Heavenly Doctrine (Tafel) n. 35

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35. A man has two faculties, of which one is called the will, and the other the understanding, nos. 35, 641, 3539, 3623, 10122. Those two faculties constitute the man himself, nos. 10076, 10109, 10110, 10264, 10284. A man is such as are those two faculties with him, nos. 7342, 8885, 9282, 10264, 10284. Through them also the man is distinguished from the beasts, because his understanding may be elevated by the Lord so as to see Divine truths; and in like manner his will, so as to perceive Divine goods; the man thus differently from the animals, may be conjoined with the Lord through those two faculties which constitute him, nos. 4525, 5114, 5302, 6323, 9231. And inasmuch as the man may thus be conjoined with the Lord, he cannot die as to his interiors, which belong to his spirit, but he lives for ever, no. 5302. Man is not man from his form, but from the good and truth which belong to his will and understanding, nos. 4051, 5302, As everything in the universe has relation to good and truth, so with man everything has relation to the will and the understanding, nos. 803, 10122. For the will is the receptacle of good, and the understanding of truth, nos. 3332, 3623, 5232, 6065, 6125, 7503, 9300, 9930. It is the same, whether you say truth or faith; for faith belongs to truth, and truth to faith; it also amounts to the same whether you say good or love; for love belongs to good, and good to love; and what a man believes, that he calls true, and what he loves, that he calls good, nos. 4353, 4997, 7178, 10122, 10367. From this it follows, that the understanding is the recipient of faith, and the will the recipient of love; and that faith and love are in man, when they are in his understanding and in his will, for man's life is nowhere else, nos. 7178, 10122, 10367. Since a man's understanding is capable of receiving faith in the Lord, and his will of receiving love to the Lord, therefore, by faith and love he may be conjoined with the Lord, and whoever can be conjoined with the Lord by faith and love, cannot die to eternity, nos. 4525, 6323, 9231. Love in the spiritual world means conjunction, nos. 1594, 2057, 3939, 4018, 5807, 6195, 6196, 7081-7086, 7501, 10130. Man's will is the very Esse of his life, because it is the receptacle of good, and his understanding is the Existere of life therefrom, because it is the receptacle of truth, nos. 3619, 5002, 9282. The life of the will, consequently, is the chief life of man, and the life of the understanding proceeds therefrom, nos. 585, 590, 3619, 7342, 8885, 9282, 10076, 10109, 10110; comparatively as light proceeds from a fire or flame, nos. 6032, 6314. The things which enter into the understanding and at the same time into the will, are appropriated by man, but not those which are received only in the understanding, nos. 9009, 9069, 9071, 9129, 9182, 9386, 9393, 10076, 10109, 10110. Those things become matters of man's life, which are received by the will, and from it by the understanding, nos. 8911, 9069, 9071, 10076, 10109, 10110. Every man also is loved and esteemed by others according to the good of his will, and of his understanding therefrom; for he who is well-willing, and who understands correctly, is loved and esteemed, and he who understands correctly and is not well-willing, is cast off and despised, nos. 8911, 10076. A man after death also remains such as is his will and his understanding from it, nos. 9069, 9071, 9386, 10153; the things belonging to the understanding, and not at the same time to the will, vanish then, because they are not in the man's spirit, no. 9282; or, what is the same, a man after death remains such as is his love, and the faith from it, or such as is his good and the truth from it; and the things which belong to faith and not at the same time to love, or the things which are of truth and not at the same time of good, vanish, because they are not in the man, and, therefore, not of the man, nos. 553, 2363, 10153. A man is capable of comprehending with the understanding what he does not practise from the will, that is, he is able to understand what he does not will, because it is in opposition to his love, no. 3539. The will and the understanding constitute one mind, nos. 35, 3623, 5835, 10122. These two faculties of life ought to act as one, in order that man may be man, nos. 3623, 5835, 5969, 9300. How perverted is the state with those whose understanding and will do not act as one, no. 9075. Such a state prevails with hypocrites, deceivers, flatterers, and dissemblers, nos. 2426, 3573, 4327, 4799, 8250. The will and the understanding are brought again into one in the other life, and it is not allowed there to have a divided mind, no. 8250. Every doctrinal of the Church brings with itself ideas, through which its quality is perceived, no. 3310. According to these is its comprehension; and without such an intellectual idea with a man, he would merely have an idea of a word, and none of a thing, no. 3825. The ideas of the understanding extend far around into the societies of spirits and angels, nos. 6599, 6600-6605, 6609, 6613. The ideas of man's understanding are opened in the other life, and are exhibited visibly to the life, as to their quality, nos. 1869, 3310, 5510. Of what quality the ideas of some appear, nos. 6201, 8885. All will of good, and all understanding of truth is from the Lord; but not so the understanding of truth separated from the will of good, nos. 1831, 3514, 5483, 5649, 6027, 8685, 8701, 10153. It is the understanding which is enlightened by the Lord, nos. 6222, 6608, 10659. To those who are enlightened the Lord grants to see and to understand truth, nos. 9382, 10659. The enlightenment of the understanding is various, according to the states of a man's life, nos. 5221, 7012, 7233. The understanding is enlightened in proportion as a man receives the truth with the will, that is, as he wills to act according to it, no. 3619. Those have their understanding enlightened who read the Word from the love of truth, and from the love of the uses of life, but not those who read it from the love of reputation, honour, gain, nos. 9382, 10548, 10549, 10551. Enlightenment is an actual elevation of the mind into the light of heaven, no. 10330; from experience, nos. 1526, 6608. Enlightenment for the understanding is light from heaven, as light from the world is for the sight, nos. 1524, 5114, 6608, 9128. The light of heaven is Divine Truth, from which comes all wisdom and intelligence, nos. 3195, 3222, 5400, 8644, 9399, 9548, 9684. It is the man's understanding which is enlightened by that light, nos. 1524, 3138, 3167, 4408, 6608, 8707, 9128, 9399, 10569. The understanding is of such a quality as are the truths from good, of which it is formed, no. 10064. Understanding is what is from the truths which are from good, but not what is from the falsities which are from evil, no. 10675. Understanding is to see truths, the causes of things, their connections, and consequences in a series, from the things which belong to experience and science no. 6125. Seeing and perceiving whether a thing is true, before confirming it, is understanding, but not, being able to confirm anything whatever, nos. 4741, 7012, 7680, 7950, 8521, 8780. The light of confirmation, without any previous perception of the truth, is natural light, which exists also with those who are not wise, no. 8780. Seeing and perceiving whether a thing is true before confirming it, has place only with those who are affected with truth for the sake of truth, consequently with those who are in spiritual light, no. 8780. All doctrinal tenets, even those that are false, may be confirmed to such a degree as to appear as true, nos. 2385, 2490, [4741], 5033, 6865, 7950. How the Rational with a man is conceived and born, nos. 2094, 2524, 2557, 3030, 5126. It exists from the influx of the light of heaven from the Lord through the internal man into the knowledges and sciences, which are in the external man, and an elevation by this means, nos. 1890, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902. The Rational is born through truths, and not through falsities; according to the quality of the truths, therefore, such is the Rational, nos. 2094, 2524, 2557. Through truths from good, the Rational is opened and formed, and it is closed and destroyed through falsities from evil, nos. 3108, 5126. A man who is in falsities from evil is not rational; a man, consequently, is not rational on account of his being able to reason upon any subject, no. 1944. It is difficult for a man to distinguish between the under the understanding and the will, because it is difficult for him to distinguish between thinking and willing, no. 9995. Many additional particulars concerning the will and the understanding may be known and inferred from what has been adduced above concerning Good and Truth, if only instead of Good you will perceive the will, and instead of Truth the understanding; for the will belongs to good, and the understanding to truth.


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