The Search for Intelligence and Wisdom
Finding a life of True Happiness and Peace - Part 4
By Rev. Paul Booth
Finding a life of True Happiness and Peace - Part 4
By Rev. Paul Booth
In explaining the nature of continuous degrees one sees that one's knowledge is increased as darkness decreases and he comes into light 'so to speak', while the discrete degrees of life are quite different. The simplest way to explain them is like prior things, posterior, and final things or like end, cause, and effect. In this way, one can see they are each separate by them self, but yet, when taken together they make one. Basically, it is like the various atmospheres of this world that are from the highest to the lowest, such as from the sun to the earth. Here, on earth they are called either ether or airs that are separated into various degrees. Another example of discrete degrees is like taking simple things, which are seen as one degree and collecting these so that there is a collection, which is then another degree and, when these are collected and made together, are called a composite, which is the final degree. Such would be a muscle, which is made up of separate fibers bundled together in groups which together with others make the muscle it self. In this you can see that each exists distinctly, but taken together they make one.
Thus, it is that in discrete degrees each and everything that exists in the spiritual world has co-existence in the natural world. So, discrete degrees are as, one above the other or within the other 'as it were'. Within the natural is the spiritual and within it, the celestial. In each discrete degree there are also continuous degrees. The derived benefit from this knowledge is how one comes to know the difference between spiritual things, such as love and wisdom, and how the Heavens are arranged, and thus, between spiritual heat and the light that proceeds in that world in the degree of atmosphere there thus, also, into the mind of man in the discrete degree that he is in, whether natural or spiritual.
In a more useful sense, one can learn of man's state, whether he is in reformation and regeneration, to even knowing the difference between the spiritual and the natural and, thus, one knows about correspondences between Heaven and earth. Finally, without knowledge of discrete degrees one cannot see causes. Instead, they only see effects and judge the cause from these, which he does by induction. This he does through continuous degrees, but with the effect that when it is cause will produce effects, though not continuously, but discretely. In other words, the cause is one thing while the effect is another. It is like the one forms and the other is formed.
We have said it is the mind that makes the man and that the mind is divided into discrete degrees of life, both his exterior mind and interior mind. So, when man is in the lower discrete degrees - the natural - into which he is born, the higher degrees - spiritual and celestial - are closed. Now, as he receives wisdom (truth from good as opposed to truth learned from the senses) from the Lord, the higher degrees in him are opened. What comes to mind, here, is then, that man is both in the degree that is open and at the same time in the continuous degree of that discrete degree that is opened in him. In that respect he is like a Heaven in the least form. Thus, his natural entity is like a cosmos and his spiritual entity is like Heaven
The natural or external man, by knowing discrete degrees, knows the state of his intelligence and wisdom or his regeneration because regeneration is the effect of receiving love and wisdom from the Lord. In addition, he comes to know about the Divine's influx through the Heavens from the Lord and the order in which is creation. For, from this knowledge of the discrete degrees of life, he knows from causes and not from effects. Example: Each thing that is discovered in this world is the effect of another 'as it were'. How often has a proposition been put forth and taught as truth, only to find later that it was not correct and was changed, that it was an error in one's inductive reasoning. Now, apply this to the discipline of religion concerning the Lord or God. What is learned by this is that by knowing of and about God from a continuous degree that many fallacies are also learned, thus, errors are multiplied one after another until they become falsities, though, still, many will call them truths. You can see, here, why there are different doctrines
We said continuous degrees in the natural world are like graduations of shade to light or from cold to heat and they are known by the senses and by sight. This is not so with the degrees of height or discrete degrees. In these, one sees what are end, cause, and effect as is in order from first to middle to last. Now, one can say that they know about such things - end, cause, and effect - that the end produces the cause, and through the cause is the effect, so that the end may exist. Still, they cannot be seen in their application to existing things, but these are merely known by abstraction, where, so long as analytical ideas are derived from physical ones in the thought.
All throughout nature one sees that discrete degrees do exist and that one exists from another and from that another, which is the ultimate or the natural degree of life. Each degree is discrete from the other. Yet, the things that do not appear before the eyes, also, are formed through discrete degrees. Take the mind as an example, which is of substances which are the receptacles or the home of thoughts and affections in the brains. Is there not natural and spiritual thoughts and affections as well? All are homogeneous; they have the same character and nature. If the natural thoughts are evil, then is not the spiritual thoughts evil too? As we saw that the motor fibers of our muscles are from least, to greater, and to greatest, and so, too, with the organic substance which are receptacles and abodes of thought and affection from the simplest to the general aggregate, which is called the brain. These are all homogeneous. What we see from this is that degrees of love and wisdom are homogeneous, but love and evil and also wisdom and falsity are not. The obvious conclusion is that things that are not homogeneous, but heterogeneous do not cause or form discrete degrees as do truths and goods, but falsities or evil are instead formed, for they are homogeneous; they are formed with others of the same character and nature.
In the Lord, in the Divine, there are these discrete degrees as they are in man, but they are infinite and uncreate, not finite or created. This is because the Lord is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself. Because this is true, He is also Use Itself. The reason is because love has use as its end, which it brings forth by wisdom. Look at it in this way, without use, love and wisdom has no boundary or end and, as such, they have no place to dwell. In other words, love cannot be or exist unless there is a use in which they are.
In these three discrete degrees - natural, spiritual, and celestial - there are the subjects of life. Now, it was shown that these three degrees are within a man's mind, and that man can elevate his mind even into the celestial. This is so because the man's interior mind, as we have shown, is as a Heaven in the least form. Now, since a man can elevate his mind into the spiritual and, even, into the celestial degree, that is, into wisdom and love, then such a man who does, when he leaves this world when his natural body is put off, will come into the degree opened while here in this world. From this new abode in the spiritual world where Heaven is, he is in that degree of life there - natural, spiritual, or celestial - unless he had not opened any of these degrees during his life while on earth. In other words, you could say angels were born men, but if these are not opened in him, he becomes as the evils which were opened in him. In truth Heaven is within man, unless the man rejects God's love and wisdom, and then hell is within.
Thus, it is that in discrete degrees each and everything that exists in the spiritual world has co-existence in the natural world. So, discrete degrees are as, one above the other or within the other 'as it were'. Within the natural is the spiritual and within it, the celestial. In each discrete degree there are also continuous degrees. The derived benefit from this knowledge is how one comes to know the difference between spiritual things, such as love and wisdom, and how the Heavens are arranged, and thus, between spiritual heat and the light that proceeds in that world in the degree of atmosphere there thus, also, into the mind of man in the discrete degree that he is in, whether natural or spiritual.
In a more useful sense, one can learn of man's state, whether he is in reformation and regeneration, to even knowing the difference between the spiritual and the natural and, thus, one knows about correspondences between Heaven and earth. Finally, without knowledge of discrete degrees one cannot see causes. Instead, they only see effects and judge the cause from these, which he does by induction. This he does through continuous degrees, but with the effect that when it is cause will produce effects, though not continuously, but discretely. In other words, the cause is one thing while the effect is another. It is like the one forms and the other is formed.
We have said it is the mind that makes the man and that the mind is divided into discrete degrees of life, both his exterior mind and interior mind. So, when man is in the lower discrete degrees - the natural - into which he is born, the higher degrees - spiritual and celestial - are closed. Now, as he receives wisdom (truth from good as opposed to truth learned from the senses) from the Lord, the higher degrees in him are opened. What comes to mind, here, is then, that man is both in the degree that is open and at the same time in the continuous degree of that discrete degree that is opened in him. In that respect he is like a Heaven in the least form. Thus, his natural entity is like a cosmos and his spiritual entity is like Heaven
The natural or external man, by knowing discrete degrees, knows the state of his intelligence and wisdom or his regeneration because regeneration is the effect of receiving love and wisdom from the Lord. In addition, he comes to know about the Divine's influx through the Heavens from the Lord and the order in which is creation. For, from this knowledge of the discrete degrees of life, he knows from causes and not from effects. Example: Each thing that is discovered in this world is the effect of another 'as it were'. How often has a proposition been put forth and taught as truth, only to find later that it was not correct and was changed, that it was an error in one's inductive reasoning. Now, apply this to the discipline of religion concerning the Lord or God. What is learned by this is that by knowing of and about God from a continuous degree that many fallacies are also learned, thus, errors are multiplied one after another until they become falsities, though, still, many will call them truths. You can see, here, why there are different doctrines
We said continuous degrees in the natural world are like graduations of shade to light or from cold to heat and they are known by the senses and by sight. This is not so with the degrees of height or discrete degrees. In these, one sees what are end, cause, and effect as is in order from first to middle to last. Now, one can say that they know about such things - end, cause, and effect - that the end produces the cause, and through the cause is the effect, so that the end may exist. Still, they cannot be seen in their application to existing things, but these are merely known by abstraction, where, so long as analytical ideas are derived from physical ones in the thought.
All throughout nature one sees that discrete degrees do exist and that one exists from another and from that another, which is the ultimate or the natural degree of life. Each degree is discrete from the other. Yet, the things that do not appear before the eyes, also, are formed through discrete degrees. Take the mind as an example, which is of substances which are the receptacles or the home of thoughts and affections in the brains. Is there not natural and spiritual thoughts and affections as well? All are homogeneous; they have the same character and nature. If the natural thoughts are evil, then is not the spiritual thoughts evil too? As we saw that the motor fibers of our muscles are from least, to greater, and to greatest, and so, too, with the organic substance which are receptacles and abodes of thought and affection from the simplest to the general aggregate, which is called the brain. These are all homogeneous. What we see from this is that degrees of love and wisdom are homogeneous, but love and evil and also wisdom and falsity are not. The obvious conclusion is that things that are not homogeneous, but heterogeneous do not cause or form discrete degrees as do truths and goods, but falsities or evil are instead formed, for they are homogeneous; they are formed with others of the same character and nature.
In the Lord, in the Divine, there are these discrete degrees as they are in man, but they are infinite and uncreate, not finite or created. This is because the Lord is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself. Because this is true, He is also Use Itself. The reason is because love has use as its end, which it brings forth by wisdom. Look at it in this way, without use, love and wisdom has no boundary or end and, as such, they have no place to dwell. In other words, love cannot be or exist unless there is a use in which they are.
In these three discrete degrees - natural, spiritual, and celestial - there are the subjects of life. Now, it was shown that these three degrees are within a man's mind, and that man can elevate his mind even into the celestial. This is so because the man's interior mind, as we have shown, is as a Heaven in the least form. Now, since a man can elevate his mind into the spiritual and, even, into the celestial degree, that is, into wisdom and love, then such a man who does, when he leaves this world when his natural body is put off, will come into the degree opened while here in this world. From this new abode in the spiritual world where Heaven is, he is in that degree of life there - natural, spiritual, or celestial - unless he had not opened any of these degrees during his life while on earth. In other words, you could say angels were born men, but if these are not opened in him, he becomes as the evils which were opened in him. In truth Heaven is within man, unless the man rejects God's love and wisdom, and then hell is within.