Spiritual Heat And Spiritual Light - Divine Good And Divine Truth That Flows To Us
Lesson: Heaven and Hell 13-16, 18
Lesson: Heaven and Hell 13-16, 18
". . . . those who make good and truth the principles of their life by intention
and action become likenesses of Him and are conjoined to Him" (HH).
and action become likenesses of Him and are conjoined to Him" (HH).
Our doctrinal study this time is from the section of Heaven and Its Wonder and Hell which is entitled "The Divine of the Lord in Heaven is love to Him and Charity towards the neighbor" (HH 13). We begin by asking, what is it that comes to our mind about Heaven? It is a place or a location? Again, what do we think about love or charity?
From number 13 of our lesson we learn that there is an inflow of the Divine from the Lord into Heaven and it is called Divine Truth. The Divine Truth of Itself is not separate from the essence of God; even as good and truth does not proceed separately from the Divine. We learn, there, that Divine Truth is from Divine Love. However from our lesson, we also learn that even though it is from Divine Love Divine Truth is conjoined with Divine Love and is related to each other as heat from the fire of the sun and as light therefrom. From this we see that the inflow from the Lord is Divine Good conjoined to Divine Truth. So, we may say from the Divine of the Lord flow Divine Truth that is conjoined to Divine Good.
The result is that those in Heaven love the Lord, which is life with them from the Lord. We learn that life from the Lord is the Divine Good, that is, the good of love through and from the Divine Truth. We read,
Love in Heaven is the Divine in Heaven or the love within angels or men and is the Lord's Divine (HH 14). We, however, must know how love becomes love with man. Just by saying that the Lord with man is love with a man means nothing unless experienced.
Love with man is the Lord's life within him; but it is in accordance with the reception of that love or life. We are either in Heaven within the degree of love we have received or we are in hell according to our love of self and the world. Now, in addition to the Divine Truth from the Divine Love, which is Divine Good conjoined to Divine Truth with a man, there, then is the good of love and the very being of life with a man. This every being of life is called love and, thus, it makes Heaven with and in man. This love causes spiritual conjunction. (cf. HH 14).
If we understand that it is love that conjoins angels to the Lord and to each other, then we will see that that same love conjoins the man of the Church with the Lord and with each other to the degree that love from the Lord is with him. We should immediately come to a realization concerning love: first, it is not ours, it is the Lord's, and second, it is not natural, but spiritual. Although, it is manifested in the natural through willing and doing. This applies to good and truth equally as well, and if we say it is ours or that we do good from ourselves, we destroy the life or the love coming from the Lord into us. Thus, the Word amply illustrates by the heat and light coming from the sun to the things of earth causing them to become fruitful, whereas, without heat, these things are torpid and lifeless. It is likewise with spiritual life or with love from the Lord or the Sun of the spiritual world. We, too, are lifeless without any true life.
The Word is seen by us in a natural understanding, and as such, applies to us as we are in the natural. However, why does the Lord reveal to us these truths about the life of angels? Is it so we can gain knowledge for ourselves to store in our memories? The question is why are stories given in the Word concerning Heaven and the angels? The Word is for our regeneration, for our salvation, and as such, we can be led to receive the Lord's life, which is here called His love, just as the angels do, and that life is spiritual. We are to be conjoined with the Lord's spirit within us. That spirit is given to us through our reformation. Do we need to wait until we leave the natural world before we have spiritual life from the Lord in us? The Lord's New Church is a spiritual Church. As such, are we still waiting for the Divine Human to descend or do we reject the Divine Truth that angels in Heaven receive from the Divine and that flows into us from the Lord? Remember that love is spiritual, so knowing or understanding natural truth need to become spiritual with us in order to become genuine love and to conjoin us with the Lord and Heaven. In fact, without His love we would never come into any degree of Heavenly life.
We are to receive the same two loves, here, while on earth as do angels in Heaven: love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor. Yet, we are born with the love of self and of the world. This love of self has closed our minds to any spiritual love coming from the Lord. We are in the natural state and, as such, see the person and his personality and not the good and the truth he has from the Lord. If the person favors our will, we pursue their friendship. We often fail to look for the good and the truth that they have from the Lord as we are directed by the Word to do. All our thoughts lie on the natural plane. When we love a neighbor, we often love him because or what we will gain by the friendship. This should not be the case. Our love towards the neighbor should be because we see some truth and good and know it is the Lord's, not the person's. For, we need to love that truth and good for the sake of truth and good and not for ourselves.
In Heaven one does not love the person, but they love the good that is from love in the person. In other words, we are to love the inflow of Divine Truth from the Lord. This inflow that is with man is the Lord's love and it is His life as we have already shown. This brings us to another aspect of such love: that of willing and doing. What is love without a willing and a doing except an idea?
The Lord has commanded that we love one another as He loves us and He has commanded that we love Him with all our heart, all our soul, and our mind. In the Word we learn that to love the Lord is willing and doing good from His commandments and to love the neighbor is willing and doing truth, which is from the Word. This is not taught clearly in the Old Christian Churches, but it is taught clearly in the Lord's New Church. Yet, with all men it is something that might be known, for when we will and do what is asked of us by someone else, we are conjoined with that person as he reciprocates our intentions. (cf. HH16). It is in this way, when we reciprocate the Lord's love, that we become conjoined with Him and Heaven while still here in this world.
Since it is love that causes spiritual conjunction, we are then conjoined with the Lord and Heaven. So then, we are, also, conjoined spiritually with other persons when we willingly choose and do his or her desire or will. If we let others led us to do their wills we will become conjoined with them just as we are when we follow the Lord's commandants. Their love becomes our loves, that is, each loves himself and whatever worldly gain he desires. Now, of course, this is wrong. This leads us away from the Lord, not to the Lord. We are to will and to do the Lord's commandments and not what others command. They are to love Him and to love the neighbor, which is to love the good and the truth from the Lord within a man and within our self. We must not love the person for the sake of ourselves.
The good coming from the Lord, which we have learned, is the good of love. It has within the Lord's likeness. If we love the person or the neighbor, then, the person's spirit going forth is loved whether it is good and is the truth coming from the Lord or is evil and false coming from hell. If it is coming from the person himself, it is in the likeness of the person. We know that the person, like us, has no good or truth of his own. We must receive the good going forth from the Lord; for when we do, we then "make good and truth the principle of (our) life by intention and action and become likenesses of Him and are conjoined to Him" (HH 16). While we are in this world we are unaware of any spiritual sphere of life, for we are in life's natural degree. If we are unaware of such spheres of life, we cannot be affected by them, for if we were, we would not be able to resist the persuasion of their love and would rush headlong into hell.
However, we are here in this world in spiritual equilibrium because of the subjugation of evils in hell by the Lord and, so, we can shun falsities and evil ideas coming to us that are contrary to the Word. Nonetheless that does not prevent the thoughts of others to be often expressed causing us to be led in our own desires for ourselves. One's affections are revealed to us and, as such, we may or we may not will to do them according to our own loves. If we will and do another person's will, we then conjoin ourselves with them whether or not their will is to do good from the Lord or from themselves.
If we hear the Lord's voice, that is, if we have heard His Word, and will to do His commandments, then His good and His truth, that is, His love becomes a receptacle of all the things of Heaven within us (HH 18). It is then that we have peace, intelligence, wisdom and happiness, for we will, then, have within us Heaven and the Lord. End.
From number 13 of our lesson we learn that there is an inflow of the Divine from the Lord into Heaven and it is called Divine Truth. The Divine Truth of Itself is not separate from the essence of God; even as good and truth does not proceed separately from the Divine. We learn, there, that Divine Truth is from Divine Love. However from our lesson, we also learn that even though it is from Divine Love Divine Truth is conjoined with Divine Love and is related to each other as heat from the fire of the sun and as light therefrom. From this we see that the inflow from the Lord is Divine Good conjoined to Divine Truth. So, we may say from the Divine of the Lord flow Divine Truth that is conjoined to Divine Good.
The result is that those in Heaven love the Lord, which is life with them from the Lord. We learn that life from the Lord is the Divine Good, that is, the good of love through and from the Divine Truth. We read,
- "The Divine Good which is compared to heat is the good of love with the angels, whereas the Divine Truth which is compared to light is that through which and from which comes the good of love" (HH 13e).
Love in Heaven is the Divine in Heaven or the love within angels or men and is the Lord's Divine (HH 14). We, however, must know how love becomes love with man. Just by saying that the Lord with man is love with a man means nothing unless experienced.
Love with man is the Lord's life within him; but it is in accordance with the reception of that love or life. We are either in Heaven within the degree of love we have received or we are in hell according to our love of self and the world. Now, in addition to the Divine Truth from the Divine Love, which is Divine Good conjoined to Divine Truth with a man, there, then is the good of love and the very being of life with a man. This every being of life is called love and, thus, it makes Heaven with and in man. This love causes spiritual conjunction. (cf. HH 14).
If we understand that it is love that conjoins angels to the Lord and to each other, then we will see that that same love conjoins the man of the Church with the Lord and with each other to the degree that love from the Lord is with him. We should immediately come to a realization concerning love: first, it is not ours, it is the Lord's, and second, it is not natural, but spiritual. Although, it is manifested in the natural through willing and doing. This applies to good and truth equally as well, and if we say it is ours or that we do good from ourselves, we destroy the life or the love coming from the Lord into us. Thus, the Word amply illustrates by the heat and light coming from the sun to the things of earth causing them to become fruitful, whereas, without heat, these things are torpid and lifeless. It is likewise with spiritual life or with love from the Lord or the Sun of the spiritual world. We, too, are lifeless without any true life.
The Word is seen by us in a natural understanding, and as such, applies to us as we are in the natural. However, why does the Lord reveal to us these truths about the life of angels? Is it so we can gain knowledge for ourselves to store in our memories? The question is why are stories given in the Word concerning Heaven and the angels? The Word is for our regeneration, for our salvation, and as such, we can be led to receive the Lord's life, which is here called His love, just as the angels do, and that life is spiritual. We are to be conjoined with the Lord's spirit within us. That spirit is given to us through our reformation. Do we need to wait until we leave the natural world before we have spiritual life from the Lord in us? The Lord's New Church is a spiritual Church. As such, are we still waiting for the Divine Human to descend or do we reject the Divine Truth that angels in Heaven receive from the Divine and that flows into us from the Lord? Remember that love is spiritual, so knowing or understanding natural truth need to become spiritual with us in order to become genuine love and to conjoin us with the Lord and Heaven. In fact, without His love we would never come into any degree of Heavenly life.
We are to receive the same two loves, here, while on earth as do angels in Heaven: love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor. Yet, we are born with the love of self and of the world. This love of self has closed our minds to any spiritual love coming from the Lord. We are in the natural state and, as such, see the person and his personality and not the good and the truth he has from the Lord. If the person favors our will, we pursue their friendship. We often fail to look for the good and the truth that they have from the Lord as we are directed by the Word to do. All our thoughts lie on the natural plane. When we love a neighbor, we often love him because or what we will gain by the friendship. This should not be the case. Our love towards the neighbor should be because we see some truth and good and know it is the Lord's, not the person's. For, we need to love that truth and good for the sake of truth and good and not for ourselves.
In Heaven one does not love the person, but they love the good that is from love in the person. In other words, we are to love the inflow of Divine Truth from the Lord. This inflow that is with man is the Lord's love and it is His life as we have already shown. This brings us to another aspect of such love: that of willing and doing. What is love without a willing and a doing except an idea?
The Lord has commanded that we love one another as He loves us and He has commanded that we love Him with all our heart, all our soul, and our mind. In the Word we learn that to love the Lord is willing and doing good from His commandments and to love the neighbor is willing and doing truth, which is from the Word. This is not taught clearly in the Old Christian Churches, but it is taught clearly in the Lord's New Church. Yet, with all men it is something that might be known, for when we will and do what is asked of us by someone else, we are conjoined with that person as he reciprocates our intentions. (cf. HH16). It is in this way, when we reciprocate the Lord's love, that we become conjoined with Him and Heaven while still here in this world.
Since it is love that causes spiritual conjunction, we are then conjoined with the Lord and Heaven. So then, we are, also, conjoined spiritually with other persons when we willingly choose and do his or her desire or will. If we let others led us to do their wills we will become conjoined with them just as we are when we follow the Lord's commandants. Their love becomes our loves, that is, each loves himself and whatever worldly gain he desires. Now, of course, this is wrong. This leads us away from the Lord, not to the Lord. We are to will and to do the Lord's commandments and not what others command. They are to love Him and to love the neighbor, which is to love the good and the truth from the Lord within a man and within our self. We must not love the person for the sake of ourselves.
The good coming from the Lord, which we have learned, is the good of love. It has within the Lord's likeness. If we love the person or the neighbor, then, the person's spirit going forth is loved whether it is good and is the truth coming from the Lord or is evil and false coming from hell. If it is coming from the person himself, it is in the likeness of the person. We know that the person, like us, has no good or truth of his own. We must receive the good going forth from the Lord; for when we do, we then "make good and truth the principle of (our) life by intention and action and become likenesses of Him and are conjoined to Him" (HH 16). While we are in this world we are unaware of any spiritual sphere of life, for we are in life's natural degree. If we are unaware of such spheres of life, we cannot be affected by them, for if we were, we would not be able to resist the persuasion of their love and would rush headlong into hell.
However, we are here in this world in spiritual equilibrium because of the subjugation of evils in hell by the Lord and, so, we can shun falsities and evil ideas coming to us that are contrary to the Word. Nonetheless that does not prevent the thoughts of others to be often expressed causing us to be led in our own desires for ourselves. One's affections are revealed to us and, as such, we may or we may not will to do them according to our own loves. If we will and do another person's will, we then conjoin ourselves with them whether or not their will is to do good from the Lord or from themselves.
If we hear the Lord's voice, that is, if we have heard His Word, and will to do His commandments, then His good and His truth, that is, His love becomes a receptacle of all the things of Heaven within us (HH 18). It is then that we have peace, intelligence, wisdom and happiness, for we will, then, have within us Heaven and the Lord. End.
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