THE WILL OF MAN IS HIS AFFECTION.

The will of man is his affection for the reason that the will of man is the receptacle of his love and the understanding the receptacle of his wisdom; and that which is the receptacle of love is also the receptacle of all affections, because affections are merely continuations and derivations of love, as has been said above. It is called the receptacle of love because love cannot be given with man except in a recipient form which is substantial; without such a form love would have no ability to effect, to reciprocate, and thereby to be permanent. This recipient form might be described, but this is not the place for it. It is from this that the will is called the receptacle of love. [2] That the will is man's all, and is in all things of man, and thus is the man himself, as love in its whole complex is the man, is evident from this:-As to anything pertaining to his love or affection, and in fact to his life, man speaks of willing, as that be wills to act, wills to speak, wills to think, wills to perceive. The will is in all of these things; and if it were not in them man could not act, could not speak, could not think, could not perceive; and if the will were not present in the particular and most particular things of these operations, they would instantly cease; for the will is in them as the soul or life is in the body and in every least particular of it. In place of will, one can say love, as that one loves to do, to speak, to think, to perceive. In like manner of the external senses of the body it is said that one wills to see, wills to hear, wills to eat, drink, and taste, wills to smell, also wills to walk, to associate with others, to seek amusement, and so on. In each one of these the will is the active force; for if it should be withdrawn there would instantly be a stop; and in fact these operations are suspended by the will. [3] That the will is man's love in form is clearly evident from this, that every enjoyment, pleasure, pleasantness, satisfaction and bliss which belong to man's love are so felt and perceived; and that these belong to the will is plain, since whatever is enjoyable, pleasurable, pleasant, satisfactory and blissful, this also man wills; and he says of them that he wills them. Man speaks in like manner of good and truth; for that which he loves he calls good, thereby making it to be of his will; and what confirms the good of his love or of his will he calls truth, and this he loves, and wills to think and speak of. Again, in respect to everything that a man wishes, solicits, longs for, strives for, seeks, and intends, he says that he wills all these since they pertain to his love; for he wills what he wishes because he loves it; he wills what he solicits or longs for because he loves it; he wills what he strives for and seeks because he loves it; and he wills what he purposes, and he purposes it because he loves. From all this it can be seen that the will and the love or the will and the affection are one with man; and that the will, because it is the love, is also the life, and is the man himself. That the will is also the life of man's understanding and of his thought therefrom will be shown in what follows. [4] Man does not know that the will is the man himself, for the same reason that he does not know that the love or affection is the man himself. Moreover, every one gives attention to those things that he sees or feels, but not to the life, the soul, or the essence from which be sees or feels; this lies concealed within the things pertaining to sensation, and the thought of the natural man does not go so far as that; but it is otherwise with the spiritual man, for the object of his wisdom is not the sense-plane, but the essential that is in it, which in itself is spiritual. It is in consequence of this that many say that thought is the all of man, and is the very man, that is, that man is man because he thinks; and yet the all of his thought is affection. Take away affection from thought, and you will be but a stock. A man who is rational from what is spiritual, who knows what is good and what is true, and thus what is evil and what is false, may know from what has been said what his affections are and what his reigning affection is; for there are as many indications of them as there are delights of thought, speech, action, sight, hearing, and as many as there are ambitions, desires, and intentions. He needs only to attend and reflect.