Heavenly Doctrine (Tafel) n. 23

Previous Number Next Number Next Translation See Latin 

23. Concerning those who are in truths, and through them look towards, and aspire to, good; thus, concerning truths through which comes good. What a man loves, this he wills, and what a man loves or wills, this he thinks, and confirms by various means: what a man loves or wills, is called good, and what a man thinks therefrom, and confirms by various means, is called truth, no. 4070. Hence it is, that truth becomes good when it becomes a matter of love or of will, that is, when a man loves and wills it, nos. 5526, 7835, 10367. And again, since love or the will is the very life of a man, truth with him does not live, when he is only acquainted with it and thinks it, but when he loves and wills it, and from love and the will does it, nos. 5595, 9282. From thence, and consequently from good, truths receive life, nos. 2434, 3111, 3607, 6077. Truths, therefore, have life from good, and apart form good they have no life, nos. 1589, 1947, 1997, 3579, 3180, 4070, 4096, 4097, 4736, 4757, 4884, 5147, 5928, 9154, 9667, 9841, 10729; illustrated, no. 9154. When truths may be said to have acquired life, no. 1928. Truth when conjoined with good, is appropriated by a man because it becomes a part of his life, nos. 3108, 3161. In order that truth may be conjoined to good, there must be a consent from the understanding and will; when there is consent from the will as well, then there is conjunction, nos. 3157, 3158, 3161. When a man is being regenerated, truths enter with the delight of affection, because he loves to do them; and they are reproduced with the same affection because the two cohere, nos. 2480, 2487, 3040, 3066, 3074, 3336, 4018, 5893, 7967. The affection which belongs to love always adjoins itself to truths according to the uses of life, and this affection is reproduced with the truths, and the truths are reproduced with the affection, nos. 3336, 3824, 3849, 4205, 5892, 7967. Good only acknowledges as truth what accords with the affection which belongs to love, no. 3161. Truths are introduced by means of concordant delights and pleasantnesses, nos. 3502, 3512. Every genuine affection of the truth is from good, and according to it, nos. 4373, 8349, 8356. Thus there is an instilling and influx of good into truths, and conjunction, no. 4301; and truths thus have life, nos. 7910, 7967. Since the affection which belongs to love always adjoins itself to truths according to the uses of life, therefore good acknowledges its own truth and truth its own good, nos. 2429, 3101, 3102, 3161, 3179, 3180, 4358, 5807, 5835, 9637. From this there is conjunction of truth and good; concerning which, nos. 3834, 4096, 4097, 4301, 4345, 4353, 4364, 4368, 5365, 7623-7627, 7752-7762, 8530, 9258, 10555. Truths also acknowledge each other, and are mutually consociated, no. 9079; and this comes from the influx of heaven, no. 9079. Good is the Esse of life, and truth the Existere of life therefrom; good thus has its Existere of life in truth, and truth its Esse of life in good, nos. 3049, 3180, 4574, 5002, 9154. Therefore every good has its own truth, and every truth its own good; because good apart from truth has no Existere, and truth apart from good no Esse, no. 9637. Again, good has its form and its quality from truths, so that truth is the form and quality of good, nos. 3049, 4574, 6916, 9154. Truth and good, therefore, must be conjoined that they may be anything, no. 10555. Wherefore good is in a perpetual endeavour and desire to conjoin to itself truths, nos. 9206, 9495; illustrated at no. 9207; and truths conversely conjoin themselves with good, no. 9206. The conjunction is reciprocal, of good with truth, and of truth with good, nos. 5365, 8516. Good acts and truth re-acts, yet from good, nos. 3155, 4380, 4757, 5928, 10729. Truths have respect to their good, as to their beginning and end, no. 4353. The conjunction of truth with good is like the progression of man's life from infancy; first he imbibes truths scientifically, then rationally, and at last he makes them part of his life, nos. 3203, 3665, 3690. It is also with it as with offspring, in that it is conceived, exists in the womb, is born, grows up, becomes wise, nos. 3298, 3299, 3308, 3665, 3690. It is also with it as with seeds and the soil, no. 3671; and like water in its relation to bread, no. 4976. The first affection of truth is not genuine, but in proportion as the man is perfected it is purified, nos. 3040, 3089. Still, goods and truths, which are not genuine, serve for the introduction of genuine goods and truths, and the former are afterwards abandoned, nos. 3665, 3690, 3974, 3982, 3986, 4145. Besides, through truths man is led to good, and not without truths, nos. 10124, 10367. Unless a man learns, that is, receives truths, good cannot flow in, so that the man cannot become spiritual, no. 3387. The conjunction of good and truth is effected according to the increase of knowledges, no. 3141. Truths are received by every one according to his capacity, no. 3385. The truths of the natural man are scientifics, nos. 3293, 3309, 3310. Scientifics and knowledges are as vessels, nos. 6004, 6023, 6052, 6071, 6077. Truths are vessels of good, because they are recipients, nos. 1469, 1900, 2063, 2261, 2269, 3318, 3365, 3387. Good flows in with man by an internal way, that is, by way of the soul, but truths by an external way, that is, by that of hearing and sight; and they are conjoined in man's interiors by the Lord, nos. 3030, 3098. Truths are raised out of the natural man, and implanted in good in the spiritual man; and thus truths become spiritual, nos. 3085, 3086. And afterwards, they flow in from thence into the natural man; spiritual good flowing immediately into the good of the Natural, but mediately into the truth of the Natural, nos. 3314, 3573, 4563; illustrated, nos. 3314, 3616, 3576, 3969, 3995. In a word, truths with a man are conjoined to good, so far and in such manner as he is in good, as to life, nos. 3834, 3843. Conjunction is effected differently with the celestial, from what it is with the spiritual, no. 10124. Additional statements concerning the conjunction of good and truth, and the manner in which it is effected, nos. 3090, 3203, 3308, 4096, 4097, 4345, 4353, 5365, 7623-7627; and how spiritual good is formed through truths, nos. 3470, 3570.


This page is part of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church