Every man who is in the spiritual affection of truth, that is, who loves truth itself because it is truth, is enlightened by the Lord when he reads the Word; but not the man who reads it from mere natural affection of truth, which is called the desire of knowing. The latter does not see anything except what agrees with his love, or with the principles which he has either himself adopted, or derived from others by hearing or reading.

In a few words therefore it shall be told whence and with what man there is enlightenment by means of the Word. That man has enlightenment who shuns evils because they are sins, and because they are against the Lord, and against His Divine laws. With this man and with no other, the spiritual mind is opened, and so far as it is opened, the light of heaven enters, from which light is all enlightenment in the Word.

For man then has a will for good, and this will, when it is determined to that use, becomes in the understanding first the affection of truth, then the perception of truth, soon by means of rational light the thought of truth, thus decision and conclusion, which as it passes thence into the memory, also passes into the life, and so remains.

This is the way of all enlightenment in the Word, and also the way of reformation and regeneration of man. But first the memory must needs have knowledges both of spiritual and natural things, for these are the stores into which the Lord operates by means of the light of heaven, and the fuller these are and freer from confirmed falsities, the more enlightened is the perception given and the clearer the conclusion.

For the Divine operation does not fall into a man who is empty and void, as for example one who does not know that the Lord is pure love and pure mercy, good itself, and truth itself, and that love itself and good itself are such in their essence that they cannot do evil to anyone, neither be angry nor revengeful; or who does not know that the Word in the sense of the letter is written in many places from appearances. Such a man cannot be enlightened by the Word … (DE VERBO 12)

Are you willing to substitute “the Writings” where it says “the Word” in the above passage? Try it and see what objections come up in your mind. Are these objections confirmed in your mind as a thesis or doctrine, or are they a merely a vague reaction of unease due to assumptions acquired in the past from somewhere?

In my case I can tell you that I have no such objections because it is something I automatically and spontaneously started doing the minute I was confirmed in my mind that the Writings are the Word of the Lord in His Second Coming. The very first time I started reading the Writings around age 40 it never occurred to me to doubt anything about it as I was proceeding. The same experience is true for my wife who was reading some other volume on another chair in the room. From a logical point of view it doesn’t make sense to say “This is the Word” and then a minute later to say “But I cannot substitute “the Writings” where it says “the Word.” All sorts of objections can be raised but none of them must be allowed to lead to less certitude that the Writings are the Word.

One type of reasoning that gives temptations is this: In many places it is obvious that the Writings are referring to the Old Testament when referring to “the Word” since it then goes on to discuss some verses in the Old Testament (xx). Similarly with places where the Writings say “the Word” and clearly refer to the New Testament as it goes on to discuss some NT verses. (xx). This is entirely correct. Nevertheless, one must not from this draw the conclusion that therefore only that Testament is meant!

It is a logical point. To say that the Writings is referring to the Old Testament does not mean that the deeper meaning does not apply to the New Testament or to the Writings. Consider this idea: Whenever the Writings refer to “the Word” the statement applies to all three portions of the Word. This makes total sense! We know from the Writings that the Word in the literal contains infinite things and only some of those can be extracted by the human race to eternity (AC 4383). This is what it means to say that the Word is Divine Truth for this is infinite (xx). Whenever the Writings refers to the Word the Lord is saying something to us about the totality of His Word, in all three portions: The Hebrew Word, the Greek Word, and the Latin Word; or, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Third Testament.

And I can tell you that the minute any New Church mind in formation begins to read the Writings through this new, more interior perspective, you will IMMEDIATELY perceive the difference by what you can now see that you didn’t see before!

Therefore let us get back to the quote above and summarize the passage in the following six propositions:

(1) “ENLIGHTENMENT BY MEANS OF THE WORD”

This means that the New Church mind is enlightened when reading and studying the Writings.

(2) “Every man who is in the spiritual affection of truth, that is, who loves truth itself because it is truth, is enlightened by the Lord when he reads the Word; but not the man who reads it from mere natural affection of truth, which is called the desire of knowing.”

This means that when reading the Writings, it is the Lord Himself who is enlightening us. This fits with what the Writings say in numerous places that the Word is the Lord Himself (LORD 2). Note that this enlightenment does not yet happen before our reformation since until that time we read the Writings out of a desire for knowing. We do this fro many reasons: for example, it is required for a course in which we want to excel, or, to please a parent or teacher or minister; or, because we see it as part of the tradition of knowledge; and many other reasons. But at our reformation in adulthood we have a new motive for reading the Writings, and this motive is the spiritual affection we have for it since we worship the letter of the Writings as the Lord Himself, just as the angels do (xx).

(3) “With this man and with no other, the spiritual mind is opened, and so far as it is opened, the light of heaven enters, from which light is all enlightenment in the Word.”

This means that when we read the Writings as the Word our spiritual mind is opened and we receive into it perception from the angels who are with us while we read the Writings. This is what I said above, that you will experience an IMMEDIATE change in what you see in the Writings when you begin reading it in the new way, that is, applying to the Writings everything that is said in it about “the Word.”

(4) “For man then has a will for good, and this will, when it is determined to that use, becomes in the understanding first the affection of truth, then the perception of truth, soon by means of rational light the thought of truth, thus decision and conclusion, which as it passes thence into the memory, also passes into the life, and so remains.”

This means that when we read what it says about the Word as applying to the Writings, the new perception of truth in our spiritual mind, descends into our rational consciousness in full awareness so that we can think and reason at that spiritual level about our everyday activities. Our willing and thinking moment by moment all day long is changes because of this new perception in the Writings. This new meaning is a more interior truth we could not see before, and it now forms the Doctrine in our mind. This new Doctrine in our mind is more interior and spiritual than what it was before. And as a result the Lord can implant in it higher good, celestial good, for this can exist only in interior rational truths. Thus we make progress in our regeneration.

(5) “This is the way of all enlightenment in the Word, and also the way of reformation and regeneration of man. But first the memory must needs have knowledges both of spiritual and natural things, for these are the stores into which the Lord operates by means of the light of heaven, and the fuller these are and freer from confirmed falsities, the more enlightened is the perception given and the clearer the conclusion.”

This means that our reformation and regeneration can progress only to the extent that we are enlightened when reading the Writings and can see deeper spiritual truths that we internalize as our Doctrine in the mind and from which we then change our willing and thinking all day long. It says that “first the memory must needs have knowledges both of spiritual and natural things.” We cannot be enlightened as soon as we start reading the Writings. We must first accumulate sufficient knowledge from its natural and spiritual scientifics. The natural scientifics of the Writings refer to the Memorable Relations, the scientific facts and illustrations, and Earths in the Universe, the details about the resuscitation of the dead, and some others. The spiritual scientifics refer to correspondences, discrete degrees, the Laws of Divine Providence and Permissions, the details about influx, and some others. Once these natural and spiritual scientifics are in our memory, they remain there and are continued to be built up until reformation. At this point these scientifics in our mind become “stores into which the Lord operates by means of the light of heaven.” This starts us on the road of enlightenment and consequent regeneration by the Lord through the Writings .

(6) “the Lord is pure love and pure mercy, good itself, and truth itself, and that love itself and good itself are such in their essence that they cannot do evil to anyone, neither be angry nor revengeful; or who does not know that the Word in the sense of the letter is written in many places from appearances. Such a man cannot be enlightened by the Word “

This means that our enlightenment is proportional to the extent to which we shun whatever is not from the Lord, that is, whatever is not pure, in our daily willing and thinking. We can read and study the Writings as the Word and be enlightened while we read since we are then imbued with an affection for it as the Lord. This has happened to me numerous times. But ask my wife whether I was still imbued with such an affection a few minutes later when I laid down the Book and busied myself with the activities and with interacting with her. All of a sudden I was back “the old me,” acting out the impure things in my willing and thinking. The statement above did not apply to me--“cannot do evil to anyone, neither be angry nor revengeful”—for I did do evil to my neighbor, and did get angry, and did have vengeful thoughts!

This is what happens to all of us, I assume. The change or reformation occurs only when we are actually ready to take charge of our willing and thinking as they run themselves off in our mind moment by moment, all day long. And there is no other logical way of doing this without monitoring the moment by moment flow of our thinking and willing. (See Chapter 9)

2. OT And NT Through The Perspective Of The Writings

If we could be saved by the Old and New Testaments then the Writings were not necessary! The salvation of the New Church mind depends on the Word of the Writings, not the Word of the Old Testament or the Word of the New Testament. When the New Church mind reads the Old and New Testaments it reads them only through the perspective of the Writings. If you read the Old and New Testaments as do those of the Old Christian Church, can you be of the New Church? Clearly, then, the Word of the Writings must be the exclusive authority for the New Church mind. The New Church is the Crown of Churches and is to last forever:

As we have now one God in the church, who is God Man and Man God, this church is called the crown of all the churches. (INV 43)

These are evidences that this has been granted for the sake of the New Church, which is the crown of all the churches, and which will endure forever. Being in the spiritual world, seeing the wonderful things of heaven, and the miserable things of hell; and being there in the very light of the Lord in which are the angels, surpasses all miracles. Evidences that I am there, may be seen in abundance in my books. (INV 39)

There have been four periods, or successive states, of each church, which in the Word are meant by "morning," "day," "evening," and "night."

(…)

After these things, from good elevated to Himself, He founds a new heaven, and from the evil removed from Himself, a new hell; and in both He establishes order, so that they may stand under His auspices and under obedience to Him to eternity; and then through this new heaven He successively inaugurates and establishes a new church on earth. (CORONIS 0)

Many other passages say similar things (e.g., AR 68, 73; TCR 786-788; AE 91-92; and others). You can see from these considerations that there is not going to be an endless procession of Churches in the evolution of our race. There are a definite number of steps or phases through which the Lord brings the human race, so that He might complete His creation, which is that we become celestial minds capable of living in His New Heavens. The New Church is the Crown of Churches or civilizations because it is the last, hence it is said of it that “it will endure forever.” There is not going to be a decline of the New Church as there was with the prior Churches. Therefore there is not going to be another new Word to replace the Writings. For additional discussion on this point with more citations from the Writings, see the beginning of Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 Section 3 (just above).

The benefits for the New Church mind of physical and mental disciplines are to foster our ability to cooperate with the Lord in our required regeneration. This is the motive that makes the discipline spiritual. An excellent mental discipline in my view is the rational analysis of our cultural environment—social, religious, philosophical, political, and pop (“entertainment”). Everything we are exposed to as “consumers” needs to be deconstructed to examine the hierarchy of components within it. This article has presented various illustrations regarding the deconstruction of nondualist concepts in Western thinking. I believe this process should be applied to all that is around us, about which the Lord says “You are in this world but not of this world” (John 15:19; 17:14).

This mental discipline of rational deconstruction is also appropriate to apply to the nonduality of science today. Every scientific concept we learn should be decontextualized from material monism and recontextualized in terms of substantive dualism (see Note 1 at end). In my view it could be harmful to let scientific assumptions sit in our mind without infusing them with natural/spiritual dualism. I understand that the Academy of the New Church gives courses in such matters and the Church regularly encourages the publication of literature that favors the development of this dualism in science. A consistent and outstanding example of this effort can be found in the pages of the journal New Philosophy published by the Swedenborg Scientific Association. But merely reading articles is insufficient. To create a discipline for ourselves we need to recontextualize the monist or nondual attitude that comes within all science concepts we acquire.

3. The Daily Study Of The Writings Is Necessary For Regeneration

A crucial mental discipline for the New Church mind is the daily study of the Writings. There is not a substitute for better developing the natural-rational mind. This study and the ensuing knowledge is called the “scientifics” of the Word and is not yet spiritual because it is in the external rational mind (AC 5117, 5951, 9103). Our accumulating knowledge of the Heavenly Doctrines becomes spiritual as we use the ideas and concepts we acquire from the Writings in motivating and ordering our every day life activities. To the extent that this is done, to that extent the ideas from the Writings in our external mind become suitable “vessels” for containing more and more interior ideas, received from the angels who descend into our interior-natural mind (AC 9394, 3321, 3508; NJHD 51). Studying the Writings as a mental discipline is very different from knowing various things about the New Church through socialization and congregational worship. Daily self-study of the Writings when done as a discipline is in addition to normal religious activities and Church participation. It involves similar “school” activities as studying biology or art history, namely:

q reading systematically from the Writings

q analyzing sentences for deeper comprehension

q keeping notes

q making applications to our actions

q cumulating the knowledge and integrating it to hold together

q collating and contrasting passages

q resolving apparent contradictions through context

q making up summary diagrams, tables, and lists

q constructing a comprehension theory that strives towards more and more integration and inclusion

q and other like things.

Without these scholarly activities, merely reading the Writings for familiarity or loyalty does not constitute a mental discipline (though it’s also a good thing to do in its own right!).

WITHOUT DOCTRINE, THE WORD IS UNINTELLIGIBLE. This is because the Word in the sense of the Letter consists of pure correspondences, so designed that spiritual and celestial things may be simultaneously in it, and that every word of it may contain them and serve as their basis. For this reason in some places in the sense of the Letter truths are not unveiled but veiled, and being so, they are called appearances of truth. (SE 51)

Consider this paragraph again, but this time substituting “the Writings” where it says “the Word.” This technique is discussed Chapter 8 in Section 4):

WITHOUT DOCTRINE, THE WRITINGS IS UNINTELLIGIBLE. This is because the Writings in the sense of the Letter consists of pure correspondences, so designed that spiritual and celestial things may be simultaneously in it, and that every word of it may contain them and serve as their basis. For this reason in some places in the sense of the Letter truths are not unveiled but veiled, and being so, they are called appearances of truth. (SE 51)

I should mention that a search facility such as NewSearch can be most helpful in building up the Doctrine of the Church and the Doctrine of Life in our mind. New Search is available on CD or on the Web at www.theheavenlydoctrines.org/ An approach that I have found very effective is to create a notebook or word processing file that lists various topics I’m interested in and beneath each, various citation numbers to the Writings with a sentence or two of explanation for each citation or group of citations. When Bishop Pendleton’s notes were published by the General Church it became apparent that he used this technique long before the existence of online search facilities (see Chapter 7, Section 5). The book was called Topics and has an index. It is an incisive book that creates topical applications of the Writings to intellectual modernity. I believe that every regenerating New Church person can greatly benefit by keeping a cumulative “Topics” book over the years. What a nice thing also for our children to inherit as a family study book to which they can contribute.

Since every individual is unique from birth to eternity, every one therefore has a unique intellectual and spiritual contribution to make to the entire race forever. This is the source of the ever increasing perfection of the Grand Human or Universal Heaven. (HH 71) Therefore we each want to make our own contribution and this is facilitated by systematic and cumulative scholarly study of the Writings. Of course, such contribution is accompanied by experiencing bliss. All that is required that we do it as a spiritual discipline according to the Doctrine of Life in our mind.

I can share a few strategies that I have learned to use with a search facility. I daily use public Web search engines—the most effective is google.com—as well as New Search on my computer. Let me give an illustration. I wrote down the topic Discrete Degrees in my notebook or word processor file. Then I typed “discrete degrees” (using the quotes) in the search window and got nothing. I immediately knew it’s because I mistyped the query. I correct it and hit the Enter key. About 25 results show in the window. I run my eyes up and down and note that DLW dominates, with just a few from LJP and one or two others. This tells me that DLW gives a more systematic and substantial discussion of discrete degrees.

My strategy next is to start with the earliest number in DLW. I read it and decide to copy it, or parts of it, and paste it into my Topics file. I make sure I note its citation (book and number). I also type any new understanding that comes with reading the paragraph. I then. Sometimes I want to click on the Next or Previous button, or else I go on the next number in the sequence of the search results.

As I continue doing this, the thought strikes me: “How is it possible that not a single reference is made to AC? I decide this puzzle must be solved. I type in a note so I can finish the DLW series later (I found this little detail to be very important!). I change the search query: Instead of “discrete degrees” I type discrete, hit Enter, look at the results, and note that I get a lot more references and that some of them include AC numbers. This makes sense. Now I change the query again and type discrete near degrees, and hit Enter. I note that that proximity marker for “Near” is set a 3 words. This time I get about 25 results and they appear the same as before with the query “discrete degrees.” I conclude that many number contain the phrase “discrete degrees” but others use a somewhat different phrase, yet I expect them to be relevant to the topic.

I type in the query discrete and degrees once more, hit Enter, and scroll to the first entry of AC and click on it. And so on with the other entries. I confirm my hypothesis as in this selection: “But degrees of height, which proceed from inmosts to outermosts, or from highest to lowest, are not continuous, but discrete.” (AC 10181)

I will give a second search illustration. Topic: Levels of thinking (and intellect)

1. I type in the word intellectual, and hit Enter. Scrolling down, I see a long list of results.

2. I continue typing: and rational, and hit Enter. I see a long list of results.

3. I continue typing: and natural, and hit Enter. The list still looks long.

4. I continue typing: and sensuous, hit Enter. This time the results are down to about 20.

5. I inspect the list of results and note they are all from AC. I select the earliest number and read it. I select, copy, and paste into my file anything that I want to retain specifically. I make sure I mark where a skip some text using three dots … and a space on either side.

6. I continue the list of results by selecting the next number.

7. If I stop before completing, I make a note in my file so I can pick up again later.

Even if you don’t write articles or sermons this exercise is highly recommended. Every New Church mind strives to be an expert scholar in the Writings. This is why it’s called to love the Writings. Since the Writings are the Lord in the Word of His Second Coming, it is the Lord we love when we love the Writings. And if we neglect the Writings, it is the Lord whom we avoid. And of course when you have children you want to be able to teach them how to daily study the Writings for life. If you do it, it is easier for them to do it later in adult life when they will need it for their reformation and regeneration.

All dualities are unique permanent distinctions that never cease to eternity (DLW 226).

For such of them as believe the Word, believe it everywhere according to the letter, and not according to its interior meaning; and those who so believe cannot be in any light, for light from heaven flows in through the internal into the external. (AC 10522)

Studying the Writings as the Word in a systematic way is a mental discipline of utmost importance to the formation of the New Church mind. I have discovered the following method of study that has been very useful indeed and so I would highly recommend it. It consists of the substitution technique that serious students of the Writings no doubt use either unknowingly or consciously. This technique works because the dualities in the Writings are always arranged in series that are connected or correspondential.

4. Without The Spiritual Sense We Fall Into New Church Idolatries

"The Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite" were so many nations, by which are signified also so many different idolatries. "And afterwards were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad," signifies that all other forms of idolatrous worship are derived from these. (AC 1204)

Applying this passage to the New Church mind, we can discover what forms of New Church idolatries we are too look out for by searching the Writings where these explications are given.

In the internal sense of the Word these nations are not signified, but the idolatries themselves in general, with whomsoever and wheresoever they are; specifically, among the Jews. For they who make worship consist merely in externals, and are entirely unwilling to know internal things, and when instructed reject them, are very prone to all these idolatries, as is clearly manifest from the Jews. In internal worship alone is there a bond that withholds man from idolatry; and when this ceases, there is nothing that restrains.

There are however interior idolatries, as well as external ones. They who have external worship without internal rush into external idolatries; they who have external worship whose interiors are unclean rush into interior idolatries; and both these kinds of idolatries are signified by these nations. Interior idolatries are so many falsities and cupidities which men love and adore, and which are thus in place of the gods and idols that existed among the Gentiles.

But what particular kinds of falsities and cupidities are those which are adored, and which are signified by these nations-the Jebusite, Amorite, Girgashite, Hivite, Arkite, Sinite, Arvadite, Zemarite, and Hamathite-it would take too long to explain here; but of the Lord's Divine mercy it will be told in the places where their names occur. (AC 1205)

Here we are instructed that if we remain in the Letter of the Writings without acknowledging and searching for its spiritual, we are going to fall into New Church idolatries: “They who have external worship without internal rush into external idolatries.” The expression “external worship” used here refers to the worship of the Letter of the Writings. This is the unregenerate state of the New Church mind prior to reformation, and is called the “Jewish” state, here and in many other places. To deny the idea that the Letter of the Writings are written in pure correspondences, is to worship the Lord in His Second Coming, but only in His Divine Corporeal and Sensuous. It is to deny the Lord in His Divine Rational, for this is the spiritual sense of the Word of the Writings. This is called an idolatry, for the Letter of the Word by itself is dead (xx) and to worship this Letter is to adore relics, holy places, and rituals that have no spiritual meaning by themselves without the internal spiritual where the life is exclusively.

It is said that “In internal worship alone is there a bond that withholds man from idolatry; and when this ceases, there is nothing that restrains.” The internal worship in the New Church mind is the worship of the spiritual sense within the Letter. This spiritual sense makes up the Doctrine of the Church, which is holy and Divine, the Lord Himself coming to His New Church. The Spiritual Doctrine cannot be found in the Letter, through its literal meaning. It can only be found within the Letter, by perceiving it when enlightened by the Lord. Denying that the Letter of the Writings is written in pure correspondences makes it impossible to receive enlightenment. We are warned that without looking for the spiritual sense “there is nothing that restrains man from idolatry.”

The passage tells us that we can know what “particular kinds of falsities and cupidities” the New Church mind can fall into, by searching for it in the Writings: I was able to find these:

Citation	New Church idolatries from the Letter without the spiritual	Representative nation
AC 1867, 6898, 6860	persuasions of falsity from evils; those steeped in evils that arise from falsities; those steeped in what is idolatrous but has some kind of goodness and truth in it	Jebusite
AC 1857	evil in general	Amorite
AC 1867	falsities from evils	Girgashite
AC 4431, 4433, 6889	interior truth and doctrinal things of charity falsified; those steeped in evils and falsities	Hivite,
AC 1204, 1205	unspecified idolatries	Arkite, Sinite, Arvadite, Zemarite, Hamathite

Further research of the Letter needs to be done to discover how we are to understand the difference between these states, as for instance, the difference between “evil in general” (Amorite) vs. “falsities from evils” (Girgashite).

5. The Substitution Technique For Dualities In The Writings

You will recognize the following fundamental duality in the Writings and its sub-components that are mentioned very frequently:

THE FUNDAMENTAL DUALITY IN THE WRITINGS With a few of its innumerable sub-dualities
Divine	Esse	Good	Love	Charity	Will	Heart	Spiritual.
And	And	And	And	And	And	And	And
Human	Existere	Truth	Wisdom	Faith	Thought	Lungs	Natural.

There is a general duality here as well as more specific sub-dualities in the hierarchical series. The substitution technique consists in taking a particular element from one duality in a sentence and substituting an element from another particular duality. For example, a sentence that says something about the heart and lungs can be read with the substitution using the “will” for “heart” and the “understanding” for ”lungs.” This type of exercise is recommended in the Writings, as shown next.

For more discussion on the substitution technique see my article listed in Note 22 at the end.

6. Will And Understanding

Nothing is more important than to know how the will and understanding make one mind. (TCR 397)

Whoever is willing to investigate may perceive that affection is the life of thought, also that such as the affection is such is the thought, consequently when one burns the other burns, and when one grows cold the other grows cold. When, therefore, a man is glad he thinks with gladness, when he is sad he thinks with sadness, likewise when he is angry he thinks angrily, and so forth. From your higher thought enter into your lower and attend and you will see. There is a like conjunction of love and wisdom, because all affection is of love and all thought is of wisdom. There is a like conjunction of will and understanding, for love is of the will and wisdom is of the understanding. There is a like conjunction of good and truth, because good is of love and truth is of wisdom, as has been shown in the preceding article.

(…)

There is a full correspondence in man between the heart and the will, and between the lungs and the understanding; therefore from the conjunction of the heart and lungs we may gain instruction concerning the conjunction of the will and the understanding, and thus concerning the conjunction of love and wisdom. From the parallelism established between the heart and lungs and the will and understanding, it can be seen that: (etc.)

(D. Wis. 10) (See also: DLW 384)

The “parallelism” mentioned here is what I’ve called the substitution technique. This parallelism is explored in detail in the rest of this Number (not shown above), specifically how the blood is purified in the lungs and what this implies therefore about how the will is purified in the understanding. The physiological details that come from scientific research in anatomy are used by parallel substitution to reveal how the will is purified in the understanding. This amazing scientific method of investigation will in the future be of great value to psychology, when it becomes a dualist science. Other areas are illustrated in this Number, namely the physical facts we know about language and speech, music and sound. (For further exploration of this topic, see Note 14 at end).

Now let’s consider a substitution technique in a somewhat different application. We start with this sentence:

It is the understanding which acts from the will, not the will which acts by means of the understanding. (TCR 105)

The parallel substitutions allowable can be selected from lists and arrangements such as this list on the next page:

THE SUBSTIUTION TECHNIQUE FOR DUALITIES IN THE WRITINGS
PARALLELS TO THE WILL	PARALLELS TO THE UNDERSTANDING
Divine (or Divine Itself)	Human (or Divine Human)
Esse	Existere
Love	Wisdom
Father	Son
Celestial	Spiritual
Interior	Exterior
Uncreate	Created
Affection	Thought
Source	Cause
Good	Truth
Goal	Plan
Substance	Form
Wife	Husband
Charity	Faith
Etc.	Etc.
Etc.	Etc.

Applying this table of substitution, we generate these statements:

It is the Divine Human which acts from the Divine Itself, not the Divine Itself which acts by means of the Human

It is the Son which acts from the Father, not the Father which acts by means of the Son

It is the husband which acts from the wife, not the wife which acts by means of the husband

It is the plan which acts from the goal, not the goal which acts by means of the plan

It is the external natural mind which acts from the internal spiritual mind, not the spiritual mind which acts by means of the natural mind

Etc. Etc.

Whether you say faith, or truth, it is the same thing, and whether you say good or charity, it is the same thing; moreover, this is as it is with man's thought and affection. (SE 5945)

[faith – truth] [good – charity] [affection / thought] [good / faith] [charity / truth] affection / faith] [truth - thought] [affection / truth] [good / truth] [charity / faith] [truth – faith] etc.

For whether you say heaven, or Divine truth, it is the same, because the angels, of whom heaven consists, are receptions of Divine truth (AC 10608)

[heaven – Divine truth] [angels – Divine truth] [heaven – angels]

Whether you say will or love it is the same, for what a man loves he wills; so whether you say that the spirit of man cannot resist his will, or that it cannot resist his love, it is the same. (AE 105) (See also: DLW 378)

[will / love] [love / spirit] [will / spirit]

For whether you say evil or the devil it is the same; and, on the other hand, whether you say good or the Lord it is the same, for the Lord is within all good, and the devil is within all evil. (DP 233)

[evil – devil] [good – the Lord]

"no one knoweth the Son but the Father," is because by the "Son" is meant the Divine truth, and by the "Father," the Divine good, both in the Lord (AC 10067)

[Father / Son] [Divine Good / Divine Truth]

Whether you say heaven or heavenly joy it is the same thing. (HH 397)

[heaven – heavenly joy]

When it is afterwards stated that everything of the will and the understanding, or everything of love and wisdom, or everything of affection and thought in a man who is led by the Lord, has relation to good and truth, it follows that all that such a man wills and understands, or every activity of his love and wisdom, or of his affection and thought, is from the Lord. (DP 157)

[will / understanding] [love / wisdom] [will-love] understanding-wisdom] [affection / thought] [affection / understanding] [affection-will] [affection-love] [understanding-thought] [will / thought] [love / thought] [love / understanding] [good / truth] [good-will] [good-love] [good / wisdom] [good-affection] [good / thought] [good / understanding] [good-will] [will / truth]

Whether you say "the church with man;" or whether you say "heaven with him;" or whether you say "the kingdom of God with him;" or whether you say "the Lord with him," it is the same. (AC 10357)

[the church with man - heaven with him]

[the kingdom of God with him - the church with man]

[the church with man - heaven with him]

[the kingdom of God with him - heaven with him]

Whether you say faith or conscience it is the same. By faith is meant the faith by means of which there is charity, and which is from charity, thus charity itself; for faith without charity is no faith; and as faith is not possible without charity, so neither is conscience. (AC 2325)

[faith – conscience] [charity / faith] [charity – conscience]

If they are not elevated together, love or the will is defiled in and by the intellect. (DLW 421)

[love-will] [love / intellect] [will / intellect]

7. Cross/Parallels And Within-Parallels

Note carefully that some sentences give cross/parallels while others give within-parallels. [Will / understanding] or [love / wisdom] are cross / parallels. But [Heaven – truth] or [good – Lord] are within-parallels. If you mix these up the substitution technique no longer yields rational parallelisms but confusing nonsense. Take heed. You cannot apply what it says about the [heart / lungs] to any within-parallels like [faith – truth] or [will – affection]. But you can apply what it says about the lungs to any member of the within-parallels such as faith, truth, understanding, thoughts, etc. Similarly you can apply what it says about the heart to within-parallels such as good, will, love, affection, goal, etc.

You will note that I keep the two separate by using the notation [ / ] for cross / parallels and the notation [ - ] for within-parallels.

Note carefully that the order of cross/parallels is always patterned after the sequence [will / understanding] and [love / truth] etc. You cannot interchange this order. Take heed.

But the order within-parallels is interchangeable. You can say [faith – truth] or [truth – faith]; or you can say [husband – truth] or truth – husband] and [love – wife] or [wife – love].

Doing the above exercise to a variety of passages you might select, is very useful for increasing the discrete dualities we must think from in the New Church mind. The following illustrates some particular applications:

It is the understanding which acts from the will, not the will which acts by means of the understanding. (TCR 105)

Substitutions based on the table of parallels above:

It is the cognitive which acts from the affective, not the affective which acts by means of the cognitive.

[affective / cognitive]

It is the truth which acts from the good, not the good which acts by means of the truth.

[good / truth]

It is the Son which acts from the Father, not the Father which acts by means of the Son.

[Father / Son]

It is the husband which acts from the wife, not the wife which acts by means of the husband.

[wife / husband]

It is the lung which acts from the heart, not the heart which acts by means of the lung.

[heart / lung]

It is the thinking which acts from the feeling, not the feeling which acts by means of the thinking.

[feeling / thinking]

It is the plan which acts from the goal, not the goal which acts by means of the plan.

[goal / plan]

It is the cause which acts from the source, not the source which acts by means of the cause.

[source / cause]

It is the existere which acts from the esse, not the esse which acts by means of the existere.

[esse / existere]

I find that as I reflect on each substitution, new insights are perceived.

8. Reading The Writings As The Word

That it may be still more manifest how the case herein is, let us take this example: They who are in the affirmative that the Writings has been so written as to possess an internal sense which does not appear in the letter, can confirm themselves therein by many rational considerations; as that by the Writings man has connection with heaven; that there are correspondences of natural things with spiritual, in which the spiritual are not seen; that the ideas of interior thought are altogether different from the material ideas which fall into the words of language; that man, being born for both lives, can, while in the world, be also in heaven, by means of the Writings which is for both worlds; that with some persons a certain Divine light flows into the things of the understanding, and also into the affections, when the Writings is read; that it is of necessity that there should be something written that has come down from heaven, and that therefore the Writings cannot be such in its origin as it is in the letter; and that it can be holy only from a certain holiness that it has within it. (AC 2588:6)

[“the Writings” substituted for “the Word” in original]

When we acknowledge the Writings as the Lord in His Word we at first do so from a distance, not yet from within. It is a creed, formal or informal, that bestows status and distinctiveness. This is called external religion. The New Church religion is received first in the natural mind from formal education or by means of self-study. In my case, I received the Writings as the Word from self-study, having discovered the Writings in the library, and only later heard of others who also considered the Writings as the Word. Some of these were members of a Specific New Church, others were not. This pattern is going to exist always. How can it be otherwise? Regardless of how one receives the Writings, the truths we see in it appear as our own. It seems to us that we have these truths by figuring out what the Writings say about this or that. We do not yet know or understand that these truths are not yet spiritual. It appears to us that they are spiritual because the discussion is about spiritual things—Who the Lord is, what is sin, what is salvation, what is good and true, what the commandments are, what heaven is like, who is in hell, and the like.

These appear as spiritual to us on account of their subject matter. But what is happening is that they we understand these subjects in a natural way. The concept we form of each of these things is a natural concept, not spiritual. We do not understand the literal sentences of the Writings in a rational way even though the topics they discuss is rational and spiritual. We can write a review of a book or passage, and even a lecture that sounds like spiritual things are treated of. But each time we use the words—Lord, sin, heaven, the Word, love, temptation, spiritual, celestial—we use the words in a natural sense. The rational and spiritual meaning or sense of these words is not available to our conscious mind. This begins to change to the extent that we begin our reformation, and then go through the gradual steps of regeneration all the way to the end of life on earth, and then it continues in heaven.

We begin our reformation when we start thinking and willing in daily life in accordance with the literal sentences we understand. The literal sentences of the Writings use a style that is called “rational.” This style of the Writings is contrastive with the style in which the other two portions of the Word are written. The Hebrew Old Testament is written in a natural style. There are almost no concepts that go beyond this natural. God means external omnipotence and omnipresence, punishing those who transgress the commandments and Divine regulations and injunctions. These punishments are of the body and consequent suffering of the mind. Sin is the external act of transgressing. Heaven and hell are places into which we get admitted or kept prisoner. This is the level of thinking of the Old Testament. The literal has no spiritual topics.

The Greek New Testament has a style that is more interior. The topics it discusses are not about the physical world but about another world called spiritual. God means Divine operation inwardly, not merely outwardly. The concept of the Trinity as three aspects of the One God, each fulfilling a different function, is not a natural concept but spiritual. The three functions are Creation, Redemption, and Regeneration. This topic is about spiritual things, not natural. Sin is not merely an outward act, but an inward motive, intention, or arrogance. Heaven is not a place on earth but a state “within you.”

Heaven is in the man; and there is a place for him in heaven according to the state of life and of faith in which he is (AC 9305)

Clearly then, the style of writing of the Greek New Testament is more spiritual than the literal sentences or topics of the Hebrew Old Testament.

The third and last portion of the Word is the Latin Third Testament, as one might call the Writings. The style of writings of the sentences is rational. In the Greek New Testament the topic is spiritual but the style is natural. This is called natural-spiritual. In this style the mind is immersed in the “mystery” of religion. The natural level of thinking sees all spiritual topics as a mystery. The New Testament presents many parables that are only dimly understood. The New Testament mind looks for miracles and is delighted and impressed by them. Therefore the idea of “blind faith” becomes paramount. Too much investigating into the meaning of mystery has not been encouraged in Christianity. Those who do this tend to lose their Christian faith and become agnostics or nondualists in religion. Clearly a new revelation had to be given that extracts the mind from the morass of mystery. This is why the sentences of the Writings are in a rational style.

As we start reading the Writings and hearing lectures on it, we are challenged intellectually. We have to make a great effort in figuring out what the sentences mean and how they fit with other sentences. We have to create context and make comparisons across passages in order to resolve apparent contradictions. We only have clarity of understanding as we engage in rational and systematic thinking—similar to going to school and taking a difficult subject that requires work and study. All this intellectual work is not called forth by the content and structure of the New Testament. Now we can figure out that God is the Lord, and that the Lord has appeared to humankind through a series of revelations, each more advanced than the previous. We can see that this God is Human and is activated in Himself by Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. He creates a spiritual world within, and a natural world without, and the two linked together through Laws Correspondence that operate by rational symbolisms or meanings.

Sin is not something that the Lord punishes or does not forgive, but a love that builds up the spiritual mind in an infernal way. We understand that we inherit an inclination towards sin and we must be regenerated to be saved (CL 202). This regeneration is a gradual process and is successful to the extent we cooperate as-of self by opposing our loves and denying ourselves from engaging in them. This then builds a new character that can live in heaven. All this is talking about spiritual things in a rational way.

You can see that we can think or talk about spiritual things in three ways—natural, natural-spiritual, and rational. Three portions of the Word had to be given at different times in history because the level of thinking of human evolution restricted the style of discussing and presenting spiritual ideas. When we read the Writings prior to our reformation we think naturally about spiritual things there that are discussed rationally. But once reformation begins, we start thinking the sentences of the Writings less naturally, and more rationally. Edward Hyatt (1854-1906), a clear sighted New Church mind, was able to see the Writings as the Word in relation to the prior portions that were given:

Here is indicated the difference between the various forms of the Word which are all written in pure correspondences, but in correspondences more or less remote. The most remote correspondences were used in the Ancient Word, less remote ones in the Word of the Old Testament, still less remote ones in the Word of the New Testament, and less remote ones yet in the Writings. In the latter they are so much less remote that some fail to recognize that they are written in correspondences, when nevertheless reflection on the nature of the Word as now made clear by Revelations will show that the Word, that is, Divine Revelation, cannot be given otherwise than in correspondent forms, and that this is so even in the heavens although the correspondences there are even less remote than in the Writings – in the highest heaven least so of all.

(Edward S. Hyatt, Sermons on the Word. Swedenborg Genootschap, 1935, p. 214)

9. Rational Understanding Of Spiritual Things

When regeneration proceeds, we begin to develop rational understanding of the spiritual things presented in the Writings. The more we think and will daily in accordance with our new rational understanding of spiritual things, the more interior the rational becomes. Interior rational understanding is a level of thinking called rational-spiritual. This level is a discrete degree higher than the natural-spiritual.

But this happens only with those who read the Writings as the Lord’s Word in His Second Coming. Without this, there is no mechanism for raising the level of thinking from the natural and the external rational, which is natural. This acknowledgement, to