

Also it is one thing to know [scire], another to
acknowledge, and another to have faith (n. 896).

[6] Knowledges [scientifica], which pertain to the
external or natural man, are in the light of the world,
but truths that have been made truths of faith and of
love, and have thus acquired life, are in the light of
heaven (n. 5212).

The truths that have acquired spiritual life are
comprehended by means of natural ideas (n. 5510).

Spiritual influx is from the internal or spiritual man
into the knowledges [scientifica] that are in the external
or natural man (n. 1940, 8005).

Knowledges [scientifica] are receptacles, and as it were
vessels, for the truth and good that belong to the
internal man (n. 1469, 1496, 3068, 5489, 6004, 6023, 6052,
6071, 6077, 7770, 9922).

Knowledges [scientifica] are like mirrors in which the
truths and goods of the internal man appear as an image
(n. 5201).

There they are together as in their outmost (n. 5373,
5874, 5886, 5901, 6004, 6023, 6052, 6071).

[7] Influx is not physical but spiritual, that is, influx
is from the internal man into the external, thus into the
knowledges of the external; and not from the external into
the internal, thus not from the knowledges [scientificis]
of the external into truths of faith (n. 3219, 5119, 5259,
5427, 5428, 5478, 6322, 9110).

A beginning must be made from the truths of doctrine of
the church, which are from the Word, and those truths must
first be acknowledged, and then it is permissible to
consult knowledges [scientifica] (n. 6047).

Thus it is permissible for those who are in an affirmative
state in regard to truths of faith to confirm them
intellectually by means of knowledges [scientifica], but
not for those who are in a negative state (n. 2568, 2588,
4760, 6047).

He that will not believe Divine truths until he is
convinced by means of knowledges [scientificis] will never
believe (n. 2094, 2832).

To enter from knowledge [scientificis] into the truths of
faith is contrary to order (n. 10236).

Those who do so become demented respecting the things of
heaven and the church (n. 128, 129, 130).

They fall into the falsities of evil (n. 232, 233, 6047).

In the other life when they think about spiritual matters
they become as it were drunken (n. 1072).

More respecting the character of such (n. 196).

Examples showing that things spiritual cannot be
comprehended when entered into through knowledges
[scientifica] (n. 233, 2094, 2196, 2203, 2209).

In spiritual things many of the learned are more demented
than the simple, for the reason that they are in a
negative state, which they confirm by means of the
knowledges [scientifica] which they have continually and
in abundance before their sight (n. 4760, 8629).

[8] Those who reason from knowledges [scientificis]
against the truths of faith reason keenly because they
reason from the fallacies of the senses, which are
engaging and convincing, because they cannot easily be
dispelled (n. 5700).

What things are fallacies of the senses, and what they are
(n. 5084, 5094, 6400, 6948).

Those that have no understanding of truth, and also those
that are in evil, are able to reason about the truths and
goods of faith, but are not able to understand them (n.
4214).

Intelligence does not consist in merely confirming dogma
but in seeing whether it is true or not before it is
confirmed (n. 4741, 6047).

[9] Knowledges [scientiae] are of no avail after death,
but only that which man has imbibed in his understanding
and life by means of knowledges [scientias] (n. 2480).

Still all knowledge [scientifica] remains after death,
although it is quiescent (n. 2476-2479, 2481-2486).

[10] Knowledge [scientifica] with the evil are falsities,
because they are adapted to evils, but with the good the
same knowledges are truths, because applied to what is
good (n. 6917).

True knowledges [scientifica] with the evil are not true,
however much they may appear to be true when uttered,
because there is evil within them (n. 10331).

[11] An example of the desire to know [sciendi], which
spirits have (n. 1974). Angels have an illimitable longing
to know [sciendi] and to become wise, since learning
[scientia], intelligence, and wisdom are spiritual food
(n. 3114, 4459, 4792, 4976, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5410,
5426, 5576, 5582, 5588, 5655, 6277, 8562, 9003).

The knowledge [scientia] of the ancients was the knowledge
[scientia] of correspondences and representations, by
which they gained entrance into the knowledge
[cognitionem] of spiritual things; but that knowledge
[scientia] at this day is wholly lost (n. 4749, 4844,
4964, 4965).

[12] For spiritual truths to be comprehended the following
universals must be known [scientur]. (i) All things in the
universe have relation to good and truth and to their
conjunction that they may be anything, thus to love and
faith and their conjunction. (ii) Man has understanding
and will; and the understanding is the receptacle of truth
and the will of good; and all things in man have relation
to these two and to their conjunction, as all things have
relation to truth and good and their conjunction. (iii)
There is an internal man and an external man, which are as
distinct from each other as heaven and the world are, and
yet for a man to be truly a man, these must make one. (iv)
The internal man is in the light of heaven, and the
external man is in the light of the world; and the light
of heaven is Divine truth itself, from which is all
intelligence. (v) Between the things in the internal man
and those in the external there is a correspondence,
therefore the different aspect they present is such that
they can be distinguished only by means of a knowledge
[scientiam] of correspondences. Unless these and many
other things are known [scientur], nothing but incongruous
ideas of spiritual and heavenly truths can be conceived
and formed; therefore without these universals the
knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones] of the natural man
can be of but little service to the rational man for
understanding and growth. This makes clear how necessary
knowledges [scientifica] are.

357. XXXIX. THE RICH AND THE POOR IN HEAVEN.

There are various opinions about reception into heaven. Some are of the opinion that the poor are received and the rich are not; some that the rich and the poor are equally received; some that the rich can be received only by giving up their wealth and becoming like the poor; and proofs are found in the Word for all of these opinions. But those who make a distinction in regard to heaven between the rich and the poor do not understand the Word. In its interiors the Word is spiritual, but in the letter it is natural; consequently those who understand the Word only in accordance with its literal sense, and not according to any spiritual sense, err in many respects, especially about the rich and the poor; for example, that it is as difficult for the rich to enter into heaven as for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle; and that it is easy for the poor because they are poor, since it is said,

Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of the
heavens (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20, 21).

But those who know anything of the spiritual sense of the Word think otherwise; they know that heaven is for all who live a life of faith and love, whether rich or poor. But who are meant in the Word by "the rich" and who by "the poor" will be told in what follows. From much conversation and interaction with angels it has been granted me to know with certainty that the rich enter heaven just as easily as the poor, and that no man is shut out of heaven on account of his wealth, or received into heaven on account of his poverty. Both the rich and the poor are in heaven, and many of the rich in greater glory and happiness than the poor.

358. It should be said to begin with that a man may acquire riches and accumulate wealth as far as opportunity is given, if it is not done by craft or fraud; that he may enjoy the delicacies of food and drink if he does not place his life therein; that he may have a palatial dwelling in accord with his condition, have interaction with others in like condition, frequent places of amusement, talk about the affairs of the world, and need not go about like a devotee with a sad and sorrowful countenance and drooping head, but may be joyful and cheerful; nor need he give his goods to the poor except so far as affection leads him; in a word, he may live outwardly precisely like a man of the world; and all this will be no obstacle to his entering heaven, provided that inwardly in himself he thinks about God as he ought, and acts sincerely and justly in respect to his neighbor. For a man is such as his affection and thought are, or such as his love and faith are, and from these all his outward acts derive their life; since acting is willing, and speaking is thinking, acting being from the will, and speaking from the thought. So where it is said in the Word that man will be judged according to his deeds, and will be rewarded according to his works, it is meant that he will be judged and rewarded in accordance with his thought and affection, which are the source of his deeds, or which are in his deeds; for deeds are nothing apart from these, and are precisely such as these are.{1} All this shows that the man's external accomplishes nothing, but only his internal, which is the source of the external. For example: if a man acts honestly and refrains from fraud solely because he fears the laws and the loss of reputation and thereby of honor or gain, and if that fear did not restrain him would defraud others whenever he could; although such a man's deeds outwardly appear honest, his thought and will are fraud; and because he is inwardly dishonest and fraudulent he has hell in himself. But he who acts honestly and refrains from fraud because it is against God and against the neighbor would have no wish to defraud another if he could; his thought and will are conscience, and he has heaven in himself. The deeds of these two appear alike in outward form, but inwardly they are wholly unlike.

{Footnote 1} It is frequently said in the Word that man will be
judged and will be rewarded according to his deeds and works
(n. 3934). By "deeds and works" deeds and works in their
internal form are meant, not in their external form, since good
works in external form are likewise done by the wicked, but in
internal and external form together only by the good (n. 3934,
6073). Works, like all activities, have their being and outgo
[esse et existere] and their quality from the interiors of man,
which pertain to his thought and will, since they proceed from
these; therefore such as the interiors are such are the works
(n. 3934, 8911, 10331). That is, such as the interiors are in
regard to love and faith (n. 3934, 6073, 10331, 10332). Thus
works contain love and faith, and are love and faith in effect
(n. 10331). Therefore to be judged and rewarded in accordance
with deeds and works, means in accordance with love and faith
(n. 3147, 3934, 6073, 8911, 10331, 10332). So far as works look
to self and the world they are not good, but they are good so
far as they look to the Lord and the neighbor (n. 3147).

359. Since a man can live outwardly as others do, can grow rich, keep a plentiful table, dwell in an elegant house and wear fine clothing according to his condition and function, can enjoy delights and gratifications, and engage in worldly affairs for the sake of his occupation and business and for the life both of the mind and body, provided he inwardly acknowledges the Divine and wishes well to the neighbor, it is evident that to enter upon the way to heaven is not so difficult as many believe. The sole difficulty lies in being able to resist the love of self and the world, and to prevent their becoming dominant; for this is the source of all evils.{1} That this is not so difficult as is believed is meant by these words of the Lord:

Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye
shall find rest to your souls; for My yoke is easy and My
burden is light (Matt. 11:29, 30).

The Lord's yoke is easy and His burden light because a man is led by the Lord and not by self just to the extent that he resists the evils that flow forth from love of self and of the world; and because the Lord then resists these evils in man and removes them.

{Footnote 1} All evils are from the love of self and of the
world (n. 1307, 1308, 1321, 1594, 1691, 3413, 7255, 7376, 7488,
7490, 8318, 9335, 9348, 10038, 10742). These are contempt of
others, enmities, hatred, revenge, cruelty, deceit (n. 6667,
7370-7374, 9348, 10038, 10742). Into such loves man is born,
thus in them are his inherited evils (n. 694, 4317, 5660).

360. I have spoken with some after death who, while they lived in the world, renounced the world and gave themselves up to an almost solitary life, in order that by an abstraction of the thoughts from worldly things they might have opportunity for pious meditations, believing that thus they might enter the way to heaven. But these in the other life are of a sad disposition; they despise others who are not like themselves; they are indignant that they do not have a happier lot than others, believing that they have merited it; they have no interest in others, and turn away from the duties of charity by which there is conjunction with heaven. They desire heaven more than others; but when they are taken up among the angels they induce anxieties that disturb the happiness of the angels; and in consequence they are sent away; and when sent away they betake themselves to desert places, where they lead a life like that which they lived in the world. [2] Man can be formed for heaven only by means of the world. In the world are the outmost effects in which everyone's affection must be terminated; for unless affection puts itself forth or flows out into acts, which is done in association with others, it is suffocated to such a degree finally that man has no longer any regard for the neighbor, but only for himself. All this makes clear that a life of charity towards the neighbor, which is doing what is just and right in every work and in every employment, is what leads to heaven, and not a life of piety apart from charity;{1} and from this it follows that only to the extent that man is engaged in the employments of life can charity be exercised and the life of charity grow; and this is impossible to the extent that man separates himself from those employments. [3] On this subject I will speak now from experience. Of those who while in the world were employed in trade and commerce and became rich through these pursuits there are many in heaven, but not so many of those who were in stations of honor and became rich through those employments; and for the reason that these latter by the gains and honors that resulted from their dispensing justice and equity, and also by the lucrative and honorable positions bestowed on them were led into loving themselves and the world, and thereby separating their thoughts and affections from heaven and turning them to themselves. For to the extent that a man loves self and the world and looks to self and the world in everything, he alienates himself from the Divine and separates himself from heaven.

{Footnote 1} Charity towards the neighbor is doing what is
good, just, and right, in every work and every employment (n.
8120-8122). Thus charity towards the neighbor extends to all
things and each thing that a man thinks, wills, and does (n.
8124). A life of piety apart from a life of charity is of no
avail, but together they are profitable for all things (n.
8252, 8253).

361. As to the lot of the rich in heaven, they live more splendidly than others. Some of them dwell in palaces within which everything is resplendent as if with gold and silver. They have an abundance of all things for the uses of life, but they do not in the least set their heart on these things, but only on uses. Uses are clearly seen as if they were in light, but the gold and silver are seen obscurely, and comparatively as if in shade. This is because while they were in the world they loved uses, and loved gold and silver only as means and instruments. It is the uses that are thus resplendent in heaven, the good of use like gold and the truth of use like silver.{1} Therefore their wealth in heaven is such as their uses were in the world, and such, too, are their delight and happiness. Good uses are providing oneself and one's own with the necessaries of life; also desiring wealth for the sake of one's country and for the sake of one's neighbor, whom a rich man can in many ways benefit more than a poor man. These are good uses because one is able thereby to withdraw his mind from an indolent life which is harmful, since in such a life man's thoughts run to evil because of the evil inherent in him. These uses are good to the extent that they have the Divine in them, that is, to the extent that man looks to the Divine and to heaven, and finds his good in these, and sees in wealth only a subservient good.

{Footnote 1} Every good has its delight from use and in
accordance with use (n. 3049, 4984, 7038); also its quality;
and in consequence such as the use is such is the good (n.
3049). All the happiness and delight of life is from uses (n.
997). In general, life is a life of uses (n. 1964). Angelic
life consists in the goods of love and charity, thus in
performing uses (n. 454). The ends that man has in view, which
are uses, are the only things that the Lord, and thus the
angels, consider (n. 1317, 1645, 5844). The kingdom of the Lord
is a kingdom of uses (n. 454, 696, 1103, 3645, 4054, 7038).
Performing uses is serving the Lord (n. 7038). Everyone's
character is such as are the uses he performs (n. 4054, 6315);
illustrated (n. 7038).

362. But the lot of the rich that have not believed in the Divine, and have cast out of their minds the things pertaining to heaven and the church, is the opposite of this. Such are in hell, where filth, misery, and want exist; and into these riches that are loved as an end are changed; and not only riches, but also their very uses, which are either a wish to live as they like and indulge in pleasures, and to have opportunity to give the mind more fully and freely to shameful practices, or a wish to rise above others whom they despise. Such riches and such uses, because they have nothing spiritual, but only what is earthly in them, become filthy; for a spiritual purpose in riches and their uses is like a soul in the body, or like the light of heaven in moist ground; and such riches and uses become putrid as a body does without a soul, or as moist ground does without the light of heaven. Such are those that have been led and drawn away from heaven by riches.

363. Every man's ruling affection or love remains with him after death, nor is it rooted out to eternity, since a man's spirit is wholly what his love is, and what is unknown, the body of every spirit and angel is the outward form of his love, exactly corresponding to his inward form, which is the form of his disposition and mind; consequently the quality of his spirit is known from his face, movements, and speech. While a man is living in the world the quality of the spirit would be known if he had not learned to counterfeit in his face, movements, and speech what is not his own. All this shows that man remains to eternity such as his ruling affection or love is. It has been granted me to talk with some who lived seventeen hundred years ago, and whose lives are well known from writings of that time, and it was found that the same love still rules them as when they were on the earth. This makes clear also that the love of riches, and of uses from riches, remains with everyone to eternity, and that it is exactly the same as the love acquired in the world, yet with the difference that in the case of those who devoted their riches to good uses riches are changed in the other world into delights which are in accord with the uses performed; while in the case of those who devoted their riches to evil uses riches are turned into mere filth, in which they then take the same delight as they did in the world in their riches devoted to evil uses. Such then take delight in filth because filthy pleasures and shameful acts, which had been the uses to which they had devoted their riches, and also avarice, which is a love of riches without regard to use, correspond to filth. Spiritual filth is nothing else.

364. The poor come into heaven not on account of their poverty but because of their life. Everyone's life follows him, whether he be rich or poor. There is no peculiar mercy for one in preference to another;{1} he that has lived well is received, while he that has not lived well is rejected. Moreover, poverty leads and draws man away from heaven just as much as wealth does. There are many among the poor who are not content with their lot, who strive after many things, and believe riches to be blessings;{2} and when they do not gain them are much provoked, and harbor ill thoughts about the Divine providence; they also envy others the good things they possess, and are as ready as any one to defraud others whenever they have opportunity, and to indulge in filthy pleasures. But this is not true of the poor who are content with their lot, and are careful and diligent in their work, who love labor better than idleness, and act sincerely and faithfully, and at the same time live a Christian life. I have now and then talked with those belonging to the peasantry and common people, who while living in the world believed in God and did what was just and right in their occupations. Since they had an affection for knowing truth they inquired about charity and about faith, having heard in this world much about faith and in the other life much about charity. They were therefore told that charity is everything that pertains to life, and faith everything that pertains to doctrine; consequently charity is willing and doing what is just and right in every work, and faith is thinking justly and rightly; and faith and charity are conjoined, the same as doctrine and a life in accordance with it, or the same as thought and will; and faith becomes charity when that which a man thinks justly and rightly he also wills and does, and then they are not two but one. This they well understood, and rejoiced, saying that in the world they did not understand believing to be anything else but living.

{Footnote 1} There can be no mercy apart from means, but only
mercy through means, that is, to those who live in accordance
with the commandments of the Lord; such the Lord by His mercy
leads continually in the world, and afterwards to eternity (n.
8700, 10659).

{Footnote 2} Dignities and riches are not real blessings,
therefore they are granted both to the wicked and to the good
(n. 8939, 10775, 10776). The real blessing is reception of love
and faith from the Lord, and conjunction thereby, for this is
the source of eternal happiness (n. 1420, 1422, 2846, 3017,
3406, 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584, 4216, 4981, 8939, 10495).

365. All this makes clear that the rich and the poor alike come into heaven, the one as easily as the other. The belief that the poor enter heaven easily and the rich with difficulty comes from not understanding the Word where the rich and the poor are mentioned. In the Word those that have an abundance of knowledges of good and truth, thus who are within the church where the Word is, are meant in the spiritual sense by the "rich;" while those who lack these knowledges, and yet desire them, thus who are outside of the church and where there is no Word, are meant by the "poor." [2] The rich man clothed in purple and fine linen, and cast into hell, means the Jewish nation, which is called rich because it had the Word and had an abundance of knowledges of good and truth therefrom, "garments of purple" signifying knowledges of good, and "garments of fine linen" knowledges of truth.{1} But the poor man who lay at the rich man's gate and longed to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and who was carried by angels into heaven, means the nations that have no knowledges of good and truth and yet desired them (Luke 16:19-31). Also the rich that were called to a great supper and excused themselves mean the Jewish nation, and the poor brought in in their place mean the nations outside of the church (Luke 14:16-24). [3] By the rich man of whom the Lord says:

It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than
for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God (Matt.
19:24),

the rich in both the natural sense and the spiritual sense are meant. In the natural sense the rich are those that have an abundance of riches and set their heart upon them; but in the spiritual sense they are those that have an abundance of knowledges and learning, which are spiritual riches, and who desire by means of these to introduce themselves into the things of heaven and the church from their own intelligence. And because this is contrary to Divine order it is said to be "easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye," a "camel" signifying in general in the spiritual sense the knowing faculty and things known, and a "needle's eye" signifying spiritual truth.{2} That such is the meaning of a "camel" and a "needle's eye" is not at present known, because the knowledge that teaches what is signified in the spiritual sense by the things said in the literal sense of the Word has not up to this time been disclosed. In every particular of the Word there is a spiritual sense and also a natural sense; for the Word was made to consist wholly of correspondences between natural and spiritual things in order that conjunction of heaven with the world, or of angels with men might thereby be effected, direct conjunction having ceased. This makes clear who in particular are meant in the Word by the "rich man." [4] That the "rich" in the Word mean in the spiritual sense those who are in knowledges of truth and good, and "riches" the knowledges themselves, which are spiritual riches, can be seen from various passages (as in Isa. 10:12-14; 30:6, 7; 45:3; Jer. 17:3; 48:7; 50:36, 37; 51:13; Dan. 5:2-4; Ezek. 26:7, 12; 27:1 to the end; Zech. 9:3, 4; Psalm 45:12; Hosea 12:9; Apoc. 3:17, 18; Luke 14:33; and elsewhere). Also that the "poor" in the spiritual sense signify those who do not possess knowledges of good and of truth, and yet desire them (Matt. 11:5; Luke 6:20, 21; 14:21; Isa. 14:30; 29:19; 41:17, 18; Zeph. 3:12, 13). All these passages may be seen explained in accordance with the spiritual sense in the Arcana Coelestia (n. 10227).

{Footnote 1} "Garments" signify truths, thus knowledges (n.
1073, 2576, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9952, 10536). "Purple"
signifies celestial good (n. 9467). "Fine linen" signifies
truth from a celestial origin (n. 5319, 9469, 9744).

{Footnote 2} A "camel" signifies in the Word the knowing
faculty and knowledge in general (n. 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145).
What is meant by "needlework, working with a needle," and
therefore by a "needle" (n. 9688). To enter from knowledge into
the truths of faith is contrary to Divine order (n. 10236).
Those that do this become demented in respect to the thing of
heaven and the church (n. 128-130, 232, 233, 6047). And in the
other life, when they think about spiritual things they become
as it were drunken (n. 1072). Further about such (n. 196).
Examples showing that when spiritual things are entered into
through knowledges they cannot be comprehended (n. 233, 2094,
2196, 2203, 2209). It is permissible to enter from spiritual
truth into knowledges which pertain to the natural man, but not
the reverse, because there can be spiritual influx into the
natural, but not natural influx into the spiritual (n. 3219,
5119, 5259, 5427, 5428, 5478, 6322, 9110). The truths of the
word and of the church must first be acknowledged, after which
it is permissible to consider knowledges, but not before (n.
6047).

366. XL. MARRIAGES IN HEAVEN.

As heaven is from the human race, and angels therefore are of both sexes, and from creation woman is for man and man is for woman, thus the one belongs to the other, and this love is innate in both, it follows that there are marriages in heaven as well as on the earth. But marriages in heaven differ widely from marriages on the earth. Therefore what marriages in heaven are, and how they differ from marriages on the earth and wherein they are like them, shall now be told.

367. Marriage in heaven is a conjunction of two into one mind. It must first be explained what this conjunction is. The mind consists of two parts, one called the understanding and the other the will. When these two parts act as one they are called one mind. In heaven the husband acts the part called the understanding and the wife acts the part called the will. When this conjunction, which belongs to man's interiors, descends into the lower parts pertaining to the body, it is perceived and felt as love, and this love is marriage love. This shows that marriage love has its origin in the conjunction of two into one mind. This in heaven is called cohabitation; and the two are not called two but one. So in heaven a married pair is spoken of, not as two, but as one angel.{1}

{Footnote 1} It is not known at this day what marriage love is,
or whence it is (n. 2727). Marriage love is willing what
another wills, thus willing mutually and reciprocally (n.
2731). Those that are in marriage love dwell together in the
inmosts of life (n. 2732). It is such a union of two minds that
from love they are one (n. 10168, 10169). For the love of
minds, which is spiritual love, is a union (n. 1594, 2057,
3939, 4018, 5807, 6195, 7081-7086, 7501, 10130).